scarcely had the aircraft come to a stop, gliding over the water, than scores of canoes, smaller than those used by the pirates, but containing fully as many savages, put out from the sheltered shore of the little bay and began approaching the machine housing tom swift and his party. their horrid cries rent the air and they brandished their spears, axes, clubs and bows and arrows.
“what are we going to do, tom?” asked ned. “are you going to fight them or scare them?”
“you can’t scare these natives!” shouted peltok. “they are utterly savage. they have no gods. they worship only human heads, and they are after ours.”
“then we won’t waste any time parleying,” decided the young inventor. “unlimber the machine gun!” he called to hartman and brinkley. “ned, get out the rifles! if they want to fight we’ll give ’em one!”
“but what if we can’t beat ’em off?” asked ned, as he ran to get some of the arms. “we’ll be stuck here sha'n’t we, with one propeller gone?”
“we’ll be stuck if we can’t ship a new one, but we have two spares,” said tom. “we’ve got to fight these head-hunters off—that’s all there is to it!”
realizing how desperate was their situation, the party, one and all, resolved to die fighting rather than fall into the hands of the evil savages.
the machine gun was set up on its tripod just outside the motor room, on a small platform which was hastily screened in by some boxes, chests and movable lockers. hartman and brinkley, who were to work this automatic weapon, would thus be protected from the spears and arrows of the head-hunters. luckily the islanders did not seem to possess firearms.
tom, ned and peltok would take their stand in the front cabin and fire on the savages from there. no sooner were these measures of defense taken than the head-hunters rushed to the attack, yelling, shouting, and brandishing their weapons.
there was quite a party of them coming up in canoes at the stern of the floating airship, and tom, seeing this, yelled to the machine gunners:
“let ’em have it!”
a moment later the automatic began its staccato roar and the bullets fairly riddled several canoes, sinking them, spilling their warriors and paddlers into the water, and killing numbers of them.
but while the rear attack was thus repulsed, there was a rush toward the front and sides. there the savages were met with a sharp fire from the rifles of tom, ned and peltok, and great execution was done.
with yells of dismay at this hot reception, most of the canoes that were not disabled swung back, but one containing half a score of natives dashed on and bumped against the fuselage of the aircraft. screaming and brandishing their weapons, the occupants tried to swarm up the slippery metal sides.
“repel boarders!” yelled tom, rushing out, followed by the others.
despite a flight of arrows and spears, one of which latter wounded peltok and ned slightly, the three drove the invaders back, firing in their very faces, and actually kicking some of them off into the water. then this canoe turned back, but not before several of the occupants had been killed.
“good work!” cried tom, turning to go back to the shelter of the cabin to avoid more arrows and spears which were now showering toward the air monarch. “a little more of this and we’ll have them on the run.”
as he spoke he uttered a cry of pain, for an arrow took him in the thigh, inflicting a painful wound.
“it may have been a poisoned arrow, too!” said peltok. “better put some disinfectant in the wound.” this tom did, in the shelter of the cabin.
after the first rush the head-hunters withdrew, their ardor somewhat cooled. but tom and his companions knew the fight was not yet over. the canoes still hung about and more savages were coming to the coast from the interior of the island. some of them bore freshly severed heads, and it was a foretaste of what might happen to tom swift and his party should they be captured.
meanwhile, hartman and brinkley had used the machine gun to such good advantage that they had repulsed the savages at the rear with great loss, though both machinists had been slightly wounded by arrows.
all five of the airship occupants were now hurt, but none of the wounds amounted to much save in the case of tom swift, and he made light of his pierced thigh. it was, however, very painful.
“what are we going to do?” asked ned, who was beginning to lose heart when he saw the increasing crowd of savages and realized that the airship was disabled.
“do?” cried tom. “why, we’re going to carry on, of course! it will not take long to attach a new propeller, and we’ll have to fight off these imps while it’s being done. hartman and brinkley can do the work, while you and i, ned, with peltok, will stand guard.”
this program was carried out, though under great difficulties. the head-hunters, in spite of their heavy losses, returned to the attack soon after the two machinists began attaching the spare propeller. the old one had lost a blade, possibly through some defect in it, tom decided.
ned and peltok worked the machine gun at the stern, thus protecting hartman and brinkley from an overwhelming rush, while tom, with several magazine rifles ready to hand, peppered the natives who sought to come at the craft from the front.
in this way the fight and repair work went on for a couple of hours, until, at last, the execution among the head-hunters was so great that they were forced to withdraw. ned received another slight scratch from an arrow, but there were no other casualties on board the air monarch, which was rapidly being put in shape for another flight.
it was not until late in the afternoon, however, and following a most strenuous hour, that the machinists announced that the propeller was in place.
“and it’s about time, too,” said tom. “i think the head-hunters are going to make another grand rush.”
this was plainly evident from the additional canoes that were being filled with islanders who swarmed down to the shore. they seemed determined, no matter how severe their own losses, to get the heads of these strangers.
peltok tried to listen to the shouted talk of the savages, but had to admit that they spoke a dialect unfamiliar to him. however, it was evident that the yells and shouts had to do with the intentions of the war party.
“here they come!” yelled ned, when word had been given to start the motors. “wow, what a mob!”
hundreds of the head-hunters were now paddling to the attack. but when they were within range they were met with a sharp fire from the rifles and machine guns. at the same time the air monarch began moving, and before the attackers could get close enough to interpose their canoes in her path, the machine had risen and was soon high over their heads and out of danger.
“whew!” whistled ned as they sailed on. “if we don’t get the prize for the international race, tom, we ought to get one for an international globe-circling fight. we’ve had a lot of it since we started.”
“yes, we have,” tom admitted, wincing a bit as he moved his wounded leg. “and we may have more. we still have kilborn to reckon with.”
“i wonder where he is,” mused ned as the machine straightened out on her course.
“hard to say,” was the answer. “but we aren’t making as good time as i’d like to make. he may pull in ahead of us.”
at the thought of this the speed of the craft was increased and as night came she was winging her way over the vast expanse of the pacific ocean toward the shores of the united states.
it was just at dawn the next morning when ned, who had got up early to make tom a cup of coffee, looked down toward the sea. what he saw caused him to cry out.
“what is it?” asked his chum.
“there’s a raft just below us.”
“a raft?”
“yes, with a couple of people on it. looks like a raft from a wrecked ship. i think they are castaways. can’t we rescue them, tom?”
the young inventor came limping out of his cabin to look down at the sea. rising and falling on the heaving swells below the air monarch was a big raft, on which were two men waving frantically to those sailing above their heads in the airship. faintly their cries floated up, for the air monarch was flying low.
“help! help!” the castaways shouted.