Some of the men showed fight, but the police soon subdued them. Koku rushed up to Renwick Fawn and, catching hold of him, shook him as a dog shakes a rat. The giant then caught Barsky and was about to bang together the heads of the two men, and probably would have killed them, when Tom cried for him to stop. “Why stop?” demanded Koku. “’Um tie me up in knots. Now I bust ’um in mince pies!” But he was prevailed upon to release the greatly frightened men, who were then handcuffed with the others and put in the police auto. “Well, Barsky, you didn’t think I’d get out of the cistern so easily, did you?” asked Tom of the red-haired man. A snarl was the only answer. “Are these yours?” asked the chief of police, as he showed Tom a bundle of Liberty Bonds. “We found them in a tin box in the tent.” “They’re mine!” cried Renwick Fawn, throwing out his elbow in the peculiar manner that identified him. “I think they’re the ones you accused my father of stealing,” said Ned. “Hold on to them, Chief.” “I will, young man,” was the cool answer. Sullen and defiant, the prisoners were taken to jail. Then with Koku’s help Tom’s chest of secrets, with the papers, plans and patents intact, as the young inventor ascertained by a quick inspection, was taken to a storage vault in a local bank until it could be removed to Shopton. “I must telephone dad the good news,” Tom said, when the robbers were safely disposed of. And when Tom got into communication with Mr. Swift the latter expressed his delight and also told of the mysterious message demanding a reward for the return of the box. “I’ll pay myself the reward,” chuckled Tom. Little remains to be told. As Ned suspected, the Liberty Bonds were those stolen from the Investment Company and it was proved that Fawn had taken them. Barsky and Blodgett were one and the same, as Tom suspected, and he was one of the prime movers in the plot to steal Tom’s secrets. He and others were sent to prison for long terms. Mr. Blythe had acted in good faith, knowing nothing of the character of the men, who, for their own selfish ends, sought to have him act for them. They had plotted to get Tom’s papers, thinking that when they had possession of them they could force him to come to terms in the sale of his tidal engine and other devices. Accordingly, after open measures had failed, trickery was resorted to. Blodgett, disguised as a Russian pattern-maker, sought and obtained employment. When he found he could not sneak away with the papers, because of the big chest, he attacked Tom, put him out of the way, and then so arranged matters that his confederates entered the place in the night, overpowered Koku, and left with the chest.