Meanwhile several members of the fire-fighting force that had
been summoned from the various shops by the alarm, had made an
effort to save from the red shed some of the more valuable of the
contents. There were some machines in there, as well as
explosives and chemicals, in addition to the store of carbide.
But the fire was now too hot to enable much to be done in the
way of salvage. One or two small things were carried out from a
little addition to the main structure, and then the rescuers were
driven back by the heat of the flames, as well as by the rolling
clouds of black smoke.
"Keep away!" warned Mr. Swift. "It will explode soon. Keep
back!"
"That's right!" added Mr. Damon. "Bless my powder-horn! We may
all be going sky-high soon, and without aid from any of Tom
Swift's aeroplanes, either."
Warned by the aged inventor, the throng of men began slowly
moving away from the immediate neighborhood of the blazing shed.
Though it may seem to the reader that some time has elapsed since
the first sounding of the alarm, all that I have set down took
place in a very short period--hardly three minutes elapsing since
Tom and the others came rushing out of the aerial warship
building.
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