"Tom! Tom!" cried Ned, as he watched the disappearing figure ofhis chum. "Come back here! If there's going to be an explosion weought to run out of the back door!"
"I'm not running away!" flashed back Tom. "I'm going to getthat powder out of the auto before it goes up! If it does we'llbe blown to kingdom come, back door or front door! Come on!"
"Bacon and eggs!" yelled Ned. "He's running an awful risk! ButI can't let him go alone! I guess we're in for it!"
Then he, too, rushed from the office toward the front of theshop, before which, in a sort of private road, stood the blazingauto. And Ned, who had now lost sight of Tom, because of our herohaving turned a corner in the corridor, heard excited shoutscoming from the seat of trouble.
"If that's some new kind of powder Tom's sent for, to test forhis new big gun, and it goes up," Ned said to himself, as herushed on, "this place will be blown to smithereens. All Tom'svaluable machinery and patents will be ruined!"
Ned had now reached the front door of the shop. He had aglimpse of the burning auto--a small express truck, well loadedwith various packages. And, through the smoke, which from theodor must have been caused by burning gasoline, Ned could seeseveral boxes marked in red letters:
DANGEROUS EXPLOSIVE KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE
"Keep away from fire!" murmured the panting lad. "If they canget any nearer fire I don't see how."
"Oh, mah golly!" gasped Eradicate, who had lumbered on behindNed. "Oh, mah golly! Oh, good land ob massy! Look at Massa Tom!"
"I've got to help him!" cried Ned, for he saw that his chum hadrushed to the rear of the auto, and was endeavoring to drag oneof the powder boxes across the lowered tail-board. Tom wasstraining and tugging at it, but did not seem able to move thecase. It was heavy, as Ned learned later, and was also held downby the weight of other express packages on top of it.
"Oh, mah golly!" cried Eradicate. "Git some watah, somebody,an' put out dat fire!"
"No--no water!" yelled Tom, who heard him. "Water will onlymake it worse--it'll scatter the blazing gasoline. The feed pipefrom the tank must have burst. Throw on sand--sand is the onlything to use!"
"I'll git a shubble!" cried Eradicate. "I'll git a sand-shubble!" and he tottered off.
"Wait, Tom, I'll give you a hand!" cried Ned, as he saw hischum step away from the end of the auto for a moment, as a burstof flame, and choking smoke, driven by the wind, was blown almostin his face. "I'll help you!"
"We've got to be lively, then, Ned!" gasped Tom. "This isgetting hotter every minute! Where's that Koku? He could yankthese boxes out in a jiffy!"
And indeed a giant's strength was needed at that moment.
Ned glanced around to see if he could catch a glimpse of thebig man whom Tom had brought from Giant Land, but Koku was not insight.
"Let's have another try now, Ned!" suggested Tom, when a shiftin the wind left the rear of the auto comparatively free fromsmoke and flame.
"You fellows had better skip!" cried the expressman, who hadbeen throwing light packages off his vehicle from in front,where, as yet, there was no fire. "That powder'll go up inanother minute. Some of the boxes are beginning to catch now!" heyelled. "Look out!"
"That's right!" shouted Tom, as he saw that the edge of one ofthe wooden cases containing the powder was blazing slightly."Lively, Ned!"
Ned held back only for a second. Then, realizing that the timeto act was now or never, and that even if he ran he could hardlysave himself, he advanced to Tom's side. The smoke was chokingand stifling them, and the flames, coming from beneath the autotruck, made them gasp for breath.
Together Tom and Ned tugged at the nearest case of powder--theone that was ablaze.
"We--we can't budge it!" panted Tom.
"It--it's caught somewhere," added Ned. "Oh, if Koku were onlyhere!"
There was a sound behind the lads. A voice exclaimed:
"Master want shovel, so Eradicate say--here it is!"
They turned and saw a big, powerful man, with a simple, child-like face, standing calmly looking at the burning auto.
"Koku!" cried Tom. "Quick! Never mind the shovel! Get thosepowder boxes out of that cart before they go up! Yank 'em out!They're too much for Ned and me! Quick!"
"Oh, of a courseness I will so do!" said Koku, to whom, evenyet, the English language was somewhat of a mystery. He droppedthe shovel, and, heedless of the thick smoke from the burninggasoline, reached over and took hold of the nearest box. Itseemed as though he pulled it from the auto truck as easily asTom might have lifted a cork.
Then, carrying the box, which was now burning quite fiercely onone corner, over toward Tom and Ned, who had moved back, thegiant asked:
"What you want of him, Master?"
"Put it down, Koku, and get out all the others! Lively, now,Koku!"
"I do," was the simple answer. The giant put the box on thegrass and ran back toward the auto.
"Quick, Ned!" shouted Tom. "Throw some sand on this burningbox! That will put out the fire!"
A few handfuls of earth served to extinguish the little blaze,and by this time Koku had come back with another box of powder.
"Get 'em all, Koku, get 'em all! Then we can put out the fireon the auto."
For the giant it was but child's play to carry the heavy boxesof powder, and soon he had them all removed from the truck. Then,with the danger thus narrowly averted, they all, including theexpressman, turned in and began throwing sand on the fire, whichnow had a good hold on the body of the auto. The shovel, whichEradicate had sent by Koku, who could use more speed than couldthe aged colored man, came in handy.
Soon the fire was out, though not before the truck had beenbadly damaged, and some of its load destroyed. But, beyond acharring of some of the powder boxes, the explosive was intact.
