CHAPTER I
A STRANGE OFFER
"Some one to see you, Mr. Tom."
It was Koku, or August, as he was sometimes called, the new giant
servant of Tom Swift, who made this announcement to the young inventor.
"Who is it, Koku?" inquired Tom, looking up from his work-bench in
the machine shop, where he was busy over a part of the motor for his new
noiseless airship. "Any one I know? Is it the \'Blessing Man?\'" for so Koku
had come to call Mr. Damon, an eccentric friend of Tom\'s.
"No, not him. A strange man. I never see before. He say he got quick
business."
"Quick business; eh? I guess you mean important, Koku," for this
gigantic man, one of a pair that Tom had brought with him after his
captivity in "Giant Land," as he called it, could not speak English very
well, as yet. "Important business; eh, Koku? Did he send in his card?"
"No, Mr. Tom. Him say he have no card. You not know him, but he
very much what you call--recited."
"Excited I guess you mean, Koku. Well, tell him to wait a few minutes,
and I\'ll see him. You can show him in then. But I say, Koku," and Tom
paused as he looked at the big man, who had attached himself to our hero,
as a sort of personal helper and bodyguard.
"Yes, Mr. Tom; what is it?"
"Don\'t let him go poking around the shop. He might look at some of
my machines that I haven\'t got fully patented yet. Is he in the front
office?"
"That\'s where him am. He be lookin\' at pictures on the walls."
"Oh, that\'s all right then. Just keep him there. And, Koku, don\'t let him
come back in the shop here, until I get ready to see him. I\'ll ring the bell
when I am.