“Marvelous,” said Prince Jahan.
With a malicious smile Rakshi put in, “But will not more water be welling up all the time from the underground river?”
“Not if I plug the inlet first,” Tom replied quietly. “After the water has been vaporized, I can clean out all the poisonous sediment and plant growth with a machine of mine called a spectromarine selector. Then I’ll remove the plug and allow the lake basin to fill up again-with pure, fresh water.”
The young Asian engineers burst into loud applause for Tom Swift’s amazing scheme.
“Are you willing to undertake the project?” Jahan asked Tom.
Tom ran his fingers thoughtfully through his blond crew cut. “Yes-but it would have to take
TIGER HUNT 105
second place to the Mars rocket job. And what about getting your father’s approval?”
“We shall ask him tonight,” said Jahan.
On the flight back to Chullagar, Tom radioed home to his father to check on the progress of his rocket retriever and the spacecraft to carry it. Mr. Swift told him the vehicle was nearing completion and would be ready for a test flight on the following Monday.
When Tom described his plan for purifying the Lake of Kali, the elder scientist readily approved the project. “If your plan works, it could win a lot of friends for America in that part of the world,” Mr. Swift pointed out. “By the way, have you caught any American news broadcasts in the past twelve hours?”
“No, Dad. Why?”
“An American research satellite, the lonos II, has disappeared from the sky.”
“Disappeared?” Tom echoed. “How?”
“No one knows,” Mr. Swift replied. “Our tracking stations all over the world have been hunting for it with radar, but apparently it’s just not up there. Of course, it might have been knocked out of orbit by a meteorite and burned up in the atmosphere.”
“The odds against a direct hit strong enough to do that would be pretty great,” Tom said, and his father agreed.
The youth signed off with a puzzled frown.
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That evening the young inventor was granted a special audience with Rajah Krishna. Prince Ja-han and Prince Gopal were also on hand to hear Torn explain his amazing scheme.
The Rajah listened intently and seemed to be much impressed. His hawklike gaze never left the young inventor’s face while Tom was speaking.
“Truly, this is a bold plan, Shri Swift.” The Rajah frowned thoughtfully and stroked his beard. “But might not the vapor from the boiling lake spread poison over the land?”
Tom shook his head. “No, your highness. The vapor would rise, dissipate quickly into the upper atmosphere, and leave the poison in the lake bed.”
“Hmm. If the valley could be turned into farmland, it would be a great boon to our ill-fed mountain people.” The Rajah turned to his dewan. “What is your opinion, Gopal?”
“I, too, admire Shri Swift’s scientific boldness, your highness. But our people are superstitious and fear Kali’s power. I am not sure-”
He broke off as a commotion sounded outside the palace. Prince Jahan strode to a jalousied door leading out onto a balcony. Tom and the others followed. As they stepped outside, Tom could see a ragged-looking crowd gathered below. They were shouting wildly and waving their arms. Tom could understand nothing of what they were saying except for the frenzied chant: TIGER HUNT 107
“Kali! … Kali! … Kali!”
Gopal urged the Rajah, Jahan, and Tom to go back inside. Then he shouted something to the palace guards. There were sounds of a tussle below, but quiet was finally restored.
“What’s wrong?” Tom asked Jahan.
“The news of your plan has leaked out. The mob was shouting that Kali would be angered if her lake is drained.”
Gopal’s face was grim as he came in from the balcony. “Your highness, it may not be wise for Shri Swift to proceed with his project.”
Jahan protested that a small, superstitious mob should not be allowed to block Vishnapur’s progress. But the Rajah silenced him sternly with a wave of his jeweled hand.
“Shri Swift’s plan is good. But Gopal’s advice must also be weighed seriously. I shall decide later.”
Tom was keenly disappointed. But he could see that Jahan did not dare oppose his father’s decision.
Rajah Krishna turned to the young inventor with a polite smile. “Please do not think your plan is not appreciated. As a climax to your visit, I have ordered a shikar, or hunt, to be held tomorrow in your honor. A tiger has been sighted by villagers near here.”
