Tom Swift in Captivity

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"Let 'em have it!" called Tom in a low voice, and the electric
rifles sent out their stunning charges. Several natives in the front
rank dropped, and there was a cry of fear and wonder from the
others. Then, after a moment's hesitation they pressed on again.

"Once more!" cried Tom.

Again the electric rifles spoke, and half a score went down
unconscious, but not seriously hurt. In a few hours they would be as
well as ever, such was the merciful charge that Tom Swift and the
others used in the rifles.

The third time they fired, and this was too much for the natives.
They could not battle against an unseen and silent enemy who mowed
them down like a field of grain. With wild yells they fled back
along the trail they had come.

"I guess that does it!" cried Tom. "We'd better join the others
now."

Mounting their mules, they galloped back to where San Pedro and his
natives were pressing forward.

"Did you have the honor of defeating them," the head mule driver
asked.

"I had the HONOR," answered Tom, with a grim smile.

Then they pressed on, but there was no more danger. That night they
camped in a peaceful valley and were not disturbed, and the
following day they put a good many miles behind them. On the advice
of San Pedro, they avoided the next two villages as they realized
that they were in the war zone, and then they headed for a large
town where Tom was sure he would hear some news of the giants.

They had to camp twice at night before reaching this town, and when
they did get to it they were warmly welcomed, for white explorers
had been there years before, and had treated the natives well. Tom
distributed many trinkets among the head men and won their good will
so that the party was given comfortable huts in which to sleep, and
a plentiful supply of provisions.

"Can you arrange for a talk with the chief?" asked Tom of San Pedro
that night. "I want to ask him about certain things."

"About where you can find giant flowers?" asked the mule driver with
a quick look.

"Yes--er--and other giant things," replied Tom. "I fix," answered
San Pedro shortly, but there was a queer look on his face.

A few hours later Tom was summoned to the hut of the chief of the
town, and thither he went with Ned, Mr. Damon and San Pedro as
interpreter, for the natives spoke a jargon of their own that Tom
could not understand.

There were some simple ceremonies to observe, and then Tom found
himself facing the chief, with San Pedro by his side. After the
greetings, and an exchange of presents, Tom giving him a cheap
phonograph with which the chief was wildly delighted, there came the
time to talk.

"Ask him where the giant men live?" our hero directed San Pedro,
believing that the time had now come to disclose the object of his
expedition.

"Giant men, Senor Swift? I thought it was giant plants--orchids--you
were after," exclaimed San Pedro.

"Well, I'll take a few giant men if I can find them. Tell him I
understand there is a tribe of giants in this country. Ask him if he
ever heard of them."

San Pedro hesitated. He looked at Tom, and the young inventor
fancied that there was a tinge of white on the swarthy face of the
chief mule driver. But San Pedro translated the question.

Its effect on the chief was strange. He half leaped from his seat,
and stared at Tom. Then he uttered a cry--a cry of fear--and spoke
rapidly.

"What does he say?" asked Tom of San Pedro eagerly, when the chief
had ceased speaking.

"He say--he say," began the mule driver and the words seemed to
stick in his throat--"he say there ARE giants--many miles to the
north. Terrible big men--very cruel--and they are fearful. Once they
came here and took some of his people away. He is afraid of them. We
are ALL afraid of them," and San Pedro looked around apprehensively,
as though he might see one of the giants stalking into the chief's
hut at any moment.

"Ask him how many miles north?" asked Tom, hardly able to conceal
his delight. The giants had no terrors for him.

"Two weeks journey," translated San Pedro.

"Good!" cried the young inventor. "Then we'll keep right on. Hurrah!
I'm on the right track at last, and I'll have a giant for the circus
and we may be able to rescue Mr. Poddington!"

"Is the senor in earnest?" asked San Pedro, looking at Tom
curiously. "Is he really going among these terrible giants?"

"Yes, but I don't believe they'll be so terrible. They may be very
gentle. I'm sure they'll be glad to come with me and join a circus--
some of them--and earn a hundred dollars a week. Of course we're
going on to giant land!"

"Very good," said San Pedro quietly, and then he followed Tom out of
the chief's hut.

"It's all right, Ned old sport, we'll get to giant land after all!"
cried Tom to his chum as they reached the hut where they were
quartered.

The next morning when Tom got up, and looked for San Pedro and his
men, to give orders about the march that day, the mule drivers were
nowhere to be seen. Nor were the mules in the places where they had
been tethered. Their packs lay in a well ordered heap, but the
animals and their drivers were gone.

