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+Project Gutenberg's The Angel of the Revolution, by George Griffith
+
+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: The Angel of the Revolution
+       A Tale of the Coming Terror
+
+Author: George Griffith
+
+Illustrator: Fred T. Jane
+
+Release Date: February 18, 2010 [EBook #31324]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Michael Roe and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION
+
+
+MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
+
+[Illustration: _Drawn by Edwin S. Hope._
+
+NATASHA]
+
+
+
+
+THE ANGEL
+OF THE
+REVOLUTION
+
+A Tale of the Coming Terror
+
+
+BY
+GEORGE GRIFFITH
+
+_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY FRED. T. JANE_
+
+FIFTH EDITION
+
+LONDON
+TOWER PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED
+91 MINORIES, E.C.
+1894
+
+_Copyrighted Abroad_]    [_All Foreign Rights Reserved_
+
+TO
+CYRIL ARTHUR PEARSON
+TO WHOSE SUGGESTION
+THE WRITING OF THIS STORY
+WAS PRIMARILY DUE
+THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED
+BY
+THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  CHAP.                                        PAGE
+
+  I. AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR,                       1
+
+  II. AT WAR WITH SOCIETY,                       8
+
+  III. A FRIENDLY CHAT,                         16
+
+  IV. THE HOUSE ON CLAPHAM COMMON,              23
+
+  V. THE INNER CIRCLE,                          30
+
+  VI. NEW FRIENDS,                              37
+
+  VII. THE DAUGHTER OF NATAS,                   46
+
+  VIII. LEARNING THE PART,                      54
+
+  IX. THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS,                 63
+
+  X. THE "ARIEL,"                               70
+
+  XI. FIRST BLOOD,                              78
+
+  XII. IN THE MASTER'S NAME,                    85
+
+  XIII. FOR LIFE OR DEATH,                      91
+
+  XIV. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT,                98
+
+  XV. A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY,                   103
+
+  XVI. A WOOING IN MID-AIR,                    110
+
+  XVII. AERIA FELIX,                           119
+
+  XVIII. A NAVY OF THE FUTURE,                 127
+
+  XIX. THE EVE OF BATTLE,                      135
+
+  XX. BETWEEN TWO LIVES,                       141
+
+  XXI. JUST IN TIME,                           153
+
+  XXII. ARMED NEUTRALITY,                      162
+
+  XXIII. A BATTLE IN THE NIGHT,                169
+
+  XXIV. THE NEW WARFARE,                       179
+
+  XXV. THE HERALDS OF DISASTER,                188
+
+  XXVI. AN INTERLUDE,                          193
+
+  XXVII. ON THE TRACK OF TREASON,              201
+
+  XXVIII. A SKIRMISH IN THE CLOUDS,            208
+
+  XXIX. AN EMBASSY FROM THE SKY,               216
+
+  XXX. AT CLOSE QUARTERS,                      225
+
+  XXXI. A RUSSIAN RAID,                        233
+
+  XXXII. THE END OF THE CHASE,                 241
+
+  XXXIII. THE BREAKING OF THE CHARM,           247
+
+  XXXIV. THE PATH OF CONQUEST,                 251
+
+  XXXV. FROM CHAOS TO ARCADIE,                 258
+
+  XXXVI. LOVE AND DUTY,                        267
+
+  XXXVII. THE CAPTURE OF A CONTINENT,          276
+
+  XXXVIII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END,           289
+
+  XXXIX. THE BATTLE OF DOVER,                  295
+
+  XL. BELEAGUERED LONDON,                      301
+
+  XLI. AN ENVOY OF DELIVERANCE,                308
+
+  XLII. THE EVE OF ARMAGEDDON,                 315
+
+  XLIII. THE OLD LION AT BAY,                  323
+
+  XLIV. THE TURN OF THE BATTLE-TIDE,           331
+
+  XLV. ARMAGEDDON,                             339
+
+  XLVI. VICTORY,                               347
+
+  XLVII. THE JUDGMENT OF NATAS,                355
+
+  XLVIII. THE ORDERING OF EUROPE,              366
+
+  XLIX. THE STORY OF THE MASTER,               375
+
+  EPILOGUE.--"AND ON EARTH PEACE!"             386
+
+
+
+
+THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR.
+
+
+"Victory! It flies! I am master of the Powers of the Air at last!"
+
+They were strange words to be uttered, as they were, by a pale,
+haggard, half-starved looking young fellow in a dingy, comfortless
+room on the top floor of a South London tenement-house; and yet there
+was a triumphant ring in his voice, and a clear, bright flush on his
+thin cheeks that spoke at least for his own absolute belief in their
+truth.
+
+Let us see how far he was justified in that belief.
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+To begin at the beginning, Richard Arnold was one of those men whom
+the world is wont to call dreamers and enthusiasts before they
+succeed, and heaven-born geniuses and benefactors of humanity
+afterwards.
+
+He was twenty-six, and for nearly six years past he had devoted
+himself, soul and body, to a single idea--to the so far unsolved
+problem of aërial navigation.
+
+This idea had haunted him ever since he had been able to think
+logically at all--first dimly at school, and then more clearly at
+college, where he had carried everything before him in mathematics
+and natural science, until it had at last become a ruling passion
+that crowded everything else out of his life, and made him,
+commercially speaking, that most useless of social units--a
+one-idea'd man, whose idea could not be put into working form.
+
+He was an orphan, with hardly a blood relation in the world. He had
+started with plenty of friends, mostly made at college, who thought
+he had a brilliant future before him, and therefore looked upon him
+as a man whom it might be useful to know.
+
+But as time went on, and no results came, these dropped off, and he
+got to be looked upon as an amiable lunatic, who was wasting his
+great talents and what money he had on impracticable fancies, when he
+might have been earning a handsome income if he had stuck to the
+beaten track, and gone in for practical work.
+
+The distinctions that he had won at college, and the reputation he
+had gained as a wonderfully clever chemist and mechanician, had led
+to several offers of excellent positions in great engineering firms;
+but to the surprise and disgust of his friends he had declined them
+all. No one knew why, for he had kept his secret with the almost
+passionate jealousy of the true enthusiast, and so his refusals were
+put down to sheer foolishness, and he became numbered with the
+geniuses who are failures because they are not practical.
+
+When he came of age he had inherited a couple of thousand pounds,
+which had been left in trust to him by his father. Had it not been
+for that two thousand pounds he would have been forced to employ his
+knowledge and his talents conventionally, and would probably have
+made a fortune. But it was just enough to relieve him from the
+necessity of earning his living for the time being, and to make it
+possible for him to devote himself entirely to the realisation of his
+life-dream--at any rate until the money was gone.
+
+Of course he yielded to the temptation--nay, he never gave the other
+course a moment's thought. Two thousand pounds would last him for
+years; and no one could have persuaded him that with complete
+leisure, freedom from all other concerns, and money for the necessary
+experiments, he would not have succeeded long before his capital was
+exhausted.
+
+So he put the money into a bank whence he could draw it out as he
+chose, and withdrew himself from the world to work out the ideal of
+his life.
+
+Year after year passed, and still success did not come. He found
+practice very different from theory, and in a hundred details he met
+with difficulties he had never seen on paper. Meanwhile his money
+melted away in costly experiments which only raised hopes that ended
+in bitter disappointment. His wonderful machine was a miracle of
+ingenuity, and was mechanically perfect in every detail save one--it
+would do no practical work.
+
+Like every other inventor who had grappled with the problem, he had
+found himself constantly faced with that fatal ratio of weight to
+power. No engine that he could devise would do more than lift itself
+and the machine. Again and again he had made a toy that would fly, as
+others had done before him, but a machine that would navigate the air
+as a steamer or an electric vessel navigated the waters, carrying
+cargo and passengers, was still an impossibility while that terrible
+problem of weight and power remained unsolved.
+
+In order to eke out his money to the uttermost, he had clothed and
+lodged himself meanly, and had denied himself everything but the
+barest necessaries of life.
+
+Thus he had prolonged the struggle for over five years of toil and
+privation and hope deferred, and now, when his last sovereign had
+been changed and nearly spent, success--real, tangible, practical
+success--had come to him, and the discovery that was to be to the
+twentieth century what the steam-engine had been to the nineteenth
+was accomplished.
+
+He had discovered the true motive power at last.
+
+Two liquefied gases--which, when united, exploded spontaneously--were
+admitted by a clockwork escapement in minute quantities into the
+cylinders of his engine, and worked the pistons by the expansive
+force of the gases generated by the explosion. There was no weight
+but the engine itself and the cylinders containing the liquefied
+gases. Furnaces, boilers, condensers, accumulators, dynamos--all the
+ponderous apparatus of steam and electricity--were done away with,
+and he had a power at command greater than either of them.
+
+There was no doubt about it. The moment that his trembling fingers
+set the escapement mechanism in motion, the model that embodied the
+thought and labour of years rose into the air as gracefully as a bird
+on the wing, and sailed round and round in obedience to its rudder,
+straining hard at the string which prevented it from striking the
+ceiling. It was weighted in strict proportion to the load that the
+full-sized air-ship would have to carry. To increase this was merely
+a matter of increasing the power of the engine and the size of the
+floats and fans.
+
+The room was a large one, for the house had been built for a better
+fate than letting in tenements, and it ran from back to front with a
+window at each end. Out of doors there was a strong breeze blowing,
+and as soon as Arnold was sure that his ship was able to hold its own
+in still air, he threw both the windows open and let the wind blow
+straight through the room. Then he drew the air-ship down,
+straightened the rudder, and set it against the breeze.
+
+In almost agonised suspense he watched it rise from the floor, float
+motionless for a moment, and then slowly forge ahead in the teeth of
+the wind, gathering speed as it went. It was then that he had uttered
+that triumphant cry of "Victory!" All the long years of privation and
+hope deferred vanished in that one supreme moment of innocent and
+bloodless conquest, and he saw himself master of a kingdom as wide as
+the world itself.
+
+He let the model fly the length of the room before he stopped the
+clockwork and cut off the motive power, allowing it to sink gently to
+the floor. Then came the reaction. He looked steadfastly at his
+handiwork for several moments in silence, and then he turned and
+threw himself on to a shabby little bed that stood in one corner of
+the room and burst into a flood of tears.
+
+Triumph had come, but had it not come too late? He knew the boundless
+possibilities of his invention--but they had still to be realised. To
+do this would cost thousands of pounds, and he had just one
+half-crown and a few coppers. Even these were not really his own, for
+he was already a week behind with his rent, and another payment fell
+due the next day. That would be twelve shillings in all, and if it
+was not paid he would be turned into the street.
+
+As he raised himself from the bed he looked despairingly round the
+bare, shabby room. No; there was nothing there that he could pawn or
+sell. Everything saleable had gone already to keep up the struggle of
+hope against despair. The bed and wash-stand, the plain deal table,
+and the one chair that comprised the furniture of the room were not
+his. A little carpenter's bench, a few worn tools and odds and ends
+of scientific apparatus, and a dozen well-used books--these were all
+that he possessed in the world now, save the clothes on his back, and
+a plain painted sea-chest in which he was wont to lock up his
+precious model when he had to go out.
+
+His model! No, he could not sell that. At best it would fetch but the
+price of an ingenious toy, and without the secret of the two gases it
+was useless. But was not that worth something? Yes, if he did not
+starve to death before he could persuade any one that there was money
+in it. Besides, the chest and its priceless contents would be seized
+for the rent next day, and then--
+
+"God help me! What _am_ I to do?"
+
+The words broke from him like a cry of physical pain, and ended in a
+sob, and for all answer there was the silence of the room and the
+inarticulate murmur of the streets below coming up through the open
+windows.
+
+He was weak with hunger and sick with excitement, for he had lived
+for days on bread and cheese, and that day he had eaten nothing since
+the crust that had served him for breakfast. His nerves, too, were
+shattered by the intense strain of his final trial and triumph, and
+his head was getting light.
+
+With a desperate effort he recovered himself, and the heroic
+resolution that had sustained him through his long struggle came to
+his aid again. He got up and poured some water from the ewer into a
+cracked cup and drank it. It refreshed him for the moment, and he
+poured the rest of the water over his head. That steadied his nerves
+and cleared his brain. He took up the model from the floor, laid it
+tenderly and lovingly in its usual resting-place in the chest. Then
+he locked the chest and sat down upon it to think the situation over.
+
+Ten minutes later he rose to his feet and said aloud--
+
+"It's no use. I can't think on an empty stomach. I'll go out and have
+one more good meal if it's the last I ever have in the world, and
+then perhaps some ideas will come."
+
+So saying, he took down his hat, buttoned his shabby velveteen coat
+to conceal his lack of a waistcoat, and went out, locking the door
+behind him as he went.
+
+Five minutes' walk brought him to the Blackfriars Road, and then he
+turned towards the river and crossed the bridge just as the motley
+stream of city workers was crossing it in the opposite direction on
+their homeward journey.
+
+At Ludgate Circus he went into an eating-house and fared sumptuously
+on a plate of beef, some bread and butter, and a pint mug of coffee.
+As he was eating a paper-boy came in and laid an _Echo_ on the table
+at which he was sitting. He took it up mechanically, and ran his eye
+carelessly over the columns. He was in no humour to be interested by
+the tattle of an evening paper, but in a paragraph under the heading
+of Foreign News a once familiar name caught his eye, and he read the
+paragraph through. It ran as follows:--
+
+      RAILWAY OUTRAGE IN RUSSIA.
+
+    When the Berlin-Petersburg express stopped last night at Kovno,
+    the first stop after passing the Russian frontier, a shocking
+    discovery was made in the smoking compartment of the palace car
+    which has been on the train for the last few months. Colonel
+    Dornovitch, of the Imperial Police, who is understood to have
+    been on his return journey from a secret mission to Paris, was
+    found stabbed to the heart and quite dead. In the centre of the
+    forehead were two short straight cuts in the form of a *T*
+    reaching to the bone. Not long ago Colonel Dornovitch was
+    instrumental in unearthing a formidable Nihilist conspiracy, in
+    connection with which over fifty men and women of various social
+    ranks were exiled for life to Siberia. The whole affair is
+    wrapped in the deepest mystery, the only clue in the hands of the
+    police being the fact that the cross cut on the forehead of the
+    victim indicates that the crime is the work, not of the Nihilists
+    proper, but of that unknown and mysterious society usually
+    alluded to as the Terrorists, not one of whom has ever been seen
+    save in his crimes. How the assassin managed to enter and leave
+    the car unperceived while the train was going at full speed is an
+    apparently insoluble riddle. Saving the victim and the
+    attendants, the only passengers in the car who had not retired to
+    rest were another officer in the Russian service and Lord
+    Alanmere, who was travelling to St. Petersburg to resume, after
+    leave of absence, the duties of the Secretaryship to the British
+    Embassy, to which he was appointed some two years ago.
+
+"Why, that must be the Lord Alanmere who was at Trinity in my time,
+or rather Viscount Tremayne, as he was then," mused Arnold, as he
+laid the paper down. "We were very good friends in those days. I
+wonder if he'd know me now, and lend me a ten-pound note to get me
+out of the infernal fix I'm in? I believe he would, for he was one of
+the few really good-hearted men I have so far met with.
+
+"If he were in London I really think I should take courage from my
+desperation, and put my case before him and ask his help. However,
+he's not in London, and so it's no use wishing. Well, I feel more of
+a man for that shillingsworth of food and drink, and I'll go and wind
+up my dissipation with a pipe and a quiet think on the Embankment."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+AT WAR WITH SOCIETY.
+
+
+When Richard Arnold reached the Embankment dusk had deepened into
+night, so far, at least, as nature was concerned. But in London in
+the beginning of the twentieth century there was but little night to
+speak of, save in the sense of a division of time. The date of the
+paper which contained the account of the tragedy on the Russian
+railway was September 3rd, 1903, and within the last ten years
+enormous progress had been made in electric lighting.
+
+The ebb and flow in the Thames had at last been turned to account,
+and worked huge turbines which perpetually stored up electric power
+that was used not only for lighting, but for cooking in hotels and
+private houses, and for driving machinery. At all the great centres
+of traffic huge electric suns cast their rays far and wide along the
+streets, supplementing the light of the lesser lamps with which they
+were lined on each side.
+
+The Embankment from Westminster to Blackfriars was bathed in a flood
+of soft white light from hundreds of great lamps running along both
+sides, and from the centre of each bridge a million candle-power sun
+cast rays upon the water that were continued in one unbroken stream
+of light from Chelsea to the Tower.
+
+On the north side of the river the scene was one of brilliant and
+splendid opulence, that contrasted strongly with the half-lighted
+gloom of the murky wilderness of South London, dark and forbidding in
+its irredeemable ugliness.
+
+From Blackfriars Arnold walked briskly towards Westminster, bitterly
+contrasting as he went the lavish display of wealth around him with
+the sordid and seemingly hopeless poverty of his own desperate
+condition.
+
+He was the maker and possessor of a far greater marvel than anything
+that helped to make up this splendid scene, and yet the ragged tramps
+who were remorselessly moved on from one seat to another by the
+policemen as soon as they had settled themselves down for a rest and
+a doze, were hardly poorer than he was.
+
+For nearly four hours he paced backwards and forwards, every now and
+then stopping to lean on the parapet, and once or twice to sit down,
+until the chill autumn wind pierced his scanty clothing, and
+compelled him to resume his walk in order to get warm again.
+
+All the time he turned his miserable situation over and over again in
+his mind without avail. There seemed no way out of it; no way of
+obtaining the few pounds that would save him from homeless beggary
+and his splendid invention from being lost to him and the world,
+certainly for years, and perhaps for ever.
+
+And then, as hour after hour went by, and still no cheering thought
+came, the misery of the present pressed closer and closer upon him.
+He dare not go home, for that would be to bring the inevitable
+disaster of the morrow nearer, and, besides, it was home no longer
+till the rent was paid. He had two shillings, and he owed at least
+twelve. He was also the maker of a machine for which the Tsar of
+Russia had made a standing offer of a million sterling. That million
+might have been his if he had possessed the money necessary to bring
+his invention under the notice of the great Autocrat.
+
+That was the position he had turned over and over in his mind until
+its horrible contradictions maddened him. With a little money, riches
+and fame were his; without it he was a beggar in sight of starvation.
+
+And yet he doubted whether, even in his present dire extremity, he
+could, had he had the chance, sell what might be made the most
+terrific engine of destruction ever thought of to the head and front
+of a despotism that he looked upon as the worst earthly enemy of
+mankind.
+
+For the twentieth time he had paused in his weary walk to and fro to
+lean on the parapet close by Cleopatra's Needle. The Embankment was
+almost deserted now, save by the tramps and a few isolated wanderers
+like himself. For several minutes he looked out over the brightly
+glittering waters below him, wondering listlessly how long it would
+take him to drown if he dropped over, and whether he would be rescued
+before he was dead, and brought back to life, and prosecuted the next
+day for daring to try and leave the world save in the conventional
+and orthodox fashion.
+
+Then his mind wandered back to the Tsar and his million, and he
+pictured to himself the awful part that a fleet of air-ships such as
+his would play in the general European war that people said could not
+now be put off for many months longer. As he thought of this the
+vision grew in distinctness, and he saw them hovering over armies and
+cities and fortresses, and raining irresistible death and destruction
+down upon them. The prospect appalled him, and he shuddered as he
+thought that it was now really within the possibility of realisation;
+and then his ideas began to translate themselves involuntarily into
+words which he spoke aloud, completely oblivious for the time being
+of his surroundings.
+
+"No, I think I would rather destroy it, and then take my secret with
+me out of the world, than put such an awful power of destruction and
+slaughter into the hands of the Tsar, or, for the matter of that, any
+other of the rulers of the earth. Their subjects can butcher each
+other quite efficiently enough as it is. The next war will be the
+most frightful carnival of destruction that the world has ever seen;
+but what would it be like if I were to give one of the nations of
+Europe the power of raining death and desolation on its enemies from
+the skies! No, no! Such a power, if used at all, should only be used
+against and not for the despotisms that afflict the earth with the
+curse of war!"
+
+"Then why not use it so, my friend, if you possess it, and would see
+mankind freed from its tyrants?" said a quiet voice at his elbow.
+
+The sound instantly scattered his vision to the winds, and he turned
+round with a startled exclamation to see who had spoken. As he did
+so, a whiff of smoke from a very good cigar drifted past his
+nostrils, and the voice said again in the same quiet, even tones--
+
+"You must forgive me for my bad manners in listening to what you were
+saying, and also for breaking in upon your reverie. My excuse must be
+the great interest that your words had for me. Your opinions would
+appear to be exactly my own, too, and perhaps you will accept that as
+another excuse for my rudeness."
+
+It was the first really kindly, friendly voice that Richard Arnold
+had heard for many a long day, and the words were so well chosen and
+so politely uttered that it was impossible to feel any resentment, so
+he simply said in answer--
+
+"There was no rudeness, sir; and, besides, why should a gentleman
+like you apologise for speaking to a"--
+
+"Another gentleman," quickly interrupted his new acquaintance.
+"Because I transgressed the laws of politeness in doing so, and an
+apology was due. Your speech tells me that we are socially equals.
+Intellectually you look my superior. The rest is a difference only of
+money, and that any smart swindler can bury himself in nowadays if he
+chooses. But come, if you have no objection to make my better
+acquaintance, I have a great desire to make yours. If you will pardon
+my saying so, you are evidently not an ordinary man, or else,
+something tells me, you would be rich. Have a smoke and let us talk,
+since we apparently have a subject in common. Which way are you
+going?"
+
+"Nowhere--and therefore anywhere," replied Arnold, with a laugh that
+had but little merriment in it. "I have reached a point from which
+all roads are one to me."
+
+"That being the case I propose that you shall take the one that leads
+to my chambers in Savoy Mansions yonder. We shall find a bit of
+supper ready, I expect, and then I shall ask you to talk. Come
+along!"
+
+There was no more mistaking the genuine kindness and sincerity of the
+invitation than the delicacy with which it was given. To have refused
+would not only have been churlish, but it would have been for a
+drowning man to knock aside a kindly hand held out to help him; so
+Arnold accepted, and the two new strangely met and strangely assorted
+friends walked away together in the direction of the Savoy.
+
+The suite of rooms occupied by Arnold's new acquaintance was the beau
+ideal of a wealthy bachelor's abode. Small, compact, cosy, and richly
+furnished, yet in the best of taste withal, the rooms looked like an
+indoor paradise to him after the bare squalor of the one room that
+had been his own home for over two years.
+
+His host took him first into a dainty little bath-room to wash his
+hands, and by the time he had performed his scanty toilet supper was
+already on the table in the sitting-room. Nothing melts reserve like
+a good well-cooked meal washed down by appropriate liquids, and
+before supper was half over Arnold and his host were chatting
+together as easily as though they stood on perfectly equal terms and
+had known each other for years. His new friend seemed purposely to
+keep the conversation to general subjects until the meal was over and
+his pattern man-servant had removed the cloth and left them together
+with the wine and cigars on the table.
+
+As soon as he had closed the door behind him his host motioned Arnold
+to an easy-chair on one side of the fireplace, threw himself into
+another on the other side, and said--
+
+"Now, my friend, plant yourself, as they say across the water, help
+yourself to what there is as the spirit moves you, and talk--the more
+about yourself the better. But stop. I forgot that we do not even
+know each other's name yet. Let me introduce myself first.
+
+"My name is Maurice Colston; I am a bachelor, as you see. For the
+rest, in practice I am an idler, a dilettante, and a good deal else
+that is pleasant and utterly useless. In theory, let me tell you, I
+am a Socialist, or something of the sort, with a lively conviction as
+to the injustice and absurdity of the social and economic conditions
+which enable me to have such a good time on earth without having done
+anything to deserve it beyond having managed to be born the son of my
+father."
+
+He stopped and looked at his guest through the wreaths of his cigar
+smoke as much as to say: "And now who are you?"
+
+Arnold took the silent hint, and opened his mouth and his heart at
+the same time. Quite apart from the good turn he had done him, there
+was a genial frankness about his unconventional host that chimed in
+so well with his own nature that he cast all reserve aside, and told
+plainly and simply the story of his life and its master passion, his
+dreams and hopes and failures, and his final triumph in the hour when
+triumph itself was defeat.
+
+His host heard him through without a word, but towards the end of his
+story his face betrayed an interest, or rather an expectant anxiety,
+to hear what was coming next that no mere friendly concern of the
+moment for one less fortunate than himself could adequately account
+for. At length, when Arnold had completed his story with a brief but
+graphic description of the last successful trial of his model, he
+leant forward in his chair, and, fixing his dark, steady eyes on his
+guest's face, said in a voice from which every trace of his former
+good-humoured levity had vanished--
+
+"A strange story, and truer, I think, than the one I told you. Now
+tell me on your honour as a gentleman: Were you really in earnest
+when I heard you say on the embankment that you would rather smash up
+your model and take the secret with you into the next world, than
+sell your discovery to the Tsar for the million that he has offered
+for such an air-ship as yours?"
+
+"Absolutely in earnest," was the reply. "I have seen enough of the
+seamy side of this much-boasted civilisation of ours to know that it
+is the most awful mockery that man ever insulted his Maker with. It
+is based on fraud, and sustained by force--force that ruthlessly
+crushes all who do not bow the knee to Mammon. I am the enemy of a
+society that does not permit a man to be honest and live, unless he
+has money and can defy it. I have just two shillings in the world,
+and I would rather throw them into the Thames and myself after them
+than take that million from the Tsar in exchange for an engine of
+destruction that would make him master of the world."
+
+"Those are brave words," said Colston, with a smile. "Forgive me for
+saying so, but I wonder whether you would repeat them if I told you
+that I am a servant of his Majesty the Tsar, and that you shall have
+that million for your model and your secret the moment that you
+convince me that what you have told me is true."
+
+Before he had finished speaking Arnold had risen to his feet. He
+heard him out, and then he said, slowly and steadily--
+
+"I should not take the trouble to repeat them; I should only tell you
+that I am sorry that I have eaten salt with a man who could take
+advantage of my poverty to insult me. Good night."
+
+He was moving towards the door when Colston jumped up from his chair,
+strode round the table, and got in front of him. Then he put his two
+hands on his shoulders, and, looking straight into his eyes, said in
+a tone that vibrated with emotion--
+
+"Thank God, I have found an honest man at last! Go and sit down
+again, my friend, my comrade, as I hope you soon will be. Forgive me
+for the foolishness that I spoke! I am no servant of the Tsar. He and
+all like him have no more devoted enemy on earth than I am. Look! I
+will soon prove it to you."
+
+As he said the last words, Colston let go Arnold's shoulders, flung
+off his coat and waistcoat, slipped his braces off his shoulders, and
+pulled his shirt up to his neck. Then he turned his bare back to his
+guest, and said--
+
+"That is the sign-manual of Russian tyranny--the mark of the knout!"
+
+Arnold shrank back with a cry of horror at the sight. From waist to
+neck Colston's back was a mass of hideous scars and wheals, crossing
+each other and rising up into purple lumps, with livid blue and grey
+spaces between them. As he stood, there was not an inch of
+naturally-coloured skin to be seen. It was like the back of a man who
+had been flayed alive, and then flogged with a cat-o'-nine-tails.
+
+Before Arnold had overcome his horror his host had re-adjusted his
+clothing. Then he turned to him and said--
+
+"That was my reward for telling the governor of a petty Russian town
+that he was a brute-beast for flogging a poor decrepit old Jewess to
+death. Do you believe me now when I say that I am no servant or
+friend of the Tsar?"
+
+"Yes, I do," replied Arnold, holding out his hand, "you were right to
+try me, and I was wrong to be so hasty. It is a failing of mine that
+has done me plenty of harm before now. I think I know now what you
+are without your telling me. Give me a piece of paper and you shall
+have my address, so that you can come to-morrow and see the
+model--only I warn you that you will have to pay my rent to keep my
+landlord's hands off it. And then I must be off, for I see it's past
+twelve."
+
+"You are not going out again to-night, my friend, while I have a sofa
+and plenty of rugs at your disposal," said his host. "You will sleep
+here, and in the morning we will go together and see this marvel of
+yours. Meanwhile sit down and make yourself at home with another
+cigar. We have only just begun to know each other--we two enemies of
+Society!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A FRIENDLY CHAT.
+
+
+Soon after eight the next morning Colston came into the sitting-room
+where Arnold had slept on the sofa, and dreamt dreams of war and
+world-revolts and battles fought in mid-air between aërial navies
+built on the plan of his own model. When Colston came in he was just
+awake enough to be wondering whether the events of the previous night
+were a reality or part of his dreams--a doubt that was speedily set
+at rest by his host drawing back the curtains and pulling up the
+blinds.
+
+The moment his eyes were properly open he saw that he was anywhere
+but in his own shabby room in Southwark, and the rest was made clear
+by Colston saying--
+
+"Well, comrade Arnold, Lord High Admiral of the Air, how have you
+slept? I hope you found the sofa big and soft enough, and that the
+last cigar has left no evil effects behind it."
+
+"Eh? Oh, good morning! I don't know whether it was the whisky or the
+cigars, or what it was; but do you know I have been dreaming all
+sorts of absurd things about battles in the air and dropping
+explosives on fortresses and turning them into small volcanoes. When
+you came in just now I hadn't the remotest idea where I was. It's
+time to get up, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, it's after eight a good bit. I've had my tub, so the bath-room
+is at your service. Meanwhile, Burrows will be laying the table for
+breakfast. When you have finished your tub, come into my
+dressing-room, and let me rig you out. We are about of a size, and I
+think I shall be able to meet your most fastidious taste. In fact, I
+could rig you out as anything--from a tramp to an officer of the
+Guards."
+
+"It wouldn't take much change to accomplish the former, I'm afraid.
+But, really, I couldn't think of trespassing so far on your
+hospitality as to take your very clothes from you. I'm deep enough in
+your debt already."
+
+"Don't talk nonsense, Richard Arnold. The tone in which those last
+words were said shows me that you have not duly laid to heart what I
+said last night. There is no such thing as private property in the
+Brotherhood, of which I hope, by this time to-morrow, you will be an
+initiate.
+
+"What I have here is mine only for the purposes of the Cause,
+wherefore it is as much yours as mine, for to-day we are going on the
+Brotherhood's business. Why, then, should you have any scruples about
+wearing the Brotherhood's clothes? Now clear out and get tubbed, and
+wash some of those absurd ideas out of your head."
+
+"Well, as you put it that way, I don't mind, only remember that I
+don't necessarily put on the principles of the Brotherhood with its
+clothes."
+
+So saying, Arnold got up from the sofa, stretched himself, and went
+off to make his toilet.
+
+When he sat down to breakfast with his host half an hour later, very
+few who had seen him on the Embankment the night before would have
+recognised him as the same man. The tailor, after all, does a good
+deal to make the man, externally at least, and the change of clothes
+in Arnold's case had transformed him from a superior looking tramp
+into an aristocratic and decidedly good-looking man, in the prime of
+his youth, saving only for the thinness and pallor of his face, and a
+perceptible stoop in the shoulders.
+
+During breakfast they chatted about their plans for the day, and then
+drifted into generalities, chiefly of a political nature.
+
+The better Arnold came to know Maurice Colston the more remarkable
+his character appeared to him; and it was his growing wonder at the
+contradictions that it exhibited that made him say towards the end of
+the meal--
+
+"I must say you're a queer sort of conspirator, Colston. My idea of
+Nihilists and members of revolutionary societies has always taken the
+form of silent, stealthy, cautious beings, with a lively distrust and
+hatred of the whole human race outside their own circles. And yet
+here are you, an active member of the most terrible secret society in
+existence, pledged to the destruction of nearly every institution on
+earth, and carrying your life in your hand, opening your heart like a
+schoolboy to a man you have literally not known for twenty-four
+hours.
+
+"Suppose you had made a mistake in me. What would there be to prevent
+me telling the police who you are, and having you locked up with a
+view to extradition to Russia?"
+
+"In the first place," replied Colston quietly, "you would not do so,
+because I am not mistaken in you, and because, in your heart, whether
+you fully know it or not, you believe as I do about the destruction
+that is about to fall upon Society.
+
+"In the second place, if you did betray my confidence, I should be
+able to bring such an overwhelming array of the most respectable
+evidence to show that I was nothing like what I really am, that you
+would be laughed at for a madman; and, in the third place, there
+would be an inquest on you within twenty-four hours after you had
+told your story. Do you remember the death of Inspector Ainsworth, of
+the Criminal Investigation Department, about six months ago?"
+
+"Yes, of course I do. Hermit and all as I was, I could hardly help
+hearing about that, considering what a noise it made. But I thought
+that was cleared up. Didn't one of that gang of garotters that was
+broken up in South London a couple of months later confess to
+strangling him in the statement that he made before he was executed?"
+
+"Yes, and his widow is now getting ten shillings a week for life on
+account of that confession. Birkett no more killed Ainsworth than you
+did; but he had killed two or three others, and so the confession
+didn't do him very much harm.
+
+"No; Ainsworth met his death in quite another way. He accepted from
+the Russian secret police bureau in London a bribe of £250 down and
+the promise of another £250 if he succeeded in manufacturing enough
+evidence against a member of our Outer Circle to get him extradited
+to Russia on a trumped-up charge of murder.
+
+"The Inner Circle learnt of this from one of our spies in the Russian
+London police, and----, well, Ainsworth was found dead with the mark
+of the Terror upon his forehead before he had time to put his
+treachery into action. He was executed by two of the Brotherhood, who
+are members of the Metropolitan police force, and who were afterwards
+complimented by the magistrate for the intelligent efforts they had
+made in bringing the murderers to justice."
+
+Colston told the dark story in the most careless of tones between the
+puffs of his after-breakfast cigarette. Arnold stifled his horror as
+well as he was able, but he could not help saying, when his host had
+done--
+
+"This Brotherhood of yours is well named the Terror; but was not that
+rather a murder than an execution?"
+
+"By no means," replied Colston, a trifle coldly. "Society hangs or
+beheads a man who kills another. Ainsworth knew as well as we did
+that if the man he tried to betray by false evidence had once set
+foot in Russia, the torments of a hundred deaths would have been his
+before he had been allowed to die.
+
+"He betrayed his office and his faith to his English masters in order
+to commit this vile crime, and so he was killed as a murderous and
+treacherous reptile that was not fit to live. We of the Terror are
+not lawyers, and so we make no distinctions between deliberate
+plotting for money to kill and the act of killing itself. Our law is
+closer akin to justice than the hair-splitting fraud that is
+tolerated by Society."
+
+Either from emotional or logical reasons Arnold made no reply to this
+reasoning, and, seeing he remained silent, Colston resumed his
+ordinary nonchalant, good-humoured tone, and went on--
+
+"But come, that will be horrors enough for to-day. We have other
+business in hand, and we may as well get to it at once. About this
+wonderful invention of yours. Of course I believe all you have told
+me about it, but you must remember that I am only an agent, and that
+I am inexorably bound by certain rules, in accordance with which I
+must act.
+
+"Now, to be perfectly plain with you, and in order that we may
+thoroughly understand each other before either of us commits himself
+to anything, I must tell you that I want to see this model flying
+ship of yours in order to be able to report on it to-night to the
+Executive of the Inner Circle, to whom I shall also want to introduce
+you. If you will not allow me to do that say so at once, and, for the
+present at least, our negotiations must come to a sudden stop."
+
+"Go on," said Arnold quietly; "so far I consent. For the rest I would
+rather hear you to the end."
+
+"Very well. Then if the Executive approve of the invention, you will
+be asked to join the Inner Circle at once, and to devote yourself
+body and soul to the Society and the accomplishment of the objects
+that will be explained to you. If you refuse there will be an end of
+the matter, and you will simply be asked to give your word of honour
+to reveal nothing that you have seen or heard, and then allowed to
+depart in peace.
+
+"If, on the other hand, you consent, in consideration of the immense
+importance of your secret--which there is no need to disguise from
+you--to the Brotherhood, the usual condition of passing through the
+Outer Circle will be dispensed with, and you will be trusted as
+absolutely as we shall expect you to trust us.
+
+"Whatever funds you then require to manufacture an air-ship on the
+plan of your model will be placed at your disposal, and a suitable
+place will be selected for the works that you will have to build.
+When the ship is ready to take the air you will, of course, be
+appointed to the command of her, and you will pick your crew from
+among the workmen who will act under your orders in the building of
+the vessel.
+
+"They will all be members of the Outer Circle, who will not
+understand your orders, but simply obey them blindly, even to the
+death. One member of the Inner Circle will act as your second in
+command, and he will be as perfectly trusted as you will be, so that
+in unforeseen emergencies you will be able to consult with him with
+perfect confidence. Now I think I have told you all. What do you
+say?"
+
+Arnold was silent for a few minutes, too busy for speech with the
+rush of thoughts that had crowded through his brain as Colston was
+speaking. Then he looked up at his host and said--
+
+"May I make conditions?"
+
+"You may state them," replied he, with a smile, "but, of course, I
+don't undertake to accept them without consultation with my--I mean
+with the Executive."
+
+"Of course not," said Arnold. "Well, the conditions that I should
+feel myself obliged to make with your Executive would be, briefly
+speaking, these: I would not reveal to any one the composition of the
+gases from which I derive my motive force. I should manufacture them
+myself in given quantities, and keep them always under my own charge.
+
+"At the first attempt to break faith with me in this respect I would
+blow the air-ship and all her crew, including myself, into such
+fragments as it would be difficult to find one of them. I have and
+wish for no life apart from my invention, and I would not survive
+it."
+
+"Good!" interrupted Colston. "There spoke the true enthusiast. Go
+on."
+
+"Secondly, I would use the machine only in open warfare--when the
+Brotherhood is fighting openly for the attainment of a definite end.
+Once the appeal to force has been made I will employ a force such as
+no nation on earth can use without me, and I will use it as
+unsparingly as the armies and fleets engaged will employ their own
+engines of destruction on one another. But I will be no party to the
+destruction of defenceless towns and people who are not in arms
+against us. If I am ordered to do that I tell you candidly that I
+will not do it. I will blow the air-ship itself up first."
+
+"The conditions are somewhat stringent, although the sentiments are
+excellent," replied Colston; "still, of myself I can neither accept
+nor reject them. That will be for the Executive to do. For my own
+part I think that you will be able to arrive at a basis of agreement
+on them. And now I think we have said all we can say for the present,
+and so if you are ready we'll be off and satisfy my longing to see
+the invention that is to make us the arbiters of war--when war comes,
+which I fancy will not be long now."
+
+Something in the tone in which these last words were spoken struck
+Arnold with a kind of cold chill, and he shivered slightly as he said
+in answer to Colston--
+
+"I am ready when you are, and no less anxious than you to set eyes on
+my model. I hope to goodness it is all safe! Do you know, when I am
+away from it I feel just like a woman away from her first baby."
+
+A few minutes later two of the most dangerous enemies of Society
+alive were walking quietly along the Embankment towards Blackfriars,
+smoking their cigars and chatting as conventionally as though there
+were no such things on earth as tyranny and oppression, and their
+necessarily ever-present enemies conspiracy and brooding revolution.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE HOUSE ON CLAPHAM COMMON.
+
+
+Twenty minutes' walk took Arnold and Colston to the door of the
+tenement-house in which the former had lived since his fast-dwindling
+store of money had convinced him of the necessity of bringing his
+expenses down to the lowest possible limit if he wished to keep up
+the struggle with fate very much longer.
+
+As they mounted the dirty, evil-smelling staircase, Colston said--
+
+"Phew! Verily you are a hero of science if you have brought yourself
+to live in a hole like this for a couple of years rather than give up
+your dream, and grow fat on the loaves and fishes of
+conventionality."
+
+"This is a palace compared with some of the rookeries about here,"
+replied Arnold, with a laugh. "The march of progress seems to have
+left this half of London behind as hopeless. Ten years ago there were
+a good many thousands of highly respectable mediocrities living on
+this side of the river, but now I am told that the glory has departed
+from the very best of its localities, and given them up to various
+degrees of squalor. Vice, poverty, and misery seem to gravitate
+naturally southward in London. I don't know why, but they do. Well,
+here is the door of my humble den."
+
+As he spoke he put the key in the lock, and opened the door, bidding
+his companion enter as he did so.
+
+Arnold's anxiety was soon relieved by finding the precious model
+untouched in its resting-place, and it was at once brought out.
+Colston was delighted beyond his powers of expression with the
+marvellous ingenuity with which the miracle of mechanical skill was
+contrived and put together; and when Arnold, after showing and
+explaining to him all the various parts of the mechanism and the
+external structure, at length set the engine working, and the
+air-ship rose gracefully from the floor and began to sail round the
+room in the wide circle to which it was confined by its mooring-line,
+he stared at it for several minutes in wondering silence, following
+it round and round with his eyes, and then he said in a voice from
+which he vainly strove to banish the signs of the emotion that
+possessed him--
+
+"It is the last miracle of science! With a few such ships as that one
+could conquer the world in a month!"
+
+"Yes, that would not be a very difficult task, seeing that neither an
+army nor a fleet could exist for twelve hours with two or three of
+them hovering above it," replied Arnold.
+
+The trial over, Arnold set to work and took the model partly to
+pieces for packing up; and while he was putting it away in the old
+sea-chest, Colston counted out ten sovereigns and laid them on the
+table. Hearing the clink of the gold, Arnold looked up and said--
+
+"What is that for? A sovereign will be quite enough to get me out of
+my present scrape, and then if we come to any terms to-night it will
+be time enough to talk about payment."
+
+"The Brotherhood does not do business in that way," was the reply.
+"At present your only connection with it is a commercial one, and ten
+pounds is a very moderate fee for the privilege of inspecting such an
+invention as this. Anyhow, that is what I am ordered to hand over to
+you in payment for your trouble now and to-night, so you must accept
+it as it is given--as a matter of business."
+
+"Very well," said Arnold, closing and locking the chest as he spoke,
+"if you think it worth ten pounds, the money will not come amiss to
+me. Now, if you will remain and guard the household gods for a
+minute, I will go and pay my rent and get a cab."
+
+Half an hour later his few but priceless possessions were loaded on a
+four-wheeler and Arnold had bidden farewell for ever to the dingy
+room in which he had passed so many hours of toil and dreaming,
+suffering and disappointment. Before lunch time they were safely
+bestowed in a couple of rooms which Colston had engaged for him in
+the same building in which his own rooms were.
+
+In the afternoon, among other purchases, a more convenient case was
+bought for the model, and in this it was packed with the plans and
+papers which explained its construction, ready for the evening
+journey.
+
+The two friends dined together at six in Colston's rooms, and at
+seven sharp his servant announced that the cab was at the door.
+Within ten minutes they were bowling along the Embankment towards
+Westminster Bridge in a luxuriously appointed hansom of the newest
+type, with the precious case lying across their knees.
+
+"This is a comfortable cab," said Arnold, when they had gone a
+hundred yards or so. "By the way, how does the man know where to go?
+I didn't hear you give him any directions."
+
+"None were necessary," was the reply. "This cab, like a good many
+others in London, belongs to the Brotherhood, and the man who is
+driving is one of the Outer Circle. Our Jehus are the most useful
+spies that we have. Many is the secret of the enemy that we have
+learnt from, and many is the secret police agent who has been driven
+to his rendezvous by a Terrorist who has heard every word that has
+been spoken on the journey."
+
+"How on earth is that managed?"
+
+"Every one of the cabs is fitted with a telephonic arrangement
+communicating with the roof. The driver has only to button the wire
+of the transmitter up inside his coat so that the transmitter itself
+lies near to his ear, and he can hear even a whisper inside the cab.
+
+"The man who is driving us, for instance, has a sort of retainer from
+the Russian Embassy to be on hand at certain hours on certain nights
+in the week. Our cabs are all better horsed, better appointed, and
+better driven than any others in London, and, consequently, they are
+favourites, especially among the young attachés, and are nearly
+always employed by them on their secret missions or love affairs,
+which, by the way, are very often the same thing. Our own Jehu has a
+job on to-night, from which we expect some results that will mystify
+the enemy not a little. We got our first suspicions of Ainsworth from
+a few incautious words that he spoke in one of our cabs."
+
+"It's a splendid system, I should think, for discovering the
+movements of your enemies," said Arnold, not without an uncomfortable
+reflection on the fact that he was himself now completely in the
+power of this terrible organisation, which had keen eyes and ready
+hands in every capital of the civilised world. "But how do you guard
+against treachery? It is well known that all the Governments of
+Europe are spending money like water to unearth this mystery of the
+Terror. Surely all your men cannot be incorruptible."
+
+"Practically they are so. The very mystery which enshrouds all our
+actions makes them so. We have had a few traitors, of course; but as
+none of them has ever survived his treachery by twenty-four hours, a
+bribe has lost its attraction for the rest."
+
+In such conversation as this the time was passed, while the cab
+crossed the river and made its way rapidly and easily along
+Kennington Road and Clapham Road to Clapham Common. At length it
+turned into the drive of one of those solid abodes of pretentious
+respectability which front the Common, and pulled up before a big
+stucco portico.
+
+"Here we are!" exclaimed Colston, as the doors of the cab
+automatically opened. He got out first, and Arnold handed the case to
+him, and then followed him.
+
+Without a word the driver turned his horse into the road again and
+drove off towards town, and as they ascended the steps the front door
+opened, and they went in, Colston saying as they did so--
+
+"Is Mr. Smith at home?"
+
+"Yes, sir; you are expected, I believe. Will you step into the
+drawing-room?" replied the clean-shaven and immaculately respectable
+man-servant, in evening dress, who had opened the door for them.
+
+They were shown into a handsomely furnished room lit with electric
+light. As soon as the footman had closed the door behind him, Colston
+said--
+
+"Well, now, here you are in the conspirators' den, in the very
+headquarters of those Terrorists for whom Europe is being ransacked
+constantly without the slightest success. I have often wondered what
+the rigid respectability of Clapham Common would think if it knew the
+true character of this harmless-looking house. I hardly think an
+earthquake in Clapham Road would produce much more sensation than
+such a discovery would.
+
+"And now," he continued, his tone becoming suddenly much more
+serious, "in a few minutes you will be in the presence of the Inner
+Circle of the Terrorists, that is to say, of those who practically
+hold the fate of Europe in their hands. You know pretty clearly what
+they want with you. If you have thought better of the business that
+we have discussed you are still at perfect liberty to retire from it,
+on giving your word of honour not to disclose anything that I have
+said to you."
+
+"I have not the slightest intention of doing anything of the sort,"
+replied Arnold. "You know the conditions on which I came here. I
+shall put them before your Council, and if they are accepted your
+Brotherhood will, within their limits, have no more faithful adherent
+than I. If not, the business will simply come to an end as far as I
+am concerned, and your secret will be as safe with me as though I had
+taken the oath of membership."
+
+"Well said!" replied Colston, "and just what I expected you to say.
+Now listen to me for a minute. Whatever you may see or hear for the
+next few minutes say nothing till you are asked to speak. I will say
+all that is necessary at first. Ask no questions, but trust to
+anything that may seem strange being explained in due course--as it
+will be. A single indiscretion on your part might raise suspicions
+which would be as dangerous as they would be unfounded. When you are
+asked to speak do so without the slightest fear, and speak your mind
+as openly as you have done to me."
+
+"You need have no fear for me," replied Arnold. "I think I am
+sensible enough to be prudent, and I am quite sure that I am
+desperate enough to be fearless. Little worse can happen to me than
+the fate that I was contemplating last night."
+
+As he ceased speaking there was a knock at the door. It opened and
+the footman reappeared, saying in the most commonplace fashion--
+
+"Mr. Smith will be happy to see you now, gentlemen. Will you kindly
+walk this way?"
+
+They followed him out into the hall, and then, somewhat to Arnold's
+surprise, down the stairs at the back, which apparently led to the
+basement of the house.
+
+The footman preceded them to the basement floor and halted before a
+door in a little passage that looked like the entrance to a coal
+cellar. On this he knocked in peculiar fashion with the knuckles of
+one hand, while with the other he pressed the button of an electric
+bell concealed under the paper on the wall. The bell sounded faintly
+as though some distance off, and as it rang the footman said abruptly
+to Colston--
+
+"Das Wort ist Freiheit."
+
+Arnold knew German enough to know that this meant "The word is
+'Freedom,'" but why it should have been spoken in a foreign language
+mystified him not a little.
+
+While he was thinking about this the door opened, as if by a released
+spring, and he saw before him a long, narrow passage, lit by four
+electric arcs, and closed at the other end by a door, guarded by a
+sentry armed with a magazine rifle.
+
+He followed Colston down the passage, and when within a dozen feet of
+the sentry, he brought his rifle to the "ready," and the following
+strange dialogue ensued between him and Colston--
+
+"Quien va?"
+
+"Zwei Freunde der Bruderschaft."
+
+"Por la libertad?"
+
+"Für Freiheit über alles!"
+
+"Pass, friends."
+
+The rifle grounded as the words were spoken, and the sentry stepped
+back to the wall of the passage.
+
+At the same moment another bell rang beyond the door, and then the
+door itself opened as the other had done.
+
+They passed through, and it closed instantly behind them, leaving
+them in total darkness.
+
+Colston caught Arnold by the arm, and drew him towards him, saying as
+he did so--
+
+"What do you think of our system of passwords?"
+
+"Pretty hard to get through unless one knew them, I should think. Why
+the different languages?"
+
+"To make assurance doubly sure every member of the Inner Circle must
+be conversant with four European languages. On these the changes are
+rung, and even I did not know what the two languages were to be
+to-night before I entered the house, and if I had asked for 'Mr.
+Brown' instead of 'Mr. Smith,' we should never have got beyond the
+drawing-room.
+
+"When the footman told me in German that the word was 'Freedom,' I
+knew that I should have to answer the challenge of the sentry in
+German. I did not know that he would challenge in Spanish, and if I
+had not understood him, or had replied in any other language but
+German, he would have shot us both down without saying another word,
+and no one would ever have known what had become of us. You will be
+exempt from this condition, because you will always come with me. I
+am, in fact, responsible for you."
+
+"H'm, there doesn't seem much chance of any one getting through on
+false pretences," replied Arnold, with an irrepressible shudder. "Has
+any one ever tried?"
+
+"Yes, once. The two gentlemen whose disappearance made the famous
+'Clapham Mystery' of about twelve months ago. They were two of the
+smartest detectives in the French service, and the only two men who
+ever guessed the true nature of this house. They are buried under the
+floor on which you are standing at this moment."
+
+The words were spoken with a cruel inflexible coldness, which struck
+Arnold like a blast of frozen air. He shivered, and was about to
+reply when Colston caught him by the arm again, and said hurriedly--
+
+"H'st! We are going in. Remember what I said, and don't speak again
+till some one asks you to do so."
+
+As he spoke a door opened in the wall of the dark chamber in which
+they had been standing for the last few minutes, and a flood of soft
+light flowed in upon their dazzled eyes. At the same moment a man's
+voice said from the room beyond in Russian--
+
+"Who stands there?"
+
+"Maurice Colston and the Master of the Air," replied Colston in the
+same language.
+
+"You are welcome," was the reply, and then Colston, taking Arnold by
+the arm, led him into the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE INNER CIRCLE.
+
+
+As soon as Arnold's eyes got accustomed to the light, he saw that he
+was in a large, lofty room with panelled walls adorned with a number
+of fine paintings. As he looked at these his gaze was fascinated by
+them, even more than by the strange company which was assembled round
+the long table that occupied the middle of the room.
+
+Though they were all manifestly the products of the highest form of
+art, their subjects were dreary and repulsive beyond description.
+There was a horrible realism about them which reminded him
+irresistibly of the awful collection of pictorial horrors in the
+Musée Wiertz, in Brussels--those works of the brilliant but unhappy
+genius who was driven into insanity by the sheer exuberance of his
+own morbid imagination.
+
+Here was a long line of men and women in chains staggering across a
+wilderness of snow that melted away into the horizon without a break.
+Beside them rode Cossacks armed with long whips that they used on men
+and women alike when their fainting limbs gave way beneath them, and
+they were like to fall by the wayside to seek the welcome rest that
+only death could give them.
+
+There was a picture of a woman naked to the waist, and tied up to a
+triangle in a prison yard, being flogged by a soldier with willow
+wands, while a group of officers stood by, apparently greatly
+interested in the performance. Another painting showed a poor wretch
+being knouted to death in the market-place of a Russian town, and yet
+another showed a young and beautiful woman in a prison cell with her
+face distorted by the horrible leer of madness, and her little white
+hands clawing nervously at her long dishevelled hair.
+
+Arnold stood for several minutes fascinated by the hideous realism of
+the pictures, and burning with rage and shame at the thought that
+they were all too terribly true to life, when he was startled out of
+his reverie by the same voice that had called them from the dark room
+saying to him in English--
+
+"Well, Richard Arnold, what do you think of our little picture
+gallery? The paintings are good in themselves, but it may make them
+more interesting to you if you know that they are all faithful
+reproductions of scenes that have really taken place within the
+limits of the so-called civilised and Christian world. There are some
+here in this room now who have suffered the torments depicted on
+those canvases, and who could tell of worse horrors than even they
+portray. We should like to know what you think of our paintings?"
+
+Arnold glanced towards the table in search of Colston, but he had
+vanished. Around the long table sat fourteen masked and shrouded
+forms that were absolutely indistinguishable one from the other. He
+could not even tell whether they were men or women, so closely were
+their forms and faces concealed. Seeing that he was left to his own
+discretion, he laid the case containing the model, which he had so
+far kept under his arm, down on the floor, and, facing the strange
+assembly, said as steadily as he could--
+
+"My own reading tells me that they are only too true to the dreadful
+reality. I think that the civilised and Christian Society which
+permits such crimes to be committed against humanity, when it has the
+power to stop them by force of arms, is neither truly civilised nor
+truly Christian."
+
+"And would _you_ stop them if you could?"
+
+"Yes, if it cost the lives of millions to do it! They would be better
+spent than the thirty million lives that were lost last century over
+a few bits of territory."
+
+"That is true, and augurs well for our future agreement. Be kind
+enough to come to the table and take a seat."
+
+The masked man who spoke was sitting in the chair at the foot of the
+table, and as he said this one of those sitting at the side got up
+and motioned to Arnold to take his place. As soon as he had done so
+the speaker continued--
+
+"We are glad to see that your sentiments are so far in accord with
+our own, for that fact will make our negotiations all the easier.
+
+"As you are aware, you are now in the Inner Circle of the Terrorists.
+Yonder empty chair at the head of the table is that of our Chief,
+who, though not with us in person, is ever present as a guiding
+influence in our councils. We act as he directs, and it was from him
+that we received news of you and your marvellous invention. It is
+also by his direction that you have been invited here to-night with
+an object that you are already aware of.
+
+"I see from your face that you are about to ask how this can be,
+seeing that you have never confided your secret to any one until last
+night. It will be useless to ask me, for I myself do not know. We who
+sit here simply execute the Master's will. We ask no questions, and
+therefore we can answer none concerning him."
+
+"I have none to ask," said Arnold, seeing that the speaker paused as
+though expecting him to say something. "I came at the invitation of
+one of your Brotherhood to lay certain terms before you, for you to
+accept or reject as seems good to you. How you got to know of me and
+my invention is, after all, a matter of indifference to me. With your
+perfect system of espionage you might well find out more secret
+things than that."
+
+"Quite so," was the reply. "And the question that we have to settle
+with you is how far you will consent to assist the work of the
+Brotherhood with this invention of yours, and on what conditions you
+will do so."
+
+"I must first know as exactly as possible what the work of the
+Brotherhood is."
+
+"Under the circumstances there is no objection to your knowing that.
+In the first place, that which is known to the outside world as the
+Terror is an international secret society underlying and directing
+the operations of the various bodies known as Nihilists, Anarchists,
+Socialists--in fact, all those organisations which have for their
+object the reform or destruction, by peaceful or violent means, of
+Society as it is at present constituted.
+
+"Its influence reaches beyond these into the various trade unions and
+political clubs, the moving spirits of which are all members of our
+Outer Circle. On the other side of Society we have agents and
+adherents in all the Courts of Europe, all the diplomatic bodies, and
+all the parliamentary assemblies throughout the world.
+
+"We believe that Society as at present constituted is hopeless for
+any good thing. All kinds of nameless brutalities are practised
+without reproof in the names of law and order, and commercial
+economics. On one side human life is a splendid fabric of cloth of
+gold embroidered with priceless gems, and on the other it is a mass
+of filthy, festering rags, swarming with vermin.
+
+"We think that such a Society--a Society which permits considerably
+more than the half of humanity to be sunk in poverty and misery while
+a very small portion of it fools away its life in perfectly
+ridiculous luxury--does not deserve to exist, and ought to be
+destroyed.
+
+"We also know that sooner or later it will destroy itself, as every
+similar Society has done before it. For nearly forty years there has
+now been almost perfect peace in Europe. At the same time, over
+twenty millions of men are standing ready to take the field in a
+week.
+
+"War--universal war that will shake the world to its foundations--is
+only a matter of a little more delay and a few diplomatic hitches.
+Russia and England are within rifleshot of each other in Afghanistan,
+and France and Germany are flinging defiances at each other across
+the Rhine.
+
+"Some one must soon fire the shot that will set the world in a blaze,
+and meanwhile the toilers of the earth are weary of these dreadful
+military and naval burdens, and would care very little if the
+inevitable happened to-morrow.
+
+"It is in the power of the Terrorists to delay or precipitate that
+war to a certain extent. Hitherto all our efforts have been devoted
+to the preservation of peace, and many of the so-called outrages
+which have taken place in different parts of Europe, and especially
+in Russia, during the last few years, have been accomplished simply
+for the purpose of forcing the attention of the administrations to
+internal affairs for the time, and so putting off what would have led
+to a declaration of war.
+
+"This policy has not been dictated by any hope of avoiding war
+altogether, for that would have been sheer insanity. We have simply
+delayed war as long as possible, because we have not felt that we
+have been strong enough to turn the tide of battle at the right
+moment in favour of the oppressed ones of the earth and against their
+oppressors.
+
+"But this invention of yours puts a completely different aspect on
+the European situation. Armed with such a tremendous engine of
+destruction as a navigable air-ship must necessarily be, when used in
+conjunction with the explosives already at our disposal, we could
+make war impossible to our enemies by bringing into the field a force
+with which no army or fleet could contend without the certainty of
+destruction. By these means we should ultimately compel peace and
+enforce a general disarmament on land and sea.
+
+"The vast majority of those who make the wealth of the world are sick
+of seeing that wealth wasted in the destruction of human life, and
+the ruin of peaceful industries. As soon, therefore, as we are in a
+position to dictate terms under such tremendous penalties, all the
+innumerable organisations with which we are in touch all over the
+world will rise in arms and enforce them at all costs.
+
+"Of course, it goes without saying that the powers that are now
+enthroned in the high places of the world will fight bitterly and
+desperately to retain the rule that they have held for so long, but
+in the end we shall be victorious, and then on the ruins of this
+civilisation a new and a better shall arise.
+
+"That is a rough, brief outline of the policy of the Brotherhood,
+which we are going to ask you to-night to join. Of course, in the
+eyes of the world we are only a set of fiends, whose sole object is
+the destruction of Society, and the inauguration of a state of
+universal anarchy. That, however, has no concern for us. What is
+called popular opinion is merely manufactured by the Press according
+to order, and does not count in serious concerns. What I have
+described to you are the true objects of the Brotherhood; and now it
+remains for you to say, yes or no, whether you will devote yourself
+and your invention to carrying them out or not."
+
+For two or three minutes after the masked spokesman of the Inner
+Circle had ceased speaking, there was absolute silence in the room.
+The calmly spoken words which deliberately sketched out the ruin of a
+civilisation and the establishment of a new order of things made a
+deep impression on Arnold's mind. He saw clearly that he was standing
+at the parting of the ways, and facing the most tremendous crisis
+that could occur in the life of a human being.
+
+It was only natural that he should look back, as he did, to the life
+from which a single step would now part him for ever, without the
+possibility of going back. He knew that if he once put his hands to
+the plough, and looked back, death, swift and inevitable, would be
+the penalty of his wavering. This, however, he had already weighed
+and decided.
+
+Most of what he had heard had found an echo in his own convictions.
+Moreover, the life that he had left had no charms for him, while to
+be one of the chief factors in a world-revolution was a destiny
+worthy both of himself and his invention. So the fatal resolution was
+taken, and he spoke the words that bound him for ever to the
+Brotherhood.
+
+"As I have already told Mr. Colston," he began by saying, "I will
+join and faithfully serve the Brotherhood if the conditions that I
+feel compelled to make are granted"--
+
+"We know them already," interrupted the spokesman, "and they are
+freely granted. Indeed, you can hardly fail to see that we are
+trusting you to a far greater extent than it is possible for us to
+make you trust us, unless you choose to do so. The air-ship once
+built and afloat under your command, the game of war would to a great
+extent be in your own hands. True, you would not survive treachery
+very long; but, on the other hand, if it became necessary to kill
+you, the air-ship would be useless, that is, if you took your secret
+of the motive power with you into the next world."
+
+"As I undoubtedly should," added Arnold quietly.
+
+"We have no doubt that you would," was the equally quiet rejoinder.
+"And now I will read to you the oath of membership that you will be
+required to sign. Even when you have heard it, if you feel any
+hesitation in subscribing to it, there will still be time to
+withdraw, for we tolerate no unwilling or half-hearted recruits."
+
+Arnold bowed his acquiescence, and the spokesman took a piece of
+paper from the table and read aloud--
+
+"_I, Richard Arnold, sign this paper in the full knowledge that in
+doing so I devote myself absolutely for the rest of my life to the
+service of the Brotherhood of Freedom, known to the world as the
+Terrorists. As long as I live its ends shall be my ends, and no human
+considerations shall weigh with me where those ends are concerned. I
+will take life without mercy, and yield my own without hesitation at
+its bidding. I will break all other laws to obey those which it
+obeys, and if I disobey these I shall expect death as the just
+penalty of my perjury._"
+
+As he finished reading the oath, he handed the paper to Arnold,
+saying as he did so--
+
+"There are no theatrical formalities to be gone through. Simply sign
+the paper and give it back to me, or else tear it up and go in
+peace."
+
+Arnold read it through slowly, and then glanced round the table. He
+saw the eyes of the silent figures sitting about him shining at him
+through the holes in their masks. He laid the paper down on the table
+in front of him, dipped a pen in an inkstand that stood near, and
+signed the oath in a firm, unfaltering hand. Then--committed for
+ever, for good or evil, to the new life that he had adopted--he gave
+the paper back again.
+
+The President took it and read it, and then passed it to the mask on
+his right hand. It went from one to the other round the table, each
+one reading it before passing it on, until it got back to the
+President. When it reached him he rose from his seat, and, going to
+the fireplace, dropped it into the flames, and watched it until it
+was consumed to ashes. Then, crossing the room to where Arnold was
+sitting, he removed his mask with one hand, and held the other out to
+him in greeting, saying as he did so--
+
+"Welcome to the Brotherhood! Thrice welcome! for your coming has
+brought the day of redemption nearer!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+NEW FRIENDS.
+
+
+As Arnold returned the greeting of the President, all the other
+members of the Circle rose from their seats and took off their masks
+and the black shapeless cloaks which had so far completely covered
+them from head to foot.
+
+Then, one after the other, they came forward and were formally
+introduced to him by the President. Nine of the fourteen were men,
+and five were women of ages varying from middle age almost to
+girlhood. The men were apparently all between twenty-five and
+thirty-five, and included some half-dozen nationalities among them.
+
+All, both men and women, evidently belonged to the educated, or
+rather to the cultured class. Their speech, which seemed to change
+with perfect ease from one language to another in the course of their
+somewhat polyglot converse, was the easy flowing speech of men and
+women accustomed to the best society, not only in the social but the
+intellectual sense of the word.
+
+All were keen, alert, and swift of thought, and on the face of each
+one there was the dignifying expression of a deep and settled purpose
+which at once differentiated them in Arnold's eyes from the ordinary
+idle or merely money-making citizens of the world.
+
+As each one came and shook hands with the new member of the
+Brotherhood, he or she had some pleasant word of welcome and greeting
+for him; and so well were the words chosen, and so manifestly
+sincerely were they spoken, that by the time he had shaken hands all
+round Arnold felt as much at home among them as though he were in the
+midst of a circle of old friends.
+
+Among the women there were two who had attracted his attention and
+roused his interest far more than any of the other members of the
+Circle. One of these was a tall and beautifully-shaped woman, whose
+face and figure were those of a woman in the early twenties, but
+whose long, thick hair was as white as though the snows of seventy
+winters had drifted over it. As he returned her warm, firm
+hand-clasp, and looked upon her dark, resolute, and yet perfectly
+womanly features, the young engineer gave a slight start of
+recognition. She noticed this at once and said, with a smile and a
+quick flash from her splendid grey eyes--
+
+"Ah! I see you recognise me. No, I am not ashamed of my portrait. I
+am proud of the wounds that I have received in the war with tyranny,
+so you need not fear to confess your recognition."
+
+It was true that Arnold had recognised her. She was the original of
+the central figure of the painting which depicted the woman being
+flogged by the Russian soldiers.
+
+Arnold flushed hotly at the words with the sudden passionate anger
+that they roused within him, and replied in a low, steady voice--
+
+"Those who would sanction such a crime as that are not fit to live. I
+will not leave one stone of that prison standing upon another. It is
+a blot on the face of the earth, and I will wipe it out utterly!"
+
+"There are thousands of blots as black as that on earth, and I think
+you will find nobler game than an obscure Russian provincial prison.
+Russia has cities and palaces and fortresses that will make far
+grander ruins than that--ruins that will be worthy monuments of
+fallen despotism," replied the girl, who had been introduced by the
+President as Radna Michaelis. "But here is some one else waiting to
+make your acquaintance. This is Natasha. She has no other name among
+us, but you will soon learn why she needs none."
+
+Natasha was the other woman who had so keenly roused Arnold's
+interest. Woman, however, she hardly was, for she was seemingly still
+in her teens, and certainly could not have been more than twenty.
+
+He had mixed but little with women, and during the past few years not
+at all, and therefore the marvellous beauty of the girl who came
+forward as Radna spoke seemed almost unearthly to him, and confused
+his senses for the moment as some potent drug might have done. He
+took her outstretched hand in awkward silence, and for an instant so
+far forgot himself as to gaze blankly at her in speechless
+admiration.
