A DESPERATE BATTLE
Tom's tones and voice were so insistent that the giant and the colored
man had no choice but to obey. They dropped the hose which, half
unreeled, lay like some twisted snake in the grass. Had it been pulled
out all the way the water would have spurted from the nozzle, for it
was of the automatic variety, with which Tom had equipped all his plant.
"But what are you going to do, Tom, if you don't use water?" asked Ned,
wonderingly.
"I don't know--yet, but I know water is the worst thing you can put on
carbide," returned Tom. For all he spoke Slowly his brain was working
fast. Already, even now, he was planning how best to give battle to the
flames.
It needed but an instant's thought on the part of Ned to make him
understand that Tom was right. It would be well-nigh fatal to use water
on carbide. Those of you who have bicycle lanterns, in which that not
very pleasant-smelling chemical is used, know that if a few drops of
water are allowed to drip slowly on the gray crystals acetylene gas is
generated, which makes a brilliant light. But, if the water drips too
fast, the gas is generated too quickly, and an explosion results. In
lamps, of course, and in lighting plants where carbide is used, there
are automatic arrangements to prevent the water flowing too freely to
the chemical. But Tom knew if the hose were turned on the fire in the
red shed a great explosion would result, for some of the tins of
carbide would be melted by the heat.
Yet the fire needed to be coped with. Already the flames were coming
through the roof, and the windows and door were spouting red fire and
volumes of smoke.
Several other employees of Tom's plant had made ready to unreel more
hose, but the warning of the young inventor, shouted to Eradicate and
Koku, had had its effect. Every man dropped the line he had begun to
unreel.
"Ha! Massa Tom say drop de hose, but how yo' gwine t' squirt watah on
a fire wifout a hose; answer me dat?" and Eradicate looked at Koku.
"Me no know," was the slow answer. "I guess Koku go pull shed down and
stamp out fire."
"Huh! Maybe yo' could do dat in cannibal land, where yo' all come
from," spoke Eradicate, "but yo' can't do dat heah! 'Sides, de red shed
will blow up soon. Dere's suffin' else in dere except carbide, an'
dat's gwine t' go up soon, dat's suah!"
"Maybe you get your strong man-mule, Boomerang," suggested Koku.
"Nothing ever hurt him--explosion or nothing. He can kick shed all to
pieces, and put out fire."
"Dat's what I wanted t' do, but Massa Tom say I cain't," explained the
colored man. "Golly! Look at dat fire!"
Indeed the blaze was now assuming alarming proportions. The red shed,
which was not a small structure, was blazing on all sides. About it
stood the men from the various shops.
"Tom, you must do something," said Mr. Swift. "If the flames once reach
that helmanite--"
"I know, Father. But that explosive is in double vacuum containers, and
it will be safe for some time yet. Besides, it's in the cellar. It's
the carbide I'm most worried about. We daren't use water."
"But something will have to be done!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "Bless my
red necktie, if we don't--"
"Better get back a way," suggested Tom. "Something may go off!"
His words of warning had their effect, and the whole circle moved back
several paces.
"Is there anything of value in the shed?" asked Ned.
"I should say there was!" Tom answered. "I hoped we could get some of
them out, but we can't now--until the fire dies down a bit, at any
rate."
"Look, Tom! The pattern shop roof is catching!" shouted Mr. Swift,
pointing to where a little spurt of flame showed on the roof of a
distant building.
"It's from sparks!" Tom said.
"Any danger of using water there?" Ned wanted to know.
"No, use all you like! That's the only thing to do. Come on, you with
the hose!" Tom yelled. "Save the other buildings!"
"But are you going to let the red shed burn?" asked Mr. Swift. "You
know what it means, Tom."
"Yes, Father, I know. And I'm going to fight that fire in a new way.
But we must save the other buildings, too. Play water on all the other
sheds and structures!" ordered the young inventor. "I'll tackle this
one myself. Oh, Ned!" he called.
"Yes," answered his chum. "What is it?"
"You take charge of protecting the place where the new aerial warship
is stored. Will you? I can't afford to lose that."
"I'll look after it, Tom. No harm in using water there, though; is
there?"
"Not if you don't use too much. Some of the woodwork isn't varnished
yet, and I wouldn't want it to be wet. But do the best you can. Take
Koku and Eradicate with you. They can't do any good here."
