"They put the bomb there to prevent anyone going in at the
first alarm and saving anything," Tom said. "They didn't count on
the roof burning through first, giving me a chance to use the
sand. I made the roof of the red shed flimsy just on that
account, so the force of the explosion if one ever came, would be
mostly upward. You know the expanding gases, caused by an
explosion or by rapid combustion, always do just as electricity
does, seek the shortest and easiest route. In this case I made
the roof the easiest route."
"A lucky provision," observed Ned.
That night Tom had to confess himself beaten, as far as finding
clues was concerned. The empty fire bomb was the only one, and
that seemed valueless.
Close questioning of the workmen failed to disclose anything.
Tom was particularly anxious to discover if any mysterious
strangers had been seen about the works. There was a strict rule
about admitting them to the plant, however, and it could not be
learned that this had been violated.
"Well, we'll just have to lay that aside for a while," Tom said
the next day, when Ned again came to pay a visit. "Now, what do
you say to tackling, with me, that recoil problem on the aerial
warship?"
"I'm ready, if you are," Ned agreed, "though I know about as
much of those things as a snake does about dancing.
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