第46章

Having attained what he considered a sufficient elevation, Tom headed the Lucifer straight toward the up-spouting column of fire and smoke.Ifever his craft of the air was to justify her name it was now!

Straight and true as an arrow she headed for the fiery pillar! Hotter and hotter grew the air! The darkness of the night was lighted by the awful fire, which rendered objects in the street clear and distinct.But Tom and his friends had little time for such observation.

"Get ready!" cried the young inventor, as he felt a rush of heat across his face, partly protected, as it was, by great goggles.

"All ready!" shouted Ned.

"Let go!" cried Tom, and with a click of springs the fire extinguishers dropped from the bottom of the Lucifer into the very heart of the flames in the Landmark Building.

There was a blast as from a furnace seventy times heated, a choking and gasping for breath on the part of the occupants of the airship, a shriveling, as it seemed, of the naked flesh, and then, when it appeared that all of them must be engulfed in the great heat, the airship passed out of the zone of fire.

A rush of cool air followed, reviving them all, and then, when out of the swirls of smoke, Ned, looking back, cried:

"Good work, Tom! Good work!"

"Did we hit it?" cried the young inventor."She's half gone!" declared Mr.Baxter."Can you give her the rest of the load?""I'm going to try!" declared Tom.

"Bless my bank balance!" shouted Mr.Damon, "are we going through that awful furnace again?""It will not be so bad this time," observed Ned."The fire is half out now.Tom's stuff did the trick!"Indeed it was evident, as Tom sent the Lucifer around in a sharp turn, that the fire had been largely smothered by the gas that now lay over it like a wet blanket.But there was still some fire spouting up.

"Give her all we have!" yelled Tom, as, once more, he prepared to cross the zone of fire.

"Right," sang out Ned.

Once more the Lucifer swept over the burning building.Down shot the remaining grenades, falling into the mass of flames and bursting, thoughthe reports could not be heard because of the tumult in the streets below.For the firemen and spectators had seen the sudden dying down of the fire, they had caught sight of a shadowy shape in the night, hovering over the blazing building, and they wondered what it all meant.

"How is it?" asked Tom, as he guided the craft back to get a view of his work.

"That settles it!" answered Ned."There isn't fire enough now to broil a beefsteak!"This was not exactly true, for the blaze was not entirely subdued.But the flames had all been killed off in the higher parts of the Landmark Building, and what remained could easily be dealt with by the firemen on the ground.They proceeded to make short work of the remainder of the conflagration, the while wondering who had so effectively aided them from the clouds.

"Well," observed Tom, as he saw how effectively he had smothered the great fire, "it's of no use to go on now.I haven't an ounce of chemical left on board.I can't give the demonstration that I planned for tomorrow.""You've given a better demonstration here than you ever could have in the other city," declared Mr.Baxter."I fancy this will be all the test needed, Tom Swift!""Perhaps.I hope so.But we may as well land and see from the ground the effect of our work.I'd also like to inquire if any one was hurt.Let's go down."It was rather ticklish work, making a landing in the midst of a populous city, and at night.But as it happened, there had been a number of buildings razed in the vicinity of the Landmark structure, and there was a large, vacant level space.Also several of the city's fire department searchlights were focused around the burning structure, and when it became evident that an airship was going to land--though as yet none guessed whose it was--the searchlights were turned on the vacant spot and Tom was able to make a good landing, his own powerful searchlight giving effective aid.

"What did you do that put out the fire?" demanded the chief of the Newmarket department, as he rushed up with a crowd of others when Tomand his friends alighted.

"I dropped a few grenades down that chimney," modestly answered the young inventor.