"This is queer," said Tom, rubbing his eyes to make sure that he saw
aright. "I wonder where they are? Rad, look around for them."

The colored man did so, and came back soon, to report that San Pedro
and his men had gone in the night. Some of the native villagers told
him so by signs, Eradicate said. They had stolen away.

"Gone!" gasped Tom. "Gone where?"

"Bless my railroad ticket!" cried Mr. Damon.

"We're deserted," exclaimed Ned. "They've taken the mules, and left
us."

"I guess that's it," admitted Tom ruefully, after a minute's
thought. "San Pedro couldn't stand for the giants. He's had a
frightful flunk. Well, we're all alone, but we'll go on to giant
land anyhow! We can get more mules. A little thing like this can't
phase me. Are you with me, Ned--Mr. Damon--Eradicate?"

"Of course we are!" they cried without a moment's hesitation.

"Then we'll go to giant land alone!" exclaimed Tom. "Come on, now,
and we'll see if we can arrange for some pack animals."

CHAPTER XIV

IN GIANT LAND

When it first became sure that San Pedro and the other natives had
deserted--fled in the night, for fear of the giants--there was a
reactionary feeling of despondency and gloom among Tom and his three
friends. But the boldness and energy of the young inventor, his
vigorous words, his determination to proceed at any cost to the
unknown land that lay before them--these served as a tonic, and
after a few moments, Ned, Mr. Damon, and even Eradicate looked at
things with brighter spirits.

"Do you really mean it, Tom?" asked Ned. "Will you go on to giant
land?"

"I surely will, if we can find it. Why, we found the city of gold
all alone, you and Mr. Damon and I, and I don't see why we can't
find this land, especially when all we have to do is to march
forward."

"But look at the lot of stuff we have to carry!" went on Ned, waving
his hand toward the heap of packs that the mule drivers had left
behind.

"Bless my baggage check, yes!" added Mr. Damon. "We can never do it.
Tom. We had better leave it here, and try to get back to
civilization."

"Never!" cried Tom. "I started off after a giant, and I'm going to
get one, if I can induce one of the big men to come back with me.
I'm not going to give up when we're so close. We can get more pack
animals, I'm sure. I'm going to have a try for it. If I can't speak
the language of these natives I can make signs. Come on, Ned, we'll
pay a morning visit to the chief."

"I'll come along," added Mr. Damon.

"That's right," replied the young inventor. "Rad, you go stand guard
over our stuff. Some of the natives might not be able to withstand
temptation. Don't let them touch anything."

"Dat's what I won't, Massa Tom. Good land a massy! ef I sees any ob
'em lay a finger on a pack I'll shoot off my shotgun close to der
ears, so I will. Oh, ef I only had Boomerang here, he could carry
mos' all ob dis stuff his own se'f."

"You've got a great idea of Boomerang's strength," remarked Tom with
a laugh, as he and Ned and Mr. Damon started for the big hut where
the chief lived.

"Do you really think San Pedro and the others left because they were
afraid of the giants we might meet?" asked Ned.

"I think so," answered his chum.

"Bless my toothpick!" gasped Mr. Damon. "In that case maybe we'd
better be on the lookout ourselves."

"Time enough to worry when we get there," answered the young
inventor. "From what the circus man said the giants are not
particularly cruel. Of course Mr. Preston didn't have much
information to go on, but--well, we'll have to wait--that's all. But
I'm sure San Pedro and the others were in a blue funk and vamoosed
on that account."

"Hey, Massa Tom!" suddenly called Eradicate. "Heah am a letter I
found on de baggage," and he ran forward with a missive, rudely
scrawled on a scrap of paper.

"It's from San Pedro," remarked Tom after a glance at it, "and it
bears out what I said. He writes that he and his men never suspected
that we were going after the giants, or they would never have come
with us. He says they are very sorry to leave us, as we treated them
well, but are afraid to go on. He adds that they have taken enough
of our bartering goods to make up their wages, and enough food to
carry them to the next village."

"Well," finished Tom. as he folded the paper, "I suppose we can't
kick, and, maybe after all, it will be for the best. Now to see if
the chief can let us have some mules."

It took some time, by means of signs, to make the chief understand
what had happened, but, when Tom had presented him with a little toy
that ran by a spring, and opened up a pack of trading goods, which
he indicated would be exchanged for mules, or other beasts of
burden, the chief grinned in a friendly fashion, and issued certain
orders.

