第27章

OUT OF THE CLOUDS

Almost as though some giant hand had dropped an immense cloak over the fire in the barn, so did the blaze die down instantly after Tom Swift's extinguishing liquid had been dropped into the seething caldron of flame.For a moment there was even no smoke, but as the embers remained hot and glowing for a time, though the flames themselves were quenched, a rolling vapor cloud began to ascend shortly after the first cessation of the fire.But this only lasted a little while.

"You've turned the trick, Tom!" cried Ned, leaning far over to look at what was left of the barn and its contents.

"Bless my insurance policy, I should say so!" exclaimed Mr.Damon."It was certainly neat work, Tom!""It does look as if I'd struck the right combination," admitted Tom, and he felt justifiable pride in his achievement.

"Look so! Why, hang it all, man, it is so!" declared Ned."That fire went out as if sent for by a special delivery telegram to give a hurry-up performance in another locality.Look, there's hardly any smoke even!"This was so, as the three occupants of the rapidly moving airship could see when Tom circled back to pass again over the almost destroyed structure.He had waited until it was almost consumed before dropping his chemicals, as he wished to make the test hard and conclusive.Now the fire was out except for a few small spots spouting up here and there, away from the center of the blaze.

"Yes, I guess she doesn't need a second dose," observed Tom, when he saw how effective had been his treatment of the fire."I had an additional batch of chemicals on hand, in case they were needed," he added, and he tapped some unused bombs at his feet.

"I call this a pretty satisfactory test," declared Ned."If you want to form a stock company, Tom, and put your aerial fire- fighting apparatus on the market, I'll guarantee to underwrite the securities.""Hardly that yet," said Tom, with a laugh."Now that I have mychemical combination perfected, or practically so, I've got to rig up an airship that will be especially adapted for fighting fires in sky-scrapers.""What more do you want than this?" asked Ned, as his chum prepared to descend in the speedy machine.

"I want a little better bomb-releasing device, for one thing.This worked all right.But I want one that is more nearly automatic.Then I am going to put on a searchlight, so I can see where I am heading at night.""Not your great big one!" cried Ned, recalling the immense electric lantern that had so aided in capturing the Canadian smugglers.

"No.But one patterned after that." Tom answered.

"Bless my candlestick!" exclaimed Mr.Damon, "what do you want with a searchlight at a fire, Tom? Isn't there light enough at a blaze, anyhow?""No," answered the young inventor, as he made his usual skillful landing."You know all the big city fire departments have searchlights now for night work and where there is thick smoke.It may be that some day, in fighting a sky-scraper blaze from the clouds at night, I'll have need of more illumination than comes from the flames themselves.""Well, you ought to know.You've made a study of it," said Mr.Damon, as he and Ned alighted with Tom, the latter receiving congratulations from a number of his friends, including members of the Shopton fire department who were present to witness the test.

"Mighty clever piece of work, Tom Swift!" declared a deputy chief."Of course we won't have much use for any such apparatus here in Shopton, as we haven't any big buildings.But in New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh and other cities--why, it will be just what they need, to my way of thinking.""And he needn't go so far from home," said Mr.Damon."There is one tall building over in Newmarket--the Landmark.I happen to own a little stock in the corporation that put that up, along with other buildings, and I'm going to have them adopt Tom Swift's aerial fire-fighting apparatus.""Thank you.But you don't need to go to that trouble," asserted Tom."My idea isn't to have every sky-scraper equipped with an airship extinguisher.""No? What then?" asked Mr.Damon.

"Well, I think there ought to be one, or perhaps two, in a big city like New York," Tom answered."Perhaps one outfit would be enough, for it isn't likely that there would be two big fires in the tall building section at the same time, and an airship could easily cover the distance between two widely separated blazes.But if I can perfect this machine so it will be available for fires out of the reach of apparatus on the ground, I'll be satisfied.""You'll do it, Tom, don't worry about that!" declared the deputy chief."I never saw a slicker piece of work than this!"And that was the verdict of all who had witnessed the performance.