BLOWING DOWN THE BARRIER

"Can you see anything of him, Ned?"

"Not a thing, Mr.Damon.Wait--hold on--no! It's only a bird," and the lad lowered the glasses with which he had been sweeping the sky.looking for his chum returning in his airship with the powder.

"He'd better hurry," murmured the foreman."That dam can't last much longer.The water is rising fast.When it does go out it will go with a rush.Then good-bye to the village of Preston.""Bless my insurance policy!" cried Mr.Damon."Don't say such things, my friend.""But they're true!" insisted the man."You can see for yourself that the cracks in the dam are getting larger.It will be a big flood when it does come.And I'm not altogether sure that we're safe up here," he added, as he looked down the sides of the hill to where the creek was now rapidly becoming a raging torrent.

"Bless my hat-band!" gasped Mr.Damon."You--you are getting on my nerves"I don't want to be a calamity howler," went on the foreman; "but we've got to face this thing.We'd better get ready to vamoose if Tom Swift doesn't reach here in time to fire that shot--and he doesn't seem to be in sight."Once more Ned swept the sky with his glasses.The roar of the water below them could be plainly heard now.

"I wish I could get hold of that rascally German," muttered the foreman."I'd give him more than a piece of my mind.It will be his fault if the town is destroyed, for Tom's plan would have saved it.I wonder who he can be, anyhow?""Some spy," declared Ned."We've been having trouble right along, you know, and this is part of the game.I have some suspicions, but Tom doesn't agree with me.Certainly the fellow, whatever his object, has made trouble enough this time.""I should say so," agreed the foreman.

"Look, Ned!" cried Mr.Damon."Is that a bird; or is it Tom?" and he pointed to a speck in the sky.Ned quickly focused his glasses on it.

"It's Tom!" he cried a second later."It's Tom in the Humming Bird!" "Thank Heaven for that!" exclaimed Mr.Damon, fervently, forgetting to bless anything on this occasion."If only he can get here in time!""He's driving her to the limit!" cried Ned, still watching his chum through the glass."He's coming!""He'll need to," murmured the foreman, grimly."That dam can't last ten minutes more.Look at the people fleeing from the valley!"He pointed to the north, and a confused mass of small black objects-- men, women and children, doubtless, who had lingered in spite of the other warning--could be seen clambering up the sides of the valley.

"Is everything ready at the gun?" asked Mr.Damon.

"Everything," answered Ned, whom Tom had instructed in all the essentials."As soon as he lands we'll jam in the powder, and fire the shot." "I hope he doesn't land too hard, with all that explosive on board,"murmured the foreman.

"Bless my checkerboard!" cried Mr.Damon."Don't suggest such a thing.""I guess we can trust Tom," spoke Ned.

They looked up.The distant throb of the monoplane's motor could now be heard above the roar of the swollen waters.Tom could be seen in his seat, and beside him, in the other, was a large package.

Nearer and nearer came the monoplane.It began to descend, very gently, for well Tom Swift knew the danger of hitting the ground too hard with the cargo he carried.