TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP
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Victor Appleton >> TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP
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"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 Tom. "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!"
CHAPTER IV
SUSPICIONS
High up aloft, over the blazing red shed, with its dangerous
contents that any moment might explode, Tom Swift continued to
hold his big dirigible balloon as near the flames as possible.
And as he stood outside on the small deck in front of the
pilot-house, where were located the various controls, the young
inventor pulled the levers that emptied bag after bag of fine
sand on the spouting flames that, already, were beginning to die
down as a result of this effectual quenching.
"Tom's done the trick!" yelled Ned, paying little attention now
to the big airship shed, since he saw that the danger was about
over.
"Dhat's what he suah hab done!" agreed Eradicate. "Mah ole mule
Boomerang couldn't 'a' done any better."
"Huh! Your mule afraid of fire," remarked Koku.
"What's dat? Mah mule afraid ob fire?" cried the colored man.
"Look heah, yo' great, big, overgrowed specimen ob an equilateral
quadruped, I'll hab yo' all understand dat when yo' all speaks
dat way about a friend ob mine dat yo'--"
"That'll do, Rad!" broke in Ned, with a laugh. He knew that
when Tom's helper grew excited on the subject of his mule there
was no Stopping him, and Boomerang was a point on which Eradicate
and Koku were always arguing. "The fire is under control now."
"Yes, it seems to have gone visiting," observed Koku.
"Visiting?" queried Ned, in some surprise.
"Yes, that is, it is going out," went on Koku.
"Oh, I understand!" laughed Ned. "Yes, and I hope it doesn't
pay us another visit soon. Oh, look at Tom, would you!" he cried,
for the young aviator had swung his ship about over the flames,
to bring another row of sand bags directly above a place where
the fire was hottest.
Down showered more sand from the bags which Tom opened. No fire
could long continue to blaze under that treatment. The supply of
air was cut off, and without that no fire can exist. Water would
have been worse than useless, because of the carbide, but the
sand covered it up so that it was made perfectly harmless.
Moving slowly, the airship hovered over every part of the now
slowly expiring flames, the burned opening in the roof of the
shed making it possible for the sand to reach the spots where it
was most needed. The flames died out in section after section,
until no more could be seen--only clouds of black smoke.
"How is it now?" came Tom's voice, as he spoke from the deck of
the balloon through a megaphone.
"Almost out," answered Mr. Damon. "A little more sand, Tom."
The eccentric man had caught up a piece of paper and, rolling
it into a cone, made an improvised megaphone of that.
"Haven't much more sand left," was Tom's comment, as he sent
down a last shower. "That will have to do. Hustle that carbide
and other explosive stuff out of there now, while you have a
chance."
"That's it!" cried Ned, who caught his chums meaning. "Come on,
Koku. There's work for you."
"Me like work," answered the giant, stretching out his great
arms.
The last of the sand had completely smothered the fire, and
Tom, observing from aloft that his work was well done, moved away
in the dirigible, sending it to a landing space some little
distance away from the shed whence it had arisen. It was
impossible to drop it back again through the roof of the hangar,
as the balloon was of such bulk that even a little breeze would
deflect it so that it could not be accurately anchored. But Tom
had it under very good control, and soon it was being held down
on the ground by some of his helpers.
As all the sand ballast had been allowed to run out Tom was
obliged to open the gas-valves and let some of the lifting vapor
escape, or he could not have descended.
"Come on, now!" cried the inventor, as he leaped from the deck
of his sky craft. "Let's clean out the red shed. That fire is
only smothered, and there may be sparks smoldering under that
sand, which will burst into flame, if we're not careful. Let's
get the explosives out of the way."
"Bless my insurance policy, yes," exclaimed Mr. Damon. "That
was a fine move of yours."
"It was the only way I could think of to put out the fire," Tom
replied. "I knew water was out of the question, and sand was the
next thing."
"But I didn't know where to get any until I happened to think
of the ballast bags of my dirigible. Then I knew, if I could get
above the fire, I could do the trick. I had to fly pretty high,
though, as the fire was hot, and I was afraid it might explode
the gas bag and wreck me."
"You were taking a chance," remarked Ned.
"Oh, well, you have to take chances in this business," observed
Tom, with a smile. "Now, then, let's finish this work."
The sand, falling from the ballast bags of the dirigible, had
so effectually quenched the fire that it was soon cool enough to
permit close approach. Koku, Tom and some of the men who best
knew how to handle the explosives, were soon engaged in the work
of salvage.
"I wish I could help you, Tom," said his aged father. "I don't
seem able to do anything but stand here and look on," and he
gazed about him rather sadly.