Several of his men hurried from the big hut, and a little later,
when Tom was showing the chief how to run the toy, there was a sound
of confusion outside.

"Bless my battle axe!" cried Mr. Damon. "I hope that's not another
war going on."

"It's our new mules!" cried Ned, taking a look. "And some cows and a
bony horse or two, Tom. We've drawn a rich lot of pack animals!"

Indeed there was a nondescript collection of beasts of burden. There
were one or two good mules, several sorry looking horses, and a
number of sleepy-eyed steers. But there were enough of them to carry
all the boxes and bales that contained the outfit of our friends.

"It might be worse," commented Tom. "Now if they'll help us pack up
we'll travel on."

More sign language was resorted to, and the chief, after another
present had been made to him, sent some of his men to help put the
packs on the animals. The steers, which Tom did not regard with much
favor, proved to be better than the mules, and by noon our friends
were all packed up again, and ready to take the trail. The chief
gave them a good dinner,--as native dinners go,--and then, after
telling them that, though he had never seen the giants it had long
been known that they inhabitated the country to the north, he waved
a friendly good-bye.

"Well, we'll see what luck we'll have by ourselves," remarked Tom,
as he mounted a bony mule, an example followed by Ned, Mr. Damon and
Eradicate, They had left behind some of their goods, and so did not
have so much to carry. Food they had in condensed form and they were
getting into the more tropical part of the country where game
abounded.

It was not as easy as they had imagined it would be for, with only
four to drive so many animals, several of the beasts were
continually straying from the trail, and once a big steer, with part
of the aeroplane on its back, wandered into a morass and they had to
labor hard to get the animal out.

"Well, this is fierce!" exclaimed Tom, at the end of the first day
when, tired and weary, bitten by insects, and torn by jungle briars,
they made camp that night.

"Going to give up?" asked Ned.

"Not much!"

They felt better after supper, and, tethering the animals securely,
they stretched out in their tents, with mosquito canopies over them
to keep away the pestering insects.

"I've got a new scheme," announced Tom next morning at breakfast.

"What is it? Going on the rest of the way in the aeroplane?" asked
Ned hopefully.

"No, though I believe if I had brought the big airship along I could
have used it. But I mean about driving the animals. I'm going to
make a long line of them, tying one to the other like the elephants
in the circus when they march around, holding each other's tails.
Then one of us will ride in front, another in the rear, and one on
each side. In that way we'll keep them going and they won't stray
off."

"Bless my button hook!" cried Mr. Damon. "That's a good idea, Tom!"
It was carried out with much success, and thereafter they traveled
better.

But even at the best it was not easy work, and more than once Tom's
friends urged him to turn back. But he would not, ever pressing on,
with the strange land for his goal. They had long since passed the
last of the native villages, and they had to depend on their own
efforts for food. Fortunately they did not have any lack of game,
and they fared well with what they had with them in the packs.

Occasionally they met little bands of native hunters, and, though
usually these men fled at the sight of our friends, yet once they
managed to make signs to one, who, informed them as best he could,
that giant land was still far ahead of them.

Twice they heard distant sounds of native battles and the weird
noise of the wooden drums and the tom-toms. Once, as they climbed up
a big hill, they looked down into a valley and saw a great conflict
in which there must have been several thousand natives on either
side. It was a fierce battle, seen even from afar, and Tom and the
others shuddered as they slipped down over the other side of the
rise, and out of sight.

"We'd better steer clear of them," was Tom's opinion; and the others
agreed with him.

For another week they kept on, the way becoming more and more
difficult, and the country more and more wild. They had fairly to
cut their way through the jungle at times, and the only paths were
animal trails, but they were better than nothing. For the last five
days they had not seen a human being, and the loneliness was telling
on them.

"I'd be glad to see even a two-headed giant," remarked Tom
whimsically one night as they made their camp.

"Yes, and I'd be glad to hear someone talk, even in the sign
language," added Ned, with a grin.

They slept well, for they were very tired, and Tom, who shared his
tent with Ned, was awakened rather early the next morning by hearing
someone moving outside the canvas shelter.

"Is that you, Mr. Damon?" he asked, the odd gentleman having a tent
adjoining that of the boys.

There was no answer.

"Rad, are you getting breakfast?" asked the young inventor. "What
time is it?"

Still no answer.

