Page:Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight.djvu/64

54 "And you have caused me much annoyance!" said Mr. Foger sharply.

"I'm afraid we'll have to cause you more," was the agent's comment. "I want to have a look in the gardener's house, from where Tom Swift saw the load going away."

"There is nothing there!" declared Mr. Foger quickly. "That is, nothing but some old furniture. I sold a lot of it, and I suppose the man who bought it came for it to-night."

"We'll take a look," repeated the agent. "I am very fond of old furniture."

"Very well," responded the bully's father, as he eyed Tom and Ned blackly.

He led the way out of the house, and soon they stood before the small cottage. It was dark, and when Mr. Foger unlocked the door he turned on the gas, and lighted it.

"I left the gas on until all the furniture should be taken out," he explained. "But you will find nothing here."

It needed but a glance about the place to show that only some odds and ends of furniture was all that it contained.

"Where does this door lead to," asked Mr. Whitford, when he had made a tour of the place,

"Nowhere. Oh, that is only down into the cellar," was the reply. "There is nothing there."