“Come on to the house,” invited the young inventor, “and we’ll develope this plate.”  For in this system it was necessary to develope the receiving plate, as is done with an ordinary photographic one.  Tom wanted a permanent record.

Eagerly the chums in the dark room looked down into the tray containing the plate and the developing solution.

“Something’s coming out!” cried Ned, eagerly.

“Yes!  And it’s you!” exclaimed Tom.  “See, Ned, I got your picture over the telephone.  Success!  I’ve struck it!  This is the best yet!”

At that moment, as the picture came out more and more plainly, someone knocked on the door of the dark room.

“Who is it?” asked Tom.

“Gen’man t’ see you,” said Eradicate.  “He say he come from Mistah Peters!”

“Mr. Peters—­that rascally promoter!” whispered Tom to his chum.  “What does this mean?”

CHAPTER XVII

THE MYSTERIOUS MESSAGE

Tom Swift and his chum looked at one another strangely for a moment in the dim, red light of the dark room.  Then the young inventor spoke: 

“I’m not going to see him.  Tell him so, Rad!”

“Hold on a second,” suggested Ned.  “Maybe you had better see him, Tom.  It may have something to with Mr. Damon’s lost fortune.”

“That’s so!  I didn’t think of that.  And I may get a clue to his disappearance, though I don’t imagine Peters had anything to do with that.  Wait, Rad.  Tell the gentleman I’ll see him.  Did he give any name, Rad?”

“Yas, sah.  Him done say him Mistah Boylan.”

“The same man who called to see me once before, trying to get me to do some business with Peters,” murmured Tom.  “Very well, I’ll see him as soon as this picture is fixed.  Tell him to wait, Rad.”

A little later Tom went to where his caller awaited in the library.  This time there were no plans to be looked at, the young inventor having made a practice of keeping all his valuable papers locked in a safe.

“You go into the next room, Ned,” Tom had said to his chum.  “Leave the door open, so you can hear what is said.”

“Why, do you think there’ll be trouble?  Maybe we’d better have Koku on hand to—­”

“Oh, no, nothing like that,” laughed Tom.  “I just want you to listen to what’s said so, if need be, you can be a witness later.  I don’t know what their game is, but I don’t trust Peters and his crowd.  They may want to get control of some of my patents, and they may try some underhanded work.  If they do I want to be in a position to stop them.”

“All right,” agreed Ned, and he took his place.

But Mr. Boylan’s errand was not at all sensational, it would seem.  He bowed to Tom, perhaps a little distantly, for they had not parted the best of friends on a former occasion.

“I suppose you are surprised to see me,” began Mr. Boylan.