Oh, they can summon all their tribesmen to the fight,
and they probably will. Likely the sound of our guns attracted the
imps, though if we all had electric rifles like Tom's they wouldn't
make any noise."
"Well, my rifle didn't appear to do so very much good this tune,"
observed the young inventor, as he stopped the forward motion of the
ship now, and let it hover over the plain in sight of the village,
the gas bag serving to sustain the craft, and there was little wind
to cause it to drift. "Those fellows didn't seem to mind being hurt
and killed any more than if mosquitoes were biting them."
"The trouble is we need a whole army, armed with electric rifles to
make a successful attack," said Mr. Durban. "There are swarms of
them there now, and more coming every minute. I do hope Mr. and Mrs.
Illingway are alive yet."
"Yes," added Mr. Anderson solemnly, "we must hope for the best. But,
like Tom Swift, I ask, what's to be done?"
"Bless my thinking cap!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "It seems to me if we
can't fight them openly in the daytime, there's only one other thing
to do."
"What's that?" asked Tom. "Go away? I'll not do it!"
"No, not go away," exclaimed Mr.
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