+
+She could not help noticing it, for she was a woman, and for the same
+reason she saw that it was so absolutely honest and involuntary that
+it was impossible for any woman to take offence at it. A quick bright
+flush swept up her lovely face as his hand closed upon hers, her
+darkly-fringed lids fell for an instant over the most wonderful pair
+of sapphire-blue eyes that Arnold had ever even dreamed of, and when
+she raised them again the flush had gone, and she said in a sweet,
+frank voice--
+
+"I am the daughter of Natas, and he has desired me to bid you welcome
+in his name, and I hope you will let me do so in my own as well. We
+are all dying to see this wonderful invention of yours. I suppose you
+are going to satisfy our feminine curiosity, are you not?"
+
+The daughter of Natas! This lovely girl, in the first sweet flush of
+her pure and innocent womanhood, the daughter of the unknown and
+mysterious being whose ill-omened name caused a shudder if it was
+only whispered in the homes of the rich and powerful; the name with
+which the death-sentences of the Terrorists were invariably signed,
+and which had come to be an infallible guarantee that they would be
+carried out to the letter.
+
+No death-warrants of the most powerful sovereigns of Europe were more
+certain harbingers of inevitable doom than were those which bore this
+dreaded name. Whether he were high or low, the man who received one
+of them made ready for his end. He knew not where or when the fatal
+blow would be struck. He only knew that the invisible hand of the
+Terror would strike him as surely in the uttermost ends of the earth
+as it would in the palace or the fortress. Never once had it missed
+its aim, and never once had the slightest clue been obtained to the
+identity of the hand that held the knife or pistol.
+
+Some such thoughts as these flashed one after another through
+Arnold's brain as he stood talking with Natasha. He saw at once why
+she had only that one name. It was enough, and it was not long before
+he learnt that it was the symbol of an authority in the Circle that
+admitted of no question.
+
+She was the envoy of him whose word was law, absolute and
+irrevocable, to every member of the Brotherhood; to disobey whom was
+death; and to obey whom had, so far at least, meant swift and
+invariable success, even where it seemed least to be hoped for.
+
+Of course, Natasha's almost girlish question about the air-ship was
+really a command, which would have been none the less binding had she
+only had her own beauty to enforce it. As she spoke the President and
+Colston--who had only lost himself for the time behind a mask and
+cloak--came up to Arnold and asked him if he was prepared to give an
+exhibition of the powers of his model, and to explain its working and
+construction to the Circle at once.
+
+He replied that everything was perfectly ready for the trial, and
+that he would set the model working for them in a few minutes. The
+President then told him that the exhibition should take place in
+another room, where there would be much more space than where they
+were, and bade him bring the box and follow him.
+
+A door was now opened in the wall of the room remote from that by
+which he and Colston had entered, and through this the whole party
+went down a short passage, and through another door at the end which
+opened into a very large apartment, which, from the fact of its being
+windowless, Arnold rightly judged to be underground, like the
+Council-chamber that they had just left.
+
+A single glance was enough to show him the chief purpose to which the
+chamber was devoted. The wall at one end was covered with arm-racks
+containing all the newest and most perfect makes of rifles and
+pistols; while at the other end, about twenty paces distant, were
+three electric signalling targets, graded, as was afterwards
+explained to him, to one, three, and five hundred yards range.
+
+In a word, the chamber was an underground range for rifle and pistol
+practice, in which a volley could have been fired without a sound
+being heard ten yards away. It was here that the accuracy of the
+various weapons invented from time to time was tested; and here, too,
+every member of the Circle, man and woman, practised with rifle and
+pistol until an infallible aim was acquired. A register of scores was
+kept, and at the head of it stood the name of Radna Michaelis.
+
+A long table ran across the end at which the arm-racks were, and on
+this Arnold laid the case containing the model, he standing on one
+side of the table, and the members of the Circle on the other,
+watching his movements with a curiosity that they took no trouble to
+disguise.
+
+He opened the case, feeling something like a scientific demonstrator,
+with an advanced and critical class before him. In a moment the man
+disappeared, and the mechanician and the enthusiast took his place.
+As each part was taken out and laid upon the table, he briefly
+explained its use; and then, last of all, came the hull of the
+air-ship.
+
+This was three feet long and six inches broad in its midships
+diameter. It was made in two longitudinal sections of polished
+aluminium, which shone like burnished silver. It would have been
+cigar-shaped but for the fact that the forward end was drawn out into
+a long sharp ram, the point of which was on a level with the floor of
+the hull amidships as it lay upon the table. Two deep bilge-plates,
+running nearly the whole length of the hull, kept it in an upright
+position and prevented the blades of the propellers from touching the
+table. For about half its whole length the upper part of the hull was
+flattened and formed a deck from which rose three short strong masts,
+each of which carried a wheel of thin metal whose spokes were six
+inclined fans something like the blades of a screw.
+
+A little lower than this deck there projected on each side a broad,
+oblong, slightly curved sheet of metal, very thin, but strengthened
+by means of wire braces, till it was as rigid as a plate of solid
+steel, although it only weighed a few ounces. These air-planes worked
+on an axis amidships, and could be inclined either way through an
+angle of thirty degrees. At the pointed stern there revolved a
+powerful four-bladed propeller, and from each quarter, inclined
+slightly outwards from the middle line of the vessel, projected a
+somewhat smaller screw working underneath the after end of the
+air-planes.
+
+The hull contained four small double-cylinder engines, one of which
+actuated the stern-propeller, and the other three the fan-wheels and
+side-propellers. There were, of course, no furnaces, boilers, or
+condensers. Two slender pipes ran into each cylinder from suitably
+placed gas reservoirs, or power-cylinders, as the engineer called
+them, and that was all.
+
+Arnold deftly and rapidly put the parts together, continuing his
+running description as he did so, and in a few minutes the beautiful
+miracle of ingenuity stood complete before the wondering eyes of the
+Circle, and a murmur of admiration ran from lip to lip, bringing a
+flush of pleasure to the cheek of its creator.
+
+"There," said he, as he put the finishing touches to the apparatus,
+"you see that she is a combination of two principles--those of the
+Aëronef and the Aëroplane. The first reached its highest development
+in Jules Verne's imaginary "Clipper of the Clouds," and the second in
+Hiram Maxim's Aëroplane. Of course, Jules Verne's Aëronef was merely
+an idea, and one that could never be realised while Robur's
+mysterious source of electrical energy remained unknown--as it still
+does.
+
+"Maxim's Aëroplane is, as you all know, also an unrealised ideal so
+far as any practical use is concerned. He has succeeded in making it
+fly, but only under the most favourable conditions, and practically
+without cargo. Its two fatal defects have been shown by experience to
+be the comparatively overwhelming weight of the engine and the fuel
+that he has to carry to develop sufficient power to rise from the
+ground and progress against the wind, and the inability of the
+machine to ascend perpendicularly to any required height.
+
+"Without the power to do this no air-ship can be of any use save
+under very limited conditions. You cannot carry a railway about with
+you, or a station to get a start from every time you want to rise,
+and you cannot always choose a nice level plain in which to come
+down. Even if you could the Aëroplane would not rise again without
+its rails and carriage. For purposes of warfare, then, it may be
+dismissed as totally useless.
+
+"In this machine, as you see, I have combined the two principles.
+These helices on the masts will lift the dead weight of the ship
+perpendicularly without the slightest help from the side-planes,
+which are used to regulate the vessel's flight when afloat. I will
+set the engines that work them in motion independently of the others
+which move the propellers, and then you will see what I mean."
+
+As he spoke, he set one part of the mechanism working. Those watching
+saw the three helices begin to spin round, the centre one revolving
+in an opposite direction to the other two, with a soft whirring sound
+that gradually rose to a high-pitched note.
+
+When they attained their full speed they looked like solid wheels,
+and then the air-ship rose, at first slowly, and then more and more
+swiftly, straight up from the table, until it strained hard at the
+piece of cord which prevented it from reaching the roof.
+
+A universal chorus of "bravas" greeted it as it rose, and every eye
+became fixed on it as it hung motionless in the air, sustained by its
+whirling helices. After letting it remain aloft for a few minutes
+Arnold pulled it down again, saying as he did so--
+
+"That, I think, proves that the machine can rise from any position
+where the upward road is open, and without the slightest assistance
+of any apparatus. Now it shall take a voyage round the room.
+
+"You see it is steered by this rudder-fan under the stern propeller.
+In the real ship it will be worked by a wheel, like the rudder of a
+sea-going vessel; but in the model it is done by this lever, so that
+I can control it by a couple of strings from the ground."
+
+He went round to the other side of the table while he was speaking,
+and adjusted the steering gear, stopping the engines meanwhile. Then
+he put the model down on the floor, set all four engines to work, and
+stood behind with the guiding-strings in his hands. The spectators
+heard a louder and somewhat shriller whirring noise than before, and
+the beautiful fabric, with its shining, silvery hull and side-planes,
+rose slantingly from the ground and darted forward down the room,
+keeping Arnold at a quick run with the rudder-strings tightly
+strained.
+
+Like an obedient steed, it instantly obeyed the slightest pull upon
+either of them, and twice made the circuit of the room before its
+creator pulled it down and stopped the machinery.
+
+The experiment was a perfect and undeniable success in every respect,
+and not one of those who saw it had the slightest doubt as to
+Arnold's air-ship having at last solved the problem of aërial
+navigation, and made the Brotherhood lords of a realm as wide as the
+atmospheric ocean that encircles the globe.
+
+As soon as the model was once more resting on the table, the
+President came forward and, grasping the engineer by both hands, said
+in a voice from which he made but little effort to banish the emotion
+that he felt--
+
+"Bravo, brother! Henceforth you shall be known to the Brotherhood as
+the Master of the Air, for truly you have been the first among the
+sons of men to fairly conquer it. Come, let us go back and talk, for
+there is much to be said about this, and we cannot begin too soon to
+make arrangements for building the first of our aërial fleet. You can
+leave your model where it is in perfect safety, for no one ever
+enters this room save ourselves."
+
+So saying the President led the way to the Council-chamber, and
+there, after the _Ariel_--as it had already been decided to name the
+first air-ship--had been christened in anticipation in twenty-year
+old champagne, the Circle settled down at once to business, and for a
+good three hours discussed the engineer's estimate and plans for
+building the first vessel of the aërial fleet.
+
+At length all the practical details were settled, and the President
+rose in token of the end of the conference. As he did so he said
+somewhat abruptly to Arnold--
+
+"So far so good. Now there is nothing more to be done but to lay
+those plans before the Chief and get his authority for withdrawing
+out of the treasury sufficient money to commence operations. I
+presume you could reproduce them from memory if necessary--at any
+rate, in sufficient outline to make them perfectly intelligible?"
+
+"Certainly," was the reply. "I could reproduce them in _fac simile_
+without the slightest difficulty. Why do you ask?"
+
+"Because the Chief is in Russia, and you must go to him and place
+them before him from memory. They are far too precious to be trusted
+to any keeping, however trustworthy. There are such things as railway
+accidents, and other forms of sudden death, to say nothing of the
+Russian customs, false arrests, personal searches, and imprisonments
+on mere suspicion.
+
+"We can risk none of these, and so there is nothing for it but your
+going to Petersburg and verbally explaining them to the Chief. You
+can be ready in three days, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, in two, if you like," replied Arnold, not a little taken aback
+at the unexpected suddenness of what he knew at once to be the first
+order that was to test his obedience to the Brotherhood. "But as I am
+absolutely ignorant of Russia and the Russians, I suppose you will
+make such arrangements as will prevent my making any innocent but
+possibly awkward mistakes."
+
+"Oh yes," replied the President, with a smile, "all arrangements have
+been made already, and I expect you will find them anything but
+unpleasant. Natasha goes to Petersburg in company with another lady
+member of the Circle whom you have not yet seen.
+
+"You will go with them, and they will explain everything to you _en
+route_, if they have no opportunity of doing so before you start. Now
+let us go upstairs and have some supper. I am famished, and I suppose
+every one else is too."
+
+Arnold simply bowed in answer to the President; but one pair of eyes
+at least in the room caught the quick, faint flush that rose in his
+cheek as he was told in whose company he was to travel. As for
+himself, if the journey had been to Siberia instead of Russia, he
+would have felt nothing but pleasure at the prospect after that.
+
+They left the Council-chamber by the passage and the ante-room, the
+sentry standing to attention as they passed him, each giving the word
+in turn, till the President came last and closed the doors behind
+him. Then the sentry brought up the rear and extinguished the lights
+as he left the passage.
+
+Fifteen minutes later there sat down to supper, in the solidly
+comfortable dining-room of the upper house, a party of ladies and
+gentlemen who chatted through the meal as merrily and innocently as
+though there were no such things as tyranny or suffering in the
+world, and whom not the most acute observer would have taken for the
+most dangerous and desperately earnest body of conspirators that ever
+plotted the destruction, not of an empire, but of a civilisation and
+a social order that it had taken twenty centuries to build up.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE DAUGHTER OF NATAS.
+
+
+Supper was over about eleven, and then the party adjourned to the
+drawing-room, where for an hour or so Arnold sat and listened to such
+music and singing as he had never heard in his life before. The songs
+seemed to be in every language in Europe, and he did not understand
+anything like half of them, so far, at least, as the words were
+concerned.
+
+They were, however, so far removed from the average drawing-room
+medley of twaddle and rattle that the music interpreted the words
+into its own universal language, and made them almost superfluous.
+
+For the most part they were sad and passionate, and once or twice,
+especially when Radna Michaelis was singing, Arnold saw tears well up
+into the eyes of the women, and the brows of the men contract and
+their hands clench with sudden passion at the recollection of some
+terrible scene or story that was recalled by the song.
+
+At last, close on midnight, the President rose from his seat and
+asked Natasha to sing the "Hymn of Freedom." She acknowledged the
+request with an inclination of her head, and then as Radna sat down
+to the piano, and she took her place beside it, all the rest rose to
+their feet like worshippers in a church.
+
+The prelude was rather longer than usual, and as Radna played it
+Arnold heard running through it, as it were, echoes of all the
+patriotic songs of Europe from "Scots Wha Hae" and "The Shan van
+Voght" to the forbidden Polish National Hymn and the Swiss Republican
+song, which is known in England as "God Save the Queen." The prelude
+ended with a few bars of the "Marseillaise," and then Natasha began.
+
+It was a marvellous performance. As the air changed from nation to
+nation the singer changed the language, and at the end of each verse
+the others took up the strain in perfect harmony, till it sounded
+like a chorus of the nations in miniature, each language coming in
+its turn until the last verse was reached.
+
+Then there was silence for a moment, and then the opening chords of
+the "Marseillaise" rang out from the piano, slow and stately at
+first, and then quickening like the tread of an army going into
+battle.
+
+Suddenly Natasha's voice soared up, as it were, out of the music, and
+a moment later the Song of the Revolution rolled forth in a flood of
+triumphant melody, above which Natasha's pure contralto thrilled
+sweet and strong, till to Arnold's intoxicated senses it seemed like
+the voice of some angel singing from the sky in the ears of men, and
+it was not until the hymn had been ended for some moments that he was
+recalled to earth by the President saying to him--
+
+"Some day, perhaps, you will be floating in the clouds, and you will
+hear that hymn rising from the throats of millions gathered together
+from the ends of the earth, and when you hear that you will know that
+our work is done, and that there is peace on earth at last."
+
+"I hope so," replied the engineer quietly, "and, what is more, I
+believe that some day I shall hear it."
+
+"I believe so too," suddenly interrupted Radna, turning round on her
+seat at the piano, "but there will be many a battle-song sung to the
+accompaniment of battle-music before that happens. I wish"--
+
+"That all Russia were a haystack, and that you were beside it with a
+lighted torch," said Natasha, half in jest and half in earnest.
+
+"Yes, truly!" replied Radna, turning round and dashing fiercely into
+the "Marseillaise" again.
+
+"I have no doubt of it. But, come, it is after midnight, and we have
+to get back to Cheyne Walk. The princess will think we have been
+arrested or something equally dreadful. Ah, Mr. Colston, we have a
+couple of seats to spare in the brougham. Will you and our Admiral of
+the Air condescend to accept a lift as far as Chelsea?"
+
+"The condescension is in the offer, Natasha," replied Colston,
+flushing with pleasure and glancing towards Radna the while. Radna
+answered with an almost imperceptible sign of consent, and Colston
+went on: "If it were in an utterly opposite direction"--
+
+"You would not be asked to come, sir. So don't try to pay compliments
+at the expense of common sense," laughed Natasha before he could
+finish. "If you do you shall sit beside me instead of Radna all the
+way."
+
+There was a general smile at this retort, for Colston's avowed
+devotion to Radna and the terrible circumstances out of which it had
+sprung was one of the romances of the Circle.
+
+As for Arnold, he could scarcely believe his ears when he heard that
+he was to ride from Clapham Common to Chelsea sitting beside this
+radiantly beautiful girl, behind whose innocence and gaiety there lay
+the shadow of her mysterious and terrible parentage.
+
+Lovely and gentle as she seemed, he knew even now how awful a power
+she held in the slender little hand whose nervous clasp he could
+still feel upon his own, and this knowledge seemed to raise an
+invisible yet impassable barrier between him and the possibility of
+looking upon her as under other circumstances it would have been
+natural for a man to look upon so fair a woman.
+
+Natasha's brougham was so far an improvement on those of the present
+day that it had two equally comfortable seats, and on these the four
+were cosily seated a few minutes after the party broke up. To Arnold,
+and, doubtless, to Colston also, the miles flew past at an unheard-of
+speed; but for all that, long before the carriage stopped at the
+house in Cheyne Walk, he had come to the conviction that, for good or
+evil, he was now bound to the Brotherhood by far stronger ties than
+any social or political opinions could have formed.
+
+After they had said good-night at the door, and received an
+invitation to lunch for the next day to talk over the journey to
+Russia, he and Colston decided to walk to the Savoy, for it was a
+clear moonlit night, and each had a good deal to say to the other,
+which could be better and more safely said in the open air than in a
+cab. So they lit their cigars, buttoned up their coats, and started
+off eastward along the Embankment to Vauxhall.
+
+"Well, my friend, tell me how you have enjoyed your evening, and what
+you think of the company," said Colston, by way of opening the
+conversation.
+
+"Until supper I had a very pleasant time of it. I enjoyed the
+business part of the proceedings intensely, as any other mechanical
+enthusiast would have done, I suppose. But I frankly confess that
+after that my mind is in a state of complete chaos, in the midst of
+which only one figure stands out at all distinctly."
+
+"And that figure is?"
+
+"Natasha. Tell me--who is she?"
+
+"I know no more as to her true identity than you do, or else I would
+answer you with pleasure."
+
+"What! Do you mean to say"--
+
+"I mean to say just what I have said. Not only do I not know who she
+is, but I do not believe that more than two or three members of the
+Circle, at the outside, know any more than I do. Those are, probably,
+Nicholas Roburoff, the President of the Executive, and his wife, and
+Radna Michaelis."
+
+"Then, if Radna knows, how comes it that you do not know? You must
+forgive me if I am presuming on a too short acquaintance; but it
+certainly struck me to-night that you had very few secrets from each
+other."
+
+"There is no presumption about it, my dear fellow," replied Colston,
+with a laugh. "It is no secret that Radna and I are lovers, and that
+she will be my wife when I have earned her."
+
+"Now you have raised my curiosity again," interrupted Arnold, in an
+inquiring tone.
+
+"And will very soon satisfy it. You saw that horrible picture in the
+Council-chamber? Yes. Well, I will tell you the whole story of that
+some day when we have more time; but for the present it will be
+enough for me to tell you that I have sworn not to ask Radna to come
+with me to the altar while a single person who was concerned in that
+nameless crime remains alive.
+
+"There were five persons responsible for it to begin with--the
+governor of the prison, the prefect of police for the district, a
+spy, who informed against her, and the two soldiers who executed the
+infernal sentence. It happened nearly three years ago, and there are
+two of them alive still--the governor and the prefect of police.
+
+"Of course the Brotherhood would have removed them long ago had it
+decided to do so; but I got the circumstances laid before Natas, by
+the help of Natasha, and received permission to execute the sentences
+myself. So far I have killed three with my own hand, and the other
+two have not much longer to live.
+
+"The governor has been transferred to Siberia, and will probably be
+the last that I shall reach. The prefect is now in command of the
+Russian secret police in London, and unless an accident happens he
+will never leave England."
+
+Colston spoke in a cold, passionless, merciless tone, just as a
+lawyer might speak of a criminal condemned to die by the ordinary
+process of the law, and as Arnold heard him he shuddered. But at the
+same time the picture in the Council-chamber came up before his
+mental vision, and he was forced to confess that men who could so far
+forget their manhood as to lash a helpless woman up to a triangle and
+flog her till her flesh was cut to ribbons, were no longer men but
+wild beasts, whose very existence was a crime. So he merely said--
+
+"They were justly slain. Now tell me more about Natasha."
+
+"There is very little more that I can tell you, I'm afraid. All I
+know is that the Brotherhood of the Terror is the conception and
+creation of a single man, and that that man is Natas, the father of
+Natasha, as she is known to us. His orders come to us either directly
+in writing through Natasha, or indirectly through him you have heard
+spoken of as the Chief."
+
+"Oh, then the Chief is not Natas?"
+
+"No, we have all of us seen him. In fact, when he is in London he
+always presides at the Circle meetings. You would hardly believe it,
+but he is an English nobleman, and Secretary to the English Embassy
+at Petersburg."
+
+"Then he is Lord Alanmere, and an old college friend of mine!"
+exclaimed Arnold. "I saw his name in the paper the night before last.
+It was mentioned in the account of the murder"--
+
+"We don't call those murders, my friend," drily interrupted Colston;
+"we call them what they really are--executions."
+
+"I beg your pardon; I was using the phraseology of the newspaper.
+What was his crime?"
+
+"I don't know. But the fact that the Chief was there when he died is
+quite enough for me. Well, as I was saying, the Chief, as we call
+him, is the visible and supreme head of the Brotherhood so far as we
+are concerned. We know that Natas exists, and that he and the Chief
+admit no one save Natasha to their councils.
+
+"They control the treasury absolutely, and apart from the
+contributions of those of the members who can afford to make them,
+they appear to provide the whole of the funds. Of course, Lord
+Alanmere, as you know, is enormously wealthy, and probably Natas is
+also rich. At any rate, there is never any want of money where the
+work of the Brotherhood is concerned.
+
+"The estimates are given to Natasha when the Chief is not present,
+and at the next meeting she brings the money in English gold and
+notes, or in foreign currency as may be required, and that is all we
+know about the finances.
+
+"Perhaps I ought to tell you that there is also a very considerable
+mystery about the Chief himself. When he presides at the Council
+meetings he displays a perfectly marvellous knowledge of both the
+members and the working of the Brotherhood.
+
+"It would seem that nothing, however trifling, is hidden from him;
+and yet when any of us happen to meet him, as we often do, in
+Society, he treats us all as the most perfect strangers, unless we
+have been regularly introduced to him as ordinary acquaintances. Even
+then he seems utterly ignorant of his connection with the
+Brotherhood.
+
+"The first time I met him outside the Circle was at a ball at the
+Russian Embassy. I went and spoke to him, giving the sign of the
+Inner Circle as I did so. To my utter amazement, he stared at me
+without a sign of recognition, and calmly informed me, in the usual
+way, that I had the advantage of him.
+
+"Of course I apologised, and he accepted the apology with perfect
+good humour, but as an utter stranger would have done. A little later
+Natasha came in with the Princess Ornovski, whom you are going to
+Russia with, and who is there one of the most trusted agents of the
+Petersburg police. I told her what had happened.
+
+"She looked at me for a moment rather curiously with those wonderful
+eyes of hers; then she laughed softly, and said, 'Come, I will set
+that at rest by introducing you; but mind, not a word about politics
+or those horrible secret societies, as you value my good opinion.'
+
+"I understood from this that there was something behind which could
+not be explained there, where every other one you danced with might
+be a spy, and I was introduced to his Lordship, and we became very
+good friends in the ordinary social way; but I failed to gather the
+slightest hint from his conversation that he even knew of the
+existence of the Brotherhood.
+
+"When we left I drove home with Natasha and the Princess to supper,
+and on the way Natasha told me that his Lordship found it necessary
+to lead two entirely distinct lives, and that he adhered so rigidly
+to this rule that he never broke it even with her. Since then I have
+been most careful to respect what, after all, is a very wise, if not
+an absolutely necessary, precaution on his part."
+
+"And, now," said Arnold, speaking in a tone that betrayed not a
+little hesitation and embarrassment, "if you can do so, answer me one
+more question, and do so as shortly and directly as you can. Is
+Natasha in love with, or betrothed to, any member of the Brotherhood
+as far as you know?"
+
+Colston stopped and looked at him with a laugh in his eyes. Then he
+put his hand on his shoulder and said--
+
+"As I thought, and feared! You have not escaped the common lot of all
+heart-whole men upon whom those terrible eyes of hers have looked.
+The Angel of the Revolution, as we call her among ourselves, is
+peerless among the daughters of men. What more natural, then, that
+all the sons of men should fall speedy victims to her fatal charms?
+So far as I know, every man who has ever seen her is more or less in
+love with her--and mostly more!
+
+"As for the rest, I am as much in the dark as you are, save for the
+fact that I know, on the authority of Radna, that she is not
+betrothed to any one, and, so far as _she_ knows, still in the
+blissful state of maiden fancy-freedom."
+
+"Thank God for that!" said Arnold, with an audible sigh of relief.
+Then he went on in somewhat hurried confusion, "But there, of course,
+you think me a presumptuous ass, and so I am; wherefore"--
+
+"There is no need for you to talk nonsense, my dear fellow. There
+never can be presumption in an honest man's love, no matter how
+exalted the object of it may be. Besides, are you not now the central
+hope of the Revolution, and is not yours the hand that shall hurl
+destruction on its enemies?
+
+"As for Natasha, peerless and all as she is, has not the poet of the
+ages said of just such as her--
+
+  She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd;
+  She is a woman: therefore to be won?
+
+"And who, too, has a better chance of winning her than you will have
+when you are commanding the aërial fleet of the Brotherhood, and,
+like a very Jove, hurling your destroying bolts from the clouds, and
+deciding the hazard of war when the nations of Europe are locked in
+the death-struggle? Why, you see such a prospect makes even me
+poetical.
+
+"Seriously, though, you must not consider the distance between you
+too great. Remember that you are a very different person now to what
+you were a couple of days ago. Without any offence, I may say that
+you were then nameless, while now you have the chance of making a
+name that will go down to all time as that of the solver of the
+greatest problem of this or any other age.
+
+"Added to this, remember that Natasha, after all, is a woman, and,
+more than that, a woman devoted heart and soul to a great cause, in
+which great deeds are soon to be done. Great deeds are still the
+shortest way to a woman's heart, and that is the way you must take if
+you are to hope for success."
+
+"I will!" simply replied Arnold, and the tone in which the two words
+were said convinced Colston that he meant all that they implied to
+its fullest extent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+LEARNING THE PART.
+
+
+It was nearly eleven the next morning by the time Arnold and Colston
+had finished breakfast. This was mostly due to the fact that Arnold
+had passed an almost entirely sleepless night, and had only begun to
+doze off towards morning. The events of the previous evening kept on
+repeating themselves in various sequences time after time, until his
+brain reeled in the whirl of emotions that they gave rise to.
+
+Although of a strongly mathematical and even mechanical turn of mind,
+the young engineer was also an enthusiast, and therefore there was a
+strong colouring of romance in his nature which lifted him far above
+the level upon which his mere intellect was accustomed to work.
+
+Where intellect alone was concerned--as, for instance, in the working
+out of a problem in engineering or mechanics--he was cool,
+calculating, and absolutely unemotional. His highly-disciplined mind
+was capable of banishing every other subject from consideration save
+the one which claimed the attention of the hour, and of incorporating
+itself wholly with the work in hand until it was finished.
+
+These qualities would have been quite sufficient to assure his
+success in life on conventional lines. They would have made him rich,
+and perhaps famous, but they would never have made him a great
+inventor; for no one can do anything really great who is not a
+dreamer as well as a worker.
+
+It was because he was a dreamer that he had sacrificed everything to
+the working out of his ideal, and risked his life on the chance of
+success, and it was for just the same reason that the tremendous
+purposes of the Brotherhood had been able to fire his imagination
+with luridly brilliant dreams of a gigantic world-tragedy in which
+he, armed with almost supernatural powers, should play the central
+part.
+
+This of itself would have been enough to make all other
+considerations of trivial moment in his eyes, and to bind him
+irrevocably to the Brotherhood. He saw, it is true, that a frightful
+amount of slaughter and suffering would be the price either of
+success or failure in so terrific a struggle; but he also knew that
+that struggle was inevitable in some form or other, and whether he
+took a part in it or not.
+
+But since the last sun had set a new element had come into his life,
+and was working in line with both his imagination and his ambition.
+So far he had lived his life without any other human love than what
+was bound up with his recollections of his home and his boyhood. As a
+man he had never loved any human being. Science had been his only
+mistress, and had claimed his undivided devotion, engrossing his mind
+and intellect completely, but leaving his heart free.
+
+And now, as it were in an instant, a new mistress had come forward
+out of the unknown. She had put her hand upon his heart, and, though
+no words of human speech had passed between them, save the merest
+commonplaces, her soul had said to his, "This is mine. I have called
+it into life, and for me it shall live until the end."
+
+He had heard this as plainly as though it had been said to him with
+the lips of flesh, and he had acquiesced in the imperious claim with
+a glad submission which had yet to be tinged with the hope that it
+might some day become a mastery.
+
+Thus, as the silent, sleepless hours went by, did he review over and
+over again the position in which he found himself on the threshold of
+his strange new life, until at last physical exhaustion brought sleep
+to his eyes if not to his brain, and he found himself flying over the
+hills and vales of dreamland in his air-ship, with the roar of battle
+and the smoke of ruined towns far beneath him, and Natasha at his
+side, sharing with him the dominion of the air that his genius had
+won.
+
+At length Colston came in to tell him that the breakfast was
+spoiling, and that it was high time to get up if they intended to be
+in time for their appointment at Chelsea. This brought him out of bed
+with effective suddenness, and he made a hasty toilet for breakfast,
+leaving more important preparations until afterwards.
+
+During the meal their conversation naturally turned chiefly on the
+visit that they were to pay, and Colston took the opportunity of
+explaining one or two things that it was necessary for him to know
+with regard to the new acquaintance that he was about to make at
+Chelsea.
+
+"So far as the outside world is concerned," said he, "Natasha is the
+niece of the Princess Ornovski. She is the daughter of a sister of
+hers, who married an English gentleman, named Darrel, who was drowned
+with his wife about twelve years ago, when the _Albania_ was wrecked
+off the coast of Portugal. The Princess had a sister, who was drowned
+with her husband in the _Albania_, and she left a daughter about
+Natasha's then age, but who died of consumption shortly after in
+Nice.
+
+"Under these circumstances, it was, of course, perfectly easy for the
+Princess to adopt Natasha, and introduce her into Society as her
+niece as soon as she reached the age of coming out.
+
+"This has been of immense service to the Brotherhood, as the Princess
+is, as I told you, one of the most implicitly trusted allies of the
+Petersburg police. She is received at the Russian Court, and is
+therefore able to take Natasha into the best Russian Society, where
+her extraordinary beauty naturally enables her to break as many
+hearts as she likes, and to learn secrets which are of the greatest
+importance to the Brotherhood.
+
+"Her Society name is Fedora Darrel, and it will scarcely be necessary
+to tell you that outside our own Circle no such being as Natasha has
+any existence."
+
+"I perfectly understand," replied Arnold. "The name shall never pass
+my lips save in privacy, and indeed it is hardly likely that it will
+ever do so even then, for your habit of calling each other by your
+Christian names is too foreign to my British insularity."
+
+"It is a Russian habit, as you, of course, know, and added to that,
+we are, so far as the Cause is concerned, all brothers and sisters
+together, and so it comes natural to us. Anyhow, you will have to use
+it with Natasha, for in the Circle she has no other name, and to call
+her Miss Darrel there would be to produce something like an
+earthquake."
+
+"Oh, in that case, I daresay I shall be able to avoid the calamity,
+though there will seem to be a presumption about it that will not
+make me very comfortable at first."
+
+"Too much like addressing one's sweetheart, eh?"
+
+This brought the conversation to a sudden stop, for Arnold's only
+reply to it was a quick flush, and a lapse into silence that was a
+good deal more eloquent than any verbal reply could have been.
+Colston noticed it with a smile, and got up and lit a pipe.
+
+For the first time for a good few years Arnold took considerable
+pains with his toilet that morning. A new fit-out had just been
+delivered by a tailor who had promised the things within twenty-four
+hours, and had kept his word. The consequences were that he was able
+to array himself in perfect morning costume, from his hat to his
+boots, and that was what it had not been his to do since he left
+college.
+
+Colston had recommended him in his easy friendly way to pay
+scrupulous attention to externals in the part that he would
+henceforth have to play before the world. He fully saw the wisdom of
+this advice, for he knew that, however well a part may be played, if
+it is not dressed to perfection, some sharp eyes will see that it is
+a part and not a reality.
+
+The playing of his part was to begin that day, and he recognised that
+at least one of the purposes of his visit to Natasha was the
+determining of what that part was to be. He thus looked forward with
+no little curiosity to the events of the afternoon, quite apart from
+the supreme interest that centred in his hostess.
+
+They started out nearly a couple of hours before they were due at
+Cheyne Walk, as they had several orders to give with regard to
+Arnold's outfit for the journey that was before him; and this done,
+they reached the house about a quarter of an hour before lunch time.
+
+They were received in the most delightful of sitting-rooms by a very
+handsome, aristocratic-looking woman, who might have been anywhere
+between forty and fifty. She shook hands very cordially with Arnold,
+saying as she did so--
+
+"Welcome, Richard Arnold! The friends of the Cause are mine, and I
+have heard much about you already from Natasha, so that I already
+seem to know you. I am very sorry that I was not able to be at the
+Circle last night to see what you had to show. Natasha tells me that
+it is quite a miracle of genius."
+
+"She is too generous in her praise," replied Arnold, speaking as
+quietly as he could in spite of the delight that the words gave him.
+"It is no miracle, but only the logical result of thought and work.
+Still, I hope that it will be found to realise its promise when the
+time of trial comes."
+
+"Of that I have no doubt, from all that I hear," said the Princess.
+"Before long I shall hope to see it for myself. Ah, here is Natasha.
+Come, I must introduce you afresh, for you do not know her yet as the
+world knows her."
+
+Arnold heard the door open behind him as the Princess spoke, and,
+turning round, saw Natasha coming towards him with her hand
+outstretched and a smile of welcome on her beautiful face. Before
+their hands met the Princess moved quietly between them and said,
+half in jest and half in earnest--
+
+"Fedora, permit me to present to you Mr. Richard Arnold, who is to
+accompany us to Russia to inspect the war-balloon offered to our
+Little Father the Tsar. Mr. Arnold, my niece, Fedora Darrel. There,
+now you know each other."
+
+"I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Arnold," said Natasha,
+with mock gravity as they shook hands. "I have heard much already of
+your skill in connection with aërial navigation, and I have no doubt
+but that your advice will be of the greatest service to his Majesty."
+
+"That is as it may be," answered Arnold, at once entering into the
+somewhat grim humour of the situation. "But if it is possible I
+should like to hear something a little definite as to this mission
+with which I have been, I fear, undeservingly honoured. I have been
+very greatly interested in the problem of aërial navigation for some
+years past, but I must confess that this is the first I have heard of
+these particular war-balloons."
+
+"It is for the purpose of enlightening you on that subject that this
+little party has been arranged," said the Princess, turning for the
+moment away from Colston, with whom she was talking earnestly in a
+low tone. "Ha! There goes the lunch-bell. Mr. Colston, your arm.
+Fedora, will you show Mr. Arnold the way?"
+
+Arnold opened the door for the Princess to go out, and then followed
+with Natasha on his arm. As they went out, she said in a low tone to
+him--
+
+"I think, if you don't mind, you had better begin at once to call me
+Miss Darrel, so as to get into the way of it. A slip might be
+serious, you know."
+
+"Your wishes are my laws, Miss Darrel," replied he, the name slipping
+as easily off his tongue as if he had known her by it for months. It
+may have been only fancy on his part, he thought he felt just the
+lightest imaginable pressure on his arm as he spoke. At any rate, he
+was vain enough or audacious enough to take the impression for a
+reality, and walked the rest of the way to the dining-room on air.
+
+The meal was dainty and perfectly served, but there were no servants
+present, for obvious reasons, and so they waited on themselves.
+Colston sat opposite the Princess and carved the partridges, while
+Arnold was _vis-à-vis_ to Natasha, a fact which had a perceptible
+effect upon his appetite.
+
+"Now," said the Princess, as soon as every one was helped, "I will
+enlighten you, Mr. Arnold, as to your mission to Russia. One part of
+the business, I presume, you are already familiar with?"
+
+Arnold bowed his assent, and she went on--
+
+"Then the other is easily explained. Interested as you are in the
+question, I suppose there is no need to tell you that for several
+years past the Tsar has had an offer open to all the world of a
+million sterling for a vessel that will float in the air, and be
+capable of being directed in its course as a ship at sea can be
+directed."
+
+"Yes, I am well aware of the fact. Pray proceed." As he said this
+Arnold glanced across the table at Natasha, and a swift smile and a
+flash from her suddenly unveiled eyes told him that she, too, was
+thinking of how the world's history might have been altered had the
+Tsar's million been paid for his invention. Then the Princess went
+on--
+
+"Well, through a friend at the Russian Embassy, I have learnt that a
+French engineer has, as he says, perfected a balloon constructed on a
+new principle, which he claims will meet the conditions of the Tsar's
+offer.
+
+"My friend also told me that his Majesty had decided to take an
+entirely disinterested opinion with regard to this invention, and
+asked me if I could recommend any English engineer who had made a
+study of aërial navigation, and who would be willing to go to Russia,
+superintend the trials of the war-balloon, and report as to their
+success or otherwise.
+
+"This happened a few days ago only, and as I had happened to read an
+article that you will remember you wrote about six months ago in the
+_Nineteenth_, or, as it is now called, the _Twentieth Century_, I
+thought of your name, and said I would try to find some one. Two days
+later I got news from the Circle of your invention--never mind how;
+you will learn that later on--and called at the Embassy to say I had
+found some one whose judgment could be absolutely relied upon. Now,
+wasn't that kind of me, to give you such a testimonial as that to his
+Omnipotence the Tsar of All the Russias?"
+
+Once more Arnold bowed his acknowledgments--this time somewhat
+ironically, and Natasha interrupted the narrative by saying with a
+spice of malice in her voice--
+
+"No doubt the Little Father will duly recognise your kindness,
+Princess, when he gets quite to the bottom of the matter."
+
+"I hope he will," replied the Princess, "but that is a matter of the
+future--and of considerable doubt as well." Then, turning to Arnold
+again, she continued--
+
+"You will now, of course, see the immense advantage there appeared to
+be in getting you to examine these war-balloons. They are evidently
+the only possible rivals to your own invention in the field, and
+therefore it is of the utmost importance that you should know their
+strength or their weakness, as the case may be.
+
+"Well, that is all I have to say, so far. It has been decided that
+you shall go, if you are willing, with us to Petersburg the day after
+to-morrow to see the balloon, and make your report. All your expenses
+will be paid on the most liberal scale, for the Tsar is no niggard in
+spending either his own or other people's money, and you will have a
+handsome fee into the bargain for your trouble."
+
+"So far as the work is concerned, of course, I undertake it
+willingly," said Arnold, as the Princess stopped speaking. "But it
+hardly seems to me to be right that I should take even the Tsar's
+money under such circumstances. To tell you the truth, it looks to me
+rather uncomfortably like false pretences."
+
+Again Natasha's eyes flashed approval across the table, but
+nevertheless she said--
+
+"You seem to forget, my friend, that we are at war with the Tsar, and
+all's fair in--in love and war. Besides, if you have any scruples
+about keeping the fee for your professional services--which, after
+all, you will render as honestly as though it were the merest matter
+of business--you can put it into the treasury, and so ease your
+conscience. Remember, too," she went on more seriously, "how the
+enormous wealth of this same Tsar has swollen by the confiscation of
+fortunes whose possessors had committed no other crime than becoming
+obnoxious to the corrupt bureaucracy."
+
+"I will take the fee if I fairly earn it, Miss Darrel," replied
+Arnold, returning the glance as he spoke, "and it shall be my first
+contribution to the treasury of the Brotherhood."
+
+"Spoken like a sensible man," chimed in the Princess. "After all, it
+is no worse than spoiling the Egyptians, and you have scriptural
+authority for that. However, you can do as you like with his
+Majesty's money when you get it. The main fact is that you have the
+opportunity of going to earn it, and that Colonel Martinov is coming
+here to tea this afternoon to bring our passports, specially
+authorising us to travel without customs examination or any kind of
+questioning to any part of the Tsar's dominions, and that, I can
+assure you, is a very exceptional honour indeed."
+
+"Who did you say? Martinov? Is that the Colonel Martinov who is the
+director of the secret police here?" asked Colston hurriedly.
+
+"Yes," replied the Princess, "the same. Why do you ask?"
+
+"Because," said Colston quietly, "he received the sentence of death
+nearly a month ago, and to-morrow night he will be executed, unless
+there is some accident. It was he who stood with the governor of
+Brovno in the prison-yard and watched Radna Michaelis flogged by the
+soldiers. I received news this morning that the arrangements are
+complete, and that the sentence will be carried out to-morrow night."
+
+"Yes, that is so," added Natasha, as Colston ceased speaking.
+"Everything is settled. It is therefore well that he should do
+something useful before he meets his fate."
+
+"How curious that it should just happen so!" said the Princess
+calmly, as she rose from the table and moved towards the door
+followed by Natasha.
+
+As soon as the ladies had left the room, Colston and Arnold lit their
+cigarettes and chatted while they smoked over their last glass of
+claret. Arnold would have liked to have asked more about the coming
+tragedy, but something in Colston's manner restrained him; and so the
+conversation remained on the subject of the Russian journey until
+they returned to the sitting-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS.
+
+
+On the 6th of March 1904, just six months after Arnold's journey to
+Russia, a special meeting of the Inner Circle of the Terrorists took
+place in the Council-chamber, at the house on Clapham Common.
+
+Although it was only attended by twelve persons all told, and those
+men and women whose names were unknown outside the circle of their
+own Society and the records of the Russian police, it was the most
+momentous conference that had taken place in the history of the world
+since the council of war that Abdurrhaman the Moslem had held with
+his chieftains eleven hundred and seventy-two years before, and, by
+taking their advice, spared the remnants of Christendom from the
+sword of Islam.
+
+Then the fate of the world hung in the balance of a council of war,
+and the supremacy of the Cross or the Crescent depended, humanly
+speaking, upon the decision of a dozen warriors. Now the fate of the
+civilisation that was made possible by that decision, lay at the
+mercy of a handful of outlaws and exiles who had laboriously brought
+to perfection the secret schemes of a single man.
+
+The work of the Terrorists was finally complete. Under the whole
+fabric of Society lay the mines which a single spark would now
+explode, and above this slumbering volcano the earth was trembling
+with the tread of millions of armed men, divided into huge hostile
+camps, and only waiting until Diplomacy had finished its work in the
+dark, and gave the long-awaited signal of inevitable and universal
+war.
+
+To-night that spark was to be shaken from the torch of Revolution,
+and to-morrow the first of the mines would explode. After that, if
+the course to be determined on by the Terrorist Council failed to
+arrive at the results which it was designed to reach, the armies of
+Europe would fight their way through the greatest war that the world
+had ever seen, the Fates would once more decide in favour of the
+strongest battalions, the fittest would triumph, and a new era of
+military despotism would begin--perhaps neither much better nor much
+worse than the one it would succeed.
+
+If, on the other hand, the plans of the Terrorists were successfully
+worked out to their logical conclusion, it would not be war only, but
+utter destruction that Society would have to face. And then with
+dissolution would come anarchy. The thrones of the world would be
+overthrown, the fabric of Society would be dissolved, commerce would
+come to an end, the structure that it had taken twenty centuries of
+the discipline of war and the patient toil of peace to build up,
+would crumble into ruins in a few short months, and then--well, after
+that no man could tell what would befall the remains of the human
+race that had survived the deluge. The means of destruction were at
+hand, and they would be used without mercy, but for the rest no man
+could speak.
+
+When Nicholas Roburoff, the President of the Executive, rose in his
+place at eight o'clock to explain the business in hand, every member
+present saw at a glance, by the gravity of his demeanour, that the
+communication that he had to make was of no ordinary nature, but even
+they were not prepared for the catastrophe that he announced in the
+first sentence that he uttered.
+
+"Friends," he said, in a voice that was rendered deeply impressive by
+the emotion that he vainly tried to conceal, "it is my mournful duty
+to tell you that she whom any one of us would willingly shed our
+blood to serve or save from the slightest evil, our beautiful and
+beloved Angel of the Revolution, as we so fondly call her, Natasha,
+the daughter of the Master, has, in the performance of her duty to
+the Cause, fallen into the hands of Russia."
+
+Save for a low, murmuring groan that ran round the table, the news
+was received in silence. It was too terrible, too hideous in the
+awful meaning that its few words conveyed, for any exclamations of
+grief, or any outburst of anger, to express the emotions that it
+raised.
+
+Not one of those who heard it but had good reason to know what it
+meant for a revolutionist to fall into the hands of Russia. For a man
+it meant the last extremity of human misery that flesh and blood
+could bear, but for a young and beautiful woman it was a fate that no
+words could describe--a doom that could only be thought of in silence
+and despair; and so the friends of Natasha were silent, though they
+did not yet despair. Roburoff bowed his head in acknowledgment of the
+inarticulate but eloquent endorsement of his words, and went on--
+
+"You already know the outcome of Richard Arnold's visit to Russia;
+how he was present at the trial of the Tsar's war-balloon, and was
+compelled to pronounce it such a complete success, that the Autocrat
+at once gave orders for the construction of a fleet of fifty
+aërostats of the same pattern; and how, thanks to the warning
+conveyed by Anna Ornovski, he was able to prevent his special
+passport being stolen by a police agent, and so to foil the designs
+of the chief of the Third Section to stop him taking the secret of
+the construction of the war-balloon out of Russia. You also know that
+he brought back the Chief's authority to build an air-ship after the
+model which was exhibited to us here, and that since his return he
+has been prosecuting that work on Drumcraig Island, one of the
+possessions of the Chief in the Outer Hebrides, which he placed at
+his disposal for the purpose.
+
+"You know, also, that Natasha and Anna Ornovski went to Russia partly
+to discover the terms of the secret treaty that we believed to exist
+between France and Russia, and partly to warn, and, if possible,
+remove from Russian soil a large number of our most valuable allies,
+whose names had been revealed to the Minister of the Interior,
+chiefly through the agency of the spy Martinov, who was executed in
+this room six months ago.
+
+"The first part of the task was achieved, not without difficulty, but
+with complete success, and of that more anon. The second part was
+almost finished when Natasha and Anna Ornovski were surprised in the
+house of Alexei Kassatkin, a member of the Moscow Nihilist Circle, in
+the Bolshoi Dmitrietka. He had been betrayed by one of his own
+servants, and a police visit was the result.
+
+"Added to this there is reason to believe that she had, quite apart
+from this, become acquainted with enough official secrets to make her
+removal desirable in high quarters. I need not tell you that that is
+the usual way in which the Tsar rewards those of his secret servants
+who get to know too much.
+
+"The fact of her being found in the house of a betrayed Nihilist was
+taken as sufficient proof of sympathy or complicity, and she was
+arrested. Natasha, as Fedora Darrel, claimed to be a British subject,
+and, as such, to be allowed to go free in virtue of the Tsar's safe
+conduct, which she exhibited. Instead of that she was taken before
+the chief of the Moscow police, rudely interrogated, and then
+brutally searched. Unhappily, in the bosom of her dress was found a
+piece of paper bearing some of the new police cypher. That was
+enough. That night they were thrown into prison, and three days later
+taken to the convict depot under sentence of exile by administrative
+process to Sakhalin for life.
+
+"You know what that means for a beautiful woman like Natasha. She
+will not go to Sakhalin. They do not bury beauty like hers in such an
+abode of desolation as that. If she cannot be rescued, she will only
+have two alternatives before her. She will become the slave and
+plaything of some brutal governor or commandant at one of the
+stations, or else she will kill herself. Of course, of these two she
+would choose the latter--if she could and when she could. Should she
+be driven to that last resort of despair, she shall be avenged as
+woman never yet was avenged; but rescue must, if possible, come
+before revenge.
+
+"The information that we have received from the Moscow agent tells us
+that the convict train to which Natasha and Anna Ornovski are
+attached left the depot nearly a fortnight ago; they were to be taken
+by train in the usual way to Nizhni Novgorod, thence by barge on the
+Volga and Kama to Perm, and on by rail to Tiumen, the forwarding
+station for the east. Until they reach Tiumen they will be safe from
+anything worse than what the Russians are pleased to call
+'discipline,' but once they disappear into the wilderness of Siberia
+they will be lost to the world, and far from all law but the will of
+their official slave-drivers.
+
+"It has, therefore, been decided that the rescue shall be attempted
+before the chain-gang leaves Tiumen, if it can be reached in time. As
+nearly as we can calculate, the march will begin on the morning of
+Friday the 9th, that is to say, in three nights and one day from now.
+Happily we possess the means of making the rescue, if it can be
+accomplished by human means. I have received a report from Richard
+Arnold saying that the _Ariel_ is complete, and that she has made a
+perfectly satisfactory trial trip to the clouds. The _Ariel_ is the
+only vehicle in existence that could possibly reach the frontier of
+Siberia in the given time, and it is fitting that her first duty
+should be the rescue of the Angel of the Revolution from the clutches
+of the Tyrant of the North.
+
+"Alexis Mazanoff, it is the will of the Master that you shall take
+these instructions to Richard Arnold and accompany him on the voyage
+in order to show him what course to steer, and assist him in every
+way possible. You will find the Chief's yacht at Port Patrick ready
+to convey you to Drumcraig Island. When you have heard what is
+further necessary for you to hear, you will take the midnight express
+from Euston. Have you any preparations to make?"
+
+"No," replied Mazanoff, or Colston, to call him by a name more
+familiar to the reader. "I can start in half an hour if necessary,
+and on such an errand you may, of course, depend on me not to lose
+much time. I presume there are full instructions here?"
+
+"Yes, both for the rescue and for your conduct afterwards, whether
+you are successful or unsuccessful," said the President. Then turning
+to the others he continued--
+
+"You may now rest assured that all that can be done to rescue Natasha
+will be done, and we must therefore turn to other matters. I said a
+short time ago that the conditions of the secret treaty between
+France and Russia had been discovered by the two brave women who are
+now suffering for their devotion to the cause of the Revolution. A
+full copy of them is in the hands of the Chief, who arrives in London
+to-day, and will at once lay the documents before Mr. Balfour, the
+Premier.
+
+"It is extremely hostile to England, and amounts, in fact, to a
+compact on the part of France to declare war and seize the Suez
+Canal, as soon as the first shot is fired between Great Britain and
+Russia. In return for this, Russia is to invade Germany and Austria,
+destroy the eastern frontier fortresses with her fleet of
+war-balloons, and then cross over and do the same on the Rhine, while
+France at last throws herself upon her ancient foe.
+
+"Meanwhile, the French fleet is to concentrate in the Mediterranean
+as quietly and rapidly as possible, before war actually breaks out,
+so as to be able to hold the British and Italians in check, and shut
+the Suez Canal, while Russia, who is pushing her troops forward to
+the Hindu Kush, gets ready for a dash at the passes, and a rush upon
+Cashmere, before Britain can get sufficient men out to India by the
+Cape to give her very much trouble.
+
+"As there also exists a secret compact between Britain and the Triple
+Alliance, binding all four powers to declare war the moment one is
+threatened, the disclosure of this treaty must infallibly lead to war
+in a few weeks. In addition to this, measures have been taken to
+detach Italy from the Triple Alliance at the last moment, if
+possible. Success in this respect is, however, somewhat uncertain.
+
+"To make assurance doubly sure, the Chief informs me that he has
+ordered Ivan Brassoff, who is in command of a large reconnoitring
+party on the Afghan side of the Hindu Kush, to provoke reprisals from
+a similar party of Indian troops who have been told off to watch
+their movements. Captain Brassoff is one of us, and can be depended
+upon to obey at all costs. He will do this in a fortnight from now,
+and therefore we may feel confident that Great Britain and Russia
+will be at war within a month.
+
+"With the first outbreak of war our work for the present ceases, so
+far as active interference goes. We shall therefore withdraw from the
+scene of action until the arrival of the supreme moment when the
+nations of Europe shall be locked in the death-struggle, and the fate
+of the world will rest in our hands. The will of the Master now is
+that all the members of the Brotherhood shall at once wind up their
+businesses, and turn all of their possessions that are not portable
+and useful into money.
+
+"A large steamer has been purchased and manned with members of the
+Outer Circle who are sailors by profession. She is now being loaded
+at Liverpool with all the machinery and materials necessary for the
+construction of twelve air-ships like the _Ariel_. This steamer, when
+ready for sea, will sail, ostensibly, for Rio de Janeiro with a cargo
+of machinery, but in reality for Drumcraig, where she will embark the
+workmen who will be left there by the _Ariel_ with all the working
+plant on the island, and from there she will proceed to a lonely
+island off the West Coast of Africa, between Cape Blanco and Cape
+Verde, where new works will be set up and the fleet of air-ships put
+together as rapidly as possible.
+
+"The position of this island is in the instructions which Alexis
+Mazanoff takes to Drumcraig to-night, and the _Ariel_ will rendezvous
+there when the work that is in hand for her is done. The members of
+the Brotherhood will, of course, go in the steamer as passengers for
+Rio, so that no suspicions may be aroused, and every one must be
+ready to embark in ten days from now.
+
+"That is all I have to say at present in the name of the Master. And
+now, Alexis Mazanoff, it is time you set out. We shall remain here
+and discuss every detail fully so that nothing may be overlooked. You
+will find that everything has been provided for in the instructions
+you have, so go, and may the Master of Destiny be with you!"
+
+As he spoke he held out his hand, which the young man grasped
+heartily, saying--
+
+"Farewell! I will obey to the death, and if success can be earned we
+will earn it. If not, you shall hear of the _Ariel's_ work in Russia
+before the week is out."
+
+He then took leave of the other members of the Council, coming last
+to Radna. As their hands clasped she said--
+
+"I wish I could come with you, but that is impossible. But bring
+Natasha back to us safe and sound, and there is nothing that you can
+ask of me that I will not say 'yes' to. Go, and God speed your good
+work. Farewell!"
+
+For all answer he took her in his arms before them all. Their lips
+met in one long silent kiss, and a moment later he had gone to strike
+the first blow in the coming world-war, and to bring the beginning of
+sorrows on the Tyrant of the North.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE "ARIEL."
+
+
+On the sixth stroke of twelve that night the Scotch express drew out
+of Euston Station. At half-past nine the next morning, the _Lurline_,
+Lord Alanmere's yacht, steamed out of Port Patrick Harbour, and at
+one o'clock precisely she dropped her anchor in the little inlet that
+served for a harbour at Drumcraig.
+
+Colston had the quarter-boat lowered and pulled ashore without a
+moment's delay, and as his foot touched the shore Arnold grasped his
+hand, and, after the first words of welcome, asked for the latest
+news of Natasha.
+
+Without immediately answering, Colston put his arm through his, drew
+him away from the men who were standing about, and told him as
+briefly and gently as he could the terrible news of the calamity that
+had befallen the Brotherhood, and the errand upon which he had come.
+
+Arnold received the blow as a brave man should--in silence. His now
+bronzed face turned pale, his brows contracted, and his teeth
+clenched till Colston could hear them gritting upon each other. Then
+a great wave of agony swept over his soul as a picture too horrible
+for contemplation rose before his eyes, and after that came calm, the
+calm of rapid thought and desperate resolve.
+
+He remembered the words that Natasha had used in a letter that she
+had given him when she took leave of him in Russia. "We shall trust
+to you to rescue us, and, if that is no longer possible, to avenge
+us."
+
+Yes, and now the time had come to justify that trust and prove his
+own devotion. It should be proved to the letter, and if there was
+cause for vengeance, the proof should be written in blood and flame
+over all the wide dominions of the Tsar. Grief might come after, when
+there was time for it; but this was the hour of action, and a strange
+savage joy seemed to come with the knowledge that the safety of the
+woman he loved now depended mainly upon his own skill and daring.
+
+Colston respected his silence, and waited until he spoke. When he did
+he was astonished at the difference that those few minutes had made
+in the young engineer. The dreamer and the enthusiast had become the
+man of action, prompt, stern, and decided. Colston had never before
+heard from his lips the voice in which he at length said to him--
+
+"Where is this place? How far is it as the crow flies from here?"
+
+"At a rough guess I should say about two thousand two hundred miles,
+almost due east, and rather less than two hundred miles on the other
+side of the Ourals."
+
+"Good! That will be twenty hours' flight for us, or less if this
+south-west wind holds good."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Colston. "Twenty hours, did you say? You must
+surely be making some mistake. Don't you mean forty hours? Think of
+the enormous distance. Why, even then we should have to travel over
+sixty miles an hour through the air."
+
+"My dear fellow, I don't make mistakes where figures are concerned.
+The paradox of aërial navigation is 'the greater the speed the less
+the resistance.'
+
+"In virtue of that paradox I am able to tell you that the speed of
+the _Ariel_ in moderate weather is a hundred and twenty miles an
+hour, and a hundred and twenty into two thousand two hundred goes
+eighteen times and one-third. This is Wednesday, and we have to be on
+the Asiatic frontier at daybreak on Friday. We shall start at dusk
+to-night, and you shall see to-morrow's sun set over the Ourals."
+
+"That means from the eastern side of the range!"
+
+"Of course. There will be no harm in being a few hours too soon. In
+case we may have a long cruise, I must have additional stores, and
+power-cylinders put on board. Come, you have not seen the _Ariel_
+yet.
+
+"I have made several improvements on the model, as I expected to do
+when I came to the actual building of the ship, and, what is more
+important than that, I have immensely increased the motive power and
+economised space and weight at the same time. In fact, I don't
+despair now of two hundred miles an hour before very long. Come!"
+
+The engineer and the enthusiast had now come to the fore again, and
+the man and the lover had receded, put back, as it were, until the
+time for love, or perchance for sorrow, had come.
+
+He put his arm through Colston's, and led him up a hill-path and
+through a little gorge which opened into a deep valley, completely
+screened on all sides by heather-clad hills. Sprinkled about the
+bottom of this valley were a few wooden dwelling-houses and
+workshops, and in the centre was a huge shed, or rather an enclosure
+now, for its roof had been taken off.
+
+In this lay, like a ship in a graving-dock, a long, narrow,
+grey-painted vessel almost exactly like a sea-going ship, save for
+the fact that she had no funnel, and that her three masts, instead of
+yards, each carried a horizontal fan-wheel, while from each of her
+sides projected, level with the deck, a plane twice the width of the
+deck and nearly as long as the vessel herself.
+
+They entered the enclosure and walked round the hull. This was
+seventy feet long and twelve wide amidships, and save for size it was
+the exact counterpart of the model already described.
+
+As soon as he had taken Colston round the hull, and roughly explained
+its principal features, reserving more detailed description and the
+inspection of the interior for the voyage, he gave the necessary
+orders for preparing for a lengthy journey, and the two went on board
+the _Lurline_ to dinner, which Colston had deferred in order to eat
+it in Arnold's company.
+
+After dinner they carefully discussed the situation in order that
+every possible accident might be foreseen, argued the pros and cons
+of the venture in all their bearings, and even went so far as to plan
+the vengeance they would take should, by any chance, the rescue fail
+or come too late.
+
+The instructions, signed by Natas himself, were very precise on
+certain essential points, and in their broad outlines, but, like all
+wisely planned instructions to such men as these, they left ample
+margin for individual initiative in case of emergency.
+
+Some of the stores of the _Lurline_ had to be transferred to the
+_Ariel_, and these were taken ashore after dinner, and at the same
+time Colston made his first inspection of the interior of the
+air-ship, under the guidance of her creator. What struck him most at
+first sight was the apparent inadequacy of the machinery to the
+attainment of the tremendous speed at which Arnold had promised they
+should travel.
+
+There were four somewhat insignificant-looking engines in all. Of
+these, one drove the stern propeller, one the side propellers, and
+two the fan-wheels on the masts. He learnt as soon as the voyage
+began, that, by a very simple switch arrangement, the power of the
+whole four engines could be concentrated on the propellers; for, once
+in the air, the lifting wheels were dispensed with and lowered on
+deck, and the ship was entirely sustained by the pressure of the air
+under her planes.
+
+There was not an ounce of superfluous wood or metal about the
+beautifully constructed craft, but for all that she was complete in
+every detail, and the accommodation she had for crew and passengers
+was perfectly comfortable, and in some respects cosy in the extreme.
+Forward there was a spacious cabin with berths for six men, and aft
+there were separate cabins for six people, and a central saloon for
+common use.
+
+On deck there were three structures, a sort of little conning tower
+forward, a wheel-house aft, and a deck saloon amidships. All these
+were, of course, so constructed as to offer the least possible
+resistance to the wind, or rather the current created by the vessel
+herself when flying through the air at a speed greater than that of
+the hurricane itself.
+
+All were closely windowed with toughened glass, for it is hardly
+necessary to say that, but for such a protection, every one who
+appeared above the level of the deck would be almost instantly
+suffocated, if not whirled overboard, by the rush of air when the
+ship was going at full speed. Her armament consisted of four long,
+slender cannon, two pointing over the bows, and two over the stem.
+
+The crew that Arnold had chosen for the voyage consisted, curiously
+enough, of men belonging to the four nationalities which would be
+principally concerned in the Titanic struggle which a few weeks would
+now see raging over Europe. Their names were Andrew Smith,
+Englishman, and coxswain; Ivan Petrovitch, Russian; Franz Meyer,
+German; and Jean Guichard, Frenchman. Diverse as they were, there
+never were four better workers, or four better friends.
+
+They had no country but the world, and no law save those which
+governed their Brotherhood. They conversed in assorted but perfectly
+intelligible English, for the very simple reason that Mr. Andrew
+Smith consistently refused to attempt even the rudiments of any other
+tongue.
+
+While the stores were being put on board, Arnold made a careful
+examination of every part of the machinery, and then of the whole
+vessel, in order to assure himself that everything was in perfect
+order. This done, he gave his final instructions to those of the
+little community who were left behind to await the arrival of the
+steamer, and as the sun sank behind the western ridges of the island,
+he went on board the _Ariel_ with Colston, took his place at the
+wheel, and ordered the fan-wheels to be set in motion.
+
+Colston was standing by the open door of the wheel-house as Arnold
+communicated his order to the engine-room by pressing an electric
+button, one of four in a little square of mahogany in front of the
+wheel.
+
+There was no vibration or grinding, as would have been the case in
+starting a steamer, but only a soft whirring, humming sound, that
+rose several degrees in pitch as the engines gained speed, and the
+fan-wheels revolved faster and faster until they sang in the air, and
+the _Ariel_ rose without a jar or a tremor from the ground, slowly at
+first, and then more and more swiftly, until Colston saw the ground
+sinking rapidly beneath him, and the island growing smaller and
+smaller, until it looked like a little patch on the dark grey water
+of the sea.
+
+Away to the north and west he could see the innumerable islands of
+the Hebrides, while to the east the huge mountainous mass of the
+mainland of Scotland loomed dark upon the horizon.
+
+When the barometer marked eight hundred feet above the sea-level, the
+_Ariel_ passed through a stratum of light clouds, and on the upper
+side of this the sun was still shining, shooting his almost level
+rays across it as though over some illimitable sea of white fleecy
+billows, whose crests were tipped with rosy, golden light.
+
+Above the surface of this fairy sea rose north-eastward the black
+mass of Ben More on the Island of Mull, and to the southward, the
+lesser peaks of Jura and Islay.
+
+While he was still wrapped in admiration of the strange beauty of
+this, to him, marvellous scene, the _Ariel_ had risen to a thousand
+feet, still almost in a vertical line from the island. Arnold now
+pressed another button, and the stern propeller began to revolve
+swiftly and noiselessly, and Colston saw the waves of the cloud-sea
+begin to slip behind, although so smooth was the working of the
+machinery, and the motion of the air-ship, that, but for this, he
+could hardly have guessed that he was in motion.
+
+Arnold now turned a few spokes of the wheel, and headed the _Ariel_
+due east by the compass. Then he touched a third button. The side
+propellers began to turn swiftly on their axes, and, at the same time
+the speed of the fan-wheels slackened, and gradually stopped.
+
+Colston now began to feel the air rushing by him in a stream so rapid
+and strong, that he had to take hold of the side of the wheel-house
+doorway to steady himself.
+
+"I think you had better come inside and shut the door," said Arnold.
+"We are getting up speed now, and in a few minutes you won't be able
+to hold yourself there. You'll be able to see just as well inside."
+
+Colston did as he was bidden, and as soon as he was safely inside
+Arnold pulled a lever beside the wheel, and slightly inclined the
+planes from forward aft. At the same time the fan-wheels began to
+slide down the masts until they rested upon the deck.
+
+"Now, you shall see her fly," said Arnold, taking a speaking-tube
+from the wall and whistling thrice into it.
+
+Colston felt a slight tremor in the deck beneath his feet, and then a
+lifting movement. He staggered a little, and said to Arnold--
+
+"What's that? Are we going higher still?"
+
+"Yes," replied the engineer. "She is feeling the air-planes now under
+the increased speed. I am going up to fifteen hundred feet, so that
+we shall only have the highest peaks to steer clear of in crossing
+Scotland. Now, use your eyes, and you will see something worth
+looking at."
+
+The upper part of the wheel-house was constructed almost entirely of
+glass, and so Colston could see just as well as if he had been on
+deck outside. He did use his eyes. In fact, for some time to come,
+all his other senses seemed to be merged in that of sight, for the
+scene was one of such rare and marvellous beauty, and the sensations
+that it called up were of so completely novel a nature, that, for the
+time being, he felt as though he had been suddenly transported into
+fairyland.
+
+The cloud-sea now lay about seven hundred feet beneath them. The sun
+had sunk quite below the horizon, even at that elevation; but his
+absence was more than made up for by the nearly full moon, which had
+risen to the southward, as though to greet the conqueror of the air,
+and was spreading a flood of silvery radiance over the snowy plain
+beneath, through the great gaps in which they could see the darker
+sheen of the moving sea-waves.
+
+Their course lay almost exactly along the fifty-sixth parallel of
+latitude, and took them across Argyle, Dumbarton, and Stirlingshire
+to the head of the Firth of Forth. As they approached the mainland,
+Colston saw one or two peaks rise up out of the clouds, and soon they
+were sweeping along in the midst of a score or so of these. To the
+left Ben Lomond towered into the clear sky above his attendant peaks,
+and to the right the lower summits of the Campsie Fells soon rose a
+few miles ahead.
