第10章

Down they went, unerring as an arrow, though on a slant, caused by the impetus given them by the speed of the airship.

Tom and his friends leaned over the side of the machine to watch the effect.They could see the chemicals strike the blaze, and it was evident from the manner in which the fire died down that the containers hadbroken, as Tom intended they should to scatter their contents."Hurray!" cried Ned, forgetting that he could not be heard, for no head telephones were used on this occasion and the roar of the motor would drown any human voice."It's working, Tom!"Truly the effect of the chemicals was seemingly to cause the fire to go out, but it was only a momentary dying down.Koku and Rad had made a fierce, yet comparatively small, conflagration, and though for a time the gas generated by Tom's mixture dampened the blaze, in a few seconds-- less than half a minute--the flames were shooting higher than ever.

Tom made a gesture of disappointment, and swung his craft around in a sharp, banking turn.He had no more chemicals to drop, as he had thought this supply would be sufficient.However, he had guessed badly.The fire burned on, doing no damage, of course, for that had been thought of when it was started in the meadow.

"Something wrong!" declared the young inventor, when they were back at the hangar, climbing out of the machine.

"What was it?" asked Ned.

"Didn't use the right kind of chemicals," Tom answered."From the way the flames shot up, you'd think I had poured oil on the blaze instead of carbon dioxide.""Bless my insurance policy, Tom!" cried Mr.Damon, "but I'd hate to trust to your apparatus if my house caught.""Don't blame you," Tom assented."But I'll do the trick yet! This is only a starter!"During the next two weeks the young inventor worked hard in his laboratory, Mr.Swift sometimes helping him, but more often Koku and Eradicate.Mr.Baxter had recovered sufficiently to leave the Swift home.But though the chemist seemed well physically, his mind appeared to be brooding over his loss.

"If I could only get my secret formulae back!" he sighed, as he thanked Tom for his kindness."I'm sure Field and Melling have them.And I believe they got them the night of the fireworks blaze; the scoundrels!""Well, if I can help you, please let me," begged Tom.And then he dismissed the matter from his mind in his anxiety to hit upon the rightchemical mixture for putting out fires from the air.

One afternoon, at the end of a week in which he had been busily and steadily engaged on this work, Tom finally moved away from his laboratory table with a sigh of relief, and, turning to Eradicate, who had been helping him, exclaimed:

"Well, I think I have it now!"

"Good lan' ob massy, I hopes so!" exclaimed the colored man."It sho' do smell bad enough, Massa Tom, to make any fire go an' run an' drown hisse'f! Whew-up! It's turrible stuff!""Yes, it isn't very pleasant," Tom agreed, with a smile."Though I am getting rather used to it.But when it's in a metal tube it won't smell, and I think it will put out any fire that ever started.We'll give it a test now, Rad.Just take that flask of red stuff and pour it into this one of yellow.I'll go out and light the bonfire, and we'll make a small test."Leaving Rad to mix some of the chemicals, a task the colored man had often done before, Tom went out into the yard near his laboratory to start a blaze on which his new mixture could be tested.

He had not got far from the laboratory door when he felt a sudden jar and a rush of air, and then followed the dull boom of an explosion.Like an echo came the voice of Eradicate:

"Oh, Massa Tom, I'se blowed up! It done sploded right in mah face!"