Tom Swift and his Electric Rifle

Table of

s he took up his curious weapon, and followed Ned out into th

he went on, as he indicated a place as well as he could in the dark. "The box is somewhere in that dir

r, rather, my electric r

hind him stood Ned and Mr. Jackson, and just before Tom was ready to

u there

s anything

at luck you have. Rad was saying you

ee. You know how it's done, Dad, for you helped me in perfecting the luminous cha

young inventor was pointing the gun at least twenty feet to one side of where the box was located,

el on his gun. Then there came a faint crackling noise, like some d

d like some miniature meteor. It shed a curious illuminating glow all about, and t

are, in which Ned and the others could see the various buildings about the shed. They could see each other's faces, and they look

collapse and to crumple up like one of paper, and ere the last rays of the illuminating bullet faded, the watchers

by contrast with the intense light. At length Tom spoke

I do it?"

!" exclaimed

cried Mr

r what comed around heah!" muttered Eradicate Sampson

plained the lad. "And I guess th

he Swift home, Eradicate going to the stable to see how his mule was. "Do

it. Strictly speaking, it is a concentrated discharge of wireless electricity directed against a certain object. You can't see it any more than you can see a ligh

e one just now

t see the bull

before I fire, to reveal the object I am to hit. That

As soon as that is discharged the rifle automatically gets ready to shoot the electric charge, and I have only to

hat a gun that would be for hunting, since

is invention," said Tom. "I only

ng to Africa after elep

t made any definite plans. But come into the house, Ne

Swift and Mr. Jackson were also much interested, for, though they had seen the gun pre

d promised to come over the next day

d as his word, initiating Ned into the mysteries of the electric rifle, and showin

more mishaps like the one that had marked the first night. They were both good shots with ord

big boxes he had set up for targets, that he saw an elderly man standing close to the fence watching him. When Tom ble

said, "but is that a dyn

ectric rifle,"

and as Tom's weapon was now fully protected by patents, the young inven

om had blown up another box, and had told of the illumination for night firing. "

the man, while aged, was rugged and hearty, and his skin was ta

ica, and I'm going back there again soon. I came on to New York to get a new elephant gun. I've got a sister living over in Waterford, a

r the elephant hunter had met Mr. Damon. "And how soon a

or a pair of big elephant tusks-the largest I can get for a wealthy New York man,- and I'm anxious to fulfil the cont

hard in the African jungle. Then I wouldn't have any trouble getting the big tusks I'm after. I could get a pair of them, and live easy the res

n't you come into the house? I'm sure my father will be glad to see you, and I have something I'd like to

ung inventor might