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diff --git a/15773-8.txt b/15773-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..41fdabf --- /dev/null +++ b/15773-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7449 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Round the World in Seven Days, by Herbert +Strang, Illustrated by A. C. Michael + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Round the World in Seven Days + + +Author: Herbert Strang + +Release Date: May 6, 2005 [eBook #15773] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS*** + + +E-text prepared by Bill Tozier, Barbara Tozier, Sankar Viswanathan, and +the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 15773-h.htm or 15773-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/7/7/15773/15773-h/15773-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/7/7/15773/15773-h.zip) + + + + + +ROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS + +by + +HERBERT STRANG + +Illustrated by A. C. Michael + +1910 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + + CHAPTER. + + PRELUDE + + I THE CABLEGRAM + + II EASTWARD HO! + + III ACROSS EUROPE TO THE BOSPHORUS + + IV A FLYING VISIT + + V THE TOMB OF UR-GUR + + VI WITH GUN RUNNERS IN THE GULF + + VII THE WHITE DJINN + + VIII A SHIP ON FIRE + + IX A PASSENGER FOR PENANG + + INTERLUDE + + X SOME PRAUS AND A JUNK + + XI AUSTRALIAN HOSPITALITY + + XII STALKED BY PIGMIES + + XIII THE RESCUE + + XIV SIR MATTHEW IMPROVES THE OCCASION + + XV HERR SCHWANKMACHER'S CABBAGES + + XVI A STOP-PRESS MESSAGE + + XVII A MIDNIGHT VIGIL + + XVIII THE LAST LAP + + POSTSCRIPT + + + + +PRELUDE + + +Lieutenant George Underhill, commanding H.M. surveying ship +_Albatross_, had an unpleasant shock when he turned out of his +bunk at daybreak one morning. The barometer stood at 29.41'. For two +or three days the vessel had encountered dirty weather, but there had +been signs of improvement when he turned in, and it was decidedly +disconcerting to find that the glass had fallen. His vessel was a +small one, and he was a little uneasy at the prospect of being caught +by a cyclone while in the imperfectly-charted waters of the Solomon +Islands. + +He was approaching the eastern shore of Ysabel Island, whose steep +cliffs were covered with a lurid bank of cloud. If the shore was like +those of the other islands of the group, it would be, he knew, a maze +of bays, islets, barrier reefs, and intricate channels amid which, +even in calm weather, a vessel would run a considerable risk of +grounding, a risk that would be multiplied in a storm. Anxiously +noting the weather signs, Underhill hoped that he might reach a safe +anchorage before the threatening cyclone burst upon him. + +As is the way with cyclones, it smote the vessel almost without +warning. A howling squall tore out of the east, catching the ship +nearly abeam, and making her shudder; then, after a brief lull, came +another and even a fiercer blast, and in a few minutes the wind +increased to a roaring hurricane, enveloping the ship in a mist of +driving rain that half choked the officers and crew as they crouched +under the lee of the bulwarks and the deckhouse. + +The _Albatross_ was a gallant little vessel, and Underhill, +now that what he dreaded had happened, hoped at least to keep her off +the shore until the fury of the storm had abated. For a time she +thrashed her way doggedly through the boiling sea; but all at once +she staggered, heeled over, and then, refusing to answer the helm, +began to rush headlong upon the rocks, now visible through the mist. + +"Propeller shaft broken, sir," came the cry from below to Underhill as +he stood clinging to the rail of the bridge. + +He felt his utter helplessness. He could not even let go an anchor, +for no one could stand on deck against the force of the wind. He could +only cling to his place and see the vessel driven ashore, without +being able to lift a hand to save her. Suddenly he was conscious of a +grating, grinding sensation beneath his feet, and knew that the vessel +had struck a coral reef. She swung round broadside to the wind; the +boats on the weather side were wrenched from their davits and hurled +away in splinters; and in the midst of such fury and turmoil there was +no possibility of launching the remaining two boats and escaping from +the doomed vessel. + +All hands had rushed on deck, and clung to rails and stays and +whatever else afforded a hold. Among those who staggered from the +companion way was a tall thin man, spectacled, with iron-grey hair and +beard, and somewhat rounded shoulders. Linking arms with him was a +young man of twenty-two or twenty-three: the likeness between them +proclaimed them father and son. The older man was Dr. Thesiger Smith, +the famous geologist, in furtherance of whose work the _Albatross_ was +making this voyage. The younger man was his second son Tom, who, after +a distinguished career at Cambridge, had come out to act as his +father's assistant. + +Underhill knew by the jerking and grinding he felt beneath him that +his ill-fated vessel was being slowly forced over the reef towards the +shore. His first lieutenant, Venables, crawled up to the bridge, and, +bawling into his ear, asked if anything could be done. The lieutenant +shook his head. + +"Water's within two feet of the upper deck forward, sir," shouted +Venables; "abaft it is three feet above the keelson." + +"Get the lifebuoys," was the brief reply. + +Venables crawled down again, and with the assistance of some of the +crew unlashed the lifebuoys and distributed them among the company. +Meanwhile the progress of the vessel shorewards had been suddenly +checked. She came up with a jerk, and Underhill guessed that her nose +had stuck fast in a hollow of the reef, and prayed that the storm +would abate for just so long as would enable him to get the boats +clear and make for the land before the ship broke up. But for a good +half-hour longer the hurricane blew with undiminished force, and it +was as much as every man could do to avoid being washed away by the +mountainous seas that broke over the vessel. + +At length, however, there came a sudden change. The uproar ceased as +by magic, and there fell a dead calm. Underhill was not deceived. He +judged that the vessel was now in the centre of the cyclone; the calm +might last for forty or fifty minutes, then a renewal of the hurricane +was almost certainly to be expected. Without the loss of a moment he +gave his orders. The boats were made ready; into one they put arms, +ammunition, and tools, together with the ship's papers and +chronometer, a compass, and Dr. Thesiger Smith's specimens and +diaries; into the other more ammunition, and a portion of what +provisions could be collected from above or below water. The boats +were lowered, the men dropped into them and pulled off, leaving +Underhill and two or three of the crew still on the vessel to collect +the remainder of the provisions and whatever else seemed worth saving. +The sea was so high that the boats had much difficulty in making the +shore; but they reached it safely, and one of them, after being +rapidly unloaded, returned for the commander. + +Before it regained the ship, Underhill felt a light puff of wind from +the south-west. Lifting a megaphone, he roared to the men to pull for +their lives. The boat came alongside; it had scarcely received its +load when the hurricane once more burst upon them, this time from the +opposite quarter. Underhill leapt down among his men, and ordered them +to give way. Before they had pulled a dozen strokes the storm was at +its height, but the force of the wind was now somewhat broken by the +trees and rocks of the island. Even so it was hard work, rowing in the +teeth of the blast, the boat being every moment in danger of swamping +by the tremendous seas. Underhill, at the tiller, set his teeth, and +anxiously watched the advancing cliffs, at the foot of which the +remainder of his company stood. The boat was within twenty yards of +them when a huge wave fell on it as it were out of the sky. It sank +like lead. Thanks to the lifebuoys Underhill and the men rose quickly +to the surface. Two of them, who could not swim, cried out +despairingly for help. Underhill seized one and held him up; the other +was saved by the promptitude of young Smith. Seeing their plight, he +caught up a rope which had been brought ashore, and flung it among the +group of men struggling in the water. The drowning man clutched it, +the others swam to it, and by its aid all were drawn ashore, gasping +for breath, and sorely battered by the jagged rocks. + +"All safe, thank heaven!" said Underhill, as he joined the others; +"but I'm sorry we've lost the boat." + +The shipwrecked party found themselves on a narrow beach, behind which +rose steep cliffs, rugged and difficult to climb. Against these they +crouched to find some shelter from the storm, and watch the gradual +dismemberment of the ill-fated _Albatross_. Wave after wave broke over +her, the spray dashing so high that even her funnel sometimes +disappeared from view. The spectators held their breath: could she +live out the storm? At last a tremendous sea swept her from the hollow +in which she was wedged, and she plunged beneath the waters. + + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CABLEGRAM + + +"Tenez! up! up! Ah ça! A clean shave, mister, hein?" + +A touch on the lever had sent the aeroplane soaring aloft at a steep +angle, and she cleared by little more than a hair's breadth the edge +of a thick plantation of firs. + +"A close shave, as you say, Roddy," came the answer. And then the +speaker let forth a gust of wrathful language which his companion +heard in sympathetic silence. + +Lieutenant Charles Thesiger Smith, of H.M.S. _Imperturbable_, was +normally a good-tempered fellow, and his outburst would have deceived +nobody who knew him so well as Laurent Rodier. + +It was the dusk of an evening in mid spring. Above, the sky was clear, +washed by the rain that had fallen without intermission since early +morning. Below, the chill of coming night, acting on the +moisture-laden air, had covered the land with a white mist, that +curled and heaved beneath the aeroplane in huge waves. It looked like +a billowy sea of cotton-wool, but the airmen who had just emerged from +it, had no comfort in its soft embrace. Their eyes were smarting, they +drew their breath painfully, and little streams of water trickling +from the soaked planes made cold, shuddering streaks on their faces +and necks. + +An hour ago they had sailed by Salisbury spire, calculating that a few +minutes' run, at two or three miles a minute, would bring them to +their destination on the outskirts of Portsmouth. But a few miles +south the baffling mist had made its appearance, and Smith found +himself bereft of landmarks, and compelled to tack to and fro in utter +uncertainty of his course. He was as much at a loss as if he were +navigating a vessel in a sea-fog. To sail through the mist was to +incur the risk of striking a tree, a chimney, or a church steeple; to +pursue his flight above it in the deepening dusk might carry him miles +out of his way, and though a southerly course must presently bring him +to the sea, he could not tell how far east or west of his intended +landing-place. Meanwhile the petrol was running short, and it was +clear that before long his dilemma would be solved by the engine +stopping, and bringing him to the ground willy-nilly, goodness knows +where. + +This was vexing enough, but in the particular circumstances it was a +crowning stroke of misfortune. To-day was the twenty-first of his +twenty-eight days' leave: to-morrow he was to begin a round of what he +called duty visits among his relatives; he would have to motor, play +golf, dance attendance on girls at theatres and concerts, and spur +himself to a thousand activities that he detested. There was no escape +for him. Perhaps he could have faced this seven days' penance more +equably if he had had the recollection of three well-employed weeks to +sweeten it. Even this was denied him. Ever since he came on leave the +weather had been abominable: high wind, incessant rain, all the +elements conspiring to prevent the enjoyment of his hobby. Rodier had +suggested that he should apply for an extension of leave, but Smith, +though he did not lack courage, could not screw it to this pitch. He +remembered too vividly his interview with the captain when coming off +ship. + +"Don't smash yourself up," said the captain, "and don't run things too +fine. You're always late in getting back from leave. Last time you +only got in by the skin of your teeth, when we were off shooting, too. +If you overstep the mark again you'll find yourself brought up with a +round turn, you may take my word for it." + +"I couldn't beg off after that," he said to Rodier. "Anyway, it's +rotten bad luck." + +"Précisément ca!" said Rodier sympathetically. + +For some little time they sailed slowly on, seeking in vain for a rift +in the blanket of mist: then Rodier cried suddenly-- + +"Better take a drop, mister. In three minutes all the petrol is gone, +and then--" + +"I'm afraid you're right, Roddy, but goodness knows what we shall fall +on. We must take our chance, I suppose." + +He adjusted the planes, so as to make a gradual descent while the +engine still enabled him to keep way on the machine, and it sank into +the mist. Both men kept a sharp look-out, knowing well that to +encounter a branch of a tree or a chimney-stack might at any moment +bring the voyage, the aeroplane, and themselves to an untimely end. +All at once, without warning, a large dark shape loomed out of the +mist. Smith instantly warped his planes, and the machine dived so +precipitately as almost to throw him from his seat. Next moment there +was a shock; he was flung headlong forward, and found himself +sprawling half suffocated on a damp yielding mass, which, when he had +recovered his wits, he knew to be the unthatched top of a hayrick. + +His first thought was for the aeroplane. Raising himself, and dashing +the clinging hay wisps from his face, he shouted-- + +"Is she smashed, Roddy?" + +"Ah, no, mister," came the answering cry. "She stick fast, and me +also." + +Smith crawled to the edge of the rick and dropped to the ground. Two +or three dogs were barking furiously somewhere in the neighbourhood. A +few steps brought him to the aeroplane, lying in a slanting position +between the hayrick and a fence, over which it projected. Rodier had +clung to his seat, and had suffered nothing worse than a jolting. + +"This is a pretty mess," said Smith despairingly, "one end stuck fast +in the hayrick, the other sticking over the fence: they'll have to +pull it down before we can get her out. Get off, you brute!" he +exclaimed, as a dog came yapping at his legs. + +"Seize him, Pompey: seize him, good dog!" cried a rough voice. + +"Call him off, or I'll break his head," cried Smith in exasperation. + +"You will, will you?" roared the farmer. "I'll teach you to come +breaking into my yard: I'll have the law of you." + +"Don't be absurd, man," replied Smith, fending off the dog as well as +he could. "Don't you see I've had an accident?" + +"Accident be jiggered!" said the farmer. "You don't come breaking into +my yard by accident. Better stand quiet or he'll tear you to bits." + +"Oh, come now!" said Smith. "Look at this. Here's my aeroplane, fixed +up here. You don't suppose I came down here on purpose? I lost my way +in this confounded mist, and don't know where I am. Just be sensible, +there's a decent chap, and get some of your men to help us out. I'll +pay damages." + +"I'll take care of that," said the farmer curtly. "What the country's +coming to I don't know, what with motors killing us on the roads and +now these here airyplanes making the very air above us poison to +breathe. There ought to be a law to stop it, that's what _I_ say. +Down, Pompey! What's your name, mister?" + +Smith explained, asking in his turn the name of the place where he had +alighted. Farmer Barton was a good patriot, and the knowledge that the +intruder was a navy-man sensibly moderated his truculence. + +"Why, this be Firtop Farm, half-a-mile from Mottisfont station, if you +know where that is," he said. "Daze me if you hain't been and cut into +my hayrick!" He sniffed. "And what's this horrible smell? I do believe +you've spoilt the whole lot with your stinking oil." He was getting +angry again. + +"Well, I've said I'll pay for it," said Smith impatiently. "Get your +men, farmer, or I shan't be home to-night. I suppose I can get some +petrol somewhere about here?" + +"You might, or you might not, in the village; I can't say. My men are +abed and asleep, long ago. You'll have to bide till morning." + +"Oh well, if I must, I must. Roddy, just have a look at the machine +and see that she's safe for the night. I'll run down to the station +and send a wire home, and then get beds in the village." + +"Better be sharp, then," said the farmer. "You can't send no wire +after eight, and it's pretty near that now. I'll show you the way." + +Smith hurried to the station and despatched his telegram; then, +learning that there was a train due at 8.2 from Andover, he decided to +wait a few minutes and get an evening paper. An aviation meeting had +just been held at Tours, and he was anxious to see how the English +competitors had fared. The train was only a few minutes late. Smith +asked the guard whether he had brought any papers, and to his vexation +learnt that, there being no bookstall at Mottisfont, there were none +for that station. However, the guard himself had bought a paper before +leaving Waterloo. + +"Take it and welcome, sir," he said. "I've done with it. You're +Lieutenant Smith, if I'm not mistaken. Seen your portrait in the +papers,' sir." + +"Thanks, guard," said Smith, pressing a coin into his reluctant hand. + +"Englishmen doing well in France, sir. Hope to see you a prize-winner +one of these days. Goodnight!" + +The train rumbled off, and Smith scanned the columns by the light of a +platform lamp. He read the report of the meeting in which he was +interested: a Frenchman had made a new record in altitude; an +Englishman had won a fine race, coming in first of ten competitors; a +terrible accident had befallen a well-known airman at the moment of +descending. The most interesting piece of news was that a Frenchman +had maintained for three hours an average speed of a hundred and +twenty miles. + +"I'm only just in time," said Smith to himself. He was folding the +paper when his eye was caught by a heading that recalled the days of +his boyhood, when he had revelled in stories of savages, pirates, and +the hundred and one themes that fascinate the ingenuous mind. + + + SHIPWRECKED AMONG CANNIBALS. + + + TERRIBLE SITUATION OF FAMOUS SCIENTIST. + + (From Our Own Correspondent.) + + BRISBANE, Thursday. + + + A barque put in here to-day with four men picked up from an + open boat south of New Guinea, who reported that the + Government survey vessel Albatross has run ashore in a + storm on Ysabel Island, one of the Solomon group. The crew + and passengers, including Dr. Thesiger Smith, the famous + geologist, were saved, but the vessel is a complete wreck, + and the unfortunate people were compelled to camp on the + shore. They are very short of provisions, and being + practically unarmed are in great danger of being massacred + by the natives, who are believed to be one of the fiercest + cannibal tribes in the South Sea. + + Four of the crew put off in the ship's boat to seek + assistance, but they lost their mast and had to rely on the + oars, and drifted for several days before being picked up + in the Coral Sea. A gunboat will be despatched immediately, + but since it cannot reach the island for at least five + days, it is greatly to be feared that it will arrive only + to find that help has come too late. + + +Smith ran his eyes rapidly over the lines, then folded the paper, and +put it into his pocket. He did not notice that his hand was trembling. +The station-master looked curiously after him as he strode away with +set face. + +"Seems to have had bad news," he said to his head porter. + +"Bin plungin' on a wrong un, maybe," replied the porter. + +Smith left the station, and hastened down the road towards the farm. +He had clean forgotten his intention of bespeaking beds in the +village; indeed, he walked as one insensible to all around him until +he caught sight of the word GARAGE, painted in large white letters, +illuminated by an electric lamp, over a gateway at the side of the +road. Then he swung round and, passing through the gate, came to a +lighted shed where he found a man cleaning a motor car. + +"Any petrol to be got here?" he asked quickly. + +"As much as we're allowed to keep, sir," replied the man. + +"Send a can at once to Firtop Farm, down the road." + +He turned, and was quitting the shed when a word from the man recalled +him. + +"Beg pardon, sir, but--" + +"Oh, here's your money," cried Smith, handing him a crown-piece. "Be +quick. By the way, can you lend me two or three men for half-an-hour +or so at five shillings an hour?" + +"Right you are, sir," was the reply. "I'm one; I'll get you a couple +more in no time. Be there as soon as you, sir." + +Smith hurried away. On reaching the farm he found that Rodier and the +farmer were engaged in a friendly conversation, by the light of a +carriage lamp which flickered wanly in the mist. + +"Wonderful machine, sir," said the farmer, whom Rodier had talked out +of his ill-humour. "Your man has been showing me over it, as you may +say, leastways as well as he could in this fog." + +"We must get her out at once," rejoined Smith. "Some men are coming +up. We must get on to-night." + +"Good sakes! that's impossible. She lies right athwart the fence, and +you'll have to rig a crane to lift her." + +"The fence must come down. I'll pay." + +"But drat it all--" + +"Look here, farmer, it's got to be done. Here are the men; just oblige +me by showing them a light at the fence, and set them to take down +enough of it to free the aeroplane--carefully; I don't want it +smashed. There's a sovereign on account; you shall have a cheque for +the rest when you send in the bill." + +Apparently the magic touch of gold reconciled the farmer to these +hasty proceedings, for he made no more ado, but took the lamp and bade +the three men to follow him. + +"What's wrong, mister?" asked Rodier. "You look as if you had been +shocked." + +Smith drew the paper from his pocket, gave it to Rodier, and then, +striking a match, showed him the paragraph, and lighted more matches +while he read it. + +"Mon dieu!" ejaculated the Frenchman, when he was halfway through. "It +is your father!" + +"Yes; my brother is with him. I must get home; it will kill my mother +if she sees this." + +Rodier read the paragraph to the end. + +"My word, it is bad business," he said. "These cannibals!... And they +have no arms. What horror!" + +Smith left him abruptly and walked to the fence to see how the work of +dismantling it was proceeding. Rodier whistled, and thrusting his +hands into his pockets, sat down on a bag of straw and appeared to be +deep in a brown study. Sounds of hammering came from the fence; a +light breeze was scattering the mist, and he could now see clearly the +three men under the farmer's direction carefully removing the fencing +beneath the aeroplane. Rodier watched them for a few minutes, but an +onlooker would have gathered the impression that his thoughts were far +away. + +Suddenly he sprang up, muttering, "Ah! On peut le faire, quand même. +Courage, mon ami!" and hastened to rejoin his employer. + +"What distance, mister," he said, "from here to there--to the +cannibals?" + +"Thirteen thousand miles, I suppose, more or less." + +"Ah!" the Frenchman's face fell. "Thirteen thousand!" he repeated, +then was silent for a while, touching his brow as if making some +abstruse calculation. Smith turned away. + +"Ah! Qu'importe?" cried Rodier, after a few moments. "On peut le +faire!" + +He hastened to Smith, drew him aside, and spoke rapidly to him for a +few moments. The look of doubt that first came to Smith's face was +soon replaced by a look of confidence. He engaged in a hurried +colloquy with his man, at the close of which they shook hands heartily +and went to the fence to lend a hand there. + +In half-an-hour the work was done; the fence was down, and the six men +carefully dragged and lifted the aeroplane over the débris, and placed +it on the road outside. While Rodier made a rapid examination of it, +to see that no damage had been done, Smith got the men to empty into +the tank the can of petrol they had brought, paid them for their +work, and handed his card to the farmer. + +"Send in your bill," he cried. "Ready, Roddy?" + +"All right, mister." + +They jumped into their seats. Smith called to the men to stand clear, +and pulled the lever. At the same moment Rodier switched on the +searchlight. The propellers flew round with deafening whirr; the +aeroplane shot forward for thirty or forty yards along the road, then +rose like a bird into the air. + +The men stood with mouths agape as the machine flew over the +tree-tops, its light diminishing to a pin-point, its clamour sinking +to the quiet hum of a bee, and then fading away altogether. In a +minute it had totally disappeared. + +"Daze me if ever I seed anything like that afore," said the farmer. "A +mile a minute, what?" + +"More like two," said the motorman. "I lay she'll be in Portsmouth +afore I'm half-a-mile up road. Good-night, farmer, I'm off to the +Three Waggoners." + +"Bust if I don't go, too. There be summat to wet our whistles on +to-night, eh, men?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EASTWARD HO! + + +Before the farmer reached the hospitable door of the Three Waggoners, +Smith had made his descent upon a broad open space in his father's +park near Cosham. There stood the large shed in which he housed the +aeroplane; adjoining it were a number of workshops. It was quite dark +now, and no one was about; but Smith clearly had no intention of +putting his machine up for the night. As soon as he came to the ground +he hurried off on foot in one direction, Rodier on a bicycle in +another, their purposeful movements betokening a course of action +arranged during the few minutes' conversation at the farm. + +Smith walked rapidly through the park, and, entering the house, found +his mother placidly knitting on a settee in the large old-fashioned +hall. + +"Ah, my dear boy," she said, as he appeared; "how late you are, and +how dirty! We have waited dinner for you." + +"You shouldn't have done that, mother," he replied cheerfully; "though +it's very good of you." + +"Well, you see, it's your last night with us for ever so long, and +with Tom and your father away--" + +"Yes, I'm sorry I'm so late," Smith broke in hastily. "We were caught +in a mist. I shan't be ten minutes changing." + +He ran up the stairs, and before going to his room put his head in at +the door of his sister's. + +"You there, Kate? You didn't get my telegram, then? Come to my room in +ten minutes, will you? I want to see you particularly before dinner." + +With a seaman's quickness he was bathed and dressed within the time he +had named. + +"Come in," he said, as his sister tapped. "You've got a pretty cool +head, Sis; look at this, quickly." + +He handed her the evening paper, pointing out the fateful paragraph. +Kate went a little pale as she read it; her bosom heaved, but she said +nothing. + +"It must be kept from Mother," he said. "Get hold of to-morrow's +paper, and if the paragraph is there, cut it out or tear off the +page." + +"But people will write, or call. They are sure to speak of it." + +"That's your chance. Intercept 'em. You always read the Mater's +letters to her, don't you? Keep the servants' mouths shut. And I want +you to write for me to all those people and cry off; pressing +business--any excuse you like." + +"But you, Charley?" + +"I'm off to London, to-night; must see what can be done for the old +dad, you know." + +"How shall we explain to Mother? She has been looking forward to your +spending your last night at home." + +"Roddy will come up by and by with an urgent telephone message. The +Mater is so used to that sort of thing that she won't smell a rat." + +"How you think of everything, Charley! But I'm afraid Mother will +notice something in our manner at dinner." + +"Not if we're careful. You take your cue from me. Come along!" + +No one would have guessed at that dinner table that anything was +amiss. Smith seemed to be in the highest spirits, talking incessantly, +describing his sudden descent on Firtop Farm and his interview with +the farmer so racily that his mother laughed gently, and even Kate, +for all her anxiety, smiled. In the middle of the meal the belated +telegram arrived, giving Smith an opportunity for poking fun at +official slowness. + +Dinner was hardly over when a servant announced that Mr. Rodier was +below, asking to see Mr. Smith upon particular business. Smith slowly +lighted a cigarette before he left the room. He found Rodier in the +hall. + +"Got it, Roddy?" he asked. + +"Yes, I ask for globe: Mr. Dawkins give me first a pink paper. 'Sad +news this!' says he." + +"I hope to goodness he'll hold his tongue about it." + +"He must have it back to-morrow, he said. The inspector is coming." + +"All right. Now cut off to the housekeeper and stroke as hard as you +can. I don't know when you'll get another meal." + +Returning to the dining-room, Smith said-- + +"Sorry, Mater, I've got to go to London at once. Too bad, isn't it, +spoiling our last night. Ah well! it can't be helped." + +"Is it Admiralty business, Charley?" asked his mother. + +"Well, not exactly; something about a wreck, I think." + +"I suppose I had better send on your things to the Leslies in the +morning?" + +"I'll send you a wire. I mayn't go there, after all. Nuisance having +to change again, isn't it?" + +He hastened from the room, got into his air-man suit, covered it with +an overall, emptied his cash-box into his pocket, and returned to say +good-bye. Kate accompanied him to the door. + +"Buck up, old girl," he said, as he kissed her. "I'll let you know +what happens, if I can. By the way, there's a globe in the shed I want +you to send back to Dawkins, the school-master, first thing to-morrow. +Good-bye! Send Roddy after me as soon as he has finished his grub." + +He hurried through the park, and coming to the shed, switched on the +electric light, which revealed a litter of all sorts of objects: +models, parts of machinery, including an aero-cycle on which he had +spent many fruitless hours, and, on a bench, a small geographical +globe of the world. Taking up a piece of string, he made certain +measurements on the globe, jotting down sundry names and rows of +figures on a piece of paper. Then he went to a telephone box in a +corner of the shed, and rang up a certain club in London, asking if +Mr. William Barracombe was there. After the interval usual in trunk +calls, he began-- + +"That you, Billy? Good! Thought I'd catch you. Can you give me an +hour or two?... What?... No: not this time. No time for explanations +just now.... Right!... Exactly: nothing ever surprises you." +(A smile flickered on his face.) "Well, I want you to wire to +Constantinople--Con-stant-i-no-ple--to some decent firm, and arrange +for them to have eighty gallons of petrol and sixteen of lubricating +oil ready first thing to-morrow.... Yes, to the order of Lieutenant +Smith.... Also means of transport, motor if possible: if not, +horses.--I say, Central, don't cut me off, please. Yes, I know my +time's up: I'll renew.--You there, Billy? That all right?... No, +that's not all. I want you to meet me on Epsom Downs about +midnight.... Yes, coming by 'plane.... Wait a bit. Bring with you four +bottles of bovril, couple of pounds meat lozenges, half-dozen tins +sardines, bottle of brandy--yes, _and_ soda, as you say; couple of +pounds chocolate, two tins coffee and milk.... No: I say, hold on.... +Also orographical maps--maps ... o-ro-graph-i-cal maps ... of Asia +Minor, Southern Asia including India, Straits Settlements, +Polynesia.... I don't know: Stanford's will be shut, but I _must_ have +'em.... That's up to you. Bring 'em all down with you.... Well, you'd +better light a bonfire, so that I can tell where you are. You'll +manage it? Good man! See you about midnight then.... Yes: I saw it; +bad business. Hope they'll manage to hold out.... Tell you when I see +you. Goodbye!" + +He replaced the receiver, and turned to find Rodier at his elbow. + +"Now, Roddy," he said, "we've got two hours. Slip into it, man." + +For the next two hours they worked with scarcely the exchange of a +word, overhauling every part of the engine quickly, but with +methodical care, cleaning, oiling, testing the exhaust and the +carburettor, filling the petrol tank and the reservoir of lubricating +oil, examining the turbines and the propeller--not a square inch of +the machinery escaped their attention. When their task was finished +they were as hot and dirty as engine-drivers. They washed at a sink, +filled two stone jars with water and placed them in the cage, adjusted +the wind screens, and then sat down to rest and talk over things +before starting on their night journey. Smith pencilled some +calculations on a piece of paper, referring more than once to the +globe. Then taking a clean piece, he drew up a schedule which had some +resemblance to a railway timetable. + +"There! How does that strike you, Roddy?" he said, when he had +finished it. + +"It strikes me hot," said the Frenchman. "What I mean, it will be hot +work. But that is what I like." + +"So do I, so long as I can keep cool. At any rate we can start to the +second. Are you ready?" + +The sky was brilliant with stars when, just after midnight, they took +their places in the aeroplane. Twenty-five minutes' easy run, +east-north-east, brought them within sight of the dull red glare +northward that betrayed London. Smith had so often made this journey +that, even if the stars had been invisible, he could almost have +directed his course by the lights of the villages and towns over which +he passed. He knew them as well as a sailor knows the lights of the +coast. + +Just before half-past twelve, in a steep slope on his right, looming +up black against the sky, he recognized Box Hill. Passing this at a +moderate pace, which allowed them to take a good look-out, they saw in +a minute or two a small red flame flickering in the midst of a dark +expanse. Every second it grew larger as they approached; Smith did not +doubt it was the bonfire which he had asked his friend Barracombe to +kindle. Dropping to the ground within a few feet of the fire, which +turned out to be of considerable dimensions, he found a motor-car +standing near it, and Barracombe walking up and down. + +"Well, old man," said Barracombe, as Smith alighted; "they call me a +hustler, but you've hustled me this time. What in the world are you +after?" + +"Have you got the stuff?" returned Smith with the curtness of an old +friend. + +"Yes; chocolate, bovril, the whole boiling; but--" + +"And the maps?" + +"_And_ the maps. A nice job I had to get them. All the shops were +shut, of course. I stole 'em." + +"Played the burglar?" + +"No. I went to the Royal Societies' Club, and pinched them out of the +library. Posted a cheque to pay for 'em, but there was nobody about +and I couldn't stop for red tape." + +"Well, you're a big enough man to do such things with impunity. That's +why I 'phoned you: knew you'd do it somehow." + +Although Barracombe was a potentate in the city, who controlled +immense organizations, and held the threads of multifarious interests, +he was very human at bottom, and Smith liked him all the better for +the glow of self-satisfaction that shone upon his face at this tribute +to his omnipotence. + +"But now, what's it all mean, you beggar? Are you off to reorganize +the Turkish navy or something?" + +"I'm off to the Solomon Islands." + +"What!" + +"That's it: going to have a shot at helping the poor old governor." + +"But, my dear fellow, he'll either be relieved or done for long before +you can get there. The paper said they were practically unarmed." + +"Exactly. I'm going to pick up some rifles and ammunition at one of +the Australian ports, and so help 'em to keep their end up until the +gunboat reaches them. I'll probably get there a day before the boat." + +"But do you know how far it is? It's thirteen thousand miles or more." + +"I know. I'm going to have a try. I've got seven days to get there and +back; then my leave's up. I can do it if the engine holds out, and if +you'll help." + +"My dear chap, you know I'll do anything I can, but--well, upon my +soul, you take my breath away. I'm not often surprised, but--what are +you grinning at?" + +"At having knocked the wind out of your sails for once, old man. +Seriously, we've thought it out, Roddy and I. We've more than once +done a speed of a hundred and ninety. Of course it's a different +matter to keep it up for days on end, but how long have you had your +motor-car?" + +"Three months. Why?" + +"And how often has it broken down?" + +"Not at all; but I haven't done thirteen thousand miles at a go." + +"You've done more, with stoppages. Well, I shall have stoppages--just +long enough to clean and take in petrol and oil, and that's where I +want your help. I want you to arrange for eighty gallons of petrol and +sixteen of oil, to be ready for me at three places besides +Constantinople. Here's the list; Karachi, Penang, and Port Darwin. +Could you cable me to the address in Constantinople the names of firms +at those places?" + +"Of course. I'll look 'em up the first thing in the morning." + +"Too late. It must be done to-night. If all goes well I shall be in +Constantinople soon after eight to-morrow--our time; and I must leave +there in a couple of hours if I'm to stick to my programme." + +"Very well. I'll look out some names as soon as I get back to town. +You mean to keep me up all night. There you are, man; it's absurd; you +can't drive night and day for seven days without sleep." + +"Roddy and I shall have to take watch and watch." + +"But suppose you're caught in a storm; suppose the engine breaks down +when you're over the sea--" + +"My dear chap, if we fall into the sea we shan't hurt ourselves so +much as if it were land. I've got a couple of lifebuoys. If a storm +comes on, too bad to sail through, we must come down and wait till +it's over. Of course any accident may stop us, even a speck of grit in +the engine; but you're the last man in the world to be put off a thing +by any bogey of what-might-be, and I'm going to look at the bright +side. It's time I was off, so I'll take the things you've +brought--oh, I see Roddy has already shipped them, so I'll get +aboard." + +"Well, I wish you all the luck in the world. Send me a wire when you +land, will you, so that I may know how you are getting on." + +"If I have time. Good-bye, old man; many thanks." + +They shook hands, and Smith was just about to jump into his seat when +there came the sound of galloping horses, and the incessant clanging +of a bell. Smith laughed. + +"Your blaze has roused the Epsom Fire Brigade," he said with a +chuckle. + +"Well, I thought I'd better make a big one to make sure of you," +replied Barracombe. + +Smith waited with his hand on the lever until the fire-engine had +dashed up. + +"What the blazes!" cried the captain, as he leapt from his seat, +looking from the motor-car to the aeroplane with mingled amazement and +indignation. + +"Good-bye, Billy," cried Smith; "I'll leave you to explain." + +The propeller whirled round, the machine flew forwards, and in a few +seconds was soaring with its booming hum into the air. Smith glanced +down and saw the fireman facing Barracombe, his annoyance being +evidently greater than his curiosity. He would have smiled if he +could have heard Barracombe's explanation. + +"W-w-why yes," he said, affecting a distressing stutter; "this kind of +b-b-bonfire is a hobby of m-mine; it's about my only r-r-recreation. +M-m-my name? Certainly. My name's William bub-bub-Barracombe, and +you'll find me in, any day between t-ten and f-five, at 532 +mum-mum-Mincing Lane." