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Page 14
"But won't it be dangerous, firing in the dark? Suppose you misjudge
the distance, and the bullet, or charge, files off and hits some
one?"
"It can't. I'll set the distance gage before I shoot. But if I
should happen to make a mistake the charge will go into the side of
the hill, and spend itself there. There is no danger. Go ahead, and
set up the box, and then come and tell me. Mr. Jackson will help
you."
Ned and the engineer left the gallery. As Tom had, said, it was very
dark now, and if Tom could see in the night to hit a box some
distance away, his weapon would be all that he claimed for it.
"This will do," said the engineer, as he pointed to a box, one of
several piled up outside the shed. The two could hardly see to make
their way along, carrying it to the foot of the hill, and they
stumbled several times. But at last it was in position, and then Ned
departed to call Tom, and have him try the difficult test--that of
hitting an object in the dark.
CHAPTER IV
BIG TUSKS WANTED
"Well, are you all ready for me?" asked the young inventor, as he
took up his curious weapon, and followed Ned out into the yard. It
was so dark that they had fairly to stumble along.
"Yes, we're ready," answered Ned. "And you'll be a good one, Tom, if
you do this stunt. Now stand here, "he went on, as he indicated a
place as well as he could in the dark. The box is somewhere in that
direction," and he waved his hand vaguely. "I'm not going to tell
you any more, and let's see you find it.
"Oh, I will, all right--or, rather, my electric rifle will,"
asserted Tom.
The inventor of the curious and terrible weapon took his position.
Behind him stood Ned and Mr. Jackson, and just before Tom was ready
to fire, his father came stalking through the darkness, calling to
them.
"Are you there, Tom?"
"Yes Dad, is anything the matter?"
"No, but I thought I'd like to see what luck you have. Rad was
saying you were going to have a test in the dark."
"I'm about ready for it," replied Tom. "I'm going to blow up a box
that I can't see. You know how it's done, Dad, for you helped me in
perfecting the luminous charge, but it's going to be something of a
novelty to the others. Here we go, now!"
Tom raised his rifle, and aimed it in the dark. Ned Newton,
straining his eyes to see, was sure the young inventor was pointing
the gun at least twenty feet to one side of where the box was
located, but he said nothing, for from experiences in the past, he
realized that Tom knew what he was doing.
There was a little clicking sound, as the youth moved some gear
wheel on his gun. Then there came a faint crackling noise, like some
distant wireless apparatus beginning to flash a message through
space.
Suddenly a little ball of purplish light shot through the darkness
and sped forward like some miniature meteor. It shed a curious
illuminating glow all about, and the ground, and the objects on it
were brought into relief as by a lightning flash.
An instant later the light increased in intensity, and seemed to
burst like some piece of aerial fireworks. There was a bright glare,
in which Ned and the others could see the various buildings about
the shed. They could see each other's faces, and they looked pale
and ghastly in the queer glow. They could see the box, brought into
bold relief, where Ned and the engineer had placed it.
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