"All right, send up a practice load."
Slowly the powerful explosive came up on the electric hoist. It was placed in the firing chamber and the breech closed.
"Now, gentlemen," said Tom, "this is not a shot for distance. It is merely to try the gun, and get it warmed up, so to speak, for the real tests that will follow. All ready?"
"All ready!" answered Ned, who was acting as chief assistant.
"Here she goes!" cried Tom, and he pressed the button.
Many were astonished by the great report, but Tom and the others, who were used to the service charges, hardly noticed this one. Yet when the wireless report came in, giving the range as over fourteen thousand yards, there was a gasp of surprise.
"Over eight miles!" declared one grizzled officer; "and that with only a practice charge. What will happen when he puts in a full one?"
"I don't know," answered a friend.
Tom soon showed them. Quickly he called for another projectile, and it was inserted in the gun. Then the powder began to come up the hoist. Meanwhile the young inventor had assured himself that the gun was all right. Not a part had been strained.
