Tom Swift in Captivity
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Victor Appleton >> Tom Swift in Captivity
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Building the stand took some time, and they knocked off to make a
meal from the food that had been brought, and which they had been
about to eat when the circus man had appeared. The food was good,
and it made them feel better.
"I hope they won't forget us to-morrow," observed Tom, for there was
enough of the first meal left for supper. "But if they do we have
some food of our own."
"Oh, I don't think they mean to starve us," remarked Ned. "I think
they are just acting on suggestions from that circus man."
"Perhaps," agreed Tom. "Well, they may sing another tune when we get
through with them."
As night approached the giant guards about the hut were changed, and
again the women came, bearing platters of food. There was plenty of
it, showing that the king, however fickle his friendship might be,
did not intend to starve his captives. Tom and his friends had not
seen Delby come out of the royal palace, and they concluded that he
was still with his giant majesty.
"Is it dark enough now, Tom?" asked Ned of his chum, as they sat
about the rude wooden platform which they had made to hold the
fireworks. "Shall we set them off?"
"Pretty soon now. Wait until it gets a little darker, and the effect
will be better." The room was dimly lighted by a small portable
electric lamp, one of several Tom had brought along in his
mysterious box. The lamps were operated by miniature but powerful
dry batteries. The giant guards were still outside, but they showed
no disposition to interfere with our friends.
"There's something going on at the palace," reported Mr. Damon, who
was watching the big hut. "There are a lot of giants around it with
torches."
"Maybe they're going to escort Delby to a hut with the same honors
they paid us," suggested Tom. "If they do, we'll set off the
fireworks as he comes out and maybe they'll think he is afflicted
with bad magic, and they'll give us our freedom."
"Good idea!" cried Ned. "Say, that's what they're going to do," he
added a moment later as, in the glare of a number of torches, there
could be seen issuing from the king's palace, the two big giants,
evidently his brothers. Between them was the figure of the circus
man, looking like a dwarf. He was not so far away but what the smile
of triumph on his face could be seen as he glanced in the direction
of the darkened hut where Tom and his friends were captives.
"Now's our chance!" cried the young inventor. "Set 'em off, Ned. You
help, Mr. Damon. The more noise and fuss we make at once, the more
impressive it will be. Set off everything in sight!"
There was a flicker of matches as they were applied to the fuses,
and then a splutter of sparks. An instant later it seemed as if the
whole heavens had been lighted up.
Sky rockets shot screaming toward the zenith, aerial bombs went
whirling slantingly upward amid a shower of sparks, then to burst
with deafening reports, sending out string after string of colored
lights. Red and green fire gleamed, and the hot balls from Roman
candles burst forth. There was a whizz, a rush and a roar. Blinding
flashes and startling reports followed each other as Tom and his
friends set off the fireworks. It was like the Independence Day
celebration of some little country village, and to the simple giants
it must have seemed as if a volcano had suddenly gone into action.
For several minutes the din and racket, the glare and explosions,
kept up, pouring out of the big window of the hut. And then, as the
last of the display was shot off, and darkness seemed to settle down
blacker than ever over the giant village, there arose howls of fear
and terror from the big men and their women and children. They cried
aloud in their thunderous voices, and there was fear in every cry.
CHAPTER XIX
WEAK GIANTS
A great silence followed the setting off of the fireworks--silence
and darkness--and even the circus man ceased to shout. He wanted to
see what the effect would be. So did Tom and the others. When their
eyes had become used to the gloom again, after the glare of the
rockets and bombs, the young inventor said:
"Look out of the windows, Ned, and see if our guards have run away."
Ned did as requested, but for a few seconds he could make out
nothing. Then he cried out:
"They've gone, but they're coming back again, and there are twice as
many. I guess they don't want us to escape, Tom, for fear we may do
a lot of damage."
"Bless my hitching post!" cried Mr. Damon. "The guards doubled? We
ARE in a predicament, Tom."
"Yes, I'm afraid so. The fireworks didn't just have the effect I
expected. I thought they'd be glad to let us go, fearing that we
could work magic, and might turn it on them. Most of the natives are
deadly afraid of magic, the evil eye, witch doctors, and stuff like
that. But evidently we've impressed the giants in the wrong way. If
we could only speak their language now, we could explain that unless
they let us go we might destroy their village, though of course we
wouldn't do anything of the kind. If we could only speak their
language but we can't."
