In spite of their strange captivity our friends slept well, and they did not awaken once during the night, for they had worked hard that day, and were almost exhausted. In the morning they looked out and saw guards still about the hut.
“Now for a good breakfast, and another try!” exclaimed Tom, as he washed in a big earthen jar of water that had been provided. Freshened by the cool liquid, they were made hungry for the meal which was brought to them a little later. They noticed that the women cooks looked at them with fear in their eyes, and did not linger as they had done before. Instead they set down the trays of food and hurried away.
“They’re getting to be afraid of us,” declared Tom. “If we could only talk their language—”
“By Jove!” suddenly interrupted Ned. “I’ve just thought of something. Jake Poddington you know—the agent for Mr. Preston who so mysteriously disappeared.”
“Well, what about him?” asked Tom. “Did you see him?”
“No, but he may be here—a captive like ourselves. If he is he’s been here long enough to have learned the language of the giants, and if he could translate for us, we wouldn’t have any trouble. Why didn’t we think of it before? If we could only find Mr. Poddington!”
“Yes, if we only could,” put in Tom. “But it’s a slim chance. I declare I’ve forgotten about him in the last few days, so many things have happened. But what makes you think he is here, Ned?”
“Why he started for giant land, you’ll remember, and he may have reached here. Oh, if we could only find him, and save him and save ourselves!”
“It would be great!” admitted Tom. “But I’m afraid we can’t do it. There’s a chance, though, that Mr. Poddington may be here, or may have been here. If we could only get out and make some explorations or some inquiries. It’s tough to be cooped up here like chickens.”
Tom looked from the window, vainly hoping that the guards might have been withdrawn. The giants were still before the windows and doors.
For a week this captivity was kept up, and in that time Tom and his friends had occasional glimpses of Hank Delby going to and from the king’s hut. His majesty himself was not seen, but there appeared to be considerable activity in the giant village.
From their prison-hut the captives could see the native market held in the big open space, and giants from surrounding towns and the open country came in to trade. There were also curious about the white captives, and there was a constant throng around the big hut, peering in. So also there was about the hut where the circus man had his headquarters. Delby seemed to be free to come and go as he choose.
“I guess he’s laying his plans to take a giant or two away with him,” remarked Tom one day. “I wonder what will become of us, when he does go?”
It was a momentous question, and no one could answer it. Tom was doing some hard thinking those days. Two weeks passed and there was no change. Our friends were still captives in giant land. They had tried, by signs, to induce their guards to take some message to the king, but the giants refused with shakes of their big heads.
Yet the adventurers could not complain of bad treatment. They were well fed, and the guards seemed good natured, laughing among themselves, and smiling whenever they saw any of the captives. But let Tom or some of the others, step across the threshold of the door, and they were kindly, but firmly, shoved back.
“It’s of no use!” exclaimed Tom in despair one day, after a bold attempt to walk out. “We’ve got to do something. If we can’t get word to the king we’ve got to plan some way to gain the friendship, or work on the fear of the guards. We have about the same crowd every time. If we can scare them they may keep far enough off so we can have a chance to escape.”
“Escape! That’s the thing!” cried Mr. Damon. “Why can’t we put the airship together in this hut, Tom, and fly away in it?”
“We can, when the right time comes—if it ever does—but first we’ve got to work on the guards. Let me see what I can do? Ha! I have it. Ned, come here, I want your help. I’m going to show these giants that, with all their strength, I can make each of them as weak as a baby, and, at the same time prove that they can’t lift even a light weight.”
“How you going to do it?” asked Mr. Damon.
“I’ll soon show you. Come on, Ned.”
Tom and his chum were busy for several days among the various boxes and bales that formed the baggage. They rigged up two pieces of apparatus which I will describe in due time. They also opened several boxes of trinkets and trading goods, which had been brought along for barter. These they distributed among the guards, and, though the giants were immensely pleased, they did not get friendly enough to walk off and leave our friends free to do as they pleased.
