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" out with that box, Koku! Handle it as though it contained a dozen eggs of the extinct great auk, worth about a thousand dollars apiece.

"Eradicate! Don't you dare stumble while you're carrying that tube. If you do, you'll never do it again!"

"By golly, Massa Tom! I—I's gwine t' walk on mah tiptoes all de way!"

Thus Eradicate answered the young inventor, while the giant Koku, who was carrying a heavy case, nodded his head to show that he understood the danger of his task.

"So you think you've got the right stuff this time, Tom?" asked Ned Newton.

"I'm allowing myself to hope so, Ned."

"Bless my woodpile!" cried Mr. Damon. "I—I really think I'm getting nervous."

It was one afternoon, about two weeks after Tom had made his first test of the new powder.