“We-uh-we’re pumping the helium coolant into the receiver amplifier!” Tom called back.
As he spoke, the two Swifts were straining at the last few turns of their wrenches. The well-fastened floor bolts were almost out.
“Oh yeah? Maybe we’d better come in and see for ourselves!” Bruggin grumbled.
Tom and his father heard the sound of his key in the lock.
“We can’t be caught!” Tom thought in panic.
Just then the aluminum igloo gave an upxvard surge as the last floor bolt came loose. Tom and his father grabbed the handgrips of the Durabuoy spheres.
The next instant the igloo went soaring aloft like a free balloon! The two Swifts rose with it, clinging to the plastic-foam spheres as the entrapped Durabuoy pushed the structure up into the moonlit sky.
“We’re off!” Tom yelled joyfully.
Below lay the concrete floor slab and all the laboratory equipment. The two guards gaped up at them, openmouthed in sheer disbelief.
“So long!” Tom shouted down at the men. “Give our regards to your boss!”
THE FLYING IGLOO 127
“It’s magic!” Bruggin cried, a look of terror on his face.
Howard was the first to collect his wits. He whipped out an automatic and poured a volley of shots skyward. But by this time the flying igloo and its two strap-hanging passengers were well out of gun range.
“I’ll bet we shocked ‘em out of a year’s growth!” Tom called to his father.
“Imagine Jules Furster’s face when they tell him this story!”
Mr. Swift’s answering chuckle drifted back on the wind. “Yes, he won’t believe it!”
The laboratory site lay far below now, and the figures of the two guards had dwindled to mere specks. A stiff breeze was carrying the igloo toward a nearby range of hills.
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