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ACROSS EUROPE TO THE BOSPHOROUS + + +It had just turned half-past twelve on Friday morning when Smith said +good-bye to his friend William Barracombe on Epsom Downs. The sky was +clear; the moon shone so brightly that by its light alone he could +read the compass at his elbow, without the aid of the small electric +lamp that hung above it. He set his course for the south-east, and +flew with a light breeze at a speed of at least two hundred miles an +hour. + +His machine was a biplane, and represented the work and thought of +years. Smith never minimized the part which Laurent Rodier had had in +its construction; indeed, he was wont to say that without Rodier he +would have been nowhere. Their acquaintance and comradeship had begun +in the most accidental way. Two years before, Smith was taking part in +an aeroplane race from Paris to London. On reaching the Channel, he +found himself far ahead of all his competitors, except a Frenchman, +who, to his chagrin, managed to keep a lead of almost a mile. Each +carried a passenger. Not long after leaving the French coast, a cloud +of smoke suddenly appeared in the wake of the Frenchman's aeroplane, +and to Smith's alarm the machine in a few seconds dropped into the +sea. Instantly he steered for the spot, and brought his own aeroplane +to within a few feet of the water. To his surprise, he saw that part +of the wreckage was floating, and a man, apparently only half +conscious, was clinging to one of the stays. But for the engine having +providentially become disconnected in the fall, the whole machine with +its passengers must have sunk to the bottom. + +Smith saw that it was impossible for him to rescue the man while he +himself remained in his aeroplane, for the slightest touch upon the +other would inevitably have submerged it. There was only one thing to +do. Leaving the aeroplane to the charge of his friend, he dived into +the sea, and rising beside the man, seized him at the moment when his +hold was relaxing, and contrived to hold him up until a fast motor +launch, which had witnessed the accident, came up and rescued them +both. + +The man proved to be the chauffeur of the aeroplane; his employer was +drowned. Smith lost the race, but he gained what was infinitely more +valuable to him, the gratitude and devotion of Laurent Rodier. Finding +that the Frenchman was an expert mechanician, Smith took him into his +employment. Rodier turned out to be of a singularly inventive turn of +mind, and the two, putting their heads together, evolved after long +experiment a type of engine that enabled them to double the speed of +the aeroplane. These aerial vessels had already attained a maximum of +a hundred miles an hour, for progress had been rapid since Paulhan's +epoch-making flight from London to Manchester. To the younger +generation the aeroplane was becoming what the motor-car had been to +their elders. It was now a handier, more compact, and more easily +managed machine than the earlier types, and the risk of breakdown was +no greater than in the motor-car of the roads. The engine seldom +failed, as it was wont to do in the first years of aviation. The +principal danger that airmen had to fear was disaster from strong +squalls, or from vertical or spiral currents of air due to some +peculiarity in the confirmation of the land beneath them. + +Smith's engine was a compound turbine, reciprocating engines having +proved extravagant in fuel. There were both a high and a low pressure +turbine on the same shaft, which also drove the dynamo for the +searchlight and the lamp illuminating the compass, and for igniting +the explosive mixture. By means of an eccentric, moreover, the shaft +worked a pump for compressing the mixture of hot air and petrol before +ignition, the air being heated by passing through jackets round the +high-pressure turbines. The framework of the planes consisted of +hollow rods made of an aluminum alloy of high tensile strength, and +the canvas stretched over the frames was laced with wire of the same +material. To stiffen the planes, a bracket was clamped at the axis, +and thin wire stays were strung top and bottom, as the masts of a +yacht are supported. The airman was in some degree protected from the +wind by a strong talc screen, also wire-laced; by means of this, and a +light radiator worked by a number of accumulators, he was enabled to +resist the cold, which had been so great a drawback to the pioneers of +airmanship. + +In this aeroplane Smith and Rodier had made many a long expedition. +They had found that the machine was capable of supporting a total +weight of nearly 1,200 lbs., and since Smith turned the scale at +eleven stone eight, and Rodier at ten stone, in their clothes, the +total additional load they could carry was about 900 lbs. Eighty +gallons of petrol weighed about 600 lbs. with the cans, and twenty +gallons of lubricating oil about 160 lbs., so that there was a margin +of nearly 150 lbs. for food, rifles, and anything else there might be +occasion for carrying at any stage of the journey. + +Smith was in charge of the aeroplane attached to his ship, the +Admiralty having adopted the machine for scouting purposes. It was +only recently that he had brought his own aeroplane to its present +perfection, after laborious experiments in the workshops he +established in the corner of his father's park, where he toiled +incessantly whenever he could obtain leave, and where Rodier was +constantly employed. His machine had just completed its trials, and he +expected to realize a considerable sum by his improvements. Of this he +had agreed to give Rodier one half, and the Frenchman had further +stipulated that the improvements should be offered also to the French +Government. This being a matter of patriotism, Smith readily +consented, remarking with a laugh that he would not be the first to +break the _entente cordiale_. + +Just as a voyage round the world was a dream until Drake accomplished +it, so a flight round the world was the acme of every airman's +ambition. It was the accident of his father's plight that crystallized +in Smith's mind the desires held in suspension there. The act was +sudden: the idea had been long cherished. + +He had decided on his course after a careful examination of the globe +borrowed from Mr. Dawkins, the village school-master. The most direct +route from London to the Solomon Islands ran across Norway and Sweden, +the White Sea, Northern Siberia, Manchuria, Korea and Japan, and +thence to New Guinea. But since it traversed some of the most desolate +regions of the earth, where the indispensable supplies of petrol and +machine oil could not be secured, he had chosen a route through fairly +large centres of population, along which at the necessary intervals he +could ensure, by aid of the telegraph, that the fuel would be in +readiness. + +And now he was fairly off. Constantinople was to be the first place of +call. He knew the orographical map of Europe as well as he knew his +manual of navigation. It was advisable to avoid mountainous country as +far as possible, for the necessity of rising to great heights, in +order to cross even the lower spurs of the Alps, would involve loss of +time, to say nothing of the cold, and the risk of accident in the +darkness. Coming to the coast, in the neighbourhood of Dover, about +half-an-hour after leaving Epsom, he steered for a point on the +opposite shore of the Channel somewhere near the Franco-Belgian +frontier. As an experienced airman he had long ceased to find the +interest of novelty in the scenes below him. The lights of the Calais +boat, and of vessels passing up and down the Channel, were almost +unnoticed. On leaving the sea, he flew over a flat country until, on +his right, he saw in the moonlight a dark mass which from dead +reckoning he thought must be the Ardennes. The broad river he had just +crossed, which gleamed like silver in the moonlight, was without doubt +the Meuse, and that which he came to in about an hour must be the +Moselle. At this point Rodier, who had been dozing, sat up and began +to take an interest in things; afterwards he told Smith that they must +have passed over the little village in which he was born, and he felt +a sentimental regret that the flight was not by day, when he might +have seen the red roof beneath which his mother still lived. + +After another half-hour Smith began to feel the strain of remaining in +one position, with all his faculties concentrated. The air was so +calm, and the wind-screen so effective, that he suffered none of the +numbing effects which the great speed might otherwise have induced; +but it was no light task to keep his attention fixed at once on the +engine, the map outspread before him, the compass, and the country +below; and by the time he reached a still broader river, which could +only be the Rhine, he was tired. As yet he had been flying for only +three hours: could he live through seven days of it? He had once +crossed America in the Canadian Pacific, and though he got eight +hours' sleep every night, he felt an utter wreck at the end of the +journey. To be sure, he was now in the fresh air instead of a stuffy +railway carriage, and he was riding as smoothly as on a steamer, +without the jar and jolt that made journeys by rail so fatiguing. +Still, he thought it only good policy to pay heed to the first signs +of strain, and so he slowed down until the noise of the engine had +abated sufficiently for him to make his voice heard, and said: + +"Roddy, you must take a turn. We're near the frontier between Baden +and Alsace, I fancy. The Bavarian hills can't be far off. You had +better rise a bit, and don't go too fast, or we may be knocking our +noses before we know where we are." + +"Right O, mister," replied the Frenchman. "You take forty winks, and +eat some chocolate for what you call a nightcap." + +"A good idea. I'd rise to about 4,500 feet, I think. Keep your eye on +the aneroid." + +They exchanged places. Smith ate two or three sticks of chocolate, +took a good drink of water, and in five minutes was fast asleep. But +his nap lasted no more than a couple of hours. It appeared to him that +he never lost consciousness of his errand. When he opened his eyes the +dawn was already stealing over the sky, and at the tremendous pace to +which Rodier had put the engine the aeroplane seemed to rush into the +sunlight. Far below, the earth was spread out like a patchwork, +greens and whites and browns set in picturesque haphazard patterns; +men moving like ants, and horses like locusts. + +"Where are we?" he bawled in Rodier's ear. + +The Frenchman put his finger on the map. Smith glanced at his watch; +it was past five o'clock. They must be near the Servian frontier. That +broad streak of blue must be the Danube. Another three hours should +see them at Constantinople, the first stage of their journey. On they +rushed, feeling chill in the morning air at the height of nearly five +thousand feet. Lifting his binocular, Smith saw a railway train +running in the same direction as themselves, and though from the line +of smoke it was going at full speed, it appeared to be crawling like a +worm, and was soon left far behind. Now they were in Bulgaria: those +grey crinkly masses beyond must be the Balkans. Crossing the Dragoman +Pass, they came into an upward current of air that set the machine +rocking, and Smith for the first time felt a touch of nervousness lest +it should break down and fall among these inhospitable crags. Rodier +planed downwards, until they seemed to skim the crests. The air was +calmer here: the aeroplane steadied; and when the mountains were left +behind they came still lower, following the railway line. + +Here was Philippopolis, with its citadel perched on a frowning rock. +It seemed but a few minutes when Adrianople came into view, and but a +few more when, descending to within five hundred feet of the ground, +they raced over the plains of St. Stefano. Now Rodier checked the +speed a little, and steering past the large monument erected to the +memory of the Russians who fell in '78, came within sight of +Constantinople. Smith was bewildered at the multitude of domes, +minarets, and white roofs before him. It would soon be necessary to +choose a landing-place, and Rodier planed upwards, so that he could +scan the whole neighbourhood in one comprehensive glance. + +"Slow down!" Smith shouted. + +There was a large open space below him; it was the Hippodrome. He made +a quick calculation of its length, and decided not to alight. A little +farther on he came to the Ministry of War with its large square; but +there a regiment of soldiers was drilling. Rodier steered a point to +the north-west, and the aeroplane passed over the Galata bridge that +spans the Golden Horn. The bridge was thronged with people, who, as +they caught sight of the strange machine flying over their heads, +stood and craned their necks, and the airmen heard their shouts of +amazement. To the right they saw, beyond the hill of Pera, a stretch +of low open country. Passing the second bridge over the Horn, they +came to a broad green space just without the city. It was the old +archery grounds of the Sultans. + +"Dive, Roddy!" Smith cried. + +Rodier jerked the lever back: the humming clatter of the engine +ceased; and the aeroplane swooped down as gracefully as a bird, +alighting gently on the green sward. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A FLYING VISIT + + +It was Friday morning. Groups of Turkish women, out for the day, +hastily veiled their faces and ran away, shrieking, "Aman! Aman! oh +dear! oh dear!" Swarms of children, clustering, like ants, about +nougat-sellers, fled in terror, screaming that it was the devil's +carriage, and the devil was in it. Two Greek teams playing at football +stopped their game and gazed open-mouthed; young naval cadets at +leapfrog rushed with shouts of excitement towards the aeroplane; and a +crowd of Jewish factory girls (for all races and classes use this +common playground), realizing with quick wit what it meant, flocked up +with shrill cries: "C'est un aviateur: allons voir!" A grave old Turk +mutters: "Another mad Englishman!" A Greek shouts: "Come on, Pericles, +and have a look"; and suddenly, amid the babel of unknown tongues +Smith hears an unmistakable English voice: "Oh, confound it all, +Crawford, I'm in the ravine." + +Peering through the crowd of inquisitive faces, Smith sees two golfers +and hails them heartily. They elbow their way through, and Smith, who +has not yet dared to leave the machine lest the mob should invade it +and do it an injury, steps out and grasps the hand of a fellow +Englishman. + +"Well, I'm hanged!" cried the new-comer; "Charley Smith, of all men in +the world." + +"Hullo, Johnson!" said Smith, recognizing in the speaker a messmate of +his middy days, now a naval officer in the Sultan's service; "I say, +you can do something for me." + +"I dare say I can," replied the other laughing, "but where do you +spring from? I didn't know you were in these parts." + +"Only arrived five minutes ago, from London." + +Johnson stared. + +"Not in that machine?" + +"Yes, certainly. Eight hours' run; a record, isn't it? But I'm short +of petrol. There's some ordered by wire from a man named Benzonana; +can you put me in the way of getting it quickly?" + +"Of course. Benzonana's a Jew, with stores at Kourshounlou Han. But +there's no hurry. We'll get some one to look after your aeroplane, and +you'll come back with me to the club: this sort of thing doesn't +happen every day, old man. By Jove! Do you really mean to say you've +got here in eight hours from London?" + +"I left there at 12.35 this morning. Barracombe--you remember him--saw +me off. But I'm sorry I can't come with you, Dick. I've only a couple +of hours to spare, and must get the petrol at once." + +"My dear chap, are you mad? You can't go on at once, after eight hours +in the air. You'll crock up. Of course, if it's a wager--" + +"It's a matter of life and death." + +"Oh, in that case! But I'm afraid you won't get off in two hours. +Things go slow in this country, and here's the first obstacle." + +He pointed beyond the crowd, and Smith saw a troop of cavalry +approaching at a hand-gallop. The throng of Turks, Jews, and +Armenians, who had all this time been volubly discussing the wonderful +devil machine, broke apart with shouts of "Yol ver! Yol ver!" (Make +way!) The troop of horsemen clattered up, and Smith saw himself and +his aeroplane surrounded by a cordon of soldiers. + +The captain looked suspiciously from the two grimy travellers to the +spick-and-span Englishmen in golfing costume. He said something in +Turkish to his lieutenant. + +"What does he say?" asked Smith in a whisper. + +"He's telling the lieutenant they must draw up a _procès-verbal_. +Don't lose your temper, old man; he talks of putting you under arrest +as a Bulgarian spy. You'll have to be patient. I'll do what I can, +but if they make a diplomatic incident of it you'll be kept here a +week or more." + +Johnson went up to the captain and addressed him politely in Turkish. +The officer looked incredulous, and said something to his lieutenant, +who trotted off across the field. In a few minutes Johnson returned to +Smith, who was walking up and down in agitation. Rodier was fast +asleep in the car of the aeroplane. + +"I've given the captain the facts of the case," said Johnson, "and he +does me the honour to disbelieve me. The lieutenant has gone off to +the Ministry of War for instructions. Meanwhile, you are under arrest, +and they won't let you quit this spot without authority. If you really +mean that you must go at once----" + +"I do indeed. The loss of an hour may ruin everything. My plan was to +leave here at 10.30." + +"But, my dear fellow, it's that now, and past." + +Smith drew out his watch: it indicated 8.50. "London time," he said. +"You're two hours in advance of it, aren't you?" + +Johnson laughed. + +"Of course, we get used to our own time, here. But I was saying, if +you _must_ go, this is what I suggest. You can't appear, and it's as +well, for you would certainly be delayed. I will go off to the Embassy +and hustle a bit. If the wheels can be hurried, they shall be, I +assure you. Then I'll go on to Benzonana, get your petrol, and come +straight back. Meanwhile take my advice and have a sleep, like your +man there. You look dead beat, and no wonder. Why, I suppose you've +had no breakfast?" + +"I've had something, but not bacon and eggs, certainly. I shall do +very well. I will take your advice; sleep is better than food just +now. When you see Benzonana, ask if he has any addresses for me: +Barracombe was going to wire some from London. Many thanks, old man." + +Johnson said a word or two to the captain, who nodded gravely as Smith +flung himself down beside the aeroplane, and, resting his head on his +arms, prepared to go to sleep. + +The golfer knew the short cuts from the Ok Meidan to the city. He went +at a fine swinging pace through the hamlet of Koulaksiz, down Cassim +Pasha, up the steep hill through the cemetery, past the Pera Palace +Hotel. At that point he jumped into a carriage, and commanded the +driver to make all speed to the British Embassy. There he was lucky to +find a friend of his on the staff of the Embassy, a man well versed in +the customs and character of the Turks. + +"The only thing to do," said the official, when Johnson had briefly +explained the circumstances, "is to get an order from the Minister of +War; but we shall have to hurry, as he may be attending a council, or +a commission, or something of the sort. What is your friend's hurry?" + +"I don't know. He says it's a matter of life or death." + +"I should say death if he goes at such a preposterous speed. It must +have been nearly two hundred miles an hour: the Brennan mono-rail is +nothing to it. At any rate, it's rather a feather in our cap--this +record, I mean, after so many have been made by the French and the +Americans--and if he has more recording to do we mustn't let Oriental +sluggishness stand in the way." + +This conversation passed while they were making their way from an +upper room of the Embassy to the street. There they jumped into an +araba with a kavass on the box, dashed down Pera Street, past the +banking quarter, over the Galata bridge, up the Sublime Porte Road and +into the Bayazid Square, where they reached their destination. A crowd +of servants was grouped about the Grand Entrance, and as Johnson and +his friend Callard came up, the Turks flocked around them officiously, +assuring them with one voice that the Minister was attending a +commission. Callard took no notice of them, but passed on with Johnson +into the central hall, where, sitting over a charcoal brazier, they +found a group of attendants rolling cigarettes and discussing the +merits of the city's new water supply. Among them Callard spotted an +acquaintance, who rose and said politely, "Welcome, dragoman bey, seat +yourself." + +Callard knew very well the necessity, in Turkish administrations, of +having a friend at court, and was aware, too, that where a high +official failed, a servant might succeed. But he was too well +acquainted with the customs of the country to attempt to hasten +matters unduly. He began to discuss the weather; he compared the +climate of his interlocutor's province with that of the city; he spoke +of the approaching Bairam festivities. Then, apparently apropos of +nothing, the man said, "I have been at the sheep-market to-day," a +remark which Callard took as a broad hint for bakshish: the Turk +wanted money to buy a fat sheep for the impending sacrifice. He +produced two medjidiés. The effect was magical. The two Englishmen +were guided to the small chamber where the Minister's coat hung, where +his coffee was prepared and his official attendants sat. From this +room access could be had to him without the knowledge of the hundreds +of people outside waiting for an audience: wives of exiled officers, +officials without employment, mothers come to plead for erring sons +who had been dismissed. + +Introduced to the Minister's presence, Callard wasted no time. The +case was put to him; Johnson, whom he knew by sight, vouched for the +respectability and good faith of his old comrade; and the Minister, +apologizing for his subordinate's excess of zeal, scribbled an order +permitting Lieutenant Smith to pursue his business free of all +restrictions by the military authorities. + +"But," he said, "I have no power to give him exemption from Custom +House control." + +The Englishmen thanked him profusely, and with many salaams retired. + +"We have succeeded better than I hoped," said Callard, as they passed +out; "but we are still only half way, confound it! We shall have to +hurry up if Smith is to get off in time. Arabadji," he cried to the +coachman awaiting them at the door, "the Direction-General of the +Custom House." + +The driver whipped up his horse; they dashed down the Sublime Porte +Hill, and drew up at the entrance to the Custom House. + +"Is the Director-General here?" Callard asked of the doorkeeper. + +"He is a little unwell, but the English adviser is here." + +"We will see him," returned Callard; adding to Johnson, "We are in +luck's way; the English adviser does his best to lessen the +inconveniences of the Circumlocution Office." + +They went up-stairs, and were met by an attendant who showed them into +an unpretentious room, where an Englishman, wearing a fez, was seated +at a table covered with papers and surrounded by a crowd of merchants +and officials. Questions of infinite variety were being submitted to +him. + +"Excellence, are we to accept as samples two dozen left-hand gloves? +This merchant brought two dozen right-hand gloves last week." + +Then the merchant and the official began to wrangle. For some minutes +Callard in vain tried to get a word in edgeways; then at last the +Councillor, pushing back his fez with an air of weary patience, turned +to the newcomers and asked their business. A few words sufficed; the +Councillor rang a bell on the table, and when his secretary appeared, +ordered him to make out a _laissez-passer_ for Lieutenant Smith for +all the Custom Houses of the Empire. This done, he turned once more to +listen to the interminable dispute about the left-hand gloves. + +"We are doing well," said Callard, as the two left the Custom House. +"There's still nearly an hour to spare. Now for the petrol." + +They drove across the Galata bridge to the district of Kourshounlou +Han, and found that Benzonana had had the petrol ready at early +morning, and, what was more, had it at that moment in a conveyance for +transport. Johnson asked him if he had received any addresses from +London, and the man handed him a folded paper. Then, asking him to +send the petrol and some machine oil at once to the Ok Meidan, the two +Englishmen reentered their carriage, dashed up the Maltese Street, +past the Bank and the Economic Stores, up the Municipality Hill, and +again down by a short cut to the Admiralty. It was an hour and a half +since Johnson had set forth on his errand. + +They found Smith and Rodier talking to the second golfer, boiling +coffee in a little portable stove, and eating a kind of shortbread +they had purchased of one of the simitdjis or itinerant vendors of +that article who had been doing a roaring trade with the children, and +even the elders, among the sightseers. + +"Don't taste bad, spread with Bovril," said Smith, as Johnson and +Callard alighted from their carriage. + +The crowd had grown to immense proportions. Smith said they had been +clamouring ever since Johnson had been gone, and he would rather like +to know what they said. + +"Probably discussing whether the Commander of the Faithful won't order +you to be flung into the Bosphorus," said Callard. + +The soldiers were still on guard round the aeroplane. Johnson +approached the captain and showed him the Minister of War's order. +Almost at the same moment an aide-de-camp came galloping up from the +Minister himself to assure the officer that all was right. + +"But don't go yet, captain," said Johnson anxiously. "My friend will +require a clear space for starting his aeroplane, and without your men +we shall never get the crowd back." + +The officer agreed to wait until the Englishman departed, and Johnson +returned to Smith to give him the paper he had received from +Benzonana. Callard had already related their experiences at the +Ministry of War and the Custom House. + +"But what about the petrol?" asked Smith. "Time's getting on." + +"He said he had it all ready to send. Ah! I guess this is it coming." + +A way was parted through the crowd, and there came up with great +rattling and creaking a heavy motor omnibus of the type that first +appeared on the streets of London. It was crowded within and without +with Turks young and old. + +"Where did you get that old rattler?" asked Smith, laughing. + +"Oh, several came out here a year or two ago; bought up cheap when the +Commissioner of Police couldn't stand 'em any longer. They're always +breaking down. No doubt your petrol is inside, and you may think +yourself lucky it has got here." + +The car came to a stand: the Turks on the roof retained their places; +those within lugged out the cans of petrol and oil, and placed them in +the aeroplane at Rodier's direction. Smith meanwhile was chatting with +the Englishmen, fending off their questions as to his destination. + +"I may send you a wire from my next stopping-place," he said. "That +reminds me. Will you send a wire to Barracombe for me, Johnson? You +know his address. And one to my sister at home. I promised I would let +her know. Simply say 'All well.' Now can you get the captain to clear +the course for me?" + +The captain and his men took a long time over this business, and Smith +longed for a few London policemen to show them how to do it. But the +excited crowd was at length forced back so far as to allow a +sufficient running-off space. Smith shook hands warmly with the +Englishmen; with Rodier he took his place in the car; then at a jerk +of the lever the aeroplane shot forward, and, amid cries of "Good +luck!" from the Englishmen, clapping of hands and loud "Mashallahs!" +from the excited mob, it rose gracefully into the air. + +"Only five minutes late, mister," said Rodier. "All goes well." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE TOMB OF UR-GUR + + +Charles Thesiger Smith was not one of the romantic, imaginative order +of men. Even if he had been, the speed at which he travelled over the +Bosphorus gave scant opportunity for observation of the scenes passing +below. He had no eye for the tramps, laden with grain from Odessa, +coming down from the Black Sea; for the vessels of ancient shape and +build, such as the Argonauts might have sailed in when questing for +the Golden Fleece; for the graceful caiques rowed by boatmen in +zouaves of crimson and gold, in the sterns of which the flower of +Circassian beauty in gossamer veils reclined on divans and carpets +from the most famous looms of Persia and Bokhara. These visions +touched him not: he was crossing into Asia Minor, a country of which +he knew nothing, and his attention was divided between the country +ahead and the map with which Barracombe had nefariously provided him. + +The next stage of his journey, the first place where a fresh supply of +petrol awaited him, was Karachi, in the north-west corner of India. It +was distant about 2,500 miles. A gallon of petrol would carry him for +forty-five miles, and his tank had a capacity of eighty gallons, so +that with good luck he would not need to replenish it until he reached +Karachi. Though he hoped that his own endurance and the engine's would +stand the strain of the whole distance without stopping, he had chosen +his course so that, if he felt the necessity of alighting for brief +intervals, he might at least find pleasant country and amicable +people. + +His aim was to cross the Turkish provinces in Asia and strike the +Persian Gulf, a slightly longer route than if he had gone through +central Persia, but having the great advantage of affording a possible +half-way house at Bagdad, Basra, or Bushire, in each of which towns he +would almost certainly find Europeans. It had the further advantage +that, when he had once sighted the Gulf, he would have no anxiety +about the accuracy of his course, since by keeping generally to the +coastline of Persia and Baluchistan he could not fail to arrive at +Karachi. It was a great thing to be independent of nautical +observations, for as he approached the shores of India it might be +difficult to take his bearings by his instruments, this being the +season of the monsoon. + +When he left Constantinople his anemometer indicated a velocity of +eighteen miles in the south-west wind, which, as he was steering +south-east, was partly in his favour. One of the disabilities which +he, in common with all airmen, suffered, was the impossibility of +ascertaining the velocity of the wind when he was fairly afloat. He +had to make allowance for it by sheer guesswork, unless he was +prepared to slow down or even to alight. He had reckoned that, even +with the slight assistance of the wind, he could hardly hope to reach +the head of the Persian Gulf before six o'clock, which would be past +nine by the sun; but he thought he might reasonably expect to reach +the Euphrates before sunset; and since the map assured him that that +river ran a fairly direct course to the Gulf, he might follow it +without much difficulty if the night proved clear, and so assure +himself that he was not going astray. + +The country over which he was now flying was hilly, and he kept at a +fairly high altitude. The map showed him that the great Taurus range +lay between him and the eastern extremity of the Mediterranean. Within +an hour and a half after leaving Constantinople he came in sight of +its huge bleak masses stretching away to right and left, but still a +hundred miles or more distant, although, on the right, spurs of the +Cilician part of the range jutted out much nearer to him. On the +right, too, he descried from his great height a broad and glittering +expanse of water, which the map named Lake Beishehr. Making for the +gap in the mountains near the Cilician coast he found himself passing +over a comparatively low country, and soon afterwards descried the +blue waters of the Mediterranean and the island of Cyprus rising out +of it a hundred miles away. + +Setting now a more easterly course, he passed over an ironbound coast, +its perpendicular cliffs fringed with dwarf pines; and then over a +large town which could be none other than Antioch. Half-an-hour more +brought him within sight of another city, doubtless Aleppo. He still +steered almost due east, though a point or two southward would be more +direct, because he wished to avoid the Syrian desert; a breakdown in +such a barren tract of country would mean a fatal delay. Soon +afterwards he reached a broad full river, flowing rapidly between +verdant banks. + +"The Euphrates," he shouted to Rodier. + +"Ah! I wish we had time for a swim," replied the man. + +For some time Smith followed the general course of the river, avoiding +the windings. Severely practical as he was, he could not pass through +this seat of ancient civilizations without letting his mind run back +over centuries of time, recalling the names of Sennacherib, Cyrus and +Alexander; and how Cyrus had not shrunk from drying up the bed of +this very river in his operations against Babylon. On the ground over +which he now flew mighty armies had fought, kingdoms had been lost and +won, four or five thousand years ago. The passage of so modern a thing +as an aeroplane seemed almost a desecration of the spirit of +antiquity, an insult to the _genius loci_. + +Hitherto the weather and the conditions for flying had been perfect. +The wind had dropped, the sun shone brilliantly, but its heat was +tempered to the airmen by the very rapidity of their flight. At +length, however, about two hours before sunset, Smith noticed a +strange wobbling of the compass needle. It swung this way and that +with rapid gyrations, its movements becoming more violent every +moment. Suddenly the aeroplane reeled; the sky seemed to become black +in one instant; there was a vivid flash of lightning, followed by a +tremendous thunder-clap and a flood of rain. + +Smith was desperately perturbed. He had run straight into an electric +storm. It was hopeless to attempt to make headway against it; the +strain upon the planes would certainly prove more than they could +stand. He had already slackened speed and planed downwards, so as to +be able to alight if he must, with the result that the machine became +more subject to vertical eddies of the wind, that continually altered +its elevation, now hurling it aloft, now plunging it as it were into +an abyss. Once or twice he tried to rise above the storm, but +abandoned the attempt when he saw how great an additional strain it +placed upon the planes. It seemed safer to keep the engine going +steadily and make no attempt to steer. He was no longer over the +river, and the ground below was comparatively flat, presenting many a +clear spot suitable for alighting; but with the wind blowing a +hurricane a descent might well prove disastrous. The worst accidents +he had suffered in the early days of his air-sailing had always +happened near the ground, when there was no way on the machine to +counteract the force of the wind. + +All that he could do was to cling on and do his best by quick +manipulation of the levers to keep the machine steady. After fifteen +very uncomfortable and, indeed, alarming minutes, the violence of the +wind abated, and the rain became intermittent, instead of pouring down +in a constant flood. The compass was oscillating less jumpily, and it +was now possible to see some distance ahead. Owing to the +extraordinary behaviour of the compass, the baffling gusts of wind, +and the necessity of keeping his whole attention fixed on the +machinery, he had lost all idea of direction and even of time, and he +began to be anxious lest darkness should overtake him before he had +regained his course. But guessing that the area of the storm was of +small extent, he hoped to run out of it, and increased his speed, +expecting in a few minutes to discover the Euphrates again, when all +would be well. + +Unhappily, though the wind had dropped, the sky became blacker than +ever, and another deluge of rain fell, so densely that at a distance +of a few yards it seemed to be an opaque wall. Coming to the +conclusion that he had better take shelter until he could at least see +his way, he planed downwards, calling to Rodier to keep a sharp +look-out for a landing place. Suddenly, in the midst of the downpour, +a huge dark shape loomed up ahead, appearing to rise almost +perpendicularly above the plain. For a few seconds it seemed to Smith +that he was dashing into a solid wall of rock. Luckily he had checked +the speed of the engine. He now stopped it altogether, but the +aeroplane glided on by its impetus, and he felt, with a sinking of the +heart, that nothing could save it. + +All at once the mass in front seemed to open. Instinctively Smith +touched his steering lever; the aeroplane glided into the fissure; in +two or three seconds there was a bump and a jolt; it had come to a +stop, and was resting on an apparently solid bottom. + +Monsieur Alphonse Marie de Montausé, a distinguished member of the +Academy of Inscriptions, a pillar of the Société d'Histoire +diplomatique, and a foreign member of the Royal Society, had been for +nearly a year engaged at Nimrud in the work nearest to his heart, the +work of excavation. It was a labour of love for which he was very +jealous. He believed it was his mission to reveal to an astonished +world the long-buried secrets of ancient civilizations; he could not +bear a rival near the throne of archæological eminence; and in this +exclusive attitude of mind he had undertaken this expedition without +the companionship of a fellow-countryman, or even of any white man, +devoting himself to his patient and laborious toil, assisted only by +an Egyptian cook, a number of Arab labourers, and such natives of +Babylonia as he had attracted to his service by the promise, +faithfully kept, of good and regular pay. + +His excavations had been, on the whole, disappointing. He had +unearthed specimens of pottery and metal-work, tradesmen's tablets of +accounts, seals, bas-reliefs, differing little from those which could +be found in many a European museum; but he had not for many months +lighted upon any unique object, such as would open a new page in the +history of archæological research, and make Europe ring with his name. + +His money was nearly all expended; his permit from the Ottoman +Government was on the point of expiring; he was sadly contemplating +the necessity of leaving this barren field and returning to France; +he had, indeed, already despatched a portion of his caravan to begin +its long journey to the coast, remaining with a few men to finish the +excavation of the _tell_--the mound covering the remains of a +Babylonish city--on which he was engaged, in the hope of discovering +something of value, even at the eleventh hour. He had almost completed +it, and he could easily hurry after the slow-moving caravan, and +overtake it in a day or two. + +One Friday, to his great joy, he came across, in the wall of the +_tell_, a large inscribed mass of brickwork, weighing, perhaps, +half-a-ton, which, from the cursory inspection he was able to make of +it in the semi-darkness, he believed might prove sufficiently valuable +to compensate all the disappointments of the weary months. In his +enthusiasm he had no more thought of his caravan, and though a +terrific thunderstorm burst over the place just as his men were +getting into position the rude derrick by means of which they would +lower the masonry into the trench cut in the side of the _tell,_ his +ardour would suffer no intermission in the work. It is true that in +the trench they were in some measure protected from the storm. The +lashings had been fixed on the brickwork under his careful +superintendence; the men were on the point of hauling on the ropes, +when a thing of monstrous size and uncouth shape glided silently into +the opening of the trench, and came to rest there. + +Instantly the men gave a howl of terror, released the ropes, and took +to their heels. Monsieur Alphonse Marie de Montausé was left alone. + +Remembering that he was an explorer, an enthusiast, and a Frenchman, +the reader will hardly need to be told that Monsieur de Montausé was +beside himself with fury. The dropping of the ropes had caused the +masonry to fall against one of the feet of the derrick, and it came +down with a crash. But this was not the worst. In the semi-darkness, +the nature of the intruder could not have been clear to Monsieur de +Montausé; but he heard a voice calling in some unknown tongue; some +human being had dared to interlope upon his peculiar domain; and the +wrathful explorer did only what might have been expected of him: he +began to pour forth a torrent of very violent reproof and objurgation, +to which the sober English tongue can do scant justice. + +"Ah! scélérats!" he cried. "What do you mean? De quoi +mêlez-vous? You are rogues: you are trespassers. Know you not that +I--oui, moi qui vous parle--have alone the right of entry into this +_tell_? Has not the administration of the French Republic arranged it? +Allez-vous-en, allez-vous-en, coquins, scélérats!" + +"Mais, monsieur--" began Rodier, stepping out of the car. + +The sound of his own language only added fuel to Monsieur de +Montausé's wrath. Had some rival appeared on the scene at the very +moment when he saw the crown of his long toil? Had some overeager +competitor obtained a permit, come before his time, and arrived to +enter upon the fruits of his predecessor's labours and rob him of half +his glory? "Mais, monsieur," said Rodier, but the explorer fairly +shrieked him to silence, approached him, smote one fist with the +other, and hurled abuse at him with such incoherent volubility that +Smith, whose French was pretty good, could not make out a word of it, +and held on to the levers in helpless laughter. + +"Mais, monsieur, je vous assure--" began Rodier again, when he thought +he saw a chance; but the explorer shouted "Retirez-vous! J'insiste que +vous vous en lliez, tout de suite, tout de suite!" And then he began +over again, abuse, recrimination, expostulation, entreaty, pouring in +full tide from his trembling lips. More than once Rodier tried to stem +the flood, but finding that it only ran the faster, he resigned +himself to listen in silence, and stood looking mournfully at his +ireful fellow-countryman until he at length was forced to stop from +sheer lack of breath. + +"Mais, monsieur," Rodier's voice was very conciliatory--"I assure you +that our visit is purely accidental. My friend and myself desire only +too much to quit the scene. But you perceive, monsieur, that our +aeroplane--" + +"Ah, bah! aeroplane! What have I to do with aeroplanes? You interrupt +my work, I say: the aeroplane is a thing of the present; I have to do +only with the past; there were no aeroplanes in Babylonia. Once more I +demand that you withdraw, you and your aeroplane, and leave me to +pursue my work in tranquillity." + +"Mais, monsieur, il s'agit précisément de ça! Withdraw: yes, +certainly, at the quickest possible: but how? You perceive that our +aeroplane is so placed that one cannot extricate it without +assistance. If monsieur will be so good as to lend us his +distinguished help, so that we may remove it from this hole--" + +"Hole! Mille diables! It is a trench; a trench excavated with many +pains in this _tell_. As for assistance, I give you none, none +absolutely. You brought your aeroplane here without assistance: then +remove it equally without assistance; immediately: already you waste +too much time." + +"Mais, monsieur, our mission is of life or death." + +"N'importe, n'importe. I tell you I am quite unmoved. No interest is +superior to that of science--the science of archæology. I tell you I +have just made a discovery of the highest importance. I have but a +short time left; you, you and your ridiculous machine, have scared +away my imbeciles of workmen; they will not return until you have gone +away; the leg of my derrick is smashed; I demand, I beseech, I +implore--" + +"Pardon, monsieur," said Smith, coming forward, and courteously +saluting the stout, spectacled little Frenchman, whom he could just +see in the growing darkness. "We regret extremely having put you to +this trouble and inconvenience, and I assure you that but for the +storm we should never have dreamed of entering here, and interrupting +the great work on which you are engaged." + +Smith's quiet voice and slow, measured utterance made an instant +impression. A man can hardly rave against a person who remains calm. +Moreover, the Frenchman was mollified by the speaker's evident +appreciation of the value of his work. + +"Eh bien, monsieur?" he said courteously. + +"I am a seaman, monsieur," proceeded Smith; "my friend here is an +engineer, and between us I have no doubt that we can repair the leg of +your derrick and assist you to place the masonry where you will. All +that I would ask is that you in return will help us to remove our +aeroplane from your trench into the open plain." + +"Certainly, certainly; with much pleasure," said the Frenchman +eagerly; "I will light my lantern, so that we may see what we are +about." + +Smith and Rodier stripped off their drenched coats, and by the light +of Monsieur de Montausé's lantern soon spliced up the broken leg of +the derrick, set the contrivance in a stable position, and lowered the +mass of brickwork to the spot the explorer pointed out. It was no +sooner safely settled than Monsieur de Montausé, oblivious of +everything else, bent over it, and, holding one of the lanterns close +to the inscription, began to pore over the fascinating hieroglyphics. +Smith could not help smiling at the little man's enthusiasm: but it +was necessary to remind him of his share of the compact. + +"Ah, oui, oui," he said impatiently; "in a few moments. This is a +magnificent discovery, monsieur; your aeroplane is completely +uninteresting to me. This is nothing less than a portion of the tomb +of Ur-Gur; see, the inscription: 'The tomb of Ur-Gur, the powerful +champion, King of Ur, King of Shumer and Akkad, builder of the wall of +Nippur to Bel, the king of the lands.' This was written nearly five +thousand years ago; what is the aeroplane, a thing of yesterday, in +comparison with this glorious relic of antiquity?" + +"Precisely, monsieur; beside it the aeroplane sinks into +insignificance; yet, as a man of honour--" + +"Ah, oui!" cried the Frenchman, starting up. "Let us be quick, then; +you take one end, I the other. You push, I pull; voilà!" + +"It is perhaps not so simple, monsieur," said Smith; "we must first +see that there is no obstruction, and then if you could persuade some +of your men to come back, we should be able to remove the aeroplane +more quickly. I fear we could hardly do it alone." + +Monsieur de Montausé was so anxious to get rid of his visitors that he +assented eagerly to this course. Four or five of the men, drawn back +by the light of the lantern, were hovering at the end of the trench; +the explorer hailed them, and assuring them that they would suffer no +harm, persuaded, them to lend a hand. Rodier, meanwhile, had walked +through the trench to see that the course was clear, and shoved aside +with little ceremony some of the objects Monsieur de Montausé had +unearthed. With the aid of the Frenchman himself and his men the +aeroplane was carefully dragged out into the open. + +"It is done. Adieu, messieurs," said Monsieur de Montausé. Then, +turning to his men: "As for you, imbeciles, I have no more need of you +at present. Go and eat your supper. I shall eat nothing until I have +deciphered the whole of the inscription." + +"One moment, monsieur," said Smith; "we were driven out of our course +by the storm, and I am not certain of our whereabouts. Can you tell me +the latitude and longitude of this place?" + +"Ah, no. I am not a geographer. The surface of the globe: bah! It is +the rind of the orange, it is the shell of the nut; I seek the juice, +the kernel. But I can tell you this: We are not far from the left bank +of the Tigris, near its confluence with the Zab, and about a hundred +kilometres from the ruins of Nineveh. Adieu, monsieur." + +The two airmen resumed their coats, switched on their searchlight, and +made a rapid examination of the engine, which appeared to have +suffered no injury: then took their places. When the sparking began, +and noisome smoke poured from the exhaust, the workmen again yelled, +but as the machine, after a short run, sailed noisily into the air, +they fell prostrate in utter consternation. