"Sweep it, Ned! Sweep it!" cried Tom. "Imagine a crowd of Germans are charging out at you, and sweep 'em out of the way!"
Obeying this command, the young man moved the barrel of the machine gun from side to side and slightly up and down. The effect was at once apparent. The wall showed spatter-marks of the bullets over a wider area, and had a body of Teutons been before the factory, or even inside it, many of them would have been accounted for, since there were several holes in the wall through which Ned's bullets sped, carrying potential death with them.
"That's better!" shouted Tom. "That'll do the business! Now I'm going to open her up, Ned!"
"Open her up?" cried the young bank clerk, as he ceased firing.
"Yes; crack the wall of that factory as I would a nut! Watch me take it on high—that is, if the old tank doesn't go back on me!"
"You mean you're going to ride right over that building, Tom?"
"I mean I'm going to try! If Tank A does as I expect her to, she'll butt into that wall, crush it down by force and weight, and then waddle over the ruins. Watch!"
Tom sent some signals to the motor room. At once there was noticed an increase in the vibrations of the ponderous machine.
"They're giving her more speed," said Tom. "And I guess we'll need it."
Straight for the old factory went Tank A. In spite of its ruined condition, some of the walls were still firm, and seemed to offer a big obstacle to even so powerful an engine of war as this monstrous tank.