"I got me a new gun. But my! it's nothing to what yours is. With that weapon I could do about as I pleased. I could do night hunting, which is hard in the African jungle. Then I wouldn't have any trouble getting the big tusks I'm after. I could get a pair of them, and live easy the rest of my life. Yes, I wouldn't ask anything better than a gun like yours. But I s'pose they cost like the mischief?" He looked a question at Tom. "This is the only one there is," was the lad's answer. "But I am very glad to have met you, Mr. Durban. Won't you come into the house? I'm sure my father will be glad to see you, and I have something I'd like to talk to you about," and Tom, with many wild ideas in his head, led the old elephant hunter toward the house. The dream of the young inventor might come true after all. CHAPTER V RUSH WORK Mr. Swift made the African hunter warmly welcome, and listened with pride to the words of praise Mr. Durban bestowed on Tom regarding the rifle. "Yes, my boy has certainly done wonders along the inventive line," said Mr. Swift. "Not half as much as you have, Dad," interrupted the lad, for Tom was a modest youth. "You should see his sky racer," went on the old inventor. "Sky racer? What's that?" asked Mr. Durban. "Is it another kind of gun or cannon?" "It's an aeroplane--an airship," explained Mr. Swift. "An airship!" exclaimed the old elephant hunter. "Say, you don't mean that you make balloons, do you?" "Well, they're not exactly balloons," replied Tom, as he briefly explained what an aeroplane was, for Mr. Durban, having been in the wilds of the jungle so much, had had very little chance to see the wonders and progress of civilization. "They are better than balloons," went on Tom, "for they can go where you want them to." "Say! That's the very thing!" cried the old hunter enthusiastically. "If there's one thing more than another that is needed in hunting in Africa it's an airship. The travel through the jungle is something fierce, and that, more than anything else, interferes with my work. I can't cover ground enough, and when I do get on the track of a herd of elephants, and they get away, it's sometimes a week before I can catch up to them again." "For, in spite of their size, elephants can travel very fast, and once they get on the go, nothing can stop them. An airship would be the very thing to hunt elephants with in Africa--an airship and this electric rifle. I wonder why you haven't thought of going, Tom Swift." "I have thought of it," answered the young inventor, "and that's why I asked you in. I want to talk about it." "Do you mean you want to go?" demanded the old man eagerly. "I certainly do!" "Then I'm your man! Say, Tom Swift, I'd be proud to have you go to Africa with me. I'd be proud to have you a member of my hunting party, and, though I don't like to boast, still if you'll ask any of the big-game people they'll tell you that not every one can accompany Aleck Durban."