"Do you suppose they understood what Delby said?" asked Ned.
"Not a bit of it! He was just desperate when he yelled out that way.
He saw that we had an advantage on him--or at least I thought we
did, but I guess we didn't," and Tom gazed out of the windows in
front of each of which stood two of the largest giants. By means of
the torches it could be seen that the circus man was being taken to
another hut, some distance away from the royal one. Then, after an
awed silence, there broke out a confused talking and shouting among
the giant population, that was drawn up in a circle a respectful
distance from the hut where the captives were confined. Doubtless
they were discussing what had taken place, hoping and yet fearing,
that there might be more fireworks.
"Well, we might as well go to bed," declared Tom at length. "We
can't do any more to-night, and I'm dead tired. In the morning we
can talk over new plans. My box of tricks isn't exhausted yet."
In spite of their strange captivity our friends slept well, and they
did not awaken once during the night, for they had worked hard that
day, and were almost exhausted. In the morning they looked out and
saw guards still about the hut.
"Now for a good breakfast, and another try!" exclaimed Tom, as he
washed in a big earthen jar of water that had been provided.
Freshened by the cool liquid, they were made hungry for the meal
which was brought to them a little later. They noticed that the
women cooks looked at them with fear in their eyes, and did not
linger as they had done before. Instead they set down the trays of
food and hurried away.
"They're getting to be afraid of us," declared Tom. "If we could
only talk their language--"
"By Jove!" suddenly interrupted Ned. "I've just thought of
something. Jake Poddington you know--the agent for Mr. Preston who
so mysteriously disappeared."
"Well, what about him?" asked Tom. "Did you see him?"
"No, but he may be here--a captive like ourselves. If he is he's
been here long enough to have learned the language of the giants,
and if he could translate for us, we wouldn't have any trouble. Why
didn't we think of it before? If we could only find Mr. Poddington!"
"Yes, IF we only could," put in Tom. "But it's a slim chance. I
declare I've forgotten about him in the last few days, so many
things have happened. But what makes you think he is here, Ned?"
"Why he started for giant land, you'll remember, and he may have
reached here. Oh, if we could only find him, and save him and save
ourselves!"
"It would be great!" admitted Tom. "But I'm afraid we can't do it.
There's a chance, though, that Mr. Poddington may be here, or may
have been here. If we could only get out and make some explorations
or some inquiries. It's tough to be cooped up here like chickens."
Tom looked from the window, vainly hoping that the guards might have
been withdrawn. The giants were still before the windows and doors.
For a week this captivity was kept up, and in that time Tom and his
friends had occasional glimpses of Hank Delby going to and from the
king's hut. His majesty himself was not seen, but there appeared to
be considerable activity in the giant village.
From their prison-hut the captives could see the native market held
in the big open space, and giants from surrounding towns and the
open country came in to trade. There were also curious about the
white captives, and there was a constant throng around the big hut,
peering in. So also there was about the hut where the circus man had
his headquarters. Delby seemed to be free to come and go as he
choose.
"I guess he's laying his plans to take a giant or two away with
him," remarked Tom one day. "I wonder what will become of us, when
he does go?"
It was a momentous question, and no one could answer it. Tom was
doing some hard thinking those days. Two weeks passed and there was
no change. Our friends were still captives in giant land. They had
tried, by signs, to induce their guards to take some message to the
king, but the giants refused with shakes of their big heads.
Yet the adventurers could not complain of bad treatment. They were
well fed, and the guards seemed good natured, laughing among
themselves, and smiling whenever they saw any of the captives. But
let Tom or some of the others, step across the threshold of the
door, and they were kindly, but firmly, shoved back.
"It's of no use!" exclaimed Tom in despair one day, after a bold
attempt to walk out. "We've got to do something. If we can't get
word to the king we've got to plan some way to gain the friendship,
or work on the fear of the guards. We have about the same crowd
every time. If we can scare them they may keep far enough off so we
can have a chance to escape."
"Escape! That's the thing!" cried Mr. Damon. "Why can't we put the
airship together in this hut, Tom, and fly away in it?"
"We can, when the right time comes--if it ever does--but first we've
got to work on the guards. Let me see what I can do? Ha! I have it.
