CHAPTER XIII
A SUCCESSFUL TEST
"It took you long enough," Ned remarked as Tom entered the main officeof the plant, having been to see Mary off on her trip to Newmarket.This was following his call of the night before to learn moreparticulars of her unexpected visit.
"Yes, I didn't plan to be gone so long," apologized Tom. "But I thoughtwhile I was there I might as well go all the way with her."
"And did you?"
"Yes. In the electric runabout. I wanted to come back and get theairship, but she said she wanted to look nice when she met herrelatives, and as yet airship travel is a bit mussy. Though when I getmy cabined cruiser of the clouds I'll guarantee not to ruffle a curl ofthe daintiest girl!"
"Getting poetical in your old age!" laughed Ned. "Well, here is thatstatement you said you wanted me to get ready. Want to go over it now?"
"No, I guess not, as long as you know it's all right. I'm going tostart right in and get ready for a bang-up test."
"Of what--your new aerial fire fighting apparatus?"
"Yes. Mr. Baxter and I are going to make up a lot of the chemicalcompound that--we discovered through using it on the blazing tree--willbest do the trick. Then I'm going to try it on a pit fire, and afterthat on a big blaze with an airship."
"Let me know when you do," begged Ned. "I want to see you do it."
"I'll send you word," promised the young inventor.
Then he began several days and nights of hard work. And he was glad tohave the chance to occupy himself, for, though Tom professed not to bemuch affected by the departure of Mary Nestor, he really was verylonesome.
"How is her uncle, Barton Keith, by the way?" asked Ned, when he calledon his chum one day, to find him reading a letter which needed but halfan eye to tell was from Mary.
"About as usual," was the answer. "He sends word by Mary that he'll beglad to see us any time we want to call. He has some nice offices inthe Landmark Building."
"Those papers proving his right to the oil land, which you recoveredfrom the sunken ship for him, must have made his fortune."
"Well, yes--that and other things," agreed Tom. "Say, we had someexciting times on that undersea search, didn't we?"
"Did you call on Mr. Keith when you went to Newmarket with Mary?" Nedwanted to know, for he and Tom had taken quite a liking to MissNestor's uncle.
"No, I didn't get a chance. Besides, I wanted to keep away from theLandmark Building."
"Why?"
"Oh, I might run into Field and Melling, and I don't want to see themuntil I can accuse them, and prove it, of having taken Mr. Baxter's dyeformulae."
"Oh, yes, they're in the same building with Mr. Keith, aren't they? Whydo they call it the Landmark? Though I suppose the answer is obvious."
"Yes," assented Tom. "It's a big building--the tallest ever erected inthat city, and a fine structure. Though while they were about it Idon't see why they didn't make it fireproof."
"Didn't they?" asked Ned, in surprise. "Then the insurance rates mustbe unusually high, for the companies are beginning to realize how firedepartments, even in big cities, are hampered in fighting blazes abovethe tenth or twelfth stories."
"Yes, it was a mistake not to have the Landmark Building fireproof,"admitted Tom. "And Mr. Keith says the owners are beginning to realizethat now. It is what is called the 'slow burning' construction."
"Insurance companies don't go much on that," declared Ned, who was in aposition to know. "Well, let us hope it never catches fire."
These were busy days for the young inventor. He laid aside all hisother activities in order to perfect the plans for manufacturing hisnew chemical fire extinguisher on a large scale. For Tom realized thatwhile a small quantity of chemicals in a compound might act in acertain way on one occasion, if the bulk should happen to be increasedthe experimenter could not always count on invariably the same results.
There appeared to be at times a change engendered when a large quantityof chemicals were mixed which was not manifest in a small andexperimental batch.
So Tom wanted to mix up a big tank of his new chemical compound and seeif it would work in large quantities as well as it did with the smallamount Ned had dropped on the blazing tree.
To this end Tom worked at night, as well as by day, and finally heannounced to Ned and Mr. Damon, who called one evening, that hebelieved he had everything in readiness for an exhaustive test the nextday.
