"Bless my law books, Mr. Baxter! but I do believe you're on the right trail at last. Come in, and we'll talk this over."
So Tom left them, traveling on to a distant city where he arranged for a large supply of the chemicals he would need in his extinguisher.
For several days Tom was so busy that he had little time to devote to Mr. Baxter, or even to see him. He learned, however, that the chemist and Mr. Damon were in frequent consultation, and the young inventor hoped something would come of it.
Tom's own plans were going well. He had let several large cities know that he had something new in the way of a fire-fighting machine, and he received several offers to demonstrate it.
He closed with one of these, some distance off, and agreed to fly over in his aircraft and extinguish a fire which was to be started in an old building which had been condemned, and was to be destroyed. This was in a city some four hundred miles away and when Ned Newton called on him one afternoon he found Tom busily engaged in loading his sky-craft with a heavy cargo of the newest liquid extinguisher.
"You aren't taking any chances, are you, Tom?" asked Ned.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you seem to have enough of the liquid 'fire-discourager' to douse any blaze that was ever started."
"No use sending a boy on a man's errand," said Tom. "I'm counting on you to go with me, Ned—you and Mr. Baxter. We leave this afternoon for Denton."
"I'll be with you. Couldn't pass up a chance like that. But here comes Koku, and it looks as if he had something on his mind."