CHAPTER VIII
OFF FOR AFRICA
Higher and higher went the Black Hawk, far above the earth, untilthe old elephant hunter, looking down, said in a voice which hetried to make calm and collected, but which trembled in spite ofhimself:
"Of course I'm not an expert at this game, Tom Swift, but it looksto me as if we'd never get down. Don't you think we're high enough?"
"For the time being, yes," answered the young inventor. "I didn'tthink she'd climb so far without the use of the gas. She's doingwell."
"Bless my topknot, yes!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "She beats the RedCloud, Tom. Try her on a straight-away course."
Which the youth did, pointing the nose of the craft along parallelto the surface of the earth, and nearly a mile above it. Then,increasing the speed of the motor, and with the big propellershumming, they made fast time.
The old elephant hunter grew more calm as he saw that the airshipdid not show any inclination to fall, and he noted that Tom and theothers not only knew how to manage it, but took their flight as mucha matter of course as if they were in an automobile skimming alongon the surface of the ground.
Tom put his craft through a number of evolutions, and when he foundthat she was in perfect control as an aeroplane, he started the gasmachine, filled the big black bag overhead, and, when it wassufficiently buoyant, he shut off the motor, and the Black Hawkfloated along like a balloon.
"That's what we'll do if our power happens to give out when we getover an African jungle, with a whole lot of wild elephants downbelow, and a forest full of the red pygmies waiting for us,"explained Tom to Mr. Durban.
"And I guess you'll need to do it, too," answered the hunter. "Idon't know which I fear worse, the bad elephants wild with rage, asthey get some times, or the little red men who are as strong asgorillas, and as savage as wolves. It would be all up with us if wegot into their hands. But I think this airship will be just what weneed in Africa. I'd have been able to get out of many a tight placeif I had had one on my last trip."
While the Black Hawk hung thus, up the air, not moving, save as thewind blew her, Tom with his father and Mr. Jackson made aninspection of the machinery to find out whether it had been strainedany. They found that it had worked perfectly, and soon the craft wasin motion again, her nose this time being pointed toward the earth.Tom let out some of the gas, and soon the airship was on the groundin front of the shed she had so recently left.
"She's all right," decided the young inventor after a carefulinspection. "I'll give her a couple more trials, put on thefinishing touches and then we'll be ready for our trip to Africa.Have you got everything arranged to go, Ned?"
"Sure. I have a leave of absence from the bank, thanks to yourfather and Mr. Damon, most of my clothes are packed, I've bought agun and I've got a lot of quinine in case I get a fever."
"Good!" cried the elephant hunter. "You'll do all right, I reckon.I'm glad I met you young fellows. Well, I've lived through my firsttrip in the air, which is more than I expected when I started."
They discussed their plans at some length, for, now that the airshiphad proved all that they had hoped for, it would not be long erethey were under way. In the days that followed Tom put the finishingtouches on the craft, arranged to have it packed up for shipment,and spent some time practicing with his electric rifle. He got to bean expert shot, and Mr. Durban, who was a wonder with the ordinaryrifle, praised the young inventor highly.
"There won't be many of the big tuskers get away from you, Tom Swift,"he said. "And that reminds me, I got a letter the other day, fromthe firm I collect ivory for, stating that the price had risenbecause of a scarcity, and urging me to hurry back to Africa and getall I could. It seems that war has broken out among some of thecentral African tribes, and they are journeying about in the jungle,on the war path here and there, and have driven the elephants intothe very deepest wilds, where the ordinary hunters can't get atthem."
"Maybe we won't have any luck, either," suggested Ned.
"Oh, yes, we will," declared the hunter. "With our airship, theworst forest of the dark continent won't have any terrors for us,for we can float above it. And the fights of the natives won't haveany effect. In a way, this will be a good thing, for with the priceof ivory soaring, we can make more money than otherwise. There's achance for us all to get a lot of money."
"Bless my piano keys!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, "if I can get just oneelephant, and pull out his big ivory teeth, I'll be satisfied. Iwant a nice pair of tusks to set up on either side of my fireplacefor ornaments."
