CHAPTER I
An Appeal for Aid
Tom Swift, seated in his laboratory engaged in trying to solve a
puzzling question that had arisen over one of his inventions, was startled
by a loud knock on the door. So emphatic, in fact, was the summons that
the door trembled, and Tom started to his feet in some alarm.
"Hello there!" he cried. "Don\'t break the door, Koku!" and then he
laughed. "No one but my giant would knock like that," he said to himself.
"He never does seem able to do things gently. But I wonder why he is
knocking. I told him to get the engine out of the airship, and Eradicate said
he\'d be around to answer the telephone and bell. I wonder if anything has
happened?
Tom shoved back his chair, pushed aside the mass of papers over
which he had been puzzling, and strode to the door. Flinging it open he
confronted a veritable giant of a man, nearly eight feet tall, and big in
proportion. The giant, Koku, for that was his name, smiled in a goodnatured
way, reminding one of an overgrown boy.
"Master hear my knock?" the giant asked cheerfully.
"Hear you, Koku? Say, I couldn\'t hear anything else!" exclaimed Tom.
"Did you think you had to arouse the whole neighborhood just to let me
know you were at the door? Jove! I thought you\'d have it off the hinges."
"If me break, me fix," said Koku, who, from his appearance and from
his imperfect command of English, was evidently a foreigner.
"Yes, I know you can fix lots of things, Koku," Tom went on, kindly
enough. "But you musn\'t forget what enormous strength you have. That\'s
the reason I sent you to take the engine out of the airship. You can lift it
without using the chain hoist, and I can\'t get the chain hoist fast unless I
remove all the superstructure. I don\'t want to do that. Did you get the
engine out?"