Tom was embarrassed. Neither he nor Tom Sr. cared to hunt wild animals, but he did not like to
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refuse the Rajah’s invitation. Tactfully he explained that he preferred a camera to a gun. Rajah Krishna promised that arrangements would be made for Tom to photograph the hunt.
Sandy and Phyl were included in the invitation. But when Tom told them what it was, the girls expressed distaste. “The Rani’s giving a tea tomorrow,” Sandy said, “so that excuses us.”
Next morning the royal hunting party set out on elephants for a lowland village near Chullagar. The headman of the village reported that the tiger had killed two cows and a bull in the past few days. Fresh pug marks of the huge cat could be seen entering a patch of jungle at one end of a small, narrow valley.
Prince Gopal, a crack big-game hunter, took charge of the hunt. He ordered men from the village, beating sticks and pans-along with native shikaris, or huntsmen, riding elephants-to enter the woods and drive the tiger out through the valley. The Rajah, Prince Jahan, and Gopal himself would sit in machans-tree platforms built at the far end of the valley. They would carry rifles, and be ready to shoot the beast as it tried to escape.
“What about Tom and me?” Bud asked.
Prince Gopal said the boys would be posted on an elephant, well forward of the machans, so they would have ample time to photograph the tiger before it was killed. Chow, who had come
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along on Chini, wanted the boys to sit with him on his mount. But Gopal said a more experienced mahout should handle this job.
As the hunt got under way, Tom and Bud’s elephant lumbered into position.
The boys sat in a boxlike hunting howdah roped to the elephant’s back.
“This howdah sure seems loose,” Bud grumbled as the conveyance jiggled back and forth.
The two boys checked their movie cameras. Tom turned for a moment to stare through binoculars at the machans several hundred yards behind.
The boys’ mount was standing in thick undergrowth. Presently Tom and Bud could hear the thunk-thunk-thunk of the beaters advancing through the jungled valley. The boys’ hearts pounded faster.
“There’s the tiger!” Bud yelled.
Their cameras began to whir as the swift-moving orange-and-black beast burst from cover some distance ahead.
Suddenly their elephant trumpeted in pain and reared up wildly on its hind feet. The two boys were hurled from their howdah. They lay directly in the path of the oncoming tiger!
CHAPTER XIII
DEADLY QUILLS
THOUGH dazed, Tom scrambled to his feet. Bud was lying nearby, stunned.
The boys’ elephant, heedless of the mahout’s sharp goad, was lumbering off toward the hillside, the howdah tilting at a crazy angle.
Tom’s throat went dry. The huge tiger was advancing with quick, powerful strides, its emerald-green eyes fixed balefully on the young inventor.
There was no time to drag Bud to safety. Tom tried to think coolly. Suddenly he remembered hearing that tigers would seldom attack humans unless hunger drove them to become man-eaters.
The beast gave a blood-chilling growl. Tom, standing over Bud, waved and shouted at it. The beast veered aside.
The next second, the huge cat leaped into the no DEADLY QUILLS 111
air. Then Tom saw a long, thin quill sticking in its jowl! The annoyed tiger writhed and came down on all fours, snarling in pain and rage. With a roar it charged at the two boys!
Just then Tom heard a wild whoop and saw another elephant lumbering down the opposite hillside. Chow astride Chini! The tiger halted, gave a quick glance, and fled off down the valley.
By this time the Rajah, Jahan, and Gopal had climbed down from their tree platforms and were also running to Tom’s aid. Too late the tiger, realized it was heading into fresh danger. Jahan’s rifle cracked, then Copal’s, and the mighty beast dropped.
Tom was soaked with cold perspiration. He was ready to hug Chow as the loyal cowpoke swung down from his mount.
“Brand my six-guns, I knowed you two shoulda ridden Chini!” Chow gabbled.
“You okay, boss?”
“S-s-sure, I’m all right. Help me with Bud.”
Jahan, the Rajah, and Prince Gopal came hurrying through the jungle growth to join them. Bud soon revived, having suffered nothing worse than a bump on the head. He smiled his thanks upon hearing he had been saved from the tiger’s attack.