"Whew! That was a lucky escape," murmured Tom, as he sat downon one of the boxes, and wiped the smoke and sweat from his face."A little later and there'd only been a hole in the ground totell what happened. hot work; eh, Ned?"
"I guess yes, Tom."
"I thought of the powder as soon as I saw that the truck was onfire," explained the expressman; "but I didn't know what to do. Iwas kinder flustered, I guess. This is the second time this oldtruck has caught fire from a leaky gasoline pipe. I guess thatwill be the last--it will for me, anyhow. I'll resign if theydon't give me another machine. Will you sign for your stuff?" heasked Tom, holding out the receipt book, which had escaped theflames.
"Yes, and I'm mighty glad I'm here to sign for it," replied theyoung inventor. "Now, Koku, I guess you can take that stuff up tothe shop; but be careful where you put it."
"I do, Master," replied the giant.
"What sort of powder is that, Tom?" asked Ned a little later,when they were again back in the office, the excitement havingcalmed down. The expressman had gone back to town afoot, toarrange about getting another vehicle for what remained of hisload. "Is it the kind they use in big guns?"
"One of the kinds," replied Tom. "I sent for several samples,and this is one. I'm going to conduct some tests to see what kindI'll need for my own big gun. But I expect I'll have to invent anexplosive as well as a cannon, for I want the most powerful I canget. Want to look at some of this powder?"
"Yes, if you think it's safe."
"Oh, it's safe enough if you treat it right. I'll show you,"and working carefully Tom soon had one of the boxes open.Reaching into the depths he held up a handful of something thatlooked like sticks of macaroni. "There it is," he said.
"That powder?" cried Ned. "That's a queer kind. I've seen thekind they use in some guns on the battleships. That powder was inhexagonal form, about two inches across, and had a hole in thecentre. It was colored brown."
"Well, powder is made in many forms," explained Tom. "A personwho has only seen black gunpowder, with its little grains, wouldnot believe that this was one grain of the new powder."
"That macaroni stick a grain of powder?" cried Ned.
"Yes, we'll call it a grain," went on the young inventor, "justas the brown, hexagonal cube you saw was a grain. You see, Ned,the idea is to explode all the powder at once--to getinstantaneous action. It must all burn up at once as soon as itis detonated, or set off.
"To do that you have to have every grain acted on at the samemoment, and that could not be done if the powder was in one solidchunk, or closely packed. For that reason they make it indifferent shapes, so it will lie loose in the firing chamber,just as a lot of jack-straws are piled up. In fact, some of thenew powder looks like jack-straws. Some, as this, for instance,looks like macaroni. Other is in cubes, and some in longstrings."
As he spoke Tom struck a match and held the flames near the endof one of the "macaroni" sticks.
"Caesar's grandmother!" yelled Ned. "Are you crazy, Tom?" as hestarted to leap for a window.
"Don't get excited," spoke Tom, quietly. "There's no danger,"and he actually set fire to the stick of queer powder, whichburned like some wax taper.
"But--but--" stammered Ned.
"It is only when powder is confined that it explodes," Tomexplained. "If it can burn in the open it's as harmless as water,provided you don't burn too much at once. But put it in somethingwhere the resulting gases accumulate and can't escape, and then--why, you have an explosion--that's all."
"Yes--that's all," remarked Ned, grimly, as he nervouslywatched the burning stick of powder. Tom let it flame for a fewseconds, and then calmly blew it out.
"You know what a little puff black gunpowder gives, if you burnsome openly on the ground," went on Tom; "don't you, Ned?"
"Sure, I've often done that."
"But put that same powder in a tight box, and set fire to it,and you have a bang instead of a puff. It's the same way withthis powder, only it doesn't even puff, for it burns more slowly.
"An explosion, you see, is the sudden liberation at one time ofthe gases which result when the powder is burned. If the gasesare given off gradually, and in the open, no harm is done. Butput a stick like this in, say, a steel box, all closed up, save ahole for the fuse, and what do you have? An explosion. That's theprinciple of all guns and cannon.
"But say, Ned, I'm getting to be a regular lecturer. I didn'tknow I was running on so. Why didn't you stop me?"
"Because I was interested. Go on, tell me some more."
"Not now. I want to get this powder in a safe place. I'm alittle nervous about it after that fire. You see if it hadcaught, when tightly packed in the boxes, there would have been aterrific explosion, though it does burn so harmlessly in the openair. Now let me see--"
Tom was interrupted by the postman's whistle, and a littlelater Eradicate came in with the mail that had been left in thebox at the shop door. Tom rapidly looked over the letters.
"Here's the note I want, I think," he said, Selecting one."Yes, this is it. 'Permission is hereby granted,' he read, 'toThomas Swift to visit,' and so on, and so on. This is the stuff,Ned!" he cried.
"What is it?"
"A permit to visit the government proving grounds at SandyHook, Ned, and see 'em test that new big gun I was telling youabout. Hurray! We'll go down there, and I'll see how my ideas fitin with those of the government's experts."
"Did you say 'we' would go down, Tom?"
"I sure did. You'll go with me; won't you?"
"Well, I hadn't thought very much about it, but I guess I will.When is it?"
"A week from today, and I'm going to need all that time to getready. Now let's get busy, and we'll arrange to go to Sandy Hook.I've had trouble enough to get this permit--I guess I'll put itwhere it won't get lost," and he locked it in a secret drawer ofhis desk.
Then the lads stored the powder in a safe place, and soon werebusy about several matters in the shop.