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WITH GUN RUNNERS IN THE GULF + + +A glance at the sodden map showed Smith that he had been driven at +least fifty miles out of his course. He could not afford time to +return to the Euphrates: he would now have to follow the course of the +Tigris until it joined the larger river. It would be folly to attempt +a direct flight to Karachi, for in so doing he would have to pass over +the mountainous districts of Southern Persia and Baluchistan, where, +if any mishap befel the aeroplane, there would be absolutely no chance +of finding assistance. Luckily the moon was rising, and by its light +he was soon able to strike the Tigris near the spot where it flowed +between the hills Gebel Hamrin and Gebel Mekhul into the Babylonian +plain. From this point, keeping the hills well on his left, he steered +south-east until about midnight he came upon an immense expanse of +water, shimmering below him in the moonlight, which he concluded to be +nothing else but the Persian Gulf. + +By this time he was both tired and hungry. Rodier and he had eaten a +few biscuits spread with Bovril, and drunk soda-water, while they +were examining the engine, but they both felt ravenous for a good +square meal. Smith, however, had set his heart on completing his +flight to Karachi, where his scheme would allow an hour or two for +rest and food, and he was the more determined to carry out his +programme, if possible, because of the delay caused by the storm. + +His plan was to keep close to the left shore of the Persian Gulf, not +following its indentations, but never losing sight of the sea. The +coast, he saw by the map, made a gentle curve for some six hundred +miles, then swept southward opposite the projecting Oman peninsula, +and thence ran almost due east to Karachi. The coast was for the most +part hilly, and as he was now travelling at full speed there was +always a risk, unless he flew high, of his being brought up by a spur +or a rock jutting out into the Gulf; and as he did not wish to +maintain too great an altitude, he altered his course a point or two +to the south, flying over the sea, but not far from the shore. + +Rodier and he took turns at the engine, each dozing from sheer +weariness during his spell off. They flew on all through the night, +and when dawn began to break, saw straight ahead land stretching far +to right and left. There was no doubt that this was the Oman +peninsula, which, jutting out from the Arabian mainland, almost closes +the Gulf. Steering now a slightly more northward course, and rising +to clear the hills of the peninsula, Smith passed over the neck of +land, and found himself in the Gulf of Oman, half-way between the head +of the Persian Gulf and Karachi. + +Now that it was light, there was no longer the same necessity for +keeping out to sea. Indeed, it was merely prudent to come over the +land, so that if anything happened to the engine he would at least +have an opportunity of descending safely. The engine had worked so +well that he scarcely feared a breakdown, but he was not the man to +take unnecessary risks. + +Glancing at his watch, he calculated that he was about two hours +behind time. As he had been flying at full speed except during the +storm, he could hardly hope to make up the lost time except by +diminishing the intervals for rest which he had allowed for before +starting. It was, at any rate, important to lose no more. He had just +come to this conclusion when there was a sudden snap in the framework +of one of the planes. Looking round anxiously, he at once reduced the +speed, feeling very thankful that the mischief had not developed +during the storm, when the aeroplane must have inevitably crumpled up. +Now, however, the weather was fair, and he could choose his +landing-place. He had no doubt that the accident was due to the +enormous strain which had been put upon the structure by the storm. A +glance showed him that the plane was still rigid enough to stand the +strain of motion at a lower speed, but that would neither satisfy him +nor achieve success, and so he decided to alight and try to remedy the +defect. + +As he began to plane downwards, Rodier pointed to a cluster of huts at +the mouth of a small river. A dhow lay moored to a rough wooden jetty +beyond the hamlet. Between it and the huts was an open space of +considerable extent, and though when Rodier first drew his attention +to the place they must have been more than a mile distant from it, he +could see, even without his binocular, a crowd of people moving about +the open space. + +"We may find a forge there," shouted Rodier. + +Smith nodded, but he felt a little uneasy. It seemed likely that he +had now reached what is known as the Mekran coast, and he remembered +the ill reputation it bore with the officers of British ships who had +seen service in these waters. The people had been described as greedy, +conceited, unwilling, and unreasonable as camels, and their +treacherous and cruel disposition was such that, thirty or forty years +before, Europeans who landed on any part of their seaboard would have +done so at great peril. Smith, however, had a vague recollection of +their having been taught a salutary lesson by the Karwan expedition, +and no doubt the presence of British war vessels in the Gulf had done +something to correct their turbulence. He had to choose between +finding a landing-place inland, out of sight of the inhabitants of +this fishing village, and landing among them on the chance of getting +the use of a forge, for it would probably be necessary to weld the +broken stay. Deciding for the latter course, he steered straight for +the village, and, circling round it, dropped gently to earth in the +open space near the jetty. + +The aeroplane had been seen and heard some time before it reached the +spot, and its flight was watched with open-mouthed curiosity by the +men, who paused in their work of carrying ashore bulky packages from +the dhow. When they saw the strange visitant from the sky descending +upon them, they gave utterance to shrill cries of alarm, dropped their +burdens, and fled in hot haste up the shore, disappearing behind the +huts. As he alighted, Smith noticed, close to the aeroplane, one of +these packages, which had burst open in the fall, and saw with +surprise that it contained rifles. + +"I say, Roddy," he said; "this is rather unlucky. We have interrupted +a gun-running." + +"Ah, no, it is lucky, mister," returned the Frenchman. "We shall not +need now to buy rifles _en route_; we can help ourselves; these are +contraband, without doubt." + +"That's true, I suspect; rifles are sure to be contraband here; but +this is a wild district, and the people won't be too well-disposed +towards us, coming and stopping their little game. We've a right to +impound the rifles, I daresay, but I really think we had better look +the other way." + +"Wink the other eye, as you say. Well, at present there is no one to +look at. The people do not speak French, I suppose?" + +"Nor English, probably. They are Baluchis, I suppose, and perhaps +haven't seen a white man before. Just look and see what's wrong with +the stay while I go up to the village and parley." + +Rodier stripped to his shirt, got his tools out of the little box in +which they were kept, and set to work in as unconcerned and +business-like a way as if he had been in the workshop at home. +Meanwhile Smith, puffing at a cigarette, walked slowly towards the +nearest hut. His easy manner gave no sign of alertness; but in reality +he was keeping a keen look-out, and had already descried some of the +natives peeping round the walls of the huts. Having taken a few steps +he halted, looked inquiringly around, and hailed the lurking villagers +with a stentorian "Ahoy!" At first there was no response, but on his +advancing a little farther and repeating the call two or three swarthy +and dirty-looking men came slowly from behind the nearest hut. Smith +noticed the long spears they carried. He smiled and held out his hand, +but the men stopped short and eyed him doubtfully, jabbering among +themselves. He bade them good morning, inviting them to come and have +a talk, but saw at once by the lack of expression on their faces that +they did not understand him. + +Somewhat perplexed, and trying to think of signs by which he could +explain what he wanted, he saw a different figure emerge from the +background, a small, bent, olive-skinned old man, clad in a white +turban and dhoti. He came forward hesitatingly. + +"Salaam, sahib," he said humbly. + +"Oh, I say, can you speak English?" asked Smith eagerly, suspecting +that the man was a Hindu. + +"Speak English very fine, sahib," replied the man, with a smile. + +"Thank goodness! Well, now, is there a smith in the village? You know +what I mean: a blacksmith, a man who makes iron things?" + +It was not a very clear definition, but the Hindu understood him. + +"Yees, sahib," he said; "smif that way." He pointed to a hut at a +little distance. + +"That's all right. Fetch the smith along, and I'll get you to tell him +what I want." + +"I know, sahib, I tell them. I do big trade in this place. They silly +jossers, sahib; think you a djinn." + +"Well, put that right, and hurry up, will you?" + +The Hindu salaamed and returned to the group of villagers. An excited +colloquy ensued, the man pointing now to the Englishman, now to the +aeroplane, and now to the dhow alongside the jetty. Presently the +Hindu came back. + +"Silly chaps say what for you come here, sahib. You know too much, +they say." + +Smith guessed that they supposed his visit had something to do with +the smuggling operations in which they were engaged. He explained +quickly that he was merely an ordinary traveller, on his way to India +in one of the new air carriages in which Englishmen were accustomed to +make long journeys, and he promised to pay the smith well for any +assistance he could give in repairing a slight injury which the +carriage had suffered in a storm. The Hindu carried this message to +the villagers, who were now increasing in number as they regained +confidence, and after another discussion he returned, accompanied by a +big man, the dirtiest in the crowd, the others following slowly. + +He found it no easy matter, through his smiling but incompetent +interpreter, to explain that he wanted the use of the smith's +appliances. To quicken their apprehension he produced a couple of +half-crowns, pointing out that they were worth four rupees, and +offered these as payment when the work was done. The Hindu recognized +the King's head on the coins, and eagerly assured the Baluchis that +they were good English money; but the smith, true to the oriental +habit of haggling, rejected them scornfully as insufficient, and was +backed up by a chorus of indignant cries from the crowd. + +Smith, impatient at the loss of time, and forgetting that any show of +eagerness would merely encourage the natives to delay, was incautious +enough to show them a half-sovereign. Though the Hindu appeared to do +his best to persuade them that this was generous pay, they showed even +greater contempt, and became more and more clamorous. + +"Greedy chaps want more, sahib," said the Hindu deprecatingly. + +"Very well," replied Smith, pocketing the coin. "We'll do without +them." + +He turned his back on them, and returned at a saunter to the +aeroplane, the crowd, now swelled by the arrival of apparently all the +inhabitants of the village, old and young, pressing on behind. It was +evident that they had now lost their fear of the strange machine. + +"How are you getting on, Roddy?" he asked. "These asses won't take +half-a-sovereign to lend a hand." + +"Imbeciles! But the stay must be welded." + +"Well, we'll pretend we can do without 'em. I daresay that will bring +them round." + +For a few minutes the two men made a great show of activity, +completely disregarding the crowd curiously watching them. The plan +had the desired effect. The Hindu came forward and said that the smith +would accept the gold piece, if he were paid in advance. + +"Not a bit of it. If he likes to help he shall have it when the work +is done," replied Smith, turning to resume his interrupted work. + +The smith, now fearful of losing his customer, began to abuse the +Hindu for not completing the bargain. At length, with a show of +reluctance, Smith relented, and with the aid of the villagers the +aeroplane was wheeled to the smithy. It proved to be very poorly +equipped, having a very primitive forge and a pair of clumsy native +bellows; but Rodier set to work to make the best of it, welding the +broken stay with the smith's help, while his employer remained outside +the hut to keep watch over the aeroplane, which the people were +beginning to examine rather more minutely than he liked. To drive them +off, Smith set the engine working, causing a volume of smoke to belch +forth in the faces of the nearest men, who ran back, holding their +noses and crying out in alarm. + +Smith filled in the minutes by opening a tin of sardines and eating +some of the fish sandwiched between biscuits. The sight of small fish +brought from a box struck the villagers with amazement, which was +redoubled when he removed the stopper from a soda-water bottle and +drank what appeared to be boiling liquid. Presently, however, he +noticed that some of the men were quietly withdrawing towards the +huts, behind which they disappeared. Among them was the Hindu, who was +apparently summoned, and departed with a look of uneasiness. Smith +went on with his meal unconcernedly, though he was becoming +suspicious, especially when he found by-and-by that all the men had +left him, the crowd consisting now only of women and children. + +"Nearly done, Roddy?" he called into the hut. + +"Yes, mister. The smith has took his hook, though." + +"All the men have gone behind the huts. I wonder what they are up to." + +Rodier took up a hammer, and gently broke a hole in the flimsy back +wall of the hut. + +"There's a big crowd beyond the village," he reported. "Having a +pow-wow, too. They've got spears and muskets." + +"That looks bad. Hurry up with the stay. The sooner we get out of this +the better." + +He noticed that the smith had now rejoined the crowd. No doubt he +intended to make sure of getting his money. The mob behind the huts +was growing noisy, and Smith gave a sigh of relief when Rodier came +out with the mended stay and proceeded to fix it in place. While he +did this, Smith beckoned some of the lads forward, and made them +understand by signs that he wished them to help him wheel the +aeroplane round. The slope between it and the sea was very rough +ground, but it afforded space for starting off, and the moment Rodier +had finished his job he swung the aeroplane round and started the +engine. The smith, looking on suspiciously, took this as a signal for +departure and rushed forward, clamouring shrilly for the promised +payment. Smith gave him the half-sovereign, then jumped into his +place, Rodier running beside the machine as it moved down the slope. + +At this moment there was a shout from the village, which swelled into +a furious din as the men came rushing from behind the huts, and saw +the white men preparing to leave them. The aeroplane gathered way. +Rodier was on the point of clambering into his place, as he had often +done before, by means of the carriage supporting the wheels. But the +machine jolting over the rough ground delayed him. The yelling crowd +rushed down, some hurling spears, and others endeavouring to seize the +Frenchman. He kept his grip on the rail, but another jolt forced him +to loosen his hold, the machine suddenly sprang upwards, and Rodier +fell backward among his captors. + +Smith scarcely realized what had happened until he was many feet in +the air; but seeing at a glance over his shoulder that Rodier was left +behind, he put the helm over and warped the planes to a perilous +degree. The aeroplane was fifty or sixty yards from the starting place +when Smith's action caused it to swerve like a wounded bird; then it +recovered itself, and turning in a narrow circle swept back towards +the confused knot of men on the beach. Smith planed down straight upon +them, intending to land and rush to Rodier's assistance. But +perceiving that the Frenchman was struggling on the ground, with a +dozen turbaned figures clustering over him, he steered straight for +the middle of the group. There was a dull thud, and then another, and +he felt a harsh jolt as the chassis struck some of the standing men. +Smith had stopped the engine when he turned, and the aeroplane, +brought up by this obstruction, sank to the ground, being saved from +damage only by the spring attachments of the carriage. + +Drawing his revolver, Smith leapt from his seat and dashed towards the +group. Six or eight men lay on the ground, some of them too badly hurt +to rise; the rest of the crowd had taken to their heels, and the whole +population was in full flight, the children screaming with terror. In +an instant, to Smith's relief, Rodier sprang to his feet. Together +they turned the machine once more towards the sea. + +"Are you hurt, Roddy?" asked Smith. + +"Ah, the villains! they have given me a dig or two. Let us get away +from this, mister. We are getting later and later." + +He jumped into the car; Smith again started the engine; and as the +machine rose into the air it was followed by a howl of rage from the +baffled Baluchis. Half-a-dozen slugs pattered about it, piercing +several holes in the planes. Already one of these had been gashed by a +spear, which still stuck in it. But no serious damage had been done, +and in a few seconds the aeroplane was flying at full speed over the +sea. + +It is one of the drawbacks of aerial travel that conversation can only +be carried on in shouts. Smith would have liked to talk over things +with Rodier, but the noise of the engine and the boom of the air as +the machine cut through it smothered his voice unless he bellowed. +Only a few words passed between them as they flew along a little +distance out to sea. Rodier bathed two slight wounds he had received +in the scuffle with water from the pots filled during the storm, and +assured Smith that they were nothing to trouble about. + +Some few minutes after leaving the inhospitable village they noticed +the smoke of a steamer, a good deal nearer the shore than the dhows +which they had seen occasionally on the Gulf. It was too far distant +for them to determine its size and nationality, or to guess the +direction in which it was bound. Smith decided to speak it in passing, +but, observing that the stay had not been thoroughly fixed in the +hurry of their departure, he looked about for a suitable +landing-place, where the finishing touches might be given. The coast +was rocky and precipitous, and the tops of the cliffs were strewn for +a considerable distance inland with innumerable boulders, large and +small, which would render landing dangerous, and starting perhaps more +dangerous still. At length, however, just as he was thinking of +running inland, in spite of the loss of time, Rodier caught sight of a +large expanse of smooth rock, left bare by the falling tide. He +pointed it out to Smith, who made a hasty calculation of its extent, +and judged that it would serve his purpose. Steering to it, he circled +round it and dropped gently upon its western end, scaring off a +flamingo that was sunning itself there in solitary state. + +"We came well out of that, Roddy," he said, as they set to work on the +stay. + +"But we lose time by all these stops, mister," replied Rodier. "We can +perhaps make it up if you keep your gold in your pocket." + +"I made a mistake there, certainly. If anything of the kind occurs +again our motto must be 'take it or leave it.'" + +"Just as you say to a cabby." + +"You are sure you are not hurt much?" + +"No more than with a cat's scratches. You came in the stitch of time, +though." + +"'A stitch in time saves nine,'" quoted Smith, smiling a little at the +Frenchman's mistake. "That's why we had better make a good job of +this. We don't want to stop again." + +Ten minutes' work sufficed to fix the stay firmly in its place. Smith +again started the engine, the aeroplane taking the air when it was +only half-way across the rock. They looked around for the steamer when +they were again going at full speed, but it was no longer visible. In +a few minutes, however, the smoke again came into view, and as they +rapidly approached it Smith was delighted to see that it came from the +funnel of a small gunboat, which was steaming in the same direction as +their own flight, making probably for Bombay or Karachi. The chances +were that such a vessel in these waters was British, so Smith steered +towards it, shouting to Rodier that they might perhaps arrange a +tit-for-tat with the Baluchis. + +There was much excitement on board the gunboat when the aeroplane +planed down and soared over it at its own pace, just high enough to be +out of reach of sparks from the funnel. + +"Who are you?" shouted Smith through a megaphone. + +"Gunboat _Penguin_, Captain Durward, bound for Bombay. Who are you?" +came the answer. + +"Lieutenant Thesiger Smith, of the _Imperturbable,_ bound for +Karachi." + +"The deuce you are! What do you call that vessel of yours?" + +"My pet lamb," replied Smith, grinning. "I say, sir, I've no time for +explanations. Are you policing these seas?" + +"This is my beat. Why?" + +"Some Baluchis are gun-running fifty miles up the coast, that's all. +Thought you'd like to know." + +"Are they, begad! Thanks for the tip. Can you describe the spot?" + +"A tiny village lying behind a point. A river runs through it, and +there's a short jetty. Sorry I can't give you latitude and longitude. +You'll catch 'em if you hurry up. Hope you will, and--run 'em in. +Good-bye." + +He set the engine at full speed again, and as the aeroplane soared on +like a swallow its departure was followed by a lusty British cheer. + +"Three hours late, mister," Rodier bawled in Smith's ear. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE WHITE DJINN + + +It was half-past six by Smith's watch, near eleven by local time, when +the aeroplane sailed across the long mangrove swamp that forms the +western side of the harbour of Karachi. The sun was intensely fierce, +and Smith, who found its glare affecting his eyes painfully, had +donned a pair of huge blue-glass goggles. He was glad that he had done +so when, passing over the crowded shipping of the port, he saw the +sandy arid tracts around and beyond the town. Steamers hooted as the +aeroplane flew above them; half-naked coolies lading the vessels with +wheat and cotton, the produce of Sindh and the Punjab, dropped their +loads and stared upwards in stupefied amazement. Smith could not wait +to enjoy his first view of an Indian city. His business was to land at +the first convenient place and find Mr. John Jenkinson, whose godown +was near the Custom House, and obtain from him the petrol bespoken by +Mr. Barracombe. + +Being in complete ignorance where the Custom House lay, though he +guessed it would be somewhere near the seafront, he was at first at a +loss in which direction to make. There was no suitable landing-place +in the crowded city itself, and to the immediate south of it there +appeared to be nothing but mangrove swamps. Ascending to a +considerable height, however, he saw, some distance to the east, near +a railway line, a stretch of open brownish ground on which little red +flags stood up at intervals. He instantly jumped to the conclusion +that this was the golf course, though at this time of day there were +no players to confirm his judgment. This was an advantage, because it +promised that he might land without being beset by curious spectators. +Accordingly he steered in that direction, hoping that having safely +landed his aeroplane he might find some means of reaching the merchant +whose name Mr. Barracombe had cabled to him. + +It happened that, just as the aeroplane swooped down upon the golf +course, an open vehicle like a victoria was driving slowly along a +road that crossed it from the railway towards the city. The turbaned +driver pulled up his horse and stared open-mouthed at this +extraordinary apparition from the sky, and when the aeroplane +alighted, and from the car stepped a tall, dirty creature with a +monstrously ugly face, the native whipped up his horse and with +shrill cries sought to escape the clutches of what he felt in his +trembling soul must be a djinn of the most evil kind. + +Smith shouted to him to stop, but in vain; whereupon he picked up his +heels and ran to overtake the carriage. The horse was a sorry +specimen, and Smith, being a very passable sprinter, soon came up with +it, jumped in, and called to the driver to take him to Mr. Jenkinson's +godown. The man yelled with fear, and in sheer panic flogged his horse +until it went at a gallop, the vehicle swaying in a manner that any +one but a sailor would have found unpleasant. Both horse and driver +seemed to be equally affected with terror, but since the carriage was +going towards the city Smith was perfectly well satisfied, and did not +turn a hair even when it narrowly escaped a collision with a +bullock-wagon. + +On they went, past some buildings on the right which appeared to be +barracks, until they reached a street in which there were so many +people that Smith thought it time to pull up before mischief was done. +Leaning forward, he gripped the driver's dhoti and drew him slowly +backward. The man yelled again; the passers-by stood in wonderment; +but with his backward movement the driver tightened his grip on the +reins, and within a few yards the panting horse came to a standstill. + +"Where is Mr. Jenkinson's godown?" said Smith, releasing the driver. +But the man's terror was too much for him. Throwing the reins on the +horse's back, he sprang from his seat and fled, a vision of bare brown +legs twinkling amid white cotton drapery. + +By this time a crowd of chattering natives had gathered round, who, +not having seen the aeroplane, were more amazed at the driver's +evident terror than at the passenger. He was dirty, it is true, and +not clad like the sahibs whom they were accustomed to meet, but when +he had removed his goggles they saw that he was certainly a sahib. +Smith was about to ask some one to direct him to Mr. Jenkinson's when +a native policeman pushed his way through the crowd, and in a shrill, +high-pitched voice and wonderful English, announced that he had come +to take the number of the carriage; it was clearly a case of furious +driving to the danger of the public. + +"Shut up!" said Smith impatiently. "Find me a driver to take me to +Jenkinson sahib." + +"Certainly, your honor," said the man, becoming deferential at once. + +One of the bystanders, seeing the chance of earning a few pice, +volunteered to drive. + +"Jenkinson sahib? all right, sahib; down by Custom House. You bet!" + +The carriage rolled off, followed by a crowd of runners, eager out of +pure inquisitiveness to see the matter through. They passed Government +House, turned into dusty Macleod Road, and in five or six minutes +reached the Custom House, where, turning to the left for a short +distance along the Napier Mole, the driver pulled up at a wooden +godown, and said-- + +"Here we are again, sahib. Jenkinson sahib, all right." + +Smith ordered the man to wait for him, and went into the godown. Here +he met with a disappointment. In answer to his inquiry the native +clerk, looking at him curiously, said that Mr. Jenkinson was not +there, was not even in Karachi. + +At this Smith looked blank. + +"Your name, sir, is Lieutenant Smith?" said the clerk politely, but +with an air of doubt. + +"It is." + +"Then I tell you what, sir. Cable came yesterday for Mr. Jenkinson. I +wired it, instanter, as per instructions, to esteemed employer at +Mahableshwar, where he recuperates exhausted energies. Reply just +come. Here you are: 'Refer Lieutenant Smith Mr. Macdonald. Regret +absence.' Mr. Macdonald, sir, little way off. I have honour to escort +you: do proper thing." + +He conducted Smith some distance down the Mole, the carriage +following. Luckily Mr. Macdonald had not returned to his bungalow for +tiffin, but was napping in a little room behind his office, darkened +by close trellises, which are found necessary for keeping out the +clouds of sand blown up from the shore. + +"Eh, what?" said Mr. Macdonald, when his clerk awakened him. "A +visitor this time of day? Well, show him in." + +He let a little light into the room, and stared when Smith was +introduced. Smith was dripping with perspiration, and not having been +able to wash since leaving London, he felt that his appearance must +give a fellow-countryman something of a shock. + +"What do ye want, man?" asked Mr. Macdonald, somewhat testily. + +"Mr. Jenkinson referred me to you, sir--" + +"I have no vacancies, none whatever, and--" + +"My name is Lieutenant Smith, of His Majesty's navy, and I have just +arrived from England." + +"I beg your pardon, Mr. Smith; I took ye for--well, I don't know what. +Take a wee drappie? You came by the _Peninsular_, no doubt. I hear she +came in this morning." + +"No. I came by aeroplane." + +The Scotsman stared. + +"What's that ye were saying?" + +"By aeroplane. The fact is, Mr. Macdonald, I'm in a hurry. I've got to +get off within an hour or so; and I want some petrol for my engine. +Mr. Jenkinson was to have arranged it for me, but being absent he +refers me to you, and I shall be immensely obliged if you can manage +it for me, and excuse my not entering into particulars, for which I +really haven't time." + +"Is that a fact? Petrol, is it? Come away with me; only, upon my word, +sir, I will take it very kind if you will give me a few particklers of +this astonishing business as we go." + +He put on a sun helmet, and led the way from the room. Jumping into +the victoria, he ordered the temporary coachman to drive to Harris +Road, a quarter of a mile beyond the Custom House. In the two minutes +occupied by the drive, Smith told the Scotsman merely that he had come +from Constantinople and was proceeding immediately to Penang on +important business. + +"It took ye a week, I suppose?" + +"No, I left there rather less than twenty-four hours ago." + +"Man, you astonish me; fair take my breath away. But here we are." + +He alighted at a store kept by a Parsi. It was a matter of a few +moments to purchase the petrol and machine oil, Smith paying for it +with English gold. The tins were rolled out; Mr. Macdonald hailed a +closed cab, into which they were put, and then they set off to return +to the golf links, Mr. Macdonald accompanying Smith, curious to see +the machine which had performed such an astonishing journey. + +"I've read in the papers about these aeroplanes, but never seen one +yet. Is it your opinion, now, that we'll have a war in the air one of +these days?" + +"I shouldn't wonder. We shall have cruisers and battleships, air +torpedoes and destroyers, air mines and air submarines." + +"Are you pulling my leg, now?" asked Mr. Macdonald, but he received no +reply, for Smith had noticed an European provision shop, and +remembering that his biscuits and chocolate were running low, he +called to the driver to stop, and made some purchases. He took the +opportunity to lay in a dozen bottles of soda-water, and added a few +packets of Rodier's favourite cigarettes, for smoking during the +halts, for he would never allow a match to be struck near the engine. + +Mr. Macdonald plied him with questions during the remainder of the +drive, and Smith was ready enough with his answers except on his +personal concerns. When they arrived at the links they found the +aeroplane surrounded by a vast crowd. The majority were natives, but +there was a sprinkling of Englishmen in the inner circle, and some +soldiers from the barracks were doing police duty in keeping the +onlookers at a distance from the aeroplane. Two British officers and +some civilians were talking to Rodier, who was cleaning the engine +with the assistance of a young fellow with the cut of a ship's +engineer. + +The arrival of the cabs caused a stir among the spectators. Smith +alighted, asked Mr. Macdonald to see that the petrol and provisions +were carried quickly to the aeroplane, and advanced to ask Rodier how +he had been getting on. + +"Like a house on fire, mister," replied the man. "Mr. Jones here is +just off the _Peninsular_, and has helped a lot." + +"I say," said one of the officers, "is your man stuffing us up? He +says you have come from London in twenty-four hours." + +"Quite true, Hawley," said Smith, with a smile. "Remember I googlied +you for a duck at Lord's last year?" + +The officer stared. + +"By George, it's Charley Smith! I didn't know you; you're like a +sweep. Yes, by George! and I stumped you and got it back on you. How +are you? Rogers, this is a gentleman of the King's navee--Charley +Smith, Elphinstone Rogers." + +"How d'e do? Rummy machine, what!" said Captain Rogers. + +"Yes, by George!" said Hawley. "What's your little game?" + +"I've got seven days' leave, and am off big game hunting. Can't wait +for liners in these times." + +"You don't say so!" + +"Tigers, eh?" said Rogers. "Wish I was you! But is it safe? Looks +uncommon flimsy, what!" + +"I hope for the best, but I haven't got a minute to spare. Sorry I +can't have a go at your pads again, Hawley. Finished, Roddy?" + +"All complete, mister." + +"All the stuff onboard?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, Mr.--Jones, is it? Much obliged to you. Roddy, pay those +fellows who've carried the stuff, and the drivers." + +He handed him some silver. + +"Hoots, man," said Mr. Macdonald; "that'll never do. They'll swank for +a week if you give them all that. Leave it to me." + +"All right. You know best. Many thanks for your help. Hawley, d'you +mind getting your men to clear the course? I don't want to break any +bones. And perhaps you'll send a cable home for me. Address Thesiger +Smith, Cosham. Say 'All well.'" + +"I'll do it, with pleasure." + +"Thanks. Good-bye. Sorry I've got to rush off." + +He shook hands all round, and jumped on board. + +Rodier had already taken his place at the engine. It took a minute or +two for the soldiers to force the crowd back, an interval which Smith +utilized to trace on the map, for Rodier's guidance, the course he had +decided to follow. Then, the clatter of the starting engine silencing +the clamour of the crowd, the aeroplane ran forward and soared into +the air. Its ascent was hailed with a babel of shouts and cheers. +Smith waved his hand to his friends below; then, seeing that Rodier +had the map before him, he spread himself in his seat for a +comfortable nap. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A SHIP ON FIRE + + +Rodier had his full share of the Gallic dash which had won first +honours in airmanship for France, but it was combined with the +coolness and circumspection bred of scientific training, so that Smith +was able to take repose in serene confidence that, barring accidents, +the aeroplane would fly as safely under Rodier's charge as under his +own. Karachi was soon a mere speck amid the sand. In less than +half-an-hour the aeroplane was crossing the swampy delta of the Indus. +Soon afterwards it flew over the Run of Cutch into Gujarat, leaving +the hills of Kathiawar on the right. Sweeping over the head of the +Gulf of Cambay, it crossed the railway line from Bombay to Baroda, and +then the broad river Nerbudda. The city gleaming white in the +sunlight, far to the left, must be Baroda itself. The course traced by +Smith in the few minutes before leaving Karachi, avoided the high +western Ghauts that fringe the Indian coast to far south of Bombay. +Rodier therefore steered somewhat to the east, coming in the course +of twenty minutes to the river Tapti. Seeing a line of mountains +straight ahead, he swung round still more to the east, following the +valley of the river until he had completely turned the mountains, the +northernmost spurs of the Ghauts. + +Now he turned south-east once more, crossed the Chandaur chain, and +presently came in sight of the Godaveri river, which traverses the +whole breadth of Hyderabad. Near Indor he left the river on his left. +By this time it was becoming dark. Smith still slept, and Rodier, who +was not able to steer by the stars, was considering whether he had not +better waken his employer when he spied the characteristic glare from +a locomotive furnace far ahead. In half-a-minute he had caught up the +train, and slowed down to make sure of the direction in which the +railway ran. He found that it was almost exactly south-south-east, and +concluded from a glance at the map that he was above the connection of +the Hyderabad railway running from Warangal to the coast of the Bay of +Bengal. Reassured, he resolved to let Smith have his sleep out, +followed the line until it swept eastward at Secunderabad, and then, +steering a little to the left, put the engine once more to full speed. +In less than an hour afterwards he saw a vast expanse of water +glistening in the light of the rising moon, and knew that he had +reached the sea. + +Being by this time thoroughly stiff and tired, and knowing, moreover, +that Smith would navigate the aeroplane over the sea with much more +certainty than himself, he shouted to awaken him. This proving +ineffectual, he leant over and nudged his shoulder. Smith was awake in +an instant. + +"Where are we?" he cried; but no answer was necessary; he saw the sea +below him, and stretching far to the east, north, and south. He +exchanged places with Rodier, who, too tired even to eat, fell asleep +at once. + +"Good thing he woke me," thought Smith. It was one thing to fly over +land, with guiding marks in the shape of rivers, mountains, and other +physical features that could be recognized more or less easily from +the map; and quite another to cross the pathless ocean. But with a +compass and a clear sky the course would present no difficulty to a +seaman, and Smith settled down to a flight that would be without +obstruction for at least seven hundred miles. + +He knew that in the Bay of Bengal the prevailing wind at that season +is south-westerly. Whether there was any wind or not it was impossible +to ascertain while the aeroplane was maintaining its enormous speed; +certainly there was none to cause unsteadiness. If wind there was, it +blew in his, favour, and all that he would have to do would be to +allow in steering for a slight northerly drift. He would certainly +sight the Nicobar group, and possibly the Andaman Islands if he did +not make sufficient allowance for the wind; but he was determined not +to alight if he could help it until he arrived at Penang; he had lost +time enough already. + +It was the first time he had flown across so wide an expanse of sea, +and he felt a touch of anxiety lest the engine should break down. If +any accident should happen he had made up his mind that the only thing +to be done was to don the lifebuoys, cut the engine loose, and trust +to the buoys to keep them and the planes afloat until their plight was +observed from some passing vessel. In the darkness this would, of +course, prove a vain hope; even in daylight the chance that a vessel +would be in sight was remote. But the die was cast: the engine was as +yet working perfectly; and in three or four hours, all being well, he +would come in sight of land. + +There being no obstruction to fear, he kept at a height of only a +hundred feet above sea level. The sea was calm, gleaming like a sheet +of silver in the moonlight, so that the aeroplane seemed to fly over a +continuous glistening track. Steadily it flew on; Smith had nothing to +do but to sit still, feed the engine with petrol, and keep his eyes +alternately on the compass and the stars. + +At length, about six o'clock by his watch--past eleven in the +longitude to which he had arrived--he caught sight ahead of a dark +outline on the water, no doubt a group of islands, though whether the +Andamans or the Nicobars he did not feel sure. Knowing that they were +all hilly in formation, he slackened speed, intending to run down +their coastline rather than cross them. It would not be difficult to +find one of the many channels between them through which he could +continue his flight, past the northern end of Sumatra to Penang. By +taking a southerly course, moreover, he would, be able to assure +himself of his direction. + +After a short run parallel with the coastline he came to a wide +channel which he believed to be, and subsequently ascertained to be, +the Ten Degree channel between Little Andaman and Car Nicobar. From +this, if he was right, there would be an uninterrupted course +south-east to Penang. But within half-an-hour of entering the channel, +still flying low, he suddenly ran into a dense cloud of exceedingly +pungent smoke, which completely hid the sea beneath him. It made him +cough, and woke Rodier with a start. + +"What's this, mister?" he shouted, rubbing his eyes. + +"Forest on fire," shouted Smith in reply, though he was surprised to +meet with the smoke so far from land as he supposed himself to be. He +hastily planed upwards, in case, by some error of navigation, he had +come upon land and might endanger the aeroplane among hills or +tree-tops, and also to avoid the risk of explosion from a stray spark. +Still more surprised was he when, after only a few seconds, the +aeroplane passed completely through the smoke, and he saw the sea +again. At that instant, just as they reached the windward side of the +smoke-cloud, which was evidently blown by an easterly wind, Rodier +gave a cry. + +"Mon Dieu! A ship on fire!" + +Smith instantly checked the engine, and, swinging round in a narrow +circle, saw a dark shape below him from which smoke was pouring up. +There was no flame, but as the aeroplane dropped gently downwards +Smith saw that Rodier's explanation must be correct, the ship being a +sailing vessel. + +A fire at sea is the sailor's worst terror. Urgent as was his own +errand, Smith could not pass without at least inquiry, so he sank +still lower, steering as close alongside the vessel on the windward +side as the planes would allow. He perceived now that she was +dismasted and had a bad list. Lifting his megaphone, he shouted-- + +"Ahoy there! Who are you?" + +No answer reached him, though he saw that the crew were crowding on +deck, gazing up at him, and one man, no doubt the captain, was making +a trumpet of his hands. + +"I can't hear owing to the noise of my engine," shouted Smith. +"Haven't you got a megaphone?" + +He was acutely conscious at that moment of two disadvantages which the +airman had not yet been able to surmount. He had not yet invented a +noiseless engine, nor could he keep the aeroplane motionless in the +air. If Smith could have transformed his vessel for a few minutes into +a Zeppelin airship he would gladly have done it. + +Now a megaphone had been brought to the captain, and his words came, +though faintly, to the ears of the airmen. + +"Barque _Elizabeth_, from Calcutta to Dundee with jute. Dismasted in a +cyclone ten days ago west of the Andamans; been adrift ever since. +Fire broke out in cargo in the fore hold; had as much as we could do +to keep it under; no time to rig a jury mast. Afraid of flames +bursting through any minute." + +He asked no questions and showed no surprise about the aeroplane. It +was evident that he could give no thought to anything but the +desperate plight of his vessel. + +Smith was in great perplexity. He could do nothing for the ship; +perhaps his best course would be to make all speed for the nearest +port and send a steamer to her assistance. An idea struck him. + +"Can't you get off in your boats?" he called. + +"All carried away but one. She won't hold half of us. Besides, can't +desert the ship." + +"Many passengers?" + +"Only my daughter." + +"His daughter, Roddy. I wish we could do something, but I don't know +what." + +"Ah! go down and lift her off, mister." + +Smith reflected. A girl would probably weigh little more than the +petrol they had consumed. The suggestion was feasible, and if the +captain's daughter had pluck enough to risk the journey, no doubt her +father would be glad to know that she at least was safe. + +"We can but make 'em the offer," he said to Rodier; then shouted +through the megaphone: "We're coming down. Get your men to clear the +deck aft, and show lights and stand by to lend a hand." + +All this time the aeroplane was moving slowly in circles over the +vessel, being still careful to keep on the windward side for fear of +sparks. When Smith's instructions had been carried out, he selected a +landing place just abaft the mizzen and, warping his planes +alternately, brought the aeroplane gently to the deck. Fortunately +the bulwarks were sufficiently low not to catch the planes or the +stays supporting them. + +Smith and Rodier stepped on deck, and were instantly surrounded by a +group of the officers and crew. + +"Get for'ard," shouted the captain to the men. "D'you want to see a +blaze?" + +He was left with the first mate. + +"I'm in a pretty fix, sir," he said, after a rapid glance at Smith. +"We drifted south and southeast after the storm, then lay becalmed for +a day or two; yesterday an east wind sprang up and carried us +northward." + +"What are your bearings?" asked Smith. "I'm in the Navy." + +"You don't say so, sir! Yesterday's observations gave us latitude nine +degrees forty-seven minutes south and longitude ninety-four degrees +thirty-two minutes east." + +"Well, look here, the best thing I can do is to run for a port and +send you help." + +"I'd take it very kind if you would, sir. I was thinking of sending my +daughter off in the boat to-morrow with a few men; but we've managed +to keep the fire under so far, and if there's a chance of getting help +within a day, say, perhaps we can keep all together. It's terribly +risky in these seas in an open boat." + +"Well, I'll set a course for Penang--" + +"Port Blair's nearer, sir, in South Andaman." + +"But I'm more likely to find a fast steamer at Penang. And as to your +daughter, captain, she'd better come along with us." + +"In that what-you-may-call-it, sir?" + +"Yes, certainly. We can easily carry her, and make a comfortable seat +for her behind ours if you give us a cushion. We've come from London, +so she needn't be afraid." + +"From London! Near seven thousand miles! Jigger me if ever I heard the +like of it! What do you think of that, Mr. McWhirter?" + +"Rather a long un," replied the mate. + +"Well, hang me, if you've come across the Bay of Bengal, you're sartin +sure to be able to make Penang. She shall go with you, and that'll be +one load off my mind. Go and fetch her, Mr. McWhirter. She's rather a +superior gal, sir, though I say it myself. She's had a rattling good +eddication; talks French like a native, and as for music and singing, +I've never heard any gal as could touch her, that's a fact. Here she +is." + +Smith was not sorry that the outflow of paternal pride was checked. He +wanted to get on. A girl of about twenty came forward with the mate. +She was very self-possessed, and met Smith's look frankly. + +"My daughter, Mr. ----. I don't know your name, sir," said the +captain. + +"My name's Smith." He doffed his cap. + +"Now, Margy, my girl, Mr. Smith, who's in the Navy, is going to be so +kind as to take you in his what-you-may-call-it to Penang, and send a +steamer to take us off or tow us in, as the case may be." + +The girl looked startled, glancing from Smith to the aeroplane, and +then at her father. + +"I think I'd rather stay with you, Father," she said quietly. + +"And I'd rather you didn't," he said bluntly. "You don't know the risk +as I do, my gal," he added kindly. "The blessed ship may blaze at any +moment." + +"I know, Father; but we've been in danger for several days, and I've +got used to it." + +"Ay, that's true, and you've been an uncommon plucky girl, I _will_ +say. She ain't like them females that faint and go into high strikes +and fidget your life out," he said to Smith, who observed the girl's +face flush. "Now, my dear, you'll go with Mr. Smith, and please your +old father. There ain't a morsel of danger; he's come safe all the way +from London, and I never see a better bit of manoeuvring, I _will_ +say, than when he brought the what-you-may-call-it down on the deck as +light as a feather. It'll be a big sight safer than this poor old +hulk, and I'll be thankful to know as you're safe in Penang. You can +berth with my old friend Sam Upton and his missis, and please God +I'll come for you in a day or two." + +"I assure you, Miss--Miss Margaret," said Smith, "that there's really +very little risk. We've come six thousand odd miles safely, and it's +not far to Penang, you know. You won't be the first lady to fly in an +aeroplane." + +"Ma foi, non!" cried Rodier, unable to keep silence any longer. "I +myself, mademoiselle, have kept company in an aeroplane with a lady. +Ah, bah! vous parlez français; eh bien! cette femme-là a été ravie, +enchantée; elle m'a assuré que ce moment-là fut le plus heureux de sa +vie." + +"Shut up, Roddy," whispered Smith, smiling, however, as he caught a +twinkle of amusement in the girl's eyes. + +"I will go if you wish," she said to the captain, without replying to +Rodier. + +"That's right. Mr. McWhirter, will you please get a couple of cushions +and put them in the thingummy where Mr. Smith shows you." + +The seat was quickly prepared. Meanwhile Smith consulted with Rodier +on the somewhat delicate problem how to make a start from the deck, +which obviously did not afford more than a few feet of running-off +space. Rodier hit on a solution, and by the time the passenger's seat +was ready the necessary arrangements had been made. + +"Now, my gal," said the captain, "step aboard. You sing like a bird; +it's only right you should fly like one." It was obvious that the +worthy seaman was making clumsy efforts to be cheerful. "I'll see you +in two days, or three at most; we've got a raft ready, you know, in +case the fire beats us. But, bless you, I shouldn't be surprised if we +have a fire-engine coming through the sky next; there's no knowing +what these clever young sparks won't be inventing. God bless you!" + +The girl threw her arms round her father's neck. Smith turned away; +there were tears in the old man's eyes. The captain conducted her to +her place. Then he took Smith aside. + +"You'll look after my gal, sir?" he said in an undertone. "She's all +I've got. Suppose you _do_ come down; what then?" + +"I shall jettison the engine and keep afloat by the planes. We've a +couple of life buoys, too. But I don't think we shall come down, so +make yourself easy, and we'll save your vessel." + +"There's one man that never forgets a good turn, and that's John +Bunce. Where shall I find you in Penang, sir, if I get there safe?" + +"Oh! I shan't be there. I'm going straight on to the Solomon Islands." + +"Well, sir, if you're ever Rotherhithe way, you'll find me at 197 +Prince's Road; I'm retiring after this voyage. Margy'll be proud to +give you a cup of tea, and I _will_ say I'd like you to hear her +sing." + +"All right, I won't forget. All ready, Roddy?" + +"Ready and waiting, mister." + +Smith went to his place. + +"Are you quite comfortable, Miss Bunce?" he said, noticing that the +girl was pale and nervous. "I'm sorry I can't give you my seat, but my +man and I must sit together. You'll forgive us for turning our backs +on you." + +The girl smiled faintly without speaking. Several of the crew had +ranged themselves on each side of the aeroplane, to hold it steady +until the propellers had worked up a good speed. Smith started the +engine; the deafening whirr began: then at the word "Go!" the sailors +released their holds and the aeroplane lurched forward just clear of +the bulwarks. Margaret Bunce clutched the rail nervously. One or two +of the men had been somewhat slow in letting go, causing the aeroplane +to cant over in a manner that was alarming to the onlookers. But long +practice with the aeroplane in all kinds of gusty weather had +developed in Smith an instinct for the right means of meeting an +emergency of this nature. Like a bicyclist, he did the right thing +without thinking. The vessel righted itself at a touch on the warping +lever, and in two or three seconds she was sailing rapidly away from +the ship. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A PASSENGER FOR PENANG + + +From the information given him by Captain Bunce, Smith hoped to pick +up the lights of Penang without much difficulty. While on the ship's +deck he had noticed that the easterly breeze was very light, so that +even with the slight additional weight he carried, his speed would not +be greatly diminished. With good luck three or four hours would see +him safe in port. + +Rodier pulled out his watch soon after they started, and comparing it +with the schedule of the journey, shouted in Smith's ear-- + +"We are four hours late, mister." + +"I know we are," cried Smith. "Confound you, Roddy, you're always +telling me I'm late. If you say anything like that again I'll throw +you out." + +Rodier grinned. + +"Mademoiselle wouldn't like that," he shouted. "Tout va bien, +mademoiselle?" he said, turning to the lady. "Vous n'avez pas peur?" + +"It is terribly fast," said the girl breathlessly, and Rodier came to +the conclusion that Captain Bunce's opinion of his daughter's +linguistic ability was exaggerated. + +The moon had set, and the flight was continued in almost total +darkness. At length, shortly before four o'clock in the morning, Smith +caught sight of lights ahead. He had touched at Penang some years +before, when his first ship was on her way out to the Australian +station, and he knew that the most suitable place for alighting was a +large open space, clear of vegetation and buildings, about a mile from +the port. In a few minutes the aeroplane was flying over the sleeping +town. He slackened speed, and circled around for some time, seeking +the spot with the aid of his searchlight. He discovered it with more +ease than he had dared to hope, and bidding Rodier look out for +obstacles, descended to the ground. + +"Here we are, Miss Bunce," he said cheerfully, as he stepped out. "I +hope you feel none the worse for your ride." + +"It is wonderful," said the girl. "I shall never forget it." + +"The question is, what are we to do now? Your father mentioned a +friend of his, but as I have little time to spare I think you had +better come with me to my friend Mr. Daventry. He is in the +administration here, and I am sure Mrs. Daventry will be glad to do +anything she can for you. You see, I can find my way there in the +dark, I think, whereas we should have to wait until daylight to find +your father's friend, and that would be a nuisance in every way." + +"I will do whatever you think best." + +Leaving Rodier with the aeroplane, the other two set off towards the +town. + +"You will try to send help to Father?" said the girl. + +"As soon as it's light. This is Sunday morning, by the way. _You_'re +all right, but I'm afraid I look far from Sundayish. Still, no one can +see me, and I shall be off before the people go to church." + +"So soon as that? Aren't you very tired?" + +"Not so tired as I've been in the manoeuvres. We get a nap in turn, +you know." + +"How _can_ you sleep when you're in such terrible danger?" + +"Well, you see I'm used to it. We don't think of the danger. Perhaps +it's because I've never had a bad accident. The want of a decent meal +is the worst of it. We haven't had one since Thursday night, but I +daresay we can keep going on light fare for another three or four +days." + +"You know I've often wanted to go up in an aeroplane, though I +suspect I should have backed out if I had really had the chance. I'm +very glad Father insisted on my coming, but I wish it had been +daylight; I could only hold on and try not to be afraid." + +"I'm sorry we can't take you with us--no, I don't quite mean that, +Miss Bunce; of course you couldn't come careering about; what I mean +is that I shall be very glad to take you a daylight trip one of these +days if you care to come--when we get back home, of course. Captain +Bunce was kind enough to give me an invitation; he said you would give +me a cup of tea--" + +"And sing to you! I know exactly what he said; but you mustn't pay too +much attention to Father. He's a dear old man, but quite absurd over +my little accomplishments." + +"But I may have a cup of tea?" + +"With or without sugar--if you really mean it." + +"Of course I mean it. One of these days you will find my aeroplane at +your door--" + +"Good gracious! it will be in pieces, then, for our street isn't wide +enough to give it room." + +"Well, you'll find _me_ at the door then; and after I have had my cup +of tea, with three lumps of sugar, and you have sung a little +song--just to please your father, of course--we will walk to where my +man is waiting with the aeroplane, two or three streets off, and we'll +take a jaunt to Greenwich Park, or Richmond, or wherever you like." + +"That will be very nice," said Miss Bunce, and Smith wished it were +not too dark to see her face, for the tone expressed utter disbelief. +He wanted to assure her that he meant what he said, but, reflecting +that he had better not seem to suggest that she doubted it, he said-- + +"That's settled, then. I suppose it will be three or four months +before you get home, and I shan't have another leave for I don't know +how long, so we won't fix a date. Now Mr. Daventry's bungalow is in +this direction; I hope I shall be able to find it." + +They walked about for some minutes before Smith was able to satisfy +himself that he had discovered the bungalow. They passed through the +compound, looked with a smile at the native servant sleeping on a mat +at the door, and laughed to see him jump when awakened by Smith's +vigorous rapping. At a word from Smith the man went into the dwelling, +but a moment afterwards a window above the entrance was thrown open, +and a loud voice demanded what was the matter. + +"That you, Daventry?" Smith called. + +"Yes. Who are you? What's the matter?" + +"It's Charley Smith. Sorry to disturb you at this unearthly hour, old +chap." + +"What in the name of--! All right. I'll come down." + +They saw a light struck; in a minute they saw framed in the doorway a +tall man in pyjamas, holding a candle. + +"Come in, Smith," he cried. "Why, what the--! Here, I say, I won't be +a minute." + +Setting down the candle on the doorstep, he hurriedly fled. Smith +glanced at the girl. She was quite unembarrassed, and when she caught +his eye she frankly smiled. "She's the right sort," he said to +himself. Presently Mr. Daventry returned in trousers and a smoking +jacket. + +"Excuse my leaving you. I went to--to waken Mary," he said. "She'll be +down in a minute; come in. Didn't know you were married, old boy," he +whispered, taking Smith by the arm. + +"Hush!" said Smith anxiously, hoping that Margaret Bunce had not +caught the words. + +Mr. Daventry led them into his dining-room, turned on the lights, and +looked inquiringly at his visitors. The girl was already unpinning her +low cloth hat. + +"Why, what on earth--!" exclaimed Mr. Daventry; "what have you been +doing to yourself, Smith?" + +"I _am_ a bit of a sweep, no doubt, but you can give me a bath. The +fact is--well, it's plaguey difficult to tell it shortly--but the fact +is I picked up this lady--no, hang it all! Miss Bunce, please help me +out." + +"Mr. Smith picked me up, as he says, from a burning ship in mid-ocean, +and was kind enough to bring me here in his aeroplane." + +"Sounds simple, don't it?" said Smith, as Mr. Daventry looked from one +to the other in amazement. + +"But--I don't understand--mid-ocean--an aeroplane? Mary," he added to +a lady in a dressing-gown who had just entered, "come and listen to +this. You know Charley Smith? Miss--Miss--" + +"Margaret Bunce," said the girl, rising. + +"My wife. Now, let us all sit down and see if we can make this out. If +I understand aright Miss Bunce was in a burning ship in mid-ocean--" + +"Oh, poor thing!" said Mrs. Daventry sympathetically, going to +Margaret and taking her hand. + +"And--correct me if I'm wrong--Smith descended out of the clouds, +caught up Miss Bunce, and flew with her to the house of his nearest +friend. Is your aeroplane outside, old man?" + +"It's a mile away, in charge of my chauffeur. I think I had better +tell the whole story from the beginning." + +"I think so, too; it's rather cloudy at present. Have a cigar--if the +ladies don't mind." + +"Well, two days ago I learnt that my father was shipwrecked along +with the company of his survey vessel on one of the Solomons, +practically unarmed, the report says. As the news was taken to +Brisbane by some of the crew in an open boat, they must have been at +the mercy of the savages for a week or more, and probably hard pushed. +Of course a gunboat was to be sent to relieve them, but as every hour +was important I decided to try to get to them in my aeroplane and take +them some ammunition. Last night, coming somewhere south of the +Andamans, we saw a ship on fire; she was adrift, lost her masts and +all boats but one. The captain asked me to send help as soon as I got +here, and Miss Bunce was good enough to accept our escort, and here we +are." + +"Good heavens!" exclaimed Mr. Daventry. "But--I don't understand yet. +How did you come to be by the Andamans? Where did you come from?" + +"Left London early Friday morning: came by Constantinople and +Karachi." + +"Upon my word, Smith, if I didn't know you I should be inclined to ask +if you are sober. You have come all the way from London since Friday +morning?" + +"Exactly. But I know you'll excuse me: I haven't time to tell you any +more. We are already four hours late, and every hour means nearly two +hundred miles. There are two things I want to do. First to arrange +with the port officer to send help to Captain Bunce; then to get the +petrol and lubricating oil ordered for me here. Van Kloof's the man. +You know him, of course." + +"Yes, but it's Sunday." + +"The better the day, the better the deed. I must have the petrol; I +must start in two hours or less. And I should like a good bath and a +breakfast first." + +"You shall have both, but surely you can wait till daylight." + +"I'm afraid I can't. It is very awkward, I admit, and I fear I shall +give you and several others a lot of trouble; but needs must when the +devil drives, as they say, and the devil in this case is Father Time. +You see, I've not only got to take some rifles and ammunition to the +shipwrecked party, but I must rejoin my ship by Friday morning, or +there'll be ructions. I've got a name for overstepping the limit, and +my captain warned me that I'd better rejoin promptly this time." + +"We mustn't hinder him, Jack," said Mrs. Daventry. + +"But, hang it all, Mary, do you understand what it means? He'll kill +himself, rushing round the world like this." + +"Not at all; I'm pretty tough," said Smith. "Now, old fellow, what is +the best you can do for me?" + +"Go and get your things on, Jack," said Mrs. Daventry practically. +"You can take Mr. Smith down to the harbour and get what he wants. +I'll see about the bath and the breakfast, and I am sure Miss Bunce +will help; I won't disturb the servants. Really, it is quite +exciting." + +"Thank you, Mrs. Daventry. It is very good of you. But I'm sure Miss +Bunce ought to go to sleep." + +"I am not a bit sleepy," said the girl, "and I shall certainly help +Mrs. Daventry." + +"Come along then, my dear," said the hostess. "We will go and see to +things at once." + +In five minutes Mr. Daventry was down. He and Smith left the house and +made their way rapidly to the harbour. The port officer complained at +having his beauty sleep disturbed, and when he learnt that his +assistance was wanted for a burning ship near the Andamans he declared +that he wished wireless had never been invented. + +"People know too much nowadays," he grumbled. "They'll know what we +think before we think it next." + +"Don't undeceive him," whispered Smith to Daventry, anxious to escape +the necessity of lengthy explanations. The port officer agreed to send +a steamer in search of the _Elizabeth_ as soon as it was light. Then, +without losing a minute, Daventry led Smith to the house of Mr. Van +Kloof, of whom the petrol had been ordered. + +"He's a bit of a slow-coach," said Daventry, "and will want to know +all about it, so I advise you to tell him everything; or better still, +leave it to me." + +"Very well. Anything to save time." + +Mr. Van Kloof was hard to awaken. When he was at last aroused by his +servants, he put his head out of his bedroom window, and demanded +gruffly what was the matter. + +"Come down, Van Kloof, and I'll explain. It's a matter of life or +death," said Daventry. + +"Vat is it? An earthquake?" + +"Worse than that. Slip into your breeches, man." + +The merchant presently appeared at his door in shirt and breeches, and +carrying a revolver. + +"You got a cable from London ordering eighty gallons of petrol to be +held ready for Lieutenant Smith?" said Daventry. + +"So. Dat is quite true." + +"Well, here is Lieutenant Smith, and he wants the petrol at once." + +Mr. Daventry explained where the petrol was to be sent. + +"No, it cannot be done, Mr. Daventry. It is Sunday morning. My store +is closed, and I do not understand the hurry." + +"Lieutenant Smith is off to the Solomon Islands to save his father +from being eaten by cannibals. There isn't a moment to lose." + +"Dat is strange. For vy should I take oil for a motor-boat up country? +You are playing games vid me?" + +"Of course not. He's not going by motor-boat, but by aeroplane." + +"Oho! Tell dat to the marines." + +"Hang it, Van Kloof, listen without interrupting. Mr. Smith has come +by aeroplane from London, and is going on at once. Give me the key of +your store, and we'll go and get the stuff ourselves." + +"Veil, of all the--pardon me, gentlemen, but you vill allow me to be +shocked to hear such news at five o'clock on a Sunday morning. I vill +come vid you. I must vake up some coolies to carry the cans. But it +shall be done; I vill myself see to it. I must look vell at dis +aeroplane." + +"You're sure we can rely on you?" + +"I vill bring all before an hour, you may trust me for dat." + +"Then we'll hurry back, Smith, and see about your breakfast. What +about your man, by the way?" + +"He's cleaning the engine by searchlight, and eating sardines and +biscuits, or something of the sort." + +"Couldn't we fetch him?" + +"I'm afraid there isn't time, and besides, he can hardly leave the +aeroplane unattended. It's hard lines, but I'll make it up to him when +we get back." + +They returned to the bungalow. A steaming bath was ready. When Smith +had bathed, he found hot coffee and eggs awaiting him. He ate and +drank ravenously, and in a quarter of an hour declared that he must +get back to the aeroplane. + +"Nonsense," said Daventry. "The petrol won't be there for half-an-hour +yet. You'll just lie down and rest, and have a comfortable smoke. I'll +go up the hill and take some food to your man." + +"You're a good fellow," said Smith, dropping into a capacious +arm-chair. Mrs. Daventry arranged a cushion behind his head, Miss +Bunce placed a stool for him to stretch his legs on, and in +half-a-minute he was fast asleep. + +"Don't wake him for an hour," said Mr. Daventry, as he left the house; +"I'll see that all is ready for him." + +The sun was rising when Mrs. Daventry, now dressed for outdoors, +wakened the sleeper by lifting his hand. He sprang up with a start. + +"Now, don't be agitated," said Mrs. Daventry. "It's just six o'clock. +Jack has gone to see that all is ready for you, and Miss Bunce and I +are coming to see you start. Really, I quite envy her, though I'm sure +I should never have the courage to go up in the air." + +"You'll think nothing of it some day. You've been very kind, and I'm +immensely obliged to you. By the way, will you ask Daventry, in case I +forget it, to send a cable to my sister to say that I'm all right?" + +"I won't forget. Now shall we go?" + +They found that a small crowd had collected round the aeroplane. Mr. +Daventry and Mr. Van Kloof were there, with several other Englishmen, +and a number of Chinese coolies and nondescript natives stood at a +little distance, gazing in wondering silence. Rodier had his watch in +his hand, and looked reproachfully at his employer. Smith pressed +through the crowd, shaking hands with the Englishmen one after +another, but declaring that he had no time for talking. He shook hands +with the Daventrys and Miss Bunce last of all, thanking them very +heartily for their assistance; then, calling for a clear space, he +followed Rodier to his seat. Almost before the onlookers could realize +what was happening, the aeroplane was in action, and while they were +still discussing the extraordinary nature of this means of locomotion, +it had soared into the air, flown humming away from them, and become +a mere speck in the eastern sky. + +They were scarcely clear of the ground before Rodier, raising his +voice to a bellow, shouted-- + +"Mister!" + +"Yes. What?" replied Smith, fearing that something was wrong. + +"Mister! We are four hours ten minutes late!" + + + + + INTERLUDE + + +"I'm afraid it's all up, doctor." + +Day had just broken. Lieutenant Underhill, standing rifle in hand at +his post in a corner of the barricade, addressed Dr. Thesiger Smith, +who had come to relieve him. + +"You think we can't hope for relief?" replied the doctor. + +"Yes. The boat must have foundered, or got lost, or perhaps has fallen +into the hands of the savages. We've come to our last tin of biscuits; +we've hardly ten rounds of cartridges among us." + +"What can we do then?" + +"Either fight till we drop, or give in; there's nothing else. The end +will be the same either way, but the first would be the quicker." + +The doctor stroked his beard with his thin hand. His son joined them; +not the ruddy, clean-shaven youth that had landed from the wreck +twelve days before, but a gaunt man whose hollow cheeks were dark with +a stubby beard. + +"Underhill gives up hope at last," said his father. + +"Then I'm ashamed of him," said Tom cheerfully. "Never say die. Go and +have a sleep, old man; it's enough to give any one the blues, keeping +watch in the dark. You'll feel better after a nap. Had any trouble?" + +"No, they haven't made a sound. I almost wish they had. Anything would +be better than this eternal keeping watch for an enemy that's afraid +to come on." + +"Well, not being a fighting man, I prefer for my part to keep a whole +skin as long as I can. Go and sleep, and the pater and I will talk +things over." + +Underhill, who was tired out, withdrew to the centre of the camp, and +throwing himself on a tarpaulin, was soon plunged in an uneasy +slumber. + +It was twelve days since the wreck, ten since the boat had put off to +seek assistance. When the storm had subsided, the castaways, drenched +to the skin, had taken stock of their situation. It was a wild and +desolate spot, far from the track of ships; months might pass before a +vessel came in sight. They had only a small store of food, barely +sufficient, even if husbanded with the utmost care, to last a +fortnight. From their position at the foot of rugged cliffs it was +impossible to tell what sustenance the island afforded, and the evil +reputation of the natives did not give promise of peaceful +exploration. While not actually head hunters, like the inhabitants of +the New Georgian group to the south, they were said to be treacherous +and vindictive. At the southern end of the island, as Underhill knew, +there was a Wesleyan mission station, placed in a somewhat +inaccessible spot, and at Tulagi, on Florida Island to the south, was +a Government station and the seat of the Resident. It might be +possible to reach one or the other of these, but even so they would be +compelled to wait indefinitely, there being no telegraphic +communication between either and a civilized port. + +Reflections like these did not tend to cheer the castaways; but, now +that the sun shone once more out of a clear sky, the invincible +optimism of the British sailorman displayed itself, and the men began +to scramble up the cliffs with almost light-hearted eagerness. At the +top they found themselves at the edge of a dense and tangled forest. +Underhill sent some of the crew to search for a likely camping place, +while the remainder hauled up the boat's cargo. A comparatively clear +space, about a hundred and fifty yards square, was discovered within a +short distance from the cliffs. A stream running through the midst +ensured a good supply of water, and here Underhill determined to make +his camp. + +Great havoc had been wrought in the forest by the storm. Many trees +had been snapped off or uprooted; the ground was strewn with broken +branches; and when the whole party were assembled at the spot, and the +arms and provisions had been covered with a tarpaulin, Underhill sent +all hands to collect broken timber for forming a breastwork. +Fortunately, a good number of tools had been brought from the vessel, +and as the men came in with their loads, Rumbold, the ship's +carpenter, set to work, with the assistance of two or three, to +surround the enclosure with a rough fence. Underhill ordered them to +avoid the use of hammers and axes, the noise of which, carrying far in +these solitudes, might attract the attention of the natives, who, for +all he knew, had a village in the neighbourhood. There was no lack of +tough creepers which were serviceable for binding the logs together, +and a great number of cactus-like plants were cut down to form a +defensive lining to the barricade. + +In the course of three or four hours the whole encampment had been +roughly fenced. It would not, in its present condition, prove a very +formidable obstacle to a determined attack; but the day had become +very hot, and Underhill was anxious to avoid overworking the men. The +barricade could be strengthened next day. + +Just before nightfall the company ate a spare supper of tinned meat +and biscuit, and then, in a little group apart from the rest, +Underhill, with his officers and the Smiths, held a council to decide +on a course of action. They determined, after brief discussion, that +next day four of the men should take the boat and try to make their +way to Tulagi. The loss of the second boat had rendered it impossible +for the whole party to embark; but no doubt the Resident at Tulagi +would have boats of some sort at his disposal, and in these the +castaways could be taken off. When once at Tulagi, they would have to +wait until the first vessel touched at the island. Four men, including +Venables, volunteered to make the voyage, and were ready to start that +night; but every one was exhausted by the adventures and fatigues of +the day, and Underhill thought it best that they should have a night's +rest before they set off. Having arranged for watches to be kept as on +board ship, he gave the order to turn in, and their clothes and the +ground having been well dried by the afternoon sun, they passed a +comfortable and undisturbed night. + +Up at daybreak, they first of all occupied themselves with completing +the barricade; then, about eleven o'clock, when they were preparing to +escort the four men to the boat, which had been anchored at the foot +of the cliff, some one cried out that he saw brown men advancing +through the woods. Underhill instantly ordered the barricade to be +manned, and served out arms and ammunition as far as they would go +round. There were only a dozen rifles, however, among twenty men; the +rest armed themselves with tools and implements of various kinds. + +Soon a large body of brown-skinned, fuzzy-headed natives, armed with +spears, clubs, and bows and arrows, came slowly towards the camp. +Their attitude was apparently friendly, but, remembering their +reputation for treachery, Underhill did not trust them, and refused to +leave the shelter of the barricade in answer to their invitation, +expressed by signs, to come forth and palaver with them. It was well +he refrained, for when they were within a few yards of the camp they +suddenly darted forward with a wild whoop. Underhill ordered his men +to fire a volley over their heads, hoping to scare them away without +bloodshed; but the reports of the rifles did not make the astounding +impression it usually produced upon savages, and Underhill could not +but believe that they were not wholly unacquainted with the use of +firearms. They advanced with the more ferocity, and it was not until +several had fallen to another volley from behind the barricade that +they drew back to the shelter of the woods. + +It would clearly be unsafe to attempt to reach the boat while the +savages were in view. As time went on they appeared to increase in +numbers, and every now and then they sent a flight of arrows into the +camp. But the garrison kept out of sight behind the barricade nearest +to the enemy, and their missiles either stuck in it, or fell +harmlessly within the enclosure. + +So the day passed. The fact that trouble had come so soon impressed +Underhill with the necessity of sending for assistance without delay. +The prospect of a siege, with only a limited supply of ammunition to +repel assaults, and a scarcely greater supply of food, was very +disturbing. He had little fear of being able to beat off attack so +long as ammunition lasted, but when it was all spent, the savages must +overpower the white men by sheer weight of numbers. Venables now +wished to recall his undertaking, and remain in the fighting line; but +Underhill decided that he must go in command of the other men. +Accordingly, at nightfall, the four crept through a small gap made in +the seaward face of the barricade, and clambered down the cliff. +Underhill listened anxiously for a time, wondering whether the men had +been discovered, or whether they had safely reached the boat; but +after an hour of silence he concluded that either the enemy had not +been watching in that quarter, or that the boat had slipped away +unobserved in the darkness. + +The night was undisturbed, but with dawn the natives reappeared. The +lesson of the previous day had not proved effectual; they came +resolutely up to the barricade in a vast yelling horde. Underhill +ordered his men to reserve their fire until the enemy was within a few +yards of the enclosure; then two rapid volleys with repeating rifles +and revolvers opened a great gap in the throng, and the survivors, +scared by their losses, once more betook themselves to the woods. +Several times during the day they returned to the attack, pushing it +home each time with more determination, and towards evening with a +rage and frenzy that could only be due to the stimulation of strong +liquor. At this last onset the defenders were almost overwhelmed, +repeated volleys seeming only to inflame the fierce warriors. For some +minutes there was a hand-to-hand fight as they made desperate +endeavours to scale the barricade, and only when a score of their +number lay dead and wounded did they relinquish the contest. They took +away the wounded, but left the dead where they lay, and in the night +the garrison had the gruesome task of carrying the bodies to the edge +of the cliff and casting them into the sea. For some time Dr. Smith +was kept busy in attending to the wounded among his own party, and +next day one of the stokers, struck by a poisoned arrow, succumbed to +blood-poisoning, and his comrades, at dead of night, gave him sailor's +burial. + +Some days passed, and no serious attack was made, though the garrison +had to be very wary to avoid the arrows which flew at intervals into +the enclosure. One evening, soon after sunset, one of the men on watch +noticed a small light approaching the barricade, and thought at first +it was one of the phosphorescent insects which abounded in the woods, +and which the garrison had seen every night like little lamps among +the trees. But as it came nearer he perceived that it grew larger and +brighter, and moved from side to side with more regularity than was +probable with an insect, and at length he saw that it was a +smouldering torch held by a native, who was waving it to and fro