Those fumes were put here to keep us from saving the machine. This fire has been set by some enemy! We can"t go in!"
"But I am going!" declared Tom. "We"ll try the back door."
They rushed to that, but again were driven out by the gases and vapors, which were mingled with the smoke. Disheartened, yet with a wild desire to do something to save his precious craft, Tom Swift drew back for a moment.
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 pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sured 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 say something, fell over in a dead faint.
"Quick! Help me carry him into the house!" cried Tom. "Then telephone for Dr. Gladby, Mr. Jackson."
The physician looked grave when, half an hour later, he examined his patient.
"Mr. Swift is very much worse," he said in a low voice. "The excitement of the fire has aggravated his ailment. I would like another doctor to see him, Tom."
"Another doctor?" Tom"s voice showed his alarm.
"Yes, we must have a consultation. I think Dr. Kurtz will be a good one to call in. I should like his opinion before I decide what course to take."
"I"ll send Eradicate for him at once," said the young inventor, and he went to give the colored man his instructions, while his heart was filled with a great fear for his father.
Chapter Eighteen
The Broken Bridge
Dr. Kurtz looked as grave as did Dr. Gladby when he had made an examination of the patient. Mr. Swift was still in a semi-conscious condition, hardly breathing as he rested on the bed where they had placed him after the fire.
"Vell," said the German physician, after a long silence, "vot is your obinion, my dear Gladby?"
"I think an operation is necessary."
"Yes, dot is so; but you know vot kind of an operation alone vill safe him; eh, my dear Gladby?"
Dr. Gladby nodded.
"It will be a rare and delicate one," he said. "There is but one surgeon I know of who can do it."
"You mean Herr Hendrix?" asked Dr. Kurtz.
"Yes, Dr. Edward Hendrix, of Kirkville. If he can be induced to come I think there is a chance of saving Mr. Swift"s life. I"ll speak to Tom about it."
The two physicians, who had been consulting together, summoned the youth from another room, where, with Mrs. Baggert and Mr. Jackson he had been anxiously awaiting the verdict.
"What is it?" the young inventor asked Dr. Gladby.
The medical man told him to what conclusion he and his colleague had arrived, adding:
"We advise that Dr. Hendrix be sent for at once. But I need hardly tell you, Tom, that he is a noted specialist, and his services are in great demand. He is hard to get."
"I"ll pay him any sum he asks!" burst out the youth. "I"ll spend all my fortune--and I have made considerable money of late--I"ll spend every cent to get my father well! Money need not stand in the way, Dr.
Gladby."
"I knew that, Tom. Still Dr. Hendrix is a very busy man, and it is hard to induce him to come a long distance. It is over a hundred miles to Kirkville, and it is an out-of-the-way place. I never could understand why Dr. Hendrix settled there. But there he is, and if we want him he will have to come from there. The worst of it is that there are few trains, and only a single railroad line from there to Shopton."
"Then I"ll telegraph," decided Tom. "I"ll offer him his own price, and ask him to rush here as soon as he can."
"You had better let Dr. Kurtz and me attend to that part of it,"
suggested the physician. "Dr. Hendrix would hardly come on the request of some one whom he did not know. I"ll prepare a telegram, briefly explaining the case. It is the sort of an operation Dr. Hendrix is much interested in, and I think he will come on that account, if for no other reason. I"ll write out the message, and you can have Eradicate take it to the telegraph office."
"I"ll take it myself!" exclaimed Tom, as he got ready to go out into the night with the urgent request. "Is there any immediate danger for my father?" he asked.
"No; not any immediate danger," replied Dr. Gladby. "But the operation is imperative if he is to live. It is his one and only chance."
Tom thought only of his father as he hurried on through the night. Even the prospect of the great race, so soon to take place, had no part in his mind.
"I"ll not race until I"m sure dad is going to get better," he decided.
With the message to the noted specialist Tom also sent one to Mr.
Damon, telling him the news, and asking him to come to Shopton. Tom felt that the presence of the odd gentleman would help him, and Mr.
Damon, who first intended to stay on at the Swift home until he and Tom departed for Eagle Park, had gone back to his own residence to attend to some business Tom knew he would come in the morning, and Mr. Damon did arrive on the first train.
"Bless my soul!" he exclaimed with ready sympathy, as he extended his hand to Tom. "What"s all this?" The young inventor told him, beginning with the fire that had been the cause of the excitement which produced the change in Mr. Swift.
"But I have great hopes that the specialist will be able to cure him,"
said Tom, for, with the coming of daylight, his courage had returned to him. "Dr. Gladby and Dr. Kurtz depend a great deal on Dr. Hendrix," he said.