Page:Tom Swift and His Giant Cannon.djvu/115



" on!" yelled Ned. "We'll see how this experiment came out!" and he started to run trom 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.