“Not much danger of that,” declared Tom.  “Happy Harry is far enough away from here now, and so are his confederates, if he had any, which I doubt.  Still, it will do no harm to take a look around.”

A search resulted in nothing, however, and the Swift household had soon settled down again, though no one slept soundly during the remainder of the night.

In the morning Tom sent word of what had happened to the police of Shopton.  Some officers came out to the house, but, beyond looking wisely at the window by which the burglar had entered and at some footprints in the garden, they could do nothing.  Tom wanted to go off on his motor-cycle on a tour of the surrounding neighborhood to see if he could get any clues, but he did not think it would be wise in the absence of his father.  He thought it would be better to remain at home, in case any further efforts were made to get possession of valuable models or papers.

“There’s not much likelihood of that, though,” said Tom to the old engineer.  “Those fellows have what they want, and are not going to bother us again.  I would like to get that model back for dad, though.  If they file it and take out a patent, even if he can prove that it is his, it will mean a long lawsuit and he may be defrauded of his rights, after all.  Possession is nine points of the law, and part of the tenth, too, I guess.”

So Tom remained at home and busied himself as well as he could over some new machines he was constructing.  He got a telegram from his father that afternoon, stating that Mr. Swift had safely arrived in Albany, and would return the following day.

“Did you have any luck, dad?” asked the young inventor, when his father, tired and worn from the unaccustomed traveling, reached home in the evening.

“Not much, Tom,” was the reply.  “Mr. Crawford has gone back to Washington, and he is going to do what he can to prevent those men taking advantage of me.”

“Did you get any trace of the thieves?  Does Mr. Crawford think he can?”

“No to both questions.  His idea is that the men will remain in hiding for a while, and then, when the matter has quieted down, they will proceed to get a patent on the motor that I invented.”

“But, in the meanwhile, can’t you make another model and get a patent yourself?”

“No; there are certain legal difficulties in the way.  Besides, those men have the original papers I need.  As for the model, it will take me nearly a year to build a new one that will work properly, as it is very complicated.  I am afraid, Tom, that all my labor on the turbine motor is thrown away.  Those scoundrels will reap the benefit of it.”

“Oh, I hope not, dad!  I’m sure those fellows will be caught.  Now that you are back home again, I’m going out on a hunt on my own account.  I don’t put much faith in the police.  It was through me, dad, that you lost your model and the papers, and I’ll get them back!”