He had decided that this was the best way of getting rid of the insistent and troubled housekeeper. He drank the concoction, making rather a wry face over it, and then Mrs. Baggert, satisfied, went out of the room. “Now let’s have the story,” suggested Tom. “Start at the beginning. Is Rad able to tell his part in it?” he inquired, as he placed a chair for the aged colored man. “I shore is!” was the emphatic answer. “An’ ef dat red-haired rascal comes in yeah now I’ll lambaste him a good one—dat’s whut I will!” “Better go easy, Rad,” advised the doctor, who was putting away the materials he had been using. “It was this way, Tom—” said his father, and then, noticing the rather disheveled condition of his son, he exclaimed: “Were you attacked also?” “No. I had a little trouble with the plane and had to sprint with a forest fire,” was the easy answer. “I’m all right. Go on.” Thereupon Mr. Swift related that he had been at work in a room opening out of Tom’s main office on some figures Tom had asked him to verify when a man suddenly entered and without warning reached over the desk as if to grab the papers on which Mr. Swift was working. “I gave a yell and leaped at him,” said the aged inventor, “but he struck me with something in his hand. I got dizzy and sank back in my chair. Just then Eradicate, who was out in the hall, rushed in and the man turned on him, giving poor Rad a blow that knocked him down. “What happened after that I don’t know, except that I saw, in a daze, Mrs. Baggert enter the room and the man spring at her. Then I must have fainted. When I came to myself I was being looked after by Dr. Clayton. But I’m all right now. We must get after this rascal, Tom.” “Certainly we will, Dad. But who was he? What does he look like? A red-haired man has been mentioned.” “Yes, Tom, this fellow had closely-cropped red hair. I have never seen him before that I know of.” “Had you, Rad?” asked the youth. “No, Massa Tom. I was sweepin’ out in de hall an’ I had my back to de do’. I didn’t see de fellah go in. But I heard yo’ pa yell, den I bust in.” “What happened then?” Tom wanted to know, while Ned made notes in shorthand of the answers, so he and Tom could go over it later. “Well, de mostest whut happen is dat me an’ dat fellah come togetha,” explained Rad. “I went fo’ to hit him, but he done hit me fust! Golly, ef dey was ebber a time when I done wish fo’ dat giant, it was den!” “Do all the descriptions of this man tally?” asked Tom. “I mean does Mrs. Baggert also say he was a stranger with red hair?” “Yes,” answered Mr. Swift. “I questioned her about that before you got here. The fellow surely had red hair cut close to his head.” “Did he get away with anything?” asked Tom quickly. “I mean any of our plans? What papers did you have out on the desk when he burst in on you. Dad?”