CHAPTER II
NO USE OF LIVING!
Only momentarily was Tom Swift halted in his progress toward the sceneof the blaze in the fireworks factory. To him, and to the chum who satbeside him on the seat of the electric runabout, it appeared that theblast had actually stopped the progress of the car. But perhaps thatwas more their imagination than anything else, for the machine swept ondown the hill, at the foot of which was the conflagration.
"That was a bad one, Ned!" gasped Tom, as he turned to one side to passan engine on its way to the scene of excitement.
"I should say so! Must have been somebody hurt in that blow-up!"
"I only hope it wasn't Mary or her folks!" murmured Tom. "The wind issweeping the fire right that way!"
"What are you going to do, Tom?" yelled his chum, as the businessmanager saw the young inventor heading directly for the blaze. "What'sthe idea?"
"To rescue Mary, if she's in danger!"
"I'm with you!" was Ned's quick response. "But you can't go any closer.The police are stretching the fire lines!"
"I guess they'll let me through!" said Tom grimly.
He slowed his car as he approached a place where an officer was drivingback the throng that sought to come closer to the blaze.
"Git back! Git back, I tell you!" stormed the policeman, pushingagainst the packed bodies of men and boys. "There'll be another blow-upin a minute or two, and a lot more of you killed!"
"Are there any killed?" asked Tom, stopping the car near the officer.
"I guess so--yes. And some of the houses are catching. Git back now!You, too, with that car! You'll have to back up!"
"I've got to go through!" replied Tom, with tightening lips. "I've gotto go through, Cassidy!" He knew the officer, and the latter nowseemed, for the first time, to recognize the young inventor.
"Oh, it's you, is it, Mr. Swift?" he exclaimed. "Well, go ahead. But becareful. 'Tis dangerous there--very dangerous, an'--"
His voice was lost in the roar of another explosion, not as loud orsevere as the first, but more plainly felt by Tom and Ned, for theywere nearer to it.
"Now will you git back!" cried Policeman Cassidy, and the crowd did,without further urging.
Tom started the runabout forward again.
"We've got to rescue Mary!" he said to Ned, who nodded.
In another moment the two young men were lost to sight in a swirl ofsmoke that swept across the street. And while they are thus temporarilyhidden may not this opportunity be taken of telling new readerssomething of the hero of this story?
The young inventor was introduced in the first volume of this series,called "Tom Swift and his Motor Cycle." It was Tom's first venture intothe realms of invention, after he had purchased from Mr. WakefieldDamon a speedy machine that tried to climb a tree with that excitablegentleman.
Tom, with the help of his father, an inventor of note, rebuilt themotor cycle adding many improvements, and it served Tom in good steadmore than once.
From then on the career of Tom Swift was steadily onward and upward.One new invention led to another from his second venture, a motor boat,through an airship and other marvels, and eventually to a submarine. Ineach of these vehicles of motion and travel Tom and his friends, NedNewton and Mr. Damon, had many adventures, detailed in the respectivevolumes.
His venture in proceeding to save Mary Nestor from possible danger inthe blaze of the fireworks factory was not the first time Tom hadrendered service to the Nestor family. There was that occasion on whichhe had sent his wireless message from Earthquake Island, as related inan earlier volume.
Space forbids the detailing of all that had happened to the younginventor up to the time of the opening of this story. Sufficient tosay that Tom's latest achievement had been the recovery of treasurefrom the depths of the ocean.
Tom Swift's activities in connection with his inventions had become sonumerous that the Swift Construction Company, of which Ned Newton wasfinancial manager and Mr. Damon one of the directors, had been formed.And when the rumor came that there was a chance to salvage some of theuntold wealth at the bottom of the sea, Tom was interested, as were hisfriends.
It was decided to search for the wreck of the Pandora, sunk in the WestIndies, and one of Tom's latest submarine craft was utilized for thispurpose.
Not to go into all the details, which are given in the last volume ofthis series, entitled "Tom Swift and His Undersea Search," suffice itto say that the venture was begun. Matters were complicated owing tothe fact that Mary Nestor's uncle, Barton Keith, was in trouble overthe loss of valuable papers proving his title to some oil lands. Marymentioned that a person, Dixwell Hardley, was the man who, it wassupposed, was trying to defraud her relative. And the complications maybe imagined when it is said that this same Hardley was the man who hadinterested Tom in the undersea search for the riches of the Pandora.
Tom had been at home some time now, and it was while going over hisaccounts with Ned, and, incidentally, planning new activities, that thecry of fire broke in on them.
"Whew, Tom, some heat there!" gasped Ned, lowering his arm from hisface, an action which had been necessitated by Tom's daring in drivingthe car close to the blazing fireworks factory.
"I should say so!" agreed Tom. "I can almost smell the rubber of mytires burning. But we're out of the worst of it."
"Lucky she didn't take the notion to blow up as we were passing,"grimly commented Ned. "Where are you aiming for now?"
