Part 18 (1/2)

”Dry up, Rad!” yelled Tom. ”It's only one of the giants. Come on out of your tent and get breakfast. We're on the borders of giant land, evidently, and they seem as harmless as ordinary men. Get up, everybody.”

As Tom spoke he rose from the rubber blanket on which he slept. Ned did the same, and the giant slowly pulled his head out from the tent. Then the two youths went outside. A strange sight met their gaze.

There were about ten natives standing in the camp--veritable giants, big men in every way. The young inventor had once seen a giant in a circus, and, allowing for shoes with very thick soles which the big man wore, his height was a little over seven feet. But these South American giants seemed more than a foot higher than that, none of those who had stumbled upon the camp being less than eight feet.

”And I believe there must be bigger ones in their land, wherever that is,” said Tom. Nor were these giants tall and thin, as was the one Tom had seen, but stout, and well proportioned. They were savages, that was evident, but the curious part of it was that they were almost white, and looked much like the pictures of the old Nors.e.m.e.n.

But, best of all, they seemed good-natured, for they were continually laughing or smiling, and though they looked with wonder on the pile of boxes and bales, and on the four travelers, they seemed more bewildered and amused, than vindictive that their country should have been invaded. Evidently the fears of the natives who had told Tom about the giants had been unfounded.

By this time Mr. Damon and Eradicate had come from their tents, and were gazing with startled eyes at the giants who surrounded them.

”Bless my walking stick!” exclaimed Mr. Damon. ”Is it possible?”

”Yes, we've arrived!” cried Tom. ”Now to see what happens. I wonder if they'll take us to their village, and I wonder if I can get one of these giants for Mr. Preston's circus?”

”You certainly can't unless he wants to come,” declared Ned. ”You'd have a hard tussle trying to carry one of these fellows away against his will, Tom.”

”I sure would. I'll have to make inducements. Well, I wonder what is best to do?”

The giant who had looked in the tent of Ned and Tom, and who appeared to be the leader of the party, now spoke in his big, booming voice. He seemed to be asking Tom a question, but the young inventor could not understand the language. Tom replied in Spanish, giving a short account of why he and his companions had come to the country, but the giant shook his head. Then Mr. Damon, who knew several languages, tried all of them--but it was of no use.

”We've got to go back to signs,” declared Tom, and then, as best he could, he indicated that he and the others had come from afar to seek the giants. He doubted whether he was understood, and he decided to wait until later to try and make them acquainted with the fact that he wanted one of them to come back with him.

The head giant nodded, showing that at least he understood something, and then spoke to his companions. They conversed in their loud voices for some time, and then motioned to the pack animals.

”I guess they want us to come along,” said Tom, ”but let's have breakfast first. Rad, get things going. Maybe the giants will have some coffee and condensed milk, though they'll have to take about ten cupsful to make them think they've had anything. Make a lot of coffee, Rad.”

”But good land a ma.s.sy, dey'll eat up eberyt'ing we got, Ma.s.sa Tom,”

objected the colored man.

”Can't help it, Rad. They're our guests and we've got to be polite,”

replied the youth. ”It isn't every day that we have giants to breakfast.”

The big men watched curiously while Rad built a fire, and when the colored man was trying to break a tough stick of wood with the axe, one of the giants picked up the f.a.got and snapped it in his fingers as easily as though it were a twig, though the stick was as thick as Tom's arm.

”Some strength there,” murmured Ned to his chum admiringly.

”Yes, if they took a notion to go on a rampage we'd have trouble.

But they seem kind and gentle.”

Indeed the giants did, and they liked the coffee which they tasted rather gingerly at first. After their first sip they wanted more, made as sweet as possible, and they laughed and talked among themselves while Eradicate boiled pot after pot.

”Dey suah will eat us out of house an' home, Ma.s.sa Tom,” he wailed.

”Never mind, Rad. They will feed us well when we get to their town.”

Then the pack animals were laden with their burdens. This was always a task, but for the giants it was child's play. With one hand they would lift a box or bale that used to tax the combined strength of the four travelers, and soon the steers, horses and mules were ready to proceed. The giants went on ahead, to show the way, the first one, who seemed to be called ”Oom,” for that was the way his companions addressed him, walked beside Tom, who rode on a mule. In fact the giant had to walk slowly, so as not to get ahead of the animal. Oom tried to talk to Tom, but it was hard work to pick out the signs that meant something, and so neither gained much information.

Tom did gather, however, that the giants were out on an early hunt when they had discovered our friends, and their chief town lay about half a day's journey off in the jungle. The path along which they proceeded, was better than the forest trails, and showed signs of being frequently used.