ler glumly. "She's the trouble."

[Illustration: "I'm in Trouble, Boys."]

On hearing this both boys experienced no little difficulty in keeping
their faces straight. Although Mrs. Damon was a fine woman in many ways,
she was inclined to be very domineering where her husband was
concerned. Ever since Tom Swift had rescued the man from a band of
kidnapers, Mrs. Damon had had a great liking for the youthful scientist.
Yet she felt that her husband should remain quietly at home with her and
not go off on any wild trips, as the good lady called them.

"But I don't see--well, suppose you explain," suggested Tom.

[Illustration: "Bless My Headache Pills!"]

"My wife wants me to go on a week-end house party with her next Friday
and I detest 'em. Bless my headache pills, but it's enough to drive a
man distracted. Now, I heard you boys talking about South America as I
came in and I want to go along!"

"Well, Mr. Damon, if we were going South you know I'd be only too
pleased to have you a member of the party. But Ned and I were merely
talking about a shipment of freight I'm expecting from Giant Land."

"Koku's country?" asked Mr. Damon, somewhat astonished. "I thought
Ambolata was still unknown to commerce. Bless my bill-of-lading, if the
world isn't moving faster than I thought!"

[Illustration: Some Freight From Giant Land]

Tom smiled. "I had to arrange for an expedition through the consular
office at Buenos Aires to get what I want. It seems we didn't receive
all of that strange meteorite even with the help of your magic wig."

[Illustration: Tom Smiled and Explained]

Even Mr. Damon had to laugh when he recalled the ludicrous situation
in which he had been placed in the jungles of South America. Surrounded
by savages, he had absent-mindedly taken off his wig, thereby
frightening the simple natives half out of their wits. They had thought
he could scalp himself at will. Nevertheless, this action had saved the
lives of Tom Swift and his party, ultimately enabling them to escape
when the giants turned against them.

[Illustration: They Thought He Could Scalp Himself]

"Ah, those were the days, Tom," sighed the eccentric man, "those were
the days! Even if you're not going off to the wilds, maybe you might
give me some kind of a job here so that my wife can't drag me off to
that house party. I feel it in my very bones that old Hiram Leatherby
will be there and he ALWAYS singles me out to talk about his fossil
colle