+
+The rapidity with which these mountain-tops rose up on either side,
+and were left behind, proved to Colston that the _Ariel_ must be
+travelling at a tremendous speed, and yet, but for a very slight
+quivering of the deck, there was no motion perceptible, so smoothly
+did the air-ship glide through the elastic medium in which she
+floated.
+
+So engrossed was he with the unearthly beauty of the new world into
+which he had risen, that for nearly two hours he stood without
+speaking a word. Arnold, wrapped in his own thoughts, maintained a
+like silence, and so they sped on amidst a stillness that was only
+broken by the soft whirring of the propellers, and the singing of the
+wind past the masts and stays.
+
+At length a faint sound like the dashing of breakers on a rocky coast
+roused Colston from his reverie, and he turned to Arnold and said--
+
+"What is that? Not the sea, surely!"
+
+"Yes, those are the waves of the Firth of Forth breaking on the
+shores of Fife."
+
+"What! Do you mean to tell me that we have crossed Scotland already?
+Why, we have not been an hour on the way yet!"
+
+"Oh yes, we have," replied the engineer. "We have been nearly two.
+You have been so busy looking about you that you have not noticed how
+the time has passed. We have travelled a little over two hundred and
+forty miles. We are over the German Ocean now, and as there will be
+no more hills until we reach the Ourals we can go down a little."
+
+As he spoke he moved the lever beside him about an inch, and
+instantly the clouds seemed to rise up toward them as the _Ariel_
+swept downwards in her flight. A hundred feet above them Arnold
+touched the lever again, and the air-ship at once resumed her
+horizontal course.
+
+Then he put her head a little more to the northward, and called down
+the speaking tube for Andrew Smith to come and relieve him. A minute
+later Smith's head appeared at the top of the companion-ladder which
+led from the saloon to the wheel-house, and Arnold gave him the wheel
+and the course, saying at the same time to Colston--
+
+"Now, come down and have something to eat, and then we will have a
+smoke and a chat and go to bed. There is nothing more to be seen
+until the morning, and then I will show you Petersburg as it looks
+from the clouds."
+
+"If you told me you would show me the Ourals themselves, I should
+believe you after what I have seen," replied Colston, as together
+they descended the companion-way from the wheel-house to the saloon.
+
+"Ah, I'm afraid that would be too much even for the _Ariel_ to
+accomplish in the time," said Arnold. "Still, I think I can guarantee
+that you shall cross Europe in such time as no man ever crossed it
+before."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+FIRST BLOOD.
+
+
+After supper the two friends ascended to the deck saloon for a smoke,
+and to continue their discussion of the tremendous events in which
+they were so soon to be taking part. They found the _Ariel_ flying
+through a cloudless sky over the German Ocean, whose white-crested
+billows, silvered by the moonlight, were travelling towards the
+north-east under the influence of the south-west breeze from which
+the engineer had promised himself assistance when they started.
+
+"We seem to be going at a most frightful speed," said Colston,
+looking down at the water. "There's a strong south-west breeze
+blowing, and yet those white horses seem to be travelling quite the
+other way."
+
+"Yes," replied Arnold, looking down. "This wind will be travelling
+about twenty miles an hour, and that means that we are making nearly
+a hundred and fifty. The German Ocean here is five hundred miles
+across, and we shall cross it at this rate in about three hours and a
+half, and if the wind holds over the land we shall sight Petersburg
+soon after sunrise.
+
+"The sun will rise to-morrow morning a few minutes after five by
+Greenwich time, which is about two hours behind Petersburg time.
+Altogether we shall make, I expect, from two to two and a half hours'
+gain on time."
+
+The two men talked until a few minutes after ten, and then went to
+bed. Colston, who had been travelling all the previous night, began
+to feel drowsy in spite of the excitement of the novel voyage, and
+almost as soon as he lay down in his berth dropped off into a sound,
+dreamless sleep, and knew nothing more until Arnold knocked at his
+door and said--
+
+"If you want to see the sun rise, you had better get up. Coffee will
+be ready in a quarter of an hour."
+
+Colston pulled back the slide which covered the large oblong pane of
+toughened glass which was let into the side of his cabin and looked
+out. There was just light enough in the grey dawn to enable him to
+see that the _Ariel_ was passing over a sea dotted in the distance
+with an immense number of islands.
+
+"The Baltic," he said to himself as he jumped out of bed. "This is
+travelling with a vengeance! Why, we must have travelled a good deal
+over a thousand miles during the night. I suppose those islands will
+be off the coast of Finland. If so, we are not far from Petersburg,
+as the _Ariel_ seems to count distance."
+
+The most magnificent spectacle that Colston had ever seen in his
+life, or, for the matter of that, ever dreamed of, was the one that
+he saw from the conning-tower of the _Ariel_ while the sun was rising
+over the vast plain of mingled land and water which stretched away to
+the eastward until it melted away into the haze of early morning.
+
+The sky was perfectly clear and cloudless, save for a few light
+clouds that hung about the eastern horizon, and were blazing gold and
+red in the light of the newly-risen sun. The air-ship was flying at
+an elevation of about two thousand feet, which appeared to be her
+normal height for ordinary travelling. There was land upon both sides
+of them, but in front opened a wide bay, the northern shores of which
+were still fringed with ice and snow.
+
+"That is the Gulf of Finland," said Arnold. "The winter must have
+been very late this year, and that probably means that we shall find
+the eastern side of the Ourals still snow-bound."
+
+"So much the better," replied Colston. "They will have a much better
+chance of escape if there is good travelling for a sleigh."
+
+"Yes," replied Arnold, his brows contracting as he spoke. "Do you
+know, if it were not for the Master's explicit orders, I should be
+inclined to smash up the station at Ekaterinburg a few hours
+beforehand, and then demand the release of the whole convict train,
+under penalty of laying the town in ruins."
+
+Colston shook his head, saying--
+
+"No, no, my friend, we must have a little more diplomacy than that.
+Your thirst for the life of the enemy will, no doubt, be fully
+gratified later on. Besides, you must remember that you would
+probably blow some hundreds of perfectly innocent people to pieces,
+and very possibly a good many friends of the Cause among them."
+
+"True," replied Arnold; "I didn't think of that; but I'll tell you
+what we can do, if you like, without transgressing our instructions
+or hurting any one except the soldiers of the Tsar, who, of course,
+are paid to slaughter and be slaughtered, and so don't count."
+
+"What is that?" asked Colston.
+
+"We shall be passing over Kronstadt in a little over an hour, and we
+might take the opportunity of showing his Majesty the Tsar what the
+_Ariel_ can do with the strongest fortress in Europe. How would you
+like to fire the first shot in the war of the Revolution?"
+
+Colston was silent for a few moments, and then he looked up and
+said--
+
+"There is not the slightest reason why we should not take a shot at
+Kronstadt, if only to give the Russians a foretaste of favours to
+come. Still, I won't fire the first shot on any account, simply
+because that honour belongs to you. I'll fire the second with
+pleasure."
+
+"Very good," replied Arnold. "We'll have two shots apiece, one each
+as we approach the fortress, and one each as we leave it. Now come
+and take a preparatory lesson in the new gunnery."
+
+They went down into the chief saloon, and there Arnold showed Colston
+a model of the new weapon with which the _Ariel_ was armed, and
+thoroughly explained the working of it. After this they went to the
+wheel-house, where Arnold inclined the planes at a sharper angle, and
+sent the _Ariel_ flying up into the sky, until the barometer showed
+an elevation of three thousand feet.
+
+Then he signalled to the engine-room, the fan-wheels rose from the
+deck, as if by their own volition, and, as soon as they reached their
+places, began to spin round faster and faster, until Colston could
+again hear the high-pitched singing sound that he had heard as the
+_Ariel_ rose from Drumcraig Island.
+
+At the same time the speed of the vessel rapidly decreased; the side
+propellers ceased working, and the stern-screw revolved more and more
+slowly, until the speed came down to about thirty miles an hour.
+
+By this time the great fortress of Kronstadt could be distinctly seen
+lying upon its island, like some huge watch-dog crouched at the
+entrance to his master's house, guarding the way to St. Petersburg.
+
+"Now," said Arnold, "we can go outside without any fear of being
+blown off into space."
+
+They went out and walked forward to the bow. Arrived there they found
+two of the men, each with a curious-looking shell in his arms. The
+projectiles were about two feet long and six inches in diameter, and
+were, as Arnold told Colston, constructed of _papier-maché_. There
+were three blades projecting from the outside, and running spirally
+from the point to the butt. These fitted into grooves in the inside
+of the cannon, which were really huge air-guns twenty feet long,
+including the air-chamber at the breech.
+
+The projectiles were placed in position, the breeches of the guns
+closed, and a minute later the air-chambers were filled with air at a
+pressure of two hundred atmospheres, pumped from the forward engines
+through pipes leading up to the guns for the purpose.
+
+"Now," said Arnold, "we're ready! Meanwhile you two can go and load
+the two after guns."
+
+The men saluted and retired, and Arnold continued--
+
+"Just take a look down with your glasses and see if they see us. I
+expect they do by this time."
+
+Colston put his field-glass to his eyes, and looked down at the
+fortress, which was now only six or seven miles ahead.
+
+"Yes," he said, "at any rate I can see a lot of little figures
+running about on the roof of one of the ramparts, which I suppose are
+soldiers. What's the range of your gun? I should say the fortress is
+about six miles off now."
+
+"We can hit it from here, if you like," replied Arnold, "and if we
+were a thousand feet higher I could send a shell into Petersburg.
+See! there is the City of Palaces. Away yonder in the distance you
+can just see the sun shining on the houses. We could see it quite
+plainly if it wasn't for the haze that seems to be lying over the
+Neva."
+
+While he was speaking, Arnold trained the gun according to a scale on
+a curved steel rod which passed through a screw socket in the breech
+of the piece.
+
+"Now," he said. "Watch!"
+
+He pressed a button on the top of the breech. There was a sharp but
+not very loud sound as the compressed air was released; something
+rushed out of the muzzle of the gun, and a few seconds later, Colston
+could see the missile boring its way through the air, and pursuing a
+slanting but perfectly direct path for the centre of the fortress.
+
+A second later it struck. He could see a bright greenish flash as it
+smote the steel roof of the central fort. Then the fort seemed to
+crumble up and dissolve into fragments, and a few moments later a
+dull report floated up into the sky mingled, as he thought, with
+screams of human agony.
+
+For a moment he stared in silence through the glasses, then he turned
+to Arnold and said in a voice that trembled with violent emotion--
+
+"Good God, that is awful! The whole of the centre citadel is gone as
+though it had been swept off the face of the earth. I can hardly see
+even the ruins of it. Surely that's murder rather than war!"
+
+"No more murder than the use of torpedoes in naval warfare, as far as
+I can see," replied Arnold coolly. "Remember, too," he continued in a
+sterner tone, "that fortress belongs to the power that flogged Radna
+and has captured Natasha. Come, let's see what execution you can do."
+
+He crossed the deck and set the other gun by its scale, saying as he
+did so--
+
+"Put your finger on the button and press when I tell you."
+
+Colston did as he was bid, and as his finger touched the little knob
+his hand was as firm as though he had been making a shot at
+billiards.
+
+"Now!"
+
+He pressed the button down hard. There was the same sharp sound, and
+a second messenger of destruction sped on its way towards the doomed
+fortress.
+
+[Illustration: "Good God, that is awful."
+
+_See page 82._]
+
+They saw it strike, and then came the flash, and after that a huge
+cloud of dust mingled with flying objects that might have been blocks
+of masonry, guns, or human bodies, rose into the air, and then fell
+back again to the earth.
+
+"There goes one of the angles of the fortification into the sea,"
+said Arnold, as he saw the effects of the shot. "Kronstadt won't be
+much good when the war breaks out, it strikes me. I suppose they'll
+be replying soon with a few rifle shots. We'd better quicken up a
+bit."
+
+He went aft to the wheel-house, followed by Colston, and signalled
+for the three propellers to work at their utmost speed. The order was
+instantly obeyed; the fan-wheels ceased revolving, and under the
+impetus of her propellers the _Ariel_ leapt forwards and upwards like
+an eagle on its upward swoop, rose five hundred feet in the air, and
+then swept over Kronstadt at a speed of more than a hundred miles an
+hour.
+
+As they passed over they saw a series of flashes rise from one of the
+untouched portions of the fortress, but no bullets came anywhere near
+them. In fact, they must have passed through the air two or three
+miles astern of the flying _Ariel_. No soldier who ever carried a
+rifle could have sent a bullet within a thousand yards of an object
+seventy feet long travelling over a hundred miles an hour at a height
+of nearly four thousand feet, and so the Russians wasted their
+ammunition.
+
+As soon as they had passed over the fortress, Arnold signalled for
+the propellers to stop, and the fan-wheels to revolve again at half
+speed. The air-ship stopped within three miles, and remained
+suspended in air over the opening mouth of the Neva. Then the two
+after guns were trained upon the fortress, and Colston and Arnold
+fired them together.
+
+The two shells struck at the same moment, one in each of two angles
+of the ramparts. Their impact was followed by a tremendous explosion,
+far greater than could be accounted for by the shells themselves.
+
+"There goes one, if not two, of his powder magazines. Look! half the
+fortress is a wreck. I wonder which fired the lucky shot."
+
+The man who a year before had been an inoffensive student of
+mechanics and an enthusiast dreaming of an unsolved problem, spoke of
+the frightful destruction of life and the havoc that he had caused by
+just pressing a button with his finger, as coolly and quietly as a
+veteran officer of artillery might have spoken of shelling a fort.
+
+There were two reasons for this almost miraculous change. One was to
+be found in the bitter hatred of Russian tyranny which he had imbibed
+during the last six months, and the other was the fact that the woman
+for whom he would have himself died a thousand deaths if necessary,
+was a captive in Russian chains, being led at that moment to slavery
+and degradation.
+
+As soon as they had seen the effects of the last two shots, Arnold
+said with a grim, half-smile on his lips--
+
+"I think it will be better if we don't show ourselves too plainly to
+Petersburg. It will take some time for the news of the destruction of
+Kronstadt to reach the city, and, of course, there will be the
+wildest rumours as to the agency by which it was done, so we may as
+well leave them to argue the matter out among themselves."
+
+He signalled again to the engine-room, and with the united aid of her
+planes and fan-wheels the _Ariel_ mounted up and up into the sky,
+driven only by the stern-propeller and with the force of the other
+engines concentrated on the lifting wheels, until a height of five
+thousand feet was reached.
+
+At that height she would have looked, if she could have been seen at
+all, nothing more than a little grey spot against the blue of the
+sky, and as they heard afterwards she passed over St. Petersburg
+without being noticed.
+
+From St. Petersburg to Tiumen, as the crow flies, the distance is
+1150 English miles, and nine hours after she had passed over the
+Capital of the North, the _Ariel_ had winged her way over the Ourals
+and the still snow-clad forests of the eastern slopes, past the
+tear-washed Pillar of Farewells, and had come to a rest after her
+voyage of two thousand two hundred miles, including the delay at
+Kronstadt, in twenty hours almost to the minute, as her captain had
+predicted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+IN THE MASTER'S NAME.
+
+
+The _Ariel_, in order to avoid being seen from the town, had made a
+wide circuit to the northward at a considerable elevation, and as
+soon as a suitable spot had been sought out by means of the
+field-glasses, she dropped suddenly and swiftly from the clouds into
+the depths of the dense forest through which the Tobolsk road runs
+from Tiumen to the banks of the Tobol.
+
+From Tiumen to the Tobol is about twenty-five miles by road. The
+railway, which was then finished as far as Tomsk, ran to Tobolsk by a
+more northerly and direct route than the road, but convicts were
+still marched on foot along the great post road after the gangs had
+been divided at Tiumen according to their destinations.
+
+The spot which had been selected for the resting-place of the _Ariel_
+was a little glade formed by the bend of a frozen stream about five
+miles east of the town, and at a safe distance from the road.
+
+Painted a light whitish-grey all over, she would have been invisible
+even from a short distance as she lay amid the snow-laden trees, and
+Arnold gave strict orders that all the window-slides were to be kept
+closed, and no light shown on any account.
+
+Every precaution possible was taken to obviate a discovery which
+should seriously endanger the success of the rescue, but,
+nevertheless, the fan-wheels were kept aloft, and everything was in
+readiness to rise into the air at a moment's notice should any
+emergency require them to do so.
+
+It was a little after three o'clock on the Thursday afternoon when
+the _Ariel_ settled down in her resting-place, and half an hour later
+Colston and Ivan Petrovitch appeared on deck completely disguised,
+the former as a Russian fur trader, and the latter as his servant.
+
+All the arrangements for the rescue had been once more gone over in
+every detail, and just before he swung himself over the side Colston
+shook hands for the last time with Arnold, saying as he did so--
+
+"Well, good-bye again, old fellow! Ivan shall come back and bring you
+the news, if necessary; but if he doesn't come, don't be uneasy, but
+possess your soul in patience till you hear the whistle from the road
+in the morning. I expect the train will get in sometime during the
+night, and in that case we shall have everything ready to make the
+attempt soon after daybreak, if not before.
+
+"If we can get as far as this without being pursued we shall come
+right on board. If not we must trust to our horses and our pistols to
+keep the Cossacks at a distance till you can help us. In any case,
+rest assured that once clear of Tiumen, we shall never be taken
+alive. Those are the Master's orders, and I will shoot Natasha myself
+before she goes back to captivity."
+
+"Yes, do so," replied Arnold. His lips quivered as he spoke, but
+there was no tremor in the hand with which he gripped Colston's in
+farewell. "She will prefer death to slavery, and I shall prefer it
+for her. But if you have to do it you will at least have the
+consolation of knowing that within twelve hours of your death the
+Tsar shall be lying buried beneath the ruins of the Peterhof Palace.
+I will have his life for hers if only I live to take it."
+
+"I will tell her," said Colston simply, "and if die she must, she
+will die content."
+
+So saying, he descended the little rope-ladder, followed by Ivan, and
+in a few moments the two were lost in the deep shadow of the trees,
+while Arnold went down into the saloon to await with what patience he
+might the moment that would decide the fate of the daughter of Natas
+and the man who had gone, as he would so gladly have done, to risk
+his life to restore her to liberty.
+
+Rather more than half an hour's tramp through the forest brought
+Colston and Ivan out on the road at a point a little less than five
+miles from Tiumen.
+
+Colston was provided with passports and permits to travel for himself
+and Ivan. These, of course, were forged on genuine forms which the
+Terrorists had no difficulty in obtaining through their agents in
+high places, who were as implicitly trusted as the Princess Ornovski
+had been but a few months before.
+
+So skilfully were they executed, however, that it would have been a
+very keen official eye that had discovered anything wrong with them.
+They described him as "Stepan Bakuinin, fur merchant of Nizhni
+Novgorod, travelling in pursuit of his business, with his servant,
+Peter Petrovitch, also of Nizhni Novgorod."
+
+Instead of going straight into the town by the main road they made a
+considerable detour and entered it by a lane that led them through a
+collection of miserable huts occupied by the poorest class of
+Siberian mujiks, half peasants, half townsfolk, who cultivate their
+patches of ground during the brief spring and summer, and struggle
+through the long dreary winter as best they can on their scanty
+savings and what work they can get to do from the Government or their
+richer neighbours.
+
+Colston had never been in Tiumen before, but Ivan had, for ten years
+before he had voluntarily accompanied his father, who had been
+condemned to five years' forced labour on the new railway works from
+Tiumen to Tobolsk, for giving a political fugitive shelter in his
+house. He had died of hard labour and hard usage, and that was one
+reason why Ivan was a member of the Outer Circle of the Terrorists.
+
+He led his master through the squalid suburb to the business part of
+the town, which had considerably developed since the through line to
+Tobolsk and Tomsk had been constructed, and at length they stopped
+before a comfortable-looking house in the street that ends at the
+railway station.
+
+They knocked, gave their names, and were at once admitted. The
+servant who opened the door to them led them to a room in which they
+found a man of about fifty in the uniform of a sub-commissioner of
+police. As Colston held out his hand to him he said--
+
+"In the Master's name!"
+
+The official took his hand, and, bending over it, replied in a low
+tone--
+
+"I am his servant. What is his will?"
+
+"That Anna Ornovski and Fedora Darrel, the English girl who was taken
+with her, be released as soon as may be," replied Colston. "Is the
+train from Ekaterinburg in yet?"
+
+"Not yet. The snow is still deep between here and the mountains. The
+winter has been very severe and long. We have almost starved in
+Tiumen in spite of the railway. There has been a telegram from
+Ekaterinburg to say that the train descended the mountain safely, and
+one from Kannishlov to say that we expect it soon after ten
+to-night."
+
+"Good! That is sooner than we expected in London. We thought it would
+not reach here till to-morrow morning."
+
+"In London! What do you mean? You cannot have come from London, for
+there has been no train for two days."
+
+"Nevertheless I have come from London. I left England yesterday
+evening."
+
+"Yesterday evening! But, with all submission, that is impossible. If
+there were a railway the whole distance it could not be done."
+
+"To the Master there is nothing impossible. Look! I received that the
+evening I left London."
+
+As he spoke, Colston held out an envelope. The Russian examined it
+closely. It bore the Ludgate Hill post-mark, which was dated "March
+7."
+
+Colston's host bent over it with almost superstitious reverence, and
+handed it back, saying humbly--
+
+"Forgive my doubts, Nobleness! It is a miracle! I ask no more. The
+Tsar himself could not have done it. The Master is all powerful, and
+I am proud to be his servant, even to the death."
+
+Although the twentieth century had dawned, the Siberian Russians were
+still inclined to look even upon the railway as a miracle. This man,
+although he occupied a post of very considerable responsibility and
+authority under the Russian Government, was only a member of the
+Outer Circle of the Terrorists, as most of the officials were, and
+therefore he knew nothing of the existence of the _Ariel_, and
+Colston purposely mystified him with the apparent miracle of his
+presence in Tiumen after so short an absence from London, in order to
+command his more complete obedience in the momentous work that was on
+hand.
+
+He allowed the official a few moments to absorb the full wonder of
+the seeming marvel, and then he replied--
+
+"Yes, we are all his servants _to the death_. At least I know of none
+who have even thought of treason to him and lived to put their
+thoughts into action. But tell me, are all the arrangements complete
+as far as you can make them? Much depends upon how you carry them
+out, you know, to say nothing of the two thousand roubles that I
+shall hand to you as soon as the two ladies are delivered into my
+charge."
+
+"All is arranged, Nobleness," replied the official, bowing
+involuntarily at the mention of the money. "Such of the prisoners,
+that is to say the politicals, who can afford to pay for the
+privilege, may, by the new regulations, be lodged in the houses of
+approved persons during their sojourn in Tiumen, if it be only for a
+night, and so escape the common prison.
+
+"We knew at the police bureau of the arrest of the Princess Ornovski
+some days ago, and I have obtained permission from the chief of
+police to lodge her Highness and her companion in misfortune--if they
+are prepared to pay what I shall ask. It has come to be looked upon
+as a sort of perquisite of diligent officials, and as I have been
+very diligent here I had no difficulty in getting the
+permission--which I shall have to pay for in due course."
+
+"Just so! Nothing for nothing in Russian official circles. Very good.
+Now listen. If this escape is successfully accomplished you will be
+degraded and probably punished into the bargain for letting the
+prisoners slip through your fingers. But that must not happen if it
+can be prevented.
+
+"Now this has been foreseen, as everything is with the Master; and
+his orders are that you shall take this passport--which you will find
+in perfect order, save for the fact that the date has been slightly
+altered--from me as soon as I have got the ladies safely in the
+troika out on the Tobolsk road, put off the livery of the Tsar,
+disguise yourself as effectually as may be, and take the first train
+back to Perm and Nizhni Novgorod as Stepan Bakuinin, fur merchant.
+
+"The servant you can leave behind on any excuse. From Novgorod you
+can travel _viâ_ Moscow to Königsberg, and, if you will take my
+advice, you will get out of Russia as soon as the Fates will let
+you."
+
+"It shall be done, Nobleness. But how will the disappearance of
+Dmitri Soudeikin, sub-commissioner of police, be accounted for?"
+
+"That also has been provided for. Before you go you will pin this
+with a dagger to your sitting-room table."
+
+The official took the little piece of paper which Colston held out to
+him as he spoke. It read thus--
+
+    Dmitri Soudeikin, sub-commissioner of police at Tiumen, has been
+    removed for over-zeal in the service of the Tsar.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+Soudeikin bowed almost to the ground as the dreaded name of the
+Master of the Terror met his eyes, and then he said, as he handed the
+paper back--
+
+"It is so! The Master sees all, and cares for the least of his
+servants. My life shall be forfeited if the ladies are not released
+as I have said."
+
+"It probably will be," returned Colston drily. "None of us expect to
+get out of this business alive if it does not succeed. Now that is
+all I have to say for the present. It is for you to bring the ladies
+here as your prisoners, to see us out of the town before daybreak,
+and to have the troika in readiness for us on the Tobolsk road. Then
+see to yourself and I will be responsible for the rest."
+
+As it still wanted more than two hours to the expected arrival of the
+train, Soudeikin had the samovar, or tea-urn, brought in, and Colston
+and Ivan made a hearty meal after their five-mile walk through the
+snow. Then they and their host lit their pipes, and smoked and
+chatted until a distant whistle warned Soudeikin that the train was
+at last approaching the station, and that it was time for him to be
+on duty to receive his convict-lodgers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+FOR LIFE OR DEATH.
+
+
+No time had ever seemed so long to Colston as did the hour and a half
+which passed after the departure of Soudeikin until his return. He
+would have given anything to have accompanied him to the station, but
+it would have been so very unwise to have incurred the risk of being
+questioned, and perhaps obliged to show the passport that Soudeikin
+was to use, that he controlled his impatience as best he could, and
+let events take their course.
+
+At length, when he had looked at his watch for the fiftieth time, and
+found that it indicated nearly half-past eleven, there was a heavy
+knock at the door. As it opened, Colston heard a rattle of arms and a
+clinking of chains. Then there was a sound of gruff guttural voices
+in the entrance-hall, and the next moment the door of the room was
+thrown open, and Soudeikin walked in, followed by a young man in the
+uniform of a lieutenant of the line, and after them came two
+soldiers, to one of whom was handcuffed the Princess Ornovski, and to
+the other Natasha.
+
+Shocked as he was at the pitiable change that had taken place in the
+appearance of the two prisoners since he had last seen them in
+freedom, Colston was far too well trained in the school of conspiracy
+to let the slightest sign of surprise or recognition escape him.
+
+He and Ivan rose as the party entered, greeted Soudeikin and saluted
+the officer, hardly glancing at the two pale, haggard women in their
+rough grey shapeless gowns and hoods as they stood beside the men to
+whom they were chained.
+
+As the officer returned Colston's salute he turned to Soudeikin and
+said civilly enough--
+
+"I did not know you had another guest. I hope we shall not overcrowd
+you."
+
+"By no means," replied the commissioner, waving his hand toward
+Colston as he spoke. "This is only my nephew, Ernst Vronski, who is
+staying with me for a day or two on his way through to Nizhni
+Novgorod with his furs, and that is his servant, Ivan Arkavitch. You
+need not be uneasy. I have plenty of rooms, as I live almost alone,
+and I have set apart one for the prisoners which I think will satisfy
+you in every way. Would it please you to come and see it?"
+
+"Yes, we will go now and get them put in safety for the night, if you
+will lead the way."
+
+As the party left the room Colston caught one swift glance from
+Natasha which told him that she understood his presence in the house
+fully, and he felt that, despite her miserable position, he had an
+ally in her who could be depended upon.
+
+The officer carefully examined the room which had been provided for
+the two prisoners, tried the heavy shutters with which the windows
+were closed, and took from Soudeikin the keys of the padlocks to the
+bars which ran across them. He then directed the prisoners to be
+released from their handcuffs and locked them in the room, stationing
+one of the soldiers at the door and sending the other to patrol the
+back of the house from which the two windows of the room looked out.
+
+At the end of two hours the sentries were to change places, and in
+two hours more they were to be relieved by a detachment from the
+night patrol. This arrangement had been foreseen by Soudeikin, and it
+had been settled that the rescue was to be attempted as soon as the
+guard had been changed.
+
+This would give the prisoners time to get a brief but much needed
+rest after their long and miserable journey from Perm, penned up like
+sheep in iron-barred cattle trucks, and it would leave the drowsiest
+part of the night, from four o'clock to sunrise, for the hazardous
+work in hand.
+
+"That is a pretty girl you have there, captain," said Colston, as the
+officer returned to the sitting-room. "Is she for the mines or
+Sakhalin?"
+
+"For Sakhalin by sentence, but as a matter of fact for neither, as
+far as I can see."
+
+"You mean that the Little Father will pardon her or give her a
+lighter sentence, I suppose."
+
+The officer grinned meaningly as he replied--
+
+"_Nu vot!_ That is hardly likely. What I mean is that Captain
+Kharkov, who is in command of the convict train from here, has had
+instructions to convey her as comfortably as possible, and with no
+more fatigue than is necessary, to Tchit, in the Trans-Baikal, and
+that he is also charged with a letter from the Governor of Perm to
+the Governor of Tchit.
+
+"You know these gentlemen like to do each other a good turn when they
+can, and so, putting two and two together, I should say that his
+Excellency of Perm has concluded that our pretty prisoner will serve
+to beguile the dulness of that Godforsaken hole in which his
+Excellency of Tchit is probably dying of _ennui_. She will be more
+comfortable there than at Sakhalin, and it is a lucky thing for her
+that she has found favour in his Excellency's eyes."
+
+Colston could have shot the fellow where he sat leering across the
+table; but though his blood was at boiling point, he controlled
+himself sufficiently to make a reply after the same fashion, and soon
+after took his leave and retired for the night.
+
+At four o'clock the guard was changed. The new officer, after taking
+the keys, unlocked the door of the room in which Natasha and the
+Princess were confined, and roused them up to satisfy himself that
+they were still in safe keeping. It was a brutal formality, but
+perfectly characteristic of Siberian officialism.
+
+The man who had been on guard so far joined the patrol and returned
+to the barracks, while the new officer made himself comfortable with
+a bottle of brandy, with which Soudeikin had obligingly provided him,
+in the sitting-room. It was a bitterly cold night, and he drank a
+couple of glasses of it in quick succession. Ten minutes after he had
+swallowed the second he rolled backwards on the couch on which he was
+sitting and went fast asleep. A few moments later he had ceased to
+breathe.
+
+Then the door opened softly and Soudeikin and Colston slipped into
+the room. The former shook him by the shoulder. His eyes remained
+half closed, his head lolled loosely from side to side, and his arms
+hung heavily downwards.
+
+"He's gone," whispered Soudeikin; and, without another word, they set
+to work to strip the uniform off the lifeless body. Then Colston
+dressed himself in it and gave his own clothes to Soudeikin.
+
+As soon as the change was effected, Colston took the keys and went to
+the door at which the sentry was keeping guard. The man was already
+half asleep, and blinked at him with drowsy eyes as he challenged
+him. For all answer the Terrorist levelled his pistol at his head and
+fired. There was a sharp crack that could hardly have been heard on
+the other side of the wall, and the man tumbled down with a bullet
+through his brain.
+
+Colston stepped over the corpse, unlocked the door, and found Natasha
+and the Princess already dressed in male attire as two peasant boys,
+with sheepskin coats and shapkas, and wide trousers tucked into their
+half boots. These disguises had been provided beforehand by
+Soudeikin, and hidden in the bed in which they were to sleep.
+
+Colston grasped their hands in silence, and the three left the room.
+In the passage they found Ivan and Soudeikin, the former dressed in
+the uniform of the soldier who had been on guard outside the house,
+and whose half-stripped corpse was now lying buried in the snow.
+
+"Ready?" whispered Soudeikin.
+
+"Have you finished in there?" asked Colston, jerking his thumb
+towards the sitting-room.
+
+Soudeikin nodded in reply, and the five left the house by the back
+door.
+
+It was then after half-past four. Fortunately it was a dark cloudy
+morning, and the streets of the town were utterly deserted. By ones
+and twos they stole through the by-streets and lanes without meeting
+a soul, until Soudeikin at length stopped at a house on the eastern
+edge of the town about a mile from the Tobolsk road.
+
+He tapped at one of the windows. The door was softly opened by an
+invisible hand, and they entered and passed through a dark passage
+and out into a stable-yard behind the house. Under a shed they found
+a troika, or three-horse sleigh, with the horses ready harnessed, in
+charge of a man dressed as a mujik.
+
+They got in without a word, all but Soudeikin, who went to the
+horses' heads, while the other man went and opened the gates of the
+yard. The bells had been removed from the harness, and the horses'
+feet made no sound as Soudeikin led them out through the gate. Ivan
+took the reins, and Colston held out his hand from the sleigh. There
+was a roll of notes in it, and as he gave it to Soudeikin he
+whispered--
+
+"Farewell! If we succeed, the Master shall know how well you have
+done your part."
+
+Soudeikin took the money with a salute and a whispered farewell, and
+Ivan trotted his horses quietly down the lane and swung round into
+the road at the end of it.
+
+So far all had gone well, but the supreme moment of peril had yet to
+come. A mile away down the road was the guard-house on the Tobolsk
+road leading out of the town, and this had to be passed before there
+was even a chance of safety.
+
+As there was no hope of getting the sleigh past unobserved, Colston
+had determined to trust to a rush when the moment came. He had given
+Natasha and the Princess a magazine pistol apiece, and held a brace
+in his own hands; so among them they had a hundred shots.
+
+Ivan kept his horses at an easy trot till they were within a hundred
+yards of the guard-house. Then, at a sign from Colston, he suddenly
+lashed them into a gallop, and the sleigh dashed forward at a
+headlong speed, swept round the curve past the guard-house, hurling
+one of the sentries on guard to the earth, and away out on to the
+Tobolsk road.
+
+The next instant the notes of a bugle rang out clear and shrill just
+as another sounded from the other end of the town. Colston at once
+guessed what had happened. The inspector of the patrols, in going his
+rounds, had called at Soudeikin's house to see if all was right, and
+had discovered the tragedy that had taken place. He looked back and
+saw a body of Cossacks galloping down the main street towards the
+guard-house, waving their lanterns and brandishing their spears above
+their heads.
+
+"Whip up, Ivan, they will be on us in a couple of minutes!" he cried
+and Ivan swung his long whip out over his horses' ears, and shouted
+at them till they put their heads down and tore over the smooth snow
+in gallant style.
+
+By the time the race for life or death really began they had a good
+mile start, and as they had only four more to go Ivan did not spare
+his cattle, but plied whip and voice with a will till the trees
+whirled past in a continuous dark line, and the sleigh seemed to fly
+over the snow almost without touching it.
+
+Still the Cossacks gained on them yard by yard, till at the end of
+the fourth mile they were less than three hundred yards behind. Then
+Colston leant over the back of the sleigh, and taking the best aim he
+could, sent half a dozen shots among them. He saw a couple of the
+flying figures reel and fall, but their comrades galloped heedlessly
+over them, yelling wildly at the tops of their voices, and every
+moment lessening the distance between themselves and the sleigh.
+
+Colston fired a dozen more shots into them, and had the satisfaction
+of seeing three or four of them roll into the snow. At the same time
+he put a whistle to his lips, and blew a long shrill call that
+sounded high and clear above the hoarse yells of the Cossacks.
+
+Their pursuers were now within a hundred yards of them, and Natasha,
+speaking for the first time since the race had begun, said--
+
+"I think I can do something now."
+
+As she spoke she leaned out of the sleigh sideways, and began firing
+rapidly at the Cossacks. Shot after shot told either upon man or
+beast, for the daughter of Natas was one of the best shots in the
+Brotherhood; but before she had fired a dozen times a bright gleam of
+white light shot downwards over the trees, apparently from the
+clouds, full in the faces of their pursuers.
+
+Involuntarily they reined up like one man, and their yells of fury
+changed in an instant into a general cry of terror. The Cossacks are
+as brave as any soldiers on earth, and they can fight any mortal foe
+like the fiends that they are, but here was an enemy they had never
+seen before, a strange, white, ghostly-looking thing that floated in
+the clouds and glared at them with a great blazing, blinding eye,
+dazzling them and making their horses plunge and rear like things
+possessed.
+
+They were not long left in doubt as to the intentions of their new
+enemy. Something came rushing through the air and struck the ground
+almost at the feet of their first rank. Then there was a flash of
+green light, a stunning report, and men and horses were rent into
+fragments and hurled into the air like dead leaves before a
+hurricane.
+
+Only three or four who had turned tail at once were left alive; and
+these, without daring to look behind them, drove their spurs into
+their horses' flanks and galloped back to Tiumen, half mad with
+terror, to tell how a demon had come down from the skies, annihilated
+their comrades, and carried the fugitives away into the clouds upon
+its back.
+
+When they reached the town it was a scene of the utmost panic.
+Soldiers were galloping and running hither and thither, bugles were
+sounding, and the whole population were turning out into the
+snow-covered streets. On every lip there were only two
+words--"Natas!" "The Terrorists!"
+
+The death sentence on Soudeikin, the sub-commissioner of police, had
+been found pinned with a dagger to the table in the room in which lay
+the body of the lieutenant, with the bloody *T* on his forehead.
+Soudeikin had vanished utterly, leaving only his uniform behind him;
+so had the two prisoners for whom he had made himself responsible,
+and at the door of their room lay the corpse of the sentry with a
+bullet-hole clean through his head from front to back, while in the
+snow under one of the windows of the room lay the body of the other
+sentry, stabbed through the heart.
+
+From the very midst of one of the strongholds of Russian tyranny in
+Siberia, two important prisoners and a police official had been
+spirited away as though by magic, and now upon the top of all the
+wonder and dismay came the fugitive Cossacks with their wild tale
+about the air-demon that had swooped down and destroyed their troop
+at a single blow. To crown all, half an hour later three horses, mad
+with fear, came galloping up the Tobolsk road, dragging behind them
+an empty sleigh, to one of the seats of which was pinned a scrap of
+paper on which was written--
+
+"The daughter of Natas sends greeting to the Governor of Tiumen, and
+thanks him for his hospitality."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT.
+
+
+On the morning of Tuesday, the 9th of March 1904, the _Times_
+published the following telegram at the head of its Foreign
+Intelligence:--
+
+      ASTOUNDING OCCURRENCE IN RUSSIA.
+
+      _Destruction of Kronstadt by an unknown Air-Ship._
+      (_From our own Correspondent._)
+
+      St. Petersburg, _March 8th_, 4 P.M.
+
+    Between six and seven this morning, the fortress of Kronstadt was
+    partially destroyed by an unknown air-ship, which was first
+    sighted approaching from the westward at a tremendous speed.
+
+    Four shots in all were fired upon the fortress, and produced the
+    most appalling destruction. There was no smoke or flame visible
+    from the guns of the air-ship, and the explosives with which the
+    missiles were charged must have been far more powerful than
+    anything hitherto used in warfare, as in the focus of the
+    explosion masses of iron and steel and solid masonry were
+    instantly reduced to powder.
+
+    Two shots were fired as the strange vessel approached, and two as
+    she left the fortress. The two latter exploded over one of the
+    powder magazines, dissolved the steel roof to dust, and ignited
+    the whole contents of the magazine, blowing that portion of the
+    fortification bodily into the sea. At least half the garrison has
+    disappeared, most of the unfortunate men having been practically
+    annihilated by the terrific force of the explosions.
+
+    The air-ship was not of the navigable balloon type, and is
+    described by the survivors as looking more like a flying
+    torpedo-boat than anything else. She flew no flag, and there is
+    no clue to her origin.
+
+    After destroying the fortress, she ascended several thousand
+    feet, and continued her eastward course at such a prodigious
+    speed, that in less than five minutes she was lost to sight.
+
+    The excitement in St. Petersburg almost reaches the point of
+    panic. All efforts to keep the news of the disaster secret have
+    completely failed, and I have therefore received permission to
+    send this telegram, which has been revised by the Censorship, and
+    may therefore be accepted as authentic.
+
+Within an hour of the appearance of this telegram, which appeared
+only in the _Times_, the Russian Censorship having refused to allow
+any more to be despatched, the astounding news was flying over the
+wires to every corner of the world.
+
+The _Times_ had a lengthy and very able article on the subject,
+which, although by no means alarmist in tone, told the world, in
+grave and weighty sentences, that there could now be no doubt but
+that the problem of aërial navigation had been completely solved, and
+that therefore mankind stood confronted by a power that was
+practically irresistible, and which changed the whole aspect of
+warfare by land and sea.
+
+In the face of this power, the fortresses, armies, and fleets of the
+world were useless and helpless. The destruction of Kronstadt had
+proved that to demonstration. From a height of several thousand feet,
+and a distance of nearly seven miles, the unknown air-vessel had
+practically destroyed, with four shots from her mysterious,
+smokeless, and flameless guns, the strongest fortress in Europe. If
+it could do that, and there was not the slightest doubt but that it
+had done so, it could destroy armies wholesale without a chance of
+reprisals, sink fleets, and lay cities in ruins, at the leisure of
+those who commanded it.
+
+And here arose the supreme question of the hour--a question beside
+which all other questions of national or international policy sank
+instantly into insignificance--Who were those who held this new and
+appalling power in their hands? It was hardly to be believed that
+they were representatives of any regularly-constituted national
+Power, for, although the air was full of rumours of war, there was at
+present unbroken peace all over the world.
+
+Even in the hands of a recognised Power, the possession of such a
+frightful engine of destruction could not be viewed by the rest of
+the world with anything but the gravest apprehension, for that Power,
+however insignificant otherwise, would now be in a position to
+terrorise any other nation, or league of nations, however great.
+Manifestly those who had built the one air-vessel that had been seen,
+and had given such conclusive proof of her terrible powers, could
+construct a fleet if they chose to do so, and then the world would be
+at their mercy.
+
+If, however, as seemed only too probable, the machine was in the
+hands of a few irresponsible individuals, or, still worse, in those
+of such enemies of humanity as the Nihilists, or that yet more
+mysterious and terrible society who were popularly known as the
+Terrorists, then indeed the outlook was serious beyond forecast or
+description. At any moment the forces of destruction and anarchy
+might be let loose upon the world, in such fashion that little less
+than the collapse of the whole fabric of Society might be expected as
+the result.
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+The above necessarily brief and imperfect digest gives only the
+headings of an article which filled nearly two columns of the
+_Times_, and it is needless to say that such an article in the
+leading columns of the most serious and respectable newspaper in the
+world produced an intense impression wherever it was read.
+
+Of course the telegram was instantly copied by the evening papers,
+which ran out special editions for the sole purpose of reproducing
+it, with their own comments upon it, which, after all, were not much
+more original than the telegram. Meanwhile the _Berliner Tageblatt_,
+the _Newe Freie Presse_, the _Kölnische Zeitung_, and the _Journal
+des Débats_ had received later and somewhat similar telegrams, and
+had given their respective views of the catastrophe to the world.
+
+By noon all the capitals of Europe were in a fever of expectation and
+apprehension. The cables had carried the news to America and India;
+and when the evening of the same day brought the telegraphic account
+of the extraordinary occurrence at Tiumen in the grey dusk of the
+early morning, proving almost conclusively that the rescue had been
+effected by the same agency that had destroyed Kronstadt, and that,
+worse than all, the air-vessel was at the command of Natas, the
+unknown Chief of the mysterious Terrorists, excitement rose almost to
+frenzy, and everywhere the wildest rumours were accepted as truth.
+
+In a word, the "psychological moment" had come all over Europe, the
+moment in which all men were thinking of the same thing, discussing
+the same event, and dreading the same results. To have found a
+parallel state of affairs, it would have been necessary to go back
+more than a hundred years, to the hour when the head of Louis XVI.
+fell into the basket of the guillotine, and the monarchies of Europe
+sprang to arms to avenge his death.
+
+Meanwhile other and not less momentous events had, unknown to the
+newspapers or the public, been taking place in three very different
+parts of the world.
+
+On the evening of Saturday, the 6th, Lord Alanmere had called upon
+Mr. Balfour in Downing Street, and laid the duplicates of the secret
+treaty between France and Russia, and copies of all the memoranda
+appertaining to it, before him, and had convinced him of their
+authenticity. At the same time he showed him plans of the
+war-balloons, of which a fleet of fifty would within a few days be at
+the command of the Tsar.
+
+The result of this interview was a meeting of a Cabinet Council, and
+the immediate despatch of secret orders to mobilise the fleet and the
+army, to put every available ship into commission, and to double the
+strength of the Mediterranean Squadron at once. That evening three
+Queen's messengers left Charing Cross by the night mail, one for
+Berlin, one for Vienna, and one for Rome, each of them bearing a copy
+of the secret treaty.
+
+On Monday morning a Council of Ministers was held at the Peterhof
+Palace in St. Petersburg, presided over by the Tsar, and convened to
+discuss the destruction of Kronstadt.
+
+At this Council it was announced that the fleet of war-balloons would
+be ready to take the air in a week's time from then, and that the
+concentration of troops on the Afghan frontier was as complete as it
+could be without provoking immediate hostilities with Britain. In
+fact, so close were the Cossacks and the Indian troops to each other,
+both on the Pamirs and on the western slopes of the Hindu Kush, that
+a collision might be expected at any moment.
+
+The Council of the Tsar decided to let matters take their course in
+the East, and to make all arrangements with France to simultaneously
+attack the Triple Alliance as soon as the war-balloons had been
+satisfactorily tested.
+
+Soon after daybreak on Wednesday, the 10th, an affair of outposts
+took place near the northern end of the Sir Ulang Pass of the Hindu
+Kush, between two considerable bodies of Cossacks and Ghoorkhas, in
+which, after a stubborn fight, the Russians gave way before the
+magazine fire of the Indian troops, and fled, leaving nearly a fourth
+of their number on the field.
+
+The news of this encounter reached London on Wednesday night, and was
+published in the papers on Thursday morning, together with the
+intelligence that the fight had been watched from a height of nearly
+three thousand feet by a small party of men and women in an air-ship,
+evidently a vessel of war, from the fact that she carried four long
+guns. She took no part in the fight, and as soon as it was over went
+off to the south-west at a speed which carried her out of sight in a
+few minutes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY.
+
+
+While all Europe was thrilling with the apprehension of approaching
+war, and the excitement caused by the appearance of the strange
+air-ship and the news of its terrible exploits at Kronstadt and
+Tiumen, the _Ariel_ herself was quietly pursuing her way in mid-air
+south-westerly from the scene of the skirmish outside the Sir Ulang
+Pass.
+
+She was bound for a region in the midst of Africa, which, even in the
+first decade of the twentieth century, was still unknown to the
+geographer and untrodden by the explorer.
+
+Fenced in by huge and precipitous mountains, round whose bases lay
+vast forests and impenetrable swamps and jungles, from whose deadly
+areas the boldest pioneers had turned aside as being too hopelessly
+inhospitable to repay the cost and toil of exploration, it had
+remained undiscovered and unknown save by two men, who had reached it
+by the only path by which it was accessible--through the air and over
+the mountains which shut it in on every side from the external world.
+
+These two adventurous travellers were a wealthy and eccentric
+Englishman, named Louis Holt, and Thomas Jackson, his devoted
+retainer, and these two had taken it into their heads--or rather
+Louis Holt had taken it into his head--to achieve in fact the feat
+which Jules Verne had so graphically described in fiction, and to
+cross Africa in a balloon.
+
+They had set out from Zanzibar towards the end of the last year of
+the nineteenth century, and, with the exception of one or two vague
+reports from the interior, nothing more had been heard of them until,
+nearly a year later, a collapsed miniature balloon had been picked up
+in the Gulf of Guinea by the captain of a trading steamer, who had
+found in the little car attached to it a hermetically sealed
+meat-tin, which contained a manuscript, the contents of which will
+become apparent in due course.
+
+The captain of the steamer was a practical and somewhat stupid man,
+who read the manuscript with considerable scepticism, and then put it
+away, having come to the conclusion that it was no business of his,
+and that there was no money in it anyhow. He thought nothing more of
+it until he got back to Liverpool, and then he gave it to a friend of
+his, who was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and who duly
+laid it before that body.
+
+It was published in the _Transactions_, and there was some talk of
+sending out an expedition under the command of an eminent explorer to
+rescue Louis Holt and his servant; but when that personage was
+approached on the subject, it was found that the glory would not be
+at all commensurate with the expense and risk, and so, after being
+the usual nine days' wonder, and being duly elaborated by several
+able editors in the daily and weekly press, the strange adventures of
+Louis Holt had been dismissed, as of doubtful authenticity, into the
+limbo of exhausted sensations.
+
+One man, however, had laid the story to heart somewhat more
+seriously, and that was Richard Arnold, who, on reading it, had
+formed the resolve that, if ever his dream of aërial navigation were
+realised, the first use he would make of his air-ship would be to
+discover and rescue the lonely travellers who were isolated from the
+rest of the world in the strange, inaccessible region of which the
+manuscript had given a brief but graphic and fascinating account. He
+was now carrying out that resolve, and at the same time working out a
+portion of a plan that was not his own, and which he had been very
+far from foreseeing when he made the resolution.
+
+Louis Holt's original MS. had been purchased by the President of the
+Inner Circle, and the _Ariel_ was now, in fact, on a voyage of
+exploration, the object of which was the discovery of this unknown
+region, with a view to making it the seat of a settlement from which
+the members of the Executive could watch in security and peace the
+course of the tremendous struggle which would, ere long, be shaking
+the world to its foundations.
+
+In such a citadel as this, fenced in by a series of vast natural
+obstacles, impassable to all who did not possess the means of aërial
+locomotion, they would be secure from molestation, though all the
+armies of Europe sought to attack them; and the _Ariel_ could, if
+necessary, traverse in twenty-five hours the three thousand odd miles
+which separated it from the centre of Europe.
+
+After the rescue of Natasha and the Princess on the Tobolsk road, the
+_Ariel_, in obedience to the orders of the Council, had shaped her
+course southward to the western slopes of the Hindu Kush, in order to
+be present at the prearranged attack of the Cossacks on the British
+reconnoitring force.
+
+Arnold's orders were simply to wait for the engagement, and only to
+watch it, unless the British were attacked in overwhelming numbers.
+In that case he was to have dispersed the Russian force, as the plan
+of the Terrorists did not allow of any advantage being gained by the
+soldiers of the Tsar in that part of the world just then.
+
+As the British had defeated them unaided, the _Ariel_ had taken no
+part in the affair, and, after vanishing from the sight of the
+astonished combatants, had proceeded upon her voyage of discovery.
+
+As a good month would have to elapse before she could keep her
+rendezvous with the steamer that was to bring out the materials for
+the construction of the new air-ships from England, there was plenty
+of time to make the voyage in a leisurely and comfortable fashion. As
+soon, therefore, as he was out of sight of the skirmishers, he had
+reduced the speed of the _Ariel_ to about forty miles an hour, using
+only the stern-propeller driven by one engine, and supporting the
+ship on the air-planes and two fan-wheels.
+
+At this speed he would traverse the three thousand odd miles which
+lay between the Hindu Kush and "Aeria"--as Louis Holt had somewhat
+fancifully named the region that could be reached only through the
+air--in a little over seventy-five hours, or rather more than three
+days.
+
+Those three days were the happiest that his life had so far
+contained. The complete success of his invention, and the absolute
+fulfilment of his promises to the Brotherhood, had made him a power
+in the world, and a power which, as he honestly believed, would be
+used for the highest good of mankind when the time came to finally
+confront and confound the warring forces of rival despotisms.
+
+But far more than this in his eyes was the fact that he had been able
+to use the unique power which his invention had placed in his hands,
+to rescue the woman that he loved so dearly from a fate which, even
+now that it was past, he could not bring himself to contemplate.
+
+When she had first greeted him in the Council-chamber of the Inner
+Circle, the distance that had separated her from him had seemed
+immeasurable, and she--the daughter of Natas and the idol of the most
+powerful society in the world--might well have looked down upon
+him--the nameless dreamer of an unrealised dream, and a pauper, who
+would not have known where to have looked for his next meal, had the
+Brotherhood not had faith in him and his invention.
+
+But now all that was changed. The dream had become the reality, and
+the creation of his genius was bearing her with him swiftly and
+smoothly through a calm atmosphere, and under a cloudless sky, over
+sea and land, with more ease than a bird wings its flight through
+space. He had accomplished the greatest triumph in the history of
+human discovery. He had revolutionised the world, and ere long he
+would make war impossible. Surely this entitled him to approach even
+her on terms of equality, and to win her for his own if he could.
+
+Natasha saw this too as clearly as he did--more clearly, perhaps;
+for, while he only arrived at the conclusion by a process of
+reasoning, she reached it intuitively at a single step. She knew that
+he loved her, that he had loved her from the moment that their hands
+had first met in greeting, and, peerless as she was among women, she
+was still a woman, and the homage of such a man as this was sweet to
+her, albeit it was still unspoken.
+
+She knew, too, that the hopes of the Revolution, which, before all
+things human, claimed her whole-souled devotion, now depended mainly
+upon him, and the use that he might make of the power that lay in his
+hands, and this of itself was no light bond between them, though not
+necessarily having anything to do with affection.
+
+So far she was heart-whole, and though many had attempted the task,
+no man had yet made her pulses beat a stroke faster for his sake.
+Ever since she had been old enough to know what tyranny meant, she
+had been trained to hate it, and prepared to work against it, and, if
+necessary, to sacrifice herself body and soul to destroy it.
+
+Thus hatred rather than love had been the creed of her life and the
+mainspring of her actions, and, save her father and her one friend
+Radna, she stood aloof from mankind and its loves and friendships,
+rather the beautiful incarnation of an abstract principle than a
+woman, to whom love and motherhood were the highest aims of
+existence.
+
+More than this, she was the daughter of a Jew, and therefore held
+herself absolutely at her father's disposal as far as marriage was
+concerned, and if he had given her in wedlock even to a Russian
+official, telling her that the Cause demanded the sacrifice, she
+would have obeyed, though her heart had broken in the same hour.
+
+Although he had never hinted directly at such a thing, the conviction
+had been growing upon her for the last two or three years that Natas
+really intended her to marry Tremayne, and so, in the case of his own
+death, form a bond that should hold him to the Brotherhood when the
+chain of his own control was snapped. Though she instinctively shrank
+from such a union of mere policy, she would enter it without
+hesitation at her father's bidding, and for the sake of the Cause to
+which her life was devoted.
+
+How great such a sacrifice would be, should it ever be asked of her,
+no one but herself could ever know, for she was perfectly well aware
+that in Tremayne's strange double life there were two loves, one of
+which, and that not the real and natural one, was hers.
+
+Had she felt that she had the disposal of herself in her own hands,
+she would not, perhaps, have waited with such painful apprehension
+the avowal which hour after hour, now that they were brought into
+such close and constant relationships on board this little vessel
+high in mid-air, she saw trembling on the lips of her rescuer.
+
+Arnold's life of hard, honest work, and his constant habit of facing
+truth in its most uncompromising forms, had made dissimulation almost
+impossible to him; and added to that, situated as he was, there was
+no necessity for it. Colston knew of his love, and the Princess had
+guessed it long ago. Did Natasha know his open secret? Of that he
+hardly dared to be sure, though something told him that the
+inevitable moment of knowledge was near at hand.
+
+For the first twenty-four hours of the voyage he had seen very little
+of either her or the Princess, as they had mostly remained in their
+cabins, enjoying a complete rest after the terrible fatigue and
+suffering they had gone through since their capture in Moscow, but on
+the Thursday morning they had had breakfast in the saloon with him
+and Colston, and had afterwards spent a portion of the morning on
+deck, deeply interested in watching the fight between the British and
+Russians. Thanks to Radna's foresight, they had each found a trunk
+full of suitable clothing on board the _Ariel_. These had been taken
+to Drumcraig by Colston, and placed in the cabins intended for their
+use, and so they were able to discard the uncouth but useful costumes
+in which they had made their escape.
+
+In the afternoon Arnold had had to perform the pleasant task of
+showing them over the _Ariel_, explaining the working of the
+machinery, and putting the wonderful vessel through various
+evolutions to show what she was capable of doing.
+
+He rushed her at full speed through the air, took flying leaps over
+outlying spurs of mountain ranges that lay in their path, swooped
+down into valleys, and flew over level plains fifty yards from the
+ground, like an albatross over the surface of a smooth tropic sea.
+Then he soared up from the earth again, until the horizon widened out
+to vast extent, and they could see the mighty buttresses of "the Roof
+of the World" stretching out below them in an endless succession of
+ranges as far as the eye could reach.
+
+Neither Natasha nor the Princess could find words to at all
+adequately express all that they saw and learnt during that day of
+wonders, and all night Natasha could hardly sleep for waking dreams
+of universal empire, and a world at peace equitably ruled by a power
+that had no need of aggression, because all the realms of earth and
+air belonged to those who wielded it.
+
+When at last she did go to sleep, it was to dream again, and this
+time of herself, the Angel of the Revolution, sharing the aërial
+throne of the world-empire with the man who had made revolutions
+impossible by striking the sword from the hand of the tyrants of
+earth for ever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A WOOING IN MID AIR.
+
+
+After breakfast on the Friday morning, Natasha and Arnold were
+standing in the bows of the _Ariel_, admiring the magnificent
+panorama that lay stretched out five thousand feet below them.
+
+The air-ship had by this time covered a little over 2000 miles of her
+voyage, and was now speeding smoothly and swiftly along over the
+south-western shore of the Red Sea, a few miles southward of the
+sixteenth parallel of latitude. Eastward the bright blue waves of the
+sea were flashing behind them in the cloudless morning sun; the high
+mountains of the African coast rose to right and left and in front of
+them; and through the breaks in the chain they could see the huge
+masses of Abyssinia to the southward, and the vast plains that
+stretched away westward across the Blue and White Niles, away to the
+confines of the Libyan Desert.
+
+"What a glorious world!" exclaimed Natasha, after gazing for many
+silent minutes with entranced eyes over the limitless landscape. "And
+to think that, after all, all this is but a little corner of it!"
+
+"It is yours, Natasha, if you will have it," replied Arnold quietly,
+yet with a note in his voice that warned her that the moment which
+she had expected and yet dreaded, had already come. There was no use
+in avoiding the inevitable for a time. It would be better if they
+understood each other at once; and so she looked round at him with
+eyebrows elevated in well-simulated surprise, and said--
+
+"Mine! What do you mean, my friend?"
+
+There was an almost imperceptible emphasis on the last word that
+brought the blood to Arnold's cheek, and he answered, with a ring in
+his voice that gave unmistakable evidence of the effort that he was
+making to restrain the passion that inspired his words--
+
+"I mean just what I say. All the kingdoms of the world, and the glory
+of them, from pole to pole, and from east to west, shall be yours,
+and shall obey your lightest wish. I have conquered the air, and
+therefore the earth and sea. In two months from now I shall have an
+aërial navy afloat that will command the world, and I--is it not
+needless to tell you, Natasha, why I glory in the possession of that
+power? Surely you must know that it is because I love you more than
+all that a subject world can give me, and because it makes it
+possible for me, if not to win you, at least not to be unworthy to
+attempt the task?"
+
+It was a distinctly unconventional declaration--such a one, indeed,
+as no woman had ever heard since Alexander the Great had whispered in
+the ears of Lais his dreams of universal empire, but there was a
+straightforward earnestness about it which convinced her beyond
+question that it came from no ordinary man, but from one who saw the
+task before him clearly, and had made up his mind to achieve it.
+
+For a moment her heart beat faster than it had ever yet done at the
+bidding of a man's voice, and there was a bright flush on her cheeks,
+and a softer light in her eyes, as she replied in a more serious tone
+than Arnold had ever heard her use--
+
+"My friend, you have forgotten something. You and I are not a man and
+a woman in the relationship that exists between us. We are two
+factors in a work such as has never been undertaken since the world
+began; two units in a mighty problem whose solution is the happiness
+or the ruin of the whole human race. It is not for us to speak of
+individual love while these tremendous issues hang undecided in the
+balance.
+
+"One does not speak of love in the heat of war, and you and I and
+those who are with us are at war with the powers of the earth, and
+higher things than the happiness of individuals are at stake. You
+know my training has been one of hate and not of love, and till the
+hate is quenched I must not know what love is.
+
+"Remember your oath--the oath which I have taken as well as you--'_As
+long as I live those ends shall be my ends, and no human
+considerations shall weigh with me where those ends are concerned._'
+Is not this love of which you speak a human consideration that might
+clash with the purposes of the Brotherhood whose ends you and I have
+solemnly sworn to hold supreme above all earthly things?
+
+"My father has told me that when love takes possession of a human
+soul, reason abdicates her throne, and great aims become impossible.
+No, no; that great power which you hold in your hands was not given
+you just to win the love of a woman, and I tell you frankly that you
+will never win mine with it.
+
+"More than this, if I saw you using it for such an end, I would take
+care that you did not use it for long. No man ever had such an awful
+responsibility laid upon him as the possession of this power lays
+upon you. It is yours to make or mar the future of the human race, of
+which I am but a unit. It is not the power that will ever win either
+my respect or my love, but the wisdom and the justice with which it
+may be used."
+
+"Ah! I see you distrust me. You think that because I have the power
+to be a despot, that therefore I may forget my oath and become one. I
+forgive you for the thought, unworthy of you as it is, and also, I
+hope, of me. No, Natasha; I am no skilled hand at love-making, for I
+have never wooed any mistress but one before to-day, and she is won
+only by plain honesty and hard service; just what I will devote to
+the winning of you, whether you are to be won or not--but I must have
+expressed myself clumsily indeed for you to have even thought of
+treason to the Cause.
+
+"You are no more devoted adherent of it than I am. You have suffered
+in one way and I in another from the falsehood and rottenness of
+present-day Society, but you do not hate it more utterly than I do,
+and you would not go to greater lengths than I would to destroy it.
+Yours is a hatred of emotion, and mine is a hatred of reason. I have
+proved that, as Society is constituted, it is the worst and not the
+best qualities of humanity that win wealth and power, and such
+respect as the vulgar of all classes can give. But it is not such
+power as this that I would lay at your feet, when I ask you to share
+the world-empire with me. It is an empire of peace and not of war
+that I shall offer to you."
+
+"Then," said Natasha, taking a step towards him, and laying her hand
+on his arm as she spoke, "when you have made war impossible to the
+rivalry of nations and races, and have proclaimed peace on earth,
+then I will give myself to you, body and soul, to do with as you
+please, to kill or to keep alive, for then truly you will have done
+that which all the generations of men before you have failed to do,
+and it will be yours to ask and to have."
+
+As she spoke these last words Natasha bowed her proudly-carried head
+as though in submission to the dictum that her own lips had
+pronounced; and Arnold, laying his hand on hers and holding it for a
+moment unresisting in his own, said--
+
+"I accept the condition, and as you have said so shall it be. You
+shall hear no more words of love from my lips until the day that
+peace shall be proclaimed on earth and war shall be no more; and when
+that day comes, as it shall do, I will hold you to your words, and I
+will claim you and take you, body and soul, as you have said, though
+I break every other human tie save man's love for woman to possess
+you."
+
+Natasha looked him full in the eyes as he spoke these last words. She
+had never heard such words before, and by their very strength and
+audacity they compelled her respect and even her submission. Her
+heart was still untamed and unconquered, and no man was its lord, yet
+her eyes sank before the steady gaze of his, and in a low sweet voice
+she answered--
+
+"So be it! There never was a true woman yet who did not love to meet
+her master. When that day comes I shall have met my master, and I
+will do his bidding. Till then we are friends and comrades in a
+common Cause to which both our lives are devoted. Is it not better
+that it should be so?"
+
+"Yes, I am content. I would not take the prize before I have won it.
+Only answer me one question frankly, and then I have done till I may
+speak again."
+
+"What is that."
+
+"Have I a rival--not among men, for of that I am careless--but in
+your own heart?"
+
+"No, none. I am heart-whole and heart-free. Win me if you can. It is
+a fair challenge, and I will abide by the result, be it what it may."
+
+"That is all I ask for. If I do not win you, may Heaven do so to me
+that I shall have no want of the love of woman for ever!"
+
+So saying, he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it, in token of
+the compact that was made between them. Then, intuitively divining
+that she wished to be alone, he turned away without another word, and
+walked to the after end of the vessel.
+
+Natasha remained where she was for a good half-hour, leaning on the
+rail that surrounded the deck, and gazing out dreamily over the
+splendid and ever-changing scene that lay spread out beneath her.
+Truly it was a glorious world, as she had said, even now, cursed as
+it was with war and the hateful atrocities of human selfishness, and
+the sordid ambition of its despots.
+
+What would it be like in the day when the sword should lie rusting on
+the forgotten battle-field, and the cannon's mouth be choked with the
+desert dust for ever? What was now a hell of warring passions would
+then be a paradise of peaceful industry, and he who had the power, if
+any man had, to turn that hell into the paradise that it might be,
+had just told her that he loved her, and would create that paradise
+for her sake.
+
+Could he do it? Was not this marvellous creation of his genius, that
+was bearing her in mid-air over land and sea, as woman had never
+travelled before, a sufficient earnest of his power? Truly it was.
+And to be won by such a man was no mean destiny, even for her, the
+daughter of Natas, and the peerless Angel of the Revolution.
+
+Situated as they were, it would of course have been impossible, even
+if it had been in any way desirable, for Arnold and Natasha to have
+kept their compact secret from their fellow-travellers, who were at
+the same time their most intimate friends.
+
+There was not, however, the remotest reason for attempting to do so.
+Although with regard to the rest of the world the members of the
+Brotherhood were necessarily obliged to live lives of constant
+dissimulation, among themselves they had no secrets from each other.
+
+Thus, for instance, it was perfectly well known that Tremayne, during
+those periods of his double life in which he acted as Chief of the
+Inner Circle, regarded the daughter of Natas with feelings much
+warmer than those of friendship or brotherhood in a common cause, and
+until Arnold and his wonderful creation appeared on the scene, he was
+looked upon as the man who, if any man could, would some day win the
+heart of their idolised Angel.
+
+Of the other love that was the passion of his other life, no one save
+Natasha, and perhaps Natas himself, knew anything; and even if they
+had known, they would not have considered it possible for any other
+woman to have held a man's heart against the peerless charms of
+Natasha. In fact they would have looked upon such rivalry as mere
+presumption that it was not at all necessary for their incomparable
+young Queen of the Terror to take into serious account.
