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Page 48
"There they go!" yelled Mr. Durban.
"Yes, and I'm glad to see the last of them," added Mr. Anderson,
with a breath of relief.
"Score another victory for the electric rifle," exclaimed Ned.
"Oh, you did as much execution as I did," declared the inventor of
the weapon.
"Bless my ramrod!" cried Mr. Damon. "I never shot so much in all my
life before."
"Yes, there is enough food to last the natives for a week," observed
Mr. Durban, as Tom adjusted the deflecting rudder to send the
airship down.
"It won't last much longer at the rate they eat," spoke the young
inventor with a laugh. "I never saw such fellows for appetites! They
seem to eat in their sleep."
There were many dead buffaloes, but there was no fear that the meat,
which was much prized by the Africans, would be wasted. Already the
natives were coming from their hiding places, knowing that the
danger was over. Once more they sang the praises of the mighty white
hunters, and the magical air craft in which they moved about.
With the elephants previously killed, the buffaloes provided
material for a great feast, preparations for which were at once
gotten under way, in spite of the fact that the blacks had hardly
stopped eating since the big hunt began. But it was about all they
had to do.
Some of the buffaloes were very large, and there were a number of
pairs of fine horns. Tom and Ned had some of the blacks cut them off
for trophies, and they were stored in the airship together with the
ivory.
Becoming rather tired of seeing so much feasting, our friends bade
the Africans farewell the next day, and once more resumed their
quest. They navigated through the air for another week, stopping at
several villages, and scanning the jungles and plains by means of
powerful telescopes, for a sight of the red pygmies. They also asked
for news of the sacking of the missionary settlement, but, beyond
meager facts, could learn nothing.
"Well, we've got to keep on, that's all," decided Mr. Durban. "We
may find them most unexpectedly."
"I'm sorry if I have taken you away from your work of gathering
ivory," spoke Mr. Anderson. "Perhaps you had better let me go, and
I'll see if I can't organize a band of friendly blacks, and search
for the red dwarfs myself."
"Not much!" exclaimed Tom warmly. "I said we'd help rescue those
missionaries, and we'll do it, too!"
"Of course," declared the old elephant hunter. "We have quite a lot
of ivory and, while we need more to make it pay well, we can look
for it after we rescue the missionaries as well as before. Perhaps
there will be a lot of elephants in the pygmies' land."
"I was only thinking that we can't go on forever in the airship."
said Mr. Anderson. "You'll have to go back to civilization soon,
won't you, Tom, to get gasolene?"
"No, we have enough for at least a month," answered the young
inventor. "I took aboard an unusually large supply when we started."
"What would happen if we ran out of it in the jungle?" asked Ned.
"Bless my pocketbook! What an unpleasant question!" exclaimed Mr.
Damon. "You are almost as cheerful, Ned, as was my friend Mr.
Parker, the gloomy scientist, who was always predicting dire
happenings."
"Well, I was only wondering," said Ned, who was a little abashed by
the manner in which his inquiry was received.
"Oh, it would be all right," declared Tom. "We would simply become a
balloon, and in time the wind would blow us to some white
settlement. There is plenty of material for making the lifting gas."
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