OFF FOR AFRICA
Higher and higher went the Black Hawk, far above the earth, until
the old elephant hunter, looking down, said in a voice which he
tried to make calm and collected, but which trembled in spite of
himself:
"Of course I'm not an expert at this game, Tom Swift, but it looks
to 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't
think she'd climb so far without the use of the gas. She's doing
well."
"Bless my topknot, yes!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "She beats the Red
Cloud, Tom. Try her on a straight-away course."
Which the youth did, pointing the nose of the craft along parallel
to the surface of the earth, and nearly a mile above it. Then,
increasing the speed of the motor, and with the big propellers
humming, they made fast time.
The old elephant hunter grew more calm as he saw that the airship
did not show any inclination to fall, and he noted that Tom and the
others not only knew how to manage it, but took their flight as much
a matter of course as if they were in an automobile skimming along
on the surface of the ground.
Tom put his craft through a number of evolutions, and when he found
that she was in perfect control as an aeroplane, he started the gas
machine, filled the big black bag overhead, and, when it was
sufficiently buoyant, he shut off the motor, and the Black Hawk
floated along like a balloon.
"That's what we'll do if our power happens to give out when we get
over an African jungle, with a whole lot of wild elephants down
below, 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. "I
don't know which I fear worse, the bad elephants wild with rage, as
they get some times, or the little red men who are as strong as
gorillas, and as savage as wolves. It would be all up with us if we
got into their hands. But I think this airship will be just what we
need in Africa. I'd have been able to get out of many a tight place
if I had had one on my last trip."
While the Black Hawk hung thus, up the air, not moving, save as the
wind blew her, Tom with his father and Mr. Jackson made an
inspection of the machinery to find out whether it had been strained
any. They found that it had worked perfectly, and soon the craft was
in 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 ground
in front of the shed she had so recently left.
"She's all right," decided the young inventor after a careful
inspection. "I'll give her a couple more trials, put on the
finishing 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 your
father and Mr. Damon, most of my clothes are packed, I've bought a
gun 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 first
trip in the air, which is more than I expected when I started."
They discussed their plans at some length, for, now that the airship
had proved all that they had hoped for, it would not be long ere
they were under way. In the days that followed Tom put the finishing
touches on the craft, arranged to have it packed up for shipment,
and spent some time practicing with his electric rifle. He got to be
an expert shot, and Mr. Durban, who was a wonder with the ordinary
rifle, 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, from
the firm I collect ivory for, stating that the price had risen
because of a scarcity, and urging me to hurry back to Africa and get
all I could. It seems that war has broken out among some of the
central African tribes, and they are journeying about in the jungle,
on the war path here and there, and have driven the elephants into
the very deepest wilds, where the ordinary hunters can't get at
them."
"Maybe we won't have any luck, either," suggested Ned.
"Oh, yes, we will," declared the hunter. "With our airship, the
worst 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 have
any effect. In a way, this will be a good thing, for with the price
of ivory soaring, we can make more money than otherwise. There's a
chance for us all to get a lot of money."
"Bless my piano keys!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, "if I can get just one
elephant, and pull out his big ivory teeth, I'll be satisfied. I
want a nice pair of tusks to set up on either side of my fireplace
for ornaments."
"A mighty queer place for such-like ornaments," said Mr. Durban in a
low voice. Then he added: "Well, the sooner we get started the
better I'll like it, for I want to get that pair of big tusks for a
special customer of mine."
"I'll give the Black Hawk one more trial flight, and then take her
apart and ship her," decided Tom, and the final flight, a most
successful one, took place the following day.
Then came another busy season when the airship was taken apart for
shipment to the coast of Africa by steamer. It was put into big
boxes and crates, and Eradicate and his mule took them to the
station in Shopton.
"Don't you want to come to Africa with us, Rad?" asked Tom, when the
last of the cases had been sent off. "You'll find a lot of your
friends 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 dem
little red men what Massa Durban talk about? No, sah, dey might hurt
mah mule Boomerang."
"Oh, I wasn't going to take the mule along," said Tom, wondering how
the creature might behave in the airship.
"Not take Boomerang? Den I SUTTINLY ain't goin," and Eradicate
walked off, highly offended, to give some oats to his faithful if
somewhat eccentric steed.
After the airship had been sent off there yet remained much for Tom
Swift to do. He had to send along a number of special tools and
appliances with which to put the ship together again, and also some
with which to repair the craft in case of accident. So that this
time was pretty well occupied. But at length everything was in
readiness, and with his electric rifle knocked down for
transportation, and with his baggage, and that of the others, all
packed, 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 on
Mary 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 think
of. Mr. Swift waved his hand and wished his son and the others good
luck, feeling a little lonesome that he could not make one of the
party. Ned was eager with excitement, and anticipation of what lay
before him. Tom Swift was thinking of what he could accomplish with
his 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 move
again, after so many weeks of idleness, for he was a very active
man.
Their journey to New York was uneventful, and they found that the
parts of the airship had safely arrived, and had been taken aboard
the steamer. The little party went aboard themselves, after a day
spent in sight-seeing, and that afternoon the Soudalar, which was
the 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 his
chum, vigorously waving his hand to some one on the pier, turned
quickly. He looked sharply at the young inventor for a moment, and
then exclaimed:
"Well, if it isn't Tom Swift! Did I hear you say you were going to
Africa?"
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 had
seen 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 extended
his hand. "I guess you remember that place, Tom Swift."
"Indeed I do. And to think of meeting you again, and on this African
steamer," and Tom's mind went back to the perilous days when his
wireless message had saved the castaways of Earthquake Island, among
whom 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 to
elephant land. But where are you going, Mr. Anderson?"
"Also to Africa, but not on a trip for pleasure or profit like
yourselves. I have been commissioned by a missionary society to
rescue 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 fallen
into the hands of a race known as the red pygmies, who hold them
captives!"