“There it is!  The model and papers are in that box!” cried Tom.  “Don’t let them get away with it!”

The criminals were taken by surprise.  With leveled weapons the attacking party closed in on them.  Mr. Damon raised his club threateningly.

“Surrender!  Surrender!” he cried.  “We have you!  Bless my stars, but you’re captured!  Surrender!”

“It certainly looks so,” admitted Anson Morse.  “I guess they have us, boys.”

The man with the box made a sudden dash toward the woods, but Tom was watching him.  In an instant he sprang at him, and landed on the fellow’s back.  The two went down in a heap, and when Tom arose he had possession of the precious box.

“I have it!  I have it!” he cried.  “I’ve got dad’s model back!”

The man who had had possession of the box quickly arose, and, before any one could stop him, darted into the bushes.

“After him!  Catch him!  Bless my hat-band, stop him!” shouted Mr. Damon.

Instinctively his friends turned to pursue the fugitive, forgetting, for the instant, the other criminals.  The men were quick to take advantage of this, and in a moment had disappeared in the dense woods.  Nor could any trace be found of the one with whom Tom had struggled.

“Pshaw!  They got away from us!” cried Mr. Damon regretfully.  “Let’s see if we can’t catch them.  Come on, we’ll organize a posse and run them down.”  He was eager for the chase, but his companions dissuaded him.  Tom had what he wanted, and he knew that his father would prefer not to prosecute the men.  The lad opened the box, and saw that the model and papers were safe.

“Let those fellows go,” advised the young inventor, and Mr. Damon reluctantly agreed to this.  “I guess we’ve seen the last of them,” added the youth, but he and Mr. Swift had not, for the criminals made further trouble, which will be told of in the second volume of this series, to be called “Tom Swift and His Motor-Boat; or, The Rivals of Lake Carlopa.”  In that our hero will be met in adventures even more thrilling than those already related, and Andy Foger, who so nearly ran Tom down in the automobile, will have a part in them.

“Now,” said Mr. Damon, after it had been ascertained that no one was injured, and that the box contained all of value that had been stolen, “I suppose you are anxious to get back home, Tom, aren’t you?  Will you let me take you in my car?  Bless my spark plug, but I’d like to have you along in case of another accident!”

The lad politely declined, however, and, with the valuable model and papers safe on his motor-cycle, he started for Shopton.  Arriving at the first village after leaving the woods, Tom telephoned the good news to his father, and that afternoon was safely at home, to the delight of Mr. Swift and Mrs. Baggert.

The inventor lost no time in fully protecting his invention by patents.  As for the unprincipled men who made an effort to secure it, they had so covered up their tracks that there was no way of prosecuting them, nor could any action be held against Smeak & Katch, the unscrupulous lawyers.