Part 18 (1/2)

The others, too, were kept busy with their weapons, shooting down on the infuriated animals. It seemed like a needless slaughter, but it was not. Had it not been for the white men, the native village, which consisted of only frail huts, would have been completely wiped out by the animals. As it was they were kept ”milling” about in a circle in an open s.p.a.ce, just as stampeded cattle on the western ranges are kept from getting away, by being forced round and round.

Not a native was in sight, all being hidden away in the jungle or dense gra.s.s. The white hunters in their airs.h.i.+p had matters to themselves.

At last the firing proved even too much for the buffaloes which, as we have said, are among the most dreaded of African beasts. With bellows of fear, the leading bulls of the herd unable to find the enemy above their heads, darted off into the forest the way they had come.

”There they go!” yelled Mr. Durban.

”Yes, and I'm glad to see the last of them,” added Mr. Anderson, with a breath of relief.

”Score another victory for the electric rifle,” exclaimed Ned.

”Oh, you did as much execution as I did,” declared the inventor of the weapon.

”Bless my ramrod!” cried Mr. Damon. ”I never shot so much in all my life before.”

”Yes, there is enough food to last the natives for a week,” observed Mr. Durban, as Tom adjusted the deflecting rudder to send the airs.h.i.+p down.

”It won't last much longer at the rate they eat,” spoke the young inventor with a laugh. ”I never saw such fellows for appet.i.tes! They seem to eat in their sleep.”

There were many dead buffaloes, but there was no fear that the meat, which was much prized by the Africans, would be wasted. Already the natives were coming from their hiding places, knowing that the danger was over. Once more they sang the praises of the mighty white hunters, and the magical air craft in which they moved about.

With the elephants previously killed, the buffaloes provided material for a great feast, preparations for which were at once gotten under way, in spite of the fact that the blacks had hardly stopped eating since the big hunt began. But it was about all they had to do.

Some of the buffaloes were very large, and there were a number of pairs of fine horns. Tom and Ned had some of the blacks cut them off for trophies, and they were stored in the airs.h.i.+p together with the ivory.

Becoming rather tired of seeing so much feasting, our friends bade the Africans farewell the next day, and once more resumed their quest. They navigated through the air for another week, stopping at several villages, and scanning the jungles and plains by means of powerful telescopes, for a sight of the red pygmies. They also asked for news of the sacking of the missionary settlement, but, beyond meager facts, could learn nothing.

”Well, we've got to keep on, that's all,” decided Mr. Durban. ”We may find them most unexpectedly.”

”I'm sorry if I have taken you away from your work of gathering ivory,” spoke Mr. Anderson. ”Perhaps you had better let me go, and I'll see if I can't organize a band of friendly blacks, and search for the red dwarfs myself.”

”Not much!” exclaimed Tom warmly. ”I said we'd help rescue those missionaries, and we'll do it, too!”

”Of course,” declared the old elephant hunter. ”We have quite a lot of ivory and, while we need more to make it pay well, we can look for it after we rescue the missionaries as well as before. Perhaps there will be a lot of elephants in the pygmies' land.”

”I was only thinking that we can't go on forever in the airs.h.i.+p.”

said Mr. Anderson. ”You'll have to go back to civilization soon, won't you, Tom, to get gasolene?”

”No, we have enough for at least a month,” answered the young inventor. ”I took aboard an unusually large supply when we started.”

”What would happen if we ran out of it in the jungle?” asked Ned.

”Bless my pocketbook! What an unpleasant question!” exclaimed Mr.

Damon. ”You are almost as cheerful, Ned, as was my friend Mr.

Parker, the gloomy scientist, who was always predicting dire happenings.”

”Well, I was only wondering,” said Ned, who was a little abashed by the manner in which his inquiry was received.

”Oh, it would be all right,” declared Tom. ”We would simply become a balloon, and in time the wind would blow us to some white settlement. There is plenty of material for making the lifting gas.”