me. 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 my chemical
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 wit