tom swift’s father folded up the newspaper he had been reading, made a sort of club with it, and banged it down on his desk with the report of a gun. at the same time the aged inventor exclaimed:

“i’ll wager ten thousand dollars my son tom can do it! yes, sir, tom can do it! i’ve got ten thousand dollars that says he can!”

his face flushed because of the unusual excitement under which he was laboring, but his eyes never flinched as he looked at thornton burch, a retired manufacturer of automobiles, with whom mr. swift had just engaged in some spirited conversation.

“do you want to take up that little wager, thorn?” asked mr. swift, friendly enough but very determined.

“i’m not afraid to bet, bart,” rejoined the other, with a tantalizing smile; “but i don’t want to rob you. that would be like taking candy from a baby!”

“you’re right!” chimed in medwell trace, who was associated with mr. burch in business. both were old-time friends of mr. swift’s. “better save your money, bart!” he added, with a chuckle.

“don’t worry about my money, med!” snapped out mr. swift, who, in spite of his age, seemed to have plenty of pep. he went on: “ten thousand dollars won’t break me if i lose it, but i’m not going to. i say tom can do it, but my saying so doesn’t seem to make you believe it. they say money talks, so i’m going to let mine do a little conversing for me. i say again, i’ll wager you ten thousand dollars that tom can do it!”

“bless my fountain pen, but i agree with you, bart!” exclaimed wakefield damon, an eccentric friend of tom and his father. “if anybody can turn that trick it’s my friend tom.”

“but be reasonable,” suggested mr. trace. “granting that tom swift has some speedy machines and that he has made good with them in the past, he hasn’t a piece of apparatus now capable of speed enough and varied activities enough, to enable him to make that trip in the time you are claiming he can do it in, bart. it’s impossible!”

“i say it isn’t impossible!” replied the aged mr. swift. “and to show i’m in earnest i’ll wager a second ten thousand dollars with you, medwell trace, that tom can complete the journey inside of the time mentioned.”

“better go slow, bart,” advised mr. burch, with a smile. “i may hold you to the wager you made with me. i didn’t turn it down. why do you go to betting with med before you close with me?”

“i thought i had closed with you,” stated mr. swift, in some surprise. he had drawn some sheets of paper toward him on his desk and was taking the top off his fountain pen ready to write out a memo of the wager.

“what!” cried mr. burch. “are you making a double bet? with med and with me?”

“that’s what i’m doing!”

“for ten thousand dollars each?”

“that’s right!” and mr. swift seemed surprised that anybody should doubt his word.

“twenty thousand dollars!” murmured mr. damon softly. “it’s a pile of money, bart!”

“i know it is,” agreed mr. swift. “but i have more than twenty thousand dollars worth of faith in tom. i know he can do it!”

“that’s right! he can!” burst out the eccentric visitor. “bless my bald spot, but i’m almost willing to do some betting myself!”

“leave this to me,” begged mr. swift. “you know tom pretty well, for you’ve been on enough queer trips with him—more than i have, as a matter of fact. but i want to vindicate him and prove that i believe in him, and i’m willing to do it to the extent of twenty thousand dollars.”

“all right! all right!” exclaimed mr. trace, with a snapping of his fingers. “if you feel that way about it, bart, put me down for ten thousand dollars. i can use that sum very nicely.”

“if you get it—which you won’t!” chuckled mr. swift grimly.

“not if tom can help it!” echoed mr. damon. “bless my——”

but he got no chance to complete one of his odd expressions, for mr. swift interrupted with:

“tom doesn’t know anything about it yet. i’ll have to call him in and tell him and urge him to get busy and invent a new aeroplane or something, for, frankly, i don’t believe he has just the proper piece of apparatus yet to do the trick!”

“whew!” whistled mr. burch. “and yet you’re willing to bet that tom can do it!”

“i know my boy,” said the aged inventor quietly.

“now let’s get this straight,” suggested mr. trace, who had also taken out pen and paper. “you say, swift, that the hero of jules verne’s story, who circled the globe in eighty days, was a piker. i agree with you about that as far as the time consumed is concerned. with the perfection of automobiles, oil burning steamers, and fast trains, the journey can be accomplished in much less time than verne ever dreamed possible. but to say it can be done in twenty days flat is absurd!”