"Do you mean to say you're going to give up and let this burn?"
"Not a bit of it, Ned. But I have another plan I want to try. Lively
now! The wind's changing, and it's blowing over toward my aerial
warship shed. If that catches--"
Tom shook his head protestingly, and Ned set off on the run, calling to
the colored man and the giant to get out another line of hose.
"I wonder what Tom is going to do?" mused Ned, as he neared the big
shed he and the others had left on the alarm of fire.
Tom, himself, seemed in no doubt as to his procedure. With one look at
the blazing red shed, as if to form an opinion as to how much longer it
could burn without getting entirely beyond control, Tom set off on a
run toward another large structure. Ned, glancing toward his chum,
observed:
"The dirigible shed! I wonder what his game is? Surely that can't be
in danger--it's too far off!"
Ned was right as to the last statement. The shed, where was housed a
great dirigible balloon Tom had made, but which he seldom used of late,
was sufficiently removed from the zone of fire to be out of danger.
Meanwhile several members of the fire-fighting force that had been
summoned from the various shops by the alarm, had made an effort to
save from the red shed some of the more valuable of the contents. There
were some machines in there, as well as explosives and chemicals, in
addition to the store of carbide.
But the fire was now too hot to enable much to be done in the way of
salvage. One or two small things were carried out from a little
addition to the main structure, and then the rescuers were driven back
by the heat of the flames, as well as by the rolling clouds of black
smoke.
"Keep away!" warned Mr. Swift. "It will explode soon. Keep back!"
"That's right!" added Mr. Damon. "Bless my powder-horn! We may all be
going sky-high soon, and without aid from any of Tom Swift's
aeroplanes, either."
Warned by the aged inventor, the throng of men began slowly moving away
from the immediate neighborhood of the blazing shed. Though it may
seem to the reader that some time has elapsed since the first sounding
of the alarm, all that I have set down took place in a very short
period--hardly three minutes elapsing since Tom and the others came
rushing out of the aerial warship building.
Suddenly a cry arose from the crowd of men near the red shed. Ned, who
stood ready with several lines of hose, in charge of Koku, Eradicate
and others, to turn them on the airship shed, in case of need, looked
in the direction of the excited throng.
The young bank clerk saw a strange sight. From the top of the dirigible
balloon shed a long, black, cigar-shaped body arose, floating gradually
upward. The very roof of the shed slid back out of the way, as Tom
pressed the operating lever, and the dirigible was free to rise--as
free as though it had been in an open field.
"He's going up!" cried Ned in surprise. "Making an ascent at a time
like this, when he ought to stay here to fight the fire! What's gotten
into Tom, I'd like to know? I wonder if he can be--"
Ned did not finish his half-formed sentence. A dreadful thought came
into his mind. What if the sudden fire, and the threatened danger, as
well as the prospective loss that confronted Tom, had affected his mind?
"It certainly looks so," mused Ned, as he saw the big balloon float
free from the shed. There was no doubt but that Tom was in it. He could
be seen standing within the pilot-house, operating the various wheels
and levers that controlled the ship of the air.
"What can he be up to?" marveled Ned. "Is he going to run away from the
fire?"
Koku, Eradicate and several others were attracted by the sight of the
great dirigible, now a considerable distance up in the air. Certainly
it looked as though Tom Swift were running away. Yet Ned knew his chum
better than that.
Then, as they watched, Ned and the others saw the direction of the
balloon change. She turned around in response to the influence of the
rudders and propellers, and was headed straight for the blazing shed,
but some distance above it.
"What can he be planning?" wondered Ned.
He did not have long to wait to find out.
An instant later Tom's plan was made clear to his chum. He saw Tom
circling over the burning red shed, and then the bank clerk saw what
looked like fine rain dropping from the lower part of the balloon
straight into the flames.
"He can't be dousing water on from up above there," reasoned Ned.
"Pouring water on carbide from a height is just as bad as spurting it
on from a hose, though perhaps not so dangerous to the persons doing
it. But it can't be--"
"By Jove!" suddenly exclaimed Ned, as he had a better view of what was
going on. "It's sand, that's what it is! Tom is giving battle to the
flames with sand from the ballast bags of the dirigible! Hurray? That's
the ticket! Sand! The only thing safe to use in case of an explosive
chemical fire.
"Fine for you. Tom Swift! Fine!"