“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.”

“And there’s the king himself!” exclaimed Ned.  “He’s standing in the door of his royal hut.”

“Better yet!” cried Tom.  “Are those wires all connected, Ned?”

“Yes,” answered his chum, after a quick inspection.

“Then here she goes!” cried Tom, as he pressed the button.

Instantly the hut, in which the bomb had been placed, arose in the air.  The roof was lifted off, the sides spread out and there was a great flash of fire and a puff of smoke.

Then as the smoke cleared away Ned cried out: 

“Look, Tom!  Look!  You’ve blown a hole in the hut next to the one you destroyed!”

“Yes, and bless my check book!” exclaimed Mr. Damon, “some one is running out of it.  A white man, Tom!  A white man!”

“It’s Poddington!  Poor Jake Poddington.  We’ve found him at last!  This way, Mr. Poddington!  This way!  Mr. Preston sent us to rescue you!” cried Tom.

CHAPTER XXI

A ROYAL CONSPIRACY

Howls of terror, cries of anger, and a rushing to and fro on the part of the giants, followed the latest trick of Tom Swift to impress them with his power.  But to all this the young inventor and his friends paid no attention.  Their eyes were fixed on the ragged figure of the white man who was rushing toward their hut as fast as his legs, manacled as they were, would let him.