“That’s wonderful!” cried Tom, as he ran to examine it.  “What has happened?  I never had such a powerful beam before.  There must be something that I have stumbled on by accident.  Say, that is a light all right!  Why it goes for miles and miles, and I never projected a beam as far as this before.”

As Tom looked into a circle of violet-colored glass set in the side cf the small searchlight, to see what had caused the extraordinary glow, he could observe nothing out of the ordinary.  The violet glass was to protect the eyes from the glare.

“It must be that, by accident, I made some new connection at the dynamo,” murmured Tom.

“Hi!  Lemme go!  Lemme go, Massa giant!  I ain’t done nuffin’!” yelled a voice.

“I got you!” cried Koku.

“It’s an ordinary chicken thief this time I guess,” said Tom.  “But this light—­this great searchlight—­”

Then a sudden thought came to him.

“By Jove!” he cried.  “If I can find out the secret of how I happened to project such a beam, it will be the very thing to focus on the smugglers from my noiseless airship!  That’s what I need—­a searchlight such as never before has been made—­a terrifically powerful one.  And I’ve got it, if I can only find out just how it happened.  I’ve got to look before the current dies out.”

Leaving the brilliant beams on in full blast, Tom ran down the stairs to get to his shop, from which the electrical power came.

CHAPTER VIII

TOM’S NEWEST INVENTION

“I got him, Mr. Tom!”

“Oh, please, good Massa Swift!  Make him leggo me!  He suah am squeezin’ de liber outer me!”

“Shall I conflict the club upon him, Mr. Tom?”

It was Koku who asked this last question, as Tom came running toward the giant.  In the strange glare from the searchlight, the young inventor saw his big servant holding tightly to a rather small, colored man, while the camera, which was focused full on them, was clicking away at a great rate, taking picture after picture on the roll of films.

“No, don’t inflict nor conflict the club on him, Koku,” advised Tom.  “Who is he?”

“I don’t know, Mr. Tom.  I was in hiding, in the darkness, waiting for him to come back.  He had been here once before in the evening, Eradicate says.  Well, he came while I was waiting and I detained him.  Then the lights went up.  They are very bright lights, Mr. Tom.”

“Yes, brighter than I expected they would be.  I must look and see what causes it.  So you detained him, did you, Koku?”

“Yes, and what exposition shall I make of him?”

“What disposition?” corrected Tom, with a laugh.  “Well, did he get any chickens, Koku?”

“Oh, no, I was too tight for him.”

“Oh, you mean too fast, or quick.  Well, if he didn’t get any, I guess you might let him go.  I have too much to attend to, to bother with him.”