“What is it?” asked Tom.
“Chinese bandits!” was the answer. “They’re going to surround us! We’re in for it now, Tom!”
As the young inventor peered out, he saw a horde of fierce-looking Chinese advancing toward the stalled airship.
CHAPTER XIX
THE TYPHOON
“Trouble surely is hovering over us!” grimly mused Tom Swift, as he leaped out of bed and hurried into the pilot house, where he found Peltok and the two machinists gathered.
“Can you speak the language of these bandits?” asked Tom of Peltok. For that the advancing Chinese were bandits there was little doubt.
“Oh, yes, I can talk to them. But it will do little good, I fear,” was the answer. “They make it a practice to capture foreigners whenever they can, to hold them for ransom.”
“And they’re likely to capture us unless we can rise soon!” exclaimed Tom. “Can we?” he asked the machinists.
Brinkley shook his head while his companion said:
“It will take about two hours more to fix that carburetor and adjust it.”