I get the right combination of chemicals. And
by having a metal container with the stuff in dropped from this frame
work, I can station myself as near the burning pit as I can get and
watch what happens."

"It's a good idea," decided Ned. "I wonder you didn't try that before."

"Mr. Baxter suggested it," replied Tom. "That helpful idea more than
pays me for what I have done for him. So now, if you're ready, I'd like
to have you watch with me and make some notes, one of us on one side of
the pit, and one on the other. There are always two sides to a fire,
the leeward and the windward, and I want to see how my chemicals act in
both positions."

"I'm with you," said Ned. "Who's going to drop the stuff--Koku?"

"No, he is a bit too heavy for the framework, which I had put up in a
hurry. I'd have Rad do it, but he's out of the game."

"Poor old Rad!" murmured Ned. "Do you think he'll ever get better, Tom?"

"I don't know," sighed the young inventor. "All I can do is to hope. He
is very patient, and Koku is devoted to him. All their little
bickerings and squabbles seem to have been forgotten."

Tom called some of his workmen, some of them to start the blaze of
inflammable material in the pit, while one climbed up to the top of the
tower of scantlings and made his way out on the extended arm, where
there was a little platform for him to stand until it was time to drop
the chemicals.

"Light her up!" cried Tom Swift, and a match was thrown in among the
oiled wood. In an instant a fierce blaze shot up, as hot, in
proportion, as would come from any burning building.

For the second time Tom was about to make a test on a fairly large
scale of his experimental extinguisher mixture.

"All ready up there?" he called to his helper perched high in the air.

"All ready!" came back the answer above the roar and crackle of the
flames that made Tom and Ned step back.

Would success or failure attend the young inventor's project?

CHAPTER XI

THE BLAZING TREE

Tom Swift hesitated a moment before giving the final word that would
send the metal container of powerful chemicals down into the midst of
the crackling flames. He wanted to make sure, in his own mind, that he
had done everything possible to insure the success of his undertaking.
The young inventor never attempted the solution of any problem without
going into it with his whole energy. So he wanted this experiment to
succeed.

He quickly reviewed, mentally