ck face.

"Oh, don't talk like that!" cried Tom, as cheerfully as he could.
"You've got a lot of work in you yet, Rad. Hasn't he, Koku?" and the
young inventor appealed to the giant, who seldom left the side of his
former enemy.

"Rad good man--him an' me do lots work--next week mebby," said Koku,
smiling very broadly.

"That's the way to talk!" exclaimed Tom, and he laughed a little though
his heart was far from light.

And then, having seen to the final details, he took his place in the
big airship with Ned, Mr. Damon and Josephus Baxter. The craft carried
the largest possible load of fire extinguishing chemicals.

As Tom had feared, the Lucifer staggered a bit in "taking off" late
that afternoon when the start was made for the distant city of Denton,
where the first real test was to be made under the supervision and
criticism of the fire department. But once the craft was aloft she rode
on a level keel.

"I guess we're all right," Tom said. But to make certain he circled
several times over his own landing field, that a good place to come
down might be assured if something unforeseen developed.

However, all went well, and then the course was straightened for the
distant city.

"We'll go right over Newmarket, sha'n't we, Tom?" asked Ned, as the
speed of the Lucifer increased.

"Yes. And I wish I had time to stop and see Mary, but I haven't. It's
getting dark fast, and we ought to arrive at our destination early in
the morning. The test has been set by the committee for ten o'clock."

They settled themselves comfortably in the big craft for a long night
trip, and Mr. Damon was just going to bless something or other when he
pointed off into the distance.

"Look, Tom!" cried the eccentric man. "See that light in the sky!"

"Seems to be a fire," observed Ned.

"It is a fire!" shouted Mr. Baxter. "And it's in Newmarket, if I'm any
judge."

Tom Swift did not answer, but he shoved forward the gasolene lever of
his controls, and the Lucifer shot ahead through the air while the red,
angry glow deepened in the evening sky.

CHAPTER XXII

TRAPPED

While Tom Swift was loading the Lucifer for her trip and the fire
extinguishing test to occur the next morning, quite a different scene
was taking place in the home of Jasper Blake, the uncle of Mary Nestor,
where she had gone to spend a few weeks.

"Well, are you all ready, Mary?" asked her aunt, and it was about the
same time that Ned Newton asked tha