A good meal was prepared by Mr. Damon, for the rescuers and rescued ones were hungry, and since they had been held prisoners the two missionaries had not been given very good food. "Oh, it hardly seems possible that we are eating with white men again," said Mr. Illingway, as he took a second cup of coffee, "hardly possible!" "And to see electric lights, instead of a camp-fire," added his wife. "What a wonderful airship you have, Tom Swift." "Yes, it's pretty good," he admitted. "It came in useful to-night, all right." They were now far enough from the savages, and the pygmies' fires, which had been set aglow anew when the attack began, could no longer be observed. "We'll land at the place where we camped before," said Tom, who had again assumed charge of the ship, "and in the morning we'll start for civilization." "No can get two other white men?" suddenly asked Tomba, who had been sitting, gazing at his recovered master and mistress. "Fly-ship go back, an' leave two white mans here?" the black asked. "What in the world does he mean?" demanded Tom. "Of course we're not going to leave any of our party behind!" "Let me question him," suggested Mr. Illingway, and he began to talk to the African in his own tongue. A rapid conversation followed, and a look of amazement spread over the faces of the two missionaries, as they listened. "What is it?" asked Mr. Durban. "What does Tomba say?" "Why the pygmies have two other white men in captivity," said Mr. Illingway. "They were brought in yesterday, after you were driven away. Two white men, or, rather a white man and a youth, according to Tomba. They are held in one of the huts near where we were, but tied so they couldn't escape in the confusion." "How does Tomba know this?" asked Mr. Damon. "He says," translated Mr. Illingway, after more questioning of the black, "that he heard the red pygmies boasting of it after we had escaped. Tomba says he heard them say that, though we were gone, and could not be killed, or sacrificed, the other two captives would meet that horrible fate." "Two other white captives in the hands of the red imps!" murmured Tom. "We must rescue them!" "You're not going to turn back now, are you?" asked Mr. Durban. "No, but I will as soon as I look the ship over. We'll come back to-morrow. And we'll have to make a day attack or it will be too late to save them. Two other white captives! I wonder who they can be." There was a big surprise in store for Tom Swift. CHAPTER XXV THE ROGUE ELEPHANT--CONCLUSION Early the next day the airship was again afloat. The night, what little of darkness remained after the rescue, had been spent in the clearing in the dense jungle. Some slight repairs had been made to the craft, and it was once more in readiness to be used in battle against the relentless savages.