“Jove!  That’s great!” cried Ned.  “It’s like a shaft of daylight!”

“That’s what I intended it to be!” cried Tom in delight.

With another shifting of the lever he brought the light around so that it began to pick up different buildings in the town.

“There’s the church!” cried Ned.  “It’s as plain as day, in that gleam.”

“And there’s the railroad depot,” added Tom.

“And Andy Foger’s house!”

“Yes, and there’s my house!” exclaimed Tom a moment later, as the beam rested on his residence and shops.  “Say, it’s plainer than I thought it would be.  Hold me here a minute, Ned.”

Ned shut off the power from the propellers, and the airship was stationary.  Tom took a pair of binoculars, and looked through them at his home in the focus of light.

“I can count the bricks in the chimney!” he cried in eagerness at the success of his great searchlight.  “It’s even better than I thought it was!  Let’s go down, Ned.”

Slowly the airship sank.  Tom played his light all about, picking up building after building, and one familiar spot after another.  Finally he brought the beam on his own residence again, when not far above it.

Suddenly there arose a weird cry.  Tom and Ned knew at once that it was Eradicate.

“A comet!  A comet!” yelled the colored man.  “De end ob de world am comin’!  Run, chillens, run!  Beware ob de comet!”

“Eradicate’s afraid!” cried Tom with a laugh.

“Oh good mistah comet!  Doan’t take me!” went on the colored man.  “I ain’t neber done nuffin’, an’ mah mule Boomerang ain’t needer.  But ef yo’ has t’ take somebody, take Boomerang!”

“Keep quiet, Rad!  It’s all right!” cried Tom.  But the colored man continued to shout in fear.

Then, as the two boys looked on, and as the airship came nearer to the earth, Ned, who was looking down amid the great illumination, called to Tom: 

“Look at Koku!”

Tom glanced over, and saw his giant servant, with fear depicted on his face, running away as fast as he could.  Evidently Eradicate’s warning had frightened him.

“Say, he can run!” cried Ned.  “Look at him leg it!”

“Yes, and he may run away, never to come back,” exclaimed Tom.  “I don’t want to lose him, he’s too valuable.  I know what happened once when he got frightened.  He was away for a week before I could locate him, and he hid in the swamp.  I’m not going to have that happen again.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to chase after him in the airship.  It will be a good test for chasing the smugglers.  Put me after him, Ned, and I’ll play the searchlight on him so we can’t lose him!”

CHAPTER X

OFF FOR THE BORDER

“There he goes, Tom!”

“Yes, I see him!”

“Look at him run!”

“No wonder.  Consider his long legs, Ned.  Put on a little more speed, and keep a little lower down.  It’s clear of trees right here.”