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Page 17
"Sky racer? What's that?" asked Mr. Durban. "Is it another kind of
gun or cannon?"
"It's an aeroplane--an airship," explained Mr. Swift.
"An airship!" exclaimed the old elephant hunter. "Say, you don't
mean that you make balloons, do you?"
"Well, they're not exactly balloons," replied Tom, as he briefly
explained what an aeroplane was, for Mr. Durban, having been in the
wilds of the jungle so much, had had very little chance to see the
wonders and progress of civilization.
"They are better than balloons," went on Tom, "for they can go where
you want them to."
"Say! That's the very thing!" cried the old hunter enthusiastically.
"If there's one thing more than another that is needed in hunting in
Africa it's an airship. The travel through the jungle is something
fierce, and that, more than anything else, interferes with my work.
I can't cover ground enough, and when I do get on the track of a
herd of elephants, and they get away, it's sometimes a week before I
can catch up to them again."
"For, in spite of their size, elephants can travel very fast, and
once they get on the go, nothing can stop them. An airship would be
the very thing to hunt elephants with in Africa--an airship and this
electric rifle. I wonder why you haven't thought of going, Tom
Swift."
"I have thought of it," answered the young inventor, "and that's why
I asked you in. I want to talk about it."
"Do you mean you want to go?" demanded the old man eagerly.
"I certainly do!"
"Then I'm your man! Say, Tom Swift, I'd be proud to have you go to
Africa with me. I'd be proud to have you a member of my hunting
party, and, though I don't like to boast, still if you'll ask any of
the big-game people they'll tell you that not every one can
accompany Aleck Durban."
Tom realized that he was speaking to an authority and a most
desirable companion, should he go to Africa, and he was very glad of
the chance that had made him acquainted with the veteran hunter.
"Will you go with me?" asked Mr. Durban. "You and your electric gun
and your airship? Will you come to Africa to hunt elephants, and
help me get the big tusks I'm after?"
"I will!" exclaimed Tom.
"Then we'll start at once. There's no need of delaying here any
longer."
"Oh, but I haven't an airship ready," said the young inventor. The
face of the old hunter expressed his disappointment.
"Then we'll have to give up the scheme," he said ruefully.
"Not at all," Tom told him. "I have all the material on hand for
building a new airship. I have had it in mind for some time, and I
have done some work on it. I stopped it to perfect my electric
rifle, but, now that is done, I'll tackle the Black Hawk again, and
rush that to completion."-
"The Black Hawk?" repeated Mr. Durban, wonderingly.
"Yes, that's what I will name my new craft. The RED CLOUD was
destroyed, and so I thought I'd change the color this time, and
avoid bad luck."
"Good!" exclaimed the hunter. "When do you think you can have it
finished?"
"Oh, possibly in a month--perhaps sooner, and then we will go to
Africa and hunt elephants!"
"Bless my ivory paper cutter!" exclaimed a voice in the hall just
outside the library. "Bless my fingernails! But who's talking about
going to Africa?"
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