Meanwhile, Tom turned his attention to the police and firemen, who were doing their best to keep the crowd in check.
“Think you can handle the situation?” asked the burly chief in charge of the fire trucks.
“I’m quite sure we can,” Tom said. “Sorry you had to call out all this fire equipment.”
“Don’t worry about that,” replied the fire chief. “We always find it’s safer to get there first and ask questions later.”
“Maybe you won’t find it’s so easy to handle Old Man Greenup,” remarked a uniformed police ser-
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6 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ATOMIC BLASTER
geant. He jerked his thumb toward a long, black limousine which had just pulled up a moment before.
Tom saw a man with iron-gray hair climb out of the car. Frowning, he hurried toward them with decisive strides.
“Who’s he?” Bud asked in a low voice.
“The president of the water company,” Tom said quietly, keeping his eyes fixed on the newcomer. He knew that he was in for trouble, and hoped he could avoid involving his father and Swift Enterprises.
Greenup’s face was red with anger.
“So you’re the young man who’s responsible for this messl” he snapped at Tom.
“It was strictly an accident, Mr. Greenup,” explained Tom respectfully. “I’m sorry if we caused any inconvenience, but it-”
“Inconvenience!” Greenup roared. “Do you realize that was the principal transmission line you burst? We had to stop the pumps and shut off water to the whole community! Suppose a bad fire broke out. What would the fire department do for water? And what about the Shopton Hospital-suppose they need water there!”