"
"I won't!" declared the colored man emphatically, and he shook his club
suggestively.
"Come on! We'll go in the front door," whispered Tom to the engineer. "I
have the key. We'll catch him red-handed, and hand him over to the
police."
Waiting a few seconds, to enable Eradicate to get to his place, Tom and
the engineer stole softly toward the big double doors. Every moment the
youth expected to hear the crash of the hatchet on his prize machine. He
shivered in anticipation, but the blows did not fall.
Tom pushed open the door and stepped inside, followed by Mr. Jackson. As
they did so they saw the man standing in front of the Humming-Bird. He
again raised the little hatchet, which was like an Indian tomahawk, and
poised it for an instant over the delicate framework and planes of the
air craft. Then his arm began to descend.
"Stop!" yelled Tom, and at the same time he fired in the air.
The man turned as suddenly as though a bullet had struck him, and for a
moment Tom was afraid lest he had hit him by accident; but an instant
later the intruder grabbed up his flashlight, and holding it before him,
so that its rays shone full on Tom and Mr.
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