+
+In Arnold, however, they saw a worthy rival even to the Chief
+himself, for there was a sort of halo of romance, even in their eyes,
+about this serious, quiet-spoken young genius, who had come suddenly
+forth from the unknown obscurity of his past life to arm the
+Brotherhood with a power which revolutionised their tactics and
+virtually placed the world at their mercy. In a few months he had
+become alike their hero and their supreme hope, so far as all active
+operations went; and now that with his own hand he had snatched
+Natasha from a fate of unutterable misery, and so signally punished
+her persecutors, it seemed to be only in the fitness of things that
+he should love her, win her for his own, if won she was to be by any
+man.
+
+This, at any rate, was the line of thought which led the Princess and
+Colston each to express their unqualified satisfaction with the state
+of affairs arrived at in the compact that had been made between
+Natasha and Arnold--"armed neutrality," as the former smilingly
+described to the Princess while she was telling her of the strange
+wooing of her now avowed lover. Natasha was no woman to be wooed and
+won in the ordinary way, and it was fitting that she should be the
+guerdon of such an achievement as no man had ever undertaken before,
+since the world began.
+
+The voyage across Africa progressed pleasantly and almost
+uneventfully for the thirty-six hours after the crossing of the Red
+Sea. After passing over the mountains of the coast, the _Ariel_ had
+travelled at a uniform height of about 3000 feet over a magnificent
+country of hill and valley, forest and prairie, occasionally being
+obliged to rise another thousand feet or so to cross some of the
+ridges of mountain chains which rose into peaks and mountain knots,
+some of which touched the snow-line.
+
+Several times the air-ship was sighted by the people of the various
+countries over which she passed, and crowds swarmed out of the
+villages and towns, gesticulating wildly, and firing guns and beating
+drums to scare the flying demon away.
+
+Once or twice they heard bullets singing through the air, but of
+these they took little heed, beyond quickening the speed of the
+air-ship for the time, knowing that there was not a chance in a
+hundred thousand of the _Ariel_ being hit, and that even if she were
+the bullet would glance harmlessly off her smooth hull of hardened
+aluminium.
+
+Once only they descended in a delightful little valley among the
+mountains, which appeared to be totally uninhabited, and here they
+renewed their store of fresh water, and laid in one of fruit, as well
+as taking advantage of the opportunity to stretch their legs on
+_terra firma_.
+
+This was on the Saturday morning; and when they again rose into the
+air to continue their voyage, they saw that they had crossed the
+great mountain mass that divides the Sahara from the little-known
+regions of Equatorial Africa, and that in front of them to the
+south-west lay, as far as the eye could reach, a boundless expanse of
+dense forest and jungle and swamp, a gloomy and forbidding-looking
+region which it would be well-nigh impossible to traverse on foot.
+
+Early in the afternoon the four voyagers were gathered in the
+deck-saloon, closely examining a somewhat rudely-drawn chart that was
+spread out on the table. It was the map that formed part of the
+manuscript which had been found in the car of Louis Holt's miniature
+balloon, and sketched out his route from Zanzibar to Aeria, and the
+country lying round so far as he had been able to observe it.
+
+"This gives us, after all, very little idea of the distance we have
+yet to go," said Arnold; "for though Holt has got his latitude
+presumably right, we have very little clue to his longitude, for he
+says himself that his watch was stopped in a thunder-storm, and that
+in the same storm he lost all count of the distance he had travelled.
+Added to that, he admits that he was blown about for twelve days in
+one direction and another, so that all we really know is that
+somewhere across this fearful wilderness beneath us we shall find
+Aeria, but where is still a problem."
+
+"What is your own idea?" asked Colston.
+
+"Not a very clear one, I must confess. At this elevation we can see
+about sixty miles as the atmosphere is now, and as far as we can see
+to the south-west there is nothing but the same kind of country that
+we have under us. We have travelled rather more than 2700 miles since
+we left the Hindu Kush, and according to my reckoning Aeria lies
+somewhere between 3000 and 3200 miles south-west of where we started
+from on Thursday morning. That means that we are within between three
+and five hundred miles of Aeria, unless, indeed, our calculations are
+wholly at fault, and at that rate, as we only have about four and a
+half hours' daylight left, we shall not get there to-day at our
+present speed."
+
+"Couldn't we go a bit faster?" put in Natasha. "You know I and the
+Princess are dying to see this mysterious unknown country that only
+two other people have ever seen."
+
+"You have but to say so, Natasha, and it is already done," replied
+Arnold, signalling at the same moment to the engine-room by means of
+a similar arrangement of electric buttons to that which was in the
+wheel-house. "Only you must remember that you must not go out on deck
+now, or you will be blown away like a feather into space."
+
+While he was speaking the three propellers had begun to revolve at
+full speed, and the _Ariel_ darted forward with a velocity that
+caused the mountains she had just crossed to sink rapidly on the
+horizon.
+
+All the afternoon the _Ariel_ flew at full speed over the seemingly
+interminable wilderness of swamp and jungle, until, when the
+equatorial sun was within a few degrees of the horizon, one of the
+crew, who had been stationed in the conning tower at the bows,
+signalled to call the attention of the man in the wheel-house.
+Arnold, who was in the after-saloon at the time, heard the signal,
+and hurried forward to the look-out. He gave one quick glance ahead,
+signalled "half-speed" to the engine-room, and then went aft again to
+the saloon, and said--
+
+"Aeria is in sight!"
+
+Immediately everyone hastened to the deck saloon, from the windows of
+which could be seen a huge mass of mountains looming dark and
+distinct against the crimsoning western sky.
+
+It rose like some vast precipitous island out of the sea of forest
+that lay about its base; and above the mighty rock-walls that seemed
+to rise sheer from the surrounding plain at least a dozen peaks
+towered into the sky, two of their summits covered with eternal snow,
+and shining like points of rosy fire in the almost level rays of the
+sun.
+
+As nearly as Arnold could judge in the deceptive state of the
+atmosphere, they were still between thirty and forty miles from it,
+and as it would not be safe to approach its lofty cliffs at a high
+rate of speed in the half light that would so soon merge into
+darkness, he said to his companions--
+
+"We shall have to find a resting-place up among the cliffs on this
+side to-night, for we have lost the moon, and unless it were
+absolutely necessary to cross the mountains in the dark, I should not
+care to do so with the ladies on board. Besides, there is no hurry
+now that we are here, and we shall get a much finer first impression
+of our new kingdom if we cross at sunrise. What do you think?"
+
+All agreed that this would be the best plan, and so the _Ariel_ ran
+up to within a mile of the rocks, and then the forward engine was
+connected with the dynamo, and the searchlight, which had so
+disconcerted the Cossacks on the Tobolsk road, was turned on to the
+cliffs, which they carefully explored, until they found a little
+plateau covered with luxuriant vegetation and well watered, about two
+thousand feet above the plain below.
+
+Here it was decided to come to a halt for the night, and to reserve
+the exploration of Aeria for the morning, and so the fan-wheels were
+sent aloft, and the _Ariel_, after hovering for a few minutes over
+the verdant little plain seeking for a suitable spot to alight in,
+sank gently to the earth after her flight of more than three thousand
+miles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+AERIA FELIX.
+
+
+Every one on board the _Ariel_ was astir the next morning as soon as
+the first rays of dawn were shooting across the vast plain that
+stretched away to the eastward, and by the time it was fairly
+daylight breakfast was over and all were anxiously speculating as to
+what they would find on the other side of the tremendous cliffs, on
+an eyrie in which they had found a resting-place for the night.
+
+As soon as all was ready for a start, Arnold said to Natasha, who was
+standing alone with him on the after part of the deck--
+
+"If you would like to steer the _Ariel_ into your new kingdom, I
+shall be delighted to give you the lesson in steering that I promised
+you yesterday."
+
+Natasha saw the inner meaning of the offer at a glance, and replied
+with a smile that made his blood tingle--
+
+"That would be altogether too great a responsibility for a beginner.
+I might run on to some of these fearful rocks. But if you will take
+the helm when the dangerous part comes, I will learn all I can by
+watching you."
+
+"As long as you are with me in the wheel-house for the next hour or
+so," said Arnold, with almost boyish frankness, "I shall be content.
+I need scarcely tell you why I want to be alone with you when we
+first sight this new home of our future empire."
+
+"I have half a mind not to come after that very injudicious speech.
+Still, if only for the sake of its delightful innocence, I will
+forgive you this time. You really must practise the worldly art of
+dissimulation a little, or I shall have to get the Princess to play
+chaperon."
+
+Natasha spoke these words in a bantering tone, and with a flush on
+her lovely cheeks, that forced Arnold to cut short the conversation
+for the moment, by giving an order to Andrew Smith, who at that
+instant put his head out of the wheel-house door to say--
+
+"All ready, sir!"
+
+"Very well," replied Arnold. "I will take the wheel, and do you tell
+every one to keep under cover."
+
+Smith saluted, and disappeared, and then Natasha and Arnold went into
+the wheel-house, while Colston and the Princess took their places in
+the deck-saloon, the two men off duty going into the conning tower
+forward.
+
+"Why every one under cover, Captain Arnold?" asked Natasha, as soon
+as the two were ensconced in the wheel-house and the door shut.
+
+"Because I am going to put the _Ariel_ through her paces, and enter
+Aeria in style," replied he, signalling for the fan-wheels to
+revolve. "The fact is that, so far as I can see, these mountains are
+too high for us to rise over them by means of the lifting-wheels,
+which are only calculated to carry the ship to a height of about five
+thousand feet. After that the air gets too rarefied for them to get a
+solid grip. Now, these mountains look to me more like seven thousand
+feet high."
+
+"Then how will you get over them?"
+
+"I shall first take a cruise and see if I can find a negotiable gap,
+and then leap it."
+
+"What! Leap seven thousand feet?"
+
+"No; you forget that we shall be over five thousand up when we take
+the jump, and I have no doubt that we shall find a place where a
+thousand feet or so more will take us over. That we shall rise easily
+with the planes and propellers, and you will see such a leap as man
+never made in the world before."
+
+While he was speaking the _Ariel_ had risen from the ground, and was
+hanging a few hundred feet above the little plateau. He gave the
+signal for the wheels to be lowered, and the propellers to set to
+work at half-speed. Then he pulled the lever which moved the
+air-planes, and the vessel sped away forwards and upwards at about
+sixty miles an hour.
+
+Arnold headed her away from the mountains until he had got an offing
+of a couple of miles, and then he swung her round and skirted the
+cliffs, rising ever higher and higher, and keeping a sharp look-out
+for a depression among the ridges that still towered nearly three
+thousand feet above them.
+
+When he had explored some twenty miles of the mountain wall, Arnold
+suddenly pointed towards it, and said--
+
+"There is a place that I think will do. Look yonder, between those
+two high peaks away to the southward. That ridge is not more than six
+thousand feet from the earth, and the _Ariel_ can leap that as easily
+as an Irish hunter would take a five-barred gate."
+
+"It looks dreadfully high from here," said Natasha, in spite of
+herself turning a shade paler at the idea of taking a six thousand
+foot ridge at a flying leap. She had splendid nerves, but this was
+her first aërial voyage, and it was also the first time that she had
+ever been brought so closely face to face with the awful grandeur of
+Nature in her own secret and solitary places.
+
+She would have faced a levelled rifle without flinching, but as she
+looked at that frowning mass of rocks towering up into the sky, and
+then down into the fearful depths below, where huge trees looked like
+tiny shrubs, and vast forests like black patches of heather on the
+earth, her heart stood still in her breast when she thought of the
+frightful fate that would overwhelm the _Ariel_ and her crew should
+she fail to rise high enough to clear the ridge, or if anything went
+wrong with her machinery at the critical moment.
+
+"Are you sure you can do it?" she asked almost involuntarily.
+
+"Perfectly sure," replied Arnold quietly, "otherwise I should not
+attempt it with you on board. The _Ariel_ contains enough explosives
+to reduce her and us to dust and ashes, and if we hit that ridge
+going over, she would go off like a dynamite shell. No, I know what
+she can do, and you need not have the slightest fear!"
+
+"I am not exactly afraid, but it _looks_ a fearful thing to attempt."
+
+"If there were any danger I should tell you--with my usual lack of
+dissimulation. But really there is none, and all you have to do is to
+hold tight when I tell you, and keep your eyes open for the first
+glimpse of Aeria."
+
+By this time the _Ariel_ was more than ten miles away from the
+mountains. Arnold, having now got offing enough, swung her round
+again, headed her straight for the ridge between the two peaks, and
+signalled "full speed" to the engine-room.
+
+In an instant the propellers redoubled their revolutions, and the
+_Ariel_ gathered way until the wind sang and screamed past her masts
+and stays. She covered eight miles in less than four minutes, and it
+seemed to Natasha as though the rock-wall were rushing towards them
+at an appalling speed, still frowning down a thousand feet above
+them. For the instant she was all eyes. She could neither open her
+lips nor move a limb for sheer, irresistible, physical terror. Then
+she heard Arnold say sharply--
+
+"Now, hold on tight!"
+
+The nearest thing to her was his own arm, the hand of which grasped
+one of the spokes of the steering wheel. Instinctively she passed her
+own arm under it, and then clasped it with both her hands. As she did
+so she felt the muscles tighten and harden. Then with his other hand
+he pulled the lever back to the full, and inclined the planes to
+their utmost.
+
+Suddenly, as though some Titan had overthrown it, the huge black wall
+of rock in front seemed to sink down into the earth, the horizon
+widened out beyond it, and the _Ariel_ soared upwards and swept over
+it nearly a thousand feet to the good.
+
+"Ah!"
+
+The exclamation was forced from her white lips by an impulse that
+Natasha had no power to resist. All the pride of her nature was
+conquered and humbled for the moment by the marvel that she had seen,
+and by the something, greater and stranger than all, that she saw in
+the man beside her who had worked this miracle with a single touch of
+his hand. A moment later she had recovered her self-possession. She
+unclasped her hands from his arm, and as the colour came back to her
+cheeks she said, as he thought, more sweetly than she had ever spoken
+to him before--
+
+"My friend, you have glorious nerves where physical danger is
+concerned, and now I freely forgive you for fainting in the
+Council-chamber when Martinov was executed. But don't try mine again
+like that if you can help it. For the moment I thought that the end
+of all things had come. Oh, look! What a paradise! Truly this is a
+lovely kingdom that you have brought me to!"
+
+[Illustration: "The _Ariel_ sank down after the leap across the
+ridge."
+
+_See page 123._]
+
+"And one that you and I will yet reign over together," replied Arnold
+quietly, as he moved the lever again and allowed the _Ariel_ to sink
+smoothly down the other side of the ridge over which she had taken
+her tremendous leap.
+
+When she had called it a paradise, Natasha had used almost the only
+word that would fitly describe the scene that opened out before them
+as the _Ariel_ sank down after her leap across the ridge. The
+interior of the mountain mass took the form of an oval valley, as
+nearly as they could guess about fifty miles long by perhaps thirty
+wide. All round it the mountains seemed to rise unbroken by a single
+gap or chasm to between three and four thousand feet above the lowest
+part of the valley, and above this again the peaks rose high into the
+sky, two of them to the snow-line, which in this latitude was over
+15,000 feet above the sea.
+
+Of the two peaks which reached to this altitude, one was at either
+end of a line drawn through the greater length of the valley, that is
+to say, from north to south. At least ten other peaks all round the
+walls of the valley rose to heights varying from eight to twelve
+thousand feet.
+
+The centre of the valley was occupied by an irregularly shaped lake,
+plentifully dotted with islands about its shores, but quite clear of
+them in the middle. In its greatest length it would be about twelve
+miles long, while its breadth varied from five miles to a few hundred
+yards. Its sloping shores were covered with the most luxuriant
+vegetation, which reached upwards almost unbroken, but changing in
+character with the altitude, until there was a regular series of
+transitions, from the palms and bananas on the shores of the lake, to
+the sparse and scanty pines and firs that clung to the upper slopes
+of the mountains.
+
+The lake received about a score of streams, many of which began as
+waterfalls far up the mountains, while two of them at least had their
+origin in the eternal snows of the northern and southern peaks. So
+far as they could see from the air-ship, the lake had no outlet, and
+they were therefore obliged to conclude that its surplus waters
+escaped by some subterranean channel, probably to reappear again as a
+river welling from the earth, it might be, hundreds of miles away.
+
+Of inhabitants there were absolutely no traces to be seen, from the
+direction in which the _Ariel_ was approaching. Animals and birds
+there seemed to be in plenty, but of man no trace was visible, until
+in her flight along the valley the _Ariel_ opened up one of the many
+smaller valleys formed by the ribs of the encircling mountains.
+
+There, close by a clump of magnificent tree-ferns, and nestling under
+a precipitous ridge, covered from base to summit with dark-green
+foliage and brilliantly-coloured flowers, was a well-built log-hut
+surrounded by an ample verandah, also almost smothered in flowers,
+and surmounted by a flagstaff from which fluttered the tattered
+remains of a Union-Jack.
+
+In a little clearing to one side of the hut, a man, who might very
+well have passed for a modern edition of Robinson Crusoe, so far as
+his attire was concerned, was busily skinning an antelope which hung
+from a pole suspended from two trees. His back was turned towards
+them, and so swift and silent had been their approach that he did not
+hear the soft whirring of the propellers until they were within some
+three hundred yards of him.
+
+Then, just as he looked round to see whence the sound came, Andrew
+Smith, who was standing in the bows near the conning tower, put his
+hands to his mouth and roared out a regular sailor's hail--
+
+"Thomas Jackson, ahoy!"
+
+The man straightened himself up, stared open-mouthed for a moment at
+the strange apparition, and then, with a yell either of terror or
+astonishment, bolted into the house as hard as he could run.
+
+As soon as he was able to speak for laughing at the queer incident,
+Arnold sent the fan-wheels aloft and lowered the _Ariel_ to within
+about twenty feet of the ground over a level patch of sward, across
+which meandered a little stream on its way to the lake. While she was
+hanging motionless over this, the man who had fled into the house
+reappeared, almost dragging another man, somewhat similarly attired,
+after him, and pointing excitedly towards the _Ariel_.
+
+The second comer, if he felt any astonishment at the apparition that
+had invaded his solitude, certainly betrayed none. On the contrary,
+he walked deliberately from the hut to the bit of sward over which
+the _Ariel_ hung motionless, and, seeing two ladies leaning on the
+rail that ran round the deck, he doffed his goatskin cap with a
+well-bred gesture, and said, in a voice that betrayed not the
+slightest symptom of surprise--
+
+"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! Good morning, and welcome to
+Aeria! I see that the problem of aërial navigation has been solved; I
+always said it would be in the first ten years of the twentieth
+century, though I often got laughed at by the wiseacres who know
+nothing until they see a thing before their noses. May I ask whether
+that little message that I sent to the outside world some years ago
+has procured me the pleasure of this visit?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holt. Your little balloon was picked up about three years
+ago in the Gulf of Guinea, and, after various adventures and much
+discussion, has led to our present voyage."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it. I suppose there were plenty of noodles
+who put it down to a practical joke or something of that sort? What's
+become of Stanley? Why didn't he come out and rescue me, as he did
+Emin? Not glory enough, I suppose? It would bother him, too, to get
+over these mountains, unless he flew over. By the way, has he got an
+air-ship?"
+
+"No," replied Arnold, with a laugh. "This is the only one in
+existence, and she has not been a week afloat. But if you'll allow
+us, we'll come down and get generally acquainted, and after that we
+can explain things at our leisure."
+
+"Quite so, quite so; do so by all means. Most happy, I'm sure. Ah!
+beautiful model. Comes down as easily as a bird. Capital mechanism.
+What's your motive-power? Gas, electricity--no, not steam, no
+funnels! Humph! Very ingenious. Always said it would be done some
+day. Build flying navies next, and be fighting in the clouds. Then
+there'll be general smash. Serve 'em right. Fools to fight. Why can't
+they live in peace?"
+
+While Louis Holt was running along in this style, jerking his words
+out in little short snappy sentences, and fussing about round the
+air-ship, she had sunk gently to the earth, and her passengers had
+disembarked.
+
+Arnold for the time being took no notice of the questions with regard
+to the motive-power, but introduced first himself, then the ladies,
+and then Colston, to Louis Holt, who may be described here, as
+elsewhere, as a little, bronzed, grizzled man, anywhere between
+fifty-five and seventy, with a lean, wiry, active body, a good square
+head, an ugly but kindly face, and keen, twinkling little grey eyes,
+that looked straight into those of any one he might be addressing.
+
+The introductions over, he was invited on board the _Ariel_, and a
+few minutes later, in the deck-saloon, he was chattering away
+thirteen to the dozen, and drinking with unspeakable gusto the first
+glass of champagne he had tasted for nearly five years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A NAVY OF THE FUTURE.
+
+
+Arnold's instructions from the Council had been to remain in Aeria,
+and make a thorough exploration of the wonderful region described in
+Louis Holt's manuscript, until the time came for him to meet the
+_Avondale_, the steamer which was to bring out the materials for
+constructing the Terrorists' aërial navy.
+
+Louis Holt and his faithful retainer, during the three years and a
+half that they had been shut up in it from the rest of the world, had
+made themselves so fully acquainted with its geography that very
+little of its surface was represented by blanks on the map which the
+former had spent several months in constructing, and so no better or
+more willing guides could have been placed at their service than they
+were.
+
+Holt was an enthusiastic naturalist, and he descanted at great length
+on the strangeness of the flora and fauna that it had been his
+privilege to discover and classify in this isolated and hitherto
+unvisited region. It appeared that neither its animals nor its plants
+were quite like those of the rest of the continent, but seemed rather
+to belong to an anterior geological age.
+
+From this fact he had come to the conclusion that at some very remote
+period, while the greater portion of Northern Africa was yet
+submerged by the waters of that ocean of which what is now the Sahara
+was probably the deepest part, Aeria was one of the many islands that
+had risen above its surface; and that, as the land rose and the
+waters subsided, its peculiar shape had prevented the forms of life
+which it contained from migrating or becoming modified in the
+struggle for existence with other forms, just as the flora and fauna
+of Australia have been shut off from those of the rest of the world.
+
+There were no traces of human inhabitants to be found; but there were
+apparently two or three families of anthropoid apes, that seemed, so
+far as Holt had been able to judge--for they were extremely shy and
+cunning, and therefore difficult of approach--to be several degrees
+nearer to man, both in structure and intelligence, than any other
+members of the Simian family that had been discovered in other parts
+of the world.
+
+As may well be imagined, a month passed rapidly and pleasantly away,
+what with exploring excursions by land and air, in the latter of
+which by no means the least diverting element was the keen and
+quaintly-expressed delight of Louis Holt at the new method of travel.
+Two or three times Arnold had, for his satisfaction, sent the _Ariel_
+flying over the ridge across which she had entered Aeria, but he had
+always been content with a glimpse of the outside world, and was
+always glad to get back again to the "happy valley," as he invariably
+called his isolated paradise.
+
+The brief sojourn in this delightful land had brought back all the
+roses to Natasha's lovely cheeks, and had completely restored both
+her and the Princess to the perfect health that they had lost during
+their short but terrible experience of Russian convict life; but
+towards the end of the month they both began to get restless and
+anxious to get away to the rendezvous with the steamer that was
+bringing their friends and comrades out from England.
+
+So it came about that an hour or so after sunrise on Friday, the 20th
+of May, the company of the _Ariel_ bade farewell for a time to Louis
+Holt and his companion, leaving with them a good supply of the
+creature comforts of civilisation which alone were lacking in Aeria,
+rose into the air, and disappeared over the ridge to the north-west.
+
+They had rather more than 2500 miles of plain and mountain and desert
+to cross, before they reached the sea-coast on which they expected to
+meet the steamer, and Arnold regulated the speed of the _Ariel_ so
+that they would reach it about daybreak on the following morning.
+
+The voyage was quite uneventful, and the course that they pursued led
+them westward through the Zegzeb and Nyti countries, then
+north-westward along the valley of the Niger, and then westward
+across the desert to the desolate sandy shores of the Western Sahara,
+which they crossed at sunrise on the Sunday morning, in the latitude
+of the island which was to form their rendezvous with the steamer.
+
+They sighted the island about an hour later, but there was no sign of
+any vessel for fifty miles round it. The ocean appeared totally
+deserted, as, indeed, it usually is, for there is no trade with this
+barren and savage coast, and ships going to and from the southward
+portions of the continent give its treacherous sandbanks as wide a
+berth as possible. This, in fact, was the principal reason why this
+rocky islet, some sixty miles from the coast, had been chosen by the
+Terrorists for their temporary dockyard.
+
+According to their calculations, the steamer would not be due for
+another twenty-four hours at the least, and at that moment would be
+about three hundred miles to the northward. The _Ariel_ was therefore
+headed in that direction, at a hundred miles an hour, with a view to
+meeting her and convoying her for the rest of her voyage, and
+obviating such a disaster as Natasha's apprehensions pointed to.
+
+The air-ship was kept at a height of two thousand feet above the
+water, and a man was stationed in the forward conning tower to keep a
+bright look-out ahead. For more than three hours she sped on her way
+without interruption, and then, a few minutes before twelve, the man
+in the conning tower signalled to the wheel-house--"Steamer in
+sight."
+
+The signal was at once transmitted to the saloon, where Arnold was
+sitting with the rest of the party; he immediately signalled
+"half-speed" in reply to it, and went to the conning tower to see the
+steamer for himself.
+
+She was then about twelve miles to the northward. At the speed at
+which the _Ariel_ was travelling a very few minutes sufficed to bring
+her within view of the ocean voyagers. A red flag flying from the
+stern of the air-ship was answered by a similar one from the mainmast
+of the steamer. The _Ariel's_ engines were at once slowed down, the
+fan-wheels went aloft, and she sank gently down to within twenty feet
+of the water, and swung round the steamer's stern.
+
+As soon as they were within hailing distance, those on board the
+air-ship recognised Nicholas Roburoff and his wife, Radna Michaelis,
+and several other members of the Inner Circle, standing on the bridge
+of the steamer. Handkerchiefs were waved, and cries of welcome and
+greeting passed and re-passed from the air to the sea, until Arnold
+raised his hand for silence, and, hailing Roburoff, said--
+
+"Are you all well on board?"
+
+"Yes, all well," was the reply, "though we have had rather a risky
+time of it, for war was generally declared a fortnight ago, and we
+have had to run the blockade for a good part of the way. That is why
+we are a little before our time. Can you come nearer? We have some
+letters for you."
+
+"Yes," replied Arnold. "I'll come alongside. You go ahead, I'll do
+the rest."
+
+So saying, he ran the _Ariel_ up close to the quarter of the
+_Avondale_ as easily as though she had been lying at anchor instead
+of going twenty miles an hour through the water, and went forward and
+shook hands with Roburoff over the rail, taking a packet of letters
+from him at the same time. Meanwhile Colston, who had grasped the
+situation at a glance, had swung himself on to the steamer's deck,
+and was already engaged in an animated conversation with Radna.
+
+The first advantage that Arnold took of the leisure that was now at
+his disposal, was to read the letter directed to himself that was
+among those for Natasha, the Princess, and Colston, which had been
+brought out by the _Avondale_. He recognised the writing as
+Tremayne's, and when he opened the envelope he found that it
+contained a somewhat lengthy letter from him, and an enclosure in an
+unfamiliar hand, which consisted of only a few lines, and was signed
+"Natas."
+
+He started as his eye fell on the terrible name, which now meant so
+much to him, and he naturally read the note to which it was appended
+first. There was neither date nor formal address, and it ran as
+follows:--
+
+    You have done well, and fulfilled your promises as a true man
+    should. For the personal service that you have rendered to me I
+    will not thank you in words, for the time may come when I shall
+    be able to do so in deeds. What you have done for the Cause was
+    your duty, and for that I know that you desire no thanks. You
+    have proved that you hold in your hands such power as no single
+    man ever wielded before. Use it well, and in the ages to come men
+    shall remember your name with blessings, and you, if the Master
+    of Destiny permits, shall attain to your heart's desire.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+Arnold laid the little slip of paper down almost reverently, for, few
+as the words were, they were those of a man who was not only Natas,
+the Master of the Terror, but also the father of the woman whose
+love, in spite of his oath, was the object to the attainment of which
+he held all things else as secondary, and who therefore had the power
+to crown his life-work with the supreme blessing without which it
+would be worthless, however glorious, for he knew full well that,
+though he might win Natasha's heart, she herself could never be his
+unless Natas gave her to him.
+
+The other letter was from Tremayne, dated more than a fortnight
+previously, and gave him a brief _résumé_ of the course of events in
+Europe since his voyage of exploration had begun. It also urged him
+to push on the construction of the aërial navy as fast as possible,
+as there was now no telling where or how soon its presence might be
+required to determine the issue of the world-war, the first
+skirmishes of which had already taken place in Eastern Europe. Natas
+and the Chief were both in London, making the final arrangements for
+the direction of the various diplomatic and military agents of the
+Brotherhood throughout Europe. From London they were to go to
+Alanmere, where they would remain until all arrangements were
+completed. As soon as the fleet was built and the crews and
+commanders of the air-ships had thoroughly learned their duties, the
+flagship was to go to Plymouth, where the _Lurline_ would be lying.
+The news of her arrival would be telegraphed to Alanmere, and Natas
+and Tremayne would at once come south and put to sea in her. The
+air-ship was to wait for them at a point two hundred miles due
+south-west of the Land's End, and pick them up. The yacht was then to
+be sunk, and the Executive of the Terrorists would for the time being
+vanish from the sight of men.
+
+It is unnecessary to say that Arnold carried out the plans laid down
+in this letter in every detail, and with the utmost possible
+expedition. The _Avondale_ arrived the next day at the island which
+had been chosen as a dockyard, and the ship-building was at once
+commenced.
+
+All the material for constructing the air-ships had been brought out
+completely finished as far as each individual part was concerned, and
+so there was nothing to do but to put them together. The crew and
+passengers of the steamer included the members of the Executive of
+the Inner Circle, and sixty picked members of the Outer Circle,
+chiefly mechanics and sailors, destined to be first the builders and
+then the crews of the new vessels.
+
+These, under Arnold's direction, worked almost day and night at the
+task before them. Three of the air-ships were put together at a time,
+twenty men working at each, and within a month from the time that the
+_Avondale_ discharged her cargo, the twelve new vessels were ready to
+take the air.
+
+They were all built on the same plan as the _Ariel_, and eleven of
+them were practically identical with her as regards size and speed;
+but the twelfth, the flagship of the aërial fleet, had been designed
+by Arnold on a more ambitious scale.
+
+This vessel was larger and much more powerful than any of the others.
+She was a hundred feet long, with a beam of fifteen feet amidships.
+On her five masts she carried five fan-wheels, capable of raising her
+vertically to a height of ten thousand feet without the assistance of
+her air-planes, and her three propellers, each worked by duplex
+engines, were able to drive her through the air at a speed of two
+hundred miles an hour in a calm atmosphere.
+
+She was armed with two pneumatic guns forward and two aft, each
+twenty-five feet long and with a range of twelve miles at an altitude
+of four thousand feet; and in addition to these she carried two
+shorter ones on each broadside, with a range of six miles at the same
+elevation. She also carried a sufficient supply of power-cylinders to
+give her an effective range of operations of twenty thousand miles
+without replenishing them.
+
+In addition to the building materials and the necessary tools and
+appliances for putting them together, the cargo of the _Avondale_ had
+included an ample supply of stores of all kinds, not the least
+important part of which consisted of a quantity of power-cylinders
+sufficient to provide the whole fleet three times over.
+
+The necessary chemicals and apparatus for charging them were also on
+board, and the last use that Arnold made of the engines of the
+steamer, which he had disconnected from the propeller and turned to
+all kinds of uses during the building operations, was to connect them
+with his storage pumps and charge every available cylinder to its
+utmost capacity.
+
+At length, when everything that could be carried in the air-ships had
+been taken out of the steamer, she was towed out into deep water, and
+then a shot from one of the flagship's broadside guns sent her to the
+bottom of the sea, so severing the last link which had connected the
+now isolated band of revolutionists with the world on which they were
+ere long to declare war.
+
+The naming of the fleet was by common consent left to Natasha, and
+her half-oriental genius naturally led her to appropriately name the
+air-ships after the winged angels and air-spirits of Moslem and other
+Eastern mythologies. The flagship she named the _Ithuriel_, after the
+angel who was sent to seek out and confound the Powers of Darkness in
+that terrific conflict between the upper and nether worlds, which was
+a fitting antetype to the colossal struggle which was now to be waged
+for the empire of the earth.
+
+Arnold's first task, as soon as the fleet finally took the air, was
+to put the captains and crews of the vessels through a thorough
+drilling in management and evolution. A regular code of signals had
+been arranged, by means of which orders as to formation, speed,
+altitude, and direction could be at once transmitted from the
+flagship. During the day flags were used, and at night flashes from
+electric reflectors.
+
+The scene of these evolutions was practically the course taken by the
+_Ariel_ from Aeria to the island; and as the captains and lieutenants
+of the different vessels were all men of high intelligence, and
+carefully selected for the work, and as the mechanism of the
+air-ships was extremely simple, the whole fleet was well in hand by
+the time the mountain mass of Aeria was sighted a week after leaving
+the island.
+
+Arnold in the _Ithuriel_ led the way to a narrow defile on the
+south-western side, which had been discovered during his first visit,
+and which admitted of entrance to the valley at an elevation of about
+3000 feet. Through this the fleet passed in single file soon after
+sunrise one lovely morning in the middle of June, and within an hour
+the thirteen vessels had come to rest on the shores of the lake.
+
+Then for the first time, probably, since the beginning of the world,
+the beautiful valley became the scene of a busy activity, in the
+midst of which the lean wiry figure of Louis Holt seemed to be here,
+there, and everywhere at once, doing the honours of Aeria as though
+it were a private estate to which the Terrorists had come by his
+special invitation.
+
+He was more than ever delighted with the air-ships, and especially
+with the splendid proportions of the _Ithuriel_, and the brilliant
+lustre of her polished hull, which had been left unpainted, and shone
+as though her plates had been of burnished silver. Altogether he was
+well pleased with this invasion of a solitude which, in spite of its
+great beauty and his professed contempt for the world in general, had
+for the last few months been getting a good deal more tedious than he
+would have cared to admit.
+
+In the absence of Natas and the Chief, the command of the new colony
+devolved, in accordance with the latter's directions, upon Nicholas
+Roburoff, who was a man of great administrative powers, and who set
+to work without an hour's delay to set his new kingdom in order,
+marking out sites for houses and gardens, and preparing materials for
+building them and the factories for which the water-power of the
+valley was to be utilised.
+
+Arnold, as admiral of the fleet, had transferred the command of the
+_Ariel_ to Colston, but he retained him as his lieutenant in the
+_Ithuriel_ for the next voyage, partly because he wanted to have him
+with him on what might prove to be a momentous expedition, and partly
+because Natasha, who was naturally anxious to rejoin her father as
+soon as possible, wished to have Radna for a companion in place of
+the Princess, who had elected to remain in the valley. As another
+separation of the lovers, who, according to the laws of the
+Brotherhood, now only waited for the formal consent of Natas to their
+marriage, was not to be thought of, this arrangement gave everybody
+the most perfect satisfaction.
+
+Three days sufficed to get everything into working order in the new
+colony, and on the morning of the fourth the _Ithuriel_, having on
+board the original crew of the _Ariel_, reinforced by two engineers
+and a couple of sailors, rose into the air amidst the cheers of the
+assembled colonists, crossed the northern ridge, and vanished like a
+silver arrow into space.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE EVE OF BATTLE.
+
+
+It will now be necessary to go back about six weeks from the day that
+the _Ithuriel_ started on her northward voyage, and to lay before the
+reader a brief outline of the events which had transpired in Europe
+subsequently to the date of Tremayne's letter to Arnold.
+
+On the evening of that day he went down to the House of Lords, to
+make his speech in favour of the Italian Loan. He had previously
+spoken some half dozen times since he had taken his seat, and, young
+as he was, had always commanded a respectful hearing by his sound
+common sense and his intimate knowledge of foreign policy, but none
+of his brother peers had been prepared for the magnificent speech
+that he had made on this momentous night.
+
+He had never given his allegiance to any of the political parties of
+the day, but he was one of the foremost advocates of what was then
+known as the Imperial policy, and which had grown up out of what is
+known in the present day as Imperial Federation. To this he
+subordinated everything else, and held as his highest, and indeed
+almost his only political ideal, the consolidation of Britain and her
+colonies into an empire commercially and politically intact and apart
+from the rest of the world, self-governing in all its parts as
+regards local affairs, but governed as a whole by a representative
+Imperial Parliament, sitting in London, and composed of delegates
+from all portions of the empire.
+
+This ideal--which, it is scarcely necessary to say, was still
+considered as "beyond the range of practical politics"--formed the
+keynote of such a speech as had never before been heard in the
+British House of Lords. He commenced by giving a rapid but minute
+survey of foreign policy, which astounded the most experienced of his
+hearers. Not only was it absolutely accurate as far as they could
+follow it, but it displayed an intimate knowledge of involutions of
+policy at which British diplomacy had only guessed.
+
+More than this, members of the Government and the Privy Council saw,
+to their amazement, that the speaker knew the inmost secrets of their
+own policy even better than they did themselves. How he had become
+possessed of them was a mystery, and all that they could do was to
+sit and listen in silent wonder.
+
+He drew a graphic word-picture of the nations of the earth standing
+full-armed on the threshold of such a war as the world had never seen
+before,--a veritable Armageddon, which would shake the fabric of
+society to its foundations, even if it did not dissolve it finally in
+the blood of countless battlefields.
+
+He estimated with marvellous accuracy the exact amount of force which
+each combatant would be able to put on to the field, and summed up
+the appalling mass of potential destruction that was ready to burst
+upon the world at a moment's notice. He showed the position of Italy,
+and proved to demonstration that if the loan were not immediately
+granted, it would be necessary either for Britain to seize her fleet,
+as she did that of Denmark a century before--an act which the
+Italians would themselves resist at all hazards--or else to finance
+her through the war, as she had financed Germany during the
+Napoleonic struggle.
+
+To grant the loan would be to save the Italian fleet and army for the
+Triple Alliance; to refuse it would be to detach Italy from the
+Alliance, and to drive her into the arms of their foes, for not only
+could she not stand alone amidst the shock of the contending Powers,
+but without an immediate supply of ready money she would not be able
+to keep the sea for a month.
+
+Thus, he said in conclusion, the fate of Europe, and perhaps of the
+world, lay for the time being in their Lordships' hands. The Double
+Alliance was already numerically stronger than the Triple, and,
+moreover, they had at their command a new means of destruction, for
+the dreadful effectiveness of which he could vouch from personal
+experience.
+
+The trials of the Russian war-balloons had been secret, it was true,
+but he had nevertheless witnessed them, no matter how, and he knew
+what they could accomplish. It was true that there were in existence
+even more formidable engines than these, but they belonged to no
+nation, and were in the hands of those whose hands were against every
+man's, and whose designs were still wrapped in the deepest mystery.
+
+He therefore besought his hearers not to trust too implicitly to that
+hitherto unconquerable valour and resource which had so far rendered
+Britain impregnable to her enemies. These were not the days of
+personal valour. They were the days of warfare by machinery, of
+wholesale destruction by means which men had never before been called
+upon to face, and which annihilated from a distance before mere
+valour had time to strike its blow.
+
+If ever the Fates were on the side of the biggest battalions, they
+were now, and, so far as human foresight could predict the issue of
+the colossal struggle, the greatest and the most perfectly equipped
+armaments would infallibly insure the ultimate victory, quite apart
+from considerations of personal heroism and devotion.
+
+No such speech had been heard in either House since Edmund Burke had
+fulminated against the miserable policy which severed America from
+Britain, and split the Anglo-Saxon race in two; but now, as then,
+personal feeling and class prejudice proved too strong for eloquence
+and logic.
+
+Italy was the most intensely Radical State in Europe, and she was
+bankrupt to boot; and, added to this, there was a very strong party
+in the Upper House which believed that Britain needed no such ally,
+that with Germany and Austria at her side she could fight the world,
+in spite of the Tsar's new-fangled balloons, which would probably
+prove failures in actual war as similar inventions had done before,
+and even if her allies succumbed, had she not stood alone before, and
+could she not do it again if necessary?
+
+She would fulfil her engagement with the Triple Alliance, and declare
+war the moment that one of the Powers was attacked, but she would not
+pour British gold in millions into the bottomless gulf of Italian
+bankruptcy.
+
+Such were the main points in the speech of the Duke of Argyle, who
+followed Lord Alanmere, and spoke just before the division. When the
+figures were announced, it was found that the Loan Guarantee Bill had
+been negatived by a majority of seven votes.
+
+The excitement in London that night was tremendous. The two Houses of
+Parliament had come into direct collision on a question which the
+Premier had plainly stated to be of vital importance, and a deadlock
+seemed inevitable. The evening papers brought out special editions
+giving Tremayne's speech _verbatim_, and the next morning the whole
+press of the country was talking of nothing else.
+
+The "leading journals," according to their party bias, discussed it
+pro and con, and rent each other in a furious war of words, the
+prelude to the sterner struggle that was to come.
+
+Unhappily the parties in Parliament were very evenly balanced, and a
+very strong section of the Radical Opposition was, as it always had
+been, bitterly opposed to the arrangement with the Triple Alliance,
+which every one suspected and no one admitted until Tremayne
+astounded the Lords by reciting its conditions in the course of his
+speech.
+
+It was the avowed object of this section of the Opposition to stand
+out of the war at any price till the last minute, and not to fight at
+all if it could possibly be avoided. The immediate consequence was
+that, when the Government on the following day asked for an urgency
+vote of ten millions for the mobilisation of the Volunteers and the
+Naval Reserve, the Opposition, led by Mr. John Morley, mustered to
+its last man, and defeated the motion by a majority of eleven.
+
+The next day a Cabinet Council was held, and in the afternoon Mr.
+Balfour rose in a densely-crowded House, and, after a dignified
+allusion to the adverse vote of the previous day, told the House that
+in view of the grave crisis which was now inevitable in European
+affairs, a crisis in which the fate, not only of Britain, but of the
+whole Western world, would probably be involved, the Ministry felt it
+impossible to remain in office without the hearty and unequivocal
+support of both Houses--a support which the two adverse votes in
+Lords and Commons had made it hopeless to look for as those Houses
+were at present constituted.
+
+He had therefore to inform the House that, after consultation with
+his colleagues, he had decided to place the resignations of the
+Ministry in the hands of his Majesty,[1] and appeal to the country on
+the plain issue of Intervention or Non-intervention. Under the
+circumstances, there was nothing else to be done. The deplorable
+crisis which immediately followed was the logical consequence of the
+inherently vicious system of party government.
+
+While the fate of the world was practically trembling in the balance,
+Europe, armed to the teeth in readiness for the Titanic struggle that
+a few weeks would now see shaking the world, was amused by the
+spectacle of what was really the most powerful nation on earth losing
+its head amidst the excitement of a general election, and frittering
+away on the petty issues of party strife the energies that should
+have been devoted with single-hearted unanimity to preparation for
+the conflict whose issue would involve its very existence.
+
+For a month the nations held their hand, why, no one exactly knew,
+except, perhaps, two men who were now in daily consultation in a
+country house in Yorkshire. It may have been that the final
+preparations were not yet complete, or that the combatants were
+taking a brief breathing-space before entering the arena, or that
+Europe was waiting to see the decision of Britain at the
+ballot-boxes, or possibly the French fleet of war-balloons was not
+quite ready to take the air,--any of these reasons might have been
+sufficient to explain the strange calm before the storm; but
+meanwhile the British nation was busy listening to the conflicting
+eloquence of partisan orators from a thousand platforms throughout
+the land, and trying to make up its mind whether it should return a
+Conservative or a Radical Ministry to power.
+
+In the end, Mr. Balfour came back with a solid hundred majority
+behind him, and at once set to work to, if possible, make up for lost
+time. The moment of Fate had, however, gone by for ever. During the
+precious days that had been fooled away in party strife, French gold
+and Russian diplomacy had done their work.
+
+The day after the Conservative Ministry returned to power, France
+declared war, and Russia, who had been nominally at war with Britain
+for over a month, suddenly took the offensive, and poured her Asiatic
+troops into the passes of the Hindu Kush. Two days later, the
+defection of Italy from the Triple Alliance told Europe how
+accurately Tremayne had gauged the situation in his now historic
+speech, and how the month of strange quietude had been spent by the
+controllers of the Double Alliance.
+
+The spell was broken at last. After forty years of peace, Europe
+plunged into the abyss of war; and from one end of the Continent to
+the other nothing was heard but the tramp of vast armies as they
+marshalled themselves along the threatened frontiers, and
+concentrated at the points of attack and defence.
+
+On all the lines of ocean traffic, steamers were hurrying homeward or
+to neutral ports, in the hope of reaching a place of safety before
+hostilities actually broke out. Great liners were racing across the
+Atlantic either to Britain or America with their precious freights,
+while those flying the French flag on the westward voyage prepared to
+run the gauntlet of the British cruisers as best they might.
+
+All along the routes to India and the East the same thing was
+happening, and not a day passed but saw desperate races between fleet
+ocean greyhounds and hostile cruisers, which, as a rule, terminated
+in favour of the former, thanks to the superiority of private
+enterprise over Government contract-work in turning out ships and
+engines.
+
+In Britain the excitement was indescribable. The result of the
+general election had cast the final die in favour of immediate war in
+concert with the Triple Alliance. The defection of Italy had
+thoroughly awakened the popular mind to the extreme gravity of the
+situation, and the declaration of war by France had raised the blood
+of the nation to fever heat. The magic of battle had instantly
+quelled all party differences so far as the bulk of the people was
+concerned, and no one talked of anything but the war and its
+immediate issues. Men forgot that they belonged to parties, and only
+remembered that they were citizens of the same nation.
+
+[Footnote 1: At the period in which the action of the narrative takes
+place, her Majesty Queen Victoria had abdicated in favour of the
+present Prince of Wales, and was living in comparative retirement at
+Balmoral, retaining Osborne as an alternative residence.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+BETWEEN TWO LIVES.
+
+
+Six weeks after he had made his speech in the House of Lords,
+Tremayne was sitting in his oak-panelled library at Alanmere, in deep
+and earnest converse with a man who was sitting in an invalid chair
+by a window looking out upon the lawn. The face of this man exhibited
+a contrast so striking and at the same time terrible, that the most
+careless glance cast upon it would have revealed the fact that it was
+the face of a man of extraordinary character, and that the story of
+some strange fate was indelibly stamped upon it.
+
+The upper part of it, as far down as the mouth, was cast in a mould
+of the highest and most intellectual manly beauty. The forehead was
+high and broad and smooth, the eyebrows dark and firm but finely
+arched, the nose somewhat prominently aquiline, but well shaped, and
+with delicate, sensitive nostrils. The eyes were deep-set, large and
+soft, and dark as the sky of a moonless night, yet shining in the
+firelight with a strange magnetic glint that seemed to fasten
+Tremayne's gaze and hold it at will.
+
+But the lower portion of the face was as repulsive as the upper part
+was attractive. The mouth was the mouth of a wild beast, and the lips
+and cheeks and chin were seared and seamed as though with fire, and
+what looked like the remains of a moustache and beard stood in black
+ragged patches about the heavy unsightly jaws.
+
+When the thick, shapeless lips parted, they did so in a hideous grin,
+which made visible long, sharp white teeth, more like those of a wolf
+than those of a human being.
+
+His body, too, exhibited no less strange a contrast than his face
+did. To the hips it was that of a man of well-knit, muscular frame,
+not massive, but strong and well-proportioned. The arms were long and
+muscular, and the hands white and small, but firm, well-shaped, and
+nervous.
+
+But from his hips downwards, this strange being was a dwarf and a
+cripple. His hips were narrow and shrunken, one of his legs was some
+inches shorter than the other, and both were twisted and distorted,
+and hung helplessly down from the chair as he sat.
+
+Such was Natas, the Master of the Terror, and the man whose wrongs,
+whatever they might have been, had caused him to devote his life to a
+work of colossal vengeance, and his incomparable powers to the
+overthrow of a whole civilisation.
+
+The tremendous task to which he had addressed himself with all the
+force of his mighty nature for twenty years, was now at length
+approaching completion. The mine that he had so patiently laid, year
+after year, beneath the foundations of Society, was complete in every
+detail, the first spark had been applied, and the first rumbling of
+the explosion was already sounding in the ears of men, though they
+little knew how much it imported. The work of the master-intellect
+was almost done. The long days and nights of plotting and planning
+were over, and the hour for action had arrived at last.
+
+For him there was little more to do, and the time was very near when
+he could retire from the strife, and watch in peace and confidence
+the reaping of the harvest of ruin and desolation that his hands had
+sown. Henceforth, the central figure in the world-revolution must be
+the young English engineer, whose genius had brought him forth out of
+his obscurity to take command of the subjugated powers of the air,
+and to arbitrate the destinies of the world.
+
+This was why he was sitting here, in the long twilight of the June
+evening, talking so earnestly with the man who, under the spell of
+his mysterious power and master-will, had been his second self in
+completing the work that he had designed, and had thought and spoken
+and acted as he had inspired him against all the traditions of his
+race and station, in that strange double life that he had lived, in
+each portion of which he had been unconscious of all that he had been
+and had done in the other. The time had now come to draw aside the
+veil which had so far divided these two lives from each other, to
+show him each as it was in very truth, and to leave him free to
+deliberately choose between them.
+
+Natas had been speaking without any interruption from Tremayne for
+nearly an hour, drawing the parallel of the two lives before him with
+absolute fidelity, neither omitting nor justifying anything, and his
+wondering hearer had listened to him in silence, unable to speak for
+the crowding emotions which were swarming through his brain. At
+length Natas concluded by saying--
+
+"And now, Alan Tremayne, I have shown you faithfully the two paths
+which you have trodden since first I had need of you. So far you have
+been as clay in the hands of the potter. Now the spell is removed,
+and you are free to choose which of them you will follow to the
+end,--that of the English gentleman of fortune and high position,
+whose country is on the brink of a war that will tax her vast
+resources to the utmost, and may end in her ruin; or that of the
+visible and controlling head of the only organisation which can at
+the supreme moment be the arbiter of peace or war, order or anarchy,
+and which alone, if any earthly power can, will evolve order out of
+chaos, and bring peace on earth at last."
+
+As Natas ceased, Tremayne passed his hand slowly over his eyes and
+brows, as though to clear away the mists which obscured his mental
+vision. Then he rose from his chair, and paced the floor with quick,
+uneven strides for several minutes. At length he replied, speaking as
+one might who was just waking from some evil dream--
+
+"You have made a conspirator and a murderer of me. How is it possible
+that, knowing this, I can again become what I was before your
+infernal influence was cast about me?"
+
+"What you have done at my command is nothing to you, and leaves no
+stain upon your honour, if you choose to put it so, for it was not
+your will that was working within you, but mine. As for the killing
+of Dornovitch, it was necessary, and you were the only instrument by
+which it could have been accomplished before irretrievable harm had
+been done.
+
+"He alone of the outside world possessed the secret of the Terror. A
+woman of the Outer Circle in Paris had allowed her love for him to
+overcome her duty to the Brotherhood, and had betrayed what she
+could, in order, as she vainly thought, to shield him from its
+vengeance for the executive murders of the year before. He too had on
+him the draft of the secret treaty, the possession of which has
+enabled us to control the drift of European politics at the most
+crucial time.
+
+"Had he escaped, not only would hundreds of lives have been
+sacrificed on suspicion to Russian official vengeance, but Russia and
+France would now be masters of the British line of communication to
+the East, for it would not have been possible for Mr. Balfour to have
+been forewarned, and therefore forearmed, in time to double the
+Mediterranean Squadron as he has done. Surely one Russian's life is
+not too great a price to pay for all that."
+
+"I do not care for the man's life, for he was an enemy, and even then
+plotting the ruin of my own country in the dark. It is not the
+killing, but the manner of it. England does not fight her battles
+with the assassin's knife, and his blood is on my hands"--
+
+"On your hands, perhaps, but not on your soul. It is on mine, and I
+will answer for it when we stand face to face at the Bar where all
+secrets are laid bare. The man deserved death, for he was plotting
+the death of thousands. What matter then how or by whose hands he
+died?
+
+"It is time the world had done with these miserable sophistries, and
+these spurious distinctions between murder by wholesale and by
+retail, and it soon will have done with them. I, by your hand, killed
+Dornovitch in his sleep. That was murder, says the legal casuist. You
+read this morning in the _Times_ how one of the Russian war-balloons
+went the night before last and hung in the darkness over a sleeping
+town on the Austrian frontier, and dropped dynamite shells upon it,
+killing and maiming hundreds who had no personal quarrel with Russia.
+That is war, and therefore lawful!
+
+"Nonsense, my friend, nonsense! There is no difference. All violence
+is crime, if you will, but it is a question of degree only. The world
+is mad on this subject of war. It considers the horrible thing
+honourable, and gives its highest distinctions to those who shed
+blood most skilfully on the battlefield, and the triumphs that are
+won by superior force or cunning are called glorious, and those who
+achieve them the nations fall down and worship.
+
+"The nations must be taught wisdom, for war has had victims enough.
+But men are still foolish, and to cure them a terrible lesson will be
+necessary. But that lesson shall be taught, even though the whole
+earth be turned into a battlefield, and all the dwellings of men into
+charnel-houses, in order to teach it to them."
+
+"In other words, Society is to be dissolved in order that anarchy and
+lawlessness may take its place. Society may not be perfect,--nay, I
+will grant that its sins are many and grievous, that it has forgotten
+its duty both to God and man in its worship of Mammon and its slavery
+to externals,--but you who have plotted its destruction, have you
+anything better to put in its place? You can destroy, perhaps, but
+can you build up?"
+
+"The jungle must be cleared and the swamp drained before the
+habitations of men can be built in their place. It has been mine to
+destroy, and I will pursue the work of destruction to the end, as I
+have sworn to do by that Name which a Jew holds too sacred for
+speech. I believe myself to be the instrument of vengeance upon this
+generation, even as Joshua was upon Canaan, and as Khalid the Sword
+of God was upon Byzantium in the days of her corruption. You may hold
+this for an old man's fancy if you will, but it shall surely come to
+pass in the fulness of time, which is now at hand; and then, where I
+have destroyed, may you, if you will, build up again!"
+
+"What do you mean? You are speaking in parables."
+
+"Which shall soon be made plain. You read in your newspaper this
+morning of a mysterious movement that is taking place throughout the
+Buddhist peoples of the East. They believe that Buddha has returned
+to earth, reincarnated, to lead them to the conquest of the world.
+Now, as you know, every fourth man, woman, and child in the whole
+human race is a Buddhist, and the meaning of this movement is that
+that mighty mass of humanity, pent up and stagnant for centuries, is
+about to burst its bounds and overflow the earth in a flood of
+desolation and destruction.
+
+"The nations of the West know nothing of this, and are unsheathing
+the sword to destroy each other. Like a house divided against itself,
+their power shall be brought to confusion, and their empire be made
+as a wilderness. And over the starving and war-smitten lands of
+Europe these Eastern swarms shall sweep, innumerable as the locusts,
+resistless as the pestilence, and what fire and sword have spared
+they shall devour, and nothing shall be left of all the glory of
+Christendom but its name and the memory of its fall!"
+
+Natas spoke his frightful prophecy like one entranced, and when he
+had finished he let his head fall forward for a moment on his breast,
+as though he were exhausted. Then he raised it again, and went on in
+a calmer voice--
+
+"There is but one power under heaven that can stand between the
+Western world and this destruction, and that is the race to which you
+belong. It is the conquering race of earth, and the choicest fruit of
+all the ages until now. It is nearly two hundred million strong, and
+it is united by the ties of kindred blood and speech the wide world
+over.
+
+"But it is also divided by petty jealousies, and mean commercial
+interests. But for these the world might be an Anglo-Saxon planet.
+Would it not be a glorious task for you, who are the flower of this
+splendid race, so to unite it that it should stand as a solid barrier
+of invincible manhood before which this impending flood of yellow
+barbarism should dash itself to pieces like the cloud-waves against
+the granite summits of the eternal hills?"
+
+"A glorious task, truly!" exclaimed Tremayne, once more springing
+from his chair and beginning to pace the room again; "but the man is
+not yet born who could accomplish it."
+
+"There are fifty men on earth at this moment who can accomplish it,
+and of them the two chief are Englishmen,--yourself and this Richard
+Arnold, whose genius has given the Terrorists the command of the air.
+
+"Come, Alan Tremayne! here is a destiny such as no man ever had
+before revealed to him. It is not for a man of your nation and
+lineage to shrink from it. You have reproached me for using you to
+unworthy ends, as you thought them, and with pulling down where I am
+not able to build up again. Obey me still, this time of your own free
+will and with your eyes open, and, as I have pulled down by your
+hand, so by it will I build up again, if the Master of Destiny shall
+permit me; and if not, then shall you achieve the task without me.
+Now give me your ears, for the words that I have to say are weighty
+ones.
+
+"No human power can stop the war that has now begun, nor can any
+curtail it until it has run its appointed course. But we have at our
+command a power which, if skilfully applied at the right moment, will
+turn the tide of conflict in favour of Britain, and if at that moment
+the Mother of Nations can gather her children about her in obedience
+to the call of common kindred, all shall be well, and the world shall
+be hers.
+
+"But before that is made possible she must pass through the fire, and
+be purged of that corruption which is even now poisoning her blood
+and clouding her eyes in the presence of her enemies. The overweening
+lust of gold must be burnt out of her soul in the fiery crucible of
+war, and she must learn to hold honour once more higher than wealth,
+and rich and poor and gentle and simple must be as one family, and
+not as master and servant.
+
+"East and west, north and south, wherever the English tongue is
+spoken, men must clasp hands and forget all other things save that
+they are brothers of blood and speech, and that the world is theirs
+if they choose to take it. This is a work that cannot be done by any
+nation, but only by a whole race, which with millions of hands and a
+single heart devotes itself to achieve success or perish."
+
+"Brave words, brave words!" cried Tremayne, pausing in his walk in
+front of the chair in which Natas sat; "and if you could make me
+believe them true, I would follow you blindly to the end, no matter
+what the path might be. But I cannot believe them. I cannot think
+that you or I and a few followers, even aided by Arnold and his
+aërial fleet, could accomplish such a stupendous task as that. It is
+too great. It is superhuman! And yet it would be glorious even to
+fail worthily in such a task, even to fall fighting in such a Titanic
+conflict!"
+
+He paused, and stood silent and irresolute, as though appalled by the
+prospect with which he was confronted here at the parting of the
+ways. He glanced at the extraordinary being sitting near him, and saw
+his deep, dark eyes fixed upon him, as though they were reading his
+very soul within him. Then he took a step towards the cripple's
+chair, took his right hand in his, and said slowly and steadily and
+solemnly--
+
+"It is a worthy destiny! I will essay it for good or evil, for life
+or death. I am with you to the end!"
+
+As Tremayne spoke the fatal words which once more bound him, and this
+time for life and of his own free will, to Natas the Jew, this
+cripple who, chained to his chair, yet aspired to the throne of a
+world, he fancied he saw his shapeless lips move in a smile, and into
+his eyes there came a proud look of mingled joy and triumph as he
+returned the handclasp, and said in a softer, kinder voice than
+Tremayne had ever heard him use before--
+
+"Well spoken! Those words were worthy of you and of your race! As
+your faith is, so shall your reward be. Now wheel my chair to yonder
+window that looks out towards the east, and you shall look past the
+shadows into the day which is beyond. So! that will do. Now get
+another chair and sit beside me. Fix your eyes on that bright star
+that shows above the trees, and do not speak, but think only of that
+star and its brightness."
+
+Tremayne did as he was bidden in silence, and when he was seated
+Natas swept his hands gently downwards over his open eyes again and
+again, till the lids grew heavy and fell, shutting out the brightness
+of the star, and the dim beauty of the landscape which lay sleeping
+in the twilight and the June night.
+
+Then suddenly it seemed as though they opened again of their own
+accord, and were endowed with an infinite power of vision. The trees
+and lawns of the home park of Alanmere and the dark rolling hills of
+heather beyond were gone, and in their place lay stretched out a
+continent which he saw as though from some enormous height, with its
+plains and lowlands and rivers, vast steppes and snowclad hills,
+forests and tablelands, huge mountain masses rearing lonely peaks of
+everlasting ice to a sunlight that had no heat; and then beyond these
+again more plains and forests, that stretched away southward until
+they merged in the all-surrounding sea.
+
+[Illustration: "You have seen the Field of Armageddon."
+
+_See page 149._]
+
+Then he seemed to be carried forward towards the scene until he could
+distinguish the smallest objects upon the earth, and he saw, swarming
+southward and westward, vast hordes of men, that divided into long
+streams, and poured through mountain passes and defiles, and spread
+themselves again over fertile lands, like locusts over green fields
+of young corn. And wherever those hordes swept forward, a long line
+of fire and smoke went in front of them, and where they had passed
+the earth was a blackened wilderness.
+
+Then, too, from the coasts and islands vast fleets of war-ships put
+out, pouring their clouds of smoke to the sky, and making swiftly for
+the southward and westward, where from other coasts and islands other
+vessels put out to meet them, and, meeting them, were lost with them
+under great clouds of grey smoke, through which flashed incessantly
+long livid tongues of flame.
+
+Then, like a panorama rolled away from him, the mighty picture
+receded and new lands came into view, familiar lands which he had
+traversed often. They too were black and wasted with the tempest of
+war from east to west, but nevertheless those swarming streams came
+on, countless and undiminished, up out of the south and east, while
+on the western verge vast armies and fleets battled desperately with
+each other on sea and land, as though they heeded not those locust
+swarms of dusky millions coming ever nearer and nearer.
+
+Once more the scene rolled backwards, and he saw a mighty city
+closely beleaguered by two vast hosts of men, who slowly pushed their
+batteries forward until they planted them on all the surrounding
+heights, and poured a hail of shot and shell upon the swarming,
+helpless millions that were crowded within the impassable ring of
+fire and smoke. Above the devoted city swam in mid-air strange shapes
+like monstrous birds of prey, and beneath where they floated the
+earth seemed ever and anon to open and belch forth smoke and flame
+into which the crumbling houses fell and burnt in heaps of shapeless
+ruins. Then----
+
+He felt a cool hand laid almost caressingly on his brow, and the
+voice of Natas said beside him--
+
+"That is enough. You have seen the Field of Armageddon, and when the
+day of battle comes you shall be there and play the part allotted to
+you from the beginning. Do you believe?"
+
+"Yes," replied Tremayne, rising wearily from his chair, "I believe;
+and as the task is, so may Heaven make my strength in the stress of
+battle!"
+
+"Amen!" said Natas very solemnly.
+
+That night the young Lord of Alanmere went sleepless to bed, and lay
+awake till dawn, revolving over and over again in his mind the
+marvellous things that he had seen and heard, and the tremendous task
+to which he had now irrevocably committed himself for good or evil.
+In all these waking dreams there was ever present before his mental
+vision the face of a woman whose beauty was like and yet unlike that
+of the daughter of Natas. It lacked the brilliance and subtle charm
+which in Natasha so wondrously blended the dusky beauty of the
+daughters of the South with the fairer loveliness of the daughters of
+the North; but it atoned for this by that softer grace and sweetness
+which is the highest charm of purely English beauty.
+
+It was the face of the woman whom, in that portion of his strange
+double life which had been free from the mysterious influence of
+Natas, he had loved with well-assured hope that she would one day
+rule his house and broad domains with him. She was now Lady Muriel
+Penarth, the daughter of Lord Marazion, a Cornish nobleman, whose
+estates abutted on those which belonged to Lord Alanmere as Baron
+Tremayne, of Tremayne, in the county of Cornwall, as the _Peerage_
+had it. Noble alike by lineage and nature, no fairer mistress could
+have been found for the lands of Tremayne and Alanmere, but--what
+seas of blood and flame now lay between him and the realisation of
+his love-ideal!
+
+He must forsake his own, and become a revolutionary and an outcast
+from Society. He must draw the sword upon the world and his own race,
+and, armed with the most awful means of destruction that the wit of
+man had ever devised, he must fight his way through universal war to
+that peace which alone he could ask her to share with him. Still much
+could be done before he took the final step of severance which might
+be perpetual, and he would lose no time in doing it.
+
+As soon as it was fairly light, he rose and took a long, rapid walk
+over the home park, and when he returned to breakfast at nine he had
+resolved to execute forthwith a deed of gift, transferring the whole
+of his vast property, which was unentailed and therefore entirely at
+his own disposal, to the woman who was to have shared it with him in
+a few months as his wife. If the Fates were kind, he would come back
+from the world-war and reclaim both the lands and their mistress, and
+if not he would have the satisfaction of knowing that his broad acres
+at least had a worthy mistress.
+
+At breakfast he met Natas again, and during the meal one of his
+footmen entered, bringing the letters that had come by the morning
+post.
+
+There were several letters for each of them, those for Natas being
+addressed to "Herr F. Niemand," and for some time they were both
+employed in looking through their correspondence. Suddenly Natas
+looked up, and said--
+
+"When do you expect to hear that Arnold is off the south coast?"
+
+"Almost any day now; in fact, within the week, if everything has gone
+right. Here is a letter from Johnston to say that the _Lurline_ has
+arrived at Plymouth, and that a bright look-out is being kept for
+him. He will telegraph here and to the club in London as soon as the
+air-ship is sighted. Twenty-four hours will then see us on board the
+_Ariel_, or whichever of the ships he comes in."
+
+"I hope the news will come soon, for Michael Roburoff, the
+President's brother, who has been in command of the American Section,
+cables to say that he sails from New York the day after to-morrow
+with detailed accounts. That means that he will come with full
+reports of what the Section has done and will be ready to do when the
+time comes, and also what the enemy are doing.
+
+"He sails in the _Aurania_, and as the Atlantic routes are swarming
+with war-ships and torpedo-boats, she will probably have to run the
+gauntlet, and it is of the last importance that Michael and his
+reports reach us safely. It will therefore be necessary for the
+air-ship to meet the _Aurania_ as soon as possible on her passage,
+and take him off her before any harm happens to him. If he and his
+reports fell into the hands of the enemy, there is no telling what
+might happen."
+
+"As nearly as I can calculate," said Tremayne, "the air-ship should
+be sighted in three days from now, perhaps in two. It will take the
+_Aurania_ over four days to cross the Atlantic, and so we ought to be
+able to meet her somewhere in mid-ocean if she is able to get so far
+without being overhauled. Unfortunately she is known to be a British
+ship and subsidised by the British Government, so there will be very
+little chance of her getting through under the American flag. Still
+she's about the fastest steamer afloat, and will take a lot of
+catching."