"A mighty queer place for such-like ornaments," said Mr. Durban in alow voice. Then he added: "Well, the sooner we get started thebetter I'll like it, for I want to get that pair of big tusks for aspecial customer of mine."
"I'll give the Black Hawk one more trial flight, and then take herapart and ship her," decided Tom, and the final flight, a mostsuccessful one, took place the following day.
Then came another busy season when the airship was taken apart forshipment to the coast of Africa by steamer. It was put into bigboxes and crates, and Eradicate and his mule took them to thestation in Shopton.
"Don't you want to come to Africa with us, Rad?" asked Tom, when thelast of the cases had been sent off. "You'll find a lot of yourfriends there."
"No, indeedy, I doan't want t' go," answered the colored man,"though I would like to see dat country."
"Then why don't you come?"
"Hu! Yo' think, Massa Tom, dat I go anywhere dat I might meet demlittle red men what Massa Durban talk about? No, sah, dey might hurtmah mule Boomerang."
"Oh, I wasn't going to take the mule along," said Tom, wondering howthe creature might behave in the airship.
"Not take Boomerang? Den I SUTTINLY ain't goin," and Eradicatewalked off, highly offended, to give some oats to his faithful ifsomewhat eccentric steed.
After the airship had been sent off there yet remained much for TomSwift to do. He had to send along a number of special tools andappliances with which to put the ship together again, and also somewith which to repair the craft in case of accident. So that thistime was pretty well occupied. But at length everything was inreadiness, and with his electric rifle knocked down fortransportation, and with his baggage, and that of the others, allpacked, they set off one morning to take the train for New York,where they would get a steamer for Africa.
Numerous good-bys had been said, and Tom had made a farewell call onMary Nestor, promising to bring her some trophy from elephant land,though he did not quite know what it would be.
Mr. Damon, as the train started, blessed everything he could thinkof. Mr. Swift waved his hand and wished his son and the others goodluck, feeling a little lonesome that he could not make one of theparty. Ned was eager with excitement, and anticipation of what laybefore him. Tom Swift was thinking of what he could accomplish withhis electric rifle, and of the wonderful sights he would see, and,as for the old elephant hunter, he was very glad to be on the moveagain, after so many weeks of idleness, for he was a very activeman.
Their journey to New York was uneventful, and they found that theparts of the airship had safely arrived, and had been taken aboardthe steamer. The little party went aboard themselves, after a dayspent in sight-seeing, and that afternoon the Soudalar, which wasthe vessel's name, steamed away from the dock at high tide.
"Off for Africa!" exclaimed Tom to Ned, as they stood at the rail,watching the usual crowd wave farewells. "Off for Africa, Ned."
As Tom spoke, a gentleman who had been standing near him and hischum, vigorously waving his hand to some one on the pier, turnedquickly. He looked sharply at the young inventor for a moment, andthen exclaimed:
"Well, if it isn't Tom Swift! Did I hear you say you were going toAfrica?"
Tom looked at the gentleman with rather a puzzled air for a moment.The face was vaguely familiar, but Tom could not recall where he hadseen it. Then it came to him in a flash.
"Mr. Floyd Anderson!" exclaimed our hero. "Mr. Anderson of--"
/> "Earthquake Island!" exclaimed the gentleman quickly, as he extendedhis hand. "I guess you remember that place, Tom Swift."
"Indeed I do. And to think of meeting you again, and on this Africansteamer," and Tom's mind went back to the perilous days when hiswireless message had saved the castaways of Earthquake Island, amongwhom were Mr. Anderson and his wife.
"Did I hear you say you were going to Africa?" asked Mr. Anderson,when he had been introduced to Ned, and the others in Tom's party.
"That's where we're bound for," answered the lad. "We are going toelephant land. But where are you going, Mr. Anderson?"
"Also to Africa, but not on a trip for pleasure or profit likeyourselves. I have been commissioned by a missionary society torescue two of its workers from the heart of the dark continent."
"Rescue two missionaries?" exclaimed Tom, wonderingly.
"Yes, a gentleman and his wife, who, it is reported, have falleninto the hands of a race known as the red pygmies, who hold themcaptives!"