Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle; Or, Daring Adventures in Elephant Land

by Victor Appleton

  CHAPTER XXV

  THE ROGUE ELEPHANT--CONCLUSION

  Early the next day the airship was again afloat. The night, whatlittle of darkness remained after the rescue, had been spent in theclearing in the dense jungle. Some slight repairs had been made tothe craft, and it was once more in readiness to be used in battleagainst the relentless savages.

  "We can't wait for darkness," declared Tom. "In the first placethere isn't time, and again, we don't know in what part of thevillage the other captives are. We'll have to hunt around."

  "And that means going right down into the midst of the imps andfighting them hand to hand," said Ned.

  "That's what it means," assented Tom grimly, "but I guess the powderbombs will help some."

  Before starting they had prepared a number of improvised bombs,filled with powder, which could be set off by percussion. It was theplan to drop these down from the airship, into the midst of thesavages. When the bomb struck the ground, or even on the bodies ofthe red dwarfs, it would explode. It was hoped that these would sodismay the little men that they would desert the village, and leavethe way clear for a search to be made for the other captives.

  On rushed the Black Hawk. There was to be no concealment this time,and Tom did not care how much noise the motors made. Accordingly heturned on full speed.

  It was not long before the big plain was again sighted. Everythingwas in readiness, and the bombs were at hand to be droppedoverboard. Tom counted on the natives gathering together in greatmasses as soon as they sighted the airship, and this would give himthe opportunity wanted.

  But something different transpired. No sooner was the craft abovethe village, than from all the huts came pouring out the little redmen. But they did not gather together--at least just then. They ranabout excitedly, and it could be seen that they were bringing fromthe huts the rude household utensils in which they did theirprimitive cooking. The women had their babies, and some, not soencumbered, carried rolls of grass matting. The men had all theirweapons.

  "Bless my wagon wheel!" cried Mr. Damon. "What's going on?"

  "It looks like moving day," suggested Ned Newton.

  "That's just what it is!" declared Mr. Durban. "They are going tomigrate. Evidently they have had enough of us, and they're going toget out of the neighborhood before we get a chance to do any moredamage. They're moving, but where are the white captives?"

  He was answered a moment later, for a crowd of the dwarfs rushing toa certain hut, came out leading two persons by means of bark ropestied about their necks. It was too far off to enable Tom or theothers to recognize them, but they could tell by the clothing thatthey were white captives.

  "We've got to save them!" exclaimed the young inventor.

  "How?" asked Mr. Damon. And, indeed, it did seem a puzzle for, evenas Tom looked, the whole tribe of red imps took up the march intothe jungle, dragging the white persons with them. The captiveslooked up, saw the airship, and made frantic motions for help. Itwas too far off, yet, to hear their voices. But the distance waslessening every moment, for Tom had speeded the motor to the highestpitch.

  "What are you going to do?" demanded Ned.

  "I'll show you," answered his chum. "Take some of those bombs, andbe ready to drop them overboard when I give the word."

  "But we may kill those white people," objected Ned.

  "Not the way I'm going to work it. You drop them when I give theword."

  Tom steered the airship toward the head of the throng of blacks. Thecaptives were in the rear, and the van of the strange procession wasnear the edge of the jungle now. Once the red dwarfs got into thetangle of underbrush they could never be found, and their captiveswould die a miserable death.

  "We've got to stop them," murmured Tom. "Are you ready, Ned?"

  "Ready!"

  "Then drop the bombs!"

  Ned dropped them. A sharp explosion was heard, and the head of theprocession was blown apart and thrown into confusion. The thronghalted.

  "Drop more!" cried Tom, sending the ship about in a circle, andhovering it over the middle of the press of savages.

  More of the deadly bombs exploded. The pygmies were running aboutwildly. Tom, who was closely watching the rear of the cavalcade,suddenly called out:

  "Now's our chance! They've let their captives go, and are runninginto the jungle. We must swoop down, and get the prisoners!"

  It was no sooner said than the nose of the Black Hawk was pointeddownward. Onward it flew, the two captives wildly waving their handsto the rescuers. There was no more danger from the red savages. Theyhad been thrown into panic and confusion, and were rapidlydisappearing into the forest. The terrible weapons of the whites hadbeen too much for them.