+
+"And if the worst comes and she falls into the hands of the enemy, we
+must fight our first naval battle and retake her, even if we have to
+sink a few cruisers to do so," added Natas; "for, come what may,
+Michael must not be captured."
+
+"Arnold will almost certainly come in his flagship, and if she is
+what he promised, she should be more than a match for a whole fleet,
+so I don't think there is much to fear unless the _Aurania_ gets sunk
+before we reach her," said Tremayne.
+
+Natas and his host devoted the rest of the forenoon to their
+correspondence, and to making the final arrangements for leaving
+Alanmere. Tremayne wrote full instructions to his lawyers for the
+drawing up of the deed, and directed them to have it ready for his
+signature by two o'clock on the following day. After lunch he rode
+over to Knaresborough himself with the post-bag, telegraphed an
+abstract of his instructions in advance, and ordered his private
+saloon carriage to be attached to the up express which passed through
+at eight the next morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+JUST IN TIME.
+
+
+As the train drew up in King's Cross station at twelve the next day,
+almost the first words that Tremayne heard were--
+
+"Special _Pall Mall_, sir! Appearance of the mysterious air-ship over
+Plymouth this morning! Great battle in Austria yesterday, defeat of
+the Austrians--awful slaughter with war-balloons! Special!"
+
+The boy was selling the papers as fast as he could hand them out to
+the eager passengers. Tremayne secured one, shut the door of the
+saloon again, and, turning to the middle page, read aloud to Natas--
+
+"We have just received a telegram from our Plymouth correspondent, to
+say that soon after daybreak this morning torpedo-boat No. 157
+steamed into the Sound, bringing the news that she had sighted a
+large five-masted air-ship about ten miles from the coast, when in
+company with the cruiser _Ariadne_, whose commander had despatched
+her with the news. Hardly had the report been received when the
+air-ship herself passed over Mount Edgcumbe and came towards the
+town.
+
+"The news spread like wildfire, and in a few minutes the streets were
+filled with crowds of people, who had thrown on a few clothes and
+rushed out to get a look at the strange visitant. At first it was
+thought that an attack on the arsenal was intended by the mysterious
+vessel, and the excitement had risen almost to the pitch of panic,
+when it was observed that she was flying a plain white flag, and that
+her intentions were apparently peaceful.
+
+"Panic then gave place to curiosity. The air-ship crossed the town at
+an elevation of about 3000 feet, described a complete circle round it
+in the space of a few minutes, and then suddenly shot up into the air
+and vanished to the south-westward at an inconceivable speed. The
+vessel is described as being about a hundred feet long, and was
+apparently armed with eight guns. Her hull was of white polished
+metal, probably aluminium, and shone like silver in the sunlight.
+
+"The wildest rumours are current as to the object of her visit, but
+of course no credence can be attached to any of them. The vessel is
+plainly of the same type as that which destroyed Kronstadt two months
+ago, but larger and more powerful. The inference is that she is one
+of a fleet in the hands of the Terrorists, and the profoundest
+uncertainty and anxiety prevail throughout naval and military circles
+everywhere as to the use that they may make of these appalling means
+of destruction should they take any share in the war."
+
+"Humph!" said Tremayne, as he finished reading. "Johnston's telegram
+must have crossed us on the way, but I shall find one at the club.
+Well, we have no time to lose, for we ought to start for Plymouth
+this evening. Your men will take you straight to the Great Western
+Hotel, and I will hurry my business through as fast as possible, and
+meet you there in time to catch the 6.30. At this rate we shall meet
+the _Aurania_ soon after she leaves New York."
+
+Within the next six hours Tremayne transferred the whole of his vast
+property in a single instrument to his promised wife, thus making her
+the richest woman in England; handed the precious deeds to her
+astonished father; obtained his promise to take his wife and daughter
+to Alanmere at the end of the London season, and to remain there with
+her until he returned to reclaim her and his estates together; and
+said good-bye to Lady Muriel herself in an interview which was a good
+deal longer than that which he had with his bewildered and somewhat
+scandalised lawyers, who had never before been forced to rush any
+transaction through at such an indecent speed. Had Lord Alanmere not
+been the best client in the kingdom, they might have rebelled against
+such an outrage on the law's time-honoured delays; but he was not a
+man to be trifled with, and so the work was done and an unbeatable
+record in legal despatch accomplished, albeit very unwillingly, by
+the men of law.
+
+By midnight the _Lurline_, ostensibly bound for Queenstown, had
+cleared the Sound, and, with the Eddystone Light on her port bow,
+headed away at full-speed to the westward. She was about the fastest
+yacht afloat, and at a pinch could be driven a good twenty-seven
+miles an hour through the water. As both Natas and Tremayne were
+anxious to join the air-ship as soon as possible, every ounce of
+steam that her boilers would stand was put on, and she slipped along
+in splendid style through the long, dark seas that came rolling
+smoothly up Channel from the westward.
+
+In an hour and a half after passing the Eddystone she sighted the
+Lizard Light, and by the time she had brought it well abeam the first
+interruption of her voyage occurred. A huge, dark mass loomed
+suddenly up out of the darkness of the moonless night, then a
+blinding, dazzling ray of light shot across the water from the
+searchlight of a battleship that was patrolling the coast, attended
+by a couple of cruisers and four torpedo-boats. One of these last
+came flying towards the yacht down the white path of the beam of
+light, and Tremayne, seeing that he would have to give an account of
+himself, stopped his engines and waited for the torpedo-boat to come
+within hail.
+
+"Steamer ahoy! Who are you? and where are you going to at that
+speed?"
+
+"This is the _Lurline_, the Earl of Alanmere's yacht, from Plymouth
+to Queenstown. We're only going at our usual speed."
+
+"Oh, if it's the _Lurline_, you needn't say that," answered the
+officer who had hailed from the torpedo-boat, with a laugh. "Is Lord
+Alanmere on board?"
+
+"Yes, here I am," said Tremayne, replying instead of his
+sailing-master. "Is that you, Selwyn? I thought I recognised your
+voice."
+
+"Yes, it's I, or rather all that's left of me after two months in
+this buck-jumping little brute of a craft. She bobs twice in the same
+hole every time, and if it's a fairly deep hole she just dives right
+through and out on the other side; and there are such a lot of
+Frenchmen about that we get no rest day or night on this patrolling
+business."
+
+"Very sorry for you, old man; but if you will seek glory in a
+torpedo-boat, I don't see that you can expect anything else. Will you
+come on board and have a drink?"
+
+"No, thanks. Very sorry, but I can't stop. By the way, have you heard
+of that air-ship that was over this way this morning? I wonder what
+the deuce it really is, and what it's up to?"
+
+"I've heard of it; it was in the London papers this morning. Have you
+seen any more of it?"
+
+"Oh yes; the thing was cruising about in mid-air all this morning,
+taking stock of us and the Frenchmen too, I suppose. She vanished
+during the afternoon. Where to, I don't know. It's awfully
+humiliating, you know, to be obliged to crawl about here on the
+water, at twenty-five knots at the utmost, while that fellow is
+flying a hundred miles an hour or so through the clouds without
+turning a hair, or I ought to say without as much as a puff of smoke.
+He seems to move of his own mere volition. I wonder what on earth he
+is."
+
+"Not much on earth apparently, but something very considerable in the
+air, where I hope he'll stop out of sight until I get to Queenstown;
+and as I want to get there pretty early in the morning, perhaps
+you'll excuse me saying good-night and getting along, if you won't
+come on board."
+
+"No, very sorry I can't. Good-night, and keep well in to the coast
+till you have to cross to Ireland. Good-bye?"
+
+"Good-bye!" shouted Tremayne in reply, as the torpedo-boat swung
+round and headed back to the battleship, and he gave the order to go
+ahead again at full-speed.
+
+In another hour they were off the Land's End, and from there they
+headed out due south-west into the Atlantic. They had hardly made
+another hundred miles before it began to grow light, and then it
+became necessary to keep a bright look-out for the air-ship, for
+according to what they had heard from the commander of the
+torpedo-boat she might be sighted at any moment as soon as it was
+light enough to see her.
+
+Another hour passed, but there was still no sign of the air-ship.
+This of course was to be expected, for they had still another
+seventy-five miles or so to go before the rendezvous was reached.
+
+"Steamer to the south'ard!" sang out the man on the forecastle, just
+as Tremayne came on deck after an attempt at a brief nap. He picked
+up his glass, and took a good look at the thin cloud of smoke away on
+the southern horizon.
+
+From what he could see it was a large steamer, and was coming up very
+fast, almost at right angles to the course of the _Lurline_. Fifteen
+minutes later he was able to see that the stranger was a warship, and
+that she was heading for Queenstown. She was therefore either a
+British ship attached to the Irish Squadron, or else she was an enemy
+with designs on the liners bound for Liverpool.
+
+In either case it was most undesirable that the yacht should be
+overhauled again. Any mishap to her, even a lengthy delay, might have
+the most serious consequences. A single unlucky shell exploding in
+her engine-room would disable her, and perhaps change the future
+history of the world.
+
+Tremayne therefore altered her course a little more to the northward,
+thus increasing the distance between her and the stranger, and at the
+same time ordered the engineer to keep up the utmost head of steam,
+and get the last possible yard out of her.
+
+The alteration in her course appeared to be instantly detected by the
+warship, for she at once swerved off more to the westward, and
+brought herself dead astern of the _Lurline_. She was now near enough
+for Tremayne to see that she was a large cruiser, and attended by a
+brace of torpedo-boats, which were running along one under each of
+her quarters, like a couple of dogs following a hunter.
+
+There was now no doubt but that, whatever her nationality, she was
+bent on overhauling the yacht, if possible, and the dense volumes of
+smoke that were pouring out of her funnels told Tremayne that she was
+stoking up vigorously for the chase.
+
+By this time she was about seven miles away, and the _Lurline_, her
+twin screws beating the water at their utmost speed, and every plate
+in her trembling under the vibration of her engines, rushed through
+the water faster than she had ever done since the day she was
+launched. As far as could be seen, she was holding her own well in
+what had now become a dead-on stern chase.
+
+Still the stranger showed no flag, and though Tremayne could hardly
+believe that a hostile cruiser and a couple of torpedo-boats would
+venture so near to the ground occupied by the British battle-ships,
+the fact that she showed no colours looked at the best suspicious.
+Determined to settle the question, if possible, one way or the other,
+he ran up the ensign of the Royal Yacht Squadron.
+
+This brought no reply from the cruiser, but a column of bluish-white
+smoke shot up a moment later from the funnels of one of the
+torpedo-boats, telling that she had put on the forced draught, and,
+like a greyhound slipped from the leash, she began to draw away from
+the big ship, plunging through the long rollers, and half-burying
+herself in the foam that she threw up from her bows.
+
+Tremayne knew that there were some of these viperish little craft in
+the French navy that could be driven thirty miles an hour through the
+water, and if this was one of them, capture was only a matter of
+time, unless the air-ship sighted them and came to the rescue.
+
+Happily, although there was a considerable swell on, the water was
+smooth and free from short waves, and this was to the advantage of
+the _Lurline_; for she went along "as dry as a bone," while the
+torpedo-boat, lying much lower in the water, rammed her nose into
+every roller, and so lost a certain amount of way. The yacht was
+making a good twenty-eight miles an hour under the heroic efforts of
+the engineers; and at this rate it would be nearly two hours before
+she was overhauled, provided that the torpedo-boat was not able to
+use the gun that she carried forward of her funnels with any
+dangerous effect.
+
+There could now be no doubt as to the hostility of the pursuers. Had
+they been British, they would have answered the flag flying at the
+peak of the yacht.
+
+"Steamer coming down from the nor'ard, sir!" suddenly sang out a man
+whom Tremayne had just stationed in the fore cross-trees to look out
+for the air-ship that was now so anxiously expected.
+
+A dense volume of smoke was seen rising in the direction indicated,
+and a few minutes later a second big steamer came into view, bearing
+down directly on the yacht, and so approaching the torpedo-boat
+almost stem on. There was no doubt about her nationality. A glance
+through the glass showed Tremayne the white ensign floating above the
+horizontal stream of smoke that stretched behind her. She was a
+British cruiser, no doubt a scout of the Irish Squadron, and had
+sighted the smoke of the yacht and her pursuers, and had come to
+investigate.
+
+Tremayne breathed more freely now, for he knew that his flag would
+procure the assistance of the new-comer in case it was wanted, as
+indeed it very soon was.
+
+Hardly had the British cruiser come well in sight than a puff of
+smoke rose from the deck of the other warship, and a shell came
+whistling through the air, and burst within a hundred yards of the
+_Lurline_. Twenty-four hours ago Tremayne had been one of the richest
+men in England, and just now he would have willingly given all that
+he had possessed to be twenty-five miles further to the
+south-westward than he was.
+
+Another shell from the Frenchman passed clear over the _Lurline_, and
+plunged into the water and burst, throwing a cloud of spray high into
+the air. Then came one from the torpedo-boat, but she was still too
+far off for her light gun to do any damage, and the projectile fell
+spent into the sea nearly five hundred yards short.
+
+Immediately after this came a third shell from the French cruiser,
+and this, by an unlucky chance, struck the forecastle of the yacht,
+burst, and tore away several feet of the bulwarks, and, worse than
+all, killed four of her crew instantly.
+
+"First blood!" said Tremayne to himself through his clenched teeth.
+"That shall be an unlucky shot for you, my friend, if we reach the
+air-ship before you sink us."
+
+Meanwhile the two cruisers, each approaching the other at a speed of
+more than twenty miles an hour, had got within shot. A puff of smoke
+spurted out from the side of the latest comer. The well-aimed
+projectile passed fifty yards astern of the _Lurline_, and struck the
+advancing torpedo-boat square on the bow.
+
+The next instant it was plainly apparent that there was nothing more
+to be feared from her. The solid shot had passed clean through her
+two sides. Her nose went down and her stern came up. Then bang went
+another gun from the British cruiser. This time the messenger of
+death was a shell. It struck the inclined deck amidships, there was a
+flash of flame, a cloud of steam rose up from her bursting boilers,
+and then she broke in two and vanished beneath the smooth-rolling
+waves.
+
+Two minutes later the duel began in deadly earnest. The tricolor ran
+up to the masthead of the French cruiser, and jets of mingled smoke
+and flame spurted one after the other from her sides, and shells
+began bursting in quick succession round the rapidly-advancing
+Englishman. Evidently the Frenchman, with his remaining torpedo-boat,
+thought himself a good match for the British cruiser, for he showed
+no disposition to shirk the combat, despite the fact that he was so
+near to the cruising ground of a powerful squadron.
+
+As the two cruisers approached each other, the fire from their heavy
+guns was supplemented by that of their light quick-firing armament,
+until each of them became a floating volcano, vomiting continuous
+jets of smoke and flame, and hurling showers of shot and shell across
+the rapidly-lessening space between them.
+
+The din of the hideous concert became little short of appalling, even
+to the most hardened nerves. The continuous deep booming of the heavy
+guns, as they belched forth their three-hundred-pound projectiles,
+mingled with the sharp ringing reports of the thirty and forty pound
+quick-firers, and the horrible grinding rattle of the machine guns in
+the tops that sounded clearly above all, and every few seconds came
+the scream and the bang of bursting shells, and the dull, crashing
+sound of rending and breaking steel, as the terrible missiles of
+death and destruction found their destined mark.
+
+Happily the _Lurline_ was out of the line of fire, or she would have
+been torn to fragments and sent to the bottom in a few seconds. She
+continued on her course at her utmost speed, and the French cruiser
+was, of course, too busy to pay any further attention to her. Not so
+the remaining torpedo-boat, however, which, leaving the two big ships
+to fight out their duel for the present, was pursuing the yacht at
+the utmost speed of her forced draught.
+
+Capture or destruction soon only became a matter of a few minutes.
+Tremayne, determined to hold on till he was sunk or sighted the
+air-ship, kept his flag flying and his engines working to the last
+ounce that the quivering boilers would stand, and the Frenchman,
+seeing that he was determined to escape if he could, opened fire on
+him with his twenty-pounder.
+
+Owing to the high speed of the two vessels, and the rolling of the
+torpedo-boat, not much execution was done at first; but, as the
+distance diminished, shell after shell crashed through the bulwarks
+of the _Lurline_, ripping them longitudinally, and tearing up the
+deck-planks with their jagged fragments. The wheel-house and the
+funnel escaped by a miracle, and the yacht being end on to her
+pursuer, the engines and boilers were comparatively safe.
+
+One boat had also escaped, and that was hanging ready to be lowered
+at a moment's notice.
+
+At last a shell struck the funnel, burst, and shattered it to
+fragments. Almost at the same moment the man in the fore-cross-trees,
+who had stuck to his post in defiance of the cannonade, sang out with
+a triumphant shout--
+
+"The air-ship! The air-ship!"
+
+Hardly had the words left his lips when a shell from the torpedo-boat
+struck the _Lurline_ under the quarter, and ripped one of her plates
+out like a sheet of paper. The next instant the engineer rushed up on
+deck, crying--
+
+"The bottom's out of her! She'll go down in five minutes!"
+
+Tremayne, who was the only man on deck save the look-out, ran out of
+the wheel-house, dived into the cabin, and a moment later reappeared
+with Natas in his arms, and followed by his two attendants. Then,
+without the loss of a second, but in perfect order, the quarter-boat
+was manned and lowered, and pulled clear of the ill-fated _Lurline_
+just as she pitched backwards into the sea and went down with a run,
+stern foremost.
+
+The air-ship, coming up at a tremendous speed, swooped suddenly down
+from a height of two thousand feet, and slowed up within a thousand
+yards of the torpedo-boat. A projectile rushed through the air and
+landed on the deck of the Frenchman. There was a flash of greenish
+flame, a cloud of mingled smoke and steam, and when this had drifted
+away there was not a vestige of the torpedo-boat to be seen. Then a
+few fragments of iron splashed into the water here and there, and
+that was all that betokened her fate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+ARMED NEUTRALITY.
+
+
+Hardly had the _Lurline_ disappeared than the air-ship was lying
+alongside the boat, floating on the water as easily and lightly as a
+seagull, and Natas and his two attendants, Tremayne, and the three
+men who had been saved from the yacht, were at once taken on board.
+
+It would be useless to interrupt the progress of the narrative to
+describe the welcoming greetings which passed between the rescued
+party and the crew of the _Ithuriel_, or the amazement of Arnold and
+his companions when Natasha threw her arms round the neck of the
+almost helpless cripple, who was rifted over the rail by Tremayne and
+his two attendants, kissed him on the brow, and said so that all
+could hear her--
+
+"We were in time! Thank God we were in time, my father!"
+
+Her father! This paralytic creature, who could not move a yard
+without the assistance of some one else--this was Natas, the father
+of Natasha, and the Master of the Terror, the man who had planned the
+ruin of a civilisation, and for all they knew might aspire to the
+empire of the world!
+
+It was marvellous, inconceivable, but there was no time to think
+about it now, for the two cruisers were still blazing away at each
+other, and Tremayne had determined to punish the Frenchman for his
+discourtesy in not answering his flag, and his inhumanity in firing
+on an unarmed vessel which was well known as a private pleasure-yacht
+all round the western and southern shores of Europe.
+
+As soon as Natas had been conveyed into the saloon, Tremayne, after
+returning Arnold's hearty handclasp, said to him--
+
+"That rascally Frenchman chased and fired on us, and then sent his
+torpedo-boat after us, without the slightest provocation. I purposely
+hoisted the Yacht Squadron flag to show that we were non-combatants,
+and still he sank us. I suppose he took the _Lurline_ for a fast
+despatch boat, but still he ought to have had the sense and the
+politeness to let her alone when he saw she was a yacht, so I want
+you to teach him better manners."
+
+"Certainly," replies Arnold. "I'll sink him for you in five seconds
+as soon as we get aloft again."
+
+"I don't want you to do that if you can help it. She has five or six
+hundred men on board, who are only doing as they are told, and we
+have not declared war on the world yet. Can't you disable her, and
+force her to surrender to the British cruiser that came to our
+rescue? You know we must have been sunk or captured half an hour ago
+if she had not turned up so opportunely, in spite of your so happily
+coming fifty miles this side of the rendezvous. I should like to
+return the compliment by delivering his enemy into his hand."
+
+"I quite see what you mean, but I'm afraid I can't guarantee success.
+You see, our artillery is intended for destruction, and not for
+disablement. Still I'll have a try with pleasure. I'll see if I can't
+disable his screws, only you mustn't blame me if he goes to the
+bottom by accident."
+
+"Certainly not, you most capable destroyer of life and property,"
+laughed Tremayne. "Only let him off as lightly as you can. Ah,
+Natasha! Good morning again! I suppose Natas has taken no harm from
+the unceremonious way in which I had to almost throw him on board the
+boat. Aërial voyaging seems to agree with you, you"--
+
+"Must not talk nonsense, my Lord of Alanmere, especially when there
+is sterner work in hand," interrupted Natasha, with a laugh. "What
+are you going to do with those two cruisers that are battering each
+other to pieces down there? Sink them both, or leave them to fight it
+out?"
+
+"Neither, with your permission, fair lady. The British cruiser saved
+us by coming on the scene at the right moment, and as the Frenchman
+fired upon us without due cause, I want Captain Arnold to disable her
+in some way and hand her over a prisoner to our rescuer."
+
+"Ah, that would be better, of course. One good turn deserves another.
+What are you going to do, Captain Arnold?"
+
+"Drop a small shell under his stern and disable his propellers, if I
+can do so without sinking him, which I am afraid is rather doubtful,"
+replied Arnold.
+
+While they were talking, the _Ithuriel_ had risen a thousand feet or
+so from the water, and had advanced to within about half a mile of
+the two cruisers, which were now manœuvring round each other at a
+distance of about a thousand yards, blazing away without cessation,
+and waiting for some lucky shot to partially disable one or the
+other, and so give an opportunity for boarding, or ramming.
+
+In the old days, when France and Britain had last grappled in the
+struggle for the mastery of the sea, the two ships would have been
+laid alongside each other long before this. But that was not to be
+thought of while those terrible machine guns were able to rain their
+hail of death down from the tops, and the quick-firing cannon were
+hurling their thirty shots a minute across the intervening space of
+water.
+
+The French cruiser had so far taken no notice of the sudden
+annihilation of her second torpedo-boat by the air-ship, but as soon
+as the latter made her way astern of her she seemed to scent
+mischief, and turned one of her three-barrelled Nordenfeldts on to
+her. The shots soon came singing about the _Ithuriel_ in somewhat
+unpleasant proximity, and Arnold said--
+
+"Monsieur seems to take us for a natural enemy, and if he wants fight
+he shall have it. If I don't disable him with this shot I'll sink him
+with the next."
+
+So saying he trained one of the broadside guns on the stern of the
+French cruiser, and at the right moment pressed the button. The shell
+bored its way through the air and down into the water until it struck
+and exploded against the submerged rudder.
+
+A huge column of foam rose up under the cruiser's stern; half lifted
+out of the water, she plunged forward with a mighty lurch, burying
+her forecastle in the green water, and then she righted and lay
+helpless upon the sea, deprived of the power of motion and steering,
+and with the useless steam roaring in great clouds from her pipes. A
+moment later she began to settle by the stern, showing that her after
+plates had been badly injured, if not torn away by the explosion.
+
+Meanwhile the _Ithuriel_ had shot away out of range until the two
+cruisers looked like little toy-ships spitting fire at each other,
+and Arnold said to Tremayne, who was with him in the wheel-house--
+
+"I think that has settled her, as far as any more real fighting is
+concerned. Look! She can't stand that sort of thing very long."
+
+He handed Tremayne the glasses as he spoke. The French cruiser was
+lying motionless upon the water, with her after compartments full,
+and very much down by the stern. She was still blazing away gamely
+with all her available guns, but it was obvious at a glance that she
+was now no match for her antagonist, who had taken full advantage of
+the help rendered by her unknown ally, and was pouring a perfect hail
+of shot and shell point-blank into her half-disabled adversary,
+battering her deck-works into ruins, and piercing her hull again and
+again.
+
+At length, when the splendid fabric had been reduced to little better
+than a floating wreck by the terrible cannonade, the fire from the
+British cruiser stopped, and the signal "Will you surrender?" flew
+from her masthead.
+
+A few moments later the tricolor, for the first time in the war,
+dipped to the White Ensign, and the naval duel was over.
+
+"Now we will leave them to talk it over," said Tremayne, shutting the
+glasses. "I should like to hear what they have to say about us, I
+must confess, but there is something more important to be done, and
+the sooner we are on the other side of the Atlantic the better. The
+_Aurania_ started from New York this morning. How soon can you get
+across?"
+
+"In about sixteen hours if we had to go all the way," replied Arnold.
+"It is, say, three thousand miles from here to New York, and the
+_Ithuriel_ can fly two hundred miles an hour if necessary. But the
+_Aurania_, if she starts in good time, will make between four and
+five hundred miles during the day, and so we ought to meet her soon
+after sundown this evening if we are lucky."
+
+As Arnold ceased speaking, the report of a single gun came up from
+the water, and a string of signal flags floated out from the masthead
+of the British cruiser.
+
+"Hullo!" said Tremayne, once more turning the glasses on the two
+vessels, "that was a blank cartridge, and as far as I can make out
+that signal reads, 'We want to speak you.' And look: there goes a
+white flag to the fore. His intentions are evidently peaceful. What
+do you say, shall we go down?"
+
+"I see no objection to it. It will only make a difference of half an
+hour or so, and perhaps we may learn something worth knowing from the
+captain about the naval force afloat in the Atlantic. I think it
+would be worth while. We have no need for concealment now; and
+besides, all Europe is talking about us, so there can be no harm in
+showing ourselves a bit more closely."
+
+"Very well, then, we will go down and hear what he has to say,"
+replied Tremayne. "But I don't think it would be well for me to show
+myself just now, and so I will go below."
+
+Arnold at once signalled the necessary order from the conning tower
+to the engine-room. The fan-wheels revolved more slowly, and the
+_Ithuriel_ sank swiftly downwards towards the two cruisers, now lying
+side by side.
+
+As soon as she came to a standstill within speaking distance of the
+British man-of-war, discipline was for the moment forgotten on board
+of both victor and vanquished, under the influence of the intense
+excitement and curiosity aroused by seeing the mysterious and
+much-talked-of air-ship at such close quarters.
+
+The French and British captains were both standing on the
+quarter-deck eagerly scanning the strange craft through their glasses
+till she came near enough to dispense with them, and every man and
+officer on board the two cruisers who was able to be on deck, crowded
+to points of 'vantage, and stared at her with all their eyes. The
+whole company of the _Ithuriel_, with the exception of Natas,
+Tremayne, and those whose duties kept them in the engine-room, were
+also on deck, and Arnold stood close by the wheel-house and the after
+gun, ready to give any orders that might be necessary in case the
+conversation took an unfriendly turn.
+
+"May I ask the name of that wonderful craft, and to what I am
+indebted for the assistance you have given me?" hailed the British
+captain.
+
+"Certainly. This is the Terrorist air-ship _Ithuriel_, and we
+disabled the French cruiser because her captain had the bad manners
+to fire upon and sink an unarmed yacht that had no quarrel with him.
+But for that we should have left you to fight it out."
+
+"The Terrorists, are you? If I had known that, I confess I should not
+have asked to speak you, and I tell you candidly that I am sorry you
+did not leave us to fight it out, as you say. As I cannot look upon
+you as an ally or a friend, I can only regret the advantage you have
+given me over an honourable foe."
+
+There was an emphasis on the word "honourable" which brought a flush
+to Arnold's cheek, as he replied--
+
+"What I did to the French cruiser I should have done whether you had
+been on the scene or not. We are as much your foes as we are those of
+France, that is to say, we are totally indifferent to both of you. As
+for _honourable_ foes, I may say that I only disabled the French
+cruiser because I thought she had acted both unfairly and
+dishonourably. But we are wasting time. Did you merely wish to speak
+to us in order to find out who we were?"
+
+"Yes, that was my first object, I confess. I also wished to know
+whether this is the same air-ship which crossed the Mediterranean
+yesterday, and if not, how many of these vessels there are in
+existence, and what you mean to do with them?"
+
+"Before I answer, may I ask how you know that an air-ship crossed the
+Mediterranean yesterday?" asked Arnold, thoroughly mystified by this
+astounding piece of news.
+
+"We had it by telegraph at Queenstown during the night. She was going
+northward, when observed, by Larnaka"--
+
+"Oh yes, that was one of our despatch boats," replied Arnold, forcing
+himself to speak with a calmness that he by no means felt. "I'm
+afraid my orders will hardly allow me to answer your other questions
+very fully, but I may tell you that we have a fleet of air-ships at
+our command, all constructed in England under the noses of your
+intelligent authorities, and that we mean to use them as it seems
+best to us, should we at any time consider it worth our while to
+interfere in the game that the European Powers are playing with each
+other. Meanwhile we keep a position of armed neutrality. When we
+think the war has gone far enough we shall probably stop it when a
+good opportunity offers."
+
+This was too much for a British sailor to listen to quietly on his
+own quarter-deck, whoever said it, and so the captain of the
+_Andromeda_ forgot his prudence for the moment, and said somewhat
+hotly--
+
+"Confound it, sir! you talk as if you were omnipotent and arbiters of
+peace and war. Don't go too far with your insolence, or I shall haul
+that flag of truce down and give you five minutes to get out of range
+of my guns or take your chance"--
+
+For all answer there came a contemptuous laugh from the deck of the
+_Ithuriel_, the rapid ringing of an electric bell, and the
+disappearance of her company under cover. Then with one mighty leap
+she rose two thousand feet into the air, and before the astounded and
+disgusted captain of H.M. cruiser _Andromeda_ very well knew what had
+become of her, she was a mere speck of light in the sky, speeding
+away at two hundred miles an hour to the westward.
+
+As soon as she was fairly on her course, Arnold gave up the wheel to
+one of the crew, and went into the saloon to discuss with Tremayne
+and Natas the all-important scrap of news that had fallen from the
+lips of the captain of the British cruiser. What was the other
+air-ship that had been seen crossing the Mediterranean?
+
+Surely it must be one of the Terrorist fleet, for there were no
+others in existence. And yet strict orders had been given that none
+of the fleet were to take the air until the _Ithuriel_ returned. Was
+it possible that there were traitors, even in Aeria, and that the
+air-ship seen from Larnaka was a deserter going northward to the
+enemy, the worst enemy of all, the Russians?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+A BATTLE IN THE NIGHT.
+
+
+At half-past five on the morning of the 23rd of June, the Cunard
+liner _Aurania_ left New York for Queenstown and Liverpool. She was
+the largest and swiftest passenger steamer afloat, and on her maiden
+voyage she had lowered the Atlantic record by no less than twelve
+hours; that is to say, she had performed the journey from Sandy Hook
+to Queenstown in four days and a half exactly. Her measurement was
+forty-five thousand tons, and her twin screws, driven by quadruple
+engines, developing sixty thousand horse-power, forced her through
+the water at the unparalleled speed of thirty knots, or thirty-four
+and a half statute miles an hour.
+
+Since the outbreak of the war it had been found necessary to take all
+but the most powerful vessels off the Atlantic route, for, as had
+long been foreseen, the enemies of the Anglo-German Alliance were
+making the most determined efforts to cripple the Transatlantic trade
+of Britain and Germany, and swift, heavily-armed French and Italian
+cruisers, attended by torpedo-boats and gun-boats, and supported by
+battle-ships and depôt vessels for coaling purposes, were swarming
+along the great ocean highway.
+
+These, of course, had to be opposed by an equal or greater force of
+British warships. In fact, the burden of keeping the Atlantic route
+open fell entirely on Britain, for the German and Austrian fleets had
+all the work they were capable of doing nearer home in the Baltic and
+Mediterranean.
+
+The terrible mistake that had been made by the House of Lords in
+negativing the Italian Loan had already become disastrously apparent,
+for though the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance was putting forth every
+effort, its available ships were only just sufficient to keep the
+home waters clear and the ocean routes practically open, even for the
+fastest steamers.
+
+The task, therefore, which lay before the _Aurania_ when she cleared
+American waters was little less than running the gauntlet for nearly
+three thousand miles. The French cruiser which had been captured by
+the _Andromeda_, thanks to the assistance of the _Ithuriel_, had left
+Brest with the express purpose of helping to intercept the great
+Cunarder, for she had crossed the Atlantic five times already without
+a scratch since the war had begun, showing a very clean pair of heels
+to everything that had attempted to overhaul her, and now on her
+sixth passage a grand effort was to be made to capture or cripple the
+famous ocean greyhound.
+
+It was by far her most important voyage in more senses than one. In
+the first place, her incomparable speed and good luck had made her
+out of sight the prime favourite with those passengers who were
+obliged to cross the Atlantic, war or no war, and for the same
+reasons she also carried more mails and specie than any other liner,
+and this voyage she had an enormously valuable consignment of both on
+board. As for passengers, every available foot of space was taken for
+months in advance.
+
+Enterprising agents on both sides of the water had bought up every
+berth from stem to stern, and had put them up to auction, realising
+fabulous prices, which had little chance of being abated, even when
+her sister ship the _Sidonia_, the construction of which was being
+pushed forward on the Clyde with all possible speed, was ready to
+take the water.
+
+But the chief importance of this particular passage lay, though
+barely half a dozen persons were aware of it, in the fact that among
+her passengers was Michael Roburoff, chief of the American Section of
+the Terrorists, who was bringing to the Council his report of the
+work of the Brotherhood in the United States, together with the
+information which he had collected, by means of an army of spies, as
+to the true intentions of the American Government with regard to the
+war.
+
+These, so far as the rest of the world was concerned, were a profound
+secret, and he was the only man outside the President's Cabinet and
+the Tsar's Privy Council who had accurate information with regard to
+them. The _Aurania_ was therefore not only carrying mails, treasure,
+and passengers, but, in the person of Michael Roburoff, she was
+carrying secrets on the revelation of which the whole issue of the
+war and the destiny of the world might turn.
+
+America was the one great Power not involved in the tremendous
+struggle that was being waged. The most astute diplomatist in Europe
+had no idea what her real policy was, but every one knew that the
+side on which she threw the weight of her boundless wealth and vast
+resources must infallibly win in the long run.
+
+The plan that had been adopted by Britain for keeping the Atlantic
+route open was briefly as follows:--All along the 3000 miles of the
+steamer track a battleship was stationed at the end of every day's
+run, that is to say, at intervals of about 500 miles, and patrolled
+within a radius of 100 miles. Each of these was attended by two
+heavily-armed cruisers and four torpedo-boats, while between these
+points swifter cruisers were constantly running to and fro convoying
+the liners.
+
+Thus, when the _Aurania_ left New York, she was picked up on the
+limit of the American water by two cruisers, which would keep pace
+with her as well as they could until she reached the first
+battleship. As she passed the ironclad these two would leave her, and
+the next two would take up the running, and so on until she reached
+the range of operations of the Irish Squadron.
+
+No other Power in the world could have maintained such a system of
+ocean police, but Britain was putting forth the whole of her mighty
+naval strength, and so she spared neither ships nor money to keep
+open the American and Canadian routes, for on them nearly half her
+food-supply depended, as well as her chief line of communication with
+the far East.
+
+On the other hand, her enemies were making desperate efforts to break
+the chain of steel that was thus stretched across the hemisphere, for
+they well knew that, this once broken, the first real triumph of the
+war would have been won.
+
+Five hundred miles out from New York the _Aurania_ was joined by the
+_Oceana_, the largest vessel on the Canadian Pacific line from
+Halifax to Liverpool. So far no enemy had been seen. The two great
+liners reached the first battleship together, and were joined by the
+second pair of cruisers. Before sunset the Cunarder had drawn ahead
+of her companions, and by nightfall was racing away alone over the
+water with every light carefully concealed, and keeping an eager
+look-out for friend or foe.
+
+There was no moon, and the sky was so heavily overcast with clouds,
+that, under any other circumstances, it would have been the height of
+rashness to go rushing through the darkness at such a headlong speed.
+But the captain of the _Aurania_ was aware of the state of the road,
+and he knew that in speed and secrecy lay his only chances of getting
+his magnificent vessel through in safety.
+
+Soon after ten o'clock lights were sighted dead ahead. The course was
+slightly altered, and the great liner swept past one of the North
+German Lloyd boats in company with a cruiser. The private signal was
+made and answered, and in half an hour she was again alone amidst the
+darkness.
+
+It was nearly eleven o'clock, when Michael Roburoff, who was standing
+under the lee of one of the ventilators amidships, smoking a last
+pipe before turning in, saw a figure muffled in a huge grey ulster
+creeping into the deeper shadows under the bridge. It was so dark
+that he could only just make out the outline of the figure, but he
+could see enough to rouse his ever ready suspicions in the furtive
+movements that the man was making.
+
+He stole out on the starboard, that is the southward, rail of the
+spar-deck, and Michael, straining his eyes to the utmost, saw him
+take a round flat object from under his coat, and then look round
+stealthily to see if he was observed. As he did so Michael whipped a
+pistol out of his pocket, levelled it at the man, and said in a low,
+distinct tone--
+
+"Put that back, or I'll shoot!"
+
+For all answer the man raised his arm to throw the object overboard.
+Michael, taking the best aim he could in the darkness, fired. The
+bullet struck the elbow of the raised arm, the man lurched forward
+with a low cry of rage and pain, grasped the object with his other
+hand, and, as he fell to the deck, flung it into the sea.
+
+Scarcely had it touched the water when it burst into flame, and an
+intensely bright blaze of bluish-white light shot up, shattering the
+darkness, and illuminating the great ship from the waterline to the
+trucks of her masts. Instantly the deck of the liner was a scene of
+wild excitement. In a moment the man whom Roburoff had wounded was
+secured in the act of trying to throw himself overboard. Michael
+himself was rapidly questioned by the captain, who was immediately on
+the spot.
+
+He told his story in a dozen words, and explained that he had fired
+to disable the man and prevent the fire-signal falling into the sea.
+There was no doubt about the guilt of the traitor, for he himself cut
+the captain's interrogation short by saying defiantly, in broken
+English that at once betrayed him as a Frenchman--
+
+"Yees, I do it! I give signal to ze fleet down there. If I succeeded,
+I got half million francs. I fail, so shoot! C'est la fortune de la
+guerre! Voilà, look! They come!"
+
+As the spy said this he pointed to the south-eastern horizon. A brief
+bright flash of white light went up through the night and vanished.
+It was the answering signal from the French or Italian cruisers,
+which were making all speed up from the south-east to head off the
+_Aurania_ before she reached the next station and gained the
+protection of the British battleship.
+
+The spy's words were only too true. He had gone to America for the
+sole purpose of returning in the _Aurania_ and giving the signal at
+this particular point on the passage. Within ten miles were four of
+the fleetest French and Italian cruisers, six torpedo-boats, and two
+battleships, which, by keeping well to the southward during the day,
+and then putting on all steam as soon as night fell, had managed to
+head off the ocean greyhound at last.
+
+Two cruisers and a battleship with two torpedo-boats were coming up
+from the south-east; one cruiser, the other battleship, and two
+torpedo-boats were bearing down from the south-west, and the
+remaining cruiser and brace of torpedo-boats had managed to slip
+through the British line and gain a position to the northward.
+
+This large force had not been brought up without good reason. The
+_Aurania_ was the biggest prize afloat, and well worth fighting for,
+if it came to blows, as it very probably would do; added to which
+there was a very good chance of one or two other liners falling
+victims to a well-planned and successful raid.
+
+The French spy was at once sent below and put into safe keeping, and
+the signal to "stoke up" was sent to the engine-rooms. The firemen
+responded with a will, extra hands were put on in the stokeholes, and
+the furnaces taxed to their utmost capacity. The boilers palpitated
+under the tremendous head of steam, the engines throbbed and groaned
+like labouring giants, and the great ship, trembling like some live
+animal under the lash, rushed faster and faster over the long dark
+rollers under the impulse of her whirling screws.
+
+There was no longer any need for concealment even if it had been
+possible. Speed and speed only afforded the sole chance of escape. Of
+course the captain of the _Aurania_ had no idea of the strength or
+disposition of the force that had undertaken his capture. Had he
+known the true state of the case, his anxiety would have been a good
+deal greater than it was. He fully believed that he could outsteam
+the vessels to the south-east, and, once past these, he knew that he
+would be in touch with the British ships at the next station before
+any harm could come to him. He therefore headed a little more to the
+northward, and trusted with perfect confidence to his heels.
+
+Michael Roburoff was the hero of the moment, and the captain
+cordially thanked him for his prompt attempt to frustrate the
+atrocious act of the spy which deliberately endangered the liberty
+and perhaps the lives of more than a thousand non-combatants.
+Michael, however, cut his thanks short by taking him aside and asking
+him what he thought of the position of affairs. He spoke so seriously
+that the captain thought he was frightened, and by way of reassuring
+him replied cheerily--
+
+"Don't have any fear for the _Aurania_, Mr. Roburoff. That's only a
+cruiser, or perhaps a couple, down there, and the enemy haven't a
+ship that I can't give a good five knots and a beating to. We shall
+sight the British ships soon after daybreak, and by that time those
+fellows will be fifty miles behind us."
+
+"I have as much confidence in the _Aurania's_ speed as you have,
+Captain Frazer," replied Michael, "but I'm afraid you are underrating
+the enemy's strength. Do you know that within the last few days it
+has been almost doubled, and that a determined effort is to be made,
+not only to catch or sink the _Aurania_, but also to break the
+British line of posts, and cut the line of American and Canadian
+communication altogether?"
+
+"No, sir," replied the captain, looking sharply at Michael. "I don't
+know anything of the sort, neither do the commanders of the British
+warships on this side. If your information is correct, I should like
+to know how you came by it. You are a Russian by name"--
+
+"But not a subject of the Tsar," quickly interrupted Michael. "I am
+an American citizen, and I have come by this information not as the
+friend of Russia, as you seem to suspect, but as her enemy, or rather
+as the enemy of her ruler. How I got it is my business. It is enough
+for you to know that it is correct, and that you are in far greater
+danger than you think you are. The signal given by that French spy
+was evidently part of a prearranged plan, and for all you know you
+may even now be surrounded, or steaming straight into a trap that has
+been laid for you. If I may advise, I would earnestly counsel you to
+double on your course and make every effort to rejoin the other liner
+and the cruisers we have passed."
+
+"Nonsense, sir, nonsense!" answered the captain testily. "Our
+watch-dogs are far too wide awake to be caught napping like that. You
+have been deceived by one of the rumours that are filling the air
+just now. You can go to your berth and sleep in peace, and to-morrow
+you shall be half-way across the Atlantic without an enemy's ship in
+sight."
+
+"Captain Frazer," said Michael very seriously, "with your leave I
+shall not go to my berth; and what is more, I can tell you that very
+few of us will get much sleep to-night, and that if you do not back I
+hardly think you will be flying the British flag to-morrow. Ha! look
+there--and there!"
+
+Michael seized the captain's arm suddenly, and pointed rapidly to the
+south-east and north-east. Two thin rays of light flashed up into the
+sky one after the other. Then came a third from the south-west, and
+then darkness again. At the same instant came the hails from the
+look-outs announcing the lights.
+
+Captain Frazer was wrong, and he saw that he was at a glance. The
+flash in the north-east could not be from a friend, for it was a
+plain answer to the known enemy in the south-east, and so too in all
+probability was the third. If so, the _Aurania_ was almost
+surrounded.
+
+The captain wasted no words in confessing his error, but ran up on to
+the bridge to rectify it as far as he could at once. The helm was put
+hard over, the port screw was reversed, and the steamer swung round
+in a wide sweep, and was soon speeding back westward over her own
+tracks. An hour's run brought her in sight of the lights of the
+_North German_ and her escort. She slowed as she passed them, and
+told the news. Then she sped on again at full-speed to meet the
+_Oceana_ and the two cruisers, which were about fifty miles behind.
+
+By one A.M. the three cruisers and the three liners had joined
+forces, and were steaming westward at twenty knots an hour, the
+liners in single file led by a cruiser, and having one on each beam.
+Soon the flashes on the horizon grew more frequent, always drawing
+closer together.
+
+Then those in the westward dropped from the perpendicular to the
+horizontal, and swept the water as though seeking something. It was
+not long before the darting rays of one of the searchlights fell
+across the track of the British flotilla. Instantly from all three
+points converging flashes were concentrated upon it, revealing the
+outline of every ship with the most perfect distinctness.
+
+The last hope of running through the hostile fleet unperceived had
+now vanished. There was nothing for it but to go ahead full-speed,
+and trust to the chances of a running fight to get clear. With a view
+of finding out the strength of the enemy, the British cruisers now
+turned their searchlights on and swept the horizon.
+
+A very few moments sufficed to show that an overwhelming force was
+closing in on them from three sides. They were completely caught in a
+trap, from which there was no escape save by running the gauntlet.
+Whichever way they headed they would have to pass through the
+converging fire of the enemy.
+
+The weakest point, so far as they could see, was the one cruiser and
+two torpedo-boats to the northward, and so towards them they headed.
+At the speed at which they were travelling it needed but a few
+minutes to bring them within range, and the British commanders
+rightly decided to concentrate their fire for the present on the
+single cruiser and her two attendants, in the hope of sinking them
+before the others could get into action.
+
+At three thousand yards the heavy guns came into play, and a storm of
+shell was hurled upon the advancing foe, who lost no time in replying
+in the same terms. As the vessels approached each other the shooting
+became closer and terribly effective.
+
+The searchlights of the British cruisers were kept full ahead, and
+every attempt of the torpedo-boats to get round on the flank was
+foiled by a hail of shot from the quick-firing guns. Within fifteen
+minutes of opening fire one of these was sunk and the other disabled.
+The French cruiser, too, suffered fearfully from the tempest of shot
+and shell that was rained upon her.
+
+Had the British got within range of her half an hour sooner the plan
+would have been completely foiled. As it was, her fate was sealed,
+but it was too late. The three British warships rushed at her
+together, vomiting flame and smoke and iron across the
+rapidly-decreasing distance, until within five hundred yards of her.
+Then the fire from the two on either flank suddenly stopped.
+
+The centre one, still blazing away, put on her forced draught,
+swerved sharply round, and then darted in on her with the ram. There
+was a terrific shock, a heavy, grinding crunch, and then the mighty
+mass of the charging vessel, hurled at nearly thirty miles an hour
+upon her victim, bored and ground her resistless way into her side.
+
+Then she suddenly reversed her engines and backed out. In less than
+thirty seconds it was all over. The Frenchman, almost cut in half by
+the frightful blow, reeled once, and once only, and then went down
+like a stone.
+
+But by this time the other two divisions of the enemy were within
+range, and through the roar of the lighter artillery now came the
+deep, sullen boom of the big guns on the battleships, and the great
+thousand-pound projectiles began to scream through the air and fling
+the water up into mountains of foam where they pitched.
+
+Where one of them struck, death and destruction would follow as
+surely as though it were a thunderbolt from Heaven. The three liners
+scattered and steamed away to the northward as fast as their
+propellers would drive them. But what was their utmost speed to that
+of the projectiles cleaving through the air at more than two thousand
+feet a second?
+
+See! one at length strikes the German liner square amidships, and
+bursts. There is a horrible explosion. The searchlight thrown on her
+shows a cloud of steam and smoke and flame rising up from her riven
+decks. Where her funnels were is a huge ragged black hole. This is
+visible for an instant, then her back breaks, and in two halves she
+follows the French cruiser to the bottom of the Atlantic.
+
+The sinking of the German liner was the signal for the appearance of
+a new actor on the scene, and the commencement of a work of
+destruction more appalling than anything that human warfare had so
+far known.
+
+Michael Roburoff, standing on the spar-deck of the flying _Aurania_,
+suddenly saw a bright stream of light shoot down from the clouds, and
+flash hither and thither, till it hovered over the advancing French
+and Italian squadron. For the moment the combat ceased, so astounded
+were the combatants on both sides at this mysterious apparition.
+
+Then, without the slightest warning, with no flash or roar of guns,
+there came a series of frightful explosions among the ships of the
+pursuers. They followed each other so quickly that the darkness
+behind the electric lights seemed lit with a continuous blaze of
+livid green flame for three or four minutes.
+
+Then there was darkness and silence. Black darkness and absolute
+silence. The searchlights were extinguished, and the roar of the
+artillery was still. The British waited in dazed silence for it to
+begin again, but it never did. The whole of the pursuing squadron had
+been annihilated.
+
+[Illustration: "This mysterious apparition."
+
+_See page 178._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE NEW WARFARE.
+
+
+It will now be necessary, in order to insure the continuity of the
+narrative, to lay before the reader a brief sketch of the course of
+events in Europe from the actual commencement of hostilities on a
+general scale between the two immense forces which may be most
+conveniently designated as the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance and the
+Franco-Slavonian League.
+
+In order that these two terms may be fully understood, it will be
+well to explain their general constitution. When the two forces, into
+which the declaration of war ultimately divided the nations of
+Europe, faced each other for the struggle which was to decide the
+mastery of the Western world, the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance consisted
+primarily of Britain, Germany, and Austria, and, ranged under its
+banner, whether from choice or necessity, stood Holland, Belgium, and
+Denmark in the north-west, with Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey in the
+south-west.
+
+Egypt was strongly garrisoned for the land defence of the Suez Canal
+and the high road to the East by British, Indian, and Turkish troops.
+British and Belgian troops held Antwerp and the fortresses of the
+Belgian Quadrilateral in force.
+
+A powerful combined fleet of British, Danish, and Dutch war vessels
+of all classes held the approaches by the Sound and Kattegat to the
+Baltic Sea, and co-operated in touch with the German fleet; the Dutch
+and the German having, at any rate for the time being, and under the
+pressure of irresistible circumstances, laid aside their hereditary
+national hatred, and consented to act as allies under suitable
+guarantees to Holland.
+
+The co-operation of Denmark had been secured, in spite of the family
+connections existing between the Danish and the Russian Courts, and
+the rancour still remaining from the old Schleswig-Holstein quarrel,
+by very much the same means that had been taken in the historic days
+of the Battle of the Baltic. It is true that matters had not gone so
+far as they went when Nelson disobeyed orders by putting his
+telescope to his blind eye, and engaged the Danish fleet in spite of
+the signals; but a demonstration of such overwhelming force had been
+made by sea and land on the part of Britain and Germany, that the
+House of Dagmar had bowed to the inevitable, and ranged itself on the
+side of the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance.
+
+Marshalled against this imposing array of naval and military force
+stood the Franco-Slavonian League, consisting primarily of France,
+Russia, and Italy, supported--whether by consent or necessity--by
+Spain, Portugal, and Servia. The co-operation of Spain had been
+purchased by the promise of Gibraltar at the conclusion of the war,
+and that of Portugal by the guarantee of a largely increased sphere
+of influence on the West Coast of Africa, plus the Belgian States of
+the Congo.
+
+Roumania and Switzerland remained neutral, the former to be a
+battlefield for the neighbouring Powers, and the latter for the
+present safe behind her ramparts of everlasting snow and ice.
+Scandinavia also remained neutral, the sport of the rival diplomacies
+of East and West, but not counted of sufficient importance to
+materially influence the colossal struggle one way or the other.
+
+In round numbers the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance had seven millions of
+men on the war footing, including, of course, the Indian and Colonial
+forces of the British Empire, while in case of necessity urgent
+levies were expected to produce between two and three millions more.
+Opposed to these, the Franco-Slavonian League had about ten millions
+under arms, with nearly three millions in reserve.
+
+As regards naval strength, the Alliance was able to pit rather more
+than a thousand warships of all classes, and about the same number of
+torpedo-boats, against nearly nine hundred warships and about seven
+hundred torpedo-boats at the disposal of the League.
+
+In addition to this latter armament, it is very necessary to name a
+fleet of a hundred war-balloons of the type mentioned in an earlier
+chapter, fifty of which belonged to Russia and fifty to France. No
+other European Power possessed any engine of destruction that was
+capable of being efficiently matched against the invention of M.
+Riboult, who was now occupying the position of Director of the aërial
+fleet in the service of the League.
+
+It would be both a tedious repetition of sickening descriptions of
+scenes of bloodshed and a useless waste of space, to enumerate in
+detail all the series of conflicts by sea and land which resulted
+from the collision of the tremendous forces which were thus arrayed
+against each other in a conflict that was destined to be unparalleled
+in the history of the human race.
+
+To do so would be to occupy pages filled with more or less technical
+descriptions of strategic movements, marches, and countermarches,
+skirmishes, reconnaissances, and battles, which followed each other
+with such unparalleled rapidity that the combined efforts of the war
+correspondents of the European press proved entirely inadequate to
+keep pace with them in the form of anything like a continuous
+narrative.
+
+It will therefore be necessary to ask the reader to remain content
+with such brief summary as has been given, supplemented with the
+following extracts from a very lengthy _résumé_ of the leading events
+of the war up to date, which were published in a special War
+Supplement issued by the _Daily Telegraph_ on the morning of Tuesday
+the 28th of June 1904:--
+
+"Although little more than a period of six weeks has elapsed since
+the actual outbreak of hostilities which marked the commencement of
+what, be its issue what it may, must indubitably prove the most
+colossal struggle in the history of human warfare, changes have
+already occurred which must infallibly mark their effect upon the
+future destiny of the world. Almost as soon as the first shot was
+fired the nations of Europe, as if by instinct or under the influence
+of some power higher than that of international diplomacy,
+automatically marshalled themselves into the two most mighty hosts
+that have ever trod the field of battle since man first fought with
+man.
+
+"Not less than twenty millions of men are at this moment facing each
+other under arms throughout the area of the war. These are almost
+equally divided; for, although what is now known as the
+Franco-Slavonian League has some three millions of men more on land,
+it may be safely stated that the preponderance of naval strength
+possessed by the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance fully counterbalances this
+advantage.
+
+"There is, however, another most important element which has now for
+the first time been introduced into warfare, and which, although it
+is most unhappily arrayed amongst the forces opposed to our own
+country and her gallant allies, it would be both idle and most
+imprudent to ignore. We refer, of course, to the two fleets of
+war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable
+aerostats, possessed by France and Russia.
+
+"So tremendous has been the influence which these terrible inventions
+have exercised upon the course of the war, that we are not
+transgressing the bounds of sober truth when we say that they have
+utterly disconcerted and brought to nought the highest strategy and
+the most skilfully devised plans of the brilliant array of masters of
+the military art whose presence adorns the ranks and enlightens the
+councils of the Alliance.
+
+"Since the day when the Russians crossed the German and Austrian
+frontiers, and the troops of France and Italy simultaneously flung
+themselves across the western frontiers of Germany and through the
+passes of the Tyrol, their progress, unparalleled in rapidity even by
+the marvellous marches of Napoleon, has been marked, not by what we
+have hitherto been accustomed to call battles, but rather by a series
+of colossal butcheries.
+
+"In every case of any moment the method of procedure on the part of
+the attacking forces has been the same, and, with the deepest regret
+we confess it, it has been marked with the same unvarying success.
+Whenever a large army has been set in motion upon a predetermined
+point of attack, whether a fortress, an entrenched camp, or a
+strongly occupied position in the field, a squadron of aerostats has
+winged its way through the air under cover of the darkness of night,
+and silently and unperceived has marked the disposition of forces,
+the approximate strength of the army or the position to be attacked,
+and, as far as they were observable, the points upon which the attack
+could be most favourably delivered. Then they have returned with
+their priceless information, and, according to it, the assailants
+have been able, in every case so far, to make their assault where
+least expected, and to make it, moreover, upon an already partially
+demoralised force.
+
+"From the detailed descriptions which we have already published of
+battles and sieges, or rather of the storming of great fortresses, it
+will be remembered that every assault on the part of the troops of
+the League has been preceded by a preliminary and irresistible attack
+from the clouds.
+
+"The aerostats have stationed themselves at great elevations over the
+ramparts of fortresses and the bivouacs of armies, and have rained
+down a hail of dynamite, melinite, fire-shells and cyanogen
+poison-grenades, which have at once put guns out of action, blown up
+magazines, rendered fortifications untenable, and rent masses of
+infantry and squadrons of cavalry into demoralised fragments, before
+they had the time or the opportunity to strike a blow in reply. Then
+upon these silenced batteries, these wrecked fortifications, and
+these demoralised brigades, there has been poured a storm of
+artillery fire from the untouched enemy, advancing in perfect order,
+and inspired with high-spirited confidence, which has been
+irresistibly opposed to the demoralisation of their enemies.
+
+"Is it any wonder, or any disgrace, to the defeated, that under such
+novel and appalling conditions the orderly and disciplined onslaughts
+of the legions of the League have in almost every case been
+completely successful? The sober truth is that the invention and
+employment of these devastating appliances have completely altered
+the face of the field of battle and the conditions of modern warfare.
+It is not in human valour, no matter how heroic or self-devoted it
+may be, to oppose itself with anything like confidence to an enemy
+which strikes from the skies, and cannot be struck in return.
+
+"It was thus that the battles of Alexandrovo, Kalisz, and Czernowicz
+were won in the early stages of the war upon the Austro-German
+frontier. So, too, in the Rhine Provinces, were the battles of
+Treves, Mulhausen, and Freiburg turned by the aid of the French
+aerostats from battles into butcheries. It was under the assault of
+these irresistible engines that the great fortresses of Königsberg,
+Thorn, Breslau, Strasburg, and Metz, to say nothing of many minor,
+but strongly fortified, places, were first reduced to a state of
+impotence for defence, and then battered into ruins by the siege-guns
+of the assailants.
+
+"All these terrible events, forming a series of catastrophes
+unparalleled in the annals of war, are still fresh in the minds of
+our readers, for they have followed one upon the other with almost
+stupefying rapidity, and it is yet hardly six weeks since the
+Cossacks and Uhlans were engaged in their first skirmish near Gnesen.
+
+"This is an amazingly brief space of time for the fate of empires to
+be decided, and yet we are forced, with the utmost sorrow and
+reluctance, to admit that what were two months ago the magnificently
+disciplined and equipped armies of Germany and Austria, are now
+completely shattered and broken up into fragmentary and isolated army
+corps, decimated as to numbers and demoralised as to discipline,
+gathered in and about such strong places as are left to them, and
+awaiting only with the courage of desperation the moment, we fear the
+inevitable moment, when they shall be finally crushed between the
+rapidly converging hosts of the victorious League.
+
+"Within the next few days, Berlin, Hanover, Prague, Munich, and
+Vienna must be invested, and may possibly be destroyed or compelled
+to ignominious and unconditional surrender by the irresistible forces
+that will be arrayed against them.
+
+"Meanwhile, with still deeper regret, we are forced to confess that
+those operations in the Low Countries and the east of Europe and Asia
+Minor in which our own gallant troops have been engaged in
+conjunction with their several allies, have been, if not equally
+disastrous, at least void of any tangible success.
+
+"Erzeroum, Trebizond, and Scutari have fallen; the passes of the
+Balkans have been forced, although at immense cost to the enemy;
+Belgrade has been stormed; Adrianople is invested, and Constantinople
+is therefore most seriously threatened.
+
+"By heroic efforts the French attack upon the Quadrilateral has been
+rolled back at a fearful expense of human life. Antwerp is still
+untouched, and the command of the Baltic is still ours. In our own
+waters, as well as in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, we have won
+victories which prove that Great Britain is still the unconquered,
+and we trust unconquerable, mistress of the seas. We have kept the
+Dardanelles open, and the Suez Canal is still inviolate.
+
+"Two combined attacks, delivered by the allied French and Italian
+squadrons on Malta and Gibraltar, have been repulsed by Admiral
+Beresford with heavy loss to the enemy, thanks to the timely warning
+delivered to Mr. Balfour by the Earl of Alanmere--upon whose
+mysterious disappearance we comment in another column--and the Prime
+Minister's prompt and statesmanlike action in doubling the strength
+of the Mediterranean fleet before the outbreak of hostilities.
+
+"Thanks to the tireless activity and splendid handling of the Channel
+fleet, the North Sea Division, and the Irish Squadron, the enemy's
+flag has been practically swept from the home waters, and the shores
+of our beloved country are as inviolate as they have been for more
+than seven centuries. These brilliant achievements go far to
+compensate us as an individual nation for the disasters which have
+befallen our allies on the Continent, and, in addition, we have the
+satisfaction of knowing that, so far, the most complete success has
+attended our arms in the East, and that the repeated and determined
+assaults of our Russian foes have been triumphantly hurled back from
+the impregnable bulwarks of our Indian Empire.
+
+"It has been pointed out, and it would be vain to ignore the fact,
+that not only have all our victories been won in the absence of the
+aërial fleets of the League; but that we, in common with our allies,
+have been worsted in each of the happily few cases in which even one
+of these terrible aerostats has delivered its assaults upon us.
+Against this, however, we take leave to set our belief that these
+machines do not yet inspire sufficient confidence in their possessors
+to warrant them in undertaking operations above the sea, or at any
+considerable distance from their bases of manœuvring. It is true that
+we are entirely ignorant of the essentials of their construction; but
+the fact that no attempt has yet been made to send them into action
+over blue water inspires us with the hope and belief that their
+effective range of operations is confined to the land....
+
+"It would be superfluous to say that the British Empire is now
+involved in a struggle in comparison with which all our former wars
+sink into absolute insignificance, a struggle which will tax its
+immense resources to the very utmost. Nothing, however, has yet
+occurred to warrant the belief that those resources will not prove
+equal to the strain, or that the greatest empire on earth will not
+emerge from this combat of the giants with her ancient glory enhanced
+by new and hitherto unequalled triumphs.
+
+"Certainly at no period in our history have we been so splendidly
+prepared to face our enemies both at home and abroad. All arms of the
+Services are in the highest state of efficiency, and the Government
+dockyards and arsenals, as well as private firms, are working day and
+night to still further strengthen them, and provide ample supplies of
+munitions of war. The hearts of all the nations united under our flag
+are beating as that of one man, and from the highest to the lowest
+ranks of Society all are inspired by a spirit of whole-souled
+patriotism which, if necessary, will make any sacrifice to preserve
+the flag untarnished, and the honour of Britain without a spot.
+
+"At the head of affairs stands the man who of all others has proved
+himself to be the most fitted to direct the destinies of the empire
+in this tremendous crisis of her history. Party feeling for the time
+being has almost entirely disappeared, save amongst the few scattered
+bands of isolated Revolutionaries and malcontents, and Mr. Balfour
+possesses the absolute confidence of his Majesty on the one hand, and
+the undivided support of an impregnable majority in both Houses of
+Parliament on the other. He is admirably seconded by such lieutenants
+as Lord Randolph Churchill, Sir Joseph Chamberlain, and Sir George J.
+Goschen on his own side of the House, and by the Earls of Rosebery
+and Morley, Lord Brassey, and Sir Charles Dilke in what, previous to
+the outbreak of the war, was the opposing political camp, but which
+is now a party as loyal as that of the Government to the best
+interests of the Empire, and fully determined to give the utmost
+possible moral support consistent with fair and impartial criticism.
+
+"The disastrous mistake which was made by a very small majority of
+the Upper House in rejecting the Government guarantee for the
+ill-fated Italian loan is now, of course, past repair; for Italy, as
+events have proved, exasperated by what her spokesmen termed her
+selfish betrayal by Britain, has passionately thrown herself into the
+arms of the League, and the Alliance has now no more bitter enemy
+than she is. It is, however, only justice to those who defeated the
+loan to add that they have now clearly seen and frankly owned their
+grievous mistake, and rallied as one man to the support of the
+Government."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+THE HERALDS OF DISASTER.
+
+
+Another column in the same issue contained an account of the
+"Mysterious Disappearance of Lord Alanmere" and the doings of the
+_Ithuriel_ in the Atlantic. The account concluded as follows:--
+
+"As the enemy's squadron came up in chase it was annihilated without
+warning and with appalling suddenness by the air-ship, which must
+have crossed the Atlantic in something like sixteen hours. After this
+fearful achievement it descended to the _Aurania_, took off a saloon
+passenger named Michael Roburoff, evidently, from his reception, a
+Terrorist himself, and then vanished through the clouds. For the
+present, and until we have fuller information, we attempt no detailed
+analysis of these astounding events. We merely content ourselves with
+saying in the most solemn words that we can use, that, awful and
+disastrous as is the war that is now raging throughout the greatest
+part of the old world, it is our firm belief that, behind the
+smoke-clouds of battle, and beneath the surface of visible events,
+there is working a secret power, possibly greater than any which has
+yet been called into action, and which at an unexpected moment may
+suddenly put forth its strength, upheave the foundations of Society,
+and bury existing institutions in the ruins of Civilisation.
+
+"One fact is quite manifest, and that is, that although the League
+possesses a weapon of fearful efficiency for destruction in their
+fleet of aerostats, the Terrorists, controlled by no law save their
+own, and hampered by no traditions or limitations of civilised
+warfare, are in command of another fleet of unknown strength, the
+air-ships of which are apparently as superior to the aerostats of the
+League as a modern battleship would be to a three-decker of the time
+of Nelson.
+
+"The power represented by such a fleet as this is absolutely
+inconceivable. The aerostats are large, clumsy, and comparatively
+slow. They do not carry guns, and can only drop their projectiles
+vertically downwards. Moreover, their sphere of operations has so far
+been entirely confined to the land.
+
+"Very different, however, would seem to be the powers of the
+Terrorist air-ships. They have proved conclusively that they are
+swift almost beyond imagination. They have crossed oceans and
+continents in a few hours; they can ascend to enormous heights, and
+they carry artillery of unknown design and tremendous range, whose
+projectiles excel in destructiveness the very lightnings of heaven
+itself.
+
+"In the presence of such an awful and mysterious power as this even
+the quarrels of nations seem to shrink into unimportance, and almost
+to pettiness. Where and when it may strike, no man knows save those
+who wield it, and therefore there is nothing for the peoples of the
+earth, however mighty they may be, to do but to await the blow in
+humiliating impotence, but still with a humble trust in that Higher
+Power which alone can save it from accomplishing the destruction of
+Society and the enslavement of the human race."
+
+It may well be imagined with what interest, and it may fairly be
+added with what intense anxiety, these words were read by hundreds of
+thousands of people throughout the British Islands. Even the news
+from the Seat of War began to pall in interest before such tidings as
+these, invested as they were with the irresistible if terrible charm
+of the unknown and the mysterious.
+
+By noon it was almost impossible to get any one in London or any of
+the large towns to talk of anything but the disappearance of Lord
+Alanmere, the Terrorists, and their marvellous aërial fleet. But it
+goes without saying that nowhere did the news produce greater
+distress or more utter bewilderment than it did among the occupants
+of Alanmere Castle, and especially in the breast of her who had been
+so quickly and so strangely installed as its new owner and mistress.
