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TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY

OR

A Daring Escape by Airship

BY VICTOR APPLETON

AUTHOR OF "TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR-CYCLE," "TOM SWIFT AND HIS
WIRELESS MESSAGE," "TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD," ETC.

ILLUSTRATED






CONTENTS


    I   A STRANGE REQUEST
   II   THE CIRCUS MAN
  III   TOM WILL GO
   IV   "LOOK OUT FOR MY RIVAL!"
    V   ANDY FOGER LEARNS SOMETHING
   VI   ALARMING NEWS
  VII   FIRE ON BOARD
 VIII   A NARROW ESCAPE
   IX   "FORWARD MARCH!"
    X   A WILD HORSE STAMPEDE
   XI   CAUGHT IN A LIVING ROPE
  XII   A NATIVE BATTLE
 XIII   THE DESERTION
  XIV   IN GIANT LAND
   XV   IN THE "PALACE" OF THE KING
  XVI   THE RIVAL CIRCUS MAN
 XVII   HELD CAPTIVES
XVIII   TOM'S MYSTERIOUS BOX
  XIX   WEAK GIANTS
   XX   THE LONE CAPTIVE
  XXI   A ROYAL CONSPIRACY
 XXII   THE TWIN GIANTS
XXIII   A SURPRISE IN THE NIGHT
 XXIV   THE AIRSHIP FLIGHT
  XXV   TOM'S GIANT--CONCLUSION




CHAPTER I

A STRANGE REQUEST


Tom Swift closed the book of adventures he had been reading, tossed
it on the table, and got up. Then he yawned.

"What's the matter?" asked his chum, Ned Newton, who was deep in
another volume.

"Oh, I thought this was going to be something exciting," replied
Tom, motioning toward the book he had discarded. "But say! the
make-believe adventures that fellow had, weren't anything compared to
those we went through in the city of gold, or while rescuing the
exiles of Siberia."

"Well," remarked Ned, "they would have to be pretty classy
adventures to lay over those you and I have had lately. But where
are you going?" he continued, for Tom had taken his cap and started
for the door.

"I thought I'd go out and take a little run in the aeroplane. Want
to come along? It's more fun than sitting in the house reading about
exciting things that never have happened. Come on out and--"

"Yes, and have a tumble from the aeroplane, I suppose you were going
to say," interrupted Ned with a laugh. "Not much! I'm going to stay
here and finish this book."

"Say," demanded Tom indignantly. "Did you ever know me to have a
tumble since I knew how to run an airship?"

"No, I can't say that I did. I was only joking."

"Then you carried the joke too far, as the policeman said to the man
he found lugging off money from the bank. And to make up for it
you've got to come along with me."

"Where are you going?"

"Oh, anywhere. Just to take a little run in the upper regions, and
clear some of the cobwebs out of my head. I declare, I guess I've
got the spring fever. I haven't done anything since we got back from
Russia last fall, and I'm getting rusty."

"You haven't done ANYTHING!" exclaimed Ned, following his chum's
example by tossing aside the book. "Do you call working on your new
invention of a noiseless airship nothing?"

"Well, I haven't finished that yet. I'm tired of inventing things. I
just want to go off, and have some good fun, like getting
shipwrecked on a desert island, or being lost in the mountains, or
something like that. I want action. I want to get off in the jungle,
and fight wild beasts, and escape from the savages!"

"Say! you don't want much," commented Ned. "But I feel the same way,
Tom."

"Then come on out and take a run, and maybe we'll get on the track
of an adventure," urged the young inventor. "We won't go far, just
twenty or thirty miles or so."

The two youths emerged from the house and started across the big
lawn toward the aeroplane sheds, for Tom Swift owned several speedy
aircrafts, from a big combined aeroplane and dirigible balloon, to a
little monoplane not much larger than a big bird, but which was the
most rapid flier that ever breathed the fumes of gasolene.

"Which one you going to take, Tom?" asked Ned, as his chum paused in
front of the row of hangars.

"Oh, the little double-seated monoplane, I guess that's in good
shape, and it's easy to manage. When I'm out for fun I hate to be
tinkering with levers and warping wing tips all the while. The Lark
practically flies herself, and we can sit back and take it easy.
I'll have Eradicate fill up the gasolene tank, while I look at the
magneto. It needs a little adjusting, though it works nearly to
perfection since I put in some of that new platinum we got from the
lost mine in Siberia."

"Yes, that was a trip that amounted to something. I wouldn't mind
going on another like that, though we ran lots of risks."

"We sure did," agreed Tom, and then, raising his voice he called
out: "Rad, I say Rad! Where are you? I want you!"

"Comin', massa Tom, comin'," answered an aged <DW52> man, as he
shuffled around the corner of the shed. "What do yo'-all want ob
me?"

"Put some gasolene in the Lark, Rad. Ned and I are going to take a
little flight. What were you doing?"

