same one that had flown over his house that night—it was the one from which the fire bomb had been dropped.
He pushed his way through the crowd. He saw Andy standing near the curious biplane, which type of air craft it nearest resembled though it had some monoplane features. On the side was painted the name:
Slugger
Andy caught sight of Tom Swift.
"I'm going to beat you!" the bully boasted. "and I haven't a machine like yours, after all. You were wrong."
"So I see," stammered Tom, hardly knowing what to think. "What did you do with my plans, then?"
"I never had them!"
Andy turned away, and began to assist the men he had hired to help him. Like all the others, his machine had two seats, for in this race each operator must carry a passenger.
Tom turned away, both glad and sorry,—glad that his rival was not to race him in a duplicate of the Humming-Bird, but sorry that he had as yet no track of the strangely missing plans.
"I wonder where they can be?" mused the young inventor.
