not often they could have the services of white men in slaying
elephants and lions.

"But, we've got to get on the trail," decided Tom, when the natives
had brought great stores of food, and such simple presents as they
possessed, to induce the travelers to remain.

"Every hour may add to the danger of the missionaries in the hands
of the red pygmies."

"Yes," said Mr. Anderson gravely, "it is our duty to save them."

And so the airship mounted into the air, our friends waving
farewells to the simple-hearted blacks, who did a sort of farewell
war-dance in their honor, shouting their praises aloud, and beating
the drums and tom-toms, so that the echoes followed for some time
after the Black Hawk had begun to mount upward toward the sky.

The craft was in excellent shape, due to the overhauling Tom had
given it while making the repairs. With the propellers beating the
air, and the rudder set to hold them about two thousand feet high,
the travelers moved rapidly over clearings, forests and jungles.

It was agreed that now, when they had made such a good start in
collecting ivory, that they would spend the next few days in trying
to get on the trail of the red pygmies. It might seem a simple
matter, after knowing the approximate location of the land of these
fierce little natives, to have proceeded directly to it. But Africa
is an immense continent, and even in an airship comparatively little
of the interior can be seen at a time.