CHAPTER XI

ANCHORED TO EARTH

With the voyage on the steamer, their arrival in Africa, the many strange sights of the city of Majumba, and the refitting of the airship, our friends had hardly had time to catch their breath since Tom Swift’s determination to go elephant hunting.  Now, as the Black Hawk was speeding into the interior, they felt, for the first time in many weeks, that they “could take it easy,” as Ned Newton expressed it.

“Thank goodness,” said the bank clerk, “I can sit down and look at something for a while,” and he gazed out of the main cabin windows down at the wild country over which they were then flying.

For, so swiftly had the airship moved that it was hardly any time at all before it had left Majumba far behind, and was scudding over the wilderness.

“Bless my camera,” exclaimed Mr. Damon, who had brought along one of the picture machines, “bless my camera!  I don’t call that much to look at,” and he pointed to the almost impenetrable forest over which they then were.

“No, it isn’t much of a view,” said the old elephant hunter, “but wait.  You’ll soon see all you want to.  Africa isn’t all like this.  There are many strange sights before us yet.  But, Tom Swift, tell us how the airship is working in this climate.  Do you find any difficulty managing it?”

“Not at all,” answered Tom, who was in the cabin then, having set the automatic steering apparatus in the pilot house, and come back to join the others.  “It works as well as it did in good old York State.  Of course I can’t tell what affect the continual hot and moist air will have on the gas bag, but I guess we’ll make out all right.”

“I certainly hope so,” put in Mr. Anderson.  “It would be too bad to be wrecked in the middle of Africa, with no way to get out.”

“Oh, you needn’t worry about that,” said Ned with a laugh.  “If the airship should smash, Tom would build another out of what was left, and we’d sail away as good as before.”

“Hardly that,” answered the young inventor.

“But we won’t cross a bridge until we hear it coming, as Eradicate would say.  Hello, that looks like some sort of native village.”

He pointed ahead to a little clearing in the forest, where a number of mud and grass huts were scattered about.  As they came nearer they could see the black savages, naked save for a loin cloth, running about in great excitement, and pointing upward.

“Yes, that’s one of the numerous small native villages we’ll see from now on,” said Mr. Durban.  “Many a night have I spent in those same grass huts after a day’s hunting.  Sometimes, I’ve been comfortable, and again not.  I guess we’ve given those fellows a scare.”

It did seem so, for by this time the whole population, including women and children, were running about like mad.  Suddenly, from below there sounded a deep booming noise, which came plainly to the ears of the elephant hunters through the opened windows of the airship cabin.