“Well, I guess we’re ready for the lesson now,” remarked Tom one afternoon, when they had been held captives for about three weeks. “If they won’t respond to gentle treatment we’ll try some other kind of persuasion.”
The guards had become so friendly of late that some of them often spent part of the day inside the hut, looking at the curious things Tom and his party had brought with them. This was just what the young inventor wanted, as he was now ready to give them a second lesson in white man’s magic.
Tom and Ned had learned a few words of the giant’s language, which was quite simple, though it sounded hard, and one day, after he had shown them simple toys, the young inventor brought forth a simple-looking box, with two shining handles.
“Here is a little thing,” explained Tom, partly by words, and partly by using signs, “a simple little thing which, if one of you will but take hold of, you cannot let go of again until I move my finger. Do you believe that a small white man like myself can make this little thing stronger than a giant?” he asked.
One of the biggest of the guards shook his head.
“Try,” invited Tom. “Take hold of the handles. At first you will be able to let go easily. But, when I shall move my finger though but a little, you will be held fast. Then, another movement, and you will be loose again. Can I do it?”
Once more the giant shook his head.
“Try,” urged Tom, and he put the two shining handles into the big palms of the giant. The native grinned and some of his companions laughed. Then to show how easy it was he let go. He took hold again.
“Now!” cried Tom, and he moved his finger.
Instantly the giant leaped up into the air. He uttered a howl that seemed to shake the very roof of the hut, and his arms were as rigid as poles. They were drawn up in knots, and though he tried with all his great might, he could not loose his fingers from the shiny handles. He howled in terror, and his companions murmured in amazement.
“It is as I told you!” exclaimed Tom. “Is it enough?”
“Loose me! Loose me! Loose me from the terrible magic!” cried the giant, and, with a movement of his finger, Tom switched off the current from the electric battery. Instantly the giant’s arms dropped to his side, his hands relaxed and the handles dropped clattering to the floor.
With a look of fear, and a howl of anguish, the big guard fled, but to the surprise and gratification of Tom and his friends the others seemed only amused, and they nodded in a friendly fashion to the captives. They all pressed forward to try the battery.
One and all endeavored to loose their hands after Tom, by a movement of his forefinger, had turned the switch of the battery, and one and all of the giant guards were unable to stir, as the electricity gripped their muscles. They were evidently awed.
“This is working better than the fireworks did,” murmured Tom. “Now if I can only keep up the good work, and get ahead of Delby I’ll be all right. Now for the other test, Ned.”
Ned brought from a box what looked to be a small iron bar, with a large handle on the top. The bottom was ground very smooth.
“This is very small and light,” explained Tom, partly by signs, and partly by words. “I can easily lift it by one finger, and to a giant it is but a feather’s weight.”
> He let the giants handle it, and of course they could feel scarcely any weight at all, for it tipped the scales at only a pound. But it was shortly to be much heavier.
“See,” went on the young inventor. “I place the weight on the floor, and lift it easily. Can you do it?”
The giants laughed at such a simple trick. Tom set the iron bar down and raised it several times. So did several of the giants.
“Now for the test!” cried Tom with a dramatic gesture. “I shall put my magic upon you, and you shall all become as weak as babies. You cannot lift the bar of iron!”
As he spoke he made a signal to Ned, who stood in a distant corner of the room. Then Tom carefully placed the weight on a sheet of white paper on a certain spot on the floor of the hut and motioned to the largest giant to pick up the iron bar.
With a laugh of contempt and confidence, the big man stooped over and grasped the handle. But he did not arise. Instead, the muscles of his naked arm swelled out in great bunches.
“See, you are as a little babe!” taunted Tom. “Another may try!”
Another did, and another and another, until it came the turn of the mightiest giant of all the guard that day. With a sudden wrench he sought to lift the bar. He tugged and strained. He bent his back and his legs; his shoulders heaved with the terrific effort he made—but the bar still held to the floor of the hut as though a part of the big beams themselves.
