KOKU'S BRAVE ACT
"Tom! Tom!" cried Ned, as he watched the disappearing figure of his chum."Come back here! If there's going to be an explosion we ought to run out of the back door!""I'm not running away!" flashed back Tom."I'm going to get that powder out of the auto before it goes up! If it does we'll be blown to kingdom come, back door or front door! Come on!""Bacon and eggs!" yelled Ned."He's running an awful risk! But I can't let him go alone! I guess we're in for it!"Then he, too, rushed from the office toward the front of the shop, before which, in a sort of private road, stood the blazing auto.And Ned, who had now lost sight of Tom, because of our hero having turned a corner in the corridor, heard excited shouts coming from the seat of trouble.
"If that's some new kind of powder Tom's sent for, to test for his new big gun, and it goes up," Ned said to himself, as he rushed on, "this place will be blown to smithereens.All Tom's valuable machinery and patents will be ruined!"Ned had now reached the front door of the shop.He had a glimpse of the burning auto--a small express truck, well loaded with various packages.And, through the smoke, which from the odor must have been caused by burning gasoline, Ned could see several boxes marked in red letters:
DANGEROUSEXPLOSIVE KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE
"Keep away from fire!" murmured the panting lad."If they can get any nearer fire I don't see how.""Oh, mah golly!" gasped Eradicate, who had lumbered on behind Ned."Oh, mah golly! Oh, good land ob massy! Look at Massa Tom!""I've got to help him!" cried Ned, for he saw that his chum had rushed to the rear of the auto, and was endeavoring to drag one of the powder boxes across the lowered tail-board.Tom was straining and tugging at it,but did not seem able to move the case.It was heavy, as Ned learned later, and was also held down by the weight of other express packages on top of it.
"Oh, mah golly!" cried Eradicate."Git some watah, somebody, an' put out dat fire!""No--no water!" yelled Tom, who heard him."Water will only make it worse--it'll scatter the blazing gasoline.The feed pipe from the tank must have burst.Throw on sand--sand is the only thing to use!""I'll git a shubble!" cried Eradicate."I'll git a sand- shubble!" and he tottered off.
"Wait, Tom, I'll give you a hand!" cried Ned, as he saw his chum step away from the end of the auto for a moment, as a burst of flame, and choking smoke, driven by the wind, was blown almost in his face."I'll help you!""We've got to be lively, then, Ned!" gasped Tom."This is getting hotter every minute! Where's that Koku? He could yank these boxes out in a jiffy!"And indeed a giant's strength was needed at that moment.
Ned glanced around to see if he could catch a glimpse of the big man whom Tom had brought from Giant Land, but Koku was not in sight.
"Let's have another try now, Ned!" suggested Tom, when a shift in the wind left the rear of the auto comparatively free from smoke and flame.
"You fellows had better skip!" cried the expressman, who had been throwing light packages off his vehicle from in front, where, as yet, there was no fire."That powder'll go up in another minute.Some of the boxes are beginning to catch now!" he yelled."Look out!""That's right!" shouted Tom, as he saw that the edge of one of the wooden cases containing the powder was blazing slightly."Lively, Ned!"Ned held back only for a second.Then, realizing that the time to act was now or never, and that even if he ran he could hardly save himself, he advanced to Tom's side.The smoke was choking and stifling them, and the flames, coming from beneath the auto truck, made them gasp for breath.
Together Tom and Ned tugged at the nearest case of powder--the one that was ablaze.
"We--we can't budge it!" panted Tom.
"It--it's caught somewhere," added Ned."Oh, if Koku were only here!" There was a sound behind the lads.A voice exclaimed:
"Master want shovel, so Eradicate say--here it is!"They turned and saw a big, powerful man, with a simple, child- like face, standing calmly looking at the burning auto.
"Koku!" cried Tom."Quick! Never mind the shovel! Get those powder boxes out of that cart before they go up! Yank 'em out! They're too much for Ned and me! Quick!""Oh, of a courseness I will so do!" said Koku, to whom, even yet, the English language was somewhat of a mystery.He dropped the shovel, and, heedless of the thick smoke from the burning gasoline, reached over and took hold of the nearest box.It seemed as though he pulled it from the auto truck as easily as Tom might have lifted a cork.
Then, carrying the box, which was now burning quite fiercely on one corner, over toward Tom and Ned, who had moved back, the giant asked:
"What you want of him, Master?"
"Put it down, Koku, and get out all the others! Lively, now, Koku!""I do," was the simple answer.The giant put the box on the grass and ran back toward the auto.
"Quick, Ned!" shouted Tom."Throw some sand on this burning box! That will put out the fire!"A few handfuls of earth served to extinguish the little blaze, and by this time Koku had come back with another box of powder.
"Get 'em all, Koku, get 'em all! Then we can put out the fire on the auto."For the giant it was but child's play to carry the heavy boxes of powder, and soon he had them all removed from the truck.Then, with the danger thus narrowly averted, they all, including the expressman, turned in and began throwing sand on the fire, which now had a good hold on the body of the auto.The shovel, which Eradicate had sent by Koku, who could use more speed than could the aged colored man, came in handy.
Soon the fire was out, though not before the truck had been badly damaged, and some of its load destroyed.But, beyond a charring of someof the powder boxes, the explosive was intact.