Ned, come here, I want your help. I'm going to show these giants
that, with all their strength, I can make each of them as weak as a
baby, and, at the same time prove that they can't lift even a light
weight."
"How you going to do it?" asked Mr. Damon.
"I'll soon show you. Come on, Ned."
Tom and his chum were busy for several days among the various boxes
and bales that formed the baggage. They rigged up two pieces of
apparatus which I will describe in due time. They also opened
several boxes of trinkets and trading goods, which had been brought
along for barter. These they distributed among the guards, and,
though the giants were immensely pleased, they did not get friendly
enough to walk off and leave our friends free to do as they pleased.
"Well, I guess we're ready for the lesson now," remarked Tom one
afternoon, when they had been held captives for about three weeks.
"If they won't respond to gentle treatment we'll try some other kind
of persuasion."
The guards had become so friendly of late that some of them often
spent part of the day inside the hut, looking at the curious things
Tom and his party had brought with them. This was just what the
young inventor wanted, as he was now ready to give them a second
lesson in white man's magic.
Tom and Ned had learned a few words of the giant's language, which
was quite simple, though it sounded hard, and one day, after he had
shown them simple toys, the young inventor brought forth a simple-
looking box, with two shining handles.
"Here is a little thing," explained Tom, partly by words, and partly
by using signs, "a simple little thing which, if one of you will but
take hold of, you cannot let go of again until I move my finger. Do
you believe that a small white man like myself can make this little
thing stronger than a giant?" he asked.
One of the biggest of the guards shook his head.
"Try," invited Tom. "Take hold of the handles. At first you will be
able to let go easily. But, when I shall move my finger though but a
little, you will be held fast. Then, another movement, and you will
be loose again. Can I do it?"
Once more the giant shook his head.
"Try," urged Tom, and he put the two shining handles into the big
palms of the giant. The native grinned and some of his companions
laughed. Then to show how easy it was he let go. He took hold again.
"Now!" cried Tom, and he moved his finger.
Instantly the giant leaped up into the air. He uttered a howl that
seemed to shake the very roof of the hut, and his arms were as rigid
as poles. They were drawn up in knots, and though he tried with all
his great might, he could not loose his fingers from the shiny
handles. He howled in terror, and his companions murmured in
amazement.
"It is as I told you!" exclaimed Tom. "Is it enough?"
"Loose me! Loose me! Loose me from the terrible magic!" cried the
giant, and, with a movement of his finger, Tom switched off the
current from the electric battery. Instantly the giant's arms
dropped to his side, his hands relaxed and the handles dropped
clattering to the floor.
With a look of fear, and a howl of anguish, the big guard fled, but
to the surprise and gratification of Tom and his friends the others
seemed only amused, and they nodded in a friendly fashion to the
captives. They all pressed forward to try the battery.
One and all endeavored to loose their hands after Tom, by a movement
of his forefinger, had turned the switch of the battery, and one and
all of the giant guards were unable to stir, as the electricity
gripped their muscles. They were evidently awed.
"This is working better than the fireworks did," murmured Tom. "Now
if I can only keep up the good work, and get ahead of Delby I'll be
all right. Now for the other test, Ned."
Ned brought from a box what looked to be a small iron bar, with a
large handle on the top. The bottom was ground very smooth.
"This is very small and light," explained Tom, partly by signs, and
partly by words. "I can easily lift it by one finger, and to a giant
it is but a feather's weight."
He let the giants handle it, and of course they could feel scarcely
any weight at all, for it tipped the scales at only a pound. But it
was shortly to be much heavier.
"See," went on the young inventor. "I place the weight on the floor,
and lift it easily. Can you do it?"
The giants laughed at such a simple trick. Tom set the iron bar down
and raised it several times. So did several of the giants.
"Now for the test!" cried Tom with a dramatic gesture. "I shall put
my magic upon you, and you shall all become as weak as babies. You
cannot lift the bar of iron!"
As he spoke he made a signal to Ned, who stood in a distant corner
of the room. Then Tom carefully placed the weight on a sheet of
white paper on a certain spot on the floor of the hut and motioned
to the largest giant to pick up the iron bar.
With a laugh of contempt and confidence, the big man stooped over
and grasped the handle. But he did not arise. Instead, the muscles
of his naked arm swelled out in great bunches.
