“He met me heah,” said Eradicate pointing to a clump of bushes near the electrically charged fence. That is, it was electrically charged at night. During the day, when many watchmen were on the alert, Tom did not have the current turned on. “But I’m going to have it on after this,” he decided, when a search of the grounds in the vicinity of the place where Eradicate had received the note revealed no one. “He must have gotten over the fence in some way, didn’t he, Rad?” “I didn’t see him shinny ober de fence, no, Massa Tom.” “Well, I think he must have come in that way. Where did he go after he left the note with you?” “He jes’ disappeared, dat’s whut he done! He jes’ vanished like!” “He must be a voodoo man,” suggested Ned jokingly. Eradicate’s eyes grew round and his jaw dropped. “No,” said Tom glancing warningly at Ned, “what I think happened was that when Rad was looking at the note and trying to adjust himself to the life or death twist the fellow gave to it, the scoundrel jumped back over the fence before Rad saw him.” “He’d have to be a pretty good jumper to get over this fence,” Ned commented. “Yes, but it could be done,” said Tom. “But from now on the electric current will be on duty twenty-four hours a day. I’ll put a stop to this nonsense!” “What are you going to do?” asked Ned. “Well, I’m going to take no chances, for one thing,” was the reply. “I don’t know whether this message is genuine or a hoax. But I can’t afford to take any chances. There are too many men in this plant to risk having even one of the smaller buildings blown up. If only my own laboratory were involved I wouldn’t think so much of it. Though of course a lot of damage could be done to my new invention now that it’s practically finished. However, we’ll have the most thorough investigation possible. I’ll shut down work for the rest of the day and turn the force into an investigating body.” “I think it’s a wise thing to do,” agreed Ned. A little later the big factory whistle sounded the signal of alarm. Men dropped their tools, shut down their machines, and gathered at the appointed places. It was as if, on a ship, the signal had been given for boat drill. Tom had organized his men this way to respond to the alarm in case of emergency. In a short time several hundred indignant employees of the Swift Construction Company were listening to Tom tell of the latest outrage. He did not need to go into details of his secret invention which, until it was perfected, he would not give to the world. It was enough to state that enemies were trying to intimidate the head of the firm in an endeavor to steal some of the valuable secrets.