“Now!” cried Tom. “I shall show you how a white man’s magic makes him stronger than the biggest giant.”
Once more he made a hidden sign to Ned, and then, stooping over, Tom crooked his little finger in the handle of the iron bar and lifted it as easily as if it was a feather.
CHAPTER XX
THE LONE CAPTIVE
The murmurs of astonishment that greeted Tom’s seemingly marvelous feat of strength was even greater than that which had marked his trick with the electric battery. The giants stared at him as though they feared the next moment he might suddenly turn upon them and hurl them about like ten-pins.
“You see, it is easy when one knows the white man’s magic,” spoke Tom, making many gestures to help along. “Go tell your king that it is not well that he keeps us prisoners here, for if he does not soon let us go the magic may break loose and destroy his palace!”
There was a gasp of dismay from the giants at this bold talk.
“Better go easy, Tom,” counseled Ned.
“I’m tired of going easy,” replied the young inventor. “Something has got to happen pretty soon, or it will be all up with us. I’m getting weary of being cooped up here. Not that the king doesn’t treat us well, but I don’t want to be a prisoner. I want to get out and see if we can’t arrange to take a couple of these giants back for Mr. Preston. That Delby sneak has things all his own way.”
And this was so, for the circus man had poisoned the king’s mind against Tom and his friends, representing (as our hero learned later) that the first arrivals in giant land were dangerous people, and not to be trusted. On his own part, Hank Delby intimated that he would always be a friend to the king, would teach him many of the white man’s secrets, and would make him powerful. Thus the circus man was making plans for his own ends, and he was scheming to get a couple of giants for himself, who he intended to hurry away, leaving Tom and his friends to escape as best they could.
And Delby had brought with him some novelties in the way of toys and machinery that seemed greatly to take the fancy of the king. Tom realized this when he saw his rival free to come and go, and one reason why our hero did the experiments just related was so that the king might hear of them, and wonder.
“Go tell the king that, strong as he is, I am stronger,” went on Tom boldly to the giant guards. “I am not afraid of him.”
“Bless my war club, Tom, aren’t you a little rash to talk that way?” asked Mr. Damon.
“No. As I said, I want things to happen. If I can only get the king curious enough to come here I can show him things to open his eyes. I’ll work the miniature circus, and explain that some of his subjects can take part in a real one if they will come with us. I want to beat this Delby at his own game.”
“That’s the stuff!” cried Ned. “Stick to it, Tom. I’ll help you, and we’ll get a giant or two yet. And maybe we can get some news of poor Jake Poddington.”
“I intend to make inquiries about him, now that these guards are a little more friendly,” said Tom. “It may be that he is a prisoner in this very village.”
The giant guards, now that they had gotten over their fright at their own inability to raise the bar while Tom had lifted it with one finger, again crowded around, asking that the trick be repeated. Tom did it, with the same result.
None of the giants could move the iron, yet Tom had no difficulty in doing so. Of course my readers have already guessed how the trick was done. It was worked by a strong magnet, hidden in the floor. At a signal from Tom, Ned would switch on the current. The iron would be held fast and immovable, but when Tom himself went to raise it Ned would cut off the electricity and the bar was lifted as easily as an ordinary piece of iron. But simple as the trick was, it impressed the giants. Then Tom did some other stunts for them, simple experiments in physics, that every High School lad has done in class.
“I want to get these guards friendly with me,” he explained. “In time the news will reach the king and he’ll be so curious that he’ll come here and then—well, we’ll see what will happen.”
But this did not take place as soon as Tom desired. In fact, the giants were very slow to act. The guards did get quite friendly, and every day they wanted the same two first tricks performed over again. Tom did them many times, wondering when the king would come.