  "Quick! Get on board!" called Tom, as he brought the machinery to astop. The airship now rested on the ground, close to the formercaptives. "Get in here!" shouted the young inventor. "They maychange their minds and come back."

  The two white persons ran toward the Black Hawk. Then one of them--thesmaller--halted and cried out:

  "Why, it's Tom Swift!"

  Tom turned and glanced at the speaker. A look of astonishment spreadover his face.

  "Andy Foger--here!" gasped Tom. "How in the world--?"

  "I dink besser as ve git on der board, und dalk aftervard!"exclaimed Andy's companion, who spoke with a strong German accent."I like not dose red little mans."

  In another minute the two rescued ones were safe on Tom Swift'sairship, and it had arisen high enough to be out of all danger.

  "How in the world did you ever get here?" asked Tom of the lad whohad so often been his enemy.

  "I'll tell you soon," spoke Andy, "but first, Tom, I want to askyour forgiveness for all I've done to you, and to thank you, fromthe bottom of my heart, for saving us. I thought we were going to bekilled by those dwarfs; didn't you, Herr Landbacher?"

  "Sure I did. But ve are all right now. Dis machine is efen besser asmine vot vos lost. Is dere anyt'ing to eats, on board, if you villexcuse me for being so bolt as to ask?"

  "Plenty to eat," said Tom, laughing, "and while you eat you can tellus your story. And as for you, Andy, I hope we'll be friends fromnow on," and Tom held out his hand.

  There was not much to tell that the reader has not already guessed.Andy and the German, as has been explained, went abroad to giveairship flights. They were in the lower part of Egypt, and a suddengale drove them into Africa.

  For a long time they sailed on, and then their fuel gave out, andthey had to descend into the jungle. They managed to fall in withsome friendly blacks, who treated them well. The airship was uselesswithout gasolene, and it was abandoned.

  Andy and the German inventor were planning to walk to some whitesettlement, when the tribe they were with was attacked by the reddwarfs and vanquished. Andy and his friend were taken prisoners, andcarried to the very village where the missionaries were, just beforethe latter's rescue.

  Then came the fight, and the saving of Andy and the German, almostat the last minute.

  "Well, you certainly had nearly as many adventures as we did," saidTom. "But I guess they're over now."

  But they were not. For several days the airship sailed on over thejungles without making a descent. Mr. and Mrs. Illingway wished tobe landed at a white settlement where they had other missionaryfriends. Tom would go with them. This was done, and Tom and theothers spent some time in this place, receiving so many kinds ofthanks that they had to protest.

  Andy and Herr Landbacher asked to be taken back to the coast, wherethey could get a steamer to America. Andy was a very different ladnow, and not the bully of old.

  "Well, hadn't we better be thinking of getting back home?" asked Tomone day.

  "Not until we get some more ivory," declared Mr. Durban. "I thinkwe'll have to have another elephant hunt."

  They did, about a week later, and got some magnificent tusks. Tom'selectric rifle did great work, to the wonder of Andy and Mr.Landbacher, who had never before seen such a curious weapon. Theyalso did some n
ight hunting.

  "But we haven't got that pair of extra large tusks that I want,"said the old hunter, as he looked at the store of ivory accumulatedafter the last hunt. "I want those, and then I'll be satisfied.There is one section of the country that we have not touched as yet,and I'd like to visit that."

  "Then let's go," proposed Tom, so, good-bys having been said to themissionaries, who sent greetings to their friends in America, and tothe church people who had arranged for their rescue, the airship wasonce more sent to the deepest part of a certain jungle, where Mr.Durban hoped to get what he wanted.

  They had another big hunt, but none of the elephants had anyremarkable tusks, and the hunter was about to give up in despair,and call the expedition over, when one afternoon, as they weresailing along high enough to merely clear the tops of the trees, Tomheard a great crashing down below.

  "There's something there," he called to Mr. Durban. "Perhaps a smallherd of elephants. Shall we go down?"

  Before Mr. Durban could answer there came into view, in a smallclearing, an elephant of such size, and with such an enormous pairof tusks, that the young inventor and the old hunter could notrepress cries of astonishment.

