Nor, for that matter, was there any life in the
forest around him, or on the lake that stretched out before him.
"I wonder if that can be the place?" whispered Tom, for, somehow,
the silence of the place was getting on his nerves. "It must be it,"
he went on. "It's just as Rad described it."
He stood looking at it, the sun striking full on the mysterious
mansion, hidden there amid the trees. Suddenly, as Tom looked, he
heard the "put-put" of a motor-boat. He turned to one side, and saw,
putting out from a little dock that he had not noticed before, a
small craft. It contained one man, and no sooner had the young
inventor caught a glimpse of him than he cried out:
"That's the man who jumped over our fence and escaped!"
Then, before the occupant of the boat could catch sight of him, Tom
turned and fled back into the bushes, out of view.
CHAPTER XXIII.
TOM IS PURSUED
Tom was so excited that he hardly knew what to do. His first thought
was to keep out of sight of the man in the boat, for the young
inventor did not want the criminals to suspect that he was on their
trail. To that end he ran back until he knew he could not be seen
from the lake. There he paused and peered through the bushes. He
caught a glimpse of the man in the motor-boat.
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