fault. I should not have let him take the chance with a
mixture I had tried only a few times. But we'll hope for the best. How
is he, Doctor?" Tom asked a little later when the physician came out on
the porch.

"He's doing as well as can be expected for the present," was the
answer. "I have given him a quieting mixture. His worst injury seems to
be to his face. His hands are cut by broken glass, but the hurts are
only superficial. I think we shall have to get an eye specialist to
look at him in a day or two."

"You mean that he--that he may go blind?" gasped Tom.

"Well, we'll not decide right away," replied the doctor, as cheerfully
as he could. "I should rather have the opinion of an oculist before
making that statement. It may be only temporary."

"That's bad enough!" muttered Tom. "Poor old Rad!"

"Me take care ob him," put in Koku, who had been humbly standing around
waiting to hear the news. "Me never be mad at dat black man no more!
Him my best friend! I lub him like I did my brudder!"

"Thank you, Koku," said Tom, and his mind went back to the time when he
had escaped in his airship from the gigantic men, of whom Koku and his
brother were two specimens. The brother had gone with a circus, and
Koku, for several years, only saw him occasionally.

Everything possible was done for Eradicate, and the doctor said that it
would be several days, until after the burns from the exploding
chemicals had partly healed, before the eye-doctor could make an
examination.

"Then we can only wait and hope," said Tom.

"And hope for the best!" advised Mr. Damon.

"I'll try," promised Tom. He went back to the laboratory with his
eccentric friend and with Ned, who had come over as soon as he heard
the news. Not much of an examination could be made, as the place was in
such ruins. But it was surmised that in combining the two chemical
mixtures a new one had been created, or at least one that Tom had not
counted on. This had exploded, blowing Eradicate down, flaring a sheet
of flame up into his face, scattering broken glass about, and generally
creating havoc.

"I can't understand it," said Tom. "I was trying to make a fire
extinguishing liquid, and it turned out to be a fire creator. I don't
see what was wrong."

"One chemical might have been impure," suggested Ned.

"Yes," agreed Tom. "I'll check them over and try to find out where the
mistake happened."

"This place will have to be rebuilt," observed Ned. "It's in