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made the African hunter warmly welcome, and listened with pride to the words of praise Mr. Durban bestowed on Tom regarding the rifle.

"Yes, my boy has certainly done wonders along the inventive line," said Mr. Swift.

"Not half as much as you have, dad," interrupted the lad, for Tom was a modest youth.

"You should see his sky racer," went on the old inventor.

"Sky racer? What's that?" asked Mr. Durban. "Is it another kind of gun or cannon?"

"It's an aeroplane—an airship," explained Mr. Swift.

"An airship!" exclaimed the old elephant hunter. "Say, you don't mean that you make balloons; do you?"

"Well, they're not exactly balloons," replied Tom, as he briefly explained what an aeroplane