Tom Swift and His Repelatron Skyway by Victor Appleton II

Author:Victor Appleton II
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-03-18T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

JUNGLE EYES

"IF IT is something unusual, Mr. Sterling, perhaps it falls under my duties," stated Chief-Lieutenant Fokguomo.

"Not in this case," was Hank’s response. "I think Mr. Zerth might be interested, though. Has Tom told you about the Niobium compound?"

"Eldreth’s theory?" asked Zerth.

Suddenly suspicious, Tom thought: So, Mr. Zerth—you know about Eldreth after all!

"I had to do quite a bit of ‘data-mining’ of the digital recordings," Hank said. "There are very weak, but definite, traces of anomalous radioactivity in the central swamp. The telespectrometer shows more than a thousand times as much Niobium as one would expect to find. I don’t know if it’s locked inside plant and animal tissue as Eldreth thought. But it’s sure there someplace or other."

"So what about it, Mr. Zerth?" Ted Spring asked in a challenging tone.

"What about what?"

"Are you interested in Niobium?"

Abruptly Zerth stood up, smiling. "No, not inordinately. You say it’s in the swamp—my men do not go there. Too much danger, what with the... wildlife."

"He means N’ka-Dindo," muttered Akomo under his breath.

"No," said Tom in a voice that was not hushed and barely polite, "I believe he means the Wangurus."

"Do you now plan a trip into the interior of The V’moda to investigate these things?" inquired Chief-Lieutenant Fokguomo. "Whatever you may think of how it is said, the danger is real, Tom."

The young inventor responded thoughtfully. "The main danger on my mind is danger to any work team we might send in—from radioactive toxins. We need to analyze samples from several places before making the final decision to accept the project contract.

"Very well. I understand," nodded Fokguomo. "I will arrange for some experienced Ulsusu canoemen and guides. Tomorrow morning, then?" Tom agreed, and a time was set.

After the two visitors had left—Pieter Zerth with a smirk across his tanned face—Ted asked his younger friend if Tom planned for him to go along on the brief safari. "Do you want to?" asked Tom.

"Not especially. I’d rather stay here in Imbolu and go souvenir hunting with Bill."

"And don’t worry—no more pets!" promised Bill Bennings sheepishly.

At sunrise, as the Americans climbed down from their plane, they were greeted by a tall native of the town. He wore tattered khaki shorts, a stained T-shirt, and a flower-printed pillbox cap.

"Name is Yuta," he told Tom. "I am your guide. The boats are ready."

"Good!" Tom slapped palms with the guide, and introduced himself and the others: Bud, Chow, Akomo, and Hank. "We’ll be ready to leave as soon as the boats are loaded."

"Yes, good," nodded the man. "Two long boats, nice big. Heavy load, eh-yo, no bad." Bud stifled a gibe—Yuta was looking at Chow.

The party would paddle upriver into the jungle for some miles, then continue on foot where the river melded into shallow marshland. Tom’s crewmen removed the necessary supplies from the Flying Lab, as some local boys, wide-eyed before the mammoth Sky Queen, pitched in to help the oarsmen carry them to the riverbank and load them aboard two long pirogues. "Biggest dugout canoes I’ve ever seen," Bud remarked.

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