"Never you mind, Dad!" Tom exclaimed. "We'll get along all
right now. You'd better go up to the house. Mr. Damon will go
with you."
"Yes, of course!" exclaimed the odd man, catching a wink from
Tom, who wanted his father not to get too excited on account of
his weak heart. "Come along, Professor Swift. The danger is all
over."
"All right," assented the aged inventor, with a look at the
still smoking shed.
"And, Dad, when you haven't anything else to do," went on Tom,
rather whimsically, "you might be thinking up some plan to take
up the recoil of those guns on my aerial warship. I confess I'm
clean stumped on that point."
"Your aerial warship will never be a success," declared Mr.
Swift. "You might as well give that up, Tom."
"Don't you believe it, Dad!" cried Tom, with more of a jolly
air of one chum toward another than as though the talk was
between father and son. "You solve the recoil problem for me, and
I'll take care of the rest, and make the air warship sail. But
we've got something else to do just now. Lively, boys."
While Mr. Swift, taking Mr. Damon's arm, walked toward the
house, Tom, Ned, Koku, and some of the workmen began carrying out
the explosives which had so narrowly escaped the fire. With long
hooks the men pulled the shed apart, where the side walls had
partly been burned through. Tom maintained an efficient
firefighting force at his works, and the men had the proper tools
with which to work.
Soon large openings were made on three sides of the red shed,
or rather, what was left of it, and through these the dangerous
chemicals and carbide, in sheet-iron cans, were carried out to a
place of safety. In a little while nothing remained but a heap of
hot sand, some charred embers and certain material that had been
burned.
"Much loss, Tom?" asked Ned, as they surveyed the ruins. They
were both black and grimy, tired and dirty, but there was a great
sense of satisfaction.
"Well, yes, there's more lost than I like to think of,"
answered Tom slowly, "but it would have been a heap sight worse
if the stuff had gone up. Still, I can replace what I've lost,
except a few models I kept in this place. I really oughtn't to
have stored them here, but since I've been working on my new
aerial warship I have sort of let other matters slide. I intended
to make the red shed nothing but a storehouse for explosive
chemicals, but I still had some of my plans and models in it when
it caught."
"Only for the sand the whole place might have gone," said Ned
in a low voice.
"Yes. It's lucky I had plenty of ballast aboard the dirigible.
You see, I've been running it alone lately, and I had to take on
plenty of sand to make up for the weight of the several
passengers I usually carry. So I had plenty of stuff to shower
down on the fire. I wonder how it started, anyhow? I must
investigate this."
"Mr. Damon and Eradicate seem to have seen it first," remarked
Ned.
"Yes. At least they gave the alarm. Guess I'll ask Eradicate
how he happened to notice. Oh, I say, Rad!" Tom called to the
colored man.
"Yais, sah, Massa Tom! I'se comin'!" the darky cried, as he
finished piling up, at a safe distance from the fire, a number of
cans of carbide.
"How'd you happen to see the red shed ablaze?" Tom asked.
"Why, it was jest dish yeah way, Massa Tom," began the colored
man. "I had jest been feedin' mah mule, Boomerang. He were
pow'ful hungry, Boomerang were, an', when I give him some oats,
wif a carrot sliced up in 'em--no, hole on--did I gib him a
carrot t'day, or was it yist'day?--I done fo'got. No, it were
yist'day I done gib him de carrot, I 'member now, 'case--"
"Oh, never mind the carrot, or Boomerang, either, Rad!" broke
in Tom, "I'm asking you about the fire."
"An' I'se tellin' yo', Massa Tom," declared Eradicate, with a
rather reproachful look at his master. "But I wanted t' do it
right an' proper. I were comin' from Boomerang's stable, an' I
see suffin' red spoutin' up at one corner ob de red shed. I
knowed it were fire right away, an' I yelled."
"Yes, I heard you yell," Tom said. "But what I wanted to know
is, did you see anyone near the red shed at the time?"
"No, Massa Tom, I done didn't."
"I wonder if Mr. Damon did? I must ask him," went on the young
inventor. "Come, on, Ned, we'll go up to the house. Everything is
all right here, I think. Whew! But that was some excitement. And
I didn't show you my aerial warship after all! Nor have you
settled that recoil problem for me."
"Time enough, I guess," responded Ned. "You sure did have a
lucky escape, Tom."
"That's right. Well, Koku, what is it?" for the giant had
approached, holding out something in his hand.
"Koku found this in red shed," went on the giant, holding out a
round, blackened object. "Maybe him powder; go bang-bang!"
"Oh, you think it's something explosive, eh?" asked Tom, as he
took the object from the giant.
"Koku no think much," was the answer. "Him look funny."
