Still no answer.
"What's the matter?" asked Ned, who had been awakened by Tom's inquiries.
Before our hero had a chance to reply the flap of his tent was pulled back, and a head was thrust in. But such a head! It was enormous! A head covered with a thick growth of tawny hair, and a face almost hidden in a big tawny, bushy beard. Then an arm was thrust in--an arm that terminated in a brawny fist that clasped a great club. There was no mistaking the object that gazed in on the two youths. It was a gigantic man--a man almost twice the size of any Tom had ever seen. And then our hero knew that he had reached the end of his quest.
"A giant!" gasped Tom. "Ned! Ned, we're in the big men's country, and we didn't know it!"
"I--I guess you're right, Tom!"
The giant started at the sounds of their voices, and then his face breaking into a broad grin, that showed a great mouth filled with white teeth, he called to them in an unknown tongue and in a voice that seemed to fairly shake the frail tent.
Chapter XV In the "Palace" of the King
For a few moments after their first ejaculations neither Tom nor Ned knew what to do. The giant continued to gaze at them, with the same good-natured grin on his face. Possibly he was amused at the small size of the persons in the tent. Then Tom spoke.
"He doesn't look as if he would bite, Ned."