“If you’ll just let me get in there and tell ’em which chemicals to use—”
“I said—clear out!”
“But, man, I’m a chemist!”
“I don’t care if you’re a damn’ emperor! I’m in charge. I say—get out!” He saw that Jimmie was not getting out. He turned. “Hey! Some of you men! We’ve a bit of bouncing to do.”
“Come on, Biff,” Jimmie said dully.
They were in the car again. “I’ll drive. Just leave the motor running. Okay, Biff?”
Biff nodded. “Sure makes a wonderful blaze!”
Jimmie drove slowly, inside the fence, around the buildings. The flames spread to the shed. Jimmie stepped on the accelerator and the car raced to the far end of the property. He stalled the motor and sat with hunched shoulders, looking out of the window. As if the earth were a bass drum and the drumstick some celestial body, the first explosion swept upon them. Afterward came four others almost as tremendous at intervals. The flaming contents of both buildings ascended toward the red sky, turning over and over, halting, falling back. A wave of heat oppressed them.
The people vented a great, collective scream. He looked. They were out of danger. Only fragments and sparks fell into the crowd. Some, who had been knocked down, rose and ran—dolls against the hot backdrop. A vast, slowly turning column of black smoke rose in the center of the fire. At its summit a sphere of flame-licked darkness formed. This monstrous object also blew up, with a lush detonation, and it rained down everywhere ten thousand drops of burning liquid.
“That’s that!” Jimmie said. “The rest of it will be more normal! Unless the gas escapes—and I don’t think it will.”