"See the
difference?"
"Bless my volts and amperes!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "I should
say I do! Why, Tom, you make the problem as plain as plain can
be."
"In theory," supplemented Ned Newton, although he meant to
suggest no doubt of his chum's ability to solve almost any
problem.
"You've hit it," said Tom promptly. "I only have a theory so
far regarding such a locomotive. But to the inventor the theory
always must come first. You understand that, Ned?"
"I not only appreciate that fact," said his chum warmly; "but I
believe that you are the fellow to show something definite along
the line of an improved electric locomotive. But, whether you can
reach the high mark set by the president of that railroad--"
"Two miles a minute!" breathed Mr. Damon in agreement. "Bless
my wind-gauge! It doesn't seem possible!"
Tom Swift shrugged his shoulders. "It is the impossible that
inventors have to overcome. If we experimenters believed in the
impossible little would be done in this world, to advance
mechanical science at least. Every invention was impossible until
the chap who put it through built his first working model."
"That's understood, old boy," said Ned, already busily
scratching off the form of the contract he proposed to show the
company's legal advisers early in the morning.
When he had read over the notes he had made Tom O.K.'d them.
"That is about as I had the items set down myself on the sheet
that fellow stole from me.
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