CASTING THE CANNON
"Come on!" yelled Ned."We'll see how this experiment came out!" and he started to run from beneath the shelter of the hill.
"Hold on!" shouted Tom, laying a restraining hand on his chum's shoulder.
"Why, what's the matter?" asked Ned in surprise.
"Some of that powder may not have exploded," went on the young inventor."From the sound made I should say the gun burst, and, if it did, that gelatin is bound to be scattered about.There may be a mass of it burning loose somewhere, and it may go off.It ought not to, if my theory about it being harmless in the open is correct, but the trouble is that it's only a theory.Wait a few seconds."Anxiously they lingered, the echoes of the blast still in their ears, and a peculiar smell in their nostrils.
"But there's no smoke," said Mr.Damon."Bless my spyglass! I always thought there was smoke at an explosion.""This is a sort of smokeless powder," explained Tom."It throws off a slight vapor when it is ignited, but not much.I guess it's safe to go out now.Come on!"He dropped the pushbutton connected with the igniting battery, and, followed by the others, raced to the scene of the experiment.A curious sight met their eyes.
A great hole had been torn in the hillside, and another where the improvised gun had stood.The gun itself seemed to have disappeared.
"Why--why--where is it?" asked Ned.
"Burst to pieces I guess," replied Tom."I was afraid that charge was a bit too heavy.""No, here it is!" shouted Mr.Damon, circling off to one side."It's been torn from the carriage, and partly buried in the ground," and he indicated a third excavation in the earth.
It was as he had said.The terrific blast had sheared the gun from itstemporary carriage, thrown it into the air, and it had come down to bury itself in the soft ground.The carriage had torn loose from the concrete base, and was tossed off in another direction.
"Is the gun shattered?" asked Tom, anxious to know how the weapon had fared.It was, in a sense, a sort of small model of the giant cannon he intended to have cast.
"The breech is cracked a little," answered Mr.Damon, who was examining it; "but otherwise it doesn't seem to be much damaged.""Good cried Tom."Another steel jacket will remedy that defect.I guess I'm on the right road at last.But now to see what became of that armor plate.""Dinner plate not here," spoke Koku, who could not understand how there could be two kind of plates in the world."Dinner plate gone, but big hole here, and he indicated one in the side of the hill.
"I expect that is where the armor plate is," said Tom, trying not to laugh at the mistake of his giant servant."Take a look in there, Koku, and, if you can get hold of it, pull it out for us.I'm afraid the piece of nickel- steel armor proved too much for my projectile.But we'll have a look."Koku disappeared into the miniature cave that had been torn in the side of the bill.It was barely large enough to allow him to go in.But Tom knew none other of them could hope to loosen the piece of steel, imbedded as it must be in the solid earth.
Presently they heard Koku grunting and groaning.He seemed to be having quite a struggle.
"Can you get it, Koku?" asked Torn."Or shall I send for picks and shovels.""Me get, Master," was the muffled answer.
Then came a shout, as though in anger Koku had dared the buried plate to defy him.There was a shower of earth at the mouth of the cave, and the giant staggered out with the heavy piece of armor plate.At the sight of it Tom uttered a cry.
"Look!" he shouted."My projectile went part way through and then carried the plate with it into the side of the hill.Talk about a powerful explosive! I've struck it, all right!"It was as he had said.The projectile, driven with almost irresistible force, had bitten its way through the armor plate, but a projection at the base of the shell had prevented it from completely passing through.Then, with the energy almost unabated, the projectile had torn the plate loose and hurled it, together with its own body, into the solid earth of the hillside.There, as Koku held them up, they could all see the shell imbedded in the plate, the point sticking out on the other side, as a boy might spear an apple with a sharp stick.
"Bless my spectacle case!" cried Mr.Damon."This is the greatest ever!""It sure is," agreed Ned."Tom, my boy, I guess you can now make the longest shots on record.""I can as soon as I get my giant cannon, perhaps," admitted the young inventor."I think I have solved the problem of the explosive.Now to work on the cannon."An examination of the gauges, which, being attached to the cannon and plate by electric wires, were not damaged when the blast came, showed that Tom's wildest hopes had been confirmed.He had the most powerful explosive ever made--or at least as far as he had any knowledge, and he had had samples of all the best makes.
Concerning Tom's powder, or explosive, I will only say that he kept the formula of it secret from all save his father.All that he would admit, when the government experts asked him about it, later, was that the base was not nitro-glycerine, but that this entered into it.He agreed, however, in case his gun was accepted by the government, to disclose the secret to the ordnance officers.