"Jest groomin' mah mule Boomerang, Massa Tom, dat's all. Po'
Boomerang he's gittin' old jest same laik I be. He's gittin' old,
an' he needs lots ob 'tention. He has t' hab mo' oats dan usual,
Massa Tom, an' he doan't feel 'em laik he uster, dat's a fac', Massa
Tom."

"Well, Rad, give him all he wants. Boomerang was a good mule in his
day."

"An' he's good yet, Massa Tom, he's good yet!" said Eradicate
Sampson eagerly. "Doan't yo' all forgit dat, Massa Tom." And the
<DW52> man proceeded to fill the gasolene tank, while Tom adjusted
the electrical mechanism of his aeroplane, Ned assisting by handing
him the tools needed. Eradicate, who said he was named that because
he "eradicated" dirt, was a <DW52> man of all work, who had been in
the service of the Swift household for several years. He and his
mule Boomerang were fixtures.

"There, I guess that will do," remarked Tom, after testing the
magneto, and finding that it gave a fat, hot spark. "That ought to
send us along in good shape. Got all the gas in, Rad?"

"Every drop, Massa Tom."

"Then catch hold and help wheel the Lark out. Ned, you steady her on
that side. How are the tires? Do they need pumping up?"

"Hard as rocks," answered Tom's chum, as he tapped his toe against
the rubber circlets of the small bicycle wheels on which the
aeroplane rested.

"Then they'll do, I guess. Come on now, and we'll give her a test
before we start off. I ought to get a few hundred more revolutions
per minute out of the motor with the way I've adjusted the magneto.
Rad, you and Ned hold back, while I turn the engine over."

The youth and the <DW52> man grasped the rear supports of the long,
tail-like part of the monoplane while Tom stepped to the front to
twist the propeller blades. The first two times there was no
explosion as he swung the delicate wooden blades about, but the
third time the engine started off with a roar, and a succession of
explosions that were deafening, until Tom switched in the muffler,
thereby cutting down the noise. Faster and faster the propeller
whirled about as the motor warmed up, until the young inventor
exclaimed:

"That's the stuff! She's better than ever! Climb up Ned, and we'll
start off. You can turn her over, Rad; can't you?"

"Suah, Massa Tom," was the reply, for Eradicate had been on so many
trips with Tom, and had had so much to do with airships, that to
merely start one was child's play for him.

The two youths had scarcely taken their seats, and the <DW52> man
was about to twist around the fan-like blades of the big propeller
in front, when from behind there came a hail.

"Hold on there! Wait a minute, Tom Swift! Bless my admission ticket,
don't go! I've got something important to tell you! Hold on!"

"Humph! I know who that is!" cried Tom, motioning to Eradicate to
cease trying to start the motor.

"Mr. Damon, of course," agreed Ned. "I wonder what he wants?"

"A ride, maybe," went on Tom. "If he does we've got to take the
Scooter instead of this one. That holds four. Well, we may as well
see what he wants."

He jumped lightly from his seat in the monoplane and was followed by
Ned. They saw coming toward them, from the direction of the house, a
stout man, who seemed very much excited. He was walking so fast that
he fairly waddled, and he was smiling at the lads, for he was one of
their best friends.

"Glad I caught you, Tom." he panted, for his haste had almost
deprived him of breath. "I've got something important to tell you. I
hurried over as soon as I heard about it."

"Well, you're just in time," commented Ned with a laugh. "In another
minute we'd have been up in the clouds."

"What is it, Mr. Damon?" asked Tom. "Have you got wind of a city of
diamonds, or has some one sent you a map telling where we can go to
pick up ten thousand dollar bills by the basket?"

"Neither one, Tom, neither one. It's something better than either of
those, and if you don't jump at the chance I'm mistaken in you,
that's all I've got to say. Come over here."

He turned a quick glance over his shoulder as he spoke and advanced
toward the two lads on tiptoe as though he feared some one would see
or hear him. Yet it was broad daylight, the place was the starting
ground for Tom's aeroplanes and save Eradicate there was no one
present except Mr. Damon, Ned and the young inventor himself.

"What's up?" asked Tom in wonderment.

"Hush!" cautioned the odd gentleman. "Bless my walking stick, Tom!
but this is going to be a great chance for you--for us,--for I'm
going along."

"Going where, Mr. Damon?"

"I'll tell you in a minute. Is there any one here?"

"No one but us?"

"You are sure that Andy Foger isn't around."

"Sure. He's out of town, you know."

"Yes, but you never can tell when he's going to appear on the scene.
Come over here," and taking hold of the coat of each of the youths,
Mr. Damon led them behind the big swinging door of the aeroplane
shed.

"You haven't anything on hand; have you, Tom?" asked the odd
gentleman, after peering through the crack to make sure they were
unobserved.

"Nothing at all, if you mean in the line of going off on an
adventure trip."

