Down through the yard Tom speeded, in and out among the buildings,looking on every side for a sight of the bold stranger. No one wasto be seen.
"He can't be very far ahead." thought Tom. "I ought to catch himbefore he gets to the woods. If he reaches there he has a goodchance of getting away."
There was a little patch of trees just back of the inventor's house,not much of a woods, perhaps, but that is what they were called.
"I wonder if he was some ordinary tramp, looking for what he couldsteal, or if he was one of the gang after dad's invention?" thoughtTom as he sprinted ahead.
By this time the youth was clear of the group of buildings and insight of a tall, board fence, which surrounded the Swift estate onthree sides. Here and there, along the barrier, were piled oldpacking-cases, so that it would be easy for a fugitive to leap uponone of them and so get over the fence. Tom thought of thispossibility in a moment.
"I guess he got over ahead of me," the lad exclaimed, and he peeredsharply about. "I'll catch him on the other side!"
At that instant Tom tripped over a plank and went down full length,making quite a racket. When he picked himself up he was surprised tosee the man he was after dart from inside a big box and start forthe fence, near a point where there were some packing-cases piledup, making a good approach to the barrier. The fugitive had beenhiding, waiting for a chance to escape, and Tom's fall had alarmedhim.
"Here! Hold on there! Come back!" cried the youth as he recoveredhis wind and leaped forward.
But the man did not stay. With a bound he was up on the pile ofboxes, and the next moment he was poised on top of the fence. Beforeleaping down on the other side, a jump at which even a practicedathlete might well hesitate, the fleeing stranger paused and lookedback. Tom gazed at him and recognized the man in an instant. He wasthe third of the mysterious trio whom the lad had seen in theMansburg restaurant.
"Wait a minute! What do you want sneaking around here?" shouted Tomas he ran forward. The man returned no answer, and an instant laterdisappeared from view on the other side of the fence.
"He jumped down!" thought Tom. "A big leap, too. Well, I've got tofollow. This is a queer proceeding. First one, then the second, andnow the third of those men seem determined to get something here. Iwonder if this one succeeded? I'll soon find out."
The lad was up on the pile of packing-cases and over the fence inalmost record time. He caught a glimpse of the fugitive runningtoward the woods. Then the boy leaped down, jarring himselfconsiderably, and took after the man.
But though Tom was a good runner he was handicapped by the fact thatthe man had a start of him, and also by the fact that the strangerhad had a chance to rest while hiding for the second time in the bigbox, while Tom had kept on r............