“then twenty thousand dollars is absurd,” retorted mr. swift. “and it’s the first time i ever heard such a sum so designated.”

“oh, we don’t despise the money!” chuckled mr. trace. “we’ll take it from you willingly enough, bart, if you are mad enough to persist in this wager. if you had said thirty days you might be within the bounds of reason.”

“considerably nearer the truth,” agreed mr. burch. “the trip has been made in about twenty-eight days, elapsed time, i believe. but twenty days, bart——”

“i say tom will circle the globe in twenty days flat—doing it actually within twenty days!” interrupted mr. swift. “the only stipulation i make is that he can use as many and as different means of locomotion as he pleases—that is to say, aeroplanes, seaplanes, motor boats, steamers, or trains.”

“that’s fair enough,” stated mr. trace. “i’ll just make a note of that. no use passing up ten thousand dollars,” he added with a smile at his friend. “i’ll never earn that sum any easier.”

“you mean i never shall,” said mr. swift.

“then this seems to be the state of the case,” went on mr. burch, who had been busily writing. “i’ll just run over this and we can all sign it if it strikes you as being the terms of the wagers.”

the two friends, mr. burch and mr. trace, had called for a friendly visit with mr. swift one day in the early summer. some time before, tom and his father had turned out some machines for these two men in their big shops, and in this way a firm friendship had been started.

mr. damon, who lived in the neighboring town of waterford, had been passing the swift works and had stopped off for a chat. in some way the conversation had turned on a recent globe-circling event of some united states naval airmen, who had made what was considered good time.

“but tom can beat that!” mr. swift had said. “tom can circle the globe in twenty days flat!”

“what in?” asked mr. burch incredulously. “there isn’t a machine made than can do it.”

“tom’s working on a new machine now,” his father had said. “it’s a secret, but i don’t mind mentioning it to you old friends. i haven’t heard him say it is to be used in a globe-circling event, but from what he has told me of it i’m sure it will make fast time, and i’m willing to bet he can put a girdle around the earth, not quite as quickly as puck, but in twenty days.”

“you mean that he will use the same machine all along the route?” asked mr. trace. “why, that’s impossible!”

“not impossible,” said mr. swift. “tom’s new machine is going to be capable of traveling in the air, on the land, or in the water. i mean on the surface of the water, not a submarine. that would be a little too much. but when i say i’ll wager ten thousand dollars that tom can circle the globe in twenty days, i don’t want to tie him down to this one machine. something might happen to it. if you gentlemen take my bet, it is with the understanding that any machine or machines may be used. the one condition is that tom, himself, personally, shall complete the girdle of the earth in twice ten days.”

“it can’t be done!” declared mr. burch.

“never!” asserted his friend.

“if anybody can do it, bless my key ring, tom’s the boy!” voiced mr. damon.

so the wagers had come to be laid. mr. swift had spoken at first rather rashly and in the heat of excitement. but he was not one to back down, and he listened to the reading of the simple agreement which mr. burch wrote out.

“item,” droned the retired manufacturer as he scanned his paper, “a wager is entered into this third day of june to the effect that if tom swift can circle the globe inside of twenty days, actual time, in any machine or machines of his own or any make, then i, thornton burch, and i, medwell trace, agree that we will each and severally pay to barton swift the sum of ten thousand dollars. if, on the other hand, tom swift fails to circle the globe inside of twenty days flat time, then the said barton swift will pay each and severally to the said burch and trace the sum of ten thousand dollars.”

“suits me!” exclaimed mr. trace, after a moment of thought.

“that’s my understanding of the wagers,” assented mr. swift.

“then we’ll all sign this,” suggested mr. burch, “and mr. damon can put his name down as a witness and also keep this agreement. there is no need of putting up any money among gentlemen,” he added, and this was assented to.

“what about a time limit?” asked mr. damon. “i mean the trip ought to be undertaken and finished within a stipulated time.”

“we’ll say six months from now,” suggested mr. burch, and, there being no objection, this was written in.

one after another the four signed, mr. damon finally as a witness.

hardly had the last of the fountain pens ceased scratching than there was reflected across mr. swift’s private office a flash of fire, followed by a dull, booming sound that seemed to shake the whole building.

“an explosion!” cried mr. damon, and from without, while the men looked anxiously at one another, a voice cried:

“the works are on fire! they’ve been blown up! the works are on fire!”