"That's what I mean. Bless my earlaps! but I'm glad of that. I've
got just the thing for you. Tom, I want you to go to a strange land,
and bring back one of the biggest men there--a giant! Tom Swift, you
and I and Ned--if he wants to go--are going after a giant!"

Mr. Damon gleefully clapped Tom on the back, with such vigor that
our hero coughed, and then the odd gentleman stepped back and gazed
at the two lads, a look of triumph shining in his eyes.

For a moment there was a silence. Tom looked at Ned, and Ned gave
his chum a quick glance. Then they both looked sharply at Mr. Damon.

"A--a giant," murmured Tom faintly.

"That's what I said," replied Mr. Damon. "I want you to help me
capture a giant, Tom."

Once more the two youths exchanged significant glances, and then
Tom, in a low and gentle voice said:

"Yes, Mr. Damon, that's all right. We'll get you a giant right away.
Won't we, Ned? Now you'd better come in the house and lie down, I'll
have Mrs. Baggert make you a cup of tea, and after you have had a
sleep you'll feel better. Come on," and the young inventor gently
tried to lead his friend out from behind the shed door.

"Look here, Tom Swift!" exclaimed the odd gentleman indignantly. "Do
you think I'm crazy? Lie down? Rest myself? Go to sleep? Say, I'm
not crazy! I'm not tired! I'm not sleepy! This is the greatest
chance you ever had, and if we get one of those giants--"

"Yes, yes, we'll get one," put in Ned soothingly.

"Of course," added Tom. "Come on, now, Mr. Damon. You'll feel better
after you've had a rest. Dr. Perkinby is coming over to see father
and I'll have him--"

Mr. Damon gave one startled glance at the young inventor and his
chum, and then burst into a peal of hearty laughter.

"Oh, my!" he exclaimed at intervals in his paroxysms. "Oh, dear! He
thinks I'm out of my head! He can't stand that talk about giants! Oh
dear! Tom Swift, this is the greatest chance you ever had! Come on
in the house and I'll tell you all I know about giant land, and then
if you want to think I'm crazy you can, that's all I've got to say!"




CHAPTER II

THE CIRCUS MAN


Without a word Tom and Ned followed Mr. Damon toward the Swift
house. Truth to tell the youths did not know what to say, or they
would have been bubbling over with questions. But the talk of the
odd man, and his strange request to Tom to go off and capture a
giant had so startled the young inventor and his chum that they did
not know whether to think that Mr. Damon was joking, or whether he
had suddenly taken leave of his senses.

And while I have a few minutes that are occupied in the journey to
the house I will introduce my new readers more formally to Tom Swift
and his friends.

Tom though only a young man, was an inventor of note, as his father
was before him. Father and son lived in a fine house in the town of
Shopton, in New York state, and Mrs. Swift being dead, the two were
well looked after by Mrs. Baggert their housekeeper. Eradicate
Sampson, as I have said, was the man of all work about the place.
Ned Newton who had a position in a Shopton bank, was Tom's
particular chum, and Mr. Wakefeld Damon, of the neighboring town of
Waterfield, was a friend to all who knew him. He had the odd habit
of blessing anything and everything he could think of, interspersing
it in his talk.

In the first volume of this series, called "Tom Swift and His
Motor-Cycle," I related how Tom made the acquaintance of Mr. Damon,
afterward purchasing a damaged motor-cycle from the odd gentleman.
On this machine Tom had many adventures, incidentally saving some of
his father's valuable patents from a gang of conspirators. Later Tom
got a motor boat, and had many races with his rivals on Lake
Carlopa, beating Andy Foger, the red-haired bully of the town, in
signal fashion. After his adventures on the water Tom sighed for
some in the air, and he had them in his airship the Red Cloud.

"Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat." is a story of a search after
sunken treasure, and, returning from that quest Tom built an
electric runabout, the speediest car on the road. By means of a
wireless message, later, Tom was able to save himself and the
castaways of Earthquake Island, and, as a direct outcome of that
experience, he was able to go in search of the diamond makers, and
solve the secret of Phantom Mountain, as told in the book dealing
with that subject.

When he went to the caves of ice Tom had bad luck, for his airship
was wrecked, and he endured many hardships in getting home with his
companions, particularly as Andy Foger sought revenge on him.

But Tom pluckily overcame all obstacles and, later, he built a sky
racer, in which he made the quickest trip on record. After that,
with his electric rifle, he went after elephants in the interior of
Africa and was successful in rescuing some missionaries from the
terrible red pygmies.

One of the mission workers, later, sent Tom details about a buried
city of gold in Mexico, and Tom and his chum together with Mr. Damon
located this mysterious place after much trouble, as told in the
book entitled, "Tom Swift in the City of Gold." The gold did not
prove as valuable as they expected, as it was of low grade, but they
got considerable money for it, and were then ready for more
adventures.

The adventures soon came, as those of you who have read the book
called, "Tom Swift and His Air Glider," can testify. In that I told
how Tom went to Siberia, and after