Tom did not speak for a moment. Then he cried:
"Look funny! I should say it did! See here, Ned, if this isn't
suspicious I'll eat my hat!" and Tom beckoned excitedly to his
chum, who had walked on a little in advance.
CHAPTER V
A QUEER STRANGER
What Tom Swift held in his hand looked like a small cannon
ball, but it could not have been solid or the young aviator would
not so easily have held it out at arm's length for his friend Ned
Newton to look at.
"This puts a different face on it, Ned," Tom went on, as he
turned the object over.
"Is that likely to go off?" the bank clerk asked, as he came to
a halt a little distance from his friend.
"Go off? No, it's done all the damage it could, I guess."
"Damage? It looks to me as though it had suffered the most
damage itself. What is it, one of your models? Looks like a bomb
to me."
"And that's what it is, Ned."
"Not one of those you're going to use on your aerial warship,
is it, Tom?"
"Not exactly. I never saw this before, but it's what started
the fire in the red shed all right; I'm sure of that."
"Do you really mean it?" cried Ned.
"I sure do."
"Well, if that's the case, I wouldn't leave such dangerous
things around where there are explosives, Tom."
"I didn't, Ned. I wouldn't have had this within a hundred miles
of my shed, if I could have had my way. It's a fire bomb, and it
was set to go off at a certain time. Only I think something went
wrong, and the bomb started a fire ahead of time.
"If it had worked at night, when we were all asleep, we might
not have put the fire out so easily. This sure is suspicious! I'm
glad you found this, Koku."
Tom was carefully examining the bomb, as Ned had correctly
named it. The bank clerk, now that he was assured by his chum
that the, object had done all the harm it could, approached
closer.
What he saw was merely a hollow shell of iron, with a small
opening in it, as though intended for a place through which to
put a charge of explosives and a fuse.
"But there was no explosion, Tom," explained Ned.
"I know it," said Tom quietly. "It wasn't an explosive bomb.
Smell that!"
He held the object under Ned's nose so suddenly that the young
bank clerk jumped back.
"Oh, don't get nervous," laughed Tom. "It can't hurt you now.
But what does that smell like?"
Ned sniffed, sniffed again, thought for a moment, and then
sniffed a third time.
"Why," he said slowly, "I don't just know the name of it, but
it's that funny stuff you mix up sometimes to put in the oxygen
tanks when we go up in the rarefied atmosphere in the balloon or
airship."
"Manganese and potash," spoke Tom. "That and two or three other
things that form a chemical combination which goes off by itself
of spontaneous combustion after a certain time. Only the person
who put this bomb together didn't get the chemical mixture just
right, and it went off ahead of time; for which we have to be
duly thankful."
"Do you really think that, Tom?" cried Ned.
"I'm positive of it," was the quiet answer.
"Why--why--that would mean some one tried to set fire to the
red shed, Tom!"
"They not only tried it, but did it," responded Tom, more
coolly than seemed natural under the circumstances. "Only for the
fact that the mixture went off before it was intended to, and
found us all alert and ready--well, I don't like to think what
might have happened," and Tom cast a look about at his group of
buildings with their valuable contents.
"You mean some one purposely put that bomb in the red shed,
Tom?"
"That's exactly what I mean. Some enemy, who wanted to do me an
injury, planned this thing deliberately. He filled this steel
shell with chemicals which, of themselves, after a certain time,
would send out a hot tongue of flame through this hole," and Tom
pointed to the opening in the round steel shell.
"He knew the fire would be practically unquenchable by ordinary
means, and he counted on its soon eating its way into the carbide
and other explosives. Only it didn't."
"Why, Tom!" cried Ned. "It was just like one of those alarm-
clock dynamite bombs--set to go off at a certain time."
"Exactly," Tom said, "only this was more delicate, and, if it
had worked properly, there wouldn't have been a vestige left to
give us a clue. But the fire, thanks to the ballast sand in the
dirigible, was put out in time. The fuse burned itself out, but I
can tell by the smell that chemicals were in it. That's all,
Koku," he went on to the giant who had stood waiting, not
understanding all the talk between Tom and Ned. "I'll take care
of this now."
"Bad man put it there?" asked the giant, who at least
comprehended that something was wrong.
"Well, yes, I guess you could say it was a bad man," replied
Tom.
"Ha! If Koku find bad man--bad for that man!" muttered the
giant, as he clasped his two enormous hands together, as though
they were already on the fellow who had tried to do Tom Swift
such an injury.
"I wouldn't like to be that man, if Koku catches him," observed
Ned. "Have you any idea who it could be, Tom?"
