"
"But those notes you said you took of Mr. Bartholomew's offer?"
"Oh, yes," chuckled Tom again. "Those notes. Well, I may as
well explain to you, Mary, and not try to puzzle you any longer.
But that highwayman is sure going to be puzzled a long, long
time."
"What do you mean, Tom?"
"Those notes were jotted down in my own brand of shorthand.
Such stenographic notes would scarcely be readable by anybody
else. Ho, ho! When that bold, bad hold-up gent turns the notes
over to Montagne Lewis, or whoever his principal is, there will
be a sweet time."
"Oh, Tom! isn't that fun?" cried Mary, likewise much amused.
"I can remember everything we said there in the library," Tom
continued. "I'll see Ned tonight on my way home from here, and he
will draw a contract the first thing in the morning."
"You are a smart fellow, Tom!" said Mary, her laughter trilling
sweetly.
"Many thanks, Ma'am! Hope I prove your compliment true. This
two-mile-a-minute stunt--"
"It seems wonderful," breathed Mary.
"It sure will be wonderful if we can build a locomotive that
will do such fancy lacework as that," observed Tom eagerly. "It
will be a great stunt!"
"A wonderful invention, Tom."
"More wonderful than Mr. Bartholomew knows," agreed the young
fellow. "An electric locomotive with both great speed and great
hauling power is what more than one inventor has been aiming at
for two or three decades.
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