"See, you are as a little babe!" taunted Tom. "Another may try!"
Another did, and another and another, until it came the turn of the
mightiest giant of all the guard that day. With a sudden wrench he
sought to lift the bar. He tugged and strained. He bent his back and
his legs; his shoulders heaved with the terrific effort he made--but
the bar still held to the floor of the hut as though a part of the
big beams themselves.
"Now!" cried Tom. "I shall show you how a white man's magic makes
him stronger than the biggest giant."
Once more he made a hidden sign to Ned, and then, stooping over, Tom
crooked his little finger in the handle of the iron bar and lifted
it as easily as if it was a feather.
CHAPTER XX
THE LONE CAPTIVE
The murmurs of astonishment that greeted Tom's seemingly marvelous
feat of strength was even greater than that which had marked his
trick with the electric battery. The giants stared at him as though
they feared the next moment he might suddenly turn upon them and
hurl them about like ten-pins.
"You see, it is easy when one knows the white man's magic," spoke
Tom, making many gestures to help along. "Go tell your king that it
is not well that he keeps us prisoners here, for if he does not soon
let us go the magic may break loose and destroy his palace!"
There was a gasp of dismay from the giants at this bold talk.
"Better go easy, Tom," counseled Ned.
"I'm tired of going easy," replied the young inventor. "Something
has got to happen pretty soon, or it will be all up with us. I'm
getting weary of being cooped up here. Not that the king doesn't
treat us well, but I don't want to be a prisoner. I want to get out
and see if we can't arrange to take a couple of these giants back
for Mr. Preston. That Delby sneak has things all his own way."
And this was so, for the circus man had poisoned the king's mind
against Tom and his friends, representing (as our hero learned
later) that the first arrivals in giant land were dangerous people,
and not to be trusted. On his own part, Hank Delby intimated that he
would always be a friend to the king, would teach him many of the
white man's secrets, and would make him powerful. Thus the circus
man was making plans for his own ends, and he was scheming to get a
couple of giants for himself, who he intended to hurry away, leaving
Tom and his friends to escape as best they could.
And Delby had brought with him some novelties in the way of toys and
machinery that seemed greatly to take the fancy of the king. Tom
realized this when he saw his rival free to come and go, and one
reason why our hero did the experiments just related was so that the
king might hear of them, and wonder.
"Go tell the king that, strong as he is, I am stronger," went on Tom
boldly to the giant guards. "I am not afraid of him."
"Bless my war club, Tom, aren't you a little rash to talk that way?"
asked Mr. Damon.
"No. As I said, I want things to happen. If I can only get the king
curious enough to come here I can show him things to open his eyes.
I'll work the miniature circus, and explain that some of his
subjects can take part in a real one if they will come with us. I
want to beat this Delby at his own game."
"That's the stuff!" cried Ned. "Stick to it, Tom. I'll help you, and
we'll get a giant or two yet. And maybe we can get some news of poor
Jake Poddington."
"I intend to make inquiries about him, now that these guards are a
little more friendly," said Tom. "It may be that he is a prisoner in
this very village."
The giant guards, now that they had gotten over their fright at
their own inability to raise the bar while Tom had lifted it with
one finger, again crowded around, asking that the trick be repeated.
Tom did it, with the same result.
None of the giants could move the iron, yet Tom had no difficulty in
doing so. Of course my readers have already guessed how the trick
was done. It was worked by a strong magnet, hidden in the floor. At
a signal from Tom, Ned would switch on the current. The iron would
be held fast and immovable, but when Tom himself went to raise it
Ned would cut off the electricity and the bar was lifted as easily
as an ordinary piece of iron. But simple as the trick was, it
impressed the giants. Then Tom did some other stunts for them,
simple experiments in physics, that every High School lad has done
in class.
"I want to get these guards friendly with me," he explained. "In
time the news will reach the king and he'll be so curious that he'll
come here and then--well, we'll see what will happen."
But this did not take place as soon as Tom desired. In fact, the
giants were very slow to act. The guards did get quite friendly, and
every day they wanted the same two first tricks performed over
again. Tom did them many times, wondering when the king would come.
Then he played a bold game, and made open inquiries about a white
man, one like the king's captives, who might have come to giant land
about a year previous.
"Is there a lone white captive here?" asked Tom.