to +cause a flame. Evidently he was coming to fire the barricade. A +well-directed shot brought him down, but to guard against any more +attempts of the same kind Underhill had the barricade constantly +drenched with water from the stream, a fatiguing job, but one that was +welcome to the men, in that it gave them something to do. + +Day after day went by. It was clear that the enemy were trusting to +famine to accomplish their end. Luckily, it never entered their heads +to hasten the inevitable by damming up the stream before it entered +the enclosure. If they had done this the garrison could hardly have +held out for a day. In that hot climate a constant supply of water was +a prime necessity. But water without solid food would not keep them +alive, and as the stock of provisions diminished, and no help came, +they saw the horrors of starvation looming ever nearer. Underhill and +Tom Smith assumed a false cheerfulness before each other and the men, +but on the morning of the twelfth day Underhill was unable to keep up +the pretence any longer. + +"I didn't want to show Underhill," said Tom to his father, when the +lieutenant had gone; "but we're just about done, I think." + +"I'm afraid so, Tom. Poor Jenkins had a touch of delirium in the +night, and we are all getting so weak that we shall go off our heads." + +"Well, I've got an idea. I thought I'd mention it to you before I +spoke to Underhill. The blacks haven't been near us for a day or two, +but you may be sure they are not far off. I fancy they've got a camp +or a village in the woods yonder. They must have food there, and I +don't see why we shouldn't try a night attack on them, and run away +with all we can lay hands upon. If we must, perish, better perish +fighting than starving." + +"Yes, but it would be folly to attempt it unless we saw a chance of +success, and I see none. We don't know where their camp is; they may +be constantly on the watch, and could take us in the rear and occupy +our camp before we could get back. Besides, we might have to go a long +way, and how could we find our way back again?" + +"One difficulty at a time, Father. As to finding our way back, we +could light small fires at intervals, which would serve as +guide-posts." + +"And betray us to the enemy." + +"But I shouldn't undertake it unless we discover that the course is +clear. I don't believe these natives ever keep watch by night; we have +seen no sign of them at night since they tried to burn us. The chief +difficulty is that we don't know the exact direction of their camp, +but why shouldn't I go out to-night and locate it?" + +"Very dangerous, my boy." + +"There's danger anyway," replied Tom, with a shrug. "I should take my +pocket compass; two or three of those insects would be enough to light +it." + +"I think we had better remain all together, Tom. Help may yet come. +Why should you imperil your life, perhaps in vain?" + +"Well, Father, I think I ought to chance it. I'll be careful! if I'm +seen I can make a bolt for it; and I fancy I can pick up my heels +quicker than the fuzzy-wuzzies, even though they don't wear boots." + +Dr. Smith was still loth to acquiesce in the proposal, but Tom +returned to it more than once during the day, and at last obtained his +father's consent. It was scarcely easier to win over Underhill; but +with him Tom cut the matter short. + +"You command the men," he said, with a smile. "My father commands +me--in a sense, for I'd have you know I am over age. I'm going to have +a try. Get the men ready to make a dash when I come back, for if I +succeed the sooner we set about it the better." + +The knowledge of his intended expedition had a wonderful effect on the +spirits of the men. Their faces brightened: they threw off the +lethargy of despondence which had settled upon them, and discussed +with some animation the chances of success. + +An hour after nightfall, having first looked and listened for any sign +of the enemy, Tom was let out through a gap in the barricade. He +caught two or three light-giving insects in the bushes just beyond, +and set off in the direction in which the natives had always retreated +when their attacks were beaten off. + +It was pitch dark in the belt of forest. Night insects hummed around; +sometimes Tom heard the rustle made by some small animal as it darted +through the undergrowth; there was no other sound. He was able to +determine his general direction by means of the compass, but as the +forest grew thicker he began to fear that he would find more +difficulty than he had anticipated in retracing his course. The damp +warm air was oppressive; now and then he struck his head against a +low branch, stumbled over a stump or a fallen bough, or found his feet +entangled in the meshes of some creeping plant. He was soon bathed in +perspiration; every new sound made him jump; and with every stumble he +waited and listened with beating heart, wondering if he had betrayed +his presence to the enemy. He thought ruefully that his speed as a +sprinter would avail him little on ground like this; he had his +revolver, but that would be useless against numbers; discovery would +mean death. + +Amid so many obstructions his progress was terribly slow. It was seven +o'clock when he started; when it occurred to him to look at his watch +he was startled to find that two hours had passed. He could not tell +how far he had come, nor guess how far he had yet to go. He hesitated; +should he go back? Was there any use in struggling further? What +chance was there in this dense forest of finding what he sought? Might +he not even miss the savages' camp altogether, go beyond it, leave it +either on his right hand or his left, or perhaps stumble upon it +suddenly, and be discovered before he had a chance to flee? But he put +these questions from his mind. He had set out to find the camp; no +harm had befallen him. There was a strain of doggedness in his nature; +he had won his scholarships at school and at Cambridge by sheer grit; +his tutor had declared that Tom Smith was certainly not brilliant, +but he was much better: he was sound and steady; and the same +qualities that had won him successes which more brilliant men envied, +came out in these novel circumstances in which he was placed. Tom +decided to go on. + +Presently he came to a break in the woodland; he saw the stars +overhead. He was very wary now, and waited at the edge of the clearing +for a long time, peering all round, turning to listen on every side, +before he crossed and entered another belt of forest beyond. Again he +had to struggle through darkness and dense entanglements, then +suddenly he started; far ahead he thought he discerned amid the +blackness the dull glow of a fire. With infinite caution he picked his +way through the thinning undergrowth; the glow increased; and at +length he found himself on the edge of a wide open space in the midst +of which there was a camp fire, and around it the rude grass huts of +the savages. He saw no one, heard no sound; all were asleep. + +Stealthily he crept round the encampment. Here and there he saw +cooking-pots, and caught the faint odour of roasted flesh. Had the +savages any store of food, he wondered. If not, his journey was vain. +The fire did not give light enough for him to see anything very +clearly. At last, however, when he had almost made the circuit of the +camp, he saw a man move out from one of the huts towards the fire, on +which he cast some logs that lay beside it. A flame shot up. As the +man returned to his hut, he put his hand into one of the cooking-pots +and drew out the limb of a small animal, from which he tore the flesh +with his teeth. Tom was satisfied. No doubt each of the pots contained +a quantity of food. Surely if he brought his comrades to the spot, and +they fell upon the camp suddenly, with loud cries and the noise of +firearms, they might strike panic into the savages, and at least have +time to possess themselves of the contents of the pots. + +He looked at his watch. It was past ten o'clock. + +He could return more quickly than he came, and, if he did not lose his +way, would regain his camp within half-an-hour after midnight. There +would be plenty of time for the whole party to reach the savages' +encampment before the dawn rendered it dangerous. Moving away slowly +until he was out of earshot, he then walked as quickly as he could +back through the forest. But he was not a mariner, and even a mariner +would have been at fault in tracking his course by compass through +dense forest. He judged his general direction accurately, but he +swerved a little too far to the right, and suddenly found himself on +the brink of the cliff. He dared not go back into the forest, lest he +should lose more time in wandering, so he decided to keep as close to +the sea as possible, thinking that he must in time arrive at his camp. +His path was tortuous; once he had to strike inland to avoid a deep, +wooded ravine; but presently he heard the sound of falling water, and, +quickening his steps, came almost suddenly upon the barricade. + +The whole company were awake. They had almost given him up for lost. +It was one o'clock. Underhill sternly checked a cheer from the +sailors, when Tom ran up. He told what he had seen. + +"Hadn't we better wait till to-morrow night?" suggested Dr. Smith. + +"To-night! to-night!" cried the men eagerly. The knowledge that food +was within reach of them was too much for famishing men. Who knew if +they would have strength or sanity for the task after another +sweltering day? Underhill could not refuse them; he gave orders for +the whole company to march at once. + +None was left to guard the camp; the little company of sixteen could +not be divided. They set off in single file, Tom leading the way, not +because he had any hope of treading in his former course, but because +he alone had traversed the forest, and he alone had a compass. + +The plan of lighting fires to guide them on the return journey was +given up. The forest was so dense that such fires would have been of +little use; further, they might cause an immense conflagration which, +though it would effectually scare the enemy, would destroy what the +famished men so urgently needed, food. + +Their progress was even slower than Tom's had been. They had to stop +frequently to make sure that all were together, and, as ill luck would +have it, Tom found that he was leading them through a part of the +forest where the entanglements were more intricate and less penetrable +than those he had formerly encountered. But he plodded on doggedly, +speaking to no one of his anxiety when a glance at his watch told how +time was fleeting. If they did not reach the camp of the savages +before dawn their toil and fatigue would be wasted, and their peril +greater than it had ever been. + +Here and there, where the trees grew less close together, he felt a +slight breeze blowing in his face, and at length he detected a faint +smell of wood smoke. He halted, and told the rest, in a whisper, that +they were approaching a settlement. From this point they advanced +still more slowly and cautiously. Then, with a suddenness that took +them aback, they came to the edge of a clearing. At first Tom was not +sure whether it was the same that he had seen before. He had indeed +approached it from a different direction. But a glance around +satisfied him on this point, and the party stood within the shelter of +the trees while Underhill gave his orders. They were to fire one +shot, then rush forward with loud shouts, seize what food they could +lay hands on, and flee back in all haste. There was no time to be +lost, for the sky already gave hint of dawn. + +Underhill had scarcely finished speaking when there was a cry from a +point near at hand. They had approached the camp from the wind-yard +side; the breeze had carried either some murmur of Underhill's voice, +low as he had spoken, or some faint scent which the natives, as keen +in their perceptions as wild animals, had detected. Instantly the camp +was in commotion: the dusky warriors poured forth from their little +huts, and swept, a wild, yelling horde, upon the weary company. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +SOME PRAUS AND A JUNK + + +Smith's destination, on leaving Penang, was Port Darwin in the +Northern Territory of Australia. He had never been at that port, and +knew that a few years before it had been little more than a collection +of grass humpys, inhabited by Chinese and Malays, with an iron shed +for a Custom House, and a vast expanse of forest and jungle behind. +But it was the principal port in the northern part of Australia, and +he had no doubt that at Palmerston, the thriving town on the eastern +shore, he would be able to obtain the necessary supply of petrol and +oil. + +His map informed him that his course lay across the Malay Peninsula, +Dutch Borneo, and the islands of Celebes and Timor. It was necessary +to rise to a considerable height to cross the hills that run like a +spine on the Malay Peninsula, and having passed those, he came in +little over an hour to the eastern coast, about a hundred and fifty +miles north of Singapore. In another hour and a half he reached the +coast of Borneo, whence for nearly three hours he saw beneath him an +almost unbroken sea of foliage, only one range of hills breaking the +monotony. Somewhat after midday he came to the straits of Macassar, at +the south-east extremity of Borneo. As he crossed these, he had an +unpleasant shock. The engine missed sparking once or twice when he was +half-way across the Straits, and he shouted to Rodier to loose the +life buoys in case it failed. There were several small craft beneath +him, so that he had no doubt of being picked up if the aeroplane fell, +unless, indeed, sharks "got in first," as he put it. But the +interruption of the sparking was only temporary, and he reached the +island of Celebes safely. Then he thought it merely prudent to descend +and overhaul the engine, though he deplored the loss of time. He +landed on a solitary spot where there was no likelihood of being +molested, and Rodier having cleaned the fouled plug that had caused +the trouble, they went on again. + +They were sailing low over the deep bay formed by the two huge +tentacles that run south and south-east from the crab-like body of the +island, when suddenly, above the noise of the engine, they heard the +sharp crack of a shot, then two or three more. Glancing up the bay to +his left, Smith saw a large junk, its sails hanging limp, surrounded +by a number of small craft which from their appearance he guessed to +be praus. He had read many a time of the fierce Malayan pirates that +used to infest these seas, and was somewhat surprised to find that +piracy had apparently not been wholly suppressed. As a matter of fact, +European vessels no longer ran the same risks as of old, the Malays +having learnt by experience that sooner or later retribution was bound +to overtake them; but it was a different matter with Chinese junks. So +long as these could be attacked successfully and secretly, with no +witnesses to carry information to the outside world, there was little +risk in swooping down upon them. The celestial government did not +follow up piratical forays of this kind in seas distant from the +Empire itself; and the Malays were not likely to attack unless they +had a great advantage over their victim in point of numbers. A junk +might be seized and its crew massacred without the slightest whisper +of the event coming to civilized ears. + +Smith saw the praus clustering round the junk like a swarm of bees. It +was impossible to doubt what the result would be. He was loth to lose +more time: the plight of a Chinese vessel was no concern of his; yet +as he glanced up and down the bay and saw that it could obtain help +from no other quarter, he could not bring himself to leave the +hapless Chinamen to the fate that must overtake them unless he +intervened. Slackening speed, he cried to Rodier-- + +"We must do something." + +The Frenchman nodded. Smith swung the aeroplane round, and descended +until it was circling immediately over the junk and its assailants. +Cries of amazement broke from some of the Malays as they caught sight +of this strange portent from the sky, but the greater number were +climbing up the sides of the junk, heedless of all else than the work +in hand. There was something fascinating to Smith in the spectacle: +the almost naked Malays, armed with their terrible krises, swarming on +every part of the vessel; the Chinamen with pikes, muskets, and +stink-balls fighting with the courage of despair to keep the boarders +at bay. As yet the Malays had not gained a permanent footing on the +deck, but for every man that was felled or hurled back into the praus +there were a dozen to fill the gap, and the most valorous of fighters +could not long contend against such odds. + +For a little while Smith was perplexed as to what he could do to help +them. The necessity of keeping the aeroplane in motion did not permit +either Rodier or himself to use his revolver effectively. Without +doubt the Malays would be scared off if they fully realized his +presence, for they could scarcely have seen an aeroplane before, and +it must be to them a very terrifying object. But a Malay, when drunken +with hemp and his own ferocity, is as little subject to impressions of +his surroundings as an infuriated bull. The men left in the praus were +gazing up in terror at the humming aeroplane; but even during the few +seconds of Smith's hesitation the others gained the deck of the junk +forward of the mast, and with fierce yells and sweeping strokes of +their krises began to drive the Chinamen towards the poop. In a few +minutes the whole crew would be butchered and thrown to the sharks. + +Suddenly an idea occurred to Smith. He planed upwards till the +aeroplane reached a height of about a hundred feet above the vessel, +calling to Rodier to bombard the boarders with the full bottles of +soda-water which they had with them. The Frenchman chuckled as he +seized the notion. Smith kept the aeroplane wheeling in a narrow +circle over the scene of combat, and when it was vertically above the +deck Rodier flung down several bottles one after another among the +Malays. The effect was instantaneous. These novel missiles flung from +so great a height, acted like miniature bombshells, exploding with a +loud report as they touched the deck, and flying into myriad +fragments. Not even the most rage-intoxicated Malay could withstand +the shock. The noise, the prickly splinters of glass, peppering +their half-naked bodies like a charge of small shot, altered their +blind fury to dismay and panic. With screams of affright they rushed +to the sides of the junk. But the men left in the praus had already +begun to paddle frantically away, heedless of the fate of their +comrades. These plunged overboard, and swam after the departing +vessels, whose flight Rodier speeded with another bottle or two. In +less than a minute the junk was clear. + +For some minutes Smith shepherded the praus toward the shore. Every +now and then he saw a swimmer disappear suddenly: without doubt the +sharks were gathering to claim their prey. Then, feeling sure that the +Malays were too much terrified to think of renewing their attack on +the junk, he again set his face eastward towards the open sea. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AUSTRALIAN HOSPITALITY + + +Darkness was falling when the airmen came in sight of the chain of +small islands running from Java eastward almost to the Australian +coast. Knowing that these islands were very hilly, Smith rose to a +great height, using his flashlight every now and then to guard against +mishap. If he had not known the nature of the islands he could almost +have guessed it from the behaviour of the aeroplane, which now tended +to shoot upwards, now to sink downwards, irrespective of any volition +of his own. This proved to Smith that he had come into a region of +variable currents of wind, such as might be set up by the hollows and +ridges of mountain tops. The forcing of the machine upwards implied +that the pressure of the air ahead was increased, owing to a lull in +the wind behind; the sinking implied that the force of a contrary wind +was diminished, and that the inertia of the machine prevented it from +readily accommodating itself to the new conditions. During this part +of the voyage Smith had to be constantly alert to warp the planes +instantaneously when he detected the least sign of instability, and he +was very glad when he saw once more the reflection of the stars in the +sea beneath him, and knew that he would encounter no more obstacles +between Timor, which he had just passed, and Port Darwin. + +His concern now was to pick up the light which, according to the +Admiralty's sailing directions, shone from an iron structure a hundred +and twenty feet high, about a mile south of Point Charles, the western +extremity of Port Darwin. Approaching the port from the west, as he +was, he should have no difficulty in seeing the light at a distance of +eighteen or twenty miles, the sky being clear. But as time went on +neither he nor Rodier caught sight of the red speck for which they +were looking. Half-past eight came, local time, as nearly as Smith +could calculate it by his watch, which still registered London time; +and even allowing for the hours lost he should by now have touched +land. He was beginning to feel anxious when he suddenly found land +below him--a land of dense forests, apparently low and flat. The +question was, whether this was the mainland of Australia or an island, +possibly Bathurst Island, north of Port Darwin. It was impossible to +tell. There was no time to ponder or weigh possibilities; yet if he +took the wrong course he might be hours in discovering his mistake, +and this part of Australia being almost wholly uninhabited he might +fail to find any guidance even if he descended. By a rapid guess--it +could not be called reasoning--he concluded that he had probably +steered a too southerly course, and that he would do right if he now +steered to the north-east. His indecision had lasted only a few +seconds; he brought the aeroplane round until she flew over the line +of breakers washing the shore, and followed the coast at full speed. + +Within a quarter of an hour both the men caught sight at the same +moment of the red glow of the light, which grew in brilliance as they +approached it, and then diminished as the lamp revolved. Steering now +to the east, in ten minutes they were sailing over the town of +Palmerston, the capital of the Northern Territory. The lighted +streets, crossing at right angles, formed a pattern below them like +the diagram for the game of noughts and crosses. They found a landing +place a little to the north-east of the town, beyond the railway, and +having safely come to earth, Smith left Rodier to attend to the engine +and hastened towards the nearest house, a sort of bungalow of wood and +iron. Sounds of singing came from within. + +A Chinaman opened the door to his knock. Smith asked if the master was +at home. + +"Massa inside allo lightee," answered the man. "Me go fetchee, +chop-chop." + +He soon returned, followed by a stalwart bearded Australian of about +fifty years, smoking a big pipe. + +"Well, mate," he said, eyeing Smith curiously by the light of the door +lamp; "what can I do for you?" + +"I must apologize for troubling you on Sunday night," began Smith. + +"No trouble, I assure you. Come in." He led Smith into a little room +near the door. "We've a few friends in the parlour," he added, "and I +guess you can tell me here what you want." + +"Well, to put it shortly, I should be very much obliged to you if +you'd direct me to Mr. Mackinnon. He's got some petrol waiting for me, +at least I hope he has, and I'm in great need of it." + +"Well, that's real unlucky now. He went to Pine Creek down the line +only yesterday, and won't be back till to-morrow. Are you Lieutenant +Smith, may I ask?" + +"Yes, that's my name." + +"Mackinnon got a cable from Java on Friday about the petrol. He told +me about it, and mighty astonished he was. Motor-cars are pretty +scarce about here, and he hasn't got a great quantity of petrol. I +suppose it's for a motor-boat you want it? When did you leave +Java?--before the cable, I guess." + +"I haven't come from Java at all. The cable was sent through there +from London. The fact is, I've come in an aeroplane." + +"What! Over the sea?" + +"Yes, over sea and land. I left Penang early this morning, and must go +on at once." + +"Well, if I ain't just about flummuxed! D'you mean to say you've come +pretty near two thousand five hundred miles to-day?" + +"Yes; I'll tell you in a word all about it." + +His host, whose name was Martin, listened in mute amazement as Smith +briefly related the occasion of his long journey. + +"Why, man," exclaimed Mr. Martin, when he had concluded his story; +"wonders'll never cease. You must be dead beat. I never heard the like +of it. Come into the other room. The boys'll be mad to hear this." + +"Really, I'd rather not. I haven't any time to lose, and Mr. Mackinnon +being away--" + +"Oh, that don't matter. He didn't expect you so soon, but we'll get +what you want, though it is Sunday. But a bite and a sup will do you +all the good in the world, and won't take you long, and the boys will +just go crazy if they don't see you. Why, it's round the world you're +going. My sakes! Come along." + +He almost dragged Smith into a large, low room, where several men and +women, boys and girls, were seated round the wall. They were singing +hymns to the accompaniment of a harmonium. A table loaded with +eatables was pushed into a corner. The entrance of Mr. Martin, +followed by a dirty, unkempt, and oddly dressed stranger, caused an +abrupt cessation of the singing. The girl at the harmonium sprang up +with a startled look. + +"What is it, Father?" she asked anxiously. + +"Nothing to be scart about, my girl. Neighbours, this gentleman has +come all the way from London in an aeroplane." + +The announcement was received in dead silence. Smith stood like a +statue as he listened to Mr. Martin's hurried explanation, resigning +himself to be the target of all eyes. Everybody crowded about him, +silent no longer, but all asking questions at once. Mrs. Martin went +to the table and brought from it a dish of chicken patties, which she +pressed upon him. + +"Do'ee eat now," she said, in the broad accent of Devonshire. "I made +'em myself, and you must be downright famished." + +"Not quite so bad as that," said Smith, with a smile, "I had a good +breakfast at Penang, and have nibbled some biscuits and things on the +way." + +"Biscuits are poor food for a hungry man. Eat away now, do." + +Other members of the family brought ale, cider, fruit, cakes, enough +for a dozen men, and for some minutes Smith's attention was divided +between eating and drinking and answering the questions which poured +upon him in a never-ending flood. Conscious of the lapse of time, he +at last said that he must go and obtain the fuel for his engine. The +men rose in a body, prepared to accompany him. + +"I don't think we had better all go, neighbours," said Mr. Martin. +"I'll take Mr. Smith to the Resident; we shall have to see him about +the petrol, you know." + +"There's one thing your friends can do for me," said Smith. "I want +ten or a dozen rifles, and a lot of ammunition. Can you provide them +at such short notice?" + +"I should just think we can," said Mr. Martin. "Neighbours, get +together what Mr. Smith wants, and take 'em out along to the +aeroplane. It's just a step or two beyond the railway, from what he +says. Mother, send out some eatables, too, something better than +biscuits, to Mr. Smith's man, who's looking after it. Now, Mr. Smith, +come along. The Residency isn't far off: we're only a small town." + +The two set off, and in a few minutes arrived at the Residency, a +stone building of more pretensions than the wood and iron erections of +which the town mostly consisted. The Resident was at home. Once more +Smith had to tell his story, once more to listen to exclamations and +reply to questions, grudging every moment that kept him. The Resident +had heard of the wreck of the _Albatross_, in which he had been +particularly interested, because he had some slight acquaintance with +its commander. + +"I heard by wire only yesterday, Mr. Smith, that a gunboat had been +sent from Brisbane to the relief of your friends. She started three +days ago, and can't possibly reach the wreck until to-morrow at +earliest. But surely she will be there before you?" + +"Not if I can get off soon, and don't meet with an accident on the +way. It's nearly two thousand miles from here to Ysabel Island, I +think?" + +"I can't tell you within a hundred or two, but it's about that. When +do you think you will get there?" + +"About midday to-morrow, with luck. I shall take on here enough petrol +to last the whole way, if I'm not thrown out of my course or meet with +mishap; but I suppose I can get a fresh supply at Port Moresby, if +necessary?" + +"I very much doubt it. And what about getting back?" + +"I'm going on as soon as I've seen that my people are safe--if I'm not +too late. I've got to rejoin my ship at 9 a.m. on Friday morning, or I +run the risk of being hauled over the coals." + +"Surely not. They will make allowances, seeing what your errand has +been." + +"They don't make allowances easily in the Navy, sir. Besides, I've set +my heart on being back in time." + +"You will return this way, then. Ysabel Island is this side of the 180 +degree line." + +"Well, no, sir. Having started, I mean to get round the world if I +can." + +"You're a sportsman, I see. Well, now, what will your best course be?" + +He opened a map. + +"I've planned it all, sir," said Smith hurriedly. "I go on to Samoa: +I'm sure to find petrol there; then Honolulu, San Francisco, St. Paul, +and St. John's, all big places, where I shall be able to get all I +want. Now, sir, I know Sunday night must be an awkward time, but, with +your assistance, I daresay I can get the petrol from Mr. Mackinnon's +store." + +"There is a little difficulty which we shall have to get over. We've a +very strict regulation against entering at night any godown +containing explosives, owing to the risk of fire. Mr. Mackinnon's +godown will be locked up; his Chinaman will have the key; and as +Resident I can't openly countenance a breach of the rules. We have had +a great deal of trouble to enforce them, and any relaxation would have +a very bad effect on the Chinamen: they wouldn't understand it." + +"Don't you worry about that, sir," said Mr. Martin. "Leave it to me. +There'll be a fine to pay to-morrow," he added, with a chuckle; "and +you can make it pretty stiff as a warning to the Chinese; it'll be +paid on the nail, I assure you." + +"Very well, Mr. Martin. I shall know nothing about it officially until +you come before me to-morrow, and I'll read you a severe lecture in +addition to fining you. You can come to me for a subscription +afterwards. Good-bye, Mr. Smith: good luck. I sincerely hope you'll +find your friends safe and sound. Give my kind regards to Lieutenant +Underhill." + +Smith left the Residency with Mr. Martin, who led him to the Chinese +quarter of the town, a dark assemblage of small huts, pig-sties, and +poultry runs. + +"I don't know where Mackinnon's boy lives," said Mr. Martin. "We shall +have to hunt him up." + +All the huts were apparently in darkness, and Smith, as he walked +rapidly beside his guide, thought that he preferred the smell of +petrol smoke to the mingled odours that assailed his nose. At length +they discovered a light amid the gloom, and hastening towards it, +discovered that it proceeded from an oil-lamp within one of the huts, +the door of which was open. Here they saw a group of Chinamen +squatting on the floor, engaged in playing a game with small figures +carved in bone. + +"Hi, boys," called Mr. Martin; "can tell where Ching-Fu keeps?" + +"My tellee massa," cried one of the younger men, rising. "My go long +that side, show wai-lo." + +"Come on, then: chop-chop." + +"Allo lightee, massa: my savvy." + +He led them through what appeared to Smith an intricate maze of narrow +alleys, and presently pushed open the door of a hut, and called the +name of Ching-Fu, entering without ceremony. The Englishmen heard +voices raised as in altercation, and after some minutes the guide +reappeared, followed by a burly compatriot, rubbing his eyes. + +"He catchee sleep, say what for come fetchee this time." + +"Now, Ching-Fu," said Mr. Martin, "this gentleman wants seventy +gallons of petrol, at once. Mr. Mackinnon got a cable about it +yesterday. Come and get the cans, and have them taken up to my house +at once." + +"No can do, massa," replied the man in a shrill tone of voice, that +seemed singularly unbefitting to his massive frame. "Topside man +catchee my inside godown this time, ch'hoy! he makee big bobbely." + +"Never mind about that. I'll pay the fine." + +"No can do, no can do so-fashion. Massa pay squeeze; all-same, my +catchee plenty bobbely, makee my too muchee sick." + +"I'll take care you don't suffer. Come along: there's no time to +lose." + +"This time Sunday, look-see, massa. No workee Sunday, no fear; that +joss-pidgin day." + +"I can't waste time talking." Smith whispered in his ear. "Yes; Mr. +Smith will give you ten shillings for yourself if you hurry up." + +"Ch'hoy!" cried the other man. "Massa numpa one genelum; my go long +too, Ching-Fu. No can catchee ten bob evely day." + +Ching-Fu suffered himself to be persuaded. He beat up three or four of +his neighbours, and proceeded with them to the godown, the Englishmen +following to ensure that no time was lost. In half-an-hour the +necessary supplies of petrol and lubricating oil were being wheeled up +on trucks towards Mr. Martin's house. On the way Smith noticed a +number of reddish lights at irregular intervals, moving in the same +direction, and there were more people in the streets than when he had +come down, all hurrying one way. + +"By Jingo!" said Mr. Martin, "the news has spread, and it looks +uncommonly like a torchlight procession. Hullo, Jenkins, what's the +matter?" + +"That you, Martin?" replied the man addressed. "Everybody's talking +about an aeroplane that's come down somewhere near Mackenzie's shed, +and I'm off to see if it's true. Haven't you heard about it?" + +"I did hear something of the sort. I'll be up there, too, by-and-by." + +Smith was a little annoyed at the possibility of being delayed by a +crowd of spectators, but there was evidently no help for it. He +returned to Mr. Martin's house, being assured by his host that he need +have no anxiety about the safe delivery of the petrol. + +Meanwhile Rodier, on Smith's departure, had, as usual, set to work to +clean the engine. He was tired and sleepy, and he would have been more +than human if he had not thought that his employer had rather the best +of the arrangement. But any private soreness he might have felt did +not affect the speed or the thoroughness of his work. He first of all +examined the wires: there was nothing wrong with them. Then he +unscrewed the plugs and laid them on top of the engine, pulled the +engine over, and finding that there was a poor spark, concluded that +it was rather sooty. After cleaning the parts thoroughly with petrol, +he again started the engine. The sparking being still weak, he +examined the magneto: it was choked with grease. The next thing was to +clean the brush with petrol and try the plugs again. The spark was now +strong, and after giving everything a final polish, he replaced the +plugs, satisfied that the engine was in good working order. + +Switching off the searchlight for economy's sake, and leaving only the +small light that illuminated the compass, he sat down, opened a tin of +sardines, and began to eat them with biscuits. A fastidious person +might have objected to the mingling of flavours, olive oil and petrol +not combining at all well; but Rodier was too old a hand to be dainty. +He was in the act of munching a mouthful when his head dropped forward +on his breast, and he fell into a sound sleep. + +He was wakened by a voice in his ear. Jumping up with a start, he +beheld a crowd of people watching him, men in Sunday coats, men in +shirt sleeves, ladies in light dresses, boys in knickerbockers and +Norfolks, girls in pinafores, Chinamen in coats of many colours, many +of the throng holding torches and lanterns. + +"Ah! mille diables!" he cried. "Keep back! This is not a penny +theatre." + +"Nor yet a cook-shop," said one of the visitors, with a laugh; "though +you might think so." + +And then Rodier saw that the men and boys foremost in the group +carried plates, dishes, bowls, bottles, jugs. One had a dish of +chicken patties, another a plate of bananas, a third a bowl of +Devonshire junket, a fourth a loaf of bread; others had cheese, +apples, bottled beer, Australian wine, doughnuts, pork sausages, +sponge cake, ham sandwiches; in short, all the constituents of a high +tea except tea itself. + +"Thought you might be hungry after your ride," said one. "Have a +sandwich?" + +"Have a banana?" said another. "You won't get 'em like this in +London." + +"Dry work, ain't it?" said a third, pulling a cork. "That'll buck you +up." + +"Please take one of my doughnuts," piped a small boy, creeping around +the right leg of a sturdy planter. + +"Ma foi! This take the cake," cried Rodier, laughing heartily. "Thank +you, thank you, thank you! But truly I shall be very--very +discomfortable if I eat all this riches. Ah; this is good, this is +hospitality. My friends, I thank you, I love you; vive l'Australie!" + +Bubbling with excitement, he shook hands with this one and that; and +both hands being engaged at once in this hearty mode of salutation, he +would have been able to enjoy little of the good fare provided had +not one of the group begun to fend off the enthusiastic visitors. + +"That's enough," he said; "give him breathing space. Eat away, man; +the junket won't keep; everything else will, and you can take with you +what is left." + +Thus, when Smith arrived on the scene, he found his man surrounded by +an alfresco confectioner's shop, eating, laughing, talking, and +breaking forth into eloquent praise of Australian hospitality. + +"Ah, mister," he cried, as Smith joined him; "this is a country! We +are pigs in clover. There is here enough for a regiment of Zouaves." + +Here a diversion was caused by the arrival of Mr. Martin's friends +with rifles and ammunition enough to equip a company of grenadiers. +Smith accepted a dozen rifles and two or three hundred rounds of +ammunition; and these had just been placed in the car when the +Chinamen arrived with the petrol. He implored the torchbearers to +stand back while the inflammable fluid was put on board. This was done +amid a buzz of excitement, everybody talking at once. + +"Speech! speech!" cried some one in the crowd, and Smith, thinking the +shortest way out of his embarrassment was to comply, stood up in the +car and thanked his good friends in Palmerston for the warmth of +their reception, and their kindness in supplying his wants. + +"You will excuse me from saying more, I know," he added. "I have +nearly two thousand miles still to go; my father is in great danger; +and we are already several hours behind time. I can't shake hands with +you all, but I shall never forget your kindness. Now, if you will +clear the course so that I can get a run-off, I will say 'good-bye,' +and hope that some day I may come back and not be in such a hurry." + +His simple words were cheered to the echo. Then Mr. Martin and three +or four more pressed the throng back. The good people cheered again as +the machine ran forward and sailed above them, and Smith, as he looked +down upon the sea of faces lit up by the flaring torches until it +became a blurred spot of light, felt cheered and encouraged, and set +his face hopefully towards the starlit east. