Chapter XIX. A Heavy Loss - Page 2

"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 Ned, when the warriors were too far away to make any more good views. "Now we can take a rest."

"The Englishmen gave up some time ago," said his chum, motioning to the two men who were taking their machine off the tripod.

"Guess their films gave out," spoke Tom. "Well, you see it didn't do any harm to come down, and I got some better views here."

"Here they come back!" exclaimed Ned, as a horde of the black fellows emerged f row the jungle, and came on over the plain.

"Hear 'em sing!" commented Tom, as the sound of a rude chant came to their ears. "They must be the winners all right."

"I guess so," agreed Ned. "But what about staying here now? Maybe they won't be so friendly to us when they haven't any fighting to occupy their minds."

"Don't worry," advised Tom. "They won't bother us."

And the blacks did not. They were caring for their wounded, who had not already been taken from the field, and they paid no attention to our friends, save to look curiously at the airship.

"Bless my newspaper!" cried Mr. Damon, with an air of relief. "I'm glad that's over, and we didn't have to use the electric rifles, after all."

"Here come the Englishmen to pay us a visit," spoke Ned a little later, as they sat about the cabin of the Flyer. The two rival picture men soon climbed on deck.

"Beg pardon," said the taller of the two, addressing our hero, "but could you lend us a roll of film? Ours are all used up, and we want to get some more pictures before going back to our main camp."

"I'm sorry," replied Tom, "but I use a special size, and it fits no camera but my own."

"Ah! might we see your camera?" asked the other Englishman. "That is, see how it works?"

"I don't like to be disobliging," was Tom's answer, "but it is not yet