+
+Everywhere the wildest rumours passed from lip to lip, growing in
+sensation and absurdity as they went. A report, telegraphed by an
+anonymous idiot from Liverpool, to the effect that six air-ships had
+appeared over the Mersey, and demanded a ransom of £10,000,000 from
+the town, was eagerly seized on by the cheaper evening papers, which
+rushed out edition after edition on the strength of it, until the
+_St. James's Gazette_ put an end to the excitement by publishing a
+telegram from the Mayor of Liverpool denouncing the report as an
+insane and criminal hoax.
+
+The next edition of the _St. James's_, however, contained a telegram
+from Hiorring, in Denmark, _viâ_ Newcastle, which was of almost, if
+not quite, as startling and disquieting a nature, and which,
+moreover, contained a very considerable measure of truth. The
+telegram ran as follows:--
+
+      NAVAL DISASTER IN THE BALTIC.
+
+      _The Sound forced by a Russian Squadron, assisted by a
+      Terrorist Air-Ship._
+
+      (_From our own Correspondent._)
+
+      Hiorring, _June 28th_, 8 A.M.
+
+    With the deepest regret I have to record the first naval disaster
+    to the British arms during the present war. As soon as it became
+    dark last night heavy firing was heard from Copenhagen to the
+    southward, and before long the sound deepened into an almost
+    continuous roar of light and heavy guns.
+
+    Our naval force in the Baltic was so strong that it was deemed
+    incredible that the Russian fleet, which we have held imprisoned
+    here since the commencement of hostilities, should dream even of
+    making an attempt to escape. The cannonade, however, was the
+    beginning of such an attempt, and it is useless disguising the
+    fact that it has been completely successful. That this would have
+    been the case, or, indeed, that the attempt would ever have been
+    made by the Russian fleet alone, cannot be for a moment credited.
+    But, incredible as it seems, it is nevertheless true that it was
+    assisted, and that in a practically irresistible fashion, by one
+    of those air-ships which have hitherto been believed to belong
+    exclusively to the Terrorists, that is to say, to the deadliest
+    enemies that Russia possesses.
+
+    As nearly as is known the Russian fleet consisted of twelve
+    battleships, twenty-five armoured and unarmoured cruisers, and
+    about forty torpedo-boats. These came charging ahead at full
+    speed into the entrance to the Sound in spite of the overwhelming
+    force of the Allied fleets, supported by the fortresses of
+    Copenhagen and Elsinore. The attack was so sudden and so
+    completely unexpected, that it must be confessed the defenders
+    were to a certain extent taken unawares. The Russians came on in
+    the form of an elongated wedge, their most powerful vessels being
+    at the apex and external sides.
+
+    [Illustration: "On the water the results of the air-ship's attack
+    were destructive almost beyond description."
+
+    _See page 191._]
+
+    The firing was furious and sustained from beginning to end of the
+    rush, but the damage inflicted by the cannonade of the Russian
+    fleet and the torpedo-boats, which every now and then darted out
+    from between the warships as opportunity offered to employ their
+    silent and deadly weapons, was as nothing in comparison with the
+    frightful havoc achieved by the air-ship.
+
+    This extraordinary craft hovered over the attacking force,
+    darting hither and thither with bewildering rapidity, and raining
+    down shells charged with an unknown explosive of fearful power
+    among the crowded ships of the great force which was blocking the
+    Sound. Half a dozen of these shells were fired upon the seaward
+    fortifications of Copenhagen in passing, and produced a perfectly
+    paralysing effect.
+
+    On the water the results of the air-ship's attack were
+    destructive almost beyond description, particularly when she
+    stationed herself over the Allied fleet and began firing her four
+    guns right and left, ahead and astern. Every time a shell struck
+    either a battleship or a cruiser, the terrific explosion which
+    resulted either sank the ship in a few minutes, or so far
+    disabled it that it fell an easy prey to the guns and rams of the
+    Russians. As for the torpedo-boats which were struck, they were
+    simply scattered over the water in indistinguishable fragments.
+
+    Under these conditions maintenance of formation and effective
+    fighting were practically impossible, and the huge iron wedge of
+    the Russian squadron was driven almost without a check through
+    the demoralised ranks of the Allied fleet. The Gut of Elsinore
+    was reached in a little more than three hours after the first
+    sounds of the cannonade were heard. Shortly before this the
+    air-ship had stationed itself about a thousand feet above the
+    water, and a mile from the fortifications.
+
+    From this position it commenced a brief, rapid cannonade from its
+    smokeless and flameless guns, the effects of which on the
+    fortress are said to have been indescribably awful. Great blocks
+    of steel-sheathed masonry were dislodged from the ramparts and
+    hurled bodily into the sea, carrying with them guns and men to
+    irretrievable destruction. In less than half an hour the once
+    impregnable fortress of Elsinore was little better than a heap of
+    ruins. The last shell blew up the central magazine; the
+    tremendous explosion was heard for miles along the coast, and
+    proved to be the closing act of the briefest but most deadly
+    great naval action in the history of war.
+
+    The Russian fleet steamed triumphantly past the silenced Cerberus
+    of the Sound with flashing searchlights, blazing rockets, and
+    jubilant salvos of blank cartridge in honour of their really
+    brilliant victory.
+
+    The losses of the Allied fleet, so far as they are at present
+    known, are distressingly heavy. We have lost the battleships
+    _Neptune_, _Hotspur_, _Anson_, _Superb_, _Black Prince_, and
+    _Rodney_, the armoured cruisers _Narcissus_, _Beatrice_, and
+    _Mersey_, the unarmoured cruisers _Arethusa_, _Barossa_, _Clyde_,
+    _Lais_, _Seagull_, _Grasshopper_, and _Nautilus_, and not less
+    than nineteen torpedo-boats of the first and second classes.
+
+    The Germans and Danes have lost the battleships _Kaiser Wilhelm_,
+    _Friedrich der Grosse_, _Dantzig_, _Viborg_, and _Funen_, five
+    German and three Danish cruisers, and about a dozen
+    torpedo-boats.
+
+    Under whatever circumstances the Russians have obtained the
+    assistance of the air-ship, which rendered them services that
+    have proved so disastrous to the Allies, there can be no doubt
+    but that her arrival on the scene puts a completely different
+    aspect on the face of affairs at sea.
+
+    I have written this telegram on board first-class torpedo-boat,
+    No. 87, which followed the Russian fleet from the Sound round the
+    Skawe. They passed through the Kattegat in two columns of line
+    ahead, with the air-ship apparently resting after her flight on
+    board one of the largest steamers. We could see her quite
+    distinctly by the glare of the rockets and the electric light.
+    She is a small three-masted vessel almost exactly resembling the
+    one which partially destroyed Kronstadt in the middle of March.
+
+    After rounding the Skawe, the Russian fleet steamed away westward
+    into the German Ocean, and we put in here to send off our
+    despatches. This telegram has, of course, been officially
+    revised, and my information, as far as it goes, can therefore be
+    relied upon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+AN INTERLUDE.
+
+
+At noon on the 26th, as the tropical sun was pouring down its
+vertical rays upon the lovely valley of Aeria, the _Ithuriel_ crossed
+the Ridge which divided it from the outer world, and came to rest on
+the level stretch of sward on the northern shore of the lake.
+
+Before she touched the earth Arnold glanced rapidly round and
+discovered his aërial fleet resting under a series of large
+palm-thatched sheds which had already been erected to protect them
+from the burning sun, and the rare but violent tropical rain-storms.
+He counted them. There were only eleven, and therefore the evil
+tidings that they had heard from the captain of the _Andromeda_ was
+true.
+
+Even before greetings were exchanged with the colonists Natas ordered
+Nicholas Roburoff to be summoned on board alone. He received him in
+the lower saloon, on either side of which, as he went in, he found a
+member of the crew armed with a magazine rifle and fixed bayonet.
+
+Seated at the cabin table were Natas, Tremayne, and Arnold. The
+President was received in cold and ominous silence, not even a glance
+of recognition was vouchsafed to him. He stood at the other end of
+the table with bowed head, a prisoner before his judges. Natas looked
+at him for some moments in dead silence, and there was a dark gleam
+of anger in his eyes which made Arnold tremble for the man whose life
+hung upon a word of a judge from whose sentence there could be no
+appeal.
+
+At length Natas spoke; his voice was hard and even; there were no
+modulations in it that displayed the slightest feeling, whether of
+anger or any other emotion. It was like the voice of an impassive
+machine speaking the very words of Fate itself.
+
+"You know why we have returned, and why you have been sent for?"
+
+"Yes, Master."
+
+Roburoff's voice was low and respectful, but there was no quaver of
+fear in it.
+
+"You were left here in command of the settlement and in charge of the
+fleet. You were ordered to permit no vessel to leave the valley till
+the flagship returned. One of them was seen crossing the
+Mediterranean in a northerly direction three days ago. Either you are
+a traitor, or that vessel is in the hands of traitors. Explain."
+
+Nicholas Roburoff remained silent for a few moments. His breast
+heaved once or twice convulsively, as though he were striving hard to
+repress some violent emotion. Then he drew himself up like a soldier
+coming to attention, and, looking straight in front of him, told his
+story briefly and calmly, though he knew that, according to the laws
+of the Order, its sequel might, and probably would, be his own death.
+
+"The night of the day on which the flagship left the valley was
+visited by a violent storm, which raged for about four hours without
+cessation. We had no proper shelter but the air-ships, and so I
+distributed the company among them.
+
+"When nearly all had been provided for, there was one vessel left
+unoccupied, and four of the unmarried men had not been accommodated.
+They therefore took their places in the spare vessel. They were Peter
+Tamboff, Amos Vornjeh, Ivan Tscheszco, and Paul Oreloff, all
+Russians.
+
+"We closed the hatches of the vessels, and remained inside till the
+storm ceased. When we were able to open the hatches again, it was
+pitch dark--so dark that it was impossible to see even a yard from
+one's face. Suspecting no evil, we retired to rest again till
+sunrise. When day dawned it was found that the vessel in which the
+four men I have named had taken shelter had disappeared.
+
+"I at once ordered three vessels to rise and pass through the defile.
+On the outside we separated and made the entire circuit of Aeria,
+rising as high as the fan-wheels would take us, and examining the
+horizon in all directions for the missing vessel.
+
+"We failed to discover her, and were forced to the conclusion that
+the deserters had taken her away early in the night at full speed,
+and would, therefore, be far beyond the possibility of capture, as we
+possessed no faster vessel than the missing one. So we returned. That
+is all."
+
+"Go to the forward cabin and remain there till you're sent for," said
+Natas.
+
+The President instantly turned and walked mechanically through the
+door that was opened for him by one of the sentinels. The other went
+in front of him, the second behind, closing the door as he left the
+saloon.
+
+A brief discussion took place between Natas and his two lieutenants,
+and within a quarter of an hour Nicholas Roburoff was again standing
+at the end of the table to hear the decision of his judges. Without
+any preamble it was delivered by Natas in these words--
+
+"We have heard your story, and believe it. You have been guilty of a
+serious mistake, for these four men were all ordinary members of the
+Outer Circle, who had only been brought here on account of their
+mechanical skill to occupy subordinate positions. You therefore
+committed a grave error, amounting almost to a breach of the rule
+which states that no members of the Outer Circle shall be entrusted
+with any charge, or work, save under the supervision of a member of
+the Inner Circle responsible for them.
+
+"Had such a breach been even technically committed your life would
+have been forfeited, and you would have been executed for breach of
+trust. We have considered the circumstances, and find you guilty of
+indiscretion and want of forethought.
+
+"You will cease from now to be President of the Inner Circle. Your
+place will be taken for the time by Alan Tremayne as Chief of the
+Executive. You will cease also to share the Councils of the Order for
+a space of twelve months, during which time you will be incapable of
+any responsible charge or authority. Your restoration will, of
+course, depend upon your behaviour. I have said."
+
+As he finished speaking Natas waved his hand towards the door. It was
+opened, the sentries stepped aside, and Nicholas Roburoff walked out
+in silence, with bowed head and a heart heavy with shame. The penalty
+was really the most severe that could be inflicted on him, for he
+found himself suddenly deprived both of authority and the confidence
+of his chiefs at the very hour when the work of the Brotherhood was
+culminating to its fruition.
+
+Yet, heavy as the punishment seemed in comparison with the fault, it
+was justified by the necessities of the case. Without the strictest
+safeguards, not only against treachery or disobedience, but even mere
+carelessness, it would have been impossible to have carried on the
+tremendous work which the Brotherhood had silently and secretly
+accomplished, and which was soon to produce results as momentous as
+they would be unexpected. No one knew this better than the late
+President himself, who frankly acknowledged the justice and the
+necessity of his punishment, and prepared to devote himself heart and
+soul to regaining his lost credit in the eyes of the Master.
+
+No sooner was the sentence pronounced than the matter was instantly
+dismissed and never alluded to again, so far as Roburoff was
+concerned, by any one. No one presumed even to comment upon a word or
+deed of the Master. The disgraced President fell naturally, and
+apparently without observation, into his humbler sphere of duties,
+and the members of the colony treated him with exactly the same
+friendliness and fraternity as they had done before. Natas had
+decided, and there was nothing more for any one to say or do in the
+matter.
+
+Arnold, as soon as he had exchanged greetings with the Princess, now
+known simply as Anna Ornovski, and his other friends and
+acquaintances in the colony, not, of course, forgetting Louis Holt,
+at once shut himself up in his laboratory by the turbine, and for the
+next four hours remained invisible, preparing a large supply of his
+motor gases, and pumping them into the exhausted cylinders of the
+_Ithuriel_, and all the others that were available, by means of his
+hydraulic machinery.
+
+Soon after four he had finished his task, and come out to take his
+part in a ceremony of a very different character to that at which he
+had been obliged to assist earlier in the day. This was the
+fulfilment of the promise which Radna Michaelis had made to Colston
+in the Council-chamber of the house on Clapham Common on the evening
+of his departure on the expedition which had so brilliantly proved
+the powers of the _Ariel_, and brought such confusion on the enemies
+of the Brotherhood.
+
+Almost the first words that Colston had said to Radna when he boarded
+the _Avondale_ were--
+
+"Natasha is yonder, safe and sound, and you are mine at last!"
+
+And she had replied very quietly, yet with a thrill in her voice that
+told her lover how gladly she accepted her own condition--
+
+"What you have fairly won is yours to take when you will have it.
+Besides, you cannot do justice on Kastovitch now, for it has already
+been done. We had news before we left England that he had been shot
+through the heart by the brother of a girl whom he treated worse than
+he treated me."
+
+But, as has been stated before, the laws of the Brotherhood did not
+permit of the marriage of any of its members without the direct
+sanction of Natas, and therefore it had been necessary to wait until
+now.
+
+As Radna and Colston were two of the most trusted and prominent
+members of the Inner Circle, it was fitting that their wedding should
+be honoured by the presence of the Master in person. An added
+solemnity was also given to it by the fact that, in all human
+probability, it was the first time since the world began that the
+mighty hills which looked down upon Aeria had witnessed the plighting
+of the troth of a man and a woman.
+
+Like all other formal acts of the Brotherhood, the ceremony was
+simple in the extreme; but, in this case at least, it was none the
+less impressive on that account. In a lovely glade, through which a
+crystal stream ran laughing on its way to the lake, Natas sat under
+the shade of a spreading tree-fern. In front of him was a small table
+covered with a white cloth, on which lay a roll of parchment and a
+copy of the Hebrew Scriptures.
+
+At this table, facing Natas, stood the betrothed pair with their
+witnesses, Natasha for Radna, and Arnold for Colston, or Alexis
+Mazanoff, to give him his true name, which must, of course, be used
+on such an occasion. In a wide semicircle some four yards off stood
+all the members of the little community, Louis Holt and his faithful
+servitor not excepted.
+
+In the midst of a silence broken only by the whispering of the warm,
+scented wind in the tree-tops, the Master of the Terror spoke in a
+kindly yet solemn tone--
+
+"Alexis Mazanoff and Radna Michaelis, you stand here before Heaven,
+and in the presence of your comrades, to take each other for wedded
+wife and husband, till death shall part the hands that now are
+joined!
+
+"Your mutual vows have long ago been pledged, and what you are about
+to do is good earnest of their fulfilment. But above the duty that
+you owe to each other stands your duty to that great Cause to which
+you have already irrevocably devoted your lives. You have already
+sworn that as long as you shall live its ends shall be your ends, and
+that no human considerations shall weigh with you where those ends
+are concerned. Do you take each other for husband and wife subject to
+that condition and all that it implies?"
+
+"We do!" replied the lovers with one voice, and then Natas went on--
+
+"Then by the laws of our Order, the only laws that we are permitted
+to obey, I pronounce you man and wife before Heaven and this company.
+Be faithful to each other and the Cause in the days to come as you
+have been in the days that are past, and if it shall please the
+Master of Destiny that you shall be blessed with children, see to it
+that you train them up in the love of truth, freedom, and justice,
+and in the hatred of tyranny and wrong.
+
+"May the blessings of life be yours as you shall deserve them, and
+when the appointed hour shall come, may you be found ready to pass
+from the mystery of the things that are into the deeper mystery of
+the things that are to be!"
+
+So saying, the Master raised his hands as though in blessing, and as
+Alexis and Radna bent their heads the slanting sunrays fell upon the
+thickly coiled white hair of the new-made wife, crowning her shapely
+head like a diadem of silver.
+
+All that remained to do now was to sign the Marriage Roll of the
+Brotherhood, and when they had done this the entry stood as
+follows:--
+
+    "Married on the tenth day of the Month Tamuz, in the Year of the
+    World five thousand six hundred and sixty-four, in the presence
+    of me, Natas, and those of the Brotherhood now resident in the
+    Colony of Aeria:--
+
+      {ALEXIS MAZANOFF,
+      {RADNA MICHAELIS MAZANOFF.
+
+      Witnesses   {RICHARD ARNOLD,
+                  {NATASHA.
+
+As Natasha laid down the pen after signing she looked up quickly, as
+though moved by some sudden impulse, her eyes met Arnold's, and an
+instant later the happy flush on Radna's cheek was rivalled by that
+which rose to her own. Her lips half parted in a smile, and then she
+turned suddenly away to be the first to offer her congratulations to
+the newly-wedded wife, while Arnold, his heart beating as it had
+never done since the model of the _Ariel_ first rose from the floor
+of his room in the Southwark tenement-house, grasped Mazanoff by the
+hand and said simply--
+
+"God bless you both, old man!"
+
+The whole ceremony had not taken more than fifteen minutes from
+beginning to end. After Arnold came Tremayne with his good wishes,
+and then Anna Ornovski and the rest of the friends and comrades of
+the newly-wedded lovers.
+
+One usually conspicuous feature in similar ceremonies was entirely
+wanting. There were no wedding presents. For this there was a very
+sufficient reason. All the property of the members of the Inner
+Circle, saving only articles of personal necessity, were held in
+common. Articles of mere convenience or luxury were looked upon with
+indifference, if not with absolute contempt, and so no one had
+anything to give.
+
+After all, this was not a very serious matter for a company of men
+and women who held in their hands the power of levying indemnities to
+any amount upon the wealth-centres of the world under pain of
+immediate destruction.
+
+That evening the supper of the colonists took the shape of a sylvan
+marriage feast, eaten in the open air under the palms and tree ferns,
+as the sun was sinking down behind the western peaks of Aeria, and
+the full moon was rising over those to the eastward.
+
+The whole earth might have been searched in vain for a happier
+company of men and women than that which sat down to the marriage
+feast of Radna Michaelis and Alexis Mazanoff in the virgin groves of
+Aeria. For the time being the world-war and all its horrors were
+forgotten, and they allowed their thoughts to turn without restraint
+to the promise of the days when the work of the Brotherhood should be
+accomplished, and there should be peace on earth at last.
+
+It had been decided that three of the air-ships would be sufficient
+for the chase and capture or destruction, as the case might be, of
+the deserters. These were the _Ithuriel_, under the command of
+Arnold; the _Ariel_, commanded by Mazanoff, who, of course, did not
+sail alone; and the _Orion_, in charge of Tremayne, who had already
+mastered the details of aërial navigation under Arnold's tuition.
+
+To the unspeakable satisfaction of the latter, Natas had signified
+his intention of accompanying him in the _Ithuriel_. As Natasha
+utterly refused to be parted so soon from her father again, one of
+his attendants was dispensed with and she took his place. This fact
+had, of course, something to do with the Admiral's satisfaction with
+the arrangement.
+
+By nine o'clock the moon was high in the heavens. At that hour the
+fan-wheels of the little squadron rose from the decks, and at a
+signal from Arnold began to revolve. The three vessels ascended
+quietly into the air amidst the cheers and farewells of the
+colonists, and in single file passed slowly down the beautiful valley
+bathed in the brilliant moonlight. One by one they disappeared
+through the defile that led to the outer world, and, once clear of
+the mountains, the _Ithuriel_, with one of her consorts on either
+side, headed away due north at the speed of a hundred miles an hour.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+ON THE TRACK OF TREASON.
+
+
+The _Ithuriel_ and her consorts crossed the northern coast of Africa
+soon after daybreak on the 27th, in the longitude of Alexandria, at
+an elevation of nearly 4000 feet. From thence they pursued almost the
+same course as that steered by the deserters, as Natas had rightly
+judged that they would first make for Russia, probably St.
+Petersburg, and there hand the air-ship over to the representatives
+of the Tsar.
+
+There was, of course, another alternative, and that was the
+supposition that they had stolen the _Lucifer_--the "fallen Angel,"
+as Natasha had now re-named her--for purposes of piracy and private
+revenge; but that was negatived by the fact that Tamboff knew that he
+only had a certain supply of motive power which he could not renew,
+and which, once exhausted, left his air-ship as useless as a steamer
+without coal. His only reasonable course, therefore, would be to sell
+the vessel to the Tsar, and leave his Majesty's chemists to discover
+and renew the motive power if they could.
+
+These conclusions once arrived at, it was an easy matter for the keen
+and subtle intellect of Natas to deduce from them almost the exact
+sequence of events that had actually taken place. The _Lucifer_ had a
+sufficient supply of power-cylinders and shells for present use, and
+these would doubtless be employed at once by the Tsar, who would
+trust to his chemists and engineers to discover the nature of the
+agents employed.
+
+For this purpose it would be absolutely necessary for him to give
+them one or two of the shells, and at least two of the spare
+power-cylinders as subjects for their experiments.
+
+Now Natas knew that if there was one man in Russia who could discover
+the composition of the explosives, that man was Professor Volnow of
+the Imperial Arsenal Laboratory, and therefore the shells and
+cylinders would be sent to him at the Arsenal for examination. The
+whereabouts of the deserters for the present mattered nothing in
+comparison with the possible discovery of the secret on which the
+whole power of the Terrorists depended.
+
+That once revealed, the sole empire of the air was theirs no longer.
+The Tsar, with millions of money at his command, could very soon
+build an aërial fleet, not only equal, but, numerically at least,
+vastly superior to their own, and this would practically give him the
+command of the world.
+
+Natas therefore came to the conclusion that no measures could be too
+extreme to be justified by such a danger as this, and so, after a
+consultation with the commanders of the three vessels, it was decided
+to, if necessary, destroy the Arsenal at St. Petersburg, on the
+strength of the reasoning that had led to the logical conclusion that
+within its precincts the priceless secret either might be or had
+already been discovered.
+
+As the crow flies, St. Petersburg is thirty degrees of latitude, or
+eighteen hundred geographical miles, north of Alexandria, and this
+distance the _Ithuriel_ and her consorts, flying at a speed of a
+hundred and twenty miles an hour, traversed in fifteen hours,
+reaching the Russian capital a few minutes after seven on the evening
+of the 27th.
+
+The Rome of the North, basking in the soft evening sunlight of the
+incomparable Russian summer, lay vast and white and beautiful on the
+islands formed by the Neva and its ten tributaries; its innumerable
+palaces, churches, and theatres, and long straight streets of stately
+houses, its parks and gardens, and its green shady suburbs, making up
+a picture which forced an exclamation of wonder from Arnold's lips as
+the air-ships slowed down and he left the conning-tower of the
+_Ithuriel_ to admire the magnificent view from the bows. They passed
+over the city at a height of four thousand feet, and so were quite
+near enough to see and enjoy the excitement and consternation which
+their sudden appearance instantly caused among the inhabitants. The
+streets and squares filled in an inconceivably short space of time
+with crowds of people, who ran about like tiny ants upon the ground,
+gesticulating and pointing upwards, evidently in terror lest the fate
+of Kronstadt was about to fall upon St. Petersburg.
+
+The experimental department of the Arsenal had within the last two or
+three years been rebuilt on a large space of waste ground outside the
+northern suburbs, and to this the three air-ships directed their
+course after passing over the city. It was a massive three-storey
+building, built in the form of a quadrangle. The three air-ships
+stopped within a mile of it at an elevation of two thousand feet. It
+had been decided that, before proceeding to extremities, which, after
+all, might still leave them in doubt as to whether or not they had
+really destroyed all means of analysing the explosives, they should
+make an effort to discover whether Professor Volnow had received them
+for experiment, and, if so, what success he had had.
+
+Mazanoff had undertaken this delicate and dangerous task, and so, as
+soon as the _Ithuriel_ and the _Orion_ came to a standstill, and hung
+motionless in the air, with all their guns ready trained on different
+parts of the building, the _Ariel_ sank suddenly and swiftly down,
+and stopped within forty feet of the heads of a crowd of soldiers and
+mechanics, who had rushed pell-mell out of the building, under the
+impression that it was about to be destroyed.
+
+The bold manœuvre of the _Ariel_ took officers and men completely by
+surprise. So intense was the terror in which these mysterious
+air-ships were held, and so absolute was the belief that they were
+armed with perfectly irresistible means of destruction, that the
+sight of one of them at such close quarters paralysed all thought and
+action for the time being. The first shock over, the majority of the
+crowd took to their heels and fled incontinently. Of the remainder a
+few of the bolder spirits handled their rifles and looked inquiringly
+at their officers. Mazanoff saw this, and at once raised his hand
+towards the sky and shouted--
+
+"Ground arms! If a shot is fired the Arsenal will be destroyed as
+Kronstadt was, and then we shall attack Petersburg."
+
+The threat was sufficient. A grey-haired officer in undress uniform
+glanced up at the _Ithuriel_ and her consort, and then at the guns of
+the _Ariel_, all four of which had been swung round and brought to
+bear on the side of the building near which she had descended. He was
+no coward, but he saw that Mazanoff had the power to do what he said,
+and that even if this one air-ship were captured or destroyed, the
+other two would take a frightful vengeance. He thought of Kronstadt,
+and decided to parley. The rifle butts had come to the ground before
+Mazanoff had done speaking.
+
+"Order arms, and keep silence!" said the officer, and then he
+advanced alone from the crowd and said--
+
+"Who are you, and what is your errand?"
+
+"Alexis Mazanoff, late prisoner of the Tsar, and now commander of the
+Terrorist air-ship _Ariel_. I have not come to destroy you unless you
+force me to do so, but to ask certain questions, and demand the
+giving up of certain property delivered into your hands by deserters
+and traitors."
+
+"What are your questions?"
+
+"First, is Professor Volnow in the building?"
+
+"He is."
+
+"Then I must ask you to send for him at once."
+
+It went sorely against the grain of the servant of the Tsar to
+acquiesce in the demand of an outlaw, but there was nothing else for
+it. The outlaw could blow him and all his subordinates into space
+with a pressure of his finger; and so he sent an orderly with a
+request for the presence of the professor. Meanwhile Mazanoff
+continued--
+
+"An air-ship similar to this arrived here three days ago, I believe?"
+
+The officer bit his lips with rage at his helpless position, and
+bowed affirmatively.
+
+"And certain articles were taken out of her for examination here--two
+gas cylinders and a projectile, I believe?"
+
+Again the officer bowed, wondering how on earth the Terrorist could
+have come by such accurate information.
+
+"And the air-ship has been sent on to the seat of war, while the
+Professor is trying to discover the composition of the gases and the
+explosive used in the shell?" went on Mazanoff, risking a last shot
+at the truth.
+
+The officer did not bow this time. Giving way at last to his rising
+fury, he stamped on the ground and almost screamed--
+
+"Great God! you insolent scoundrel! Why do you ask me questions when
+you know the answers as well as I do, and better? Yes, we have got
+one of your diabolical ships of the air, and we will build a fleet
+like it and hunt you from the world!"
+
+"All in good time, my dear sir," replied Mazanoff ironically. "When
+you have found a place in which to build them that we cannot blow off
+the face of the earth before you get one finished. Meanwhile, let me
+beg of you to keep your temper, and to remember that there is a lady
+present. That girl standing yonder by the gun was once stripped and
+flogged by Russians calling themselves men and soldiers. Her fingers
+are itching to make the movement that would annihilate you and every
+one standing near you, so pray try keep your temper; for if we fire a
+shot the air-ships up yonder will at once open fire, and not stop
+while there is a stone of that building left upon another. Ah! here
+comes the Professor."
+
+As he spoke the man of science advanced, looking wonderingly at the
+air-ship. Mazanoff made a sign to the old officer to keep silence,
+and continued in the same polite tone that he had used all along--
+
+"Good evening, Professor! I have come to ask you whether you have yet
+made any experiments on the contents of the shell and the two
+cylinders that were given to you for examination?"
+
+"I must first ask for your authority to put such an inquiry to me on
+a confidential subject," replied the Professor stiffly.
+
+"On the authority given me by the power to enforce an answer, sir,"
+returned the Terrorist quietly. "I know that Professor Volnow will
+not lie to me, even at the order of the Tsar, and when I tell you
+that your refusal to reply will cost the lives of every one here, and
+possibly involve the destruction of Petersburg itself, I feel sure
+that, as a mere matter of humanity, you will comply with my request."
+
+"Sir, the orders of my master are absolute secrecy on this subject,
+and I will obey them to the death. I have analysed the contents of
+one of the cylinders, but what they are I will tell to no one save by
+the direct command of his Majesty. That is all I have done."
+
+"Then in that case, Professor, I must ask you to surrender yourself
+prisoner of war, and to come on board this vessel at once."
+
+As Mazanoff said this the _Ariel_ dropped to within ten feet of the
+ground, and a rope-ladder fell over the side.
+
+"Come, Professor, there is no time to be lost. I shall give the order
+to fire in one minute from now."
+
+He took out his watch, and began to count the seconds. Ten, twenty,
+thirty passed and the Professor stood irresolute. Two of the
+_Ariel's_ guns pointed at the gables of the Arsenal, and two swept
+the crowded space in front.
+
+Konstantin Volnow knew enough to see clearly the frightful slaughter
+and destruction that twenty seconds more would bring if he refused to
+give himself up. As Mazanoff counted "forty" he threw up his hands
+with a gesture of despair, and cried--
+
+"Stop! I will come. The Tsar has as good servants as I am! Colonel,
+tell his Majesty that I gave myself up to save the lives of better
+men."
+
+Then the Professor mounted the ladder amidst a murmur of relief and
+applause from the crowd, and, gaining the deck of the _Ariel_, bowed
+coldly to Mazanoff and said--
+
+"I am your prisoner, sir!"
+
+The captain of the _Ariel_ bowed in reply, and stamped thrice on the
+deck. The fan-wheels whirled round, and the air-ship rapidly
+ascended, at the same time moving diagonally across the quadrangle of
+the Arsenal.
+
+Scarcely had she reached the other side when there was a tremendous
+explosion in the north-eastern angle of the building. A sheet of
+flame shot up through the roof, the walls split asunder, and masses
+of stone, wood, and iron went flying in all directions, leaving only
+a fiercely burning mass of ruins where the gable had been.
+
+The Professor turned ashy pale, staggered backwards with both his
+hands clasped to his head, and gasped out brokenly as he stared at
+the conflagration--
+
+"God have mercy on me! My laboratory! My assistant--I told him"--
+
+"What did you tell him, Professor?" said Mazanoff sternly, grasping
+him suddenly by the arm.
+
+"I told him not to open the other cylinder."
+
+"And he has done so, and paid for his disobedience with his life,"
+said Mazanoff calmly. "Console yourself, my dear sir! He has only
+saved me the trouble of destroying your laboratory. I serve a sterner
+and more powerful master than yours. He ordered me to make your
+experiments impossible if it cost a thousand lives to do so, and I
+would have done it if necessary. Rest content with the knowledge that
+you have saved, not only the rest of the Arsenal, but also
+Petersburg, by your surrender; for sooner than that secret had been
+revealed, we should have laid the city in ruins to slay the man who
+had discovered it."
+
+The prisoner of the Terrorists made no reply, but turned away in
+silence to watch the rapidly receding building, in the angle of which
+the flames were still raging furiously. A few minutes later the
+_Ariel_ had rejoined her consorts. Her captain at once went on board
+the flagship to make his report and deliver up his prisoner to Natas,
+who looked sharply at him and said--
+
+"Professor, will you give me your word of honour to attempt no
+communication with the earth while it may be found necessary to
+detain you? If not, I shall be compelled to keep you in strict
+confinement till it is beyond your power to do so."
+
+"Sir, I give you my word that I will not do so," said the Professor,
+who had now somewhat regained his composure.
+
+"Very well," replied Natas. "Then on that condition you will be made
+free of the vessel, and we will make you as comfortable as we can.
+Captain Arnold, full speed to the south-westward, if you please."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+A SKIRMISH IN THE CLOUDS.
+
+
+A few minutes after two on the following morning, that is to say on
+the 28th, the electric signal leading from the conning-tower of the
+_Ithuriel_ to the wall of Arnold's cabin, just above his berth,
+sounded. As it was only permitted to be used on occasions of urgency,
+he knew that his presence was immediately required forward for some
+good reason, and so he turned out at once, threw a dressing-gown over
+his sleeping suit, and within three minutes was standing in the
+conning-tower beside Andrew Smith, whose watch it then happened to
+be.
+
+"Well, Smith, what's the matter?"
+
+"Fleet of war-balloons coming up from the south'ard, sir. You can
+just see 'em, sir, coming on in line under that long bank of cloud."
+
+The captain of the _Ithuriel_ took the night-glasses, and looked
+eagerly in the direction pointed out by his keen-eyed coxswain. As
+soon as he picked them up he had no difficulty in making out twelve
+small dark spots in line at regular intervals sharply defined against
+a band of light that lay between the earth and a long dark bank of
+clouds.
+
+It was a division of the Tsar's aërial fleet, returning from some
+work of death and destruction in the south to rejoin the main force
+before Berlin. Arnold's course was decided on in an instant. He saw a
+chance of turning the tables on his Majesty in a fashion that he
+would find as unpleasant as it would be unexpected. He turned to his
+coxswain and said--
+
+"How is the wind, Smith?"
+
+"Nor'-nor'-west, with perhaps half a point more north in it, sir.
+About a ten-knot breeze--at least that's the drift that Mr. Marston's
+allowing for."
+
+"Yes, that's near enough. Then those fellows, if they are going full
+speed, are coming up at about twenty miles an hour, or not quite
+that. They're nearly twenty miles off, as nearly as I can judge in
+this light. What do you make it?"
+
+"That's about it, sir; rather less than more, if anything, to my
+mind."
+
+"Very well, then. Now signal to stop, and send up the fan-wheels; and
+tell the _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ to close up and speak."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," said the coxswain, as he saluted and disappeared.
+Arnold at once went back to his cabin and dressed, telling his second
+officer, Frank Marston, a young Englishman, whom he had chosen to
+take Mazanoff's place, to do the same as quietly as possible, as he
+did not wish to awaken any of his three passengers just at present.
+
+By the time he got on deck the three air-ships had slowed down
+considerably, and the two consorts of the _Ithuriel_ were within easy
+speaking distance. Mazanoff and Tremayne were both on deck, and to
+them he explained his plans as follows--
+
+"There are a dozen of the Tsar's war-balloons coming up yonder to the
+southward, and I am going to head them off and capture the lot if I
+can. If we can do that, we can make what terms we like for the
+surrender of the _Lucifer_.
+
+"You two take your ships and get to windward of them as fast as you
+can. Keep a little higher than they are, but not much. On no account
+let one of them get above you. If they try to descend, give each one
+that does so a No. 1 shell, and blow her up. If one tries to pass
+you, ram her in the upper part of the gas-holder, and let her down
+with a smash.
+
+"I am going up above them to prevent any of them from rising too far.
+They can outfly us in that one direction, so I shall blow any that
+attempt it into little pieces. If you have to fire on any of them,
+don't use more than No. 1; you'll find that more than enough.
+
+"Keep an eye on me for signals, and remember that the whole fleet
+must be destroyed rather than one allowed to escape. I want to give
+the Tsar a nice little surprise. He seems to be getting a good deal
+too cock-sure about these old gas-bags of his, and it's time to give
+him a lesson in real aërial warfare."
+
+There was not a great newspaper in the world that would not have
+given a very long price to have had the privilege of putting a
+special correspondent on the deck of the _Ithuriel_ for the two hours
+which followed the giving of Arnold's directions to his brother
+commanders of the little squadron. The journal which could have
+published an exclusive account of the first aërial skirmish in the
+history of the world would have scored a triumph which would have
+left its competitors a long way behind in the struggle to be "up to
+date."
+
+As soon as Arnold had given his orders, the three air-ships at once
+separated. The _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ shot away to the southward on
+only a slightly upward course, while the _Ithuriel_ soared up beyond
+the stratum of clouds which lay in thin broken masses rather more
+than four thousand feet above the earth.
+
+It was still rather more than an hour before sunrise, and, as the
+moon had gone down, and the clouds intercepted most of the starlight,
+it was just "the darkest hour before the dawn," and therefore the
+most favourable for the carrying out of the plan that Arnold had in
+view.
+
+Shortly after half-past two he knocked at Natasha's cabin-door, and
+said--
+
+"If you would like to see an aërial battle, get up and come into the
+conning-tower at once. We have overtaken a squadron of Russian
+war-balloons, and we are going either to capture or destroy them."
+
+"Glorious!" exclaimed Natasha, wide awake in an instant at such
+startling news. "I'll be with you in five minutes. Tell my father,
+and please don't begin till I come."
+
+"I shouldn't think of opening the ball without your ladyship's
+presence," laughed Arnold in reply, and then he went and called Natas
+and his attendant and the Professor before going to the
+conning-tower, where in a very few minutes he was joined by Natasha.
+The first words she said were--
+
+"I have told Ivan to send us some coffee as soon as he has attended
+to my father. You see how thoughtful I am for your creature comforts.
+Now, where are the war-balloons?"
+
+[Illustration: "Come now, and fire the first shot in the warfare of
+the future."
+
+_See page 211._]
+
+"On the other side of those clouds. There, look down through that big
+rift, and you will see one of them."
+
+"Why, what a height we must be from the earth! The balloon looks like
+a little toy thing, but it must be a great clumsy contrivance for all
+that."
+
+"The barometer gives five thousand three hundred feet. You will soon
+see why I have come up so high. The balloons can rise to fifteen or
+twenty thousand feet, if they wish to, and in that way they could
+easily escape us; therefore, if one of them attempts to rise through
+those clouds, I shall send him back to earth in little bits."
+
+"And what are the other two air-ships doing?"
+
+"They are below the clouds, heading the balloons off from the Russian
+camp, which is about fifty miles to the north-westward. Ha! look,
+there go the searchlights!"
+
+As he spoke, two long converging beams of light darted across a broad
+space of sky that was free from cloud. They came from the _Ariel_ and
+the _Orion_, which thus suddenly revealed themselves to the
+astonished and disgusted Russians, one at each end of their long
+line, and only a little more than half a mile ahead of it.
+
+The searchlights flashed to and fro along the line, plainly showing
+the great masses of the aerostats' gas-holders, with their long
+slender cars beneath them. A blue light was burnt on the largest of
+the war-balloons, and at once the whole flotilla began to ascend
+towards the clouds, followed by the two air-ships.
+
+"Here they come!" said Arnold, as he saw them rising through a
+cloud-rift. "Come out and watch what happens to the first one that
+shows herself."
+
+He went out on deck, followed by Natasha, and took his place by one
+of the broadside guns. At the same time he gave the order for the
+_Ithuriel's_ searchlight to be turned on, and to sweep the
+cloud-field below her. Presently a black rounded object appeared
+rising through the clouds like a whale coming to the surface of the
+sea.
+
+He trained the gun on to it as it came distinctly into view, and said
+to Natasha--
+
+"Come, now, and fire the first shot in the warfare of the future. Put
+your finger on the button, and press when I tell you."
+
+Natasha did as he told her, and at the word "Fire!" pressed the
+little ivory button down. The shell struck the upper envelope of the
+balloon, passed through, and exploded. A broad sheet of flame shot
+up, brilliantly illuminating the sea of cloud for an instant, and all
+was darkness again. A few seconds later there came another blaze, and
+the report of a much greater explosion from below the clouds.
+
+"What was that?" asked Natasha.
+
+"That was the car full of explosives striking the earth and going off
+promiscuously," replied Arnold. "There isn't as much of that aerostat
+left as would make a pocket-handkerchief or a walking-stick."
+
+"And the crew?"
+
+"Never knew what happened to them. In the new warfare people will not
+be merely killed, they will be annihilated."
+
+"Horrible!" exclaimed Natasha, with a shudder. "I think you may do
+the rest of the shooting. The effects of that shot will last me for
+some time. Look, there's another of them coming up!"
+
+The words were hardly out of her mouth before Arnold had crossed to
+the other side of the deck and sped another missile on its errand of
+destruction with almost exactly the same result as before. This
+second shot, as it was afterwards found, threw the Russian squadron
+into complete panic.
+
+The terrific suddenness with which the two aerostats had been
+destroyed convinced those in command of the others that there was a
+large force of air-ships above the clouds ready to destroy them one
+by one as they ascended. Arnold waited for a few minutes, and then,
+seeing that no others cared to risk the fate that had overwhelmed the
+first two that had sought to cross the cloud-zone, sank rapidly
+through it, and then stopped again.
+
+He found himself about six hundred feet above the rest of the
+squadron. The _Ithuriel_ coming thus suddenly into view, her eight
+guns pointing in all directions, and her searchlight flashing hither
+and thither as though seeking new victims, completed the
+demoralisation of the Russians. For all they knew there were still
+more air-ships above the clouds. Even this one could not be passed
+while those mysterious guns of unknown range and infallible aim were
+sweeping the sky, ready to hurl their silent lightnings in every
+direction.
+
+Ascend they dare not. To descend was to be destroyed in detail as
+they lay helpless upon the earth. There was only one chance of
+escape, and that was to scatter. The commander of the squadron at
+once signalled for this to be done, and the aerostats headed away to
+all points of the compass. But here they had reckoned without the
+incomparable speed of their assailants.
+
+Before they had moved a hundred yards from their common centre the
+_Ariel_ and the _Orion_ headed away in different directions, and in
+an inconceivably short space of time had described a complete circle
+round them, and then another and another, narrowing each circle that
+they made. One of the aerostats, watching its opportunity, put on
+full speed and tried to get outside the narrowing zone. She had
+almost succeeded, when the _Orion_ swerved outwards and dashed at her
+with the ram.
+
+In ten seconds she was overtaken. The keen steel prow of the
+air-ship, driven at more than a hundred miles an hour, ripped her
+gas-holder from end to end as if it had been tissue paper. It
+collapsed like broken bubble, and the wreck, with its five occupants
+and its load of explosives, dropped like a stone to the earth, three
+thousand feet below, exploding like one huge shell as it struck.
+
+This was the last blow struck in the first aërial battle in the
+history of warfare. The Russians had no stomach for this kind of
+fighting. It was all very well to sail over armies and fortresses on
+the earth and drop shells upon them without danger of retaliation;
+but this was an entirely different matter.
+
+Three of the aerostats had been destroyed in little more than as many
+minutes, so utterly destroyed that not a vestige of them remained,
+and the whole squadron had not been able to strike a blow in
+self-defence. They carried no guns, not even small arms, for they had
+no use for them in the work that they had to do. There were only two
+alternatives before them--surrender or piecemeal destruction.
+
+As soon as she had destroyed the third aerostat, the _Orion_ swerved
+round again, and began flying round the squadron as before in an
+opposite direction to the _Ariel_. None of the aerostats made an
+attempt to break the strange blockage again. As the circles narrowed
+they crowded closer and closer together, like a flock of sheep
+surrounded by wolves.
+
+Meanwhile the _Ithuriel_, floating above the centre of the disordered
+squadron, descended slowly until she hung a hundred feet above the
+highest of them. Then Arnold with his searchlight flashed a signal to
+the _Ariel_ which at once slowed down, the _Orion_ continuing on her
+circular course as before.
+
+As soon as the _Ariel_ was going slowly enough for him to make
+himself heard, Mazanoff shouted through a speaking-trumpet--
+
+"Will you surrender, or fight it out?"
+
+"_Nu vot_! how can we fight with those devil-ships of yours? What is
+your pleasure?"
+
+The answering hail came from one of the aerostats in the centre of
+the squadron. Mazanoff at once replied--
+
+"Unconditional surrender for the present, under guarantee of safety
+to every one who surrenders. Who are you?"
+
+"Colonel Alexei Alexandrovitch, in command of the squadron. I
+surrender on those terms. Who are you?"
+
+"The captain of the Terrorist air-ship _Ariel_. Be good enough to
+come out here, Colonel Alexei Alexandrovitch."
+
+One of the aerostats moved out of the midst of the Russian squadron
+and made its way towards the _Ariel_. As she approached Mazanoff
+swung his bow round and brought it level with the car of the
+aerostat, at the same time training one of his guns full on it. Then,
+with his arm resting on the breach of the gun, he said,--
+
+"Come on board, Colonel, and bid your balloon follow me. No nonsense,
+mind, or I'll blow you into eternity and all your squadron after
+you."
+
+The Russian did as he was bidden, and the _Ariel_, followed by the
+aerostat, ascended to the _Ithuriel_, while the _Orion_ kept up her
+patrol round the captive war-balloons.
+
+"Colonel Alexandrovitch, in command of the Tsar's aërial squadron,
+surrenders unconditionally, save for guarantee of personal safety to
+himself and his men," reported Mazanoff, as he came within earshot of
+the flagship.
+
+"Very good," replied Arnold from the deck of the _Ithuriel_. "You will
+keep Colonel Alexandrovitch as hostage for the good behaviour of the
+rest, and shoot him the moment one of the balloons attempts to
+escape. After that destroy the rest without mercy. They will form in
+line close together. The _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ will convoy them on
+either flank, and you will follow me until you have the signal to
+stop. On the first suspicion of any attempt to escape you will know
+what to do. You have both handled your ships splendidly."
+
+Mazanoff saluted formally, more for the sake of effect than anything
+else, and descended again to carry out his orders. The captured
+flotilla was formed in line, the balloons being closed up until there
+was only a couple of yards or so between any of them and her next
+neighbour, with the _Orion_ and the _Ariel_ to right and left, each
+with two guns trained on them, and the _Ithuriel_ flying a couple of
+hundred feet above them. In this order captors and captured made
+their way at twenty miles an hour to the north-west towards the
+headquarters of the Tsar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+AN EMBASSY FROM THE SKY.
+
+
+By the time the captured war-balloons had been formed in order, and
+the voyage fairly commenced, the eastern sky was bright with the
+foreglow of the coming dawn, and, as the flotilla was only floating
+between eight and nine hundred feet above the earth, it was not long
+before the light was sufficiently strong to render the landscape
+completely visible.
+
+Far and wide it was a scene of desolation and destruction, of wasted,
+blackened fields trampled into wildernesses by the tread of countless
+feet, of forests of trees broken, scorched, and splintered by the
+iron hail of artillery, and of towns and villages, reduced to heaps
+of ruins, still smouldering with the fires that had destroyed them.
+
+No more eloquent object-lesson in the horrors of what is called
+civilised warfare could well have been found than the scene which was
+visible from the decks of the air-ships. The promised fruits of a
+whole year of patient industry had been withered in a few hours under
+the storm-blast of war; homes which but a few days before had
+sheltered stalwart, well-fed peasants and citizens, were now mere
+heaps of blackened brick and stone and smoking thatches.
+
+Streets which had been the thoroughfares of peaceful industrious
+folk, who had no quarrel with the Powers of the earth, or with any of
+their kind, were now strewn with corpses and encumbered with ruins,
+and the few survivors, more miserable than those who had died, were
+crawling, haggard and starving, amidst the wrecks of their vanished
+prosperity, seeking for some scanty morsels of food to prolong life
+if only for a few more days of misery and nights of sleepless
+anxiety.
+
+As the sun rose and shed its midsummer splendour, as if in sublime
+mockery, over the scene of suffering and desolation, hideous features
+of the landscape were brought into stronger and more horrifying
+relief; the scorched and trampled fields were seen to be strewn with
+unburied corpses of men and horses, and ploughed up with cannon shot
+and torn into great irregular gashes by shells that had buried
+themselves in the earth and then exploded.
+
+It was evident that some frightful tragedy must have taken place in
+this region not many hours before the air-ships had arrived upon the
+scene. And this, in fact, had been the case. Barely three days
+previously the advance guard of the Russian army of the North had
+been met and stubbornly but unsuccessfully opposed by the remnants of
+the German army of the East, which, driven back from the frontier,
+was retreating in good order to join the main force which had
+concentrated about Berlin, under the command of the Emperor, there to
+fight out the supreme struggle, on the issue of which depended the
+existence of that German Empire which fifty years before had been so
+triumphantly built up by the master-geniuses of the last generation.
+
+After a flight of a little over two hours the flotilla came in sight
+of the Russian army lying between Cüstrin on the right and
+Frankfort-on-Spree on the left. The distance between these two towns
+is nearly twelve English miles, and yet the wings of the vast host
+under the command of the Tsar spread for a couple of miles on either
+side to north and south of each of them.
+
+In spite of the colossal iniquity which it concealed, the spectacle
+was one of indescribable grandeur. Almost as far as the eye could
+reach the beams of the early morning sun were gleaming upon
+innumerable white tents, and flashing over a sea of glittering metal,
+of bare bayonets and sword scabbards, of spear points and helmets, of
+gold-laced uniforms and the polished accoutrements of countless
+batteries of field artillery.
+
+Far away to the westward the stately city of Berlin could be seen
+lying upon its intersecting waters, and encircled by its
+fortifications bristling with guns, and in advance of it were the
+long serried lines of its defenders gathered to do desperate battle
+for home and fatherland.
+
+As soon as the Russian army was fairly in sight the _Ithuriel_ shot
+ahead, sank to the level of the flotilla, and then stopped until she
+was overtaken by the _Orion_. Tremayne was on deck, and Arnold as
+soon as he came alongside said--
+
+"You must stop here for the present. I want the aerostat commanded by
+Colonel Alexandrovitch to come with me; meanwhile you and the _Ariel_
+will rise with the rest of the balloons to a height of four thousand
+feet; you will keep strict guard over the balloons, and permit no
+movement to be made until my return. We are going to bring his
+Majesty the Tsar to book, or else make things pretty lively for him
+if he won't listen to reason."
+
+"Very well," replied Tremayne. "I will do as you say, and await
+developments with considerable interest. If there is going to be a
+fight, I hope you're not going to leave us out in the cold."
+
+"Oh no," replied Arnold. "You needn't be afraid of that. If his
+Majesty won't come to terms, you will smash up the war-balloons and
+then come and join us in the general bombardment. I see, by the way,
+that there are ten or a dozen more of these unwieldy monsters with
+the Russian force moored to the ground yonder on the outskirts of
+Cüstrin. It will be a little amusement for us if we have to come to
+blows to knock them to pieces before we smash up the Tsar's
+headquarters.
+
+So saying, Arnold increased the speed of the _Ithuriel_, swept round
+in front of the line, and communicated the same instructions to the
+captain of the _Ariel_.
+
+A few minutes later the _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ began to rise with
+their charges to the higher regions of the air, leaving the
+_Ithuriel_ and the one aerostat to carry out the plan which had been
+arranged by Natas and Arnold an hour previously.
+
+As the speed of the aerostat was only about twenty miles an hour
+against the wind, a rope was passed from the stern of the _Ithuriel_
+to the cordage connecting the car with the gas-holder, and so the
+aerostat was taken in tow by the air-ship, and dragged through the
+air at a speed of about forty miles an hour, as a wind-bound sailing
+vessel might have been towed by a steamer.
+
+On the journey the elevation was increased to more than four thousand
+feet,--an elevation at which both the _Ithuriel_ and her captive, and
+especially the former, presented practically impossible marks for the
+Russian riflemen. Almost immediately over Cüstrin they came to a
+standstill, and then Colonel Alexandrovitch and Professor Volnow were
+summoned by Natas into the deck saloon.
+
+He explained to them the mission which he desired them to undertake,
+that is to say, the conveyance of a letter from himself to the Tsar
+offering terms for the surrender of the _Lucifer_. They accepted the
+mission; and in order that they might fully understand the gravity of
+it, Natas read them the letter, which ran as follows:--
+
+      ALEXANDER ROMANOFF,--
+
+    Three days ago one of my fleet of air-ships, named the _Lucifer_,
+    was delivered into your hands by traitors and deserters, whose
+    lives are forfeit in virtue of the oaths which they took of their
+    own free will. I have already taken measures to render abortive
+    the analysis which you ordered to be performed in the chemical
+    department of your Arsenal at St. Petersburg, and I have now come
+    to make terms, if possible, for the restoration of the air-ship.
+    Those terms are as follows--
+
+    An hour before daybreak this morning I captured nine of your
+    war-balloons, after destroying three others which attempted to
+    escape. I have no desire to take any present part in the war
+    which you are now carrying on with the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance,
+    and if you will tell me where the _Lucifer_ is now to be found,
+    and will despatch orders both by land and through Professor
+    Volnow, who brings this letter to you, and will return with your
+    answer, for her to be given up to me forthwith with everything
+    she has on board, and will surrender with her the four traitors
+    who delivered her into your hands, I will restore the nine
+    war-balloons to you intact, and when I have recovered the
+    _Lucifer_ I will take no further part in the war unless either
+    you or your opponents proceed to unjustifiable extremities.
+
+    If you reject these terms, or if I do not receive an answer to
+    this letter within two hours of the time that the bearer of it
+    descends in the aerostat, I shall give orders for the immediate
+    destruction of the war-balloons now in my hands, and I shall then
+    proceed to destroy Cüstrin and the other aerostats which are
+    moored near the town. That done I shall, for the time being,
+    devote the force at my disposal to the defence of Berlin, and do
+    my utmost to bring about the defeat and dispersal of the army
+    which will then no longer be commanded by yourself.
+
+    In case you may doubt what I say as to the capture of the fleet
+    of war-balloons, Professor Volnow will be accompanied by Colonel
+    Alexei Alexandrovitch, late in command of the squadron, and now
+    my prisoner of war.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+The ambassadors were at once transferred to the aerostat, and with a
+white flag hoisted on the after stays of the balloon she began to
+sink rapidly towards the earth, and at the same time Natas gave
+orders for the _Ithuriel_ to ascend to a height of eight thousand
+feet in order to frustrate any attempts that might be made, whether
+with or without the orders of the Tsar, to injure her by means of a
+volley from the earth.
+
+Even from that elevation, those on board the _Ithuriel_ were able
+with the aid of their field-glasses to see with perfect ease the
+commotion which the appearance of the air-ship with the captured
+aerostat had produced in the Russian camp. The whole of the vast
+host, numbering more than four millions of men, turned out into the
+open to watch their aërial visitors, and everywhere throughout the
+whole extent of the huge camp the plainest signs of the utmost
+excitement were visible.
+
+In less than half an hour they saw the aerostat touch the earth near
+to a large building, above which floated the imperial standard of
+Russia. An hour had been allowed for the interview and for the Tsar
+to give his decision, and half an hour for the aerostat to return and
+meet the air-ship.
+
+In all the history of the world there had probably never been an hour
+so pregnant with tremendous consequences, not only to Europe, but to
+the whole civilised world, as that was; and though apparently a
+perfect calm reigned throughout the air-ship, the issue of the
+embassy was awaited with the most intense anxiety.
+
+Another half hour passed, and hardly a word was spoken on the deck of
+the _Ithuriel_, hanging there in mid-air over the mighty Russian
+host, and in range of the field-glasses of the outposts of the German
+army of Berlin lying some ten or twelve miles away to the westward.
+
+It was the calm before the threatening storm,--a storm which in less
+than an hour might break in a hail of death and destruction from the
+sky, and turn the fields of earth into a volcano of shot and flame.
+Certainly the fate of an empire, and perhaps of Europe, or indeed the
+world, hung in the balance over that field of possible carnage.
+
+If the Russians regained their war-balloons and were left to
+themselves, nothing that the heroic Germans could do would be likely
+to save Berlin from the fate that had overwhelmed Strassburg and
+Metz, Breslau and Thorn.
+
+On the other hand, should the aerostat not return in time with a
+satisfactory answer, the victorious career of the Tsar would be cut
+short by such a bolt from the skies as had wrecked his fortress at
+Kronstadt,--a blow which he could neither guard against nor return,
+for it would come from an unassailable vantage point, a little vessel
+a hundred feet long floating in the air six thousand feet from the
+earth, and looking a mere bright speck amidst the sunlight. She
+formed a mark that the most skilful rifle-shot in his army could not
+hit once in a thousand shots, and against whose hull of hardened
+aluminium, bullets, even if they struck, would simply splash and
+scatter, like raindrops on a rock.
+
+The remaining minutes of the last half hour were slipping away one by
+one, and still no sign came from the earth. The aerostat remained
+moored near the building surmounted by the Russian standard, and the
+white flag, which, according to arrangement, had been hauled down to
+be re-hoisted if the answer of the Tsar was favourable, was still
+invisible. When only ten minutes of the allotted time were left,
+Arnold, moving his glass from his eyes, and looking at his watch,
+said to Natas--
+
+"Ten minutes more; shall I prepare?"
+
+"Yes," said Natas. "And let the first gun be fired with the first
+second of the eleventh minute. Destroy the aerostats first and then
+the batteries of artillery. After that send a shell into Frankfort,
+if you have a gun that will carry the distance, so that they may see
+our range of operations; but spare the Tsar's headquarters for the
+present."
+
+"Very good," replied Arnold. Then, turning to his lieutenant, he
+said--
+
+"You have the guns loaded with No. 3, I presume, Mr. Marston, and the
+projectile stands are filled, I see. Very good. Now descend to six
+thousand feet and go a mile to the westward. Train one broadside gun
+on that patch of ground where you see those balloons, another to
+strike in the midst of those field-guns yonder by the
+ammunition-waggons, and train the starboard after-gun to throw a
+shell into Frankfort. The distance is a little over twelve miles, so
+give sufficient elevation."
+
+By the time these orders had been executed, swiftly as the necessary
+evolution had been performed, only four minutes of the allotted time
+were left. Arnold took his stand by the broadside gun trained on the
+aerostats, and, with one hand on the breech of the gun and the other
+holding his watch, he waited for the appointed moment. Natasha stood
+by him with her eyes fastened to the eye-pieces of the glasses
+watching for the white flag in breathless suspense.
+
+"One minute more!" said Arnold.
+
+"Stop, there it goes!" cried Natasha as the words left his lips. "His
+Majesty has yielded to circumstances!"
+
+Arnold took the glasses from her, and through them saw a tiny white
+speck shining against the black surface of the gas-holder of the
+balloon. He handed the glasses back to her, saying--
+
+"We must not be too sure of that. His message may be one of
+defiance."
+
+"True," said Natasha. "We shall see."
+
+Ten minutes later the aerostat was released from her moorings and
+rose swiftly and vertically into the air. As soon as it reached her
+own altitude the _Ithuriel_ shot forward to meet it, and stopped
+within a couple of hundred yards, a gun ready trained upon the car in
+case of treachery. In the car stood Professor Volnow and Colonel
+Alexandrovitch. The former held something white in his hand, and
+across the intervening space came the reassuring hail: "All well!"
+
+In five minutes he was standing on the deck of the _Ithuriel_
+presenting a folded paper to Natas. He was pale to the lips, and his
+whole body trembled with violent emotion. As he handed him the paper,
+he said to Natas in a low, husky voice that was barely recognisable
+as his--
+
+"Here is the answer of the Tsar. Whether you are man or fiend, I know
+not, but his Majesty has yielded and accepted your terms. May I never
+again witness such anger as was his when I presented your letter. It
+was not till the last moment that he yielded to my entreaties and
+those of his staff, and ordered the white flag to be hoisted."
+
+"Yes," replied Natas. "He tempted his fate to the last moment. The
+guns were already trained upon Cüstrin, and thirty seconds more would
+have seen his headquarters in ruins. He did wisely, if he acted
+tardily."
+
+So saying, Natas broke the imperial seal. On a sheet of paper bearing
+the imperial arms were scrawled three or four lines in the Autocrat's
+own handwriting--
+
+    I accept your main terms. The air-ship has joined the Baltic
+    fleet. She will be delivered to you with all on board. The four
+    men are my subjects, and I feel bound to protect them; they will
+    therefore not be delivered up. Do as you like.
+
+      ALEXANDER.
+
+"A Royal answer, though it comes from a despot," said Natas as he
+refolded the paper. "I will waive that point, and let him protect the
+traitors, if he can. Colonel Alexandrovitch," he continued, turning
+to the Russian, who had also boarded the air-ship, "you are free. You
+may return to your war-balloon, and accompany us to give the order
+for the release of your squadron."
+
+"Free!" suddenly screamed the Russian, his face livid and distorted
+with passion. "Free, yes, but disgraced! Ruined for life, and
+degraded to the ranks! I want no freedom from you. I will not even
+have my life at your hands, but I will have yours, and rid the earth
+of you if I die a thousand deaths!"
+
+As he spoke he wrenched his sword from its scabbard, thrust the
+Professor aside, and rushed at Natas with the uplifted blade. Before
+it had time to descend a stream of pale flame flashed over the back
+of the Master's chair, accompanied by a long, sharp rattle, and the
+Russian's body dropped instantly to the deck riddled by a hail of
+bullets.
+
+"I saw murder in that man's eyes when he began to speak," said
+Natasha, putting back into her pocket the magazine pistol that she
+had used with such terrible effect.
+
+"I saw it too, daughter," quietly replied Natas. "But you need not
+have been afraid; the blow would never have reached me, for I would
+have paralysed him before he could have made the stroke."
+
+"Impossible! No man could have done it!"
+
+The exclamation burst involuntarily from the lips of Professor
+Volnow, who had stood by, an amazed and horrified spectator of the
+rapidly enacted tragedy.
+
+"Professor," said Natas, in quick, stern tones, "I am not accustomed
+to say what is not true, nor yet to be contradicted by any one in
+human shape. Stand there till I tell you to move."
+
+As he spoke these last words Natas made a swift, sweeping downward
+movement with one of his hands, and fixed his eyes upon those of the
+Professor. In an instant Volnow's muscles stiffened into immovable
+rigidity, and he stood rooted to the deck powerless to move so much
+as a finger.
+
+"Captain Arnold," continued Natas, as though nothing had happened.
+"We will rejoin our consorts, please, and release the aerostats in
+accordance with the terms. This man's body will be returned in one of
+them to his master, and the Professor here will write an account of
+his death in order that it may not be believed that we have murdered
+him. Konstantin Volnow, go into the saloon and write that letter, and
+bring it to me when it is done."
+
+Like an automaton the Professor turned and walked mechanically into
+the deck-saloon. Meanwhile the _Ithuriel_ started on her way towards
+the captive squadron. Before she reached it Volnow returned with a
+sheet of paper in his hand filled with fresh writing, and signed with
+his name.
+
+Natas took it from him, read it, and then fixing his eyes on his
+again, said--
+
+"That will do. I give you back your will. Now, do you believe?"
+
+The Professor's body was suddenly shaken with such a violent
+trembling that he almost fell to the deck. Then he recovered himself
+with a violent effort, and cried through his chattering teeth--
+
+"Believe! How can I help it? Whoever and whatever you are, you are
+well named the Master of the Terror."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+AT CLOSE QUARTERS.
+
+
+As soon as the captive war-balloons had been released, the _Ithuriel_
+and her consorts, without any further delay or concern for the issue
+of the decisive battle which would probably prove to be the
+death-struggle of the German Empire, headed away to the northward at
+the utmost speed of the two smaller vessels. Their objective point
+was Copenhagen, and the distance rather more than two hundred and
+sixty miles in a straight line.
+
+This was covered in under two hours and a half, and by noon they had
+reached the Danish capital. In crossing the water from Stralsund they
+had sighted several war-vessels, all flying British, German, or
+Danish colours, and all making a northerly course like themselves.
+They had not attempted to speak to any of these, because, as they
+were all apparently bound for the same point, and, as the speed of
+the air-ships was more than five times as great as that of the
+swiftest cruiser, to do so would have been a waste of time, when
+every moment might be of the utmost consequence.
+
+Off Copenhagen the aërial travellers saw the first signs of the
+terrible night's work, with the details of which the reader has
+already been made acquainted. Wrecked fortifications, cruisers and
+battleships bearing every mark of a heavy engagement, some with their
+top-works battered into ruins, their military masts gone, and their
+guns dismounted; some down by the head, and some by the stern, and
+others evidently run ashore to save them from sinking; and the
+harbour crowded with others in little better condition--everywhere
+there were eloquent proofs of the disaster which had overtaken the
+Allied fleets on the previous night.
+
+"There seems to have been some rough work going on down there within
+the last few hours," said Arnold to Natas as they came in sight of
+this scene of destruction. "The Russians could not have done this
+alone, for when the war began they were shut up in the Baltic by an
+overwhelming force, of which these seem to be the remains. And those
+forts yonder were never destroyed by anything but our shells."
+
+"Yes," replied Natas. "It is easy to see what has happened. The
+_Lucifer_ was sent here to help the Russian fleet to break the
+blockade, and it looks as though it had been done very effectually.
+We are just a few hours too late, I fear.
+
+"That one victory will have an immense effect on the course of the
+war, for it is almost certain that the Russians will make for the
+Atlantic round the north of the Shetland Islands, and co-operate with
+the French and Italian squadrons along the British line of
+communication with the West. That once cut, food will go up to famine
+prices in Britain, and the end will not be far off."
+
+Natas spoke without the slightest apparent personal interest in the
+subject; but his words brought a flush to Arnold's cheeks, and make
+him suddenly clench his hands and knit his brows. After all he was an
+Englishman, and though he owed England nothing but the accident of
+his birth, the knowledge that one of his own ships should be the
+means of bringing this disaster upon her made him forget for the
+moment the gulf that he had placed between himself and his native
+land, and long to go to her rescue. But it was only a passing
+emotion. He remembered that his country was now elsewhere, and that
+all his hopes were now alien to Britain and her fortunes.
