Page:Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle.djvu/186



" you make out the hut, Tom?" asked Ned, as he stood at his chum's side in the steering tower, and gazed downward on the silent village.

"Not very clearly. Suppose you take a look through the night-glasses. Maybe you'll have better luck."

Ned peered long and earnestly.

"No, I can't see a thing," he said. "It all looks to be a confused jumble of huts. I can't tell one from the other. We'll have to go lower."

"I don't want to do that," objected Tom. "If this attack succeeds at all, it will have to be sharp and quick. If we go down where they can spot us, and work our way up to the hut where the captives are, we'll run the chance of an attack that may put us out of business."

"Yes, we ought to get right over the hut, and then make a sudden swoop down," admitted Ned, "but if we can't see it"