Part 15 (1/2)
”What sent that blaze to the happy hunting grounds?” asked Ned
”My new aerial extinguisher,” answered Tom, with justifiable pride in his voice ”This fire happened in the nick of time for me, Ned I had a tin ofit, though I intended to pour it in the new containers I aI wish to avoid
”But when I saw that tree on fire I couldn't resist the temptation to use my very latest combination of chemicals It is so recent that I haven't actually tried it on a blaze yet, though I had figured out in theory that it ought to work And it did, Ned! It worked!”
”Well, I should say so!” agreed his chum ”That blaze was doused for fair The test could not have been better But what in the na, Tom?”
”I'll tell you in a et
That coth It did the trick Here, take the wheel and hold her steady while I jot down soet away fro an airshi+p, especially under Tom's watchful eye, and as this craft was one with dual controls there was no difficulty in shi+fting frouided, now and then gazing down at the tree froh the fire was all out, Tom made the necessary scientific notes for future amplification
”And now,” observed Ned, as his chuhten me on how that tree came to be on fire--if you didn't set it yourself”
”No, I didn't do that,” Toh ”And I only have a theory as to the cause of the blaze But suppose we go down and take a look There's a good field around this grove, and we can get a fine take off I'll have to go back to Shopton anyhow, to get some , and then the mystery was explained
The dead oak, to which so place of thousands of crows that had built their nests in it There were hundreds of the big nests, made of dried sticks, mostly, and these made an ideal fuel for the fire
”But where are the crows, and what started the fire?” asked Ned
”I fancy the birds fleay as soon as they saw their homes on fire,”
said Too to soht I fancy that is what happened here
”As for the cause of the blaze, I believe it was set by soood chance to have soe For the dead tree was of no value, and I ilad to see the flock of crows dispersed Some boys probably climbed up and set fire to one of the nests, and then, when they saw the whole lot going, they becahtened and ran away”
And Tom's theory was, eventually, proved to be true So afield, had set fire to the crows' nests and then, frightened as they saw a bigger blaze than they intended, ran away
Toht think about the destruction of their ho the aeroplane, were again on their way
Toh to make sure that his latest combination of chemicals had been just as needed He felt sure that by using a larger quantity, no fire, however fierce, could continue to blaze
”But I want to give it a good trial, Ned, as we did froh I don't believe there'll be a fizzle this ti for Tom to secure another supply of the new chemical He then ith it to the fir his containers, or ”bombs” as he called them
On his return he consulted with Mr Baxter as to the ingredients of the fluid that had put out the blaze in the tree
”I believe you have at last hit on the right combination,” said the chemist ”You are on the road to success, Tom I wish I could say the same of myself”
”Perhaps your formulae may come back to you as suddenly as they disappeared, or as quickly as I discovered that I had the right thing to put out the fire,” said To inventor Now that he was convinced he had at last evolved the right er scale thantree
”I'll try it with a fire in the pit,” he said to his chum