What Dorothy and the others thought was a giant dragonfly was actually the Wright Brothers' Wright Flyer.
Their mission was to find Ben Daniels' Rough Riders, who disappeared in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The pilot, Orville Wright, could not find Ben and the others. However, he did see Titans roaming the primeval forest. Then he spotted a train carriage and a moving figure in it, on top of a giant redwood tree.
"I don't know why there are carriages there, but we have to rescue them," said Vice President Theodore Roosevelt with a grim face. "But to do that, we'll have to cross the land of Jack and the Beanstalk."
Vice-captain Clay Roberts thought it might be the land of giants from Gulliver's Travels. But instead of saying that, he read the note that had just arrived.
"We've got a report from Bat Masterson, who was guarding the railroad tracks on the ground. He said he found a body part a mile west of Truckee."
"Is that corpse one of Ben's men?"
"Probably so. The identification tag was also left and the name was written. Dingle Dangle"
Roberts glanced sideways at Miss Craig's reaction. She was expressionless. Roberts continued.
"They said the corpse was in pretty bad shape. It looked like it had been devoured."
"There's been cannibalism around here in the past," recalled Theodore Roosevelt.
"When?" asked young Pete Stryker, leaning forward, curiously.
"Shortly before the Civil War, a group of settlers apparently had nothing to eat and ate their dead comrades during the harsh winter."
"Oh my gosh!"
Stryker regretted hearing it.
"What are you going to do? Are you still going to continue the search?" asked Roberts.
"Of course," replied Captain Harris. "And let's rescue the people stranded on top of the redwood trees."
"Let Pat Garrett do the work," said Theodore Roosevelt. "Other than that?"
"It's a countermeasure against Titan. Even if it's impossible to wipe them out, is there a way to prevent them from interfering with railroad operations?"
"What if we could build a fence with high voltage currents around the tracks?" Stryker suggested. "If the Titans touch it, they'll get an electric shock. So they're afraid to go near it."
Theodore Roosevelt nodded. "It's a great idea."
"Do you want the current to be direct current or alternating current?" asked Miss Craig.
"Either way. The sooner the better."
YOU ARE READING
The Argo Goes West
Science FictionIn 1900, creatures from Greek myth began to invade America, where the frontier line had disappeared. Theodore Roosevelt builds the Argo, a battle train and heads to the west where monsters await!