Then he played a bold game, and made open inquiries about a white man, one like the king’s captives, who might have come to giant land about a year previous.
“Is there a lone white captive here?” asked Tom.
The giant guard to whom he directed his question gave a start, for Tom could now speak the language fairly well, and, after the first indication of surprise, the guard muttered something to his companions. There was a startled ejaculation, a curious glance at the captives, and then—silence. The guards filed silently away, and, a little later, could be seen going in the king’s big hut.
“By Jove, Tom!” cried Ned. “You touched ’em that time. There’s something up, as sure as you’re born!”
“I believe so myself,” agreed the young inventor. “And now to throw a real scare into these giants,” he added, as he went to a distant room of the hut where he had hidden some of the things he had taken from his “box of tricks,” as Ned dubbed it.
“Bless my necktie!” cried Mr. Damon. “What’s up now, Tom.”
“I’m going to show these giants that they’d better make friends with us soon, or we may blow their whole town sky-high!” cried Tom. “I’m going to use some of the blasting powder—just a pinch, so to speak—and knock an empty hut into slivers. I think that will impress these fellows. If I can only—”
“Look, Tom!” suddenly cried Ned. “The king’s two brothers are coming here. Something’s up. He’s sent some of the family to interview us. Get ready to receive them.”
“Couldn’t be better!” cried the young inventor. “I’ve been waiting for this. Now I’ll give them a surprise party.”
The two big brothers of the king, for such Tom and his friends had recently learned was the relationship the giants on either side of the “throne” bore to the ruler, were indeed headed toward the hut of the captives. They came alone, in their royal garments of jaguar skins, and, standing about the palace hut, could be seen the giant guards who had doubtless carried the news of the question Tom had asked.
“Come on, Ned, we’ve got to get busy!” exclaimed Tom. “Connect the electric battery, and get that magnet in shape. I’m going to make a fuse for this blasting powder bomb, and if I can get those royal brothers to plant it for me, there’ll be some high jinks s
oon.”
Tom busied himself in making an improvised bomb, while Ned attended to the electrical attachments, and Mr. Damon and Eradicate acted as general assistants.
The two giant brothers entered the hut and greeted Tom and the others calmly. Then they explained that the king had sent them to investigate certain stories told by the guard.
“I’ll show you!” exclaimed Tom, and he induced them to take hold of the handles of the battery. The current was turned on full strength, and from the manner in which the royal brothers writhed and howled Tom judged that the experiment was a success.
“With all your strength you can not let go until I move my finger,” the young inventor explained, and it was so. Even the skeptical giants agreed on that.
“Now I shall show you that I am stronger than you!” exclaimed Tom, and though the giants smiled incredulously so it was, for the magnet trick worked as well as before. There were murmurs of surprise from the two immense brothers, and they talked rapidly together.
“I will now show you that I can call the lightning from the sky to do my bidding,” went on Tom. “Is that possible to any of you giants?”
“Never! Never! No man can do it!” cried Tola and Koku together.
“Then watch me!” invited Tom. “Is there an empty hut near here?” he asked. “One that it will do no harm to destroy?”
Tola pointed to one visible from the window of the prison of our friends.
“Then take this little ball, with the string attached to it, and place it in the hut,” went on Tom. “Then flee for your lives, for standing from here, I shall call the lightning down, and you shall see the hut destroyed.”
“Why don’t you ask them something about Jake Poddington?” asked Ned.
“Time enough for that after I’ve shown them what a little powder will do, when I attach electric wires to it and press a button,” replied Tom. “I’ve got that bomb fixed so it will go off by an electric fuse. If they’ll only put it in the hut for me. I’d do it myself, only they won’t let me go out.”
The brothers conferred for a moment and then, seeming to arrive at a decision, Koku, who was slightly the larger, took the bomb, looked curiously at it, and walked with it toward the empty hut, the electric wire being reeled out behind him by Tom.
The Tom Swift Megapack Page 163