ded anything.

"Poor old dad!" mused the young inventor. "I hope he is well enough to
come and see me try for the ten-thousand-dollar prize--and win it! I
hope I do; but if some one builds, from my stolen plans, a machine on
this model, I'll have my work cut out for me." And he gazed with pride
on the Humming-Bird.

For the past two weeks Tom had seen nothing of Andy Foger. The
red-haired bully seemed to have dropped out of sight, and even his
cronies, Sam Snedecker and Pete Bailey, did not know where he had gone.

"I hope he has gone for good," said Ned Newton, who lived near Andy.
"He's an infernal nuisance. I wish he'd never come back to Shopton."

But Andy was destined to come back.

One day, when Tom was busy installing a wireless apparatus on his new
aeroplane, he heard Eradicate hurrying up the path that led to the shop.

"I wonder if dad is worse?" thought Tom, that always being his first
idea when he knew a summons was coming for him. Quickly be opened the
door.

"Some one's comin' out to see you, Massa Tom," said the colored man.

"Who is it?" asked the lad, taking the precaution to put his precious
plans out of sight.

"I dunno, sah; but yo' father knows him, an' he said fo' me to come out
heah, ahead ob de gen'man, an' tell yo' he were comin'. He'll be right
heah."

"Oh, well, if dad knows him, it's all right. Let him come, Rad."

"Yes, sah. Heah he comes." And the colored man pointed to a figure
advancing down the gravel path. Tom watched the stranger curiously.
There was something familiar about him, and Tom was sure he had met him
before, yet he could not seem to place him.

"How are you, Tom Swift?" greeted the newcomer pleasantly. "I guess
you've forgotten me, haven't you?" He held out his hand, which Tom
took. "Don't know me, do you?" he went on.

"Well, I'm afraid I've forgotten your name," admitted the lad, just a
bit embarrassed. "But your face is familiar, somehow, and yet it isn't."

"I've shaved off my mustache," went on the other. "That makes a
difference. But you haven't forgotten John Sharp, the balloonist, whom
you rescued from Lake Carlopa, and who helped you build the Red Cloud?
You haven't forgotten John Sharp, have you, Tom?"

"Well, I should say not!" cried the lad heartily. "I'm real glad to see
you. What are you doing around here? Come in. I've got something to
show you," and he motioned to the shop where the Humming-Bird was
housed.

"Oh, I know what it is," said