Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 03 – And His Rocket Ship

“I thought-” Tom began, but he never finished the sentence.

A bright flash had appeared suddenly in the dark sky, near the upper defense circle. Then there was another brilliant burst of light, just above the first.

A second later two jarring explosions rocked the ZERO-HOUR INTERRUPTION! 155

island. The sirens started wailing. The floodlights flared on.

But even their intense glare failed to blot a blinding flash overhead as one of the low-level drones exploded. It blew to pieces directly over the airstrip, showering the rocket area with fragments.

Fires broke out in a dozen places at once!

CHAPTER 19

SEALED INSTRUMENTS

“ALL FIRE EQUIPMENT OUT!” Tom yelled over the tracking platform’s loudspeaker. “And turn off the floodlights!”

The watchman on duty in the power shack dashed to the control board and threw the master switch. As the island plunged into darkness, patches of fire burned brightly in a dozen or more places on and within the buildings.

The biggest blaze was roaring along the truck road where the loaded vehicles had been abandoned because of the explosions. Tom noticed the peculiar lasting way in which the flames burned on the ground and knew instantly what it meant.

“Bud!” he exclaimed. “This stuff is jellied gasoline! Napalm bombs have been dropped on us!”

A fire engine ground to a stop near the rocket. Its crew leaped into action, shooting chemicals upon the lively flames that threatened the Star Spear.

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SEALED INSTRUMENTS 157

Tom grabbed two portable extinguishers from the fire truck and handed them to Hank Sterling and Bud.