"Have you heard the news?"
"What news?" inquired the young inventor.
"About Andy Foger. He and his aeroplane are lost!"
"Lost!" cried Tom, for in spite of the mean way the bully had treated him our hero did not wish him any harm.
"Well, not exactly lost," went on Ned, as he held out the paper to Tom, "but he and his skycraft have disappeared."
"Disappeared?"
"Yes. You know he and that German, Mr. Landbacher, went over to Europe to give some aviation exhibitions. Well, I see by this paper that they went to Egypt, and were doing a high-flying stunt there, when a gale sprang up, they lost control of the aeroplane and it was swept out of sight."
"In which direction; out to sea?"
"No, toward the interior of Africa."
"Toward the interior of Africa!" cried Tom. "And that's where we're going in a couple of weeks. Andy in Africa!"
"Maybe we'll see him there," suggested Ned.
"Well, I certainly hope we do not!" exclaimed Tom, as he turned back to his work, with an undefinable sense of fear in his heart.