"Not the least. Of course I know I have enemies, Ned. Every
successful inventor has persons who imagine he has stolen their
ideas, whether he has ever seen them or not. It may have been one
of those persons, or some half-mad crank, who was jealous. It
would be impossible to say, Ned."
"It wouldn't be Andy Foger, would it?"
"No; I don't believe Andy has been in this neighborhood for
some time. The last lesson we gave him sickened him, I guess."
"How about those diamond-makers, whose secret you discovered?
They wouldn't be trying to get back at you, would they?"
"Well, it's possible, Ned. But I don't imagine so. They seem to
have been pretty well broken up. No, I don't believe it was the
diamond-makers who put this fire bomb in the red shed. Their line
of activities didn't include this branch. It takes a chemist to
know just how to blend the things contained in the bomb, and even
a good chemist is likely to fail--as this one did, as far as time
went."
"What are you going to do about it?" Ned asked.
"I don't know," and Tom spoke slowly, "I hoped I was done with
all that sort of thing," he went on; "fighting enemies whom I
have never knowingly injured. But it seems they are still after
me. Well, Ned, this gives us something to do, at all events."
"You mean trying to find out who these fellows are?"
"Yes; that is, if you are willing to help."
"Well, I guess I am!" cried the bank clerk with sparkling eyes.
"I wouldn't ask anything better. We've been in things like this
before, Tom, and we'll go in again--and win! I'll help you all I
can. Now, let's see if we can pick up any other clues. This is
like old times!" and Ned laughed, for he, like Tom, enjoyed a
good "fight," and one in which the odds were against them.
"We sure will have our hands full," declared the young
inventor. "Trying to solve the problem of carrying guns on an
aerial warship, and finding out who set this fire."
"Then you're not going to give up your aerial warship idea?"
"No, indeed!" Tom cried. "What made you think that?"
"Well, the way your father spoke--"
"Oh, dear old dad!" exclaimed Tom affectionately. "I don't want
to argue with him, but he's dead wrong!"
"Then you are going to make a go of it?"
"I sure am, Ned! All I have to solve is the recoil proposition,
and, as soon as we get straightened out from this fire, we'll
tackle that problem again--you and I. But I sure would like to
know who put this in my red shed," and Tom looked in a puzzled
manner at the empty fire bomb he still held.
Tom paused, on his way to the house, to put the bomb in one of
his offices.
"No use letting dad know about this," he went on. "It would only
be something else for him to worry about."
"That's right," agreed Ned.
By this time nearly all evidences of the fire, except for the
blackened ruins of the shed, had been cleared away. High in the
air hung a cloud of black smoke, caused by some chemicals that
had burned harmlessly save for that pall. Tom Swift had indeed
had a lucky escape.
The young inventor, finding his father quieted down and
conversing easily with Mr. Damon, who was blessing everything he
could think of, motioned to Ned to follow him out of the house
again.
"We'll leave dad here," said Tom, "and do a little
investigating on our own account. We'll look for clues while
they're fresh."
But, it must be confessed, after Tom and Ned had spent the rest
of that day in and about the burned shed, they were little wiser
than when they started. They found the place where the fire bomb
had evidently been placed, right inside the main entrance to the
shed. Tom knew it had been there because there were peculiar
marks on the charred wood, and a certain queer smell of chemicals
that confirmed his belief.
"They put the bomb there to prevent anyone going in at the
first alarm and saving anything," Tom said. "They didn't count on
the roof burning through first, giving me a chance to use the
sand. I made the roof of the red shed flimsy just on that
account, so the force of the explosion if one ever came, would be
mostly upward. You know the expanding gases, caused by an
explosion or by rapid combustion, always do just as electricity
does, seek the shortest and easiest route. In this case I made
the roof the easiest route."
"A lucky provision," observed Ned.
That night Tom had to confess himself beaten, as far as finding
clues was concerned. The empty fire bomb was the only one, and
that seemed valueless.
Close questioning of the workmen failed to disclose anything.
Tom was particularly anxious to discover if any mysterious
strangers had been seen about the works. There was a strict rule
about admitting them to the plant, however, and it could not be
learned that this had been violated.
"Well, we'll just have to lay that aside for a while," Tom said
the next day, when Ned again came to pay a visit. "Now, what do
you say to tackling, with me, that recoil problem on the aerial
warship?"
"I'm ready, if you are," Ned agreed, "though I know about as
much of those things as a snake does about dancing. But I'm
game."
The two friends walked out toward the shed where Tom's new
craft was housed. As yet Ned had not seen it. On the way they saw
Eradicate walking along, talking to himself, as he often did.
"I wonder what he has on his mind," remarked Ned musingly.
"Something does seem to be worrying him," agreed Tom.
As they neared the colored man, they could hear him saying:
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