Damon listened to it all
with mouth and eyes open.
"Bless my watch-charm!" murmured the latter. "An electric
locomotive that can travel two miles a minute? Whew!"
"Sounds like a big order, Tom," added Ned, seriously.
"It is a big order. I am not at all sure it can be done,"
agreed Tom, thoughtfully. "But under the terms Mr. Bartholomew
offers it is worth trying, don't you think?"
"That twenty-five thousand dollars is as good as yours anyway,"
declared his chum with finality. "I'll see there is no loophole
in the contract and the money must be placed in escrow so that
there can be no possibility of our losing that. The promise of a
hundred thousand dollars must he made binding as well."
"I know you will look out for those details, Ned," Tom said
with a wave of his hand.
"That is what I am here for," agreed the financial manager.
"Now, what else? I fancy the building of such a locomotive looks
feasible to you and your father or you would not go into it."
"But two miles a minute!" murmured Mr. Damon again. "Bless my
prize pumpkins!"
"The idea of speed enters into it, yes," said Tom thoughtfully.
"In fact electric motor power has always been based on speed, and
on cheapness of moving all kinds of traffic.
"Look here!" he exclaimed earnestly, "what do you suppose the
first people to dabble in electrically driven vehicles were
aiming at? The motor-car? The motor boat? Trolley cars? All those
single motor sort of things? Not much they weren't!"
"Bless my glove buttons!" exclaimed Mr.
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