and it was evident from the manner in which the fire died down
that the containers had broken, as Tom intended they should to
scatter their contents.

"Hurray!" cried Ned, forgetting that he could not be heard, for
no head telephones were used on this occasion and the roar of the
motor would drown any human voice. "It's working, Tom!"

Truly the effect of the chemicals was seemingly to cause the
fire to go out, but it was only a momentary dying down. Koku and
Rad had made a fierce, yet comparatively small, conflagration,
and though for a time the gas generated by Tom's mixture dampened
the blaze, in a few seconds--less than half a minute--the flames
were shooting higher than ever.

Tom made a gesture of disappointment, and swung his craft
around in a sharp, banking turn. He had no more chemicals to
drop, as he had thought this supply would be sufficient. However,
he had guessed badly. The fire burned on, doing no damage, of
course, for that had been thought of when it was started in the
meadow.

"Something wrong!" declared the young inventor, when they were
back at the hangar, climbing out of the machine.

"What was it?" asked Ned.

"Didn't use the right kind of chemicals," Tom answered. "From
the way the flames shot up, you'd think I had poured oil on the
blaze instead of carbon dioxide."