CHAPTER XX

SPEEDING THROUGH THE AIR

“LOOKS as if he were coming around,” said Ned Newton in a low voice, as he bent over Lawrence Jardine.

“Yes,” assented the young inventor, raising the man’s head and pouring a little more water between his lips. “He went out cold.”

“I’ll get some aromatic spirits of ammonia from the doctor’s office,” went on Ned. In the plant of the Swift Construction Company there was always more or less danger of accidents, and there were a resident physician and nurse in constant attendance, as is the case in most large establishments employing much help.

Ned came back with the spirits of ammonia and this, administered to the unconscious man, completed the restoration that nature had already undertaken when he fell.

“Are they safe?” Jardine gasped, looking around as Tom supported his head on his knee. “Did you save them?”

“Who?” asked Tom, almost before he thought.

“My wife and children in the Mt. Camon hotel! They are surrounded by a ring of fire! Oh, no—they can’t be saved! I just heard the news! Then I rushed here. If any one can save them—save all the doomed ones—it must be you, Tom Swift!”

“Tell me about it!” demanded the young inventor. “Talk fast! If there’s a big fire, there’s no time to lose!”

“It is a big fire,” gasped Mr. Jardine, gradually recovering himself and slumping into a chair Ned brought forward. “The whole forest surrounding the hotel is blazing!”

“How do you know?”

“I had a long distance call from my wife. She was in terror. Even as she talked, I could hear men and women and children in the rooms about her shouting and crying and screaming in fright. It’s awful!”

Tom Swift’s thoughts went to Mary and the others in the hotel. He wanted to rush forth and save them, but first he must know exactly what to do. Eagerly he and Ned questioned Mr. Jardine for particulars.

“I have been stopping in Mansburg on some business,” went on the head of the Jardine firm. “It was there, not a half hour ago, that I received the telephone message from my wife. She said there was a trail of fire in the forest, completely surrounding the hotel. As you know, it’s in the midst of a dense forest with no open tracts for miles to check the progress of the flames.”

“How did the fire start?” Tom cried.

“My wife didn’t say. But she said the woods were as dry as tinder and that the fire was sweeping up from the bottom of the mountain at a terrible rate! Oh, you must do something!”

“Did your wife tell you anything else?” Tom wanted to know.

“She begged me to hurry up there and save them; but it’s a two days’ trip in a fast auto, and in the end an auto couldn’t reach them.”

“Why don’t they appeal for help to places near them?” asked Ned.

“They have, my wife said. The fire wardens are all out and have sworn in all the deputies they can muster. But the fire is terrible! There never was such a big one! Oh, we must do something!”

Tom dashed away, leaving Ned to minister to the visitor who, however, seemed to have fully recovered from his faint. But he was very weak and excited.

“Where’s he going?” asked the metal manufacturer, observing Tom.

“To a telephone, I guess,” was Ned’s answer. A moment later from Tom’s private office came the words:

“Long distance—in a hurry—it’s a case of life or death!”

He got long distance and gave his number. Then, after a short pause, Ned and Mr. Jardine heard him jiggle the hook and appeal to central to hurry and put through the call. There was again a period of tense silence, and then Tom repeated in a dull voice:

“Oh—they don’t answer. All—all right!”

The receiver clicked back on the hook and Tom rejoined Ned and Mr. Jardine.

“The wires are down,” Tom reported. “Burned, I suppose.”

“Then we must do something at once!” cried Ned.

“Yes,” agreed Tom. “We must get there as quickly as we can.”

He looked at his watch and glanced about the lower office as if seeking something.

“Take me with you!” pleaded Jardine. “That’s why I raced to get here in my car. I want to go with you, Tom Swift!”

“Just a moment,” said Tom, raising a restraining hand for silence. “I must think what is best to do. This is terrible!”

“Can’t you go to Mt. Camon in the big dirigible?” asked Mr. Jardine. “That will take you there as quickly as anything else. In that perhaps you can save my family—and yours,” he added after a moment of hesitation. “Oh, Tom Swift, you must do something!”

“I will, Mr. Jardine. But I must make some plans. Though the gas in the dirigible is not as explosive as that generally made use of, I don’t know that I dare risk sailing over a forest of fire in the machine. Let me think a moment!”

He paced the floor with nervous energy. Then he called to Ned:

“Go out and tell Blake to get the _Wasp_ ready.” This was a small monoplane, very speedy, carrying two.

“Will you take me?” cried Mr. Jardine.

“Impossible—in the _Wasp_,” Tom said. “I must first see what the situation is before I can decide what to do. The forest fire will burn fast, but my _Wasp_ will fly faster, and once I get a view of the burning forests I can decide how to act to save the hotel people.”

“My wife is there—my children, too!”

“My wife is there,” said Tom softly, “and my father. Also some dear friends. I will save them if possible. But first Ned Newton and I will go up in the little plane. It will not take more than an hour.”

“An hour, man! They may burn to death in that time.”

“I hope not—I think not,” Tom answered. “Anyhow, it is the only way. I must see if it is possible to use the dirigible. Hurry, Ned!”

But Ned Newton was already on his way to have the _Wasp_ run from the hangar, and a few minutes later he and Tom climbed into the cockpit.

“Wait here until I return!” Tom ordered. “You could never get there in your car, Mr. Jardine.”

“Oh, but Mr. Swift! Take me! I’ll hang on outside!”

“Impossible!”

“Then get me another plane!”

“I have no other ready that could make the round trip in time. We may need you later, so wait here and I will do all I can.”

“Yes! Yes! You must, Tom Swift!”

As the _Wasp_ roared lightly and at great speed through the air, under the guiding hand of the young inventor, Tom Swift’s heart was like lead, for he wondered what was the fate of his wife, his father, and the others.