+
+If Natas noticed the effect of his words he made no sign that he did,
+and he went on in the same even tone as before--
+
+"We must overtake the fleet, and either recapture the _Lucifer_ or
+destroy her before she does any more mischief in Russian hands. The
+first thing to do is to find out what has happened, and what course
+they have taken. Hoist the Union Jack over a flag of truce on all
+three ships, and signal to Mazanoff to come alongside. We had better
+stop here till we get the news."
+
+The Master's orders were at once executed, and as soon as the _Ariel_
+was floating beside the flagship he said to her captain--
+
+"Go down and speak that cruiser lying at anchor off the harbour, and
+learn all you can of what has happened. Tell them freely how it
+happened that the _Lucifer_ assisted the Russian, if it turns out
+that she did so. Say that we have no hostility to Britain at present,
+but rather the reverse, and that our only purpose just now is to
+retake the air-ship and prevent her doing any more damage. If you can
+get any newspapers, do so."
+
+"I understand fully," replied Mazanoff, and a minute later his vessel
+was sinking rapidly down towards the cruiser.
+
+His reception was evidently friendly, for those on board the
+_Ithuriel_ saw that he ran the _Ariel_ close alongside the
+man-of-war, after the first hails had been exchanged, and conversed
+for some time with a group of officers across the rails of the two
+vessels. Then a large roll of newspapers was passed from the cruiser
+to the air-ship, salutes were exchanged, and the _Ariel_ rose
+gracefully into the air to rejoin her consorts, followed by the
+envious glances of the crews of the battered warships.
+
+Mazanoff presented his report, the facts of which were substantially
+those given in the _St. James's Gazette_ telegram, and added that the
+British officers had confessed to him that the damage done was so
+great, both to the fleet and the shore fortifications, that the Sound
+was now practically as open as the Atlantic, and that it would be two
+or three weeks before even half the Allied force would be able to
+take the sea in fighting trim.
+
+They added that there was not the slightest need to conceal their
+condition, as the Russians, who had steamed in triumph past their
+shattered ships and silenced forts, knew it just as well as they did.
+As regards the Russian fleet, it had been followed past the Skawe,
+and had headed out westward.
+
+In their opinion it would consider itself strong enough, with the aid
+of the air-ship, to sweep the North Sea, and would probably attempt
+to force the Straits of Dover, as it has done the Sound, and effect a
+junction with the French squadrons at Brest and Cherbourg. This done,
+a combined attack might possibly be made upon Portsmouth, or the
+destruction of the Channel fleet attempted. The effects of the
+air-ship's shells upon both forts and ships had been so appalling
+that the Russians would no doubt think themselves strong enough for
+anything as long as they had possession of her.
+
+"They were extremely polite," said Mazanoff, as he concluded his
+story. "They asked me to go ashore and interview the Admiral, who,
+they told me, would guarantee any amount of money on behalf of the
+British Government if we would only co-operate with their fleets for
+even a month. They said Britain would gladly pay a hundred thousand a
+month for the hire of each ship and her crew; and they looked quite
+puzzled when I refused point-blank, and said that a million a month
+would not do it.
+
+"They evidently take us for a new sort of pirates, corsairs of the
+air, or something of that kind; for when I said that a few odd
+millions were no good to people who could levy blackmail on the whole
+earth if they chose, they stared at me and asked me what we did want
+if we didn't want money. The idea that we could have any higher aims
+never seemed to have entered their heads, and, of course, I didn't
+enlighten them."
+
+"Quite right," said Natas, with a quiet laugh. "They will learn our
+aims quite soon enough. And now we must overtake the Russian fleet as
+soon as possible. You say they passed the Skawe soon after five this
+morning. That gives them nearly six hours' start, and if they are
+steaming twenty miles an hour, as I daresay they are, they will now
+be some hundred and twenty miles west of the Skawe. Captain Arnold,
+if we cut straight across Zeeland and Jutland, about what distance
+ought we to travel before we meet them?"
+
+Arnold glanced at the chart which lay spread out on the table of the
+saloon in which they were sitting, and said--
+
+"I should say a course of about two hundred miles due north-west from
+here ought to take us within sight of them, unless they are making
+for the Atlantic, and keep very close to the Swedish coast. In that
+case I should say two hundred and fifty in the same direction."
+
+"Very well, then, let us take that course and make all the speed we
+can," said Natas; and within ten minutes the three vessels were
+speeding away to the north-westward at a hundred and twenty miles an
+hour over the verdant lowlands of the Danish peninsula.
+
+The _Ithuriel_ kept above five miles ahead of the others, and when
+the journey had lasted about an hour and three-quarters, the man who
+had been stationed in the conning-tower signalled, "Fleet in sight"
+to the saloon. The air-ships were then travelling at an elevation of
+3000 feet. A good ten miles to the northward could be seen the
+Russian fleet steering to the westward, and, judging by the dense
+clouds of smoke that were pouring out of the funnels of the vessels,
+making all the speed they could.
+
+Arnold, who had gone forward to the conning-tower as soon as the
+signal sounded, at once returned to the saloon and made his formal
+report to Natas.
+
+"The Russian fleet is in sight, heading to the westward, and
+therefore evidently meaning to reach the Atlantic by the north of the
+Shetlands. There are twelve large battleships, about twenty-five
+cruisers of different sizes, eight of them very large, and a small
+swarm of torpedo-boats being towed by the larger vessels, I suppose
+to save their coal. I see no signs of the _Lucifer_ at present, but
+from what we have learnt she will be on the deck of one of the large
+cruisers. What are your orders?"
+
+"Recover the air-ship if you can," replied Natas. "Send Mazanoff with
+Professor Volnow to convey the Tsar's letter to the Admiral, and
+demand the surrender of the _Lucifer_. If he refuses, let the _Ariel_
+return at once, and we will decide what to do. I leave the details
+with you with the most perfect confidence."
+
+Arnold bowed in silence and retired, catching, as he turned to leave
+the saloon, a glance from Natasha which, it must be confessed, meant
+more to him than even the command of the Master. From the expression
+of his face as he went to the wheel-house to take charge of the ship,
+it was evident that it would go hard with the Russian fleet if the
+Admiral refused to recognise the order of the Tsar.
+
+When he got to the wheel-house the _Ithuriel_ was almost over the
+fleet. He signalled "stop" to the engine-room. Immediately the
+propellers slowed and then ceased their rapid revolutions, and at the
+same time the fan-wheels went aloft and began to revolve. This was a
+prearranged signal to the others to do the same, and by the time they
+had overtaken the flagship they also came to a standstill. As soon as
+they were within speaking distance Arnold hailed the _Orion_ and the
+_Ariel_ to come alongside.
+
+After communicating to Tremayne and Mazanoff the orders of Natas, he
+said to the latter--
+
+"You will take Professor Volnow to present the Tsar's letter to the
+Admiral in command of the fleet. Fly the Russian flag over a flag of
+truce, and if he acknowledges it say that if the _Lucifer_ is given
+up we shall allow the fleet to go on its way unmolested and without
+asking any question.
+
+"The cruiser that has her on board must separate from the rest of the
+fleet and allow two of your men to take possession of her and bring
+her up here. The lives of the four traitors are safe for the present
+if the air-ship is given up quietly."
+
+"And if they will not recognise the authority of the Tsar's letter,
+and refuse to give the air-ship up, what then?" asked Mazanoff.
+
+"In that case haul down the Russian flag, and get aloft as quickly as
+you can. You can leave the rest to us," said Arnold. "Meanwhile,
+Tremayne, will you go down to two thousand feet or so, and keep your
+eye on that big cruiser a bit ahead of the rest of the fleet. I fancy
+I can make out the _Lucifer_ on her deck. Train a couple of guns on
+her, and don't let the air-ship rise without orders. I shall stop up
+here for the present, and be ready to make things lively for the
+Admiral if he refuses to obey his master's orders."
+
+The _Ariel_ took the Professor on board, and hoisted the Russian
+colours over the flag of truce, and began to sink down towards the
+fleet. As she descended, the Admiral in command of the squadron,
+already not a little puzzled by the appearance of the three
+air-ships, was still more mystified by seeing the Russian ensign
+flying from her flagstaff.
+
+Was this only a ruse of the Terrorists, or were they flying the
+Russian flag for a legitimate reason? As he knew from the experience
+of the previous night that the air-ships, if their intentions were
+hostile, could destroy his fleet in detail without troubling to
+parley with him, he concluded that there was a good reason for the
+flag of truce, and so he ordered one to be flown from his own
+masthead in answer to it.
+
+The white flag at once enabled Mazanoff to single out the huge
+battleship on which it was flying as the Admiral's flagship. The
+fleet was proceeding in four columns of line abreast. First two long
+lines of cruisers, each with one or two torpedo boats in tow, and
+with scouts thrown out on each wing, and then two lines of
+battleships, in the centre of the first of which was the flagship.
+
+It was a somewhat risky matter for the _Ariel_ to descend thus right
+in the middle of the whole fleet, but Mazanoff had his orders, and
+they had to be obeyed, and so down he went, running his bow up to
+within a hundred feet of the hurricane deck, on which stood the
+Admiral surrounded by several of his officers.
+
+"I have a message for the Admiral of the fleet," he shouted, as soon
+as he came within hail.
+
+"Who are you, and from whom is your message?" came the reply.
+
+"Konstantin Volnow, of the Imperial Arsenal at Petersburg, brings the
+message from the Tsar in writing.'
+
+"His Majesty's messenger is welcome. Come alongside."
+
+The _Ariel_ ran ahead until her prow touched the rail of the
+hurricane deck, and the Professor advanced with the Tsar's letter in
+his hand, and gave it to the Admiral, saying--
+
+"You are acquainted with me, Admiral Prabylov. Though I bear it
+unwillingly, I can vouch for the letter being authentic. I saw his
+Majesty write it, and he gave it into my hands."
+
+"Then how do you come to be an unwilling bearer of it?" asked the
+Admiral, scowling and gnawing his moustache as he read the unwelcome
+letter. "What are these terms, and with whom were they made?"
+
+"Pardon me, Admiral," interrupted Mazanoff, "that is not the
+question. I presume you recognise his Majesty's signature, and see
+that he desires the air-ship to be given up."
+
+"His Majesty's signature can be forged, just as Nihilists' passports
+can be, Mr. Terrorist, for that's what I presume you are, and"--
+
+"Admiral, I solemnly assure you that that letter is genuine, and that
+it is really his Majesty's wish that the air-ship should be given
+up," the Professor broke in before Mazanoff had time to reply. "It is
+to be given in exchange for nine war-balloons which these air-ships
+captured before daybreak this morning."
+
+"How do you come to be the bearer of it, sir? Please answer me that
+first."
+
+"I am a prisoner of war. I surrendered to save the Arsenal and
+perhaps Petersburg from destruction under circumstances which I
+cannot now explain"--
+
+"Thank you, sir, that is quite enough! A pretty story, truly! And you
+ask me to believe this, and to give up that priceless air-ship on
+such grounds as these--a story that would hardly deceive a child? You
+captured nine of the Tsar's war-balloons this morning, had an
+interview with his Majesty, got this letter from him at Cüstrin--more
+than five hundred miles away, and bring it here, and it is barely two
+in the afternoon!
+
+"No, gentlemen, I am too old a sailor to be taken in by a yarn like
+that. I believe this letter to be a forgery, and I will not give the
+air-ship up on its authority."
+
+"That is your last word, is it?" asked Mazanoff, white with passion,
+but still forcing himself to speak coolly.
+
+"That is my last word, sir, save to tell you that if you do not haul
+that flag you are masquerading under down at once I will fire upon
+you," shouted the Admiral, tearing the Tsar's letter into fragments
+as he spoke.
+
+"If I haul that flag down it will be the signal for the air-ships up
+yonder to open fire upon you, so your blood be on your own heads!"
+said Mazanoff, stamping thrice on the deck as he spoke. The
+propellers of the _Ariel_ whirled round in a reverse direction, and
+she sprang swiftly back from the battleship, at the same time rising
+rapidly in the air.
+
+Before she had cleared a hundred yards, and before the flag of truce
+was hauled down, there was a sharp, grinding report from one of the
+tops of the man-of-war, and a hail of bullets from a machine gun
+swept across the deck. Mazanoff heard a splintering of wood and
+glass, and a deep groan beside him. He looked round and saw the
+Professor clasp his hand to a great red wound in his breast, and fall
+in a heap on the deck.
+
+This was the event of an instant. The next he had trained one of the
+bow-guns downwards on the centre of the deck of the Russian flagship
+and sent the projectile to its mark. Then quick as thought he sprang
+over and discharged the other gun almost at random. He saw the
+dazzling green flash of the explosions, then came a shaking of the
+atmosphere, and a roar as of a hundred thunder-claps in his ears, and
+he dropped senseless to the deck beside the corpse of the Professor.
+
+[Illustration: "There was a sharp, grinding report from one of the
+tops of the man-of-war."
+
+_See page 232._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+A RUSSIAN RAID.
+
+
+Mazanoff came to himself about ten minutes later, lying on one of the
+seats in the after saloon, and all that he saw when he first opened
+his eyes was the white anxious face of Radna bending over him.
+
+"What is the matter? What has happened? Where am I?" he asked, as
+soon as his tongue obeyed his will. His voice, although broken and
+unsteady, was almost as strong as usual, and Radna's face immediately
+brightened as she heard it. A smile soon chased away her anxious
+look, and she said cheerily--
+
+"Ah, come! you're not killed after all. You are still on board the
+_Ariel_, and what has happened is this as far as I can see. In your
+hurry to return the shot from the Russian flagship you fired your
+guns at too close range, and the shock of the explosion stunned you.
+In fact, we thought for the moment you had blown the _Ariel_ up too,
+for she shook so that we all fell down; then her engines stopped, and
+she almost fell into the water before they could be started again."
+
+"Is she all right now? Where's the Russian fleet, and what happened
+to the flagship? I must get on deck," exclaimed Mazanoff, sitting up
+on the seat. As he did so he put his hand to his head and said: "I
+feel a bit shaky still. What's that--brandy you've got there? Get me
+some champagne, and put the brandy into it. I shall be all right when
+I've had a good drink. Now I think of it, I wonder that explosion
+didn't blow us to bits. You haven't told me what became of the
+flagship," he continued, as Radna came back with a small bottle of
+champagne and uncorked it.
+
+"Well, the flagship is at the bottom of the German Ocean. When
+Petroff told me that you had fallen dead, as he said, on deck, I ran
+up in defiance of your orders and saw the battleship just going down.
+The shells had blown the middle of her right out, and a cloud of
+steam and smoke and fire was rising out of a great ragged space where
+the funnels had been. Before I got you down here she broke right in
+two and went down."
+
+"That serves that blackguard Prabylov right for saying we forged the
+Tsar's letter, and firing on a flag of truce. Poor Volnow's dead, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Oh yes," replied Radna sadly. "He was shot almost to pieces by the
+volley from the machine gun. The deck saloon is riddled with bullets,
+and the decks badly torn up, but fortunately the hull and propellers
+are almost uninjured. But come, drink this, then you can go up and
+see for yourself."
+
+So saying she handed him a tumbler of champagne well dashed with
+brandy. He drank it down at a gulp, like the Russian that he was, and
+said as he put the glass down--
+
+"That's better. I feel a new man. Now give me a kiss, _batiushka_,
+and I'll be off."
+
+When he reached the deck he found the _Ariel_ ascending towards the
+_Ithuriel_, and about a mile astern of the Russian fleet, the vessels
+of which were blazing away into the air with their machine guns, in
+the hope of "bringing him down on the wing," as he afterwards put it.
+He could hear the bullets singing along underneath him; but the
+_Ariel_ was rising so fast, and going at such a speed through the
+air, that the moment the Russians got the range they lost it again,
+and so merely wasted their ammunition.
+
+Neither the _Ithuriel_ nor the _Orion_ seemed to have taken any part
+in the battle so far, or to have done anything to avenge the attack
+made upon the _Ariel_. Mazanoff wondered not a little at this, as
+both Arnold and Tremayne must have seen the fate of the Russian
+flagship. As soon as he got within speaking distance of the
+_Ithuriel_, he sang out to Arnold, who was on the deck--
+
+"I got in rather a tight place down there. That scoundrel fired upon
+us with the flag of truce flying, and when I gave him a couple of
+shells in return I thought the end of the world was come."
+
+"You fired at too close range, my friend. Those shells are sudden
+death to anything within a hundred yards of them. Are you all well on
+board? You've been knocked about a bit, I see."
+
+"No; poor Volnow's dead. He was killed standing close beside me, and
+I wasn't touched, though the explosion of the shell knocked the
+senses out of me completely. However, the machinery's all right, and
+I don't think the hull is hurt to speak of. But what are you doing? I
+should have thought you'd have blown half the fleet out of the water
+by this time."
+
+"No. We saw that you had amply avenged yourself, and the Master's
+orders were not to do anything till you returned. You'd better come
+on board and consult with him."
+
+Mazanoff did so, and when he had told his story to Natas, the latter
+mystified him not a little by replying--
+
+"I am glad that none of you are injured, though, of course, I'm sorry
+that I sent Volnow to his death; but that is the fortune of war. If
+one of us fell into his master's hands his fate would be worse than
+that. You avenged the outrage promptly and effectively.
+
+"I have decided not to injure the Russian fleet more than I can help.
+It has work to do which must not be interfered with. My only object
+is to recover the _Lucifer_, if possible, and so we shall follow the
+fleet for the present across the North Sea on our way to the
+rendezvous with the other vessels from Aeria which are to meet us on
+Rockall Island, and wait our opportunity. Should the opportunity not
+come before then, we must proceed to extremities, and destroy her and
+the cruiser that has her on board.
+
+"And do you think we shall get such an opportunity?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Natas. "But it is possible. I don't think it
+likely that the fleet will have coal enough for a long cruise in the
+Atlantic, and therefore it is possible that they will make a descent
+on Aberdeen, which they are quite strong enough to capture if they
+like, and coal up there. In that case it is extremely probable that
+they will make use of the air-ship to terrorise the town into
+surrender, and as soon as she takes the air we must make a dash for
+her, and either take her or blow her to pieces."
+
+Arnold expressed his entire agreement with this idea, and, as the
+event proved, it was entirely correct. Instead of steering
+nor'-nor'-west, as they would have done had they intended to go round
+the Shetland Islands, or north-west, had they chosen the course
+between the Orkneys and the Shetlands, the Russian vessels kept a due
+westerly course during the rest of the day, and this course could
+only take them to the Scotch coast near Aberdeen.
+
+The distance from where they were was a little under five hundred
+miles, and at their present rate of steaming they would reach
+Aberdeen about four o'clock on the following afternoon. The air-ships
+followed them at a height of four thousand feet during the rest of
+the day and until shortly before dawn on the following morning.
+
+They then put on speed, took a wide sweep to the northward, and
+returned southward over Banffshire, and passing Aberdeen to the west,
+found a secluded resting-place on the northern spur of the
+Kincardineshire Hills, about five miles to the southward of the
+Granite City.
+
+Here the repairs which were needed by the _Ariel_ were at once taken
+in hand by her own crew and that of the _Ithuriel_, while the _Orion_
+was sent out to sea again to keep a sharp look-out for the Russian
+fleet, which she would sight long before she herself became visible,
+and then to watch the movements of the Russians from as great a
+distance as possible until it was time to make the counter-attack.
+
+As Aberdeen was then one of the coaling depots for the North Sea
+Squadron, it was defended by two battleships, the _Ascalon_ and the
+_Menelaus_, three powerful coast-defence vessels, the _Thunderer_,
+the _Cyclops_, and the _Pluto_, six cruisers, and twelve
+torpedo-boats. The shore defences consisted of a fort on the north
+bank at the mouth of the Dee, mounting ten heavy guns, and the
+Girdleness fort, mounting twenty-four 9-inch twenty-five ton guns, in
+connection with which was a station for working navigable torpedoes
+of the Brennan type, which had been considerably improved during the
+last ten years.
+
+Shortly after two o'clock on the afternoon of the 30th the _Orion_
+returned to her consorts with the news that the Russian fleet was
+forty miles off the land, heading straight for Aberdeen, and that
+there were no other warships in sight as far as could be seen to the
+southward. From this fact it was concluded that the Russians had
+escaped the notice of the North Sea Squadron, and so would only have
+the force defending Aberdeen to reckon with.
+
+Even had they not possessed the air-ship, this force was so far
+inferior to their own that there would be little chance of
+successfully defending the town against them. They had eleven
+battleships, twenty-five cruisers, eight of which were very large and
+heavily armed, and forty torpedo-boats, to pit against the little
+British force and the two forts.
+
+But given the assistance of the _Lucifer_, and the town practically
+lay at their mercy. They evidently feared no serious opposition in
+their raid, for, without even waiting for nightfall, they came on at
+full speed, darkening the sky with their smoke, the battleships in
+the centre, a dozen cruisers on either side of them, and one large
+cruiser about a mile ahead of their centre.
+
+When the captain of the _Ascalon_, who was in command of the port,
+saw the overwhelming force of the hostile fleet, he at once came to
+the conclusion that it would be madness for him to attempt to put to
+sea with his eleven ships and six torpedo-boats. The utmost that he
+could do was to remain inshore and assist the forts to keep the
+Russians at bay, if possible, until the assistance, which had already
+been telegraphed for to Dundee and the Firth of Forth, where the bulk
+of the North Sea Squadron was then stationed, could come to his aid.
+
+Five miles off the land the Russian fleet stopped, and the _Lucifer_
+rose from the deck of the big cruiser and stationed herself about a
+mile to seaward of the mouth of the river at an elevation of three
+thousand feet. Then a torpedo-boat flying a flag of truce shot out
+from the Russian line and ran to within a mile of the shore.
+
+The Commodore of the port sent out one of his torpedo-boats to meet
+her, and this craft brought back a summons to surrender the port for
+twelve hours, and permit six of the Russian cruisers to fill up with
+coal. The alternative would be bombardment of the town by the fleet
+and the air-ship, which alone, as the Russians said, held the fort
+and the ships at its mercy.
+
+To this demand the British Commodore sent back a flat refusal, and
+defiance to the Russian Commander to do his worst.
+
+Where the _Ithuriel_ and her consorts were lying the hills between
+them and the sea completely screened them from the observation of
+those on board the _Lucifer_. Arnold and Tremayne had climbed to the
+top of a hill above their ships, and watched the movements of the
+Russians through their glasses. As soon as they saw the _Lucifer_
+rise into the air they returned to the _Ithuriel_ to form their plans
+for their share in the conflict that they saw impending.
+
+"I'm afraid we can't do much until it gets a good deal darker than it
+is now," said Arnold, in reply to a question from Natas as to his
+view of the situation. "If we take the air now the _Lucifer_ will see
+us; and we must remember that she is armed with the same weapons as
+we have, and a shot from one of her guns would settle any of us that
+it struck. Even if we hit her first we should destroy her, and we
+could have done that easily yesterday.
+
+"It has felt very like thunder all day, and I see there are some very
+black-looking clouds rolling up there over the hills to the
+south-west. My advice is to wait for those. I'm afraid we can't do
+anything to save the town under the circumstances, but in this state
+of the atmosphere a heavy bombardment is practically certain to bring
+on a severe thunderstorm, and to fetch those clouds up at the double
+quick.
+
+"I don't for a moment think that the British will surrender, big and
+all as the Russian force is, and as they have never seen the effects
+of our shells they won't fear the _Lucifer_ much until she commences
+operations, and then it will be too late. Listen! They've begun.
+There goes the first gun!"
+
+A deep, dull boom came rolling up the hills from the sea as he spoke,
+and was almost immediately followed by a rapid series of similar
+reports, which quickly deepened into a continuous roar. Every one who
+could be spared from the air-ship at once ran up to the top of the
+hill to watch the progress of the fight. The Russian fleet had
+advanced to within three miles of the land, and had opened a furious
+cannonade on the British ships and the forts, which were manfully
+replying to it with every available gun.
+
+By the time the watchers on the hill had focussed their glasses on
+the scene, the _Lucifer_ discharged her first shell on the fort on
+Girdleness. They saw the blaze of the explosion gleam through the
+smoke that already hung thick over the low building. Another and
+another followed in quick succession, and the firing from the fort
+ceased. The smoke drifted slowly away, and disclosed a heap of
+shapeless ruins.
+
+"That is horrible work, isn't it?" said Arnold to Tremayne through
+his clenched teeth. "Anywhere but on British ground would not be so
+bad, but the sight of that makes my blood boil. I would give my ears
+to take our ships into the air, and smash up that Russian fleet as we
+did the French Squadron in the Atlantic."
+
+"There spoke the true Briton, Captain Arnold," said Natasha, who was
+standing beside him under a clump of trees. "Yes, I can quite
+understand how you feel watching a scene like that, for country is
+country after all. Even my half-English blood is pretty near boiling
+point; and though I wouldn't give my ears, I would give a good deal
+to go with you and do as you say.
+
+"But you may rest assured that the Master's way is the best, and will
+prove the shortest road to the universal peace which can only come
+through universal war. Courage, my friend, and patience! There will
+be a heavy reckoning to pay for this sort of thing one day, and that
+before very long."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Tremayne. "There goes the other fort. I suppose it
+will be the turn of the ships next. What a frightful scene! Twenty
+minutes ago it was as peaceful as these hills, and look at it now."
+
+The second fort had been destroyed as rapidly as the first, and the
+cessation of the fire of both had made a very perceptible difference
+in the cannonade, though the great guns of the Russian fleet still
+roared continuously and poured a hurricane of shot and shell into the
+mouth of the river across which the British ships were drawn, keeping
+up the unequal conflict like so many bull-dogs at bay.
+
+Over them and the river hung a dense pall of bluish-white smoke,
+through which the _Lucifer_ sent projectile after projectile in the
+attempt to sink the British ironclads. As those on board her could
+only judge by the flash of the guns, the aim was very imperfect, and
+several projectiles were wasted, falling into the sea and exploding
+there, throwing up mountains of water, but not doing any further
+damage. At length a brilliant green flash shot up through the smoke
+clouds over the river mouth.
+
+"He's hit one of the ships at last!" exclaimed Tremayne, as he saw
+the flash. "It'll soon be all up with poor old Aberdeen."
+
+"I don't think so," exclaimed Arnold. "At any rate the _Lucifer_
+won't do much more harm. There comes the storm at last! Back to the
+ships all of you at once, it's time to go aloft!"
+
+As he spoke a brilliant flash of lightning split the inky clouds
+which had now risen high over the western hills, and a deep roll of
+thunder came echoing up the valleys as if in answer to the roar of
+the cannonade on the sea. The moment every one was on board, Arnold
+gave the signal to ascend. As soon as the fan-wheels had raised them
+a hundred feet from the ground he gave the signal for full speed
+ahead, and the three air-ships swept upwards to the west as though to
+meet the coming storm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+THE END OF THE CHASE.
+
+
+The flight of the _Ithuriel_ and her consorts was so graduated, that
+as they rose to the level of the storm-cloud they missed it and
+passed diagonally beyond it at a sufficient distance to avoid
+disturbing the electrical balance between it and the earth. The
+object of doing so was not so much to escape a discharge of
+electricity, since all the vital parts of the machinery and the
+power-cylinders were carefully insulated, but rather in order not to
+provoke a lightning flash which might have revealed their rapid
+passage to the occupants of the _Lucifer_.
+
+As it was, they swept upwards and westward at such a speed that they
+had gained the cover of the thunder-cloud, and placed a considerable
+area of it between themselves and the town, long before the storm
+broke over Aberdeen, and so they were provided with ample shelter
+under, or rather over, which they were to make their attack on the
+_Lucifer_.
+
+They waited until the clouds coming up from the westward joined those
+which had begun to gather thick and black and threatening over the
+Russian fleet soon after the tremendous cannonade had begun. The
+shock of the meeting of the two cloud-squadrons formed a fitting
+counterpart to the drama of death and destruction that was being
+played on land and sea.
+
+The brilliant sunshine of the midsummer afternoon was suddenly
+obscured by a darkness born of smoke and cloud like that of a
+midwinter night. The smoke of the cannonade rose heavily and mingled
+with the clouds, and the atmospheric concussions produced by the
+discharge of hundreds of heavy guns, brought down the rain in
+torrents. Almost continuous streams of lightning flashed from cloud
+to cloud, and from heaven to earth, eclipsing the spouting fire of
+the guns, while to the roar of the bombardment was added an almost
+unbroken roll of thunder.
+
+Above all this hideous turmoil of human and elemental strife, the
+three air-ships floated for awhile in a serene and sunlit atmosphere.
+But this was only for a time. Arnold had taken the position and
+altitude of the _Lucifer_ very carefully by means of his sextant and
+compass before he rose into the air, and as soon as his preparations
+were complete he made another observation of the angle of the sun's
+elevation, allowing, of course, for his own, and placed his three
+ships as nearly perpendicular as he could over the _Lucifer_,
+floating on the under side of the storm-cloud.
+
+His preparations had been simple in the extreme. Four light strong
+grappling-irons hung downwards from the _Ithuriel_, two at the bow
+and two at the stern, by thin steel-wire rope; two similar ones hung
+from the starboard side of the _Orion_, which was on his left hand,
+and two from the port side of the _Ariel_, which was on his right
+hand. As they gained the desired position, a man was stationed at
+each of the ropes, with instructions how to act when the word was
+given. Then the fan-wheels were slowed down, and the three vessels
+sank swiftly through the cloud.
+
+Through the mist and darkness underneath they saw the white shape of
+the _Lucifer_ almost immediately below them, so accurately had the
+position been determined. They sank a hundred feet farther, and then
+Arnold shouted--
+
+"Now is your time. Cast!"
+
+Instantly the eight grappling-irons dropped and swung towards the
+_Lucifer_, hooking themselves in the stays of her masts and the
+railing that ran completely round her deck.
+
+"Now, up again, and ahead!" shouted Arnold once more, and the
+fan-wheels of the three ships revolved at their utmost speed; the
+air-planes had already been inclined to the full, the nine propellers
+whirled round, and the recaptured _Lucifer_ was dragged forward and
+upwards through the mist and darkness of the thunder-cloud into the
+bright sunshine above.
+
+[Illustration: "Now is your time, cast!"
+
+_See page 242._]
+
+So suddenly had the strange manœuvre been executed that those on
+board her had not time to grasp what had really happened to them
+before they found themselves captured and utterly helpless. As she
+hung below her three captors it was impossible to bring one of the
+_Lucifer's_ guns to bear upon them, while four guns, two from the
+_Ariel_ and two from the _Orion_, grinned down upon her ready to blow
+her into fragments at the least sign of resistance.
+
+Added to this, a dozen magazine rifles covered her deck, threatening
+sudden death to the six bewildered men who were still staring
+helplessly about them in wonderment at the strange thing that had
+happened to them.
+
+"Who are the Russian officers in command of that air-ship?" hailed
+Mazanoff from the _Ariel_.
+
+Two men in Russian uniform raised their hands in reply, and Mazanoff
+hailed again--
+
+"Which will you have--surrender or death? If you surrender your lives
+are safe, and we will put you on to the land as soon as possible; if
+not you will be shot."
+
+"We surrender!" exclaimed one of the officers, drawing his sword and
+dropping it on the deck. The other followed suit, and Mazanoff
+continued--
+
+"Very good. Remain where you are. The first man that moves will be
+shot down."
+
+Almost before the last words had left his lips half a dozen men had
+slid down the wire ropes and landed on the deck of the _Lucifer_. The
+moment their feet had touched the deck each whipped a magazine pistol
+out of his belt and covered his man.
+
+Within a couple of minutes the captives were all disarmed; indeed,
+most of them had thrown their weapons down on the first summons. The
+arms were tossed overboard, and all but the two Russian officers were
+rapidly bound hand and foot. Then three of the six men descended to
+the engine-room, and one went to the wheel-house. In another minute
+the fan-wheels of the _Lucifer_ began to spin round faster, and
+quickly raised her to the level of the other three ships, and so the
+recapture of the deserter was completed.
+
+The two officers were at once summoned on board the _Ithuriel_ and
+shut up under guard in separate cabins. The rest of the crew of the
+_Lucifer_ was found to consist of the four traitors who had carried
+her away, and two Russian engineers who had been put on board to
+assist in the working of the vessel.
+
+As soon as these had been replaced by a crew drafted from the
+_Ithuriel_ and her consorts under the command of Lieutenant Marston,
+Arnold gave the order to go ahead at fifty miles an hour to the
+northward, and the four air-ships immediately sped away in that
+direction, leaving Aberdeen to its fate, and within a little over an
+hour the sounds of both storm and battle had died away in silence
+behind them.
+
+When they were fairly under way Natas ordered the four deserters to
+be brought before him in the after saloon of the flagship. He sat at
+one end of the table, and they were placed in a line in front of him
+at the other, each with a guard behind him, and the muzzle of a
+pistol at his head.
+
+"Peter Tamboff, Amos Vornjeh, Ivan Tscheszco, and Paul Oreloff! you
+have broken your oaths, betrayed your companions, deserted the Cause
+to which you devoted your lives, and placed in the hands of the
+Russian tyrant the means of destruction which has enabled him to
+break the blockade of the Baltic, and so perhaps to change the whole
+course of the war which he is now waging, as you well know, with the
+object of conquering Europe and enslaving its peoples.
+
+"Already the lives of thousands of better men than you have been lost
+through this vile treason of yours, the vilest of all treason, for it
+was committed for love of money. By the laws of the Brotherhood your
+lives are forfeit, and if you had a hundred lives each they would be
+forfeited again by the calamities that your treason has brought, and
+will bring, upon the world. You will die in half an hour. If you have
+any preparations to make for the next world, make them. I have done
+with you. Go!"
+
+Half an hour later the four deserters were taken up on to the deck of
+the _Ithuriel_. The signal was given to stop the flotilla, which was
+then flying three thousand feet above the waters of the Moray Firth.
+As soon as they came to a standstill their crews were summoned on
+deck. The three smaller vessels floated around the _Ithuriel_ at a
+distance of about fifty yards from her. The traitors, bound hand and
+foot, were stood up facing the rail of the flagship, and four of her
+crew were stationed opposite to them on the other side of the deck
+with loaded rifles.
+
+They were allowed one last look upon sun and sky, and then their eyes
+were bandaged. As soon as this was done Arnold raised his hand; the
+four rifles came up to the ready; a stream of flame shot from the
+muzzles, and the bodies of the four traitors lurched forward over the
+rail and disappeared into the abyss beneath.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," said Arnold in French, turning to the two Russian
+officers who had been spectators of the scene, "that is how we punish
+traitors. Your own lives are spared because we do not murder
+prisoners of war. You will, I hope, in due time return to your
+master, and you will tell him why we have been obliged to retake the
+air-ship which he surrendered to us by force, and therefore why we
+destroyed his flagship in the North Sea. If Admiral Prabylov had
+obeyed his orders, the _Lucifer_ would have been surrendered to us
+quietly, and there would have been for the present no further
+trouble.
+
+"Tell him also from me, as Admiral of the Terrorist fleet, that, so
+far as matters have now gone, we shall take no further part in the
+war; but that the moment he brings his war-balloons across the waters
+which separate Britain from Europe, the last hour of his empire will
+have struck.
+
+"If he neglects this warning with which I now entrust you, I will
+bring a force against him before which he shall be as helpless as the
+armies of the Alliance have so far been before him and his
+war-balloons; and, more than this, tell him that if I conquer I will
+not spare. I will hold him and his advisers strictly to account for
+all that may happen after that moment.
+
+"There will be no treaties with conquered enemies in the hour of our
+victory. We will have blood for blood, and life for life. Remember
+that, and bear the message to him faithfully. For the present you
+will be prisoners on parole; but I warn you that you will be watched
+night and day, and at the first suspicion of treachery you will be
+shot, and cast into the air as those traitors were just now.
+
+"You will remain on board this ship. The two engineers will be placed
+one on board of each of two of our consorts. In twenty-four hours or
+so you will be landed on Spanish soil and left to your own devices.
+Meanwhile we shall make you as comfortable as the circumstances
+permit."
+
+The two Russian officers bowed their acknowledgments, and Arnold gave
+the signal for the flotilla to proceed.
+
+It was then about seven o'clock in the evening. Flying at the rate of
+a hundred miles an hour, the squadron crossed the mouth of the Moray
+Firth trending to the westward until they passed over Thurso, and
+then took a westerly course to Rockall Island, four hundred miles to
+the west. Here they met the two other air-ships which had been
+despatched from Aeria with extra power-cylinders and munitions of war
+in case they had been needed for a prolonged campaign.
+
+The cylinders, which had been exhausted on board the _Ithuriel_ and
+her three consorts, were replaced, and then the whole squadron rose
+into the air from one of the peaks of Rockall Island and winged its
+way southward to the north-western coast of Spain. They made the
+Spanish land near Corunna shortly before eight on the following
+evening, and here the four Russian prisoners were released on the
+sea-shore and provided with money to take them as far as Valladolid,
+whence they would be able to communicate with the French military
+authorities at Toulouse.
+
+The Terrorist Squadron then rose once more into the air, ascended to
+a height of two thousand feet, skirted the Portuguese coast, and then
+took a south-easterly course over Morocco through one of the passes
+of the Atlas Mountains, and so across the desert of Sahara and the
+wilds of Central Africa to Aeria.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+THE BREAKING OF THE CHARM.
+
+
+The first news of the Russian attack on Aberdeen was received in
+London soon after five o'clock on the afternoon of the 30th, and
+produced an effect which it is quite beyond the power of language to
+describe. The first telegram containing the bare announcement of the
+fact fell like a bolt from the blue on the great Metropolis. It ran
+as follows:--
+
+      Aberdeen, 4.30 P.M.
+
+    A large fleet, supposed to be the Russian fleet which broke the
+    blockade of the Baltic on the morning of the 28th, has appeared
+    off the town. About forty large vessels can be made out. Our
+    defences are quite inadequate to cope with such an immense force,
+    but we shall do our best till help comes.
+
+After that the wires were kept hot with messages until well into the
+night. The newspapers rushed out edition after edition to keep pace
+with them, and in all the office windows of the various journals
+copies of the telegrams were posted up as soon as they arrived.
+
+As the messages multiplied in number they brought worse and worse
+tidings, until excitement grew to frenzy and frenzy degenerated into
+panic. The thousand tongues of rumour wagged faster and faster as
+each hour went by. The raid upon a single town was magnified into a
+general invasion of the whole country.
+
+Very few people slept in London that night, and the streets were
+alive with anxious crowds till daybreak, waiting for the
+confidently-expected news of the landing of the Russian troops, in
+spite of the fact that the avowed and real object of the raid had
+been made public early in the evening. The following are the most
+important of the telegrams which were received, and will suffice to
+inform the reader of the course of events after the departure of the
+four air-ships from the scene of action--
+
+      5 P.M.
+
+    A message has been received from the Commander of the Russian
+    fleet demanding the surrender of the town for twelve hours to
+    allow six of his ships to fill up with coal. The captain of the
+    _Ascalon_, in command of the port, has refused this demand, and
+    declares that he will fight while he has a ship that will float
+    or a gun that can be fired. The Russians are accompanied by the
+    air-ship which assisted them to break the blockade of the Sound.
+    She is now floating over the town. The utmost terror prevails
+    among the inhabitants, and crowds are flying into the country to
+    escape the bombardment. Aid has been telegraphed for to Edinburgh
+    and Dundee; but if the North Sea Squadron is still in the Firth
+    of Forth, it cannot get here under nearly twelve hours' steaming.
+
+      5.30 P.M.
+
+    The bombardment has commenced, and fearful damage has been done
+    already. With three or four shells the air-ship has blown up and
+    utterly destroyed the fort on Girdleness, which mounted
+    twenty-four heavy guns. But for the ships, this leaves the town
+    almost unprotected. News has just come from the North Shore that
+    the batteries there have met with the same fate. The Russians are
+    pouring a perfect storm of shot and shell into the mouth of the
+    river where our ships are lying, but the town has so far been
+    spared.
+
+      5.45 P.M.
+
+    We have just received news from Edinburgh that the North Sea
+    Squadron left at daybreak this morning under orders to proceed to
+    the mouth of the Elbe to assist in protecting Hamburg from an
+    anticipated attack by the same fleet which has attacked us. There
+    is now no hope that the town can be successfully defended, and
+    the Provost has called a towns-meeting to consider the
+    advisability of surrender, though it is feared that the Russians
+    may now make larger demands. The whole country side is in a state
+    of the utmost panic.
+
+      7 P.M.
+
+    The towns-meeting empowered the Provost to call upon Captain
+    Marchmont, of the _Ascalon_, to make terms with the Russians in
+    order to save the town from destruction. He refused point blank,
+    although one of the coast-defence ships, the _Thunderer_, has
+    been disabled by shells from the air-ship, and all his other
+    vessels have been terribly knocked about by the incessant
+    cannonade from the fleet, which has now advanced to within two
+    miles of the shore, having nothing more to fear from the land
+    batteries. A terrific thunderstorm is raging, and no words can
+    describe the horror of the scene. The air-ship ceased firing
+    nearly an hour ago.
+
+      10 P.M.
+
+    Five of our eleven ships--two battleships and three
+    cruisers--have been sunk; the rest are little better than mere
+    wrecks, and seven torpedo-boats have been destroyed in attempting
+    to torpedo some of the enemy's ships. Heavy firing has been heard
+    to the southward, and we have learnt from Dundee that four
+    battleships and six cruisers have been sent to our relief. A
+    portion of the Russian fleet has been detached to meet them. We
+    cannot hope anything from them. Captain Marchmont has now only
+    four ships capable of fighting, but refuses to strike his flag.
+    The storm has ceased, and a strong land breeze has blown the
+    clouds and smoke to seaward. The air-ship has disappeared. Six
+    large Russian ironclads are heading at full speed towards the
+    mouth of the river--
+
+The telegram broke off short here, and no more news was received from
+Aberdeen for several hours. Of this there was only one possible
+explanation. The town was in the hands of the Russians, and they had
+cut the wires. The long charm was broken, and the Isle Inviolate was
+inviolate no more. The next telegram from the North came from Findon,
+and was published in London just before ten o'clock on the following
+morning. It ran thus--
+
+      Findon, N.B., 9.15.
+
+    About ten o'clock last night the attack on Aberdeen ended in a
+    rush of six ironclads into the river mouth. They charged down
+    upon the four half-crippled British ships that were left, and in
+    less than five minutes rammed and sank them. The Russians then
+    demanded the unconditional surrender of the town, under pain of
+    bombardment and destruction. There was no other course but to
+    yield, and until eight o'clock this morning the town has been in
+    the hands of the enemy.
+
+    The Russians at once landed a large force of sailors and marines,
+    cut the telegraph wires and the railway lines, and fired without
+    warning upon every one who attempted to leave the town. The
+    stores of coal and ammunition were seized, and six large cruisers
+    were taking in coal all night. The banks were also entered, and
+    the specie taken possession of, as indemnity for the town. At
+    eight o'clock the cruisers and battleships steamed out of the
+    river without doing further damage. The squadron from the Tay was
+    compelled to retire by the overwhelming force that the Russians
+    brought to bear upon it after Aberdeen surrendered.
+
+    Half an hour ago the Russian fleet was lost sight of proceeding
+    at full speed to the north-eastward. Our loss has been terribly
+    heavy. The fort and batteries have been destroyed, all the ships
+    have been sunk or disabled, and of the whole defending force
+    scarcely three hundred men remain. Captain Marchmont went down on
+    the _Ascalon_ with his flag flying, and fighting to the last
+    moment.
+
+While the excitement caused by the news of the raid upon Aberdeen was
+at its height, that is to say, on the morning of the 2nd of July,
+intelligence was received in London of a tremendous disaster to the
+Anglo-Teutonic Alliance. It was nothing less, in short, than the fall
+of Berlin, the collapse of the German Empire, and the surrender of
+the Kaiser and the Crown Prince to the Tsar. After nearly sixty hours
+of almost continuous fighting, during which the fortifications had
+been wrecked by the war-balloons, the German ammunition-trains burnt
+and blown up by the fire-shells rained from the air, and the heroic
+defenders of the city disorganised by the aërial bombardment of
+melinite shells and cyanogen poison-bombs, and crushed by an
+overwhelming force of not less than four million assailants. So fell
+like a house of cards the stately fabric built up by the genius of
+Bismarck and Moltke; and so, after bearing his part gallantly in the
+death-struggle of his empire, had the grandson of the conqueror of
+Sedan yielded up his sword to the victorious Autocrat of the Russias.
+
+The terrible news fell upon London like the premonitory echo of an
+approaching storm. The path of the triumphant Muscovites was now
+completely open to the forts of the Belgian Quadrilateral, under the
+walls of which they would form a junction, which nothing could now
+prevent, with the beleaguering forces of France. Would the Belgian
+strongholds be able to resist any more effectually than the
+fortifications of Berlin had done the assaults of the terrible
+war-balloons of the Tsar?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+THE PATH OF CONQUEST.
+
+
+This narrative does not in any sense pretend to be a detailed history
+of the war, but only of such phases of it as more immediately concern
+the working out of those deep-laid and marvellously-contrived plans
+designed by their author to culminate in nothing less than the
+collapse of the existing fabric of Society, and the upheaval of the
+whole basis of civilisation.
+
+It will therefore be impossible to follow the troops of the Alliance
+and the League through the different campaigns which were being
+simultaneously carried out in different parts of Europe. The most
+that can be done will be to present an outline of the leading events
+which, operating throughout a period of nearly three months, prepared
+the way for the final catastrophe in which the tremendous issues of
+the world-war were summed up.
+
+The fall of Berlin was the first decisive blow that had been struck
+during the war. Under it the federation of kingdoms and states which
+had formed the German Empire fell asunder almost instantly, and the
+whole fabric collapsed like a broken bubble. The shock was felt
+throughout the length and breadth of Europe, and it was immediately
+seen that nothing but a miracle could save the whole of Central
+Europe from falling into the hands of the League.
+
+Its immediate results were the surrender of Magdeburg, Brunswick,
+Hanover, and Bremen. Hamburg, strongly garrisoned by British and
+German troops, supported by a powerful squadron in the Elbe, and
+defended by immense fortifications on the landward side, alone
+returned a flat defiance to the summons of the Tsar. The road to the
+westward, therefore, lay entirely open to his victorious troops. As
+for Hamburg, it was left for the present under the observation of a
+corps of reconnaissance to be dealt with when its time came.
+
+When Berlin fell the position of affairs in Europe may be briefly
+described as follows:--The French army had taken the field nearly
+five millions strong, and this immense force had been divided into an
+Army of the North and an Army of the East. The former, consisting of
+about two millions of men, had been devoted to the attack on the
+British and German forces holding an almost impregnable position
+behind the chain of huge fortresses known at present as the Belgian
+Quadrilateral.
+
+This Army of the North, doubtless acting in accordance with the
+preconceived schemes of operations arranged by the leaders of the
+League, had so far contented itself with a series of harassing
+attacks upon different points of the Allied position, and had made no
+forward movement in force. The Army of the East, numbering nearly
+three million men, and divided into fifteen army corps, had crossed
+the German frontier immediately on the outbreak of the war, and at
+the same moment that the Russian Armies of the North and South had
+crossed the eastern Austro-German frontier, and the Italian army had
+forced the passes of the Tyrol.
+
+The whole of the French fleet of war-balloons had been attached to
+the Army of the East with the intention, which had been realised
+beyond the most sanguine expectations, of overrunning and subjugating
+Central Europe in the shortest possible space of time. It had swept
+like a destroying tempest through the Rhine Provinces, leaving
+nothing in its track but the ruins of towns and fortresses, and wide
+wastes of devastated fields and vineyards.
+
+Before the walls of Munich it had effected a junction with the
+Italian army, consisting of ten army corps, numbering two million
+men. The ancient capital of Bavaria fell in three days under the
+assault of the aërial fleet and the overwhelming numbers of the
+attacking force. Then the Franco-Italian armies advanced down the
+valley of the Danube and invested Vienna, which, in spite of the
+heroic efforts of what had been left of the Austrian army after the
+disastrous conflicts on the Eastern frontier, was stormed and sacked
+after three days and nights of almost continuous fighting, and the
+most appalling scenes of bloodshed and destruction, four days after
+the surrender of the German Emperor to the Tsar had announced the
+collapse of what had once been the Triple Alliance.
+
+From Vienna the Franco-Italian armies continued their way down the
+valley of the Danube, and at Budapest was joined by the northern
+division of the Russian Army of the South, and from there the mighty
+flood of destruction rolled south-eastward until it overflowed the
+Balkan peninsula, sweeping everything before it as it went, until it
+joined the force investing Constantinople.
+
+The Turkish army, which had retreated before it, had concentrated
+upon Gallipoli, where, in conjunction with the allied British and
+Turkish Squadrons holding the Dardanelles, it prepared to advance to
+the relief of Constantinople.
+
+The final attack upon the Turkish capital had been purposely delayed
+until the arrival of the French war-balloons, and as soon as these
+appeared upon the scene the work of destruction instantly
+recommenced. After four days of bombardment by sea and land, and from
+the air, and a rapid series of what can only be described as
+wholesale butcheries, the ancient capital of the Sultan shared the
+fate of Berlin and Vienna, and after four centuries and a half the
+Turkish dominion in Europe died in its first stronghold.
+
+Meanwhile one of the wings of the Franco-Italian army had made a
+descent upon Gallipoli, and after forty-eight hours' incessant
+fighting had compelled the remnant of the Turkish army, which it thus
+cut off from Constantinople, to take refuge on the Turkish and
+British men-of-war under the protection of the guns of the fleet. In
+view of the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, and the terrible
+effectiveness of the war-balloons, it was decided that any attempt to
+retake Constantinople, or even to continue to hold the Dardanelles,
+could only result in further disaster.
+
+The forts of the Dardanelles were therefore evacuated and blown up,
+and the British and Turkish fleet, with the remains of the Turkish
+army on board, steamed southward to Alexandria to join forces with
+the British Squadron that was holding the northern approaches to the
+Suez Canal. There the Turkish troops were landed, and the Allied
+fleets prepared for the naval battle which the release of the Russian
+Black Sea Squadron, through the opening of the Dardanelles, was
+considered to have rendered inevitable.
+
+Five days later was fought a second battle of the Nile, a battle
+compared with which the former conflict, momentous as it had been,
+would have seemed but child's play. On the one side Admiral
+Beresford, in command of the Mediterranean Squadron, had collected
+every available ship and torpedo-boat to do battle for the defence of
+the all-important Suez Canal, and opposed to him was an immense
+armament formed by the junction of the Russian Black Sea Squadron
+with the Franco-Italian fleet, or rather those portions of it which
+had survived the attacks, or eluded the vigilance of the British
+Admiral.
+
+The battle, fought almost on the ancient battle-ground of Nelson and
+Collingwood, was incomparably the greatest sea-fight in the history
+of war.
+
+The fleet under Admiral Beresford's command consisted of fifty-five
+battleships of the first and second class, forty-six armoured and
+seventy-two unarmoured cruisers, fifty-four gunboats, and two hundred
+and seventy torpedo-boats; while the Franco-Italian Allied fleets
+mustered between them forty-six battleships, seventy-five armoured
+and sixty-three unarmoured cruisers, forty gunboats, and two hundred
+and fifty torpedo-boats.
+
+The battle began soon after sundown on the 24th of August, and raged
+continuously for over sixty hours. The whole issue of the fight was
+the question of the command of the Mediterranean, and the British
+line of communication with India and the East _viâ_ the Suez Canal.
+
+The prize was well worthy of the tremendous struggle that the two
+contending forces waged for it; and from the two Admirals in command
+to the boys employed on the most insignificant duties about the
+ships, every one of the combatants seemed equally impressed with the
+magnitude of the momentous issues at stake.
+
+To the League, victory meant a deadly blow inflicted upon the only
+enemy now seriously to be reckoned with. It meant the severing of the
+British Empire into two portions, and the cutting of the one
+remaining channel of supply upon which the heart of the Empire now
+depended for its nutrition. To destroy Admiral Beresford's fleet
+would be to achieve as great a triumph on the sea as the armies of
+the League had achieved on land by the taking of Berlin, Vienna, and
+Constantinople. On the other hand, the defeat of the Franco-Italian
+fleets meant complete command of the Mediterranean, and the ability
+to destroy in detail all the important sea-board fortresses and
+arsenals of the League that were situated on its shores.
+
+It meant the keeping open of the Suez Canal, the maintenance of
+communication with India and Australia by the shortest route, and,
+what was by no means the least important consideration, the
+vindication of British prestige in Egypt, the Soudan, and India. It
+was with these enormous gains and losses before their eyes that the
+two forces engaged and fought as perhaps men had never fought with
+each other in the world before. Everything that science and
+experience could suggest was done by the leaders of both sides. Human
+life was counted as nothing in the balance, and deeds of the most
+reckless heroism were performed in countless instances as the mighty
+struggle progressed.
+
+With such inflexible determination was the battle waged on either
+side, and so appalling was the destruction accomplished by the
+weapons brought into play, that by sunrise on the morning of the
+27th, more than half the opposing fleets had been destroyed, and of
+the remainder the majority were so crippled that a continuance of the
+fight had become a matter of physical impossibility.
+
+What advantage remained appeared to be on the side of the remains of
+the Franco-Italian fleet; but this was speedily negatived an hour
+after sunrise by the appearance of a fresh British Squadron,
+consisting of the five battleships, fifteen cruisers, and a large
+flotilla of gunboats and torpedo-boats which had passed through the
+Canal during the night from Aden and Suakim, and appeared on the
+scene just in time to turn the tide of battle decisively in favour of
+the British Admiral.
+
+As soon as this new force got into action it went to work with
+terrible effectiveness, and in three hours there was not a single
+vessel that was still flying the French or Italian flag. The victory
+had, it is true, been bought at a tremendous price, but it was
+complete and decisive, and at the moment that the last of the ships
+of the League struck her flag, Admiral Beresford stood in the same
+glorious position as Sir George Rodney had done a hundred and
+twenty-two years before, when he saved the British Empire in the
+ever-memorable victory of the 12th of April 1782.
+
+The triumph in the Mediterranean was, however, only a set-off to a
+disaster which had occurred more than five weeks previously in the
+Atlantic. The Russian fleet, which had broken the blockade of the
+Sound, with the assistance of the _Lucifer_, had, after coaling at
+Aberdeen, made its way into the Atlantic, and there, in conjunction
+with the Franco-Italian fleets operating along the Atlantic steamer
+route, had, after a series of desperate engagements, succeeded in
+breaking up the line of British communication with America and
+Canada.
+
+This result had been achieved mainly in consequence of the contrast
+between the necessary methods of attack and defence. On the one hand,
+Britain had been compelled to maintain an extended line of ocean
+defence more than three thousand miles in length, and her ships had
+further been hampered by the absolute necessity of attending, first,
+to the protection of the Atlantic liners, and, secondly, to warding
+off isolated attacks which were directed upon different parts of the
+line by squadrons which could not be attacked in turn without
+breaking the line of convoy which it was all-essential to preserve
+intact.
+
+For two or three weeks there had been a series of running fights; but
+at length the ocean chain had broken under the perpetual strain, and
+a repulse inflicted on the Irish Squadron by a superior force of
+French, Italian, and Spanish warships had settled the question of the
+command of the Atlantic in favour of the League. The immediate result
+of this was that food supplies from the West practically stopped.
+
+Now and then a fleet Atlantic greyhound ran the blockade and brought
+her priceless cargo into a British port; but as the weeks went by
+these occurrences became fewer and further between, till the time
+news was received in London of the investment of the fortresses of
+the Quadrilateral by the innumerable hosts of the League, brought
+together by the junction of the French and Russian Armies of the
+North and the conquerors of Vienna and Constantinople, who had
+returned on their tracks after garrisoning their conquests in the
+East.
+
+Food in Britain, already at war prices, now began to rise still
+further, and soon touched famine prices. Wheat, which in the last
+decade of the nineteenth century had averaged about £9 a ton, rose to
+over £31 a ton, its price two years before the Battle of Waterloo.
+Other imported food-stuffs, of course, rose in proportion with the
+staple commodity, and the people of Britain saw, at first dimly, then
+more and more clearly, the real issue that had been involved in the
+depopulation of the rural districts to swell the populations of the
+towns, and the consequent lapse of enormous areas of land either into
+pasturage or unused wilderness.
+
+In other words, Britain began to see approaching her doors an enemy
+before whose assault all human strength is impotent and all valour
+unavailing. Like Imperial Rome, she had depended for her food supply
+upon external sources, and now these sources were one by one being
+cut off.
+
+The loss of the command of the Atlantic, the breaking of the Baltic
+blockade, and the consequent closing of all the continental ports
+save Hamburg, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp, had left her
+entirely dependent upon her own miserably insufficient internal
+resources and the Mediterranean route to India and the East.
+
+More than this, too, only Hamburg, Antwerp, and the fortresses of the
+Quadrilateral now stood between her and actual invasion,--that
+supreme calamity which, until the raid upon Aberdeen, had been for
+centuries believed to be impossible.
+
+Once let the League triumph in the Netherlands, as it had done in
+Central and South-Eastern Europe, and its legions would descend like
+an avalanche upon the shores of England, and the Lion of the Seas
+would find himself driven to bay in the stronghold which he had held
+inviolate for nearly a thousand years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+FROM CHAOS TO ARCADIE.
+
+
+During the three months of incessant strife and carnage which deluged
+the plains and valleys of Europe with blood after the fall of Berlin,
+the Terrorists took no part whatever in the war. At long intervals an
+air-ship was seen from the earth flying at full speed through the
+upper regions of the atmosphere, now over Europe, now over America,
+and now over Australia or the Cape of Good Hope; but if they held any
+communication with the earth they did so secretly, and only paid the
+briefest of visits, the objects of which could only be guessed at.
+
+When one was sighted the fact was mentioned in the newspapers, and
+vague speculations were indulged in; but there was soon little room
+left for these in the public attention, especially in Britain, for as
+the news of disaster after disaster came pouring in, and the hosts of
+the League drew nearer and nearer to the western shores of Europe,
+all eyes were turned more and more anxiously across "the silver
+streak" which now alone separated the peaceful hills and valleys of
+England and Scotland from the destroying war-storm which had so
+swiftly desolated the fields of Europe, and all hearts were heavy
+with apprehension of coming sorrows.
+
+The rapidity of their movements had naturally led to the supposition
+that several of the air-ships had taken the air for some unknown
+purpose, but in reality there were only two of them afloat during
+nearly the whole of the three mouths.
+
+Of these, one was the _Orion_, on board of which Tremayne was
+visiting the various centres of the Brotherhood throughout the
+English-speaking world, making everything ready for the carrying out
+at the proper time of the great project to which he had devoted
+himself since the memorable night at Alanmere, when he had seen the
+vision of the world's Armageddon. The other was under the command of
+Michael Roburoff, who was busy in America and Canada perfecting the
+preparations for checkmating the designs of the American Ring, which
+were described in a former chapter.
+
+The remainder of the members of the Inner Circle and those of the
+Outer Circle, living in Aeria, were quietly pursuing the most
+peaceful avocations, building houses and water-mills, clearing fields
+and laying out gardens, fishing in the lake and streams, and hunting
+in the forests as though they had never heard of the horrors of war,
+and had no part or share in the Titanic strife whose final issue they
+would soon have to go forth and decide.
+
+One of the hardest workers in the colony was the Admiral of the
+aërial fleet. Morning after morning he shut himself up in his
+laboratory for three or four hours experimenting with explosives of
+various kinds, and especially on a new form of fire-shell which he
+had invented, and which he was now busy perfecting in preparation for
+the next, and, as he hoped, final conflict that he would have to wage
+with the forces of despotism and barbarism.
+
+The afternoons he spent supervising the erection of the mills, and
+the construction of new machinery, and in exploring the mountain
+sides in search of mineral wealth, of which he was delighted to find
+abundant promise that was afterwards realised beyond his
+expectations.
+
+On these exploring expeditions he was frequently accompanied by
+Natasha and Radna and her husband. Sometimes Arnold would be enticed
+away from his chemicals, and his designs on the lives of his enemies,
+and after breakfasting soon after sunrise would go off for a long
+day's ramble to some unknown part of their wonderful domain, in
+which, like children in a fairyland, they were always discovering
+some new wonders and beauties. And, indeed, no children could have
+been happier or freer from care than they were during this delightful
+interval in the tragedy in which they were so soon to play such
+conspicuous parts. The two wedded lovers, with the dark past put far
+behind them for ever, found perfect happiness in each other's
+society, and so left, it is almost needless to add, Arnold and
+Natasha pretty much to their own devices. Indeed, Natasha had more
+than once declared that she would have to get the Princess to join
+the party, as Radna had proved herself a hopeless failure as a
+chaperone.
+
+Every one in the valley by this time looked upon Arnold and Natasha
+as lovers, though their rank in the Brotherhood was so high that no
+one ventured to speak of them as betrothed save by implication. How
+Natas regarded them was known only to himself. He, of course, saw
+their intimacy, and since he said nothing he doubtless looked upon it
+with approval; but whether he regarded it as an intimacy of friends
+or of lovers, remained a mystery even to Natasha herself, for he
+never by any chance made an allusion to it.
+
+As for Arnold, he had scrupulously observed the compact tacitly made
+between them on the first and only occasion that he had ever spoken
+words of love to her. They were the best of friends, the closest
+companions, and their intercourse with each other was absolutely
+frank and unrestrained, just as it would have been between two close
+friends of the same sex; but they understood each other perfectly,
+and by no word or deed did either cross the line that divides
+friendship from love.
+
+She trusted him absolutely in all things, and he took this trust as a
+sacred pledge between them that until his part of their compact had
+been performed, love was a forbidden subject, not even to be
+approached.
+
+So perfectly did Natasha play her part that though he spent hours and
+hours alone with her on their exploring expeditions, and in rowing
+and sailing on the lake, and though he spent many another hour in
+solitude, weighing her every word and action, he was utterly unable
+to truthfully congratulate himself on having made the slightest
+progress towards gaining that love without which, even if he held her
+to the compact in the day of victory, victory itself would be robbed
+of its crowning glory and dearest prize.
+
+To a weaker man it would have been an impossible situation, this
+constant and familiar companionship with a girl whose wonderful
+beauty dazzled his eyes and fired his blood as he looked upon it, and
+whose winning charm of manner and grace of speech and action seemed
+to glorify her beauty until she seemed a being almost beyond the
+reach of merely human love--rather one of those daughters of men whom
+the sons of God looked upon in the early days of the world, and found
+so fair that they forsook heaven itself to woo them.
+
+Trained and disciplined as he had been in the sternest of all
+schools, and strengthened as he was by the knowledge of the compact
+that existed between them, there were moments when his self-control
+was very sorely tried, moments when her hand would be clasped in his,
+or rested on his shoulder as he helped her across a stream or down
+some steep hillside, or when in the midst of some animated discussion
+she would stop short and face him, and suddenly confound his logic
+with a flash from her eyes and a smile on her lips that literally
+forced him to put forth a muscular effort to prevent himself from
+catching her in his arms and risking everything for just one kiss,
+one taste of the forbidden fruit within his reach, and yet parted
+from him by a sea of blood and flame that still lay between the world
+and that empire of peace which he had promised to win for her sweet
+sake.
+
+Once, and once only, she had tried him almost too far. They had been
+discussing the possibility of ruling the world without the ultimate
+appeal to force, when the nations, weary at length of war, should
+have consented to disarm, and she, carried away by her own eloquent
+pleading for the ultimate triumph of peace and goodwill on earth, had
+laid her hand upon his arm, and was looking up at him with her lovely
+face aglow with the sweetest expression even he had ever seen upon
+it.
+
+Their eyes met, and there was a sudden silence between them. The
+eloquent words died upon her lips, and a deep flush rose to her
+cheeks and then faded instantly away, leaving her pale and with a
+look almost of terror in her eyes. He took a quick step backwards,
+and, turning away as though he feared to look any longer upon her
+beauty, said in a low tone that trembled with the strength of his
+repressed passion--
+
+"Natasha, for God's sake remember that I am only made of flesh and
+blood!"
+
+In a moment she was by his side again, this time with her eyes
+downcast and her proud little head bent as though in acknowledgment
+of his reproof. Then she looked up again, and held out her hand and
+said--
+
+"Forgive me; I have done wrong! Let us be friends again!"
+
+There was a gentle emphasis on the word "friends" that was
+irresistible. He took her hand in silence, and after a pressure that
+was almost imperceptibly returned, let it go again, and they walked
+on together; but there was very little more said between them that
+evening.
+
+This had happened one afternoon towards the middle of September, and
+two days later their delightful companionship came suddenly to an
+end, and the bond that existed between them was severed in a moment
+without warning, as a nerve thrilling with pleasure might be cut by
+an unexpected blow with a knife.
+
+On the 16th of September the _Orion_ returned from Australia. She
+touched the earth shortly after mid-day, and before sunset the
+_Azrael_, the vessel in which Michael Roburoff had gone to America,
+also returned, but without her commander. Her lieutenant, however,
+brought a despatch from him, which he delivered at once to Natas,
+who, immediately on reading it, sent for Tremayne.
+
+It evidently contained matters of great importance, for they remained
+alone together discussing it for over an hour. At the end of that
+time Tremayne left the Master's house and went to look for Arnold. He
+found him just helping Natasha out of a skiff at a little
+landing-stage that had been built out into the lake for boating
+purposes. As soon as greetings had been exchanged, he said--
+
+"Natasha, I have just left your father. He asked me, if I saw you, to
+tell you that he wishes to speak to you at once."
+
+"Certainly," said Natasha. "I hope you have not brought bad news home
+from your travels. You are looking very serious about something," and
+without waiting for an answer, she was gone to obey her father's
+summons. As soon as she was out of earshot Tremayne put his arm
+through Arnold's, and, drawing him away towards a secluded portion of
+the shore of the lake, said--
+
+"Arnold, old man, I have some very serious news for you. You must
+prepare yourself for the severest strain that, I believe, could be
+put on your loyalty and your honour."
+
+"What is it? For Heaven's sake don't tell me that it has to do with
+Natasha!" exclaimed Arnold, stopping short and facing round, white to
+the lips with the sudden fear that possessed him. "You know"--
+
+"Yes, I know everything," replied Tremayne, speaking almost as gently
+as a woman would have done, "and I am sorry to say that it has to do
+with her. I know what your hopes have been with regard to her, and no
+man on earth could have wished to see those hopes fulfilled more
+earnestly than I have done, but"--
+
+"What do you mean, Tremayne? Speak out, and let me know the worst. If
+you tell me that I am to give her up, I tell you that I am"--
+
+"'That I am an English gentleman, and that I will break my heart
+rather than my oath'--that is what you will tell me when I tell you
+that you must not only give up your hopes of winning Natasha, but
+that it is the Master's orders that you shall have the _Ithuriel_
+ready to sail at midnight to take her to America to Michael Roburoff,
+who has written to Natas to ask her for his wife."
