"It sho' do smell bad enough, Massa Tom, to make any fire go an'
run an' drown hisse'f! Whew-up! It's turrible stuff!"

"Yes, it isn't very pleasant," Tom agreed, with a smile.
"Though I am getting rather used to it. But when it's in a metal
tube it won't smell, and I think it will put out any fire that
ever started. We'll give it a test now, Rad. Just take that flask
of red stuff and pour it into this one of yellow. I'll go out and
light the bonfire, and we'll make a small test."

Leaving Rad to mix some of the chemicals, a task the colored
man had often done before, Tom went out into the yard near his
laboratory to start a blaze on which his new mixture could be
tested.

He had not got far from the laboratory door when he felt a
sudden jar and a rush of air, and then followed the dull boom of
an explosion. Like an echo came the voice of Eradicate:

"Oh, Massa Tom, I'se blowed up! It done sploded right in mah
face!"



CHAPTER VI

TOM IS WORRIED


Dropping what he had in his hands, Tom Swift raced back to the