"What's the matter?" asked Jerry Mound, Tom's engineer.
"Matter!" cried Tom. "A whole lot is the matter! That copper
bar is what made the short circuit. It's hot yet from the
electric current. How did it fall on the motor connections?"
The engine room force gathered about the young inventor. No one
could explain how the copper bar came to be where it was.
Certainly no one of Tom's employees had put it there, and it
could not have fallen by accident, for the motor connections were
protected by a mesh of wire, and a hand would have to be thrust
under them to put the bar in place. Tom gave a quick look at his
men. He knew he could trust them--every one. But this was a queer
happening.
For a moment Tom did not know what to think, and then, as the
memory of that warning telegram came to him, he had an idea.
"Were any strangers in this cabin before the start was made?"
he asked Mr. Mound.
"Not that I know of," was the answer.
"Well, there may be some here now," Tom said grimly. "Look
about."
But a careful search revealed no one. Yet the young inventor
was sure the bar of copper, which had done the mischief of
short-circuiting the motor, had been put in place deliberately.
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