“Look! He’s running for that jeep!” Tom cried.
He and Hank also jumped out a window, but by this time Eskot was already roaring out over the clamshell road to the fuel-storage enclosure two hundred yards away.
“What’s he up to?” Hank asked. “He can’t escape from the island.”
50 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ROCKET SHIP
“No, but he can pull more foul play,” Tom answered. “I believe he may be planning to blow up the tanks. We must stop him!”
“The wind’s shifted,” Hank cried as they raced on. “If Eskot blows up the storage tanks, the whole launching area will go.”
With the speed of desperation, the two dashed toward the concrete-walled enclosure. But as they approached, Eskot brought the jeep to a screeching halt and leaped out. A second later the man was inside the enclosure. With this head start, the chase looked hopeless.
“We’d better not go in,” Hank advised. “Eskot might blow us all to bits!”
Tom would not admit defeat. He was sure that Eskot had not formulated a complete plan yet. There was still time to stop his devilish aim!
“I’ll go in alone, Hank,” Tom called.
“I’m going with you,” Hank said.
Four experimental fuels were stored in separate tanks at each corner of the huge square enclosure. As Tom looked about, trying to spot Eskot, he saw the saboteur run from the side door of a tool shed toward the ladder of the storage tank which contained fuming nitric acid.
Tom could see that the man’s hands were full of highly combustible sawdust-enough, the young inventor knew, to blow the acid tank sky-high if dropped into it!