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He would have been seriously hurt, and his camera might have been broken, but for the quickness of the giant. Koku caught his master, camera and all, in a mighty arm, and with the other clung to a stanchion, holding Tom in safety until the ship was on a level keel once more. "Thanks, Koku!" gasped Tom. "You always seem to be around when I need you." The giant grinned happily.
The two gentlemen were in the main cabin, looking down on the fight below them, while Tom, with Ned to help him change the reels of films, as they became filled with pictures, attended to the camera. Koku was steering the craft, as he had readily learned how to manage it. "Are those Englishmen taking pictures yet?" asked Tom, too busy to turn his head, and look for himself.
"No, Wait!" exclaimed Tom Swift. "You can kill the dog all right, Koku," he said, "but a scratch from his tooth might be fatal. I'll fix him!" Snatching his electric rifle from the Indian bearer who carried it, Tom took quick aim. There was no flash, no report and no puff of smoke, but the dog suddenly crumpled up in a heap, and, with a dying yelp, rolled to one side. The child was saved.
"Stand by to help her, Koku!" called Ned to the giant. "I help," was the giant's simple reply, and as the woman's head came above the rail, over which the rope ran, Koku, leaning forward, raised her in his powerful arms, and set her carefully on the deck. "Come into the cabin, please," Ned called to her. "Come in out of the wet."
It required the strength of Koku to open the small steel box, but when it was torn apart, for the combination was impossible to guess at, all that was seen were bundles of papers. The case having been hermetically closed, no water had penetrated it, though it had been submerged a long time. "What are they?" asked Ned of his chum. Tom did not answer for a moment.
"Just a little farther over this way, Ned. That's better. Now mark it there, and we'll have it clamped down." "But can you get enough elevation here, Tom?" "Oh, yes, I think so. Besides, I've added a few more inches to the lift of the disappearing carriage, and it will send the gun so much farther in the air. I think this will do. Where is Koku?" "Here I be, Master."
In another instant Koku had rushed in, holding his breath, for, now that he was inside the place, the gas made even him feel weak. "Come back! Come back!" cried Mr. Damon. "You'll be smothered! Wait until the gas escapes!" "Then Mr. Tom die!" cried the giant. "I get him or I no come out." With one heave of his powerful right arm, Koku lifted the heavy shaft from Tom's legs.
"No, I think it was the man Koku thought was a chicken thief, and whom we chased the other night. I've got to be on my guard. I wonder if " Tom was interrupted by the appearance of Koku, who came out of the shop with a letter the postman had just left. "I don't know that writing very well, and yet it looks familiar," said Tom, as he tore open the missive.
There isn't much to fear with the giant ready for emergencies. Now we'll see who he is. I can't imagine one of my men turning traitor." The door was opened and a rather miserable-looking man shuffled out. There was a bloody rag on his head, and he seemed to have made more of an effort to escape than Koku described, for he appeared to have suffered in the ensuing fight.
Koku was a giant, literally, and he had attached himself to Tom when the latter had made one of many perilous trips. So eager were Eradicate and Koku to serve the young inventor that frequently there were more or less good-natured clashes between them to see who would have the honor.
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