"There's the stuff!" exclaimed Tom, not a little proudly, as he wavedhis hand toward an immense carboy in the main shop. "That's what I hopewill do the trick. Just take a--"
"Hold on! Stop! That's enough! Bless my hair brush!" cried Mr. Damon,holding up a protesting hand. "If you take that cork out, Tom Swift,you and I will cease to be friends!"
"I wasn't going to open it," laughed the young inventor. "It has aworse odor and seems to choke you more in a big quantity than whenthere's only a little. I was just going to shake the carboy to let yourealize how full it was."
"We'll take your word for it!" laughed Ned. "Now about your test. Howare you going to work it?"
"There are to be two tests," answered Tom. "The first, and the smaller,will be in the pit, as before, only this time we shall have what, Ibelieve, will be the successful combination of chemicals to drop on it.
"The second test will be the main one. In that I plan to have an oldbarn which I have bought set ablaze. Then Ned and I will sail over itin the airship and drop chemicals on it. The barn will be filled withempty boxes and barrels, to make as hot a fire as possible. You areinvited to accompany us, Mr. Damon."
"Will there be any smell?" asked the eccentric man, who seemed to havea dislike for anything that was not as agreeable as perfume.
"No, the chemicals will be sealed in containers, which will be droppedfrom my airship as bombs were dropped in the war," said Tom.
"On those conditions I'll go along," agreed Mr. Damon. "But bless mywedding certificate, Tom! don't tell my wife. She thinks I'm crazyenough now, associating with you and flying occasionally. If shethought I would help you battle with flames from the air she'd likelynever speak to me again."
"I'll not tell," promised Tom, laughing.
Preparations for the test went on rapidly. In the morning a fire was tobe started in the same pit where the experiment had partly failedbefore.
From the platform over the blazing hole some of the new combination ofchemicals was to be dropped. If it acted with success, as Tom believedit would, he proposed to go on with the more important test in theafternoon.
To this end he had purchased from a farmer the right to set on fire anold ramshackle barn, standing in the midst of a field about three milesoutside of Shopton. The barn was on an untilled farm, the house havingbeen destroyed some years before, and it was not near any otherstructures, so that, even in a high wind, no damage would result.
Tom had filled the barn with inflammable material, and was going tospare no effort to have the test as exhaustive as possible.
The time came for the preliminary trial, and there were a few anxiousmoments after the oil-soaked boards and boxes in the pit were setablaze.
"Let her go!" cried Tom to his man on the elevated platform, and downfell the container of chemicals. It had no sooner struck and burst,letting loose a mass of flame-choking vapor, than the fire died out.
"You've struck it, Tom! You've struck it!" cried Ned.
"It begins to look so," agreed the young inventor. "But I'll not callmyself out of the woods until this afternoon. Though we can consider ita success so far."
Quite a throng was on hand when the old barn was set ablaze. Tom andNed and Mr. Damon were there with the airship which had been especiallyfitted to carry the bombs filled with the extinguisher.
In order to insure a quick, hot blaze the barn was fired on all foursides at once by Tom's men. When it was seen to be a veritable ragingfurnace of fire, Tom and his two friends took their places in theairship and rapidly mounted upward.
Necessarily they
had to circle off away from the blaze to get to thenecessary height, but Tom soon brought the airship around again andheaded for the black pall of smoke which marked the place of theblazing barn.
"We'll all three send down bombs at the same time," Tom told hisfriends, as they darted forward. "When I give the word press thelevers, and the chemical containers will drop. Then we'll hope for thebest."
Higher mounted the flames, and more fiercely raged the fire. The heatof it penetrated even aloft, where Tom and his friends were scuddingalong in the airship.
"Now!" cried Tom, as his craft hovered for an instant in a favorableposition for dropping the bombs. The young inventor, Mr. Damon, and NedNewton pressed the levers. Looking over the sides of the craft, theysaw three dark objects dropping into the midst of the burning barn.
Tom Swift Among the Fire Fighters; Or, Battling with Flames from the Air Page 13