“It all happened to me,” said the giant, simply.  “Me no make anything happen to them.”

“That’s about right,” laughed Tom, ruefully.  “It all happened to us.”

The lights in the hangar were switched on, but a careful search revealed little.  The men, half a dozen or more, had come evidently well prepared for the taking away of Tom Swift’s airship, and they had done so.

Entrance had been effected by forcing a small side door.  True, the burglar alarm had given notice of the presence of the men, but Tom and Ned had not acted quite quickly enough.  Koku had been at the hangar almost as soon as the men themselves, but he had watched and waited for orders, instead of going in at once, and this had given the intruders time to wheel out the craft and start the motor.

“Why didn’t you jump right in on them when you saw what they were up to, Koku?” asked Tom.

“Me wait for master.  Me think master want to see who men were.  Me go in—­they run.”

“Well, of course that’s so, in a way,” admitted Tom.  “They probably would have run, but they’d have run without my airship instead of with it, if they hadn’t had time to get it outside the hangar.  However, there’s no use in crying over lost biplanes.  The next thing is how to get her back.  Did you know any of the men, Koku?”

“No, master.”

“Then we haven’t any clue that way.  They laid their plans well.  They just let you tangle yourself up with them, Koku, while the head ones got the motor going; an easy matter, since it was all ready to start.  Then they tripped you, Koku, and as many of them as could, made a jump for the machine.  Then they were off.”

“Well, what’s the next thing to do?” asked Ned, when another look about the shed had shown that not the slightest clue was available.

“I’m going to do some telephoning,” Tom stated.  “A big airship like mine can’t go scooting around the country without being noticed.  And those fellows can’t go on forever.  They’ve got to have gasoline and oil, and to get them they’ll have to come down.  I’ll get it back, sooner or later; but the question is:  Why did they take her?”

“To sell,” suggested Ned.

“I think not,” Tom said.  “A big airship like mine isn’t easy to sell.  People who would buy it would ask questions that might not easily be answered.  I’m inclined to think that some other reason made them take her, and it’s up to us to find out what it was.  Let’s go into the house.”

“Hark!” suddenly exclaimed Ned, holding up his hand for silence.  They all heard footsteps outside the hangar.

Tom sprang to the door, flashing his electric light, and a voice exclaimed: 

“Golly!  Chicken thieves!”

“Oh, is it you, Eradicate?” asked the young inventor, with a laugh.  “No, it isn’t chicken thieves—­they were after bigger game this time.”

“Suffin happen?” asked the colored man.  “Massa Swift he heah a noise, an’ see a light, an’ he sent me out yeah t’ see what all am gwine on.”