Chapter V. Tom's Project

Curious was the sight that met the gaze of Tom Swift and Mr. Wakefield Damon as they rounded the corner of the house and looked into the newly spaded garden. There stood the giant, Koku, holding aloft in the air, by one hand, the form of the struggling colored man, Eradicate Sampson. And Eradicate was vainly trying to get at his enemy and rival, but was prevented by the long- distance hold the giant had on him.

"Yo' let me go, now! Yo' let me go, big man cried Eradicate. "Ef yo' don't I'll bust yo' wide open, dat's whut I'll do! An' 'sides, I'll tell Massa Tom on yo', dat's whut I'll do!"

"Ho! You tell--I let you fall!" threatened Koku.

His threat was dire enough, for such was his size and strength that he held the colored man nearly nine feet from the ground, and a fall from that distance would seriously jar Eradicate, if it did nothing else. The colored man's eyes opened wide as he heard what Koku said, and then he cried:

"Let me down! Let me down, an' I won't say nuffin!"

"An' you let me scatter dirt?" asked Koku. for such was the giant's idea of working in the garden.

"Yes, yo' kin scatter de dirt seben ways from Sunday fo' all I keers!" conceded Eradicate. Then, as he was lowered to the ground, he and the giant turned and saw Mr. Damon and Tom approaching.

"What's wrong?" asked the young inventor.

"'Scuse me, Massa Tom," began Eradicate, "but didn't yo' tell me to spade de garden?"

"I guess I did," admitted Tom Swift.

"An' you tell me help--yes?" questioned Koku.

"Well, I thought it would be a little too much for you, Rad," said Tom, gently. "I thought perhaps you'd like help."

"Hu! Not him, anyhow!" declared the colored man in great disgust. "When I git so old dat I cain't spade a garden, den me an' Boomerang, we-all gwine to die, dat's all I got to say. I was a-spadin' my part ob de garden, Massa Tom, same laik Mr. Damon done tole me to, an' dish yeah big mess ob bones steps on my side ob de middle an--"

"Him too slow. Koku scatter dirt twice times so fast!" declared the giant, whose English was not much better than Eradicate's.

"Yes, I see," said Tom. "You are so strong, Koku, that you finished your part before Eradicate did. Well, it was good of you to want to help him."

At this the giant grinned at his rival.

"At the same time," went on Tom, winking an eye at Mr. Damon, "Eradicate knows a little more about garden work, on account of having done it so many years."

"Ha! Whut I tell yo', Giant!" boasted the colored man. It was his turn to smile.

"And so," went on Tom, judicially, "I guess I'll let Rad finish spading the garden,