“On time, too!” exclaimed Ned. “Tom, we’re going to make it!”
They had just come down from the plane cockpit, where Tom, with Ned’s help, had been guiding the craft.
“Yes, it looks as if we had two-thirds of our journey behind us,” the young inventor was saying when from the galley came the cry of Eradicate:
“Fire! Fire! She’s on fire!”
CHAPTER XX
A MOUNTAIN STORM
Tom Swift had to think of many matters when he planned his airline express. He was aided, however, by his past experience in manufacturing aircraft and he had made many journeys above the earth and had been in many kinds of peril.
Not the least of these were fires, and Tom well realized the danger of ignition in a craft necessarily so frail as a flying machine heavier than air. So in building the Falcon, the Eagle, and the Osprey he had taken into consideration this menace and had installed certain fire-fighting apparatus.
In order that this might be used to the best advantage, Tom had instructed his men in a fire drill, similar to that used on ships at sea when the call to fire quarters is sounded at unexpected intervals to accustom the passengers to acting sanely in times of excitement.
Now, as Eradicated warning cry sounded forth, Tom did not lose his head, but at once pulled the level of the automatic signal which informed those in the plane above, as well as those in the car, that they must prepare to fight for their lives.
“Put on the parachutes!” Tom cried, for there was one of these life-savers for every person on board. As you know, all the mail-plane fliers now wear these “umbrellas,” as do all army fliers. The parachute is made from a particular kind of raw silk cloth. It can be folded into a very small compass, and is strapped around a flier’s body by means of leather belts going around his legs and waist. On the waist belt is an iron ring, and as the person jumps from a burning plane, or one that is crippled and falling, this iron ring is pulled.