Page:Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight.djvu/132

122 side, off the path on which he had been running, and plunged into the bushes.

"Where him go?" called Koku, coming to a puzzled halt.

"Ned, play the light on both sides!" ordered Tom to his chum, who was now on the deck of the airship, near the wheels and levers that operated the big lantern, "Show him up!"

Obediently the young bank clerk swung the searchlight from side to side. The powerful combined electric current, hissing into the big carbons, and being reflected by the parabolic mirrors, made the growth of underbrush as brightly illuminated as in day time. Tom detected a movement.

"There he is, Koku!" he called to his giant servant. "Off there to the left. After him!"

Raising his club on high, Koku made a leap for the place where the fugutive was hiding. As the man saw the light, and sprang forward, he was, for a moment, in the full glare of the rays. Then, just as the giant was about to reach him, Koku stumbled over a tree root, and fell heavily.

"Never mind, I'll get him!" yelled Tom, but the next moment the man vanished suddenly, and was no longer to be seen in the finger of light from the lantern. He had probably dipped down into