ith fear in their eyes, and did not
linger as they had done before. Instead they set down the trays of
food and hurried away.

"They're getting to be afraid of us," declared Tom. "If we could
only talk their language--"

"By Jove!" suddenly interrupted Ned. "I've just thought of
something. Jake Poddington you know--the agent for Mr. Preston who
so mysteriously disappeared."

"Well, what about him?" asked Tom. "Did you see him?"

"No, but he may be here--a captive like ourselves. If he is he's
been here long enough to have learned the language of the giants,
and if he could translate for us, we wouldn't have any trouble. Why
didn't we think of it before? If we could only find Mr. Poddington!"

"Yes, IF we only could," put in Tom. "But it's a slim chance. I
declare I've forgotten about him in the last few days, so many
things have happened. But what makes you think he is here, Ned?"

"Why he started for giant land, you'll remember, and he may have
reached here. Oh, if we could only find him, and save him and save
ourselves!"

"It would be great!" admitted Tom. "But I'm afraid we can't do it.
There's a chance, though, that Mr. Poddington may be here, or may
have been here. If we could only get out and make some explorations
or some inquiries. It's tough to be cooped up here like chickens."

Tom looked from the window, vainly hoping that the guards might have
been withdrawn. The giants were still before the windows and doors.

For a week this captivity was kept up, and in that time Tom and his
friends had occasional glimpses of Hank Delby going to and from the
king's hut. His majesty himself was not seen, but there appeared to
be considerable activity in the giant village.

From their prison-hut the captives could see the native market held
in the big open space, and giants from surrounding towns and the
open country came in to trade. There were also curious about the
white captives, and there was a constant throng around the big hut,
peering in. So also there was about the hut where the circus man had
his headquarters. Delby seemed to be free to come and go as he
choose.

"I guess he's laying his plans to take a giant or two away with
him," remarked Tom one day. "I wonder what will become of us, when
he does go?"

It was a momentous question, and no one could answer it. Tom was
doing some hard thinking those days. Two weeks passed and there was
no change. Our friends were still captives in giant land. They