  "There's your beast!" said Tom. "I'll go down and you can pot him,"and, as he spoke, Tom stopped the propellers, so that the ship hungmotionless in the air above where the gigantic brute was.

  Suddenly, as though possessed by a fit of rage, the elephant rushedat a good-sized tree and began butting it with his head. Then,winding his trunk around it he pulled it up by the roots, and begantrampling on it out of a paroxysm of anger.

  "A rogue elephant!" exclaimed Mr. Durban. "Don't go down if youvalue your life, or the safety of the airship. If we attacked thatbrute on the ground, we would be the hunted instead of the hunters.That's a rogue elephant of the worst kind, and he's at the height ofhis rage."

  This was indeed so, for the beast was tearing about the clearinglike mad, breaking off trees, and uprooting them in sheerwantonness. Tom knew what a "rogue" elephant was. It is a beast thatgoes away from the herd, and lives solitary and alone, attackingevery living thing that comes in his way. It is a species ofmadness, a disease which attacks elephants and sometimes passesaway. More often the afflicted creature gives battle to everythingand every animal he meets until he is killed or carried off by hismalady. It was such an elephant that Tom now saw, and he realizedwhat the hunter said about attacking one, as he saw the brute's madrushes.

  "Well, if it's dangerous to attack him on the ground, we'll kill himfrom up above," said the young inventor. "Here is the electricrifle, Mr. Durban. I'll let you have the honor of getting thosetusks. My! But they're whoppers! Better use almost a full charge.Don't take any chances on merely wounding him, and having him rushoff to the jungle."

  "I won't," said the old hunter, and he adjusted the electric riflewhich Tom handed him.

  As the great beast was tearing around, trumpeting shrilly andbreaking off trees Mr. Durban fired. The creature sank down,instantly killed, and was out of his misery, for often it is greatpain which makes an otherwise peaceable elephant become a "rogue."

  "He's done for," said Ned. "I guess you have the tusks you want now,Mr. Durban."

  "I think so," agreed the hunter, and when the airship was sent down,and the ivory cut out, it was found that the tusks were even largerthan they had supposed. "It is a prize worth having," said Mr.Durban. "I'm sure my customer will think so, too. Now I'm ready tohead for the coast."

  Tom Swift went to the engine room, while the last big tusks werebeing stored away with the other ivory. Several parts of the motorneeded oiling, and Ned was assisting in this work.

  "Going to start soon?" asked Mr. Durban, appearing in the doorway.

  "Yes; why?" inquired Tom, who noted an anxious note in the voice ofthe hunter.

  "Well, I don't like staying longer in this jungle than I can help.It's not healthy in the first place, and then it's a wild anddesolate place, where all sorts of wild beasts are lurking, andwhere wandering hands of natives may appear at any time."

  "You don't mean that the red pygmies will come back; do you?" askedNed.

  "There's no telling," replied Mr. Durban with a shrug of hisshoulders. "Only, as long as we've got what we're after, I'd startoff as soon as possible."

  "Yes, don't run any chances with those little red men," begged AndyFoger, who had given himself up for lost when he and his companionfell into their hands.

  "Radder vould I be mit cannibals dan dose little imps!" spoke theGerman fervently.

  "We'll start at once," declared Tom. "Are you all aboard, and iseverything loaded into the airship?"

  "Everything, I guess." answered Mr. Anderson.

  Tom looked to the motor, saw that it was in working order, andshoved over the lever of the gas machine to begin the generating ofthe lifting vapor. To his surprise there was no corresponding hissthat told of the gas rushing into the bag.

  "That's odd," he remarked. "Ned, see if anything is wrong with thatmachine. I'll pull the lever again."

  The bank clerk stood beside the apparatus, while Tom worked thehandle, but whatever was the matter with it was too intricate orcomplicated for Ned to solve.

  "I can't see what ails it," he called to his chum. "You better havea peep."

  "All right, I'll look if you work the handle."

  The passengers on the airship, which now rested in a little clearingin the dense jungle, gathered at the engine room door, looking atTom and Ned as they worked over the machine.

  "Bless my pulley wheel!" exclaimed Mr. Damon "I hope nothing hasgone wrong."