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +STALKED BY PIGMIES + + +Smith had noticed before leaving Palmerston that the wind had risen +and was blowing steadily from the north-west. He was very anxious not +to miss Port Moresby, the principal harbour in British New Guinea, for +he hoped, in spite of what the Resident at Palmerston had said, to be +able to replenish his stock of petrol there, knowing very well that +among the smaller islands of the South Pacific the places where petrol +was kept must be very few. He determined, however, if he should fail +to make Port Moresby, to steer straight for Ysabel Island. If it +turned out to be impossible to obtain petrol, he would have to resign +himself to the inevitable, return to Australia on the gunboat that had +been dispatched to relieve the castaways, and endure as +philosophically as he might the consequences of overstepping his +leave. + +His course lay across the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria. By +daybreak, if he were able to keep up full speed through the night, he +should have passed the northernmost end of the Yorke Peninsula, and it +might then be possible to take his bearings by the group of islands in +the Torres Straits. On leaving these islands behind him he should soon +come in sight of the mountain chain running from the middle of the +Gulf of Paqua to the south-eastern extremity of New Guinea. He might +expect to sight these mountains from a very great distance, and in +particular, if he could distinguish Mount Astrolabe, the square, +flat-topped mountain lying behind Port Moresby, he would have no +further anxiety about his position. + +The engine was working as well as ever, and by keeping over the sea, +Smith was able to avoid any gusts or cross-currents of air that might +be set up by irregularities in the conformation of the land. Taking +turns as usual with Rodier at the wheel, he was able to get a few +hours of sleep; about an hour and a half after daybreak he descried +the strange shape of Mount Astrolabe towering nearly four thousand +feet into the sky, and in less than a quarter of an hour afterwards he +came to the coast, a little to the west, as he judged, of Port +Moresby. + +The aspect of the coast was far from inviting. There were long +stretches of mangrove forest lining the shore, from which unpleasant +exhalations arose, affecting his sense of smell even at the height of +a hundred feet. Beyond rose limestone hills, very scantily wooded, +with a plentiful crop of rocks and stones. There was scarcely a patch +of level ground to be seen. He came almost suddenly upon the port, +lying in a hollow of the hills, and for some time looked in vain for a +suitable landing place. The aeroplane, circling over the harbour, was +seen by the sailors on the ships and the people on the quays, and its +appearance brought all work to a standstill. + +At length Smith discovered at the north end of the little town a spot +where landing was just possible if the descent was not endangered by +the wind. He felt more nervous than at any other time during his +voyage, and was on the alert to set the propellers working at the +first sign that the wind was too strong for him. To his great relief +he came safely to the ground, with no other misadventure than +collision with a huge eucalyptus tree at the edge of the clearing. +Without loss of time he made his way down to the town, and accosting +the first white man he met, asked to be directed to the residence of +the Administrator. + +"You're a stranger, I guess," said the man, who had not seen the +aeroplane. "Come from Sydney?" + +"No, from Port Darwin." + +"Gosh! We don't often have vessels from there. How's my friend Mr. +Pond?" + +"I don't know him." + +"Well, that's real strange. I thought everybody knew Dick Pond; he's +lived there fifty years or more. Say, what's up?" he asked of a man +hurrying in the opposite direction. + +"It's down. Didn't you see it or hear it?" + +"Hear what?" + +"The aeroplane." + +"An aeroplane! You don't say so." + +"It's a fact. Wonder you didn't hear it. It made a noise like a +thousand humming birds, and came down not half-a-mile over yonder. +Some German fellow, I shouldn't wonder, from Constantine or Finsch. +Hope we're not in for trouble; I'm off to see." + +"So will I. Go straight on, stranger; you see that constable there? +Well, turn down by him, and you'll come to the Administrator's in +about five minutes." + +Smith had taken off his overalls, so that his appearance attracted no +more than a passing glance from the sailors, clerks, merchants, and +natives whom he met hurrying towards the spot where the aeroplane had +descended. He found the Administrator's house without difficulty. Not +having a card, he gave his name and rank at the door. The +Administrator was at breakfast with his family when Lieutenant Smith +was announced. Imagining that a war vessel had unexpectedly put in at +the harbour, he rose and went to the door to greet his visitor and +invite him to his table. A look of disappointment crossed his face +when he saw a dirty, unshaven object before him, dressed in stained +brown serge, offering no resemblance to the trim spick-and-span +officer he had expected to see. + +"I'm sorry to trouble you, sir," said Smith, "I'm in need of some +petrol, and--" + +"I don't keep petrol," said the Administrator shortly. "You've come +here by mistake, no doubt. There's no petrol for sale in the port, to +my knowledge." + +"That's awkward. I'm afraid I must go on without. The aeroplane +uses--" + +"The aeroplane! What aeroplane?" + +"I've come from Port Darwin in my aeroplane, and am going on at once +to the Solomon Islands. I think I can just about manage it, so I won't +detain you any longer, sir." + +"Come now, let me understand. You have come from Port Darwin--by +aeroplane! Where is it?" + +"About half-a-mile beyond the town, sir." + +"But--from Port Darwin--across the sea?" + +There was nothing for it. Once more Smith retailed the outline of his +story, the Administrator listening with growing amazement. In the +midst of it a young Englishman came up, out of breath with running. + +"Good morning, sir," he panted. "An aeroplane has just come down; +people say it is a German. What had we better do?" + +"Keep our heads, I should think," said the Administrator. "Mr. +Williams--my secretary--Mr. Smith. The aeroplane is Mr. Smith's, and +has come from Port Darwin in ten hours. Just run down to the harbour, +Williams, and tell Captain Brown to send up all the petrol there is in +the launch, and a few gallons of machine oil as well. Be as quick as +you can." + +The secretary opened wide eyes. + +"Where's it to be taken, sir?" + +"To the aeroplane, as quickly as possible." + +The young man ran off, looking as though he had received a shock. + +"This will give us excitement for a twelve-month, Mr. Smith," said the +Administrator. "It's lucky I can help you. I have just returned from a +tour of inspection, and there are a few gallons of petrol in my +motor-launch: not very much, I'm afraid, but better than nothing. I'm +afraid I was rather short with you just now, but you'll admit that +there was some excuse for me." + +"Don't mention it, sir." + +"It's the queerest thing I ever heard in my life; in fact, I'm only +just beginning to believe it. Come in and have some breakfast; it'll +be an hour or more before they get the petrol up, and I'd like my wife +and youngsters to hear about it from your own lips. You'd like a wash, +eh? Come along." + +He led the way to his bath-room, turned on the water, arranged the +towels, and bidding Smith come to the first room downstairs on the +left when he was ready, he went off to prepare his family for the +guest. + +Smith was by this time used to the exclamations of wonder, the volleys +of questions, the compliments and gusts of admiration which his story +evoked. He came through the ordeal of that breakfast-table with the +coolness of a veteran under fire. His hostess asked whether sailing in +the air made him sea-sick; her elder son wanted to know the type of +engine he favoured, the quantity of petrol it consumed per hour, and +what would happen if he collided with an airship going at equal speed +in the opposite direction. The younger boy asked if he might have a +ride in the aeroplane; the girl begged Smith to write his name in her +album. The governess sat with clasped hands, gazing at him with the +adoring ecstasy that she might have bestowed on a godlike visitant +from another sphere. Presently the Administrator said-- + +"Now get your hats on. We'll take Mr. Smith up in the buggy and see +him off." + +When they reached the aeroplane they found Rodier demolishing some of +the good things provided by Mrs. Martin, the centre of an admiring +crowd of curious white men and wonder-struck natives. Two Papuan +constables were patrolling around with comical self-importance. The +petrol had arrived. When it was transferred to the aeroplane the +Administrator insisted on drinking Smith's health in a glass of Mr. +Martin's beer, and then called for three cheers for the airmen. His +daughter had brought her kodak and took a snapshot of them as they sat +in their places ready to start. The natives scattered with howls of +affright when the engine began sparking, the constables being easily +first in the stampede, one of them pitching head first into the +eucalyptus. The engine started, the men cheered, the women waved +handkerchiefs, and as the aeroplane soared up and flew in the +direction of the coast the whole crowd set off at a run to gain a +position whence they might follow its flight with their eyes. + +For some time Smith steered down the coast, intending to cross the +Owen Stanley range as soon as he saw a convenient gap. After about +twenty miles, however, he ran with startling suddenness into a +tropical storm. It was as though he had passed from sunlight into a +dark and gloomy cavern. Rain fell in torrents, and he knew by the +extraordinary and alarming movements of the aeroplane that the wind +was blowing fiercely, and not steadily in one direction, but gustily, +and as it seemed, from all points of the compass. For the first time +since leaving the Euphrates he was seriously perturbed. It was true +that the force of the wind did not appear to be so great as it had +been before his meeting with Monsieur de Montausé on the Babylonian +plain; but his situation was more perilous than then, for he was +passing over hilly country, and the vertical wind-eddies were +infinitely more difficult to contend with. To attempt to alight would +be to court certain destruction; his only safety was to maintain as +high a speed as possible, trusting to weather through. He judged by +the compass that the wind was blowing mostly from the south-east, +almost dead against him. Fearing lest the enormous air-pressure should +break the planes if he strove to fly in the teeth of the wind, he +decided to swing round and run before it for a time, in the hope that +it would drop by and by. As he performed this operation the aeroplane +rocked violently, and he thought every moment that it must be hurled +to the ground; but by making a wide circle he got round safely, and +keeping the engine at full speed he retraced his course, soon seeing +Port Moresby again, far below him to the left. He had no means of +exactly determining the rate at which he was now travelling under the +joint impulse of the wind and his propellers; but from the way in +which the landscape was slipping past him he thought the speed could +hardly be less than two hundred and twenty miles an hour. + +It occurred to him now to increase his altitude, with the idea of +rising above the area of the disturbance. But he found that the +mountains on his right hand rose higher than he had supposed. In +proportion as he ascended, they seemed to rise with him. He saw their +snow-clad tops stretching far away into the distance, and became +conscious of a great difference in the temperature. He began to feel +dizzy and short of breath, and presently his eyes were affected, and +he saw everything as in a mist. When Rodier shouted that he was +feeling sick Smith at once checked the ascent. + +The aneroid indicated a height of 8000 feet, and it was clear from the +greater steadiness of the machine that it had risen out of the stratum +of air affected by the storm. But Smith's satisfaction at this was +soon dashed by the discovery that there was something wrong with the +engine. It missed sparking, recovered itself for a minute or two, then +missed again. Smith looked anxiously below him. The nearest ground was +about a thousand feet beneath; on his right the mountains still rose +hundreds of feet above him, blocking the way to his true course. +Hoping that the failure in the sparking was only temporary, Smith +swung the aeroplane round, in order to take advantage of this calm +region of air and at least fly in the right direction. At the same +time he looked out anxiously for a spot to which he might descend if +the defect in the engine proved persistent. + +In a very few moments it was clear that to continue his flight would +be no longer safe, and he prepared to glide. While he was searching +for a convenient landing place the sparking ceased altogether. The +whole country was rugged; below, almost wholly forest land as far as +the eye could reach; above, bare rocks or scrub, and at the greatest +altitude, snow. The aeroplane flew on for a little by its own +momentum, and Smith wasted a few painful seconds before, despairing of +finding level ground, he began to descend in a long spiral. + +As he neared the ground, Rodier's quick eye detected a little river +cutting its way through the forest, and at one spot a widening of its +bed, due, probably, to the action of freshets. Here there was a narrow +space of bare earth, the only clear spot in the landscape, and even +this was surrounded with dense woodland. He pointed it out to Smith. +There was no room for mistake or misjudgment. Smith knew that if he +did not strike the exact spot the aeroplane must crash into the +forest that lined both banks of the river. Never before had so heavy a +demand been made upon his nerve and skill. But the severe training of +the Navy develops coolness and judgment in critical situations; his +long apprenticeship to aerial navigation enabled him to do the right +thing at the right time; and, thanks to the calmness of the air in +this lofty region, the machine answered perfectly to his guiding hand, +and settled down upon the exact spot he had chosen, the little open +stretch on the right bank of the stream, within eight or ten yards of +the water. + +His hand was trembling like a leaf when he stepped out on to the land. +The teeth of both men were chattering. + +"Mon Dieu!" cried Rodier. "That was a squeak, mister. Le diable de +machine! It seem I do nothing at all but clean, clean, all the way +from London, and yet--" + +"And yet down we come, 'like glistening Phaethon, wanting the manage +of unruly jades,'" quoted Smith. "Still, we're safe, and I've known +men killed or lamed for life getting off a horse." + +"But with the horse you have the whip, with the machine you have only +the rags to clean her with. Ah! coquine, I should like to flog you, to +give you beans." He shook his fist at the engine. + +Smith laughed. + +"Beans would suit a horse better, Roddy," he said. "Let's be thankful +the breakdown didn't happen while we were in the storm. That would +have been the end of us. Come on, we'll soon put things to rights. +This loss of time is getting very serious." + +They set to work to discover the cause of the failure. As they +expected, the sparking plugs were completely clogged. Smith took these +down to the stream to give them a thorough cleaning, while Rodier +overhauled the other parts of the machine. When, after half-an-hour's +hard work, everything appeared to be in order again, they sat down to +snatch a meal, leaving the plugs to be replaced at the last moment. + +While thus engaged, Smith scanned the surroundings with some +curiosity. The stream, in cutting its way through the hillside, had +hollowed it out in a gentle curve. The channel itself threaded the +base of a huge natural cutting, most of which was covered with trees, +only the middle part, where the torrent had laid bare a path, being +comparatively clear. All around were trees large and small, tall and +stunted, leafy and bare. As Smith's eye travelled upward, he noticed +about a hundred and fifty yards distant, almost at the top of the +gorge, a small ape-like form flitting across a part of the forest that +was a little thinner than the rest. + +"See that, Roddy?" he said. + +Rodier looked round. + +"What, mister?" + +"An ape, I fancy, perhaps an orang-outang. I know they infest the +forests of the Malayan archipelago, but I can't call to mind that +they're natives of New Guinea." + +"All the natives of New Guinea are apes," said Rodier viciously. "At +Port Moresby they came round me like monkeys at the Zoo." + +"There he is! Do you see him?" + +Smith's hand stole mechanically to his hip pocket, where he kept his +revolver. Then he smiled, remembering that the chances of stopping an +orang-outang with a revolver bullet were about one in ten thousand. + +"I don't see him, mister." + +"He has disappeared. But, my word, Roddy, there's another, and +another--four or five; look at them, in the undergrowth yonder. I +don't like this. They're savage beasts if offended, and if they attack +us we shall be in rather a tight corner." + +He rose, keeping his eye on the spot where the ape-like forms had +shown themselves for an instant, to vanish again. As his eye became +accustomed to the gloomy depths of the forest, he became still more +alarmed to see a number of black, apish faces at various points among +the thick undergrowth surrounding the clearing. Another form flitted +across the thin open space in which he had seen the first. + +"By George! he's got a bow in his hand. They're men! This is worse +still. The orang-outang is bad enough, but he avoids men, I believe, +unless interfered with or alarmed. These forest savages are dead shots +with their arrows, and they'll look on us as intruders. If they're as +spiteful as most of their kind we shall have trouble. Get your +revolver ready, but we must pretend we haven't noticed them. You've +got to replace those plugs; do it as quickly as you can. Don't look +round; I'll keep guard." + +He saw several of the savages pass across in the same direction as the +first, and now he noticed, what had escaped him before, that they were +diminutive creatures, certainly not more than four feet high. He had +clearly stumbled upon a settlement of forest pigmies. From what he had +read of pigmy races he knew that it required extreme patience and a +great expenditure of time to win their confidence. That was out of the +question now. His first impulse was to hail them, and try to make +friends of them by offering some small present; but he checked himself +as the thought flashed upon him that a movement on his part might +startle them and provoke a discharge of their tiny arrows, which were +probably poisoned. He could not doubt they had seen him long before he +had seen them, and had been for some time playing the part of silent +spectators, being kept at a distance, perhaps, by the aspect of the +strange object which they had observed descending among them from the +sky. It must be sufficiently alarming to their untutored eyes. But +after a time their dread seemed to be overpowered by curiosity or +hostility, and Smith saw, with alarm, that the little figures were +gradually drawing nearer, flitting silently as shadows from tree to +tree, and hiding themselves so effectually, even when they came to +closer quarters, that nothing but the flicker of a brownish form among +the undergrowth, or a round black head projecting from tree or bush, +betrayed their presence. + +"Nearly done, Roddy?" he asked, without turning. + +"Pretty near." + +With an outward calmness that corresponded little to his inward +sensations Smith lit a cigarette, racking his wits for some means of +keeping the pigmies at a distance without provoking a cloud of arrows +or a dash in force. The half-circle was gradually becoming narrower. +He fancied that their silent movements were checked when he began to +smoke, and this suggested to him that an appeal to their curiosity +might hold them intent or awestruck until Rodier had finished his +task. + +"How much longer, Roddy?" he asked quietly. + +"Three minutes." + +Smith did the first thing that occurred to him. He took a letter from +his pocket, tore it slowly into small pieces, and let the fragments +float away on the breeze. This device appeared to be successful for a +few seconds; but when the scraps of paper had disappeared or fallen to +the ground the pigmies resumed their stealthy silent advance. Smith +had another idea. Whistling the merry air of the "Saucy Arethusa," he +took two backward steps towards the aeroplane, seized a half-empty +petrol can, and strolled unconcernedly with it to the bank of the +stream, which at this point formed a slowly moving pool. As he went he +unscrewed the stopper, and on reaching the brink, he poured some of +the petrol into the water. Then taking two or three matches from his +box, he struck them together, and flung them into the petrol floating +on the surface. + +The effect of his stratagem was immediate. The spectacle of water +apparently on fire was too much for the simple savages. For the first +time they broke their silence, and were seen rushing up the wooded +slope, uttering shrill cries of alarm. Only then did Smith become +aware how numerous they were. The whole forest seemed to be alive with +them. + +"Done, mister," cried Rodier. + +Smith hurried back to the aeroplane, noticing as he approached several +small arrows sticking upright in the ground close to it. + +"They shot at you when you turned your back," said Rodier. "Shall we +fire at them?" + +"No; leave them alone. I think they're scared now. But it's lucky I +thought of setting fire to the petrol, or they would certainly have +been upon us, and there's such a crowd of them that we might have been +done for. Set the engine working. The noise will keep them away." + +With some difficulty they turned the aeroplane round to face down +stream, where there was a fairly level stretch of a few yards for +running off. Vaulting on board, they started, and in five or six +seconds the aeroplane was humming along a hundred feet above the +trees. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE RESCUE + + +Smith had taken no account of the time he had lost, first by the +storm, then by the overhauling of the engine; but, little or much, it +increased the peril of his father, and lessened his own chance of +accomplishing what he had set out to do. When an engine is always +running at full speed, time lost can only be made up by reducing the +length of stoppages, and Smith felt even this to be almost out of the +question. As soon as he was once more afloat, he thought his best plan +was to make for the coast again, and follow this without attempting to +cross the mountains. + +The storm had ceased; the engine was working smoothly, and, steering +south-east, Smith in a few minutes found himself again in the +neighbourhood of Port Moresby. Again he ran down the coast, but when +about half-way between the port and the extreme south-east corner of +the island he espied a gap in the mountain chain and sped through it, +almost exactly on the ten-degree line. He had to rise to a +considerable height, and was for some moments troubled by the masses +of snow-white cumulose clouds that lay beneath him, cutting off all +view of the ground. The vast expanse of cloud lay dazzling white in +the sunlight, with peaks and crags such as he imagined Alpine summits +must show. But though it appeared to be perfectly still, every now and +then he saw small jets of mist shoot upward, like water from a geyser, +and at such times the vertical currents affected the elevation of the +aeroplane. He soon crossed this cloudy sea, however, and in a few +hours reached the north-east coast of New Guinea, and knew that +nothing but an island-spangled sea separated him from his destination. + +About noon he came in sight of the mountains of Vanguna Island to the +east of New Georgia. Ysabel Island lay beyond this, running from +north-west to south-east. His intention was to round Cape Prieto, the +south-eastern extremity of it, and search the eastern shore northward. +In another hour he saw Russell Island, a green gem in the ocean +southward, and beyond this, to the south-east, the peaks of +Guadalcanar. Another twenty minutes brought him abreast of Florida +Island, and he was heading up the Indispensable Strait, with Thousand +Ships Bay and the lofty peaks at the southern end of Ysabel lying on +his left hand. + +All at once Rodier descried a cloud of smoke on the horizon far up the +strait. Lifting his binocular, he shouted excitedly-- + +"It is a gunboat, mister. She flies the British flag." + +"We've beaten her!" cried Smith. + +He was divided between pleasure at his success, and sorrow that the +castaways were as yet unrelieved, for he could not doubt that the +gunboat was the same that had been dispatched from Brisbane to their +assistance. Before many minutes had elapsed he had overtaken the +vessel. Slowing down and wheeling overhead, he saw that the aeroplane +was the object of wondering interest on the crowded deck. + +"Ahoy, there! Who are you?" he shouted through his megaphone. + +"Gunboat _Frobisher_, Captain Warren," came the reply. "Who are you?" + +"Aeroplane without a name, Lieutenant Smith of H.M.S. _Imperturbable_, +bound for Ysabel Island to relieve Lieutenant Underhill." + +"The dickens! That's my job! Where do you hail from?" + +"From London, sir. I'm afraid I've beaten you by a neck." + +"Great Scott! Is this the Admiralty's latest?" + +"Not official, sir; I'm here in a private capacity. My father's among +the wrecked party. I'm on leave." + +"So it seems. When are you due back?" + +"On Friday morning." + +"I'm sorry for you, then. But, goodness alive! when did you start? The +wreck was only reported four days ago." + +"Started Friday morning, sir." + +"Gammon!" + +"Rasher to you, sir." + +"You haven't lost much time, at any rate. What's your speed?" + +"About a hundred and ninety. Whereabouts was the wreck, sir?" + +"A hundred miles or so up the coast, according to the men of +Underhill's party with me." + +"Then I'll bid you good-bye for the present. I'll tell him you're +coming." + +"Hope you'll find him alive." + +Waving a good-bye, Smith flew on at full speed. For twenty minutes he +did not attempt to follow the indentations of the coast, but set a +course parallel with its general trend. Then, however, he steered so +that, without actually tracing every curve of the shore, he was able +to survey it pretty closely. By dead reckoning and the assistance of +his chart he was able to check from minute to minute his approximate +position. + +He had passed Mount Gaillard, and saw, some miles to the north, the +remarkable saddle shape of Mount Mahaga. Then he made a bee-line for +Fulakora Point. Rounding this, his course was to the north-west. The +coast was steep and precipitous; here and there were reefs, over which +the sea broke in white upward cascades, and he was at no loss to +understand how even the most skilfully navigated vessel might easily +come to grief. About forty miles from the extremity of the island he +flew over an immense lagoon, extending for several miles between +Ysabel Island and a series of islets and reefs lying off the shore. +From this point the sea was dotted with islets so numerous that it was +impossible, at his high speed, to identify them. But he recognized the +deep indentation of Marcella Bay, confirming his observation by the +conspicuous wooded islet rising some hundred feet from the sea at its +northern arm. He knew that the scene of the wreck must be within a few +miles of this point, and reduced his speed so that he might scan the +sea for any sign of the _Albatross_. + +For some time he flew up and down, but failed to distinguish a +battered hull, a funnel, or any remnant of the vessel. It was plain +that she had been entirely broken up. This was perplexing. He wondered +how he was to discover the party, if they were yet alive. The island +itself appeared, from his position off the shore, to be an +impenetrable mass of forest. Flying in a little nearer, and going +dead slow, Rodier presently caught sight of a square fenced enclosure +within a few yards of the edge of the cliff. Smith steered directly +over it, descending to a height of about fifty feet, and then saw in +the middle of the space a long piece of navy tarpaulin, several +biscuit tins, a hammer, two or three hatchets, and other objects, +which only white men could have placed there. It flashed upon him in a +moment that the shipwrecked party had encamped here. But there was not +a human being in sight, and he felt a stabbing conviction that he had +come too late. + +Sick at heart, he made up his mind to descend and examine the place +and its surroundings more closely. There was plenty of room for the +aeroplane within the enclosure. Coming to the ground, he stepped, with +Rodier, out of the car, each carrying his revolver. Now he saw, in +addition to the articles before mentioned, a good number of arrows at +various points, a few broken spears, a tomahawk of a rude kind. Here +and there, on the barricade and below it, there were dark stains. +These signs only increased his anxiety, but at the same time awakened +wonder. Why had the party left their fort? It seemed scarcely likely +that they had been overpowered in an assault, for there were no marks +of a struggle within the barricade, and if the savages had succeeded +in an attack they would certainly have appropriated all that they +could lay hands on; even the most trivial objects would be precious to +unsophisticated children of nature. Rodier suggested that the +castaways had been taken off by some passing vessel, and Smith, +catching at the hope, was beginning to accept this view, when, lifting +the tarpaulin, he found beneath it the papers of the _Albatross_, some +notebooks filled with jottings in his father's spidery handwriting, +and a few small cases that contained bits of rock, fossils, and other +specimens dear to the geologist, each labelled with the name of the +place where it had been found. + +Smith was now thoroughly alarmed. He knew that his father, if he had +quitted the place voluntarily, would never have left behind these +fruits of his labours. Yet why was the fort deserted? + +"Ah, bah! They have gone foraging," said Rodier, unwittingly hitting +on the truth. + +"But they would never leave the place unguarded," replied Smith. "The +savages certainly attacked them; look at the arrows and spears. But +Mr. Underhill would not have yielded without fighting; yet there are +no dead bodies, not even the cut-up earth there would be if they had +had a tussle. I can't account for it any way." + +"Well, mister, we better look them up." + +"In the aeroplane, you mean?" + +"Yes. They must be here, in this island, or not here. In the +aeroplane we search all over." + +"It will be like looking for rabbits in bracken," said Smith, pointing +to the forest. "Still, we must try." + +He sat down on a biscuit tin to think over the position and evolve a +plan. A random search might be mere waste of time. Starting with the +assumption that the castaways were still on the island, he said to +himself that they must have left the fort voluntarily, or there would +certainly be signs of a struggle. That they had left no one on guard +seemed to show that they were in no alarm, otherwise they would have +carried their belongings with them. His father, he knew, would not +abandon his note-books and specimens. Was it possible that they were +making reprisals on the enemy who had previously attacked them? But +even in this case they would hardly have left their fort wholly +undefended, unless in the heat of victory they had rushed out in +headlong pursuit, a rash movement which a naval officer would hardly +countenance. Besides, they were but ill-provided with arms. Had they +been enticed forth by the savages? In that case the savages would +surely have plundered the camp, unless--and now his thought and his +pulse quickened--unless there had not yet been time. Perhaps they had +only recently left the place. Then they could not be far away, and if +they had yielded to allurement there might still be time to save +them. He started up, and told Rodier, who had begun his customary task +of cleaning the engine, the conclusion to which he had come. + +"We will ascend at once," he said, "and scour the neighbourhood. The +forest is thick, but perhaps there are clear spaces in it. Let us lose +no time." + +They dragged the aeroplane to the inner extremity of the enclosure, +turned it round, and started it towards the sea. In less than a minute +it was two hundred feet in the air. Then Smith wheeled round and +steered across the camp, intending to take that as a centre, and +strike out along successive radii, so that in the course of an hour or +two, even at moderate speed, he would have searched a considerable +extent of country in the shape of a fan. It was a question how far he +should proceed in one direction, but relying on his idea that the +evacuation of the camp could only recently have taken place, he +resolved to content himself at first with a distance of about ten +miles. + +Having risen to a height of about three hundred feet, he found that he +commanded a view of many miles of the country. Far to the south were +the mountains; all around was forest, broken here and there by patches +of open rocky ground. Beneath him the trees were so densely packed +that a whole army might have been encamped among them without giving +a sign of its presence. He sped in a straight line west-north-west of +the fort, at a speed of between forty and fifty miles an hour; to go +faster would have rendered careful exploration of the country +difficult. Having completed ten miles without passing over a single +spot of clear ground, he flew about five miles due west, then turned +the machine and steered back towards the fort along the next imaginary +radius of his circle. He had arranged that Rodier should scan the +country to the left while he himself kept as good a look-out to the +right as was possible when he had engine and compass to attend to. +They had not flown far on this backward journey when Rodier, who was +using his binocular, shouted that he saw, on a headland far to the +left, what appeared to be a native village. Smith instantly steered +towards it. It was the first evidence of human habitation they had as +yet come across, and even at the risk of losing his bearings he must +examine it. He could now afford to go at full speed, and a few minutes +brought him above the village, which was a collection of rude huts +perched on a steep headland overlooking the sea, and defended on its +inland and less precipitous side by barriers of stakes. The noise made +by the engine as the aeroplane swept down towards the village first +drew all the inhabitants from their huts into the open enclosure, and +then sent them scampering back with shrieks of alarm as they saw the +strange object in the air. A glance sufficed to assure Smith, as he +wheeled round the village, that it contained no white men, unless they +had been taken inside the huts, which was unlikely. Without loss of +time he steered as nearly as he could towards the point at which he +had diverged from his settled course, and returned to the camp, +pausing once to examine a small tract where the trees were somewhat +thinner, allowing him to see the ground beneath. + +Once more he started, steering now in a more westerly direction. There +were several clear spaces along this radius, and Smith flew over them +slowly, more than once wheeling about to make sure that his eyes had +missed nothing. But at these times he saw no human beings, nothing but +the wild animals of the forest, huge pigs being diminished to the size +of rabbits, and dingoes to the size of mice. These scurried away when +they heard the noise of the engine, and Smith hovered around for a +time to see if the flight of the animals attracted the attention of +men, but in vain. + +Having again covered ten miles, as nearly as he could judge, he swung +round to the southwest. A minute or two later he came to the largest +open space he had yet seen, clear of undergrowth as well as of trees. +There were no huts upon it, and at first he saw no sign of men; but +all at once Rodier cried that there was a ladder against one of the +trees on the farther side of the clearing. Flying towards it, and +descending until the aeroplane was level with the tree-top, Smith was +amazed to see a brown woman, with a brown baby under her arm, +scuttling down the ladder towards the ground. At the same time he +became aware that there were ladders against many of the trees in the +neighbourhood, and women and children were descending by them, showing +all the marks of terror. He had come upon a collection of the curious +tree-houses, sixty or seventy feet from the ground, which some of the +islanders inhabit. The terrified people when they reached the ground +fled into the forest. There was no man among them, which led Smith to +suspect that the men were either hunting for food, or were perhaps +fighting with the castaways. Instead of returning directly to the +camp, therefore, he pursued his flight across the forest in the same +direction in which the startled natives had run. Now for the first +time he wished that he could have had a silent engine, for then his +ears might have given the information which failed his eyes. Though he +flew to and fro for some time in the vicinity of the tree-houses, he +discovered no other break in the forest; and the impossibility of +knowing what was going on beneath that vast screen of foliage began +to affect him with hopelessness of success. + +He wished it were possible to descend in the clearing, and continue +his search on the ground. The appearance of the aeroplane was so +terrifying to the islanders that he need fear no opposition to his +landing. But the idea occurred to him only to be at once dismissed. +When once among the trees, away from the aeroplane, he would be no +longer sacrosanct. Those islanders who had actually witnessed his +descent might fear him as a denizen of the sky; but any others that +met him in the forest would not be restrained by superstitious fear +from, treating him as an enemy. Further, having once involved himself +in the obscure and pathless depths of the forest, he might wander for +hours, or even days, without finding the aeroplane. It was an +impossible course of action. Hopeless as he was becoming, he felt that +he could do nothing better than persevere as he had begun; after all, +he had as yet covered only a small wedge of the segment he had +proposed to himself. + +But he now found himself in a difficulty. In the excitement of his +recent discovery he had neglected to keep a watch upon the compass, +and he was now at a loss to know the precise direction in which to +steer. He must certainly go to the east, but he could not tell whether +he was north or south of the camp. It occurred to him that by rising +to a greater height he might probably be able to descry the camp, so +he planed upwards until he attained an altitude of nearly two thousand +feet, Rodier searching the country seawards through his binocular. + +"I see it!" he cried at length, adding, as Smith began to steer +towards it, "Wait a minute, mister; I see all the country better here; +I can pick out the clearings, though they are only dark blots; but yet +I can do it." + +He swept the country for miles around. Beyond the forest, far to the +west, there were stretches of rugged uplands, bare of vegetation. It +was not at all likely that the Englishmen had gone so far from their +camp, whether willingly or unwillingly. To the east and south-east +stretched the sea, and Rodier declared that he saw, an immense way +off, the smoke of a steamer, no doubt the gunboat. Lowering the glass +to scan the nearer prospect, he suddenly gave a lusty shout. + +"I see smoke, mister; a quite little smoke, as of a cigarette." + +"Where?" asked Smith eagerly. + +"South-east of us, in the forest, about five or six miles off." + +"We'll go and see what it comes from." + +Smith scarcely dared to hope that the discovery of the smoke would be +of any assistance to him. But it was the first indication of a camp +within the forest, whether of the islanders or of his friends, and he +could not neglect to investigate it. The aeroplane flew along at the +speed of a swallow. In little more than three minutes it reached the +twine of smoke. Checking the engine, Smith wheeled the aeroplane round +until it passed slowly over an extensive gap in the forest. He looked +down. The smoke rose from a fire in the midst of the clearing. At a +little distance from it there was a throng of islanders, gazing up +awe-struck at the strange apparition whose approach had been heralded +from afar, and which now circled above them, making terrifying noises. + +But Smith was not interested in the islanders. He peered among them +and around for white men. He felt a shock of bitter disappointment; +all the upturned faces were brown. But the movement of the aeroplane +brought him to the verge of the forest, and then Rodier gave a shout +of delight. + +"There they are! There they are, mister!" he cried, pointing obliquely +downwards. + +Smith looked over. In the shade at the foot of the trees he saw a +number of men bound each to a trunk. Their faces, directed upwards, +were too darkly shadowed for him to distinguish their race; but they +were clothed. Beyond doubt they were the castaways. + +In a moment he determined what to do. While the aeroplane circled +slowly above their heads the islanders would feel no more than awe +and wonder. They huddled together like a flock of sheep in a +thunderstorm, probably not as yet connecting the aerial visitant with +their prisoners. What was required was to scatter them, suddenly, in a +way that would smite them with terror, and cause them to flee without +thought of the captives helpless against the trees. + +Smith sailed away eastward, disappearing from their sight. He had made +a quick mental calculation of the extent of the clearing. Rising to +the height of about three hundred feet above the ground, while still +out of sight he suddenly stopped the engine and warped the planes for +a dive. The aeroplane descended rapidly, grazed the tops of the trees, +and then, more slowly, swept, silently, in a gentle curve towards the +throng of men, who were chattering about the mysterious sky visitor. +When they caught sight of it they were struck dumb, and for a few +moments seemed to be fixed to the ground with amazement. Then, as it +came directly towards them, and Smith set the noisy propellers in +motion, they uttered shrieks of dismay and terror, and fled like hares +into the forest. + +Some of them started too late. Smith, being now near the ground, set +the engine going at low speed, overtook a group of the islanders +before they reached shelter, and with a touch of the aeroplane +flung them violently on their faces. He then wheeled round, and rose +once more into the air in order to effect a complete descent. The +prostrate natives lay for some time in a paralysis of fear; but +finding that they were unhurt, and that the monster had withdrawn from +them, they picked themselves up, and ran to overtake their friends, +leaving the space clear. + +In another minute Smith had brought the aeroplane safely to the +ground. Rodier and he sprang out and ran towards the bound figures. + +"It's Charley!" called a voice, in tones wherein surprise and joy were +blended. + +And then the sailormen, famished and feeble as they were, broke forth +in hoarse cheers and incoherent shouts, which died away in sobs. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SIR MATTHEW IMPROVES THE OCCASION + + +To cut the bonds of the prisoners was the work of only a few moments. +The sailors, the instant they were free, made a rush upon the +villagers' cooking-pots, their passion for food overcoming curiosity, +gratitude, and all other sentiments. Dr. Smith gripped his son's hand, +his emotion being too great for words. Tom slapped his brother on the +back. Lieutenant Underhill was divided between his eagerness to learn +all the circumstances of this strange intervention and his anxiety to +prevent his men from getting out of hand. But a glance at them as they +made free with the natives' provisions relieved him on this score, and +when Smith explained that he had on board the aeroplane certain +delectables in the shape of chicken patties (becoming rather stale), +doughnuts, plumcake, a bottle of Australian burgundy, and sundry other +remnants of the provisions furnished by the hospitable folk of +Palmerston, he voted an immediate adjournment for lunch, and the +officers, with the Smiths, were soon satisfying their clamant hunger. + +"How in the world did you know about us?" asked Tom. + +"By cable from Brisbane." + +"Then our boat did not go down?" said Underhill. + +"No; your men lost their sail and rudder, and drifted until they came +into the current along the south coast of New Guinea. They were picked +up by a barque bound for Brisbane, and carried there." + +He gave them a rapid summary of his flight across the world. The +sudden change in their fortunes induced a readiness to find amusement +in the most trifling incident, and they laughed loud and long as he +retailed the little mishaps and the comic episodes of his journey. +Then Underhill in his turn related all that had happened since the +wreck, and all became grave again as he told of the capture in the +early morning after their night march, the wild orgy in which their +captors had indulged, the elaborate preparations they had made under +the direction of their sorcerer for the sacrificial rite to which +their captives were destined. But for the appearance of the aeroplane +he had no doubt that within a few short hours they would have been +massacred, and their skulls hung up at the entrance of the huts as +signal marks of the villagers' prowess. + +"The poor wretches hate all white men," said Underhill, "and it can +hardly be wondered at. They are recruited to labour in our +plantations, and come back with ailments unknown to them until they +met the white man. They do not distinguish, and a geologist like Dr. +Smith--" + +"Ah!" said the doctor anxiously; "my specimens!" + +"They are safe, Father," replied Charley. "I saw them in your fort. +The fact that the place had not been looted gave me some hope that you +were still alive. I wonder that the islanders have not made hay of +everything." + +"No doubt they deferred the performance until they had disposed of +us," said Underhill. "But now, how do we stand? You have saved us, but +you can't take us all off in your aeroplane." + +"A gunboat is on her way here; I passed her; she will arrive soon." + +"Hurray!" shouted the men. + +"Your men are on her, Mr. Underhill," continued Smith. "She will +probably arrive by the time we get back to the fort." + +"That is a difficulty. We must be at least seven or eight miles from +it, and the whole country is forest in which the natives may waylay +us. They have left our rifles, but practically all our ammunition is +gone." + +"I have rifles and ammunition, as you see. But the savages have had +such a fright that I think they will keep out of the way of the +aeroplane. If I fly as low as possible over the trees they will hear +the humming and run away, and you can steer your course by the same +sound." + +"A good idea. We'll burn their huts and weapons, as a warning to +behave better in future, and then we'll go." + +This was done, Smith and Rodier appropriating as trophies several +spears and bows and arrows, and also some of the fetish charms hung at +the entrance to the huts. The crew, having satisfied their hunger, +hunted through the village for loot, and grumbled when they found +nothing that they considered worthy the consideration of British +sailormen. Then Rodier took the aeroplane aloft, Smith having decided +to walk with the rest, and the party set off towards the coast, +marching by the guidance of the sound that descended from the +tree-tops, dulled by its passage through thick layers of foliage. + +The scare had proved effectual. Never a sign of the natives was seen +during the three hours' march to the fort. When they reached it, Dr. +Smith hastened at once to assure himself that his specimens and +note-books were safe. Tired out, the whole party lay down to rest. + +"We'll go and meet the gunboat, Roddy," said Smith, when the aeroplane +alighted. "Captain Warren will be glad to hear that all is well." + +They set off, flew down the coast, and in a few minutes descried the +gunboat, apparently about fifteen miles off. + +"All well, sir," shouted Smith, as he met the vessel. "I'll pilot you +to the place." + +"You have put my nose out of joint," replied the captain, "and done my +men out of a fight, too. Well, I'm glad Underhill is safe. How far +have we to go?" + +"An hour will do it, sir. I'll keep you company; a jog-trot will be a +pleasant change after my scamper." + +"Diable, mister," said Rodier; "that will waste an immense quantity of +petrol, and we have none to spare." + +"You're right, Roddy. I daresay we have used in the last few hours +enough to carry us to Samoa." + +He explained to Captain Warren the necessity he was under of +economizing fuel, and promised to fire a rifle as a guide to him when +the gunboat came abreast of the fort. Then he returned at full speed, +brought the aeroplane to the ground within the enclosure, and having +arranged with his brother to give the signal when the gunboat came in +sight, lay down beside Rodier and was fast asleep in an instant. + +He was wakened by a roar of cheering when Captain Warren, with some of +his men, the four members of the crew of the _Albatross_, and a +corpulent little civilian about fifty years old, marched into the +camp, bringing a load of provisions. A huge bonfire was kindled in the +centre of the enclosure, and round it the whole company gathered to +enjoy a royal feast. Darkness had sunk over the land; the flames cast +ruddy reflections upon their features; and no one observing their +cheerful expression, or listening to their merry chat, would have +suspected that, a few hours before, half of the party had been face to +face with a terrible death. Smith was the hero of the day. Lieutenant +Underhill got up and proposed his health; the toast was drunk in wine, +beer, and water, and some wild dogs that had been allured from the +forest by the glare fled howling when the mariners raised their lusty +voices to the tune of "For he's a jolly good fellow." Nor was Rodier +forgotten. Tom Smith called for the honours for him also; he was +acclaimed in shouts of "Good old Frenchie!" "Well done, matey," and +sundry other boisterous tokens of applause. + +Nothing would content the party but that Smith should tell the story +of his flight. They listened spell-bound as he related his +experiences at the various stopping-places, and his adventures at sea. +When the story was finished, the cheers broke out again, and the stout +little man who accompanied Captain Warren's party, and whose +spectacles gleamed with good humour, rose to his feet and cleared his +throat. + +"Pray, gentlemen, silence for Sir Matthew Menhinick," said Captain +Warren, with twinkling eyes. Sir Matthew was an ex-prime minister of +Queensland, known to his intimates as Merry Matt, and to the whole +continent as a jolly good fellow. Being at Brisbane when the news of +the wreck came, he instantly decided to join Captain Warren's rescue +party. If he had a weakness for hearing his own voice, what could be +expected in a man whose speeches filled volumes of legislative +reports, but who was now in his retirement, deprived of these daily +opportunities of addressing his fellow men? + +"Gentlemen," he said, beaming on the company; "officers and gentlemen, +and able seamen of His Majesty's Navy, I am a plain, blunt chap, I am, +as you all know, and I can't dress up what I've got to say in fine +language like the Governor-General, but I can't let this occasion pass +without saying a word or two about the great, the wonderful, the +stupendous achievement of our friend, Mr. Thesiger Smith. (Loud +cheers.) This is a proud moment in my life. I remember when I was a +nipper in London, before any of you were born except our friend the +doctor, I saw in a place called Cremorne Gardens a silly fellow of a +Frenchman--present company excepted--try to fly with wings strapped to +his arms. Of course he came a cropper and broke his back. I remember +my dear old mother shaking her head and telling over to me that fine +bit of poetry: + + Cows and horses walk on four legs, + Little children walk on two legs; + Fishes swim in water clear, + Birds fly high into the air; + +and impressing on me that boys mustn't be little beasts, nor try to be +fishes, or birds, or anything else they wasn't meant to be. But now, +gentlemen, in this wonderful twentieth century, them old doctrines are +as dead as Queen Anne. We've got submarines diving and roving along in +the depths of the sea; we've got aeroplanes that fly up into the air; +and we've got men, gentlemen, men of grit and backbone, men of courage +and determination, that 'fear no foe in shining armour,' men like our +friend Mr. Smith (roars of applause), who brave the perils of the deep +and the chance of the empyrean, who take their lives in their hands +and think nothing of it. Some croakers will tell you the Old Country +is going to the dogs. Don't you believe it. ("We won't.") I don't +believe she ever will go to the dogs while she's got left a man of the +old, honourable, and respected name of Smith. (Laughter and cheers.) + +"Mr. Underhill just now referred in feeling terms to the personal +results of Mr. Smith's enterprise. But for him, some of our number +would by this time have crossed the bourne whence no traveller +returns. I need not speak of the joy and pride that must have filled a +father's and a brother's breast--" (Here the speaker blew his nose and +wiped a mist from his spectacles. Then he resumed.) "As I was saying, +our friend has accomplished a wonderful feat, gentlemen. He has come +twelve thousand miles in three days and a half. That's a thing to be +proud of. He tells me he's going to get back in another three days and +a half. I am sure I speak for you all when I say 'good luck to him!' +("hear! hear!") Think what it means, gentlemen. It means going round +the world in a week. When I was last in England I met a man at a hotel +who kept me up till three in the morning proving to me that the earth +is flat. I'll give Mr. Smith his address, and when he gets home he can +go and prove to him that _he's_ a flat. (Laughter.) You remember in a +play of Shakespeare there's a little chap that says he'll put a girdle +round the earth in forty minutes. His name was Puck, gentlemen. Mr. +Smith won't do it quite so quick--not this journey, at any rate--but +who knows what these young scientific fellows will be a-doing of next? +Mr. Smith's aeroplane hasn't got a name, I believe, but he'd better +christen it Puck, which is the same as the Indian word _pukka_, and +means 'jolly good.'" + +"Now I'm not going to make a speech, so I'll just conclude these few +remarks by wishing Mr. Smith a safe journey home, quick promotion, and +a seat in the House of Lords. He's used to going up, and that's about +as far up as he can go." + +When the cheering had ceased, the company crowded about the aeroplane, +and gazed at it as if by sheer hard staring they might discover the +secret of its speed. + +While Rodier explained its working to some of them, Smith sat with the +officers, his father and brother, and Sir Matthew, discussing the +immediate future. + +"You must be very tired," said his father. "Don't you think you have +better give up the idea of returning at once, and come with us? The +Admiralty will stretch a point if we cable an explanation." + +"On no account, father," replied Smith. "I am going back. I had the +good luck to get here in time. That's all right so far. But after +coming through the air I couldn't stand a slow voyage back; it would +be like riding in a growler after a taxi. Besides, I confess I am out +to make a record. I can't make a name in geology, but why shouldn't I +go down to posterity as the first man to fly round the world?" + +"In seven days, as Sir Matthew remarked," added Tom. "It will be +rather a feather in your cap, old fellow, if you can do it." + +"Oh, I'll do it, if only my engine holds out. By the way, Roddy ought +to be cleaning up in preparation for starting. I hope he won't be +demoralized by this ovation. Roddy," he called, "it's time to clean +up." + +"All right, mister," replied the French man. "I'll take the shine out +of her." + +"Roddy's English is not perfectly accurate," said Smith, laughing; +"but he's exactness itself in his work." He pulled out his watch. +"It's exactly eighty-one hours since I left London; I've got +eighty-seven to get back in." + +"How will you go?" asked Underhill. + +"First to Samoa, then Honolulu, then 'Frisco, and straight across the +States." + +"You'll have to beware of interviewers," said Tom. "You may be sure +the newspaper men have got wind of you by this time." + +"I don't know. Barracombe wouldn't say anything; I don't think Johnson +in Constantinople would, and--" + +"My dear fellow, don't make any mistake," said Captain Warren. +"Nobody ever does say anything, but the newspaper men somehow or other +know what you think about when you're abed and asleep." + +"They must all be Irishmen, then." + +"Or Americans. I wouldn't mind betting that they are getting up a +reception for you at 'Frisco--" + +"But they don't know I'm going there." + +"No matter; the word has gone out to keep a watch for you, and every +town in the States will be on the _qui vive_. I'm rather sorry for you +when you come down for petrol; you won't get off so easily as you did +on the way out." + +"Of course you won't," said Tom. "I suppose you'll wire ahead for +petrol to be held ready for you? That will give you away." + +"No, I shall chance it. I can get petrol in any town in the States, +and I won't risk delay by announcing myself." + +"You had better have a good sleep before you start," said Underhill. +"What time do you want to go?" + +"Not later than midnight." + +"Well, you've got nearly four hours. Your man had better sleep, too. +I'll see to the engine." + +"Roddy won't allow that. I see that he has got help. He'll be finished +in half-an-hour. By all means put him to bed then, if you'll promise +to wake us both in good time." + +"I'll do that. I won't spoil sport. Go to the further end of the camp, +and I'll tuck you up in the tarpaulin, put some food on board, and see +that everything is shipshape." + +Smith was glad enough to avail himself of the opportunity of three or +four hours' continuous sleep on land. Rodier showed more reluctance, +declaring that he was as fit as a fiddle; but Captain Warren bore him +away from the crowd of admirers, and stood over him until he, like his +master, was sleeping soundly. + +A quarter of an hour before midnight the two airmen were awakened. +Farewells were said, hands were shaken all round, every one wish them +good luck, and precisely at twelve they took their seats and set forth +on the two thousand miles flight to Samoa. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +HERR SCHWANKMACHER'S CABBAGES + + +A little before twelve on Monday, Herr Rudolph Schwankmacher, one of +the most respected residents of Apia, capital of Samoa, was reclining +under the shade of a plantain in his garden beyond the promontory of +Mulinuu, enjoying the conversation of a friend and the refreshing +bitterness of a bottle of light lager beer. The garden rose a few feet +above the level of the ground in front of it, and afforded an +excellent view over the sea. Hither Herr Schwankmacher was wont to +retire for a brief spell of rest and meditation in the heat of the +day, and on this occasion he had been accompanied by a compatriot +newly arrived from Germany, to whom he was expatiating on the +pleasures of colonial life in general, and in particular on the +delights of rearing cabbages in so rich and prolific a soil. + +"Yes," he said, "you will find no cabbages like these in Germany. You +see them. They are grown from seed. It is not a month since I put the +seed in the ground, and the plants are already flourishing. They will +soon be full-grown, and then I shall pickle them, and have for every +day in the year a dish that will remind me as I eat it of the days of +my youth in the dear Homeland. Ach! the Homeland; it is very dear. I +love it, although I would not return to it for the world. This is the +happy land, my friend. It is a fairland. It is a beautiful land for +copra, flowers, and cabbages. I am content." + +He tossed off a glass of beer and lay back on the green sward, puffing +at a pipe and gazing benignly up into the broad-leaved canopy that +sheltered him from the midday sun. For some time he reclined thus, +dropping a word now and then to his companion, answering his +questions, but always returning to the cabbages. + +As they lay in this placidity and ease they were suddenly aware of a +slight buzzing in the air. Herr Schwankmacher raised himself on his +elbow, and looked around for the insect that had dared to intrude into +this peaceful cabbage-patch. There was no insect in sight of such a +size as to account for the deep-toned hum, which was growing louder +moment by moment. + +"This is strange," he said. "I never heard such a noise before." + +"I have heard it," said his friend. "I have heard it very close. The +last time was when Count Zeppelin's airship came down in the +Teutoberger Wald. I was there." + +"So; but Count Zeppelin would not be here in Samoa. We have no +airships here. The newspapers say that there is much activity in +Europe, especially among the French and English, in this new pastime, +but I dare say the greater part of what they say is lies. But really, +the noise is becoming very great; I am unable to explain it." + +Both men were now sitting erect, looking to right, to left, seawards, +landwards, towards the hills. All at once the sound ceased, a shadow +was cast upon them, and before they could realize the situation a +strange, uncouth object glided from behind them over the plantains, +and came to rest in the centre of the cabbage-patch. + +Herr Schwankmacher sprang to his feet with a nimbleness surprising in +a man of his size, and rushed forward, snorting with rage and +indignation. His friend followed, neither indignant nor enraged, but +very much interested in the occurrence. His intelligent eyes gleamed +behind his glasses; he had himself experienced aerial adventures. + +It chanced that Rodier was the first to step out of the machine. As +the burly, bearded, white-clad figure of Herr Schwankmacher cantered +heavily toward him, he lifted his cap, and with that sunny smile +which had accompanied him through life, he said-- + +"Monsieur, je vous fais mille excuses. Voudriez-vou bien me dire ou +l'on puisse obtenir de la pétrole." + +"Sapperment!" cried the infuriated German. "Es ist ein kriechender +Franzose!" + +It was well that Rodier did not understand him, or, never having been +called a sneaking Frenchman before, he would certainly have fallen +tooth and nail on the offender, though in respect of bulk the German +would have made two of him. Fortunately for the keeping of peace, he +was quite ignorant of the German tongue, and when Herr Schwankmacher +proceeded to shake his pipe at him, and deliver his opinion of +trespassers in general and French trespassers in particular, with +intermittent allusions to cabbages, Rodier only listened with the same +gentle smile and deprecating movements of his grimy hands. + +Smith, joining him, addressed Herr Schwankmacher in English, but his +intervention seemed only to add fuel to the flames. The German knew no +English; neither Smith nor Rodier knew German; and the affair promised +to come to a deadlock. But here a peacemaker stepped in. Herr +Schwankmacher's friend, who appeared to be greatly amused, stepped +forward with a noticeable limp. + +"Gentlemen, gentlemen, zis is not business. Permit me, sir," he said +to Smith. + +He took Herr Schwankmacher by the arm, and spoke a few words to him; +upon which the German consented to be silent and in dudgeon resumed +his pipe. + +"My friend, sir," the second man went on, "is vat you call chippy +because you come plomp into his bed of cabbage, very fine vegetable, +vich remind him of his youthful days in ze ever-to-beloved Homeland." + +"Oh, well," said Smith, "assure him that I am very sorry. I didn't +mean to hurt his cabbages, and I'll pay for any damage that I've +done." + +"Was sagt er?" said Herr Schwankmacher suspiciously. + +His friend translated Smith's words. Schwankmacher grunted. + +"The fact is," continued Smith, "we've run short of petrol, and I had +to come down. I hoped to make Apia; that is it, yonder, I suppose?" + +"Zat is so. You vant petrol. Zen I introduce you to excellent firma +vat supply ze Commandant. It is good petrol; I know it, for ze firma +receive large consignments of it from ze highly respectable firma I +haf ze honour to represent--Schlagintwert Gesellschaft of Düsseldorf. +Sir, viz compliments." + +He took from a capacious pocket a bulky book in a red paper wrapper. + +"Zis is our price list, sir, revise and correct. Ve can supply anyzink +vatefer, and I shall esteem it great favour to haf ze opportunity to +quote for petrol, machine oil, planes, stays, plugs, propellers, +levers, air-bags, goggles, overalls, accumulators--" + +"Thanks, but at present I want nothing but petrol and machine oil, and +I must have them at once, as I have to start for Honolulu without +delay." + +"For Honolulu, sir?" + +"Yes." + +"Across ze sea?" + +"There's no other way, is there?" + +"Sree sousand miles?" + +"Rather less, isn't it?" + +"Ach! zis knocks me into a--vat you call it?--into a billycock." + +He turned to Herr Schwankmacher, who had just refilled his pipe, and +repeated to him the astounding announcement. The German scoffed. +Seeing that there was no help for it if he wished to get away in a +reasonable time, Smith explained that he was halfway on a voyage round +the world, and had not a minute to spare. + +"Ach! business are business. Zat is vat take me round ze world. Permit +me, sir." + +He handed Smith a large business card, inscribed with the name +"Hildebrand Schwab," and the address of his firm in Düsseldorf. + +"Ve shall lose no time, sir," he added. "Zis is ze most amazing zink +zat efer haf I heard, and I esteem it great honour to haf ze +opportunity to introduce you to ze excellent firma vat supply you viz +petrol for your so vonderful machine. Vun minute until I tell Herr +Schwankmacher, zen ve go doublequick." + +Herr Schwankmacher's vexation and incredulity vanished together when +his friend told him the facts of the case. He was a good fellow at +bottom, and now that he knew that the aeroplane's descent in his +garden was purely accidental, he was ready to do all in his power to +speed the parting guest. In a few minutes Smith was hurrying along the +shore road with a German on either side, at his left the surf roaring +on the fringe of coral reef, at his right a screen of tufted palms and +plantations running up the lower slopes of the mountains. He soon came +to a collection of drinking-bars and stores, all bearing German names. +Herr Schwankmacher, now transformed into a cordial host, invited him +to drink a bottle of lager with him at one of the bars, but he excused +himself and followed Schwab into a large store where every sort of +requisite for machines was kept in stock. + +The purchase of petrol proved to be a lengthy transaction, for Schwab +was impelled to tell the story to the store-keeper, he repeated it to +his clerks, they ran out to tell the neighbours, and the place was +soon thronged with Germans--merchants, clerks, sailors, stokers--all +eager to see the airman who was flying round the world. The store was +filled with smoke and gutturals. The purchase being at last concluded, +the cans were rolled to a motor lorry which lumbered along in the +direction of Mulinuu like a triumphal car at the head of a procession. +First came Smith with Schwankmacher on his right and Schwab on his +left; then a crowd of the German population, in which wealthy +merchants found themselves neighbours to grimy stokers, and youthful +clerks to the inevitable uniforms; the tail was formed of swarthy +Samoans, men and women, skipping boys and laughing girls with flowers +in their hair. + +Rodier had cleaned the engine, and was eating his dinner among the +cabbages. He favoured the crowd with a pleasant smile, although some +were Germans, and because others were pretty. + +The petrol was placed on board and the tank filled, Smith, with +long-suffering patience, replying to the questions of the +English-speaking spectators. All was at last ready for the start; +Schwab, who alone of the company had knowledge of the conditions, made +himself useful in clearing the course; and Schwankmacher positively +declined to accept payment for the plants which had been crushed under +the aeroplane, and those which were trampled by the spectators' feet. + +When the airmen were in their places, Schwab limped up. + +"Permit me to shake hands viz ze first circumnavigator of ze sky," he +said with effusion, "and to remind you zat my firma Schlagintwert vill +be most happy to supply you viz anyzink vatefer zat you need, and in +vatefer region of ze globe you may be, on receipt of postcard, +telegram, cable, or Marconigram. Hoch!" + +His cheer was taken up by the crowd. The machine moved forward. Herr +Schwankmacher, stepping back, fell into the arms of a grinning stoker, +and a little native boy, shrieking with fright, ran head-first into +the corpulent frame of a merchant who was more stable in his copra +business than in his legs. The aeroplane flew up; the crowd watched +its ascension like adoring worshippers of some sky deity; and in three +minutes it was a mere speck in the cloudless blue. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A STOP-PRESS MESSAGE + + +Mr. John McMurtrie, editor of the _Toronto Sphere_, a capable +journalist and a man of many friends, strolled into his office about +three o'clock one Wednesday afternoon. His first extra edition was due +at four, and it may seem that he had allowed himself a very short time +for dealing with fresh items of news that had come to hand since noon; +but he had an excellent assistant, who took a real interest in his +work, so that there was no need for the editor to hurry his luncheon +or the ensuing cigar. + +"Well, Daniels," he said genially, as he entered his assistant's room. +He sat across a corner of the table, exhibiting a well-developed calf +neatly covered with golfing hose. "Is there anything fresh and frothy +on the tape?" + +"Not much. A wire from 'Frisco about those flying men." + +"You don't say so?" + +"Here it is." + +He handed the slip to his chief, who ran his eye over the message. The +words employed were few, but a journalist of McMurtrie's experience +instinctively covered the bare bones with a respectable integument, +and clothed this with a quite picturesque raiment by force of the more +ornamental parts of speech. + +The substance of what he read was as follows: A cable message had +reached San Francisco from Honolulu in the afternoon of the previous +day, announcing that an aeroplane had alighted there about three +o'clock that morning, the owner, a Lieutenant Thistleton (so it was +corrupted) Smith declaring that he had come from Samoa in sixteen +hours, and was proceeding to San Francisco. He had left three hours +later, having waited only to take in a stock of petrol. On receipt of +this message the editor of every newspaper in the city had arranged +for a relay of reporters to be up all night and watch for the arrival +of this extraordinary machine. Shortly after midnight the hum of the +propellers was heard over Golden Gate, and a light in the sky +indicating the course of the aeroplane, a dozen journalists, in +motor-cars, rushed after it, but were hopelessly out-distanced. They +discovered it on the outskirts of the city. The airmen had already +landed. The reporter who was first in the race seized upon Lieutenant +Smith, and learning that he had only alighted to obtain more petrol, +rushed him back to the city in his car. His comrades and competitors, +on arriving, sought to interview the second man, whose name they had +not been able to ascertain; but he was very uncommunicative, being +occupied in cleaning the engine. Lieutenant Smith was back with petrol +in twenty minutes; in half-an-hour he was again on his way. This +extreme haste caused great disappointment to the airmen and civic +dignitaries of the city, they having risen from their beds on hearing +of his arrival to honour Lieutenant Smith with a reception. When they +reached the spot where he had descended, he had been gone some ten +minutes. In the race to meet him, one of the motor-cars collided with +an electric-light standard and was overturned, its occupant, Mr. +Aeneas T. Muckleridge, being carried to hospital in a critical +condition. Several San Francisco newspapers had published interviews +with Lieutenant Smith, one of them ten columns long. + +Mr. McMurtrie chuckled as he read this dispatch in the shorthand of +the news agency. + +"Bedad, 'tis worth a special editorial, Daniels. But why didn't we get +it before, man? It ought to have been in time for the morning +papers." + +"You remember, sir, there's been something wrong with the line to-day +through the storm." + +"So there has, indeed. Well, take out that stuff about the new British +tariff, and send Davis in to me." + +He went into his room, sat back in his chair, pushed up his golfing +cap, and smiled as he meditated the periods of his editorial. In a few +moments a thin, ragged-headed youth entered with an air of haste and +terror. He carried a paper-block, which he set on his knee, looking +anxiously at the editor. Mr. McMurtrie began to dictate, the +stenographer's pencil flying over the paper as he sought to overtake +the rapid utterance of his chief. The article, as it appeared on the +second page of the _Sphere_ an hour later, ran as follows: + + HOCUS POCUS + + A hoax, or as our merry ancestors would have called it, a + flam, is usually the most ephemeral and evanescent of human + devices. Like a boy's soap bubble, it glitters for a brief + moment in iridescent rotundity, then ceases to be even a + film of air. It is unsubstantial as the tail of Halley's + comet. On rare occasions, it is true, its existence is + prolonged; many worthy people are beguiled; and some + enthusiasts are so effectually hoodwinked as to persist in + their delusion, and even to form societies for its + propagation. But mankind at large is sufficiently sane to + avoid a fall into this abyss of the absurd, and, having + paid its tribute of laughter, goes its way without being a + cent the worse. + + San Francisco appears to be the latest victim of The Great + Aviation Hoax, and we shall watch the progressive stages of + its disillusionment with sympathetic interest, or the + development of its newest cult with sincere commiseration. + Like many other phenomena, good and bad, this gigantic + flam, it will be remembered, took its rise in the east. Its + genesis was reported in Constantinople nearly a week ago: + then at intervals we learnt that these mysterious airmen, + one of whom with artful artlessness had adopted the plain, + respectable, and specious name of Smith, had manifested + themselves at Karachi, Penang, and Port Darwin + successively. The curtain then dropped, and the world + waited with suspense for the opening of the next act, + though there were some who suspected that the performers + had slipped away with the cash-box during the interval, and + would never be heard of again. However, the curtain has at + last rung up at the golden city of the west, and it is + certainly a mark of the ingenuity of the concocters of the + hoax that they allowed at least twenty-four hours for the + passage of the Pacific. In another column we give an + account of a visit to San Francisco, in the small hours of + this morning, from which it will be seen that the city + fathers narrowly escaped making themselves ridiculous, the + flying men having wisely disappeared before the municipal + deputation, hastily summoned from their beds, had time to + make the indispensable changes in their attire. It need + scarcely be hinted that there are many accomplished + aviators in San Francisco who would take a jovial pleasure + in lending themselves to this amusing hoax, if only for the + chance of seeing their most reverend seniors in pyjamas. + + A glance at the itinerary of the alleged world tourists, + coupled with a comparison of dates, will show how + impossible it is for them to have covered the stages of + their tour in the time claimed. Indeed, it is almost an + insult to our readers' intelligence even to suggest this + comparison. The record put up by Blakeney in his New + York-Chicago flight was 102 miles per hour for six + consecutive hours. If the flying men who are now asserted + to have touched at San Francisco are the same as were + reported by the Constantinople correspondent of the London + _Times_ on Friday last, a simple calculation will show that + they must have flown for many days at a time at twice + Blakeney's speed, with the briefest intervals for food and + rest. It is not yet claimed that the alleged Smith and his + anonymous companion have discovered a means of dispensing + with sleep, or that they are content, like the fabulous + chameleon, to live on air. Our children may live to witness + such developments in the science of aviation as may render + possible an aerial journey of this length and celerity; but + so sudden an augmentation of the speed and endurance of the + aeroplane, to say nothing of the more delicate mechanism of + the human frame, demands a more authentic confirmation of + the midnight impressions of the San Francisco journalists + than has yet come to hand. In short, we do not believe a + word of it, and our speculation at the moment is, what + brand of soap or tinned meat, what new machine oil, or + panacea for human ills, these ingeniously arranged + manifestations are intended to boom. + + +"What do you think of that, Davis?" asked Mr. McMurtrie at the end of +six minutes' rapid dictation. It was his pardonable weakness to claim +the admiration of his subordinates. + +"Bully, sir," replied the shorthand-writer timidly. As a matter of +fact, he thought nothing at all, his whole attention having been so +completely absorbed by his task of making dots and curves and dashes +as to leave no portion of his brain available for receiving mental +impressions. But the editor was satisfied. Telling the youth to +transcribe his notes and send the flimsies page by page as completed +to the printer, he took up his golf sticks, passed through the outer +office, instructing his assistant to read the proof, and departed to +his recreation. + +There is an excellent golf course on the Scarborough Bluffs, the +rugged, seamed, and fissured cliffs that form the northern shore of +Lake Ontario, near Toronto. Boarding a trolley-car, Mr. McMurtrie soon +reached the club-house, where he found his friend Harry Cleave +already awaiting him. + +"Hullo, Mac. Day's work done?" was Mr. Cleave's salutation. + +"Indeed it is. The best day's work I have done for a good while." + +"Then you are pitching into somebody or something, that's certain. +What is it this time?" + +"Bubbles, my boy. Those flying-men are after spinning again. Some of +the 'Frisco men will have a pain within side of 'em when they read how +I have touched 'em up. Now then, Cleave, we've got the course to +ourselves. I'm sure I can give you half a stroke and a beating. 'Tis +your honour." + +The consciousness of having touched up the 'Frisco men seemed to have +a salutary influence on Mr. McMurtrie's play. He was in the top of +form, won the first two holes, and was in the act of lifting his club +to drive off from the tee of number three, when a faint buzzing sound +from the direction of the lake caused him to suspend the stroke and +glance over the placid blue water. Far away in the sky he saw a dark +speck about the size of a swallow, which, however, grew with +extraordinary rapidity, and in a few moments declared itself to be an +aeroplane containing two men. + +"Be jabers!" quoth Mr. McMurtrie, resting his club on the ground and +watching the flying machine with eyes in which might have been +discerned a shade of misgiving. + +It was, perhaps, thirty seconds from the time when he first caught +sight of it that the aeroplane came perpendicularly above his head, +the whirring ceased, and the machine descended with graceful swoop +upon the well-cropt turf within fifty yards of the spot where the two +golfers stood. As soon as it alighted, Mr. McMurtrie handed his sticks +to the caddie, and, as one released from a spell, hurried to meet the +man who had just stepped out of the car. + +"That's Toronto over yonder?" said Smith without ceremony. + +"Indeed it is," replied McMurtrie, taking stock of the dirty +dishevelled figure. "Your name's not Smith?" + +"Indeed it is!" + +"Holy Moses!" ejaculated McMurtrie, and, to Smith's amazement, he +turned his back and sprinted at the speed of a race-horse towards the +club-house a few hundred yards away. He rushed to the telephone box, +rang up his office, and, catching at his breath, waited with feverish +eagerness for the answer to his call. + +"You there, Daniels? I'm McMurtrie. For any sake stop press, cancel +that leader, put back the tariff, votes for women, anything, only +stop it.... What!... Edition off the machine!... Don't let a copy +leave the office.... What!... First deliveries made!... Recall 'em, +or the paper's ruined. Smith's here!... No, This-something Smith ... +no, you ass, the naval lieutenant, he flying man: don't you +understand!... understand!... are you there?... Get out a special +edition at once.... Where's Davis? Bring him to the 'phone to take a +note.... That you, Davis? Take this down.... 'As we go to press we +have the best of evidence for the statement that the marvellous +world-flight of that intrepid young airman, Lieutenant Thistledown +Smith, of the British Navy, is a sober fact, and not, as our sceptical +wiseacres have asserted, an ingeniously concocted hoax. Lieutenant +Smith descended at 3:50 this afternoon on the Scarborough Bluffs, +having accomplished the enormous distance from San Francisco without a +stop, in the marvellous time of twelve hours, twenty-one minutes, and +fourteen seconds. In our final edition, which will be accelerated, we +shall publish an interview with Lieutenant Smith, with exclusive +particulars of his remarkable voyage and his romantic career." + +"I'm not so sure of that," said Smith dryly. He had entered with Mr. +Cleave, and heard the frenzied editor's concluding sentences. "To +begin with, I stopped at St. Paul, and was lucky enough to escape +without attracting any attention. I shouldn't have been here but for +the storm." + +"For goodness' sake, Lieutenant, don't tell anybody that. A little +stop at St. Paul isn't worth making a fuss about. You'll come along +into the city with me, and we will get a few of the boys together and +give you a topping dinner." + +"I'd rather be hanged," said Smith. "The fact is, I only came down to +get enough petrol on board to take me across the Atlantic. You can +tell me where to get what I want?" + +"Indeed I can. I tell you what. I'll 'phone for the petrol--how much +do you want?--and get it out here in no time. You won't mind me +ringing up a few particular friends, and inviting them out to see +you?" + +"Please don't do anything of the kind. I'm very tired; I'm not +presentable; and I've no time to spare." + +"Sure you wouldn't be after declining to answer a question or two--to +be worked up into an interview, you know?" + +"Really, I've nothing to tell. You appear to know a good deal about me +already, and I'm sure your imagination can supply the rest." + +"But there's a gap, lieutenant. We can't account for you between Port +Darwin and Honolulu." + +"We're wasting time," said Smith despairingly. "Be so good as to order +up the petrol; then I'll give you a few headings." + +McMurtrie was delighted. He gave the order to a firm in the city, +requesting that the petrol should be sent out by motor at once. Then +he took Smith and Cleave into the luncheon-room, which they had to +themselves, ordered a meal for Smith, and drinks for Cleave and +himself, and while Smith was eating, filled his note-book with +jottings, which he foretold would sell out two editions of his paper +like winking. + +Rodier, meanwhile, was cleaning the engine. + +To execute an order smartly is one of the first of business virtues. +Smith was satisfied that the virtue was appreciated in Toronto: the +petrol arrived, as McMurtrie assured him, in the shortest possible +time. Unluckily the Toronto men of business had their share of +humanity's common failing--if it is a failing--curiosity. McMurtrie, +with Smith at his elbow, had scrupulously refrained from explaining +what the petrol was wanted for; his assistant, Daniels, had been too +busy seeing the special edition to press to run about gossiping; and +Davis, the shorthand-writer, the third in the secret, had become so +mechanical that nothing stirred emotion within him; he wrote of +murders, assassinations, political convulsions, Rooseveltian exploits, +diplomatic indiscretions, everything but football matches, with the +same pencil and the same cold, inhuman precision. But it happened that +one of the compositors in the _Sphere_ printing office, who took a +lively interest in the affairs of his fellow mortals, had a bet with a +friend in the plumbing line about this very matter of the mysterious +flying men. No sooner had he set up his portion of the editor's note +than he begged leave of absence for half-an-hour from the overseer, +whipped off his apron, and rushed off to demand his winnings before +the loser had time to spend them in the _Blue Lion_ on the way home +from work. They repaired, nevertheless, to the _Blue Lion_ to settle +their account; they told the news to the barman, who passed it to the +landlord; a publisher's clerk heard it, and repeated it to the +manager; the manager acquainted the head of the firm as he went out to +tea; the publisher mentioned it in an off-hand way to the man next him +at the café; and--to roll the snowball no further--half Toronto was in +possession of the news before the _Sphere_ appeared on the streets. + +The result was a general exodus in the direction of the Scarborough +Bluffs. On foot, on bicycles, in cabs, motor-cars, trolley-cars, +drays, and all kinds of vehicles, every one who had a tincture of +sporting spirit set off to see two men and a structure of metal and +canvas--quite ordinary persons and things, but representing a Deed and +an Idea. + +Thus it happened that close behind the dray conveying the petrol came +a long procession, the sound of whose coming announced it from afar. + +"'Tis the way of us in Toronto," said McMurtrie soothingly, when Smith +vented his annoyance. + +The crowd invaded the club-grounds, to the horror of the +green-keepers, and rolled past the club-house to the aeroplane, where +Rodier, having finished cleaning, was regaling himself with an +excellent repast sent out to him by Mr. McMurtrie. Cheers for +Lieutenant Smith arose; Rodier smiled and bowed, not ceasing to ply +his knife and fork until a daring youth put his foot upon the +aeroplane. Then Rodier dropped knife and fork, and rushed like a cat +at the intruder. The Frenchiness of his language apprised the +spectators that they were on the wrong scent, and they demanded to +know where Lieutenant Smith was. Knowing Smith's dislike of +demonstrations, Rodier was about to point lugubriously to the edge of +the cliff, when some one shouted "Here he is!" and the mob flocked +towards the club-house, from which Smith had just emerged. Rodier +seized the opportunity to finish his meal, and direct the operations +of the men who had brought the petrol. + +Smith had not found himself in so large a crowd of English-speaking +people since he had left London. The early morning enthusiasm of the +San Francisco journalists was hard to bear, but the afternoon +enthusiasm of Toronto was terrible. Hundreds of young fellows wanted +to hoist him to their shoulders; dozens of opulent citizens perspired +to carry him to the city in their cars; some very young ladies panted +to kiss him; and a score of journalists buzzed about him, but upon +them McMurtrie smiled with a look of conscious superiority. Smith +whispered to him. The editor nodded. + +"Gentlemen!" he shouted, holding up his hand. + +"Silence!... Hear, hear!... S-s-sh!... Don't make such a row!... +Same to you!... Let's hear what Jack McMurtrie has got to say." + +Thus the babel was roared down. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," said McMurtrie; "Mr. Smith--" + +"Three cheers for Smith!" shouted some one; horns blurted; from the +edge of the crowd the first notes of "For he's a jolly good fellow" +were heard, and they sang it through twice, so that those who had +missed the beginning should not be hurt in their feelings. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," began McMurtrie again, when he could make his +voice heard, "Mr. Smith, who is rather hoarse from constant exposure +to the night air, asks me to thank you for the warmth of your +reception. He has been good enough to give me full particulars of his +wonderful journey, which you will find in the final edition of the +_Sphere_. As I've no doubt at all that you are anxious to have the +chance of seeing Mr. Smith performing the evolutions which up to this +time have been witnessed by next to nobody but the stars and the +flying fishes, he has consented, at my request, to give a +demonstration, provided that you'll allow him a clear run, and don't +be accessory to your own manslaughter." + +This announcement was greeted with loud cheers. The crowd fell back, +allowing Smith a free course to the aeroplane. + +"Bedad," said McMurtrie; "I wouldn't wonder but they tear me to pieces +before I get safe home. But I'll skip into a motor-car as soon as you +are started. Now, is there anything I can do for you before you go?" + +"Only send two cables for me; one to my sister: here's the address; +say simply 'All well.' The other to Barracombe, 532 Mincing Lane, +London, asking him to meet me at home at eleven p.m., to-morrow. You +won't forget?" + +"I will not. But you're a cool hand, to be sure." + +A space was cleared; the aeroplane ran off, soared aloft, and for a +few seconds circled over the heads of the spectators. Then a voice +came to them from the air, not so much like Longfellow's falling star +as an emission from a gramaphone. + +"Good-bye, friends. Thanks for your kind reception. Sorry I can't stay +any longer; but I've got to be in Portsmouth, England within +twenty-four hours. Good-bye." + +The aeroplane wheeled eastward, and shot forward at a speed that made +the onlookers gasp. When it had disappeared, they became suddenly +alive to the suspicion that Jack McMurtrie had practised a ruse on +them. They gave a yell and looked round for him. A motor-car was +making at forty miles an hour for Toronto. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A MIDNIGHT VIGIL + + +Mr. William Barracombe was the most punctual of men. He entered his +office in Mincing Lane precisely at ten o'clock on Thursday morning. +His letters had already been sorted and arranged in two neat piles on +his desk. Topmost on one of them was a cablegram from Toronto: "Meet +me home eleven p.m. Smith." He never admitted that anything would +surprise him, and in fact he showed no sign of excitement, but looked +through his correspondence methodically, distributing the papers among +several baskets to be dealt with by respective members of his staff, +or by himself. This done, he rang for the office boy, ordered him to +remove the baskets, and then took up the cablegram again. + +"By Jove!" he said to himself. + +He reached down his A B C and looked out a train for Cosham. + +"I may as well go down to dinner," he thought. + +His next proceeding was to telephone to his chambers instructing his +man to meet him at Waterloo with his suit-case. Then he wrote a +telegram to Mrs. Smith announcing that he would dine with her that +evening. Thereupon he was ready to tackle the business problems which +would absorb his attention until five o'clock. + +On arriving at Cosham Park he was taken to the study, where Kate Smith +was awaiting him. + +"You have heard from Charley?" she said anxiously, after shaking +hands. + +"Yes. Have you?" + +"He wired 'All well.' He is very economical. All his messages have +been just those two words, except yesterday's from Honolulu. That was +'Father safe.'" + +"That's magnificent. He didn't tell me that, the rascal. Like you, I +have nothing before but 'All well.'" + +"Do tell me what he wired you this time. I was afraid when we got your +telegram that something had happened." + +"Not a bit of it. He expects to be here at eleven." + +"How delightful! I am quite proud of him, really. You can come and see +Mother now. I wanted to speak to you first because she knows nothing +about Charley's journey. I thought it best to keep it from her until +I knew about Father, and having kept it so long I decided to leave it +for Charley to tell himself. I don't know whether I can manage it. I'm +so excited I could scream." + +"Don't mind me. Ah! How d'ye do, Mrs. Smith?" The lady had just +entered. "You'll forgive my presumption?" + +"Not at all--that is, an old friend like you doesn't presume, Mr. +Barracombe. Have you heard from Charley lately?" + +"A word or two. He's coming home to-night. He asked me to meet him +here." + +"How vexing! I mean, I wish I had known before; I can tell you what I +couldn't tell a stranger: we've fish for only three. But I am glad the +dear boy will have a few hours at home before he rejoins his ship. It +was very annoying that his leave should be spoilt. I am sure his +captain works him too hard." + +"I don't fancy he'll consider his leave spoilt. But don't be concerned +about the fish; he won't be home till eleven." + +"My bed-time is ten; I haven't made an exception for years; but I +shall certainly sit up for him; if you'll play cribbage with me to +keep me awake. We dine at eight. You know your room?" + +A servant entered. + +"Please, m'm, there's a man asking for Mr. Charley." + +"Who is he, Betts?" + +"A stranger to me, m'm. His name is Barton, and he's a farmer sort of +man." + +"Did you tell him that Mr. Charley is not at home?" + +"Yes, m'm. He said he'd wait." + +"Tell him that Mr. Charley will not be in till eleven. He had better +call again." + +The servant returned in a minute or two. + +"Please, m'm, the man says he don't mind waiting. He has come miles +special to see Mr. Charley, and he says he won't be put off. He seems +a bit put out, m'm." + +"I'll go and see him, Mother," said Kate. "It may be important." + +"Perhaps Mr. Barracombe will go with you, my dear. The man may be +intoxicated." + +Kate and Mr. Barracombe proceeded to the hall, where stood a man in +rough country garments, his calves encased in brown leather leggins. + +"You wish to see my brother?" said Kate. + +"I do so, if Mr. Charles Thusidger Smith, R.N., be your brother, miss. +He give me this card wi's name prented on it, and vowed and declared +he'd send me a cheque as soon as he got my bill for the damage he +done. 'Tis a week come Saturday since I sent my bill, and daze me if +I've got a cheque or even had any answer. That's not fair dealing; it +bean't proper; that's what _I_ say." + +Mr. Barracombe's eyes twinkled. He glanced at Kate, and said-- + +"Your name is B-B--" + +"Barton, sir; Firtop Farm, Mottisfont." + +"What is this b-b-bill for d-d-damages you speak of?" + +"Why, sir, 'twas like this. Last Thursday night as was, I was just +a-strippin' off my coat to go to bed when I heard a randy of a noise +out-along, and my dogs set up a-barkin', and goin' to look, there was +a airyplane had shoved hisself into my hayrick, and a young feller +a-splutterin' and hollerin', and usin' all manner of heathen language +to my dog. He cooled down arter a bit, when I'd spoke to him pretty +straight, axin' who'd pay for the mess he'd made, and he went +down-along to village, sayin' he'd take a bed there for hisself and +his man, and pay me what was fair. Drown me if he wasn't back in +half-an-hour, all of a heat, tellin' me in a commandin' way--being an +officer by what he said--to pull down my fence and help him hoist that +airyplane on to the road. I wouldn't stir a finger till he'd promised +faithful to pay, not me; then we worked me and some labourin' men he +brought, till we was all of a sweat, and we got the dratted thing out, +and off she went, whizzin' and buzzin' in a way I never did see. Come +mornin' I took a look at things, and there was half my hay not worth a +cuss for horse or ass, and thirty feet of fence fit for nowt but +firewood. 'Send in your bill,' says he, and send it I did, and neither +song nor sixpence have I got for it. Thinks I, I'll go and see if he +give me a right name and address, and a mighty moil 'twas to find the +place, and no train back till mornin', and my wife don't know where I +be." + +"Very annoying. What's the amount of your b-b-bill?" + +"Here it be. Cast your eye on it, sir. I ain't overcharged a penny." + +He handed Mr. Barracombe a soiled paper folded many times--"To damage +to hay, repairing fence, and cleaning up, _£_4 2_s_ 4-1/2_d_." + +"What's the ha'penny?" asked Mr. Barracombe. + +"I never thowt there'd be any question of a ha'penny, drown me if I +did. The ha'penny be for the ball of twine we used to get fence +straight. I didn't want it set up all crissmacross, mind 'ee, and you +have to draw a line same as when you're plantin' 'taties." + +"Well, Mr. B-B-Barton, I'm sorry Mr. Smith isn't at home, but the +f-fact is he's been for a voyage round the world, and won't be home +till eleven." + +"That's a good 'un. Round the world! Why, I tell 'ee this was only a +se'nnight ago. I seed him myself. He couldn't get a half nor a quarter +round the world in the time. My son Jock be a sailor, and he don't do +it under six months. That won't wash with Isaac Barton. No, no, if +he'll be home at eleven he hain't been round the world. Anyway, I'll +bide till he comes. I dussn't show my face to home without _£_4 2_s._ +4-1/2_d._, railway fare extry." + +"If that's the case I'd b-better p-p-pay you myself. Mr. Smith will +settle with me. Here's a f-f-five-pound note: that will pay your +b-b-bill and your f-fare, and leave something over for a b-bed in the +village if you can't get home to-night." + +"Well now, that's handsome, be dazed if it hain't." + +"Just receipt your bill, w-will you? By the b-bye, Mr. Smith didn't +pay you anything on account?" + +"I won't tell a lie. He did. He give me a pound, but that don't come +in the reckonin'. Hay was _£_3, wood fifteen shillin', men's time +_£_1, beer two shillin', odds and ends five shillin', nails +four-pence, twine a ha'penny, makin' _£_5, 2_s._ 4-1/2_d._ I've a-took +off _£_1, leavin' _£_4 2_s_. 4-1/2_d._" + +"Very well. Here's a s-stamp." + +The farmer receipted the bill. + +"Thank'ee, sir." He cleared his throat, "If I med make so bold, sir, +meanin' no offence--" + +"What n-now?" + +"Why, sir, speakin' in my simple common way, I never hears a body +stutter in his talk but I think of my brother Sam and how he cured +hisself. He was a terrible bad stutterer in his young days, he was, +nearly bustin' hisself tryin' to get it out, poor soul. But a clever +parson chap learned him how to cure hisself, and if I med make so +bold, I'll tell 'ee how 'twas done." + +"I shall be d-delighted." + +"Well, this parson chap--ah! he was a clever feller, everywhere except +in the pulpit--he said to my brother, 'Sam,' says he--he always talked +in that homely way--'Sam, poor feller, I'll tell 'ee what the bishop +told me when I stuttered so bad I couldn't say 'Dearly beloved +brethren' without bub--bub--bubbing awful. 'Say the bub--bub--bub +inside yerself,' says he, 'and then you can stutter as long as you +like without a soul knowin' it. My brother Sam thowt 'a med as well +give it a trial, and he did, and bless 'ee, in a week he could talk as +straightforward as the Prime Minister, and no one 'ud ever know what a +terrible lot of b's and m's and other plaguey letters he swallered. +Try it, sir; say 'Baby mustn't bother mummy' that way ten times every +morning afore breakfast, and 'Pepper-pots and mustard plasters' afore +goin' to bed, and I lay you'll get over it as quick as my brother +Sam. Good-night, sir and miss, and thank 'ee." + +"Why _do_ you pretend so?" said Kate, laughing, when the door was +shut. + +"My dear Kate, I have stuttered for pleasure and profit ever since I +discovered the efficacy of it at school. When I didn't know my lesson +one day I put on a stammer, and my bub--bub--bubbing, as the farmer +calls it, made the master so uncomfortable that, ever afterwards, at +the first sign of it he passed me over. That's why I'm such a fool +to-day." + +"You're incorrigible. Come, it's time to dress for dinner." + +The time between dinner and eleven passed all too slowly. Mrs. Smith +and Barracombe played cribbage; Kate was restless, opening a book, +laying it down, touching the piano, going to the window and peering +out into the dark. + +"Why are you so restless to-night, Kate?" asked her mother. "One would +think that Charley had been away for months instead of a week." + +"Ah, but you see, Mother, he hasn't--" + +"Hasn't what--Fifteen two, fifteen four--Well, Kate?" + +"Has never been quite so late home on his last night of leave, has he, +Mother?" + +"That is true--one for his nob. I really think they ought to make him +a captain, for he seems to be an exceedingly useful officer. He went +away last Thursday, as I understood, on some business connected with a +wreck. I do hope none of the poor men were drowned. I often think of +my husband, Mr. Barracombe, on the other side of the world, going +about among those dreadful coral reefs, and I wish he would retire and +live safely at home. I could never understand what he finds +interesting in bits of stone and things of that sort, but of course he +is a very distinguished man." + +So the good lady prattled on, placidly unconscious of her nearness to +the border-line between comedy and tragedy. + +The clock struck eleven. + +"Thank you, Mr. Barracombe; I have enjoyed the game," said Mrs. Smith. +"Charley will soon be here." + +"Let us go to the door," said Kate. "Perhaps we shall hear him." + +"Mr. Barracombe will go with you, Kate; I am a little afraid of the +night air. Wrap yourself up." + +The two went to the conservatory door, overlooking the park. The sky +was clear, the air was still; not a sound was to be heard. Every now +and then a broad flash of light fleetingly illuminated the sky; it was +no doubt the searchlight at Spithead. + +"I wish he would come," said Kate. "It would be terrible if anything +went wrong at the very last. How far is it across the Atlantic?" + +"It's three thousand five hundred miles to Liverpool from New York, +and rather more from Toronto; a ticklish journey, with no chance of +landing till he gets to Ireland." + +"It makes me shudder to think of him crossing the sea in that frail +machine." + +"People shuddered at the first railway train, speed ten miles an hour; +now we grumble at fifty. In a few years we shall have an aerial +Marathon, with the circumference of the globe for the course." + +"Hark! What is that?" + +"The rumble of a train," said Barracombe, after a moment's silence. +"Shall we walk down to the sheds? There's a clear view from there, +without trees; we could see the aeroplane a long way off, though +probably we should hear it first." + +They went on, remained at the sheds for some minutes, scanning the +sky, then retraced their steps. A quarter-past eleven struck. Kate +grew more and more anxious, and Barracombe found it more and more +difficult to talk unconcernedly. They returned to the house, and +entering through the conservatory, discovered Mrs. Smith asleep in her +chair. Barracombe noiselessly put some coal on the fire, and they +stole out again. + +Half-past eleven. + +"Don't you think you had better go to bed, Kate?" + +"I couldn't sleep if I did, Billy. I couldn't even lie still. Oh, how +helpless one feels! Charley may be drowning, and we don't know it, and +can't do anything to help." + +"Pull yourself together, Kate. I am sure he is all right. He probably +started later than he intended. You may be sure he wouldn't start +unless the engine was in thorough good order. Let us go in and play +patience." + +"No, no; I must move. Let us walk down the road." + +Barracombe was more perturbed than he would admit. It was unlike Smith +to miscalculate. His telegram was probably sent off at the moment of +starting, or even after he had started, from Toronto. If the engine +had worked at all, it would work at full speed, so that the loss of +time on the journey implied either contrary winds, a mistaken course, +or a serious mishap. Kate was so little in the mood for talking that +Barracombe in responsive silence could toss the various probabilities +about in his mind until he felt a nervous excitability that annoyed +him. + +They walked up and down the silent road. The church clock struck a +quarter to twelve. The minutes dragged until it was again heard. A +little after twelve they stopped short at the same moment; Kate +grasped Barracombe's arm. + +"Listen!" she said. + +A faint sound, like the murmur of the wind, but becoming louder with +extraordinary rapidity. + +"Oh, Billy!" cried the girl. "Run; he'll be at the sheds first." + +She caught his hand and tugged him towards the park gate, a hundred +yards distant. + +"My dear Kate!" he protested; "I'm not so young as I was. _Let_ him be +there first, confound him!" + +But he ran all the same. The engine was roaring overhead, +_fortissimo_; looking up, the two panting runners saw the flashlight. +A sudden silence, as when the word _tacet_ in an orchestral score +hushes to silence bassoons and horns, drums and cymbals, all the +instruments that but a moment before were convulsing the air with +myriad waves of sound. + +"He's gliding!" cried Kate, standing breathless at the door of the +shed. The machine descended silently and rested on the smooth level +sward. Kate darted forward. + +"Oh, Charley!" she cried; "you've come!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE LAST LAP + + +"Rather late, ain't you!" said Barracombe, as Smith jumped from the +aeroplane. + +"Hallo, Sis. Hallo, old man!" cried Smith. "We've done it; seven days, +to the minute!" + +Kate flew into his arms: only next day did she discover the ruin of +her dress. + +"I've a voice like a corncake," said Smith, disengaging himself. "Glad +to see you, Billy." + +"You're a wonder! But, God bless me! you look awfully done up. You +look positively ill. Come up to the house at once; we don't want you +crocked." + +"Come on, Roddy," said Smith hoarsely. "You'll stay with us to-night. +Leave the machine for once. You see, Billy, I have to rejoin at nine +to-morrow--to-morrow, I say; I mean this morning. That gives me nine +hours, and as I haven't been to bed for a week I want seven good solid +hours sleep." + +"But really, Charley, you don't look fit to rejoin," said Kate. "Your +cheeks are dreadfully thin, and your voice is nearly gone." + +"Well, of course, I'm dead tired; feel all to pieces, in fact. But all +I want is sleep." + +"And a medical certificate," put in Barracombe. "I've known a fellow +get two months' leave for what he called a strained heart. Strained it +to some purpose, for he got married before his leave was up. We'll get +you a certificate--a doctor's, not a parson's." + +"I don't mind if you do, after I've rejoined; but I must show up +without fail at nine a.m. I'm later than I meant to be. Got snowed up +at St. John's." + +"You didn't come straight from Toronto, then!" + +"No. Didn't care to risk it. Besides, it would have meant eighteen +hours in the air at a stretch. I don't think Roddy and I could have +stood that. I took St. John's--in Newfoundland, Kate--on the way." + +"But I thought Newfoundland was near the North Pole." + +"A common mistake. St. John's is considerably southward of our +latitude. But they've had a cold snap there lately, and we came down +in a snowdrift and had to be dug out. We had an easy flight across the +Atlantic; the engine has behaved splendidly all through, thanks to +Roddy. But I'm glad to be home; by Jove, I am!" + +This conversation passed as they walked up to the house. Mrs. Smith +had been wakened by the noise of the engine, and stood just within the +door to welcome her son. She, too, was struck by his haggard +appearance, and declared she must send for the doctor. + +"Why, Mother, you're not going to coddle me at my age," he said. "You +ought to be in bed. Off you go: I shall be all right in the morning. I +shall have something to tell you then. Breakfast at eight sharp, by +the way; or I shan't get to Portsmouth in time." + +"Very well, my dear. Simmons is up, keeping some food warm for you. I +will tell him. Goodnight." + +"I've such loads to tell you," said Smith, when she had gone; "but I'm +afraid it must wait. By the way, Kate, I suppose nothing of importance +has come for me?" + +"A few letters, mostly from the people you disappointed, I suspect. +I'll fetch them." + +When she returned, Smith immediately noticed a long official envelope +in the bundle. He tore it open. + +"Great Scott!" he cried. "An order to rejoin on Wednesday without +fail. That's a nasty whack." + +"Any explanation?" asked Barracombe. + +"Not a word. Some sudden whimsy of the admiral's, I suppose. Have you +got yesterday's paper, Kate?" + +"I remember now," cried Kate. "How silly of me to forget it! The +_Implacable_ broke down, and your ship was ordered to replace her." + +"Just my luck!" exclaimed Smith gloomily. "Last time I was late the +ship was going shooting. Now I shall miss her altogether when she's at +manoeuvres. Captain Bolitho will put me down as a hopeless rotter." + +"What nonsense, Charley! You had seven days left, and you're not bound +to be within call at a moment's notice. I'm very glad the ship has +left Portsmouth, for now you can't rejoin, and you'll have time to +rest." + +"I'm not so sure, Kate," he cried, suddenly sitting up, and scanning +the paper she had brought. "Where's the fleet? Ah! Irish coast. I'll +rejoin, as sure as I'm alive. You see, I'm due at nine. I'm not +physically incapable, and in the aeroplane I can easily do it if I can +find the squadron. The _Implacable_ was with the Blue fleet, operating +from Bear Haven, I see. It's worth trying, anyhow." + +"Magnificent, but absurd," said Barracombe. "You won't find them, +either." + +"A fiver that I will." + +"No, thanks. By the way, you owe me a fiver." + +"How's that?" + +"Look at this." + +He handed Smith Farmer Barton's receipted bill, and related what had +happened in the evening. + +Smith laughed. + +"I'd forgotten him; but his bill is no doubt among this batch. To come +back to the point. I am serious. I mean to rejoin my ship at nine. To +give myself plenty of time I'll start at six. It's now past twelve; +I'll set my alarm clock for six. I'm sorry for Roddy, I'm afraid, he +must clean the engine. D'you mind finding him?--Ah! here he is, and +Simmons with soup. Thank you, Simmons. Sorry to keep you up so late." + +"I'm glad to see you back safe and sound, sir," said the man +respectfully. + +Smith shot a glance at Rodier, but the look of surprise on the +Frenchman's face showed that he, at any rate, had not been talking. +Kate's expression proved that she was equally surprised. + +"And I hope the Master and Mr. Tom are as well as could be expected, +sir," added Simmons. + +"What do you mean?" + +"Well, sir, I knew the Master had met with a accident--" + +"But I cut the paragraph out of the paper," cried Kate. + +"Yes, miss, that's what made me go and buy one. I assure you I haven't +said a word to a soul, miss, guessing as you wanted it kep' from the +Mistress, and you can't trust female maids." + +"But how did you know I had gone out to the Solomons?" asked Smith. + +"'Twas a bit in the _Times_ first put me on the scent, sir, about a +sensation in Constantinople about two daring and intrepid airmen that +came down there sudden-like and went away in a jiff. No names were +named, sir, but I guessed it was you and Mr. Rodier." + +"Johnson had discretion, at any rate," murmured Smith. "Well!" + +"Next day there was a bit about two airmen coming down at some place +in India, sir. Putting two and two together--" + +"I see. No names again?" + +"No, sir, not till to-night." + +"To-night, eh?" + +"Yes, sir. There's a bit in the _Evening News_ to-night, not strictly +true, sir. I've got it here." + +He drew the paper from his pocket, and pointed to the following +paragraph-- + + The mysterious airmen whose doings have been reported at + intervals during the last few days have now appeared at San + Francisco. One of them is said to be a Lieutenant + Thistleton Smith, who, according to our correspondent, + explained that he has a bet of £10,000 with a well-known + sporting nobleman that he will circle the globe in a + fortnight. The general opinion in San Francisco is that + these sporadic appearances of airmen in far-distant spots + are part of a cleverly devised scheme of world-wide + advertisement, engineered by a Chicago pork-packing firm + who have more than once displayed considerable ingenuity in + pushing their products. + +There was general laughter when Smith read this paragraph aloud. +Rodier alone was solemn. + +"They think we boom pigs!" he cried indignantly. "Pigs themselves." + +"Well, Roddy, truth will out," said Smith. "I'm sorry to keep you up, +by the way, but I shall have to leave at six o'clock. Would you mind +running down to the shed and--cleaning the engine?" + +"Mon Dieu! I do nothing for a week but clean the engine." + +"Yes, poor chap, but you shall have a rest after this. Go to bed when +you've got things shipshape; I shall go alone; only about four hundred +miles this time." + +"You really mean it, then?" said Barracombe. + +"Decidedly. If you knew Captain Bolitho you would see that there's no +help for it." + +"Well, then, the sooner you eat your supper and get between the sheets +the better. I'll tuck you up." + +"Tuck in and tuck up. Very well." + +"Your bath shall be ready at six, sir," said Simmons. + +A few minutes after six o'clock, Smith made his ascent, his departure +being witnessed by his sister and Barracombe and the whole domestic +staff. He flew rapidly over Hampshire, Dorset, Devon; crossed the +Bristol Channel, and made a bee-line for Bear Haven at the entrance to +Bantry Bay. Soon after eight he descried a number of dull grey specks +strung like beads on the western horizon. They must be one or other of +the opposing fleets, either the Reds or the Blues; but which? He must +go and see. Altering his course a point or two, in a few minutes he +was running down the line of warships, which were steaming line ahead, +apparently in the direction of Bear Haven. At a glance he recognized +the _Thunderbolt_, notoriously the lame duck of the Reds, lagging +three or four miles behind the rest. Smith slowed down to quarter +speed as he passed the leading ships, and a few blank shots were fired +at him for form's sake, for the guns were incapable of an inclination +that would be dangerous to him at his height of 3,000 feet, even if +they were throwing live shell. + +He drew clear of the squadron, and was about to put his engine at full +speed again when an aeroplane shot up from the deck of the flagship +and started in pursuit, followed at a short interval by a second +aeroplane from a vessel some distance down the line. Smith smiled to +himself. From what he knew of the service aeroplanes, the _Puck_, as +he had now named his vessel, was in no danger of being overtaken; but +if the airmen of the Red fleet wanted a run, he was not the man to +baulk them. In a few minutes the pursuers began to close in; he +increased the speed to eighty miles; still they gained on him. Another +notch in the regulator increased his speed to a hundred miles an hour, +at which he felt that he should be able to hold his own. He found, +however, that one of the aeroplanes was still gaining, and it was not +until he had increased his speed another twenty miles that the _Puck_ +began to draw away. + +"Now to business," Smith said to himself. + +Paying no more attention to the pursuers, except by a glance to assure +himself that, though hopelessly outstripped, they were still following +him, he searched the horizon ahead for signs of the Blue fleet. The +rugged coast of Cork county had been for some time in sight, and as +Smith was well acquainted with it from experience in former +manoeuvres, he was able to steer straight for Bear Haven as soon as +the landmarks were distinguishable. It was more than half-an-hour +after sighting the Red fleet when he flew over Bantry Bay to the +harbour. Except for a number of colliers it was empty. + +Smith had already decided on his course of action if he should find +that the fleet had put to sea. He would adopt the tactics that had +succeeded so well in Ysabel Island, searching, not the land this time, +but the sea, fanwise, while his fuel lasted. The position of the +colliers seemed to indicate that they had only recently been engaged +in coaling, so that in all probability the fleet had left that morning +and was not far away. Probably, too, it was in the open Atlantic, and +not sheltering in any of the innumerable inlets of the western coast. +He steered due west, noticing as he did so that the pursuers were +still doggedly on his trail, and had gained considerably while he had +been investigating the harbour. + +He looked at his watch. It was twenty-five minutes to nine. He would +reach his ship in time if it were not more than eighty-five miles +distant, supposing that it was going in the same direction, or perhaps +a hundred and ten if it were coming towards him. Rising to the height +of 4,000 feet, he searched the sea in all directions through his +binocular. He noticed with amusement that one of the pursuing +aeroplanes had come down on Mizzen Head; the other was still labouring +after him. There were fishing smacks here and there near the coast, +looking like moths. Far to the left he saw a liner pouring its black +smoke into the air; it might have been a cockroach in widow's weeds. +And there, far in the west, what is that? Smoke, or a cloud? In two +minutes there is no longer any doubt; in three minutes the shapes of a +squadron of battleships can be clearly seen; in five minutes Smith's +practised eyes, now that he has descended, can distinguish the +_Imperturbable_, flying the admiral's flag, among what to a landsman +would appear to be a dozen exactly similar vessels. Glancing back, he +sees that the Red Scout has changed her course, and is already only a +speck in the southern sky. + +It was precisely ten minutes to nine by Smith's watch when the _Puck_, +literally received with open arms by two-score sturdy tars, alighted +on the deck of the _Imperturbable_. + +"Come aboard, sir," said Smith cheerfully to his captain. + +"So I see," was the laconic reply. + +"Sorry I was away, sir, when your recall arrived--in the South +Pacific." + +"In the--what?" + +"The South Pacific, sir, or thereabouts." + +"Don't you think, Mr. Smith, you are going a little too far?" said the +captain sternly. + +"Well, sir," replied Smith naïvely, "it _was_ a goodish distance. But +I have managed to get back within my leave. Ten minutes to spare, +sir." + +Captain Bolitho gasped. + +"Do you mean to tell me, seriously, you have been to the South +Pacific?" + +"Certainly, sir. I left home about midnight last Thursday, and got +back not quite nine hours ago. Went to the Solomon Islands _viâ_ +Penang and Port Darwin, and come home _viâ_ Samoa and 'Frisco." + +"But--but--then you have been _round the world_, sir--in _how_ long?" + +"Seven days, sir. My leave expires at nine this morning." + +Mechanically, like a man in a dream, the captain took out his watch. + +"Twenty-five minutes past eight," he said. "You needn't have hurried +yourself. You've another half-hour by Irish time. Perhaps you'd like +to fill it up by a trip round Ireland," he added dryly. + +Smith smiled. The first lieutenant broke in-- + +"Look-out reports, sir, another aeroplane was sighted behind Mr. +Smith's." + +The admiral, who had been an amused auditor of the colloquy between +Captain Bolitho and his lieutenant, was a man of intuitions. + +"There are no aeroplanes on this coast except the two with the Reds," +he said. "Mr. Smith, you have now reported yourself for duty. Our +single aeroplane has broken down; we must impress yours for public +service. I will not ask you what you have seen; but you will at once +follow the strange aeroplane, and endeavour to find out the position +and course of the enemy's fleet." + +In less than a minute Smith was in the air; in ten minutes he had +overtaken the Red aeroplane, flying high as he approached, and +hovering over his late pursuer, who made vain efforts to rise above +him. The immense engine power of the _Puck_ gave her as great an +advantage over her rival in soaring as in horizontal speed. By the +rules of the manoeuvres the Red aeroplane was out of action as soon as +the _Puck_ rose vertically above her. Wasting no further time, Smith +continued his course, and in half-an-hour sighted the Red squadron, +noted its strength and course, and in another half-hour was back on +the deck of the _Imperturbable_. + +"I found the enemy, sir, about ninety miles S.S.E., eight battleships +and about a dozen scouts. Their course was west." + +The admiral made a rapid calculation. + +"By Jove!" he said, "they will catch Pomeroy before we join him. But +there's time yet. We can warn Pomeroy to meet us twenty miles +north-east of the spot previously arranged. I think, Captain Bolitho, +we may perhaps overlook Mr. Smith's little irregularity in joining if +he gives us a full account of his--er--experiences, after dinner +to-night." + +"And the Reds, sir?" + +"Before dinner, one or the other of us will be out of action. Whether +Reds or Blues, we shall have leisure to hear how Mr. Smith went round +the world in seven days." + + + + + POSTSCRIPT + + +The following extracts from the Press, neatly pasted in Kate Smith's +scrap book, have a certain historical and romantic interest for the +persons concerned, directly or indirectly, in the incidents of the +foregoing narrative. + + (_From Our Own Correspondent_.) + + CONSTANTINOPLE, Friday. + + The appearance of an aeroplane this morning caused a + considerable sensation. It descended in the old archery + ground of the Sultans, to the terror of the juvenile + population that now uses the Ok Meidan as a common + playground. It contained two passengers, and though no + authentic information is obtainable, it is rumored that the + daring and intrepid airmen have made a rapid flight from + Berlin, and are proceeding to Persia on a secret mission + connected with the Bagdad railway. + + + (_From Our Own Correspondent_.) + + BOMBAY, Monday. + + The natives of the Mekran coast are again showing signs of + insubordination. The gunboat _Penguin_ has just come into + harbour, and her commander, Captain Durward, reports that + on Saturday he discovered a crowd of Baluchis in the act of + smuggling arms into an apparently innocent fishing-village. + He landed a party of bluejackets half a mile east of the + village, and swooped upon it simultaneously with an attack + from the sea. The villagers scattered in all directions, + but the ring-leaders were captured, together with a large + number of rifles and ammunition. The coup reflects the + greatest credit on this able and energetic officer. + + _Later_. + + The craze for aviation has at last broken out in India. Two + airmen made a sudden appearance at Karachi on Saturday, and + departed after a brief stay for the interior. They are said + to be in the employment of the Nizam of Hyderabad, who is + spending vast sums on his latest hobby. + + + BRISBANE, Monday. + + News has just arrived by wireless from the gunboat + _Frobisher_, off Ysabel Island, that the crew of the + survey-vessel _Albatross_, which was wrecked there a + fortnight ago, are safe. The party, it will be remembered, + includes the famous geologist, Dr. Thesiger Smith. The + message is very brief, and a reference it makes to an + aeroplane is thought to be an error.--REUTER. + + + SINGAPORE, Wednesday. + + The Penang correspondent of the _Free Press_ + telegraphs--"The barque _Elizabeth_ put in to-day in tow of + a steamtug of this port, and reported an extraordinary + incident in mid-ocean. She was dismasted a fortnight ago in + a cyclone south of the Andamans, and while drifting, fire + broke out in the forehold, and was kept under with the + greatest difficulty. Her plight was discovered and reported + here by the driver of an aeroplane who was making a flight + in the neighbourhood, and the tug was immediately sent to + her assistance. Conflicting rumours are prevalent as to the + identity of the aviator in question; Captain Bunce, of the + _Elizabeth_, insists that the airman's name was Smith, but + his account is rather confused, and the most generally + accepted opinion is that he is an officer of the German + navy, which has recently adopted the aeroplane for scouting + purposes. On no other supposition can his presence so far + from land be accounted for. Owing to the facts that he + arrived in the night of Sunday and departed immediately, no + trustworthy information is obtainable."--REUTER. + + + _(From Our Own Correspondent_.) + + TORONTO, Wednesday. + + The later editions of the _Sphere_ contain a detailed + account of the extraordinary world-flight accomplished by + Lieutenant Thesiger Smith of the British navy, which sets + at rest the rumours and speculations of the past week. + Lieutenant Smith left London last Friday at 12.30 a.m. + (Greenwich time), and arrived here this afternoon, + descending on the golf links on Scarborough Bluffs. I will + wire full particulars later. + + + _(From Our Own Correspondent_.) + + PARIS, Monday. + + The Cross of the Legion of Honour was to-day presented by + the President of the Republic to M. Laurent Rodier, who + accompanied your Lieutenant Thesiger Smith last month on + his adventurous flight around the world. It is understood + that the French Government has taken up the remarkable + invention due to M. Rodier and his English confrère, and + has offered M. Rodier the headship of a new State + aeronautical department. + + + THE NEGLECT OF GENIUS. + + To the Editor of the _Spectator_. + + SIR,--The paragraph in the _Times_ of Monday relating to + the honour awarded to M. Rodier, suggests sad reflections + to a patriotic Englishman. We have not as yet heard that + Lieutenant Smith's wonderful achievement has been in any + way recognized by our government. Abroad, genius is + fostered: here, it is slighted. How long shall such things + be?--I am, Sir, etc., + + PRO BONO PUBLICO. + + + [We have repeatedly declared our hatred of Protection in + every shape and form, so that we shall not be misunderstood + when we say that we cordially endorse our correspondent's + complaint. If the present Government, which in general has + our hearty support, devoted as much energy to the + cultivation of British Genius as it now devotes to the + spoon-feeding of British Industry, we should have less + reason to fear the growing menace of Socialism.--ED. + _Spectator_.] + + + The King has been pleased to confer the honour of I + knighthood on Lieutenant Charles Thesiger Smith, R.N. + + + THESIGER-SMITH--BUNCE.--On July 12th, at St. George's, + Hanover Square, by the Rev. Canon Montague, uncle of the + bridegroom, Sir Charles Thesiger Smith, Captain R.N., elder + son of Dr. Thesiger Smith, M.A., F.R.S., to Margaret, only + daughter of the late John Bunce, master mariner. + + AN AIRMAN'S WEDDING. + + An interesting announcement in another column recalls a + romance of the air and sea. Sir Charles Thesiger Smith, + whose famous flight round the world last year has not yet + been repeated, was yesterday married to Miss Margaret + Bunce, the lady whom he rescued in mid-ocean from a burning + vessel, and carried with him to safety. Many notable people + attended to witness the ceremony, and the presents include + a gold scarf-pin in the shape of an aeroplane, the gift of + the King. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS*** + + +******* This file should be named 15773-8.txt or 15773-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/7/7/15773 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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