Tom Swift and His Giant Cannon, page 59 by Victor Appleton
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"I wonder if we could trace that man who rode away on the motor-cycle?" said Ned.
"We'll try," decided Tom, energetically, and in the electric runabout, that had once performed such a service to his father's bank, the young inventor and his chum were soon traversing the road taken by the spy. They got some traces of him--that is, several persons had seen him pass--but that was all. So they had to record one failure at least.
"I wonder if the General himself could have sent that letter?" mused Ned, as they returned home.
"What! To himself?" cried Tom, in amazement.
"He might have," went on Ned, coolly. "You see, Tom, he admits that he was jealous of you. Now what is there to prevent him from hiring someone to dope your powder, and then, to divert suspicion from himself, faking up a letter and inviting himself to the blowout."
"But if he did that--which I don't believe--why would he come when there was danger, in case his trick worked, of the whole place being blown to kingdom come
"Ah, but you notice he didn't arrive until after danger of an explosion had passed," commented Ned.
"Oh, pshaw!" cried Tom. "I don't take any stock in that theory."
"Well, maybe not," replied Ned. "But it's worth thinking about. I believe if General Waller could prevent you from inventing your big gun, he would."
The days that followed were busy ones for Tom. He worked on the powder problem from morning to night, scoring many failures and only a few successes. But he did not give up, and in the meanwhile drew tentative plans for the big gun.
One evening, after a hard day's work, he went to the library where his father was reading.
"Tom," said Mr. Swift, "do you remember that old fortune hunter, Alec Peterson, who wanted me to go into that opal mine scheme?"
"Yes, Dad. What about him? Has he found it?"
"No, he writes to say he reached the island safely, and has been working some time. He hasn't had any su