t.

As he did so he heard a hiss, as Eradicate turned the chemical stream
on the blaze. Tom looked up. The faithful colored man was on a ladder
near the burning roof, acting well his part as a fireman.

"That's the stuff!" cried Tom. "Come on, Mr. Jackson. Maybe if we use
the chemical extinguishers we can drive out those fumes!"

The engineer understood. He took up the extinguisher he had brought,
and Tom got a second one from a nearby shed. Then Mr. Swift came out
bearing another.

"You shouldn't have come, dad! We can attend to it!" cried Tom, fearing
for the effect of the excitement on his invalid parent.

"Oh, I couldn't stay there and see the shed burn. Are you getting it
under control? Why don't you run out the Humming-Bird?"

Tom did not mention the choking fumes. He passed up a full extinguisher
to Eradicate, who had used all the chemical in his. Then Tom got
another ladder, and soon three streams were being directed on the
flames. They had eaten, a pretty big hole in the roof, but the
chemicals were slowly telling on them.

As soon as he saw that Eradicate and Mr. Jackson could control the
blaze, Tom descended to the ground, and ran once more to the big doors.
He was determined to make another try to wheel out the aeroplane, for
he saw from above that the flames were now on the side wall, and might
reach the craft any minute. And it would not take much to inflict
serious damage on the sky racer.

"I'll get her, fumes or no fumes!" murmured Tom, grimly. And, whether
it was the effect of the chemical streams, or whether the choking odors
were dissipated through the hole in the roof was not manifested, but,
at any rate, Tom found that he could go in, though he coughed and
gasped for breath.

He wheeled the aeroplane outside, for the Humming-Bird was almost as
light as her namesake. A hurried glance by the gleam of the dying fire
assured Tom that his craft was not damaged beyond a slight scorching of
one of the wing tips.

"That was a narrow escape!" he murmured, as he wheeled the sky racer
far away, out of any danger from sparks. Then he went back to help
fight the fire, which was extinguished in about ten minutes more.

"It was a mighty queer blaze," said Mr. Jackson, "starting at the top
that way. I wonder what caused it?"

"We'll investigate in the morning," decided Tom. "Now, dad, you must
get back to your room." He turned to help his father in, but at that
moment Mr. Swift, who was trying to sa