"What's the matter?" asked Ned, who had been awakened by Tom's
inquiries.

Before our hero had a chance to reply the flap of his tent was
pulled back, and a head was thrust in. But such a head! It was
enormous! A head covered with a thick growth of tawny hair, and a
face almost hidden in a big tawny, bushy beard. Then an arm was
thrust in--an arm that terminated in a brawny fist that clasped a
great club. There was no mistaking the, object that gazed in on the
two youths. It was a gigantic man--a man almost twice the size of
any Tom had ever seen. And then our hero knew that he had reached
the end of his quest.

"A giant!" gasped Tom. "Ned! Ned, we're in the big men's country,
and we didn't know it!"

"I--I guess you're right, Tom!"

The giant started at the sounds of their voices, and then his face
breaking into a broad grin, that showed a great mouth filled with
white teeth, he called to them in an unknown tongue and in a voice
that seemed to fairly shake the frail tent.

CHAPTER XV

IN THE "PALACE" OF THE KING

For a few moments after their first ejaculations neither Tom nor Ned
knew what to do. The giant continued to gaze at them, with the same
good-natured grin on his face. Possibly he was amused at the small
size of the persons in the tent. Then Tom spoke.

"He doesn't look as if he would bite, Ned."

"No, he seems harmless enough. Let's get up, and see what happens. I
wonder if there are any more of them? They must have come out on an
early hunt, and stumbled upon our camp."

At this moment there arose a cry from Mr. Damon's tent.

"Bless my burglar alarm!" shouted the odd gentleman. "Tom--Ned--am I
dreaming? There's a man here as big as a mountain. Tom! Ned!"

"It's all right, Mr. Damon!" called Tom. "We're among the giants all
right. They won't hurt you."

"Fo' de good land ob massy!" screamed Eradicate, a second later, and
then they knew that he, too, had seen one of the big men. "Fo' de
lub ob pork chops! Am dis de Angel Gabriel? Listen to de blowin' ob
de trump! Oh, please good Massa Angel Gabriel, I ain't nebber done
nuffin! I's jest po' ol' Eradicate Sampson, an' I got a mule
Boomerang, and' dat's all I got. Please good Mr. Angel--"

"Dry up, Rad!" yelled Tom. "It's only one of the giants. Come on out
of your tent and get breakfast. We're on the borders of giant land,
evidently, and they seem as harmless as ordinary men. Get up,
everybody."

As Tom spoke he rose from the rubber blanket on which he slept. Ned
did the same, and the giant slowly pulled his head out from the
tent. Then the two youths went outside. A strange sight met their
gaze.

There were about ten natives standing in the camp--veritable giants,
big men in every way. The young inventor had once seen a giant in a
circus, and, allowing for shoes with very thick soles which the big
man wore, his height was a little over seven feet. But these South
American giants seemed more than a foot higher than that, none of
those who had stumbled upon the camp being less than eight feet.

"And I believe there must be bigger ones in their land, wherever
that is," said Tom. Nor were these giants tall and thin, as was the
one Tom had seen, but stout, and well proportioned. They were
savages, that was evident, but the curious part of it was that they
were almost white, and looked much like the pictures of the old
Norsemen.

But, best of all, they seemed good-natured, for they were
continually laughing or smiling, and though they looked with wonder
on the pile of boxes and bales, and on the four travelers, they
seemed more bewildered and amused, than vindictive that their
country should have been invaded. Evidently the fears of the natives
who had told Tom about the giants had been unfounded.

By this time Mr. Damon and Eradicate had come from their tents, and
were gazing with startled eyes at the giants who surrounded them.

"Bless my walking stick!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "Is it possible?"

"Yes, we've arrived!" cried Tom. "Now to see what happens. I wonder
if they'll take us to their village, and I wonder if I can get one
of these giants for Mr. Preston's circus?"

"You certainly can't unless he wants to come," declared Ned. "You'd
have a hard tussle trying to carry one of these fellows away against
his will, Tom."

"I sure would. I'll have to make inducements. Well, I wonder what is
best to do?"

The giant who had looked in the tent of Ned and Tom, and who
appeared to be the leader of the party, now spoke in his big,
booming voice. He seemed to be asking Tom a question, but the young
inventor could not understand the language. Tom replied in Spanish,
giving a short account of why he and his companions had come to the
country, but the giant shook his head. Then Mr. Damon, who knew
several languages, tried all of them--but it was of no use.