"Mary's house. It's just beyond here. But we can't see it on account ofthe smoke."
A few seconds later they had passed through the black pall that wasslashed here and there with red slivers of flame, and, coming to a moreopen space, Ned and Tom cleared their eyes of smoke.
"I guess there's no immediate danger," remarked Tom, as he saw that thehome of Mary Nestor and the houses near her residence were, for thetime being, out of the path of the flames. The explosion had blown downpart of the blazing factory nearest the residential section, and theflames had less to feed on.
But the conflagration was still a fierce one. Not half the big factorywas yet consumed, and every now and then there would sound dull,booming reports, causing nervous screams from the women who were out infront of their homes, while the men would crouch down as though fearinga shower of fiery embers.
"Oh, Tom, I'm so glad you're here!" cried Mary, as the runabout drew upin front of her home. "Do you think it will be much worse?" and sheclutched his arm, as he got down to speak to her.
"I think the worst is over, as far as you people here are concerned,"the young inventor replied. "The wind has shifted a bit."
"And there are several engines near us, Tom," said Mr. Nestor, comingforward. "The firemen tell me they will play streams of water on theroofs and outsides of our houses if the flames start this way again."
"That ought to do the trick," said Tom, with a show of confidence."Anybody hurt around here?" he asked. "One of the policeman said heheard several were killed."
"They may have been--in the factory," said Mr. Nestor. "Of course ifthe fire and explosions had taken place in the daytime the loss of lifewould have been great. But most of the workers had left some timebefore the blaze was discovered. There are a few men on a night shift,though, and I shouldn't be surprised but what some of them hadsuffered."
"Too bad!" murmured the young inventor. "You're not worried about yourhome, are you, Mrs. Nestor?" he asked of Mary's mother.
"Oh, Tom, I certainly am!" she exclaimed. "I wanted to bring out ourthings, but Mr. Nestor said it wouldn't be of any use."
"Neither it would, if we've got to burn, but I don't believe wehave--now," said her husband. "That last explosion and the shift of thewind saved us. I appreciate your coming over, Tom," he went on. "Wemight have needed your help. It's queer there isn't some better, ormore effective, way of fighting a fire than just pouring on acomparatively insignificant bit of water," he added, as, from what wasnow a safe distance, they watched the firemen using many lines of hose.
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"They do have chemical extinguishers," said Ned.
"Yes, for little baby blazes that have just started," went on Mr.Nestor. "But in all the progress of science there has not been muchadvance in fighting fires. We still do as they did a hundred yearsago--squirt water on it, and mighty little of it compared to the blaze.It would take a week to put this fire out by the water they are usingif it were not for the fact that the blaze eats itself up and hasnothing more to feed on."
"We'll have to get Tom to invent a new way of fighting fire," remarkedNed.
The young inventor was about to reply when several firemen, equippedwith smoke helmets which they adjusted as they ran, came running downthe street.
"What's the matter?" asked Tom of one whom he knew.
"Some men are trapped in a small shed back of the factory," was theanswer. "We just heard of it, and we're going in after them. Oh!Oh--my--my heart!" he gasped, and he sank to the sidewalk. Evidentlyhe was either overcome by the smoke and poisonous gases or by hisexertions.
Tom grasped the situation instantly. Taking the smoke helmet from theexhausted fire-fighter, the young inventor shouted:
"I'll fill your place! See if you can grab a hat, Ned, and come on!"
One of the other firemen had two helmets, and he offered Ned one.Pausing only long enough to see that Mr. Nestor and some others werelooking after the exhausted "smoke-eater," Ned raced on after Tom. Thetwo young men, following the firemen, made their way around the end ofthe factory to the smoke-filled yard in the rear. But for the helmets,which were like the gas masks of the Great War, they would not havebeen able to live.
One of the firemen pointed through the luridly-lighted smoke to a smallstructure near the main building. This was beginning to burn. Withquick blows of an axe the door was hewed down, and the rescue party,including Tom and Ned, made its way inside. In the light from theblaze, as it filtered through the windows, it could be seen that a manlay in a huddled heap on the floor.
By motions the leader of the rescue squad made it clear that the manwas to be carried out, and Tom helped with this while Ned, using anaxe, cleared away some debris to enable the door to be opened fully sothe men could pass out carrying their burden.
The man was taken to the Nestor yard and stretched out on the grass.Word was relayed to one of the ambulance doctors who were on the sceneattending to several injured firemen, and in a short time the man, who,it appeared, had been overcome by smoke, was revived.
"Well, that was a narrow squeak for you," said one of the firemen, gladto breathe without a mask on.
"Yes, it was touch and go," remarked the young doctor, who had usedheroic measures to bring the man back from the brink of the grave. "Butyou'll live now, all right."
The revived man looked dully about him. He seemed somewhat bewildered.
"Of what use to live?" he murmured. "You might as well have let me diein there. Life isn't worth living now," and he sank into a stupor,while Tom and the others looked wonderingly at one another.