"I'm almost up to him," exulted the young inventor. Then, at the
same moment, he caught sight of the man running, and a glimpse of
the sparkling water of Lake Carlopa. "I've got him! I've got him!"
Tom almost cried aloud in his excitement. "Unless he takes to the
water and swims for it, I've got him!"
But Tom did not reckon on a very simple matter, and that was the
possibility of the man having a boat at hand. For this is just what
happened. Reaching the lake shore the fugitive with a final spurt
managed to put considerable distance between himself and Tom. Drawn
up on the beach was a little motor-boat. In this, after he had
pushed it from shore, the stranger leaped. It was the work of but a
second to set the engine in motion, and as Tom reached the edge of
the woods and started across the narrow strip of sand and gravel
that was between the water and the trees, he saw the man steering
his craft toward the middle of the lake.
"Well--I'll--be--jiggered!" exclaimed the youth. "Who would have
thought he'd have a motor-boat waiting for him? He planned this
well."
There was nothing to do but turn back. Tom had a small rowboat and a
sailing skiff on the lake, but his boathouse was some distance away,
and even if he could get one of his craft out, the motor-boat would
soon distance it.
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