Page:Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle.djvu/47

Rh the stranger to come nearer and see how it worked.

"That's the greatest thing I ever saw!" exclaimed the man enthusiastically when Tom had blown up another box, and had told of the illumination for night firing. "The most wonderful weapon I ever heard of! What a gun it would be in my business."

"What is your trade?" asked Tom curiously, for he had noted that the man, while aged, was rugged and hearty, and his skin was tanned a leathery brown, showing that he was much in the open air.

"I'm a hunter," was the reply, "a hunter of big game, principally elephants, hippos and rhinoceroses. I've just finished a season in Africa, and I'm going back there again soon. I came on to New York to get a new elephant gun. I've got a sister living over in Waterford, and I've been visiting her. I went out for a stroll to-day, and I came farther than I intended. That's how I happened to be passing here."

"A sister in Waterford; eh?" mused Tom, wondering whether the elephant hunter had met Mr. Damon. "And how soon are you going back to Africa, Mr.—er—" and Tom hesitated.

"Durban is my name, Alexander Durban," said the old man. "Why, I am to start back in a few