"We've got to go back to signs," declared Tom, and then, as best he
could, he indicated that he and the others had come from afar to
seek the giants. He doubted whether he was understood, and he
decided to wait until later to try and make them acquainted with the
fact that he wanted one of them to come back with him.

The head giant nodded, showing that at least he understood
something, and then spoke to his companions. They conversed in their
loud voices for some time, and then motioned to the pack animals.

"I guess they want us to come along," said Torn, "but let's have
breakfast first. Rad, get things going. Maybe the giants will have
some coffee and condensed milk, though they'll have to take about
ten cupsful to make them think they've had anything. Make a lot of
coffee, Rad."

"But good land a massy, dey'll eat up eberyt'ing we got, Massa Tom,"
objected the colored man.

"Can't help it, Rad. They're our guests and we've got to be polite,"
replied the youth. "It isn't every day that we have giants to
breakfast."

The big men watched curiously while Rad built a fire, and when the
colored man was trying to break a tough stick of wood with the axe,
one of the giants picked up the fagot and snapped it in his fingers
as easily as though it were a twig, though the stick was as thick as
Tom's arm.

"Some strength there," murmured Ned to his chum admiringly.

"Yes, if they took a notion to go on a rampage we'd have trouble.
But they seem kind and gentle."

Indeed the giants did, and they liked the coffee which they tasted
rather gingerly at first. After their first sip they wanted more,
made as sweet as possible, and they laughed and talked among
themselves while Eradicate boiled pot after pot.

"Dey suah will eat us out of house an' home, Massa Tom," he wailed.

"Never mind, Rad. They will feed us well when we get to their town."

Then the pack animals were laden with their burdens. This was always
a task, but for the giants it was child's play. With one hand they
would lift a box or bale that used to tax the combined strength of
the four travelers, and soon the steers, horses and mules were ready
to proceed. The giants went on ahead, to show the way, the first
one, who seemed to be called "Oom," for that was the way his
companions addressed him, walked beside Tom, who rode on a mule. In
fact the giant had to walk slowly, so as not to get ahead of the
animal. Oom tried to talk to Tom, but it was hard work to pick out
the signs that meant something, and so neither gained much
information.

Tom did gather, however, that the giants were out on an early hunt
when they had discovered our friends, and their chief town lay about
half a day's journey off in the jungle. The path along which they
proceeded, was better than the forest trails, and showed signs of
being frequently used.

"It doesn't seem possible that we are really among giants, Tom,"
spoke Ned, as they rode along. "I hardly believed there were
giants."

"There always have been giants," declared the young inventor. "I
read about them in an encyclopedia before I started on this trip. Of
course there's lots of wild stories about giants, but there have
really been some very big men. Take the skeleton in the museum of
Trinity College, Dublin. It is eight feet and a half in height, and
the living man must have even taller. There was a giant named
O'Brien, and his skeleton is in the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of England--that one is eight feet two inches high, while
there are reliable records to show that, when living, O'Brien was
two inches taller than that. In fact, according to the books, there
have been a number of giants nine feet high."

"Then these chaps aren't so wonderful," replied Ned.

"Oh, we haven't seen them all yet. We may find some bigger than
these fellows, though any one of these would be a prize for a
museum. Not a one is less than eight feet, and if we could get one
say ten feet--that WOULD be a find."

"Rather an awkward one," commented Ned.

It did not seem possible that they were really in giant land, yet
such was the fact. Of course the country itself was no different
from any other part of the jungle, for merely because big men lived
in it did not make the trees or plants any larger.

"I tell you how I account for it," said Tom, as they traveled on.
"These men originally belonged to a race of people noted for their
great size. Then they must have lived under favorable conditions,
had plenty of flesh and bone-forming food, and after several
generations they gradually grew larger. You know that by feeding the
right kind of food to animals you can make them bigger, while if
they get the wrong kind they are runts, or dwarfs."

"Oh, yes; that's a well-known fact," chimed in Mr. Damon.

"Then why not with human beings?" went on Tom. "There's nothing
wonderful in this."

"No, but it will be wonderful if we get away with one of these
giants," spoke Ned grimly.

Further talk was interrupted by a sudden shouting on the part of the
big men. Oom made some rapid motions to Tom, and a little later they
emerged from the woods upon a large, grassy plain, on the other side
of which could be seen a cluster of big grass and mud huts.

"There is the city of the giants!" cried Tom, and so it proved, a
little later, when they got to it.

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