  "Well something has!" declared the young inventor in a muffledvoice, for he was down on his hands and knees peering under the gasapparatus. "One of the compression cylinders has cracked," he addeddubiously. "It must have snapped when we landed this last time. Icame down too heavily."

  "What does that mean?" asked Mr. Durban, who did not know much aboutmachinery.

  "It means that I've got to put a new cylinder in," went on Tom."It's quite a job, too, but we can't make gas without it!"

  "Well, can't you do it just as well up in the air as down here?"asked Mr. Durban. "Make an ascension, Tom, and do the repairs upabove, where we've got good air, and where--"

  He paused suddenly, and seemed to be listening.

  "What is it?" asked the young inventor quickly. There was no need toanswer, for, from the jungle without, came the dull booming of thewar drums of some natives.

  "That's what I was afraid of!" cried the old elephant hunter,catching up his gun. "Some black scout has seen us and is summoninghis tribesmen. Hurry, Tom, send up the ship, and we'll take care ofthe savages."

  "But I CAN'T send her up!" cried Tom.

  "You can't? Why not?"

  "Because the gas machine won't work until I put in a new cylinder,and that will take at least a half a day."

  "Go up as an aeroplane then!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my monkeywrench, Tom, you've often done it before."

  For answer Tom waved his hand toward the thick jungle all aboutthem.

  "We haven't room to get a running start of ten feet." he said, "andwithout a start the airship can never rise as a mere aeroplane. Theonly way we can get up from the jungle is like a balloon, andwithout the gas--"

  He paused significantly. The sound of the war drums became louder,and to it was added a weird singing chant.

  "The natives!" cried Mr. Anderson. "They're coming right this way!We must fight them off if they attack us!"

  "Where's the electric rifle?" asked Ned. "Get that out, Tom!"

  "Wait!" suggested Mr. Durban. "This is serious! It looks as if theywere going to attack us, and they have us at a disadvantage. Ouronly safety is in flight, but as Tom says we can't go up until thegas machine is fixed, he will have to attend to that part of itwhile we keep off the black men. Tom, we can't spare you to fightthis time! You repair the ship as soon as you can, and we'll guardher from the natives. And you've got to work lively!"

  "I will!" cri
ed the young inventor. "It's luck we have a sparecylinder!"

  Suddenly there was a louder shout in the jungle and it was followedby a riot of sound. War drums were beaten, tom-toms clashed and thenatives howled.

  "Here they are!" cried Mr. Anderson.

  "Bless my suspenders!" shouted Mr. Damon. "Where is my gun?"

  "Here, you take mine, and I'll use the electric rifle," answered theelephant hunter. As he spoke there was a hissing sound in the airand a flight of spears passed over the airship.

  The defenders slipped outside, while Tom, with Ned to help him,worked feverishly to repair the break. They were in a seriousstrait, for with the airship practically helpless they were at themercy of the natives. And as Tom glanced momentarily from thewindow, he saw scores of black, half-naked forms slipping in and outamong the trees and trailing vines.

  Soon the rifles of his friends began to crack, and the yells of thenatives were changed to howls of anguish. The electric weapon,though it made no noise, did great execution.

  "I only hope they don't puncture the gas bag," murmured Tom, as hebegan taking the generating machine apart so as to get out thecracked cylinder.

  "If they do, it's all up with us," murmured Ned.

  After their first rush, finding that the white men were on thealert, the blacks withdrew some distance, where their spears andarrows were not so effective. Our friends, including Andy Foger, andthe German, kept up a hot fire whenever a skulking black form couldbe seen.

  But, though the danger from the spears and arrows was less, a newperil presented itself. This was from the blow guns. The curiousweapons shot small arrows, tipped with tufts of a cottony substancein place of feathers, and could be sent for a long distance. Thebarbs were not strong enough to pierce the tough fabric of the gasbag, as a spear or arrow would have done, but there was more dangerfrom them to our friends who were on deck.

  "Those barbs may be poisoned," said Mr. Durban, "and in case any oneis wounded, the wound, though it be but a scratch, must be treatedwith antiseptics. I have some."

  This course was followed, the elephant hunter being wounded twice,and Andy Foger and Mr. Damon once each. There was not a native to beseen now, for they were hiding behind the trees of the jungle, butevery now and then a blowgun barb would whizz out of the forest.