The giant guard to whom he directed his question gave a start, for
Tom could now speak the language fairly well, and, after the first
indication of surprise, the guard muttered something to his
companions. There was a startled ejaculation, a curious glance at
the captives, and then--silence. The guards filed silently away,
and, a little later, could be seen going in the king's big hut.
"By Jove, Tom!" cried Ned. "You touched 'em that time. There's
something up, as sure as you're born!"
"I believe so myself," agreed the young inventor. "And now to throw
a real scare into these giants," he added, as he went to a distant
room of the hut where he had hidden some of the things he had taken
from his "box of tricks," as Ned dubbed it.
"Bless my necktie!" cried Mr. Damon. "What's up now, Tom."
"I'm going to show these giants that they'd better make friends with
us soon, or we may blow their whole town sky-high!" cried Tom. "I'm
going to use some of the blasting powder--just a pinch, so to speak-
-and knock an empty hut into slivers. I think that will impress
these fellows. If I can only--"
"Look, Tom!" suddenly cried Ned. "The king's two brothers are coming
here. Something's up. He's sent some of the family to interview us.
Get ready to receive them."
"Couldn't be better!" cried the young inventor. "I've been waiting
for this. Now I'll give them a surprise party."
The two big brothers of the king, for such Tom and his friends had
recently learned was the relationship the giants on either side of
the "throne" bore to the ruler, were indeed headed toward the hut of
the captives. They came alone, in their royal garments of jaguar
skins, and, standing about the palace hut, could be seen the giant
guards who had doubtless carried the news of the question Tom had
asked.
"Come on, Ned, we've got to get busy!" exclaimed Tom. "Connect the
electric battery, and get that magnet in shape. I'm going to make a
fuse for this blasting powder bomb, and if I can get those royal
brothers to plant it for me, there'll be some high jinks soon."
Tom busied himself in making an improvised bomb, while Ned attended
to the electrical attachments, and Mr. Damon and Eradicate acted as
general assistants.
The two giant brothers entered the hut and greeted Tom and the
others calmly. Then they explained that the king had sent them to
investigate certain stories told by the guard.
"I'll show you!" exclaimed Tom, and he induced them to take hold of
the handles of the battery. The current was turned on full strength,
and from the manner in which the royal brothers writhed and howled
Tom judged that the experiment was a success.
"With all your strength you can not let go until I move my finger,"
the young inventor explained, and it was so. Even the skeptical
giants agreed on that.
"Now I shall show you that I am stronger than you!" exclaimed Tom,
and though the giants smiled increduously so it was, for the magnet
trick worked as well as before. There were murmurs of surprise from
the two immense brothers, and they talked rapidly together.
"I will now show you that I can call the lightning from the sky to
do my bidding," went on Tom. "Is that possible to any of you
giants?"
"Never! Never! No man can do it!" cried Tola and Koku together.
"Then watch me!" invited Tom. "Is there an empty hut near here?" he
asked. "One that it will do no harm to destroy?"
Tola pointed to one visible from the window of the prison of our
friends.
"Then take this little ball, with the string attached to it, and
place it in the hut," went on Tom. "Then flee for your lives, for
standing from here, I shall call the lightning down, and you shall
see the hut destroyed."
"Why don't you ask them something about Jake Poddington?" asked Ned.
"Time enough for that after I've shown them what a little powder
will do, when I attach electric wires to it and press a button,"
replied Tom. "I've got that bomb fixed so it will go off by an
electric fuse. If they'll only put it in the hut for me. I'd do it
myself, only they won't let me go out."
The brothers conferred for a moment and then, seeming to arrive at a
decision, Koku, who was slightly the larger, took the bomb, looked
curiously at it, and walked with it toward the empty hut, the
electric wire being reeled out behind him by Tom.
The bomb was left inside the frail structure, the two brothers
hurried away, and, standing at a safe distance from the hut of the
captives, as well as the one that Tom had promised to destroy by
lightning, they waved their hands to show that they were ready.
"Bless my admission ticket!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "You've got quite
an audience, Tom."
And so he had, for there was a crowd in the market square, another
throng about the king's palace, while all about, hidden behind trees
or huts, was nearly the whole population of the giant town.
"That's what I want," said the young inventor. "It will be all the
more impressive."
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