"They imitated your writing pretty well, Tom," Observed Ned, as he looked at the forged note. "Yes; that's why they took all my papers away from me--to get specimens of my handwriting. I half suspected that, but I didn't quite figure out what their game was. Well, we know the worst now, and that's better than working in the dark. Now I'm going to have a bath and get into some decent clothes, and we'll see what we can do." "Count on me, Tom!" exclaimed Ned. "I'll go the limit with you!" "I knew you would, old man!" "And me, too!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my open fireplace, but I'll send word to my wife that I'm not coming home to-night, and we can start the first thing in the morning, Tom." "Yes; there isn't much use in going now, as it will soon be dark." "How are you going to trace the tank, Tom?" asked Ned, when his chum had bathed and gotten into fresh clothes. "I'm going to tour the country around here in an auto. The tank can make ten miles an hour, but that's nothing to what an auto can do. And we oughtn't to have much trouble in tracing her. No one whose house she passed would forget her in a hurry." "That's so," agreed Ned. "But if they took her across country--" "A different story," agreed Tom. "Come to think of it, maybe we'd better start to-night, Ned. We can make inquiries after dark as well as by daylight and get ready for an early morning hunt." "Let's do it, then!" suggested his chum. "I'm ready. I'll send word that I'll not be home to-night." "Good!" cried the young inventor. "We'll have an old-fashioned hunt after our enemies, Ned!" "And don't leave me out!" begged Mr. Damon. Hurried preparations were made for the night trip. Tom ordered out one of his speediest, though not largest, automobiles, and told his helper to get the Hawk ready, to have her so she could start at a moment's notice if needed. "You're not going in her, are you, Tom?" asked Ned. "I may need her to-morrow for daylight hunting. If the tank's hidden somewhere, I can spot her from above more easily than from the ground. So if we get any trace of my machine, I can phone in and have the aeroplane brought to me." "That's a good idea!" Inquiry at the shop where the tank had been built and kept disclosed the fact that, in addition to Koku, three of Tom's men had gone in her to help manage the machine under the direction of the man who bore the forged note. That he was one of the plotters not hitherto observed by either Ned or Tom seemed certain. "And they took Koku and some of the men merely to make it look natural and as if it were all right," Tom said. "Naturally that deceived my father, who thought, of course, that I was waiting for the machine. Well, it was a slick trick, Ned, but we may fool them yet." "I hope so, Tom." Night had fully fallen when Tom, Ned, and Mr. Damon started away in the touring car.