As the giant native saw Tom and Bud standing unguarded, within easy range of the doorway, he sprang up and grabbed them.
“No, Mbonga!” Professor Eldreth said, and told of the rescue. The black giant’s eyes opened wide in surprise. Then he dropped down on one knee and touched first Tom’s, then Bud’s hand to his forehead.
“You Mbonga’s friends … Mbonga thank you.”
“I, too, thank you,” Professor Eldreth said in a choked voice. “Mbonga has been my faithful helper. Without him I’d be lost.”
“There’s no need to thank us,” Tom said. “But maybe now you’ll explain about tonight’s raid on our camp and why we were captured.”
THE MONSTER MAKER 167
The old man sighed heavily and sat down on a chair. “I guess I was mistaken in opposing your highway. And I regret having assisted your enemies-especially after the way you refused a chance of escape, in order to save Mbonga.” Eldreth paused, then went on, “Several white men came here days ago and asked me to help wreck your highway. I agreed for the sake of my experiments.”
“Who were the men?” Tom asked.
“I do not know. The leader is tall, with a large forehead and pointed chin.”
“Kroker!” Bud exclaimed.
Tom nodded. “The same man who conked me at the airport and hired Jarvel to assist him.”
Eldreth said that he had agreed to let Mbonga take the dinosaurs and smash down some of Tom’s transmitters. But he had refused to expose his valuable animals on any more such raids, fearing that Tom might take measures to trap or destroy them.
Later Eldreth had been persuaded to let his animals be stampeded through Tom’s camp and to have Mbonga seize the boys. The stampede was to scatter Tom’s work crew so raiders could sabotage the highway transmitters.