tle.

"I should say so!" yelled Ned. "It's a wonder those Englishmen aren't
afraid to be down on the same level with the black fighters."

"Oh, a white person is considered almost sacred by the natives here, so
the missionaries told me," said Tom. "A black man would never think of
raising his hand to one, and the Englishmen probably know this. They're
safe enough. In fact I'm thinking of soon going down myself, and
getting some views from the ground."

"Bless my gizzard, Tom!" cried Mr. Damon. "Don't do it!"

"Yes, I think I will. Why, it's safe enough. Besides, if they attack us
we have the electric rifles. Ned, you tell Koku to get the guns out, to
have in readiness, and then you put the ship down. I'll take a chance."

"Jove! You've been doing nothing but take chances since we came on this
trip!" exclaimed Ned, admiringly. "All right! Here we go," and he went
to relieve Koku at the wheel, while the giant, grinning cheerfully at
the prospect of taking part in the fight himself, got out the rifles,
including his own.

Meanwhile the native battle went on fiercely. Many on both sides fell,
and not a few ran away, when they got the chance, their companions
yelling at them, evidently trying to shame them into coming back.

As the airship landed, Mr. Damon, Mr. Nestor, Ned and Koku stood ready
with the deadly electric rifles, in case an attack should be made on
them. But the fighting natives paid no more attention to our friends
than they did to the two Englishmen. The latter moved their clumsy
camera from place to place, in order to get various views of the
fighting.

"This is the best yet!" cried Tom, as, after a lull in the fight, when
the two opposing armies had drawn a little apart, they came together
again more desperately than before. "I hope the pictures are being
recorded all right. I have to go at this thing pretty much in the dark.
Say, look at the beggars fight!" he finished.

But a battle, even between uncivilized blacks, cannot go on for very
long at a time. Many had fallen, some being quite severely injured it
seemed, being carried off by their friends. Then, with a sudden rush,
the side which, as our friends learned later, had been robbed of their
cattle, made a fierce attack, overwhelming their enemies, and
compelling them to retreat. Across the open plain the vanquished army
fled, with the others after them. Tom, meanwhile, taking pictures as
fast as he could.

"This ends it!" he remarked to N