  Finally Mr. Durban suggested that they erect improvised shelters,behind which they could stand with their rifle, and breastworks weremade out of packing boxes. Then our friends were comparatively safe.But they had to be on the alert, and it was nervous work, for theycould not tell what minute the blacks would rush from the jungle,and, in spite of the fire from the electric rifle and other guns,overwhelm the ship.

  It was very trying to Tom and Ned, for they had to work hard andrapidly in the close engine room. The sweat dripped down off them,but they kept at it. It was three hours before the broken cylinderwas removed, and it was no light task to put in the other, for thevalves had to be made very tight to prevent leakage.

  The two lads stopped to get something to eat, while the guards keptsharp watch against a surprise. At intervals came a flight of barbs,and occasionally a black form could be seen, when it was instantlyfired at. Several times the barbaric noise of the tom-toms and wardrums, with which the shouts of the natives mingled, broke outdeafeningly.

  "Think you can repair it by night?" asked Mr. Durban anxiously ofTom.

  "I hope so," was the response.

  "Because if we have to stay here after dark--well, I don't want todo it if I can help it," finished the hunter.

  Neither did the young inventor, and he redoubled his efforts to makethe repairs. It was getting dark when the last belt was in place,and it was high time, too, for the natives were getting bolder,creeping up through the forest to within shooting distance withtheir arrows and spears.

  "There!" cried Tom at length. "Now we'll see if she works!" Oncemore he pulled the starting lever, and this time there was thewelcome hiss of the gas.

  "Hurrah!" cried Ned.

  The young inventor turned the machine on at full power. In a fewminutes the Black Hawk trembled through her length.

  "She's going up! Bless my balloon basket! She's going up!" cried Mr.Damon.

  The natives must have suspected that something unusual was going on,for they made a sudden rush, yelling and beating their drums. Mr.Durban and the others hurried out on deck and fired at them, butthere was little more need. With a bound the airship left the earth,being rapidly carried up by the gas. The blacks sent a final showerof spears after her, but only one was effective, slightly woundingthe German. Then Tom started the motor, the propellers whizzed, andthe Black Hawk was once more under way, just as night settled overthe jungle, and upon the horde of black and howling savages thatrushed around, maddened over the escape of their intended victims.

  No further accidents marred the trip to the coast, which was reachedin due time, and very glad our friends were to be away from thejungle and the land of the red pygmies.

  A division was made of the ivory, and Tom's share was large enoughto provide him with a substantial amount. Ned and Mr. Damon werealso given a goodly sum from the sale of the tusks. The big ones,from the "rogue," were shipped to the man who had commissioned Mr.Durban to secure them for him.

  "Well, now for home," said Tom, when the airship had been takenapart for shipment. "I guess you'll be glad to get back to theUnited States, won't you, friends?"

  "That's what," agreed Andy Foger. "I think I'm done with airships.Ugh! When I think of those red dwarfs I can't sleep nights!"

  "Yah, dot iss so!" agreed the German.

  "Well, I'm going to settle down for a time," declared Tom. "I've hadenough adventures for a while, but those in elephant land--"

  "They certainly put it all over the things that happen to somepeople!" interrupted Ned with a laugh.

  "Bless my fish-line, that's so!" agreed Mr. Damon.

  But Tom Swift was not done with adventures, and what fartherhappened to him may be learned by reading the next volume of thisseries, which will be entitled, "Tom Swift in the City of Gold; or,Marvelous Adventures Underground."

  They all made a safe and pleasant voyage home, and as news of therescue of the missionaries had been cabled to America, Tom and hisfriends were met, as they left the steamer, by a crowd of newspaperreporters, who got a good story of the battle with the red pygmies,though Tom was inclined to make light of his part in the affair.

  "Now for Shopton, home, Dad, Eradicate Sampson and his mule!"exclaimed Tom, as they boarded a train in New York.

  "And somebody else, too, I guess; eh?" asked Ned of his chum,with a laugh.

  "That's none of your affair!" declared Tom, as he blushed,and then he, too, joined in the merriment.

  And now, for a time, we will say good-by to the young inventorand his friends.