Victor Appleton (house Name) by Tom Swift, His Motor Cycle

robbed Tom.

Chapter XVI - Back Home
*
    "We've got to organize a regular searchin' party," declared Jed
Blackford, after he and his father, together with Tom and the
farmer's hired man, had searched up and down the road by the light
of lanterns. "We'll organize a posse an' have a regular hunt. This
is the worst crime that's been committed in this deestrict in many
years, an' I'm goin' to run the scoundrels to earth."
    "Don't be talkin' nonsense, Jed," interrupted his father. "You won't
catch them fellers in a hundred years. They're miles an' miles away
from here by this time in their automobile. All you can do is to
notify the sheriff. I guess we'd better give this young man some
attention. Let's see, you said your name was Quick, didn't you?"
    "No, but it's very similar," answered Tom with a smile. "It's
Swift."
    "I knowed it was something had to do with speed," went on Mr.
Blackford. "Wa'al, now, s'pose you come in the house an' have a hot
cup of tea. You look sort of draggled out."
    Tom was glad enough to avail himself of the kind invitation, and he
was soon in the comfortable kitchen, relating his story, with more
detail, to the farmer and his family. Mrs. Blackford applied some
home-made remedies to the lump on the youth's head, and it felt much
better.
    "I'd like to take a look at my motor-cycle," he said, after his
second cup of tea. "I want to see if those men damaged it any. If
they have I'm going to have trouble getting back home to tell my
father of my bad luck. Poor dad! He will be very much worried when I
tell him the model and his patent papers have been stolen."
    "It's too bad!" exclaimed Mrs. Blackford. "I wish I had hold of them
scoundrels!" and her usually gentle face bore a severe frown. "Of
course you can have your thing-a-ma-bob in to see if it's hurt, but
please don't start it in here. They make a terrible racket."
    "No, I'll look it over in the woodshed," promised Tom. "If it's all
right I think I'll start back home at once."
    "No, you can't do that," declared Mr. Blackford. "You're in no
condition to travel. You might fall off an' git hurt. It's nearly ten
o'clock now. You jest stay here all night, an' in the mornin', if you
feel all right, you can start off. I couldn't let you go to-night."
    Indeed, Tom did not feel very much like undertaking the journey, for
the blow on his head had made him dazed, and the chloroform caused a
sick feeling. Mr. Blackford wheeled the motor-cycle into the
woodhouse, which opened from the kitchen, and there the youth went
over the machine. He was glad to find that it had sustained no
damage. In the meanwhile Jed had gone off to tell the startling news
to near-by farmers. Quite a throng, with lanterns, went up and down
the road, but all the evidence they could find were the marks of the
automobile wheels, which clues were not very satisfactory.
    "But we'll catch them in the mornin'," declared the deputy sheriff.
"I'll know that automobile again if I see it. It was painted red."
    "That's the color of a number of automobiles," said Tom with a
smile. "I'm afraid you'll have trouble identifying it by that means.
I am surprised, though, that they did not carry my motor-cycle away
with them. It is a valuable machine."
    "They were afraid to," declared Jed. "It would look queer to see a
machine like that in an auto. Of course when they were going along
country roads in the evening it didn't much matter, but when they
headed for the city, as they probably did, they knew it would
attract suspicion to 'em. I know, for I've been a deputy sheriff
'most a year."
    "I believe you're right," agreed Tom. "They didn't dare take the
motor-cycle with them, but they hid it, hoping I would not find it.
I'd rather have the model and the papers, though, than half a dozen
motor-cycles."
    "Maybe the police will help you find them," said Mrs. Blackford.
"Jed, you must telephone to the police the first thing in the
morning. It's a shame the way criminals are allowed to go on. If
honest people did