+
+Arnold heard him out in dazed, stupefied silence. It seemed too
+monstrous, too horrible, to be true. The sudden blow had stunned him.
+He tried to speak, but the words would not come. Tremayne, still
+standing with his arm through his, felt his whole body trembling, as
+though stricken with some sudden palsy. He led him on again, saying
+in a sterner tone than before--
+
+"Come, come! Play the man, and remember that the work nearest to your
+hand is war, and not love. Remember the tremendous issues that are
+gathering to their fulfilment, and the part that you have to play in
+working them out. This is not a question of the happiness or the
+hopes of one man or woman, but of millions, of the whole human race.
+You, and you alone, hold in your hands the power to make the defeat
+of the League certain."
+
+"And I will use it, have no fear of that!" replied Arnold, stopping
+again and passing his hand over his eyes like a man waking from an
+evil dream. "What I have sworn to do I will do; I am not going back
+from my oath. I will obey to the end, for she will do the same, and
+what would she think of me if I failed! Leave me alone for a bit now,
+old man. I must fight this thing out with myself, but the _Ithuriel_
+shall be ready to start at twelve."
+
+Tremayne saw that he was himself again, and that it was better that
+he should do as he said; so with a word of farewell he turned away
+and left him alone with his thoughts. Half-way back to the settlement
+he met Natasha coming down towards the lake. She was deadly pale, but
+she walked with a firm step, and carried her head as proudly erect as
+ever. As they met she stopped him and said--
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+Tremayne's first thought was to try and persuade her to go back and
+leave Arnold to himself, but a look at Natasha's white set face and
+burning eyes warned him that she was not in a mood to take advice,
+and so he told her, and without another word she went on swiftly down
+the path that led to the lake.
+
+The brief twilight of the tropics had passed before he reached a
+grove of palms on the western shore of the lake, towards which he had
+bent his steps when he left Tremayne. He walked with loose, aimless
+strides, now quickly and now slowly, and now stopping to watch the
+brightening moon shining upon the water.
+
+He caught himself thinking what a lovely night it would be to take
+Natasha for a row, and then his mind sprang back with a jerk to the
+remembrance of the horrible journey that he was to begin at
+midnight--to take Natasha to another man, and leave her with him as
+his wife.
+
+No, it could not be true. It was impossible that he should have
+fought and triumphed as he had done, and all for this. To give up the
+one woman he had ever loved in all his life, the woman he had
+snatched from slavery and degradation when not another man on earth
+could have done it.
+
+What had this Roburoff done that she should be given to him for the
+mere asking? Why had he not come in person like a man to woo and win
+her if he could, and then he would have stood aside and bowed to her
+choice. But this curt order to take her away to him as though she
+were some piece of merchandise--no, if such things were possible,
+better that he had never--
+
+"Richard!"
+
+He felt a light touch on his arm, and turned round sharply. Natasha
+was standing beside him. He had been so engrossed by his dark
+thoughts that he had not heard her light step on the soft sward, and
+now he seemed to see her white face and great shining eyes looking up
+at him in the moonlight as though there was some mist floating
+between him and her. Suddenly the mist seemed to vanish. He saw tears
+under the long dark lashes, and the sweet red lips parted in a faint
+smile.
+
+Lose her he might to-morrow, but for this one moment she was his and
+no other man's, let those who would say nay. That instant she was
+clasped helpless and unresisting in his arms, and her lips were
+giving his back kiss for kiss. Wreck and chaos might come now for all
+he cared. She loved him, and had given herself to him, if only for
+that one moonlit hour.
+
+After that he could plunge into the battle again, and slay and spare
+not--yes, and he would slay without mercy. He would hurl his
+lightnings from the skies, and where they struck there should be
+death. If not love and life, then hate and death--it was not his
+choice. Let those who had chosen see to that; but for the present
+love and life were his, why should he not live? Then the mad, sweet
+delirium passed, and saner thoughts came. He released her suddenly,
+almost brusquely, and said with a harsh ring in his voice--
+
+"Why did you come? Have you forgotten what so nearly happened the day
+before yesterday?"
+
+"No, I have not forgotten it. I have remembered it, and that is why I
+came to tell you--what you know now."
+
+Her face was rosy enough now, and she looked him straight in the eyes
+as she spoke, proud to confess the mastery that he had won.
+
+"Now listen," she went on, speaking in a low, quick, passionate tone.
+"The will of the Master must be done. There is no appeal from that,
+either for you or me. He can dispose of me as he chooses, and I shall
+obey, as I warned you I should when you first told me that you would
+win me if you could.
+
+"Well, you have won me, so far as I can be won. I love you, and I
+have come to tell you so before the shadow falls between us. And I
+have come to tell you that what you have won shall belong to no one
+else. I will obey my father to the letter, but the spirit is my
+affair. Now kiss me again, dear, and say good-bye. We have had our
+glimpse of heaven, and this is not the only life."
+
+For one more brief moment she surrendered herself to him again. Their
+lips met and parted, and in an instant she had slipped out of his
+arms and was gone, leaving him dazed with her beauty and her
+winsomeness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+LOVE AND DUTY.
+
+
+An hour later he walked back to the settlement, looking five years
+older than he had done a couple of hours before, but with his nerves
+steady and with the light of a solemn resolve burning in his eyes. He
+went straight to the _Ithuriel_, and made a minute personal
+inspection of the whole vessel, inside and out. He saw that every
+cylinder was charged, and that there was an ample supply of spare
+ones and ammunition on board, including a number of his new
+fire-shells. Then he went to Lieutenant Marston's quarters, and told
+him to have the crew in their places by half-past eleven; and this
+done, he paid a formal visit to the Master to report all ready.
+
+Natas received him as usual, just as though nothing out of the common
+had happened; and if he noticed the change that had come over him, he
+made no sign that he did so. When Arnold had made his report, he
+merely said--
+
+"Very good. You will start at twelve. The Chief has told you the
+nature and purpose of the voyage you are about to make, I presume?"
+
+He bowed a silent affirmative, and Natas went on--
+
+"The Chief and Anna Ornovski will go with you as witnesses for
+Michael Roburoff and Natasha, and the Chief will be provided with my
+sealed orders for your guidance in the immediate future. The
+rendezvous is a house on one of the spurs of the Alleghany Mountains.
+What time will it take to reach there?"
+
+"The distance is about seven thousand miles. That will be from thirty
+to thirty-five hours' flight according to the wind. With a fair wind
+we shall reach the Alleghanies a little before sunrise on the 18th."
+
+"Then to make sure of that, if possible, you had better start an hour
+earlier. Natasha is making her preparations, and will be on board at
+eleven."
+
+"Very well; I will be ready to start then," replied Arnold, speaking
+as calmly and formally as Natas had done. Then he saluted and walked
+out.
+
+When he got into the open air he drew a deep breath. His teeth came
+together with a sharp snap, and his hands clenched. So it was true,
+then, this horrible thing, this sacrilege, this ruin, that had fallen
+upon his life and hers. Natas had spoken of giving her to this man as
+quietly as though it had been the most natural proceeding possible,
+an understood arrangement about which there could be no question.
+Well, he had sworn, and he would obey, but there would be a heavy
+price to pay for his obedience.
+
+He did not see Natasha again that night. When the _Ithuriel_ rose
+into the air she was in her cabin with the Princess, and did not
+appear during the voyage save at meals, when all the others were
+present, and then she joined in the conversation with a composure
+which showed that, externally at least, she had quite regained her
+habitual self-control.
+
+Arnold spent the greater part of the voyage in the deck-saloon with
+Tremayne, talking over the events of the war, and arranging plans of
+future action. By mutual consent the object of their present voyage
+was not mentioned. As Arnold was more than two months and a half
+behind the news, he found not a little relief in hearing from
+Tremayne of all that had taken place since the recapture of the
+_Lucifer_.
+
+The two men, who were now to be the active leaders of the Revolution
+which, as they hoped, was soon to overturn the whole fabric of
+Society, and introduce a new social order of things, conversed in
+this fashion, quietly discussing the terrific tragedy in which they
+were to play the leading parts, and arranging all the details of
+their joint action, until well into the night of the 17th.
+
+About eleven Tremayne went to his cabin, and Arnold, going to the
+conning-tower, told the man on the look-out to go below until he was
+called. Then he took his place, and remained alone with his thoughts
+as the _Ithuriel_ sped on her way a thousand feet above the deserted
+waters of the Atlantic, until the dark mass of the American Continent
+loomed up in front of him to the westward.
+
+As soon as he sighted land he went aft to the wheel-house, and
+slightly inclined the air-planes, causing the _Ithuriel_ to soar
+upwards until the barometer marked a height of 6000 feet. At this
+elevation he passed over the mouth of the Chesapeake, and across
+Virginia; and a little more than an hour before sunrise the
+_Ithuriel_ sank to the earth on one of the spurs of the Alleghanies,
+in sight of a lonely weather-board house, in one of the windows of
+which three lights were burning in the form of a triangle.
+
+This building was used ostensibly as a shooting and hunting-box by
+Michael Roburoff and a couple of his friends, and in reality as a
+meeting-place for the Inner Circle or Executive Council of the
+American Section of the Brotherhood. This Section was, numerically
+speaking, the most important of the four branches into which the
+Outer Circle of the Brotherhood was divided--that is to say, the
+British, Continental, American, and Colonial Sections.
+
+All told, the Terrorists had rather more than five million adherents
+in America and Canada, of whom more than four millions were men in
+the prime of life, and nearly all of Anglo-Saxon blood and English
+speech. All these men were not only armed, but trained in the use of
+firearms to a high degree of skill; their organisation, which had
+gradually grown up with the Brotherhood for twenty years, was known
+to the world only under the guise of the different forms of
+industrial unionism, but behind these there was a perfect system of
+discipline and command which the outer world had never even
+suspected.
+
+The Section was divided first into squads of ten under the command of
+an eleventh, who alone knew the leaders of the other squads in his
+neighbourhood. Ten of these squads made a company, commanded by one
+man, who was only known to the squad-captains, and who alone knew the
+captain of the regiment, which was composed of ten companies.
+
+The next step in the organisation was the brigade, consisting of ten
+regiments, the captains of which alone knew the commander of the
+brigade, while the commanders of the brigades were alone acquainted
+with the members of the Inner Circle or Executive Council which
+managed the affairs of the whole Section, and whose Chief was the
+only man in the Section who could hold any communication with the
+Inner Circle of the Brotherhood itself, which, under the immediate
+command of Natas, governed the whole organisation throughout the
+world.
+
+This description will serve for all the Sections, as all were
+modelled upon exactly the same plan. The advantages of such an
+organisation will at once be obvious. In the first place, no member
+of the rank and file could possibly betray more than ten of his
+fellows, including his captain; while his treachery could, if
+necessary, be made known in a few hours to ten thousand others, not
+one of whom he knew, and thus it would be impossible for him to
+escape the invariable death penalty. The same is, of course, equally
+true of the captains and the commanders.
+
+On the other hand, the system was equally convenient for the
+transmission of orders from headquarters. An order given to ten
+commanders of brigades could, in a single night, be transmitted
+individually to the whole of the Section, and yet those in command of
+the various divisions would not know whence the orders came, save as
+regards their immediate superiors.
+
+It will be necessary for the reader to bear these few particulars in
+mind in order to understand future developments, which, without them,
+might seem to border on the impossible. It is only necessary to add
+that the full fighting strength of the four Sections of the
+Brotherhood amounted to about twelve millions of men, a considerable
+proportion of whom were serving as soldiers in the armies of the
+League and the Alliance, and that in its cosmopolitan aspect it was
+known to the rank and file as the Red International, whose members
+knew each other only by the possession of a little knot of red ribbon
+tied into the button-hole in a peculiar fashion on occasions of
+meetings for instruction or drill.
+
+The three lights burning in the form of a triangle in the window of
+the house were a prearranged signal to avoid mistake on the part of
+those on board the air-ship. When they reached the earth, Arnold,
+acting under the instructions of Tremayne, who was his superior on
+land though his voluntary subordinate when afloat, left the
+_Ithuriel_ and her crew in charge of Lieutenant Marston and Andrew
+Smith, the coxswain.
+
+The remainder disembarked, and then the air-ship rose from the ground
+and ascended out of sight through a layer of clouds that hung some
+eight hundred feet above the high ground of the hills. Lieutenant
+Marston's orders were to remain out of sight for an hour and then
+return.
+
+Arnold had not seen Natasha for several hours previous to the
+landing, and he noticed with wonder, by no means unmixed with
+something very like anger, that she looked a great deal more cheerful
+than she had done during the voyage. She had preserved her composure
+all through, but the effort of restraint had been visible. Now this
+had vanished, although the supreme hour of the sacrifice that her
+father had commanded her to make was actually at hand. When her feet
+touched the earth she looked round with a smile on her lips and a
+flush on her cheeks, and said, in a voice in which there was no
+perceptible trace of anxiety or suffering--
+
+"So this is the place of my bridal, is it? Well, I must say that a
+more cheerful one might have been selected; yet perhaps, after all,
+such a gloomy spot is more suitable to the ceremony. Come along; I
+suppose the bridegroom will be anxiously waiting the coming of the
+bride. I wonder what sort of a reception I shall have. Come, my Lord
+of Alanmere, your arm; and you, Captain Arnold, bring the Princess.
+We have a good deal to do before it gets light."
+
+These were strange words to be uttered by a girl who but a few hours
+before had voluntarily confessed her love for one man, and was on the
+eve of compulsorily giving herself up to another one. Had it been any
+one else but Natasha, Arnold could have felt only disgust; but his
+love made it impossible for him to believe her guilty of such
+unworthy lightness as her words bespoke, even on the plain evidence
+before him, so he simply choked back his anger as best he might, and
+followed towards the house, speechless with astonishment at the
+marvellous change that had come over the daughter of Natas.
+
+Tremayne knocked in a peculiar fashion on the window, and then
+repeated the knock on the door, which was opened almost immediately.
+
+"Who stands there?" asked a voice in French.
+
+"Those who bring the expected bride," replied Tremayne in German.
+
+"And by whose authority?" This time the question was in Spanish.
+
+"In the Master's name," said Tremayne in English.
+
+"Enter! you are welcome."
+
+A second door was now opened inside the house, and through it a light
+shone into the passage. The four visitors entered, and, passing
+through the second door, found themselves in a plainly-furnished
+room, down the centre of which ran a long table, flanked by five
+chairs on each side, in each of which, save one, sat a masked and
+shrouded figure exactly similar to those which Arnold had seen when
+he was first introduced to the Council-chamber in the house on
+Clapham Common. In a chair at one end of the table sat another figure
+similarly draped.
+
+The door was closed as they entered, and the member of the Circle who
+had let them in returned to his seat. No word was spoken until this
+was done. Then Natasha, leaving her three companions by the door,
+advanced alone to the lower end of the table.
+
+As she did so, Arnold for the first time noticed that she carried her
+magazine pistol in a sheath at her belt. He and Tremayne were, as a
+matter of course, armed with a brace of these weapons, but this was
+the first time that he had ever seen Natasha carry her pistol openly.
+Wondering greatly what this strange sight might mean, he waited with
+breathless anxiety for the drama to begin.
+
+As Natasha took her stand at the opposite end of the table, the
+figure in the chair at the top rose and unmasked, displaying the
+pallid countenance of the Chief of the American Section. He looked to
+Arnold anything but a bridegroom awaiting his bride, and the ceremony
+which was to unite him to her for ever. His cheeks and lips were
+bloodless, and his eyes wandered restlessly from Natasha to Tremayne
+and back again. He glanced to and fro in silence for several moments,
+and when he at last found his voice he said, in half-choked, broken
+accents--
+
+"What is this? Why am I honoured by the presence of the Chief and the
+Admiral of the Air? I asked only that if the Master consented to
+grant my humble petition in reward for my services, the daughter of
+Natas should come attended simply by a sister of the Brotherhood and
+the messenger that I sent."
+
+They let him finish, although it was with manifest difficulty that he
+stammered to the end of his speech. Arnold, still wondering at the
+strange turn events had taken, saw Tremayne's lips tighten and his
+brows contract in the effort to repress a smile. The other masked
+figures at the table moved restlessly in their seats, and glanced
+from one to another. Seeing this, Tremayne stepped quickly forward to
+Natasha's side, and said in a stern, commanding tone--
+
+"I am the Chief of the Central Council, and I order every one here to
+keep his seat and remain silent until the daughter of Natas has
+spoken."
+
+The ten masked and hooded heads instantly bowed consent. Then
+Tremayne stepped back again, and Natasha spoke. There was a keen,
+angry light in her eyes, and a bright flush upon her cheek, but her
+voice was smooth and silvery, and in strange contrast to the words
+that she used, almost to the end.
+
+"Did you think, Michael Roburoff, that the Master of the Terror would
+send his daughter to her bridal so poorly escorted as you say? Surely
+that would have been almost as much of a slight as you put upon me
+when, instead of coming to woo me as a true lover should have done,
+you contented yourself with sending a messenger as though you were
+some Eastern potentate despatching an envoy to demand the hand of the
+daughter of a vassal.
+
+"It would seem that this sudden love which you do me the honour to
+profess for me has destroyed your manners as well as your reason. But
+since you have assumed so high a dignity, it is not seemly that you
+should stand to hear what I have to say; sit down, for it looks as
+though standing were a trouble to you."
+
+Michael Roburoff, who by this time could scarcely support himself on
+his trembling limbs, sank suddenly back into his chair and covered
+his face with his hands.
+
+"That is not very lover-like to cover your eyes when the bride that
+you have asked for is standing in front of you; but as long as you
+don't cover your ears as well, I will forgive you the slight. Now,
+listen.
+
+"I have come, as you see, and I have brought with me the answer of
+the Master to your request. Until an hour ago I did not know what it
+was myself, for, like the rest of the faithful members of the
+Brotherhood, I obey the word of the Master blindly.
+
+"You, as it would appear, maddened by what you are pleased to call
+your love for me, have dared to attempt to make terms where you swore
+to obey blindly to the death. You have dared to place me, the
+daughter of Natas, in the balance against the allegiance of the
+American Section on the eve of the supreme crisis of its work, thus
+imperilling the results of twenty years of labour.
+
+"If you had not been mad you would have foreseen the results of such
+treachery. As it is you must learn them now. What I have said has
+been proved by your own hand, and the proof is here in the hand of
+the Chief. This is the answer of Natas to the servant who would have
+betrayed him in the hour of trial."
+
+She took a folded paper from her belt as she spoke, and, unfolding
+it, read in clear, deliberate tones--
+
+    Michael Roburoff, late chief of the American Section of the
+    Brotherhood. When you joined the Order, you took an oath to obey
+    the directions of its chiefs to the death, and you acknowledged
+    that death would be the just penalty of perjury. My orders to you
+    were to complete the arrangements for bringing the American
+    Section into action when you received the signal to do so.
+    Instead of doing that, you have sought to bargain with me for the
+    price of its allegiance. That is treachery, and the penalty of
+    treachery is death.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+"Those are the words of the Master," continued Natasha, throwing the
+paper down upon the table with one hand, and drawing her pistol with
+the other. "It rests with the Chief to say when and where the
+sentence of the Master shall be carried out."
+
+[Illustration: "He dropped back into his chair with a bullet in his
+brain."
+
+_See page 275._]
+
+"Let it be carried out here, and now," said Tremayne, "and let him
+who has anything to say against it speak now, or for ever hold his
+peace."
+
+The ten heads bowed once more in silence, and Natasha went on still
+addressing the trembling wretch who sat huddled in the chair in front
+of her.
+
+"You have asked for a bride, Michael Roburoff, and she has come to
+you, and I can promise you that you shall sleep soundly in her
+embrace. Your bride is Death, and I have chosen to bring her to you
+with my own hand, that all here may see how the daughter of Natas can
+avenge an insult to her womanhood.
+
+"You have been guilty of treachery to the Brotherhood, and for that
+you might have been punished by any hand; but you would also have
+condemned me to the infamy of a loveless marriage, and that is an
+insult that no one shall punish but myself. Look up, and, if you can,
+die like a man."
+
+Roburoff took his hands from his face, and with an inarticulate cry
+started to his feet. The same instant Natasha's hand went up, her
+pistol flashed, and he dropped back again into his chair with a
+bullet in his brain. Then she replaced the pistol in her belt, and
+going up to Arnold held out both her hands and said, as he clasped
+them in his own--
+
+"If the Master's reply had been different, that bullet would by this
+time have been in my own heart."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+THE CAPTURE OF A CONTINENT.
+
+
+Within an hour after the execution of Michael Roburoff the _Ithuriel_
+was winging her way back to Aeria, and at least two of her company
+were anticipating their return to the valley with feelings very
+different to those with which they had contemplated their departure.
+
+When the last farewells and congratulations had been spoken, and the
+air-ship rose from the earth, Tremayne returned to the house to
+commence forthwith the great task which now developed upon him; for
+in addition to being Chief of the Central Executive, he now assumed
+the direct command of the American Section, which, after long
+consideration, had been selected as the nucleus of the Federation of
+the English-speaking peoples of the world.
+
+For a fortnight he worked almost night and day, attending to every
+detail with the utmost care, and bringing into play all those rare
+powers of mind which in the first instance had led Natas to select
+him as the visible head of the Executive. In this way the chief
+consequence of the love-madness of Roburoff had been to place at the
+head of affairs in America the one man of all others most fitted by
+descent and ability to carry out such a work, and to this fact its
+complete success must in a great measure be attributed.
+
+So perfectly were his plans laid and executed, that right up to the
+moment when the signal was given and the plans became actions,
+American society went about its daily business without the remotest
+suspicion that it was living on the slope of a slumbering volcano
+whose fires were so soon to burst forth and finally consume the
+social fabric which, despite its splendid exterior, was inwardly as
+rotten as were the social fabrics of Rome and Byzantium on the eve of
+their fall.
+
+On the 1st of October the cables brought the news of the fall of the
+Quadrilateral, the storming of Hamburg, and the retreat of the
+British forces on Antwerp. Four days later came the tidings of a
+great battle under the walls of Antwerp, in which the British and
+German forces, outnumbered ten to one by the innumerable hosts of the
+League, had suffered a decisive defeat, which rendered it imperative
+for them to fall back upon the Allied fleets in the Scheldt, and to
+leave the Netherlands to the mercy of the Tsar and his allies, who
+were thus left undisputed masters of the continent of Europe.
+
+This last and crowning victory had been achieved by exactly the same
+means which had accomplished all the other triumphs of the campaign,
+and therefore there will be no need to enter into any detailed
+description of it. Indeed, the fall of the Quadrilateral and the
+defeat of the last army of the Alliance round Antwerp would have been
+accomplished much more easily and speedily than it had been but for
+the fact that the weather, which had been fine up to the end of July,
+had suddenly broken, and a succession of violent storms and gales
+from the north and north-west had made it impossible for the
+war-balloons to be brought into action with any degree of
+effectiveness.
+
+During the last week of September the storms had ceased, and then the
+work of destruction began. Not even the hitherto impregnable
+fortresses of Tournay, Mons, Namur, and Liége had been able to
+withstand the assault from the air any better than the forts of
+Berlin or the walls of Constantinople. A day's bombardment had
+sufficed to reduce them to ruins, and, the chain once broken, the
+armies of the League swept in wave after wave across the plains which
+they had guarded.
+
+The loss of life had been unparalleled even in this the greatest of
+all wars, for the British and Germans had fought with a dogged
+resolution which, but for the vastly superior numbers and the
+irresistible means of destruction employed against them, must
+infallibly have triumphed. As it was, it was only when valour had
+achieved its last sacrifice, and further resistance became rather
+madness than devotion, that the retreat was finally sounded in time
+to embark the remnants of the armies of the Alliance on board the
+warships. Happily at the very hour when this was being done the
+weather broke again, and the ships of the Allied fleets were
+therefore able to make their way to sea through storm and darkness,
+unmolested by the war-balloons.
+
+While the American press was teeming with columns of description
+telegraphed at enormous cost from the seat of war, and with
+absolutely misleading articles as to the policy of the League and the
+attitude of studious neutrality that was to be observed by the United
+States Government, the dockyards, controlled directly and indirectly
+by the American Ring, were working night and day putting the
+finishing touches to the flotilla of dynamite cruisers and other
+war-vessels intended to carry out the plan revealed by Michael
+Roburoff on board the _Ithuriel_, after he had been taken off the
+_Aurania_ in the Mid-Atlantic.
+
+Briefly described, this was as follows:--Representative government in
+America had by this time become a complete sham. The whole political
+machinery and internal resources of the United States were now
+virtually at the command of a great Ring of capitalists who, through
+the medium of the huge monopolies which they controlled, and the
+enormous sums of money at their command, held the country in the
+hollow of their hand. These men were as totally devoid of all human
+feeling or public sentiment as it was possible for human beings to
+be. They had grown rich in virtue of their contempt of every
+principle of justice and mercy, and they had no other object in life
+than to still further increase their gigantic hoards of wealth, and
+to multiply the enormous powers which they already wielded. The then
+condition of affairs in Europe had presented them with such an
+opportunity as no other combination of circumstances could have given
+them, and ignoring, as such wretches would naturally do, all ties of
+blood and kindred speech, they had determined to take advantage of
+the situation to the utmost.
+
+In the guise of the United States Government the Ring had concluded a
+secret treaty with the commanders of the League, in virtue of which,
+at a stipulated point in the struggle, America was to declare war on
+Britain, invade Canada by land, and send to sea an immense flotilla
+of swift dynamite cruisers of tremendously destructive power, which
+had been constructed openly in the Government dockyards, ostensibly
+for coast defence, and secretly in private yards belonging to the
+various Corporations composing the Ring.
+
+This flotilla was to co-operate with the fleet of the League as soon
+as England had been invaded, and complete the blockade of the British
+ports. Were this once accomplished nothing could save Britain from
+starvation into surrender, and the British Empire from disintegration
+and partition between the Ring and the Commanders of the League, who
+would then practically divide the mastery of the world among them.
+
+On the night of the 4th of October the five words: "The hour and the
+man," went flying over the wires from Washington throughout the
+length and breadth of the North American Continent. The next morning
+half the industries of the United States were paralysed; all the
+lines of communication by telegraph and rail between the east and
+west were severed, the shore ends of the Atlantic cables were cut, no
+newspapers appeared, and every dockyard on the eastern coast was in
+the hands of the Terrorists.
+
+To complete the stupor produced by this swift succession of
+astounding events, when the sun rose an air-ship was seen floating
+high in the air over the ten arsenals of the United States--that is
+to say, over Portsmouth, Charlestown, Brooklyn, League Island, New
+London, Washington, Norfolk, Pensacola, Mare Island, and Port Royal,
+while two others held Chicago and St. Louis, the great railway
+centres for the west and south, at their mercy, and the _Ithuriel_,
+with a broad red flag flying from her stern, swept like a meteor
+along the eastern coast from Maine to Florida.
+
+To attempt to describe the condition of frenzied panic into which the
+inhabitants of the threatened cities, and even the whole of the
+Eastern States were thrown by the events of that ever-memorable
+morning, would be to essay an utterly hopeless task. From the
+millionaire in his palace to the outcasts who swarmed in the slums,
+not a man or a woman kept a cool head save those who were in the
+councils of the Terrorists. The blow had fallen with such stupefying
+suddenness that as far as America was concerned the Revolution was
+practically accomplished before any one very well knew what had
+happened.
+
+Out of the midst of an apparently peaceful and industrious population
+five millions of armed men had sprung in a single night. Factories
+and workshops had opened their doors, but none entered them; ships
+lay idle by the wharves, offices were deserted, and the great reels
+of paper hung motionless beside the paralysed machines which should
+have converted them into newspapers.
+
+It was not a strike, for no mere trade organisation could have
+accomplished such a miracle. It was the force born of the
+accumulation of twenty years of untiring labour striking one mighty
+blow which shattered the commercial fabric of a continent in a single
+instant. Those who had been clerks or labourers yesterday, patient,
+peaceful, and law-abiding, were to-day soldiers, armed and
+disciplined, and obeying with automatic regularity the unheard
+command of some unknown chief.
+
+This of itself would have been enough to throw the United States into
+a panic; but, worse than all, the presence of the air-ships, holding
+at their mercy the arsenals and the richest cities in the Eastern
+States, proved that tremendous and all as it was, this was only a
+phase of some vast and mysterious cataclysm which might as easily
+involve the whole civilised world as it could overwhelm the United
+States of America.
+
+By noon, almost without striking a blow, every dynamite cruiser and
+warship on the eastern coast had been seized and manned by the
+Terrorists. To the dismay of the authorities, it was found that more
+than half the army and navy, officers and men alike, had obeyed the
+mysterious summons that had gone throughout the land the night
+before; and matters reached a climax when, as the clocks of
+Washington were striking twelve, the President himself was arrested
+in the White House.
+
+All the streets of Washington were in the hands of the Terrorists,
+and at one o'clock Tremayne, after posting guards at all the
+approaches, entered the Senate, and in the name of Natas proclaimed
+the Constitution of the United States null and void, and the
+Government dissolved.
+
+Then with a copy of the Constitution in his hand he proceeded to the
+steps of the Capitol, and, in the presence of a vast throng of the
+armed members of the American Section, he proclaimed the Federation
+of the English-speaking races of the world, in virtue of their bonds
+of kindred blood and speech and common interests; and amidst a scene
+of the wildest enthusiasm called upon all who owned those bonds to
+forget the artificial divisions that had separated them into hostile
+nations and communities, and to follow the leadership of the
+Brotherhood to the conquest of the earth.
+
+Then in a few strong and simple phrases he exposed the subservience
+of the Government to the capitalist Ring, and described the inhuman
+compact that it had entered into with the arch-enemies of national
+freedom and personal liberty to crush the motherland of the
+Anglo-Saxon nations, and for the sake of sordid gain to rivet the
+fetters of oppression upon the limbs of the race which for a thousand
+years had stood in the forefront of the battle for freedom.
+
+As he concluded his appeal, one mighty shout of wrath and execration
+rose up to heaven from a million throats. He waited until this died
+away into silence, then, raising the copy of the Constitution above
+his head, he cried in clear ringing tones--
+
+"For a hundred and fifty years this has been boasted as the bulwark
+of liberty, and used as the instrument of social and commercial
+oppression. The Republic of America has been governed, not by
+patriots and statesmen, but by millionaires and their hired political
+puppets. It is therefore a fraud and a sham, and deserves no longer
+to exist!"
+
+So saying, he tore the paper into fragments and cast them into the
+air amidst a storm of cheers and volley after volley of musketry.
+While the enthusiasm was at its height the _Ithuriel_ suddenly swept
+downwards from the sky in full view of the mighty assemblage that
+swarmed round the Capitol. She was greeted with a roar of wondering
+welcome, for her appearance was the fulfilment of a promise upon
+which the success of the Revolution in America had largely depended.
+
+This was the promise, issued by Tremayne several days previously
+through the commanders of the various divisions of the Section, that
+as soon as the Anglo-Saxon Federation was proclaimed and accepted in
+America, the whole Brotherhood throughout the world would fall into
+line with it, and place its aërial navy at the disposal of its
+leaders. Practically this was giving the empire of the world in
+exchange for a money-despotism, of which every one save the
+millionaires and their servants had become heartily sick.
+
+There were few who in their hearts did not believe the Republic to be
+a colossal fraud, and therefore there were few who regretted it.
+
+The _Ithuriel_ passed slowly over the heads of the wondering crowd,
+and came to a standstill alongside the steps on which Tremayne was
+standing. The crowd saw a man on her deck shake hands with Tremayne
+and give him a folded paper. Then the air-ship swept gracefully
+upward again in a spiral curve until she hung motionless over the
+dome of the Capitol.
+
+Amidst a silence born of breathless interest to know the import of
+this message from the sky, Tremayne opened the paper, glanced at its
+contents, and handed it to the senior officer in command of the
+brigades, who stood beside him. This man, a veteran who had grown
+grey in the service of the Brotherhood, advanced with the open paper
+in his hand, and read out in a loud voice--
+
+    Natas sends greeting to the Brotherhood in America. The work has
+    been well done, and the reward of patient labour is at hand. This
+    is to name Alan Tremayne, Chief of the Central Executive, first
+    President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation throughout the world, and
+    to invest him with the supreme authority for the ordering of its
+    affairs. The aërial navy of the Brotherhood is placed at his
+    disposal to co-operate with the armies and fleets of the
+    Federation.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+When the mighty shout of acclamation which greeted the reading of
+this commission had died away, Tremayne stepped forward again and
+spoke the few words that now remained to be said--
+
+"I accept the office and all that it implies. The fate of the world
+lies in our hands, and as we decide it so will the future lot of
+humanity be good or evil. The armies of the Franco-Slavonian League
+are now masters of the continent of Europe, and are preparing for the
+invasion of Britain. The first use that I shall make of the authority
+now vested in me will be to summon the Tsar in the name of the
+Federation to sheathe the sword at once, and relinquish his designs
+on Britain. The moment that one of his soldiers sets foot on the
+sacred soil of our motherland I shall declare war upon him, and it
+shall be a war, not of conquest, but of extermination, and we will
+make an end of tyranny on earth for ever.
+
+"Now let those who are not on guard-duty go to their homes, and
+remember that they are now citizens of a greater realm than the
+United States, and endowed with more than national duties and
+responsibilities. Let every man's person and property be respected,
+and let the penalty of all violence be death. Those who have plotted
+against the public welfare will be dealt with in due course, and
+yonder air-ship will be despatched with our message to the Tsar at
+sundown. Long live the Federation!"
+
+Millions of throats took up the cry as the last words left his lips
+until it rolled away from the Capitol in mighty waves of sound,
+flowing along the crowded streets and overrunning the utmost confines
+of the capital.
+
+Thus, without the loss of a hundred lives, and in a space of less
+than twelve hours, was the Revolution in America accomplished. The
+triumph of the Terrorists was as complete as it had been unexpected.
+Menaced by air and sea and land, the great centres of population made
+no resistance, and, when they learnt the true object of the
+Revolution, wanted to make none. No one really believed in the late
+Government, and every one in his soul hated and despised the
+millionaires.
+
+There was no bond between them and their fellow-men but money, and
+the moment that was snapped they were looked upon in their true
+nature as criminals and outcasts from the pale of humanity. By
+sundown, when the _Ithuriel_ left for the seat of war, the members of
+the Ring and those of the late Government who refused to acknowledge
+the Federation were lodged in prison, and news had been received from
+Montreal that the simultaneous rising of the Canadian Section had
+been completely successful, and that all the railways and arsenals
+and ships of war were in the hands of the Terrorists, so completing
+the capture of the North American continent.
+
+The President of the Federation and his faithful subordinates went to
+work, without losing an hour, to reorganise as far as was necessary
+the internal affairs of the continent of which they had so suddenly
+become the undisputed masters. There was some trouble with the
+British authorities in Canada, who, from mistaken motives of duty to
+the mother country, at first refused to recognise the Federation.
+
+The consequence of this was that Tremayne went north the next day and
+had an interview with the Governor-General at Montreal. At the same
+time he ordered six air-ships and twenty-five dynamite cruisers to
+blockade the St. Lawrence and the eastern ports. The Canadian Pacific
+Railway and the telegraph lines to the west were already in the hands
+of the Terrorists, and a million men were under arms waiting his
+commands.
+
+A very brief explanation, therefore, sufficed to show the Governor
+that forcible resistance would not only be the purest madness, but
+that it would also seriously interfere with the working of the great
+scheme of Federation, the object of which was, not merely to place
+Britain in the first place among the nations, but to make the
+Anglo-Saxon race the one dominant power in the whole world.
+
+To all the Governor's objections on the score of loyalty to the
+British Crown, Tremayne, who heard him to the end without
+interruption, simply replied in a tone that precluded all further
+argument--
+
+"The day of states and empires, and therefore of loyalty to
+sovereigns, has gone by. The history of nations is the history of
+intrigue, quarrelling, and bloodshed, and we are determined to put a
+stop to warfare for good and all. We hold in our hands the only power
+that can thwart the designs of the League and avert an era of tyranny
+and retrogression. That power we intend to use whether the British
+Government likes it or not.
+
+"We shall save Britain, if necessary, in spite of her rulers. If they
+stand in the way, so much the worse for them. They will be called
+upon to resign in favour of the Federation and its Executive within
+the next seven days. If they consent, the forces of the League will
+never cross the Straits of Dover. If they refuse we shall allow
+Britain to taste the results of their choice, and then settle the
+matter in our own way."
+
+The next day the Governor dissolved the Canadian Legislatures "under
+protest," and retired into private life for the present. He felt that
+it was no time to argue with a man who had millions of men behind
+him, to say nothing of an aërial fleet which alone could reduce
+Montreal to ruins in twelve hours.
+
+After arranging matters in Canada the President returned to
+Washington in the _Ariel_, which he had taken into his personal
+service for the present, and set about disposing of the Ring and
+those members of the late Government who were most deeply implicated
+in the secret alliance with the leaders of the League. When the facts
+of this scheme were made public they raised such a storm of popular
+indignation, that if those responsible for it had been turned loose
+in the streets of Washington they would have been torn to pieces like
+vermin.
+
+As it was, however, they were placed upon their trial before a
+Commission of seven members of the Inner Circle of the American
+Section, presided over by the President. Their guilt was speedily
+proved beyond the shadow of a doubt. Documents, memoranda, and
+telegrams were produced by men who had seemed their most trusted
+servants, but had been in reality members of the Brotherhood told off
+to unearth their schemes.
+
+Cyphers were translated which showed that they had practically sold
+the resources of the country in advance to the Tsar and his allies,
+and that they were only waiting the signal to declare war without
+warning and without cause upon Britain, blockade her ports, and
+starve her into surrender and acceptance of any terms that the
+victors might choose to impose. Last of all, the terms of the bargain
+between the League and the Ring were produced, signed by the late
+President and the Secretary of State, and countersigned by the
+Russian Minister at Washington.
+
+The Court sat for three days, and reassembled on the fourth to
+deliver its verdict and sentence. Fifteen members of the late
+Government, including the President, the Vice-President, and the
+Secretary of State, and twenty-four great capitalists composing the
+Ring, were found guilty of giving and receiving bribes, directly and
+indirectly, and of betraying and conspiring to betray the confidence
+of the American people in its elected representatives, and also of
+conspiring to make war without due cause on a friendly Power for
+purely commercial reasons.
+
+At eleven o'clock on the morning of the 9th of October the President
+of the Federation rose in the Senate House, amidst breathless
+silence, to pronounce the sentence of the Court.
+
+"All the accused," he said, speaking in slow, deliberate tones, "have
+been proved guilty of such treason against their own race and the
+welfare of humanity as no men ever were guilty of before in all the
+disreputable history of state-craft. In view of the suffering and
+misery to millions of individuals, and the irreparable injury to the
+cause of civilisation that would have resulted from the success of
+their schemes, it would be impossible for human wit to devise any
+punishment which in itself would be adequate. The sentence of the
+Court is the extreme penalty known to human justice--Death!"
+
+A shudder passed through the vast assembly as he pronounced the
+ominous word, and the accused, who but a few days before had looked
+upon the world as their footstool, gazed with blanched faces and
+terror-stricken eyes upon each other. He paused for a moment, and
+looked sternly upon them. Then he went on--
+
+"But the Federation does not seek a punishment of revenge, but of
+justice; nor shall its first act of government be the shedding of
+blood, however guilty. Therefore, as President I override the
+sentence of death, and instead condemn you, who have been proved
+guilty of this unspeakable crime, to confiscation of the wealth that
+you have acquired so unscrupulously and used so mercilessly, and to
+perpetual banishment with your wives and families, who have shared
+the profits of your infamous traffic.
+
+"You will be at once conveyed to Kodiak Island, off the south coast
+of Alaska, and landed there. Once every six months you will be
+visited by a steamer, which will supply you with the necessaries of
+life, and the original penalty of death will be the immediate
+punishment of any one of you who attempts to return to a world of
+which you from this moment cease to be citizens."
+
+The sentence was carried out without an hour's delay. The exiles,
+with their wives and families, were placed under a strong guard in a
+special train, which conveyed them from Washington _viâ_ St. Louis to
+San Francisco, where they were transferred to a steamer which took
+them to the lonely and desolate island in the frozen North which was
+to be their home for the rest of their lives. They were followed by
+the execrations of a whole people and the regrets of none save the
+money-worshippers who had respected them, not as men, but as
+incarnations of the purchasing power of wealth.
+
+The huge fortunes which they had amassed, amounting in the aggregate
+to more than three hundred millions in English money, were placed in
+the public treasury for the immediate purposes of the war which the
+Federation was about to wage for the empire of the world. All their
+real estate property was transferred to the various municipalities in
+which it was situated, and their rents devoted to the relief of
+taxation, while the railways and other enterprises which they had
+controlled were declared public property, and placed in the hands of
+boards of management composed of their own officials.
+
+Within a week everything was working as smoothly as though no
+Revolution had ever taken place. All officials whose honesty there
+was no reason to suspect were retained in their offices, while those
+who were dismissed were replaced without any friction. All the
+affairs of government were conducted upon purely business principles,
+just as though the country had been a huge commercial concern, save
+for the fact that the chief object was efficiency and not
+profit-making.
+
+Money was abundantly plentiful, and the necessaries of life were
+cheaper than they had ever been before. Perhaps the principal reason
+for this happy state of affairs was the fact that law and politics
+had suddenly ceased to be trades at which money could be made. People
+were amazed at the rapidity with which public business was
+transacted.
+
+The President and his Council had at one stroke abrogated every civil
+and criminal law known to the old Constitution, and proclaimed in
+their place a simple, comprehensive code which was practically
+identical with the Decalogue. To this a final clause was added,
+stating that those who could not live without breaking any of these
+laws would not be considered as fit to live in civilised society, and
+would therefore be effectively removed from the companionship of
+their fellows.
+
+While the internal affairs of the Federation in America were being
+thus set in order, events had been moving rapidly in other parts of
+the world. The Tsar, the King of Italy, and General le Gallifet, who
+was now Dictator of France in all but name, were masters of the
+continent of Europe. The Anglo-Teutonic Alliance was a thing of the
+past. Germany, Austria, and Turkey were completely crushed, and the
+minor Powers had succumbed.
+
+Britain, crippled by the terrible cost in ships and men of the
+victory of the Nile, had evacuated the Mediterranean after
+dismantling the fortifications of Gibraltar and Malta, and had
+concentrated the remains of her fleets in the home waters, to prepare
+for the invasion which was now inevitable as soon as fair winds and
+fine weather made it possible for the war-balloons of the League to
+cross the water and co-operate with the invading forces.
+
+The Tsar, as had been expected, had not even deigned to reply to
+Tremayne's summons to disarm, and so the last arrangements for
+bringing the forces of the Federation into action at the proper time
+were pushed on with the utmost speed. The blockade of the American
+and Canadian coasts was rigidly maintained, and no vessels allowed to
+enter or leave any of the ports. All the warships of the League had
+been withdrawn from the Atlantic, and the great ocean highway
+remained unploughed by a single keel.
+
+On the 10th of October the _Ithuriel_ had returned from her second
+trip to the West, with the refusal of the British Government to
+recognise the Federation as a duly constituted Power, or to have any
+dealings with its leaders. "Great Britain," the reply concluded,
+"will stand or fall alone; and even in the event of ultimate defeat,
+the King of England will prefer to make terms with the sovereigns
+opposed to him rather than with those whose acts have proved them to
+be beyond the pale of the law of nations."
+
+"Ah!" said Tremayne to Arnold, as he read the royal words, "the
+policy which lost the American Colonies for the sake of an idea still
+rules at Westminster, it seems. But I'm not going to let the old Lion
+be strangled in his den for all that.
+
+"Natas was right when he said that Britain would have to pass through
+the fire before she would accept the Federation, and so I suppose she
+must, more's the pity. Still, perhaps it will be all for the best in
+the long run. You can't expect to root up a thousand-year-old oak as
+easily as a mushroom that only came up the day before yesterday."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
+
+
+It is now time to return to Britain, to the land which the course of
+events had so far appeared to single out as the battle-ground upon
+which was to be fought the Armageddon of the Western World--that
+conflict of the giants, the issue of which was to decide whether the
+Anglo-Saxon race was still to remain in the forefront of civilisation
+and progress, or whether it was to fall, crushed and broken, beneath
+the assaults of enemies descending upon the motherland of the
+Anglo-Saxon nations; whether the valour and personal devotion, which
+for a thousand years had scarcely known a defeat by flood or field,
+was still to pursue its course of victory, or whether it was to
+succumb to weight of numbers and mechanical discipline, reinforced by
+means of assault and destruction which so far had turned the
+world-war of 1904 into a succession of colossal and unparalleled
+butcheries, such as had never been known before in the history of
+human strife.
+
+When the Allied fleets, bearing the remains of the British and German
+armies which had been driven out of the Netherlands, reached England,
+and the news of the crowning disaster of the war in Europe was
+published in detail in the newspapers, the popular mind seemed
+suddenly afflicted with a paralysis of stupefaction.
+
+Men looked back over the long series of triumphs in which British
+valour and British resolution had again and again proved themselves
+invulnerable to the assaults of overwhelming numbers. They thought of
+the glories of the Peninsula, of the unbreakable strength of the thin
+red line at Waterloo, of the magnificent madness of Balaclava, and
+the invincible steadiness and discipline that had made Inkermann a
+word to be remembered with pride as long as the English name endured.
+
+Then their thoughts reverted to the immediate past, and they heard
+the shock of colossal armaments, compared with which the armies of
+the past appeared but pigmies in strength. They saw empires defended
+by millions of soldiers crushed in a few weeks, and a wave of
+conquest sweep in one unbroken roll from end to end of a continent in
+less time than it would have taken Napoleon or Wellington to have
+fought a single campaign. Huge fortresses, rendered, as men had
+believed, impregnable by the employment of every resource known to
+the most advanced military science, had been reduced to heaps of
+defenceless ruins in a few hours by a bombardment, under which their
+magnificent guns had lain as impotent as though they had been the
+culverins of three hundred years ago.
+
+It seemed like some hideous nightmare of the nations, in which Europe
+had gone mad, revelling in superhuman bloodshed and destruction,--a
+conflict in which more than earthly forces had been let loose,
+accomplishing a carnage so immense that the mind could only form a
+dim and imperfect conception of it. And now this red tide of
+desolation had swept up to the western verge of the Continent, and
+was there gathering strength and volume day by day against the hour
+when it should burst and oversweep the narrow strip of water which
+separated the inviolate fields of England from the blackened and
+blood-stained waste that it had left behind it from the Russian
+frontier to the German Ocean.
+
+It seemed impossible, and yet it was true. The first line of defence,
+the hitherto invincible fleet, magnificently as it had been managed,
+and heroically as it had been fought, had failed in the supreme hour
+of trial. It had failed, not because the sailors of Britain had done
+their duty less valiantly than they had done in the days of Rodney
+and Nelson, but simply because the conditions of naval warfare had
+been entirely changed, because the personal equation had been almost
+eliminated from the problem of battle, and because the new warfare of
+the seas had been waged rather with machinery than with men.
+
+In all the war not a single battle had been fought at close quarters;
+there had been plenty of instances of brilliant manœuvring, of
+torpedo-boats running the gauntlet and hurling their deadly missiles
+against the sides of battleships and cruisers, and of ships rammed
+and sunk in a few instants by consummately-handled opponents; but the
+days of boarding and cutting out, of night surprises and fire-ships,
+had gone by for ever.
+
+The irresistible artillery with which modern science had armed the
+warships of all nations had made these feats impossible, and so had
+placed the valour which achieved them out of court. Within the last
+few weeks scarcely a day had passed but had witnessed the return of
+some mighty ironclad or splendid cruiser, which had set out a miracle
+of offensive and defensive strength, little better than a floating
+ruin, wrecked and shattered almost beyond recognition by the awful
+battle-storm through which she had passed.
+
+The magnificent armament which had held the Atlantic route had come
+back represented only by a few crippled ships almost unfit for any
+further service. True, they and those which never returned had
+rendered a splendid account of themselves before the enemy, but the
+fact remained--they were not defeated, but they were no longer able
+to perform the Titanic task which had been allotted to them.
+
+So, too, with the Mediterranean fleet, which, so far as sea-fighting
+was concerned, had achieved the most splendid triumph of the war. It
+had completely destroyed the enemy opposed to it, but the victory had
+been purchased at such a terrible price that, but for the squadron
+which had come to its aid, it would hardly have been able to reach
+home in safety.
+
+In a word, the lesson of the struggle on the sea had been, that
+modern artillery was just as effective whether fired by Englishmen,
+Frenchmen, or Russians; that where a torpedo struck a warship was
+crippled, no matter what the nationality or the relative valour of
+her crew; and that where once the ram found its mark the ship that it
+struck went down, no matter what flag she was flying.
+
+And then, behind and beyond all that was definitely known in England
+of the results of the war, there were vague rumours of calamities and
+catastrophes in more distant parts of the world, which seemed to
+promise nothing less than universal anarchy, and the submergence of
+civilisation under some all-devouring wave of barbarism.
+
+All regular communications with the East had been stopped for several
+weeks; that India was lost, was guessed by intuition rather than
+known as a certainty. Australia was as isolated from Britain as
+though it had been on another planet, and now every one of the
+Atlantic cables had suddenly ceased to respond to the stimulus of the
+electric current. No ships came from the East, or West, or South. The
+British ports were choked with fleets of useless merchantmen, to
+which the markets of the world were no longer open.
+
+Some few venturesome craft that had set out to explore the now silent
+ocean had never returned, and every warship that could be made fit
+for service was imperatively needed to meet the now inevitable attack
+on the shores of the English Channel and the southern portions of the
+North Sea. Only one messenger had arrived from the outside world
+since the remains of Admiral Beresford's fleet had returned from the
+Mediterranean, and she had come, not by land or sea, but through the
+air.
+
+On the 6th of October an air-ship had been seen flying at an
+incredible speed across the south of England. She had reached London,
+and touched the ground during the night on Hampstead Heath; the next
+day she had descended again in the same place, taken a single man on
+board, and then vanished into space again. What her errand had been
+is well known to the reader; but outside the members of the Cabinet
+Council no one in England, save the King and his Ministers, knew the
+object of her mission.
+
+For fifteen days after that event the enemy across the water made no
+sign, although from the coast of Kent round about Deal and Dover
+could be seen fleets of transports and war-vessels hurrying along the
+French coast, and on clear days a thousand telescopes turned towards
+the French shore made visible the ominous clusters of moving black
+spots above the land, which betokened the presence of the terrible
+machines which had wrought such havoc on the towns and fortresses of
+Europe.
+
+It was only the calm before the final outburst of the storm. The Tsar
+and his allies were marshalling their hosts for the invasion, and
+collecting transports and fleets of war-vessels to convoy them. For
+several days strong north-westerly gales had made the sea impassable
+for the war-balloons, as though to the very last the winds and waves
+were conspiring to defend their ancient mistress. But this could not
+last for ever.
+
+Sooner or later the winds must sink or change, and then these
+war-hawks of the air would wing their flight across the silver
+streak, and Portsmouth, and Dover, and London would be as defenceless
+beneath their attack as Berlin, Vienna, and Hamburg had been. And
+after them would come the millions of the League, descending like a
+locust swarm upon the fields of eastern England; and after that would
+come the deluge.
+
+But the old Lion of the Seas was not skulking in his lair, or
+trembling at the advent of his enemies, however numerous and mighty
+they might be. On sea not a day passed but some daring raid was made
+on the transports passing to and fro in the narrow seas, and all the
+while a running fight was kept up with cruisers and battleships that
+approached too near to the still inviolate shore. So surely as they
+did so the signals flashed along the coast; and if they escaped at
+all from the fierce sortie that they provoked, it was with
+shot-riddled sides and battered top-works, sure signs that the Lion
+still had claws, and could strike home with them.
+
+On shore, from Land's End to John o' Groats, and from Holyhead to the
+Forelands, everything that could be done was being done to prepare
+for the struggle with the invader. It must, however, be confessed
+that, in comparison with the enormous forces of the League, the ranks
+of the defenders were miserably scanty. Forty years of universal
+military service on the Continent had borne their fruits.
+
+Soldiers are not made in a few weeks or months; and where the League
+had millions in the field, Britain, even counting the remnant of her
+German allies, that had been brought over from Antwerp, could hardly
+muster hundreds of thousands. All told, there were little more than a
+million men available for the defence of the country; and should the
+landing of the invaders be successfully effected, not less than six
+millions of men, trained to the highest efficiency, and flushed with
+a rapid succession of unparalleled victories, would be hurled against
+them.
+
+This was the legitimate outcome of the policy to which Britain had
+adhered since first she had maintained a standing army, instead of
+pursuing the ancient policy of making every man a soldier, which had
+won the triumphs of Creçy and Agincourt. She had trusted everything
+to her sea-line of defence. Now that was practically broken, and it
+seemed inevitable that her second line, by reason of its miserable
+inadequacy, should fail her in a trial which no one had ever dreamt
+it would have to endure.
+
+A very grave aspect was given to the situation by the fact that the
+great mass of the industrial population seemed strangely indifferent
+to the impending catastrophe which was hanging over the land. It
+appeared to be impossible to make them believe that an invasion of
+Britain was really at hand, and that the hour had come when every man
+would be called upon to fight for the preservation of his own hearth
+and home.
+
+Vague threats of "eating the Russians alive" if they ever did dare to
+come, were heard on every hand; but beyond this, and apart from the
+regular army and the volunteers, men went about their daily
+avocations very much as usual, grumbling at the ever-increasing price
+of food, and here and there breaking out into bread riots wherever it
+was suspected that some wealthy man was trying to corner food for his
+own commercial benefit, but making no serious or combined efforts to
+prepare for a general rising in case the threatened invasion became a
+fact.
+
+Such was the general state of affairs in Britain when, on the night
+of the 27th of October, the north-west gales sank suddenly to a calm,
+and the dawn of the 28th brought the news from Dover to London that
+the war-balloons of the League had taken the air, and were crossing
+the Straits.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+THE BATTLE OF DOVER.
+
+
+Until the war of 1904, it had been an undisputed axiom in naval
+warfare that a territorial attack upon an enemy's coast by a fleet
+was foredoomed to failure unless that enemy's fleet had been either
+crippled beyond effective action, or securely blockaded in distant
+ports. As an axiom secondary to this, it was also held that it would
+be impossible for an invading force, although convoyed by a powerful
+fleet, to make good its footing upon any portion of a hostile coast
+defended by forts mounting heavy long-range guns.
+
+These principles have held good throughout the history of naval
+warfare from the time when Sir Walter Raleigh first laid them down in
+the early portion of his _History of the World_, written after the
+destruction of the Spanish Armada.
+
+But now two elements had been introduced which altered the conditions
+of naval warfare even more radically than one of them had changed
+those of military warfare. Had it not been for this the attack upon
+the shores of England made by the commanders of the League would
+probably either have been a failure, or it would have stopped at a
+demonstration of force, as did that of the great Napoleon in 1803.
+
+The portion of the Kentish coast selected for the attack was that
+stretching from Folkestone to Deal, and it would perhaps have been
+difficult to find in the whole world any portion of sea-coast more
+strongly defended than this was on the morning of October 28, 1904;
+and yet, as the event proved, the fortresses which lined it were as
+useless and impotent for defence as the old Martello towers of a
+hundred and fifty years before would have been.
+
+As the war-balloons rose into the air from the heights above
+Boulogne, good telescopes at Dover enabled their possessors to count
+no less than seventy-five of them. Fifty of these were quite newly
+constructed, and were of a much improved type, as they had been built
+in view of the practical experience gained by the first fleet.
+
+This aërial fleet divided into three squadrons; one, numbering
+twenty-five, steered south-westward in the direction of Folkestone,
+twelve shaped their course towards Deal, and the remaining
+thirty-eight steered directly across the Straits to Dover. As they
+approached the English coast they continually rose, until by the time
+they had reached the land, aided by the light south-easterly breeze
+which was then blowing, they floated at a height of more than five
+thousand feet.
+
+All this while not a warship or a transport had put to sea. The whole
+fleet of the League lay along the coast of France between Calais and
+Dieppe, under the protection of shore batteries so powerful that it
+would have been madness for the British fleet to have assumed the
+offensive with regard to them. With the exception of two squadrons
+reserved for a possible attack upon Portsmouth and Harwich, all that
+remained from the disasters and costly victories of the war of the
+once mighty British naval armament was massed together for the
+defence of that portion of the coast which would evidently have to
+bear the brunt of the attack of the League.
+
+Ranged along the coast from Folkestone to Deal was an armament
+consisting of forty-five battleships of the first, second, and third
+classes, supported by fifteen coast-defence ironclads, seventy
+armoured and thirty-two unarmoured cruisers, forty gunboats, and a
+hundred and fifty torpedo-boats.
+
+Such was the still magnificent fleet that patrolled the waters of the
+narrow sea,--a fleet as impotent for the time being as a flotilla of
+Thames steamboats would have been in face of the tactics employed
+against it by the League. Had the enemy's fleet but come out into the
+open, as it would have been compelled to do under the old conditions
+of warfare, to fight its way across the narrow strip of water, there
+is little doubt but that the issue of the day would have been very
+different, and that what had been left of it would have been driven
+back, shattered and defeated, to the shelter of the French shore
+batteries.
+
+But, in accordance with the invariable tactics of the League, the
+first and most deadly assault was delivered from the air. The
+war-balloons stationed themselves above the fortifications on land,
+totally ignoring the presence of the fleet, and a few minutes after
+ten o'clock began to rain their deadly hail of explosives down upon
+them. Fifteen were placed over Dover Castle, and five over the fort
+on the Admiralty Pier, while the rest were distributed over the town
+and the forts on the hills above it. In an hour everything was in a
+state of the most horrible confusion. The town was on fire in a
+hundred places from the effects of the fire-shells. The Castle hill
+seemed as if it had been suddenly turned into a volcano; jets of
+bright flame kept leaping up from its summit and sides, followed by
+thunderous explosions and masses of earth and masonry hurled into the
+air, mingled with guns and fragments of human bodies.
+
+The end of the Admiralty Pier, with its huge blocks of stone wrenched
+asunder and pulverised by incessant explosions of dynamite and
+emmensite, collapsed and subsided into the sea, carrying fort, guns,
+and magazine with it; and all along the height of the Shakespeare
+cliff the earthworks had been blown up and scattered into dust, and a
+huge portion of the cliff itself had been blasted out and hurled down
+on to the beach.
+
+Meanwhile the victims of this terrible assault had, in the nature of
+the case, been able to do nothing but keep up a vertical fire, in the
+hope of piercing the gas envelopes of the balloons, and so bringing
+them to the earth. For more than an hour this fusilade produced no
+effect; but at length the concentrated fire of several Maxim and
+Nordenfelt guns, projecting a hail of missiles into the sky, brought
+about a result which was even more disastrous to the town than it was
+to its assailants.
+
+Four of the aerostats came within the zone swept by the bullets.
+Riddled through and through, their gas-holders collapsed, and their
+cars plunged downwards from a height of more than 5000 feet. A few
+seconds later four frightful explosions burst forth in different
+parts of the town, for the four cargoes exploded simultaneously as
+they struck the earth.
+
+The emmensite and dynamite tore whole streets of houses to fragments,
+and hurled them far and wide into the air, to fall back again on
+other parts of the town, and at the same time the fire-shells
+ignited, and set the ruins blazing like so many furnaces. No more
+shots were fired into the air after that.
+
+There was nothing for it but for British valour to bow to the
+inevitable, and evacuate the town and what remained of its
+fortifications; and so with sad and heavy hearts the remnant of the
+brave defenders turned their faces inland, leaving Dover to its fate.
+Meanwhile exactly the same havoc had been wrought upon Folkestone and
+Deal. Hour after hour the merciless work continued, until by three
+o'clock in the afternoon there was not a gun left upon the whole
+range of coast that was capable of firing a shot.
+
+All this time the ammunition tenders of the aërial fleet had been
+winging their way to and fro across the Strait constantly renewing
+the shells of the war-balloons.
+
+As soon as it began to grow dusk the naval battle commenced.
+Numerically speaking the attacking force was somewhat inferior to
+that of the defenders, but now the second element, which so
+completely altered the tactics of sea fighting, was for the first
+time in the war brought into play.
+
+As the battleships of the League steamed out to engage the opponents,
+who were thirsting to avenge the destruction that had been wrought
+upon the land, a small flotilla of twenty-five insignificant-looking
+little craft, with neither masts nor funnels, and looking more like
+half-submerged elongated turtles than anything else, followed in tow
+close under their quarters. Hardly had the furious cannonade broken
+out into thunder and flame along the two opposing lines, than these
+strange craft sank gently and silently beneath the waves. They were
+submarine vessels belonging to the French navy, an improved type of
+the _Zédé_ class, which had been in existence for more than ten
+years.[1]
+
+These vessels were capable of sinking to a depth of twenty feet, and
+remaining for four hours without returning to the surface. They were
+propelled by twin screws worked by electricity at a speed of twenty
+knots, and were provided with an electric searchlight, which enabled
+them to find the hulls of hostile ships in the dark.
+
+Each carried three torpedoes, which could be launched from a tube
+forward so as to strike the hull of the doomed ship from beneath. As
+soon as the torpedo was discharged the submarine boat spun round on
+her heel and headed away at full speed in an opposite direction out
+of the area of the explosion.
+
+The effects of such terrible and, indeed, irresistible engines of
+naval warfare were soon made manifest upon the ships of the British
+fleet. In the heat of the battle, with every gun in action, and
+raining a hail of shot and shell upon her adversary, a great
+battleship would receive an unseen blow, struck in the dark upon her
+most vulnerable part, a huge column of water would rise up from under
+her side, and a few minutes later the splendid fabric would heel over
+and go down like a floating volcano, to be quenched by the waves that
+closed over her.
+
+But as if it were not enough that the defending fleet should be
+attacked from the surface of the water and the depths of the sea, the
+war-balloons, winging their way out from the scene of ruin that they
+had wrought on shore, soon began to take their part in the work of
+death and destruction.
+
+Each of them was provided with a mirror set a little in front of the
+bow of the car, at an angle which could be varied according to the
+elevation. A little forward of the centre of the car was a tube fixed
+on a level with the centre of the mirror. The ship selected for
+destruction was brought under the car, and the speed of the balloon
+was regulated so that the ship was relatively stationary to it.
+
+As soon as the glare from one of the funnels could be seen through
+the tube reflected in the centre of the mirror, a trap was sprung in
+the floor of the car, and a shell charged with dynamite, which, it
+will be remembered, explodes vertically downwards, was released, and,
+where the calculations were accurately made, passed down the funnel
+and exploded in the interior of the vessel, bursting her boilers and
+reducing her to a helpless wreck at a single stroke.
+
+Every time this horribly ingenious contrivance was successfully
+brought into play a battleship or a cruiser was either sunk or
+reduced to impotence. In order to make their aim the surer, the
+aerostats descended to within three hundred yards of their prey, and
+where the missile failed to pass through the funnel it invariably
+struck the deck close to it, tearing up the armour sheathing, and
+wrecking the funnel itself so completely that the steaming-power of
+the vessel was very seriously reduced.
+
+All night long the battle raged incessantly along a semicircle some
+twelve miles long, the centre of which was Dover. Crowds of anxious
+watchers on the shore watched the continuous flashes of the guns
+through the darkness, varied ever and anon by some tremendous
+explosion which told the fate of a warship that had fired her last
+shot.
+
+All night long the incessant thunder of the battle rolled to and fro
+along the echoing coast, and when morning broke the light dawned upon
+a scene of desolation and destruction on sea and shore such as had
+never been witnessed before in the history of warfare. On land were
+the smoking ruins of houses, still smouldering in the remains of the
+fires which had consumed them; forts which twenty-four hours before
+had grinned defiance at the enemy were shapeless heaps of earth and
+stone, and armour-plating torn into great jagged fragments; and on
+sea were a few half-crippled wrecks, the remains of the British
+fleet, with their flags still flying, and such guns as were not
+disabled firing their last rounds at the victorious foe.
+
+To the eastward of these about half the fleet of the League, in but
+little better condition, was advancing in now overwhelming force upon
+them, and behind these again a swarm of troopships and transports
+were heading out from the French shore. About an hour after dawn the
+_Centurion_, the last of the British battleships, was struck by one
+of the submarine torpedoes, broke in two, and went down with her flag
+flying and her guns blazing away to the last moment. So ended the
+battle of Dover, the most disastrous sea-fight in the history of the
+world, and the death-struggle of the Mistress of the Seas.
+
+The last news of the tremendous tragedy reached the now
+panic-stricken capital half an hour before the receipt of similar
+tidings from Harwich, announcing the destruction of the defending
+fleet and forts, and the capture of the town by exactly the same
+means as those employed against Dover. Nothing now lay between London
+and the invading forces but the utterly inadequate army and the lines
+of fortifications, which could not be expected to offer any more
+effective resistance to the assault of the war-balloons than had
+those of the three towns on the Kentish coast.
+
+[Footnote 1: _The Naval Annual_ for 1893 mentions two types of
+submarine boats, the _Zédé_ and the _Goubet_, both belonging to the
+French navy, which had then been tried with success. The same work
+mentions no such vessels belonging to Britain, nor yet any prospect
+of her possessing one. The effects described here as produced by
+these terrible machines are little, if at all, exaggerated. Granted
+ten years of progress, and they will be reproduced to a
+certainty.--AUTHOR.]
+
+[Illustration: "The _Centurion_, the last of the British battleships,
+was struck by one of the submarine torpedoes."
+
+_See page 300._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+BELEAGUERED LONDON.
+
+
+A month had passed since the battle of Dover. It had been a month of
+incessant fighting, of battles by day and night, of heroic defences
+and dearly-bought victories, but still of constant triumphs and
+irresistible progress for the ever-increasing legions of the League.
+From sunrise to sunrise the roar of artillery, the rattle of
+musketry, and the clash of steel had never ceased to sound to the
+north and south of London as, over battlefield after battlefield, the
+two hosts which had poured in constant streams through Harwich and
+Dover had fought their way, literally mile by mile, towards the
+capital of the modern world.
+
+Day and night the fighting never stopped. As soon as two hostile
+divisions had fought each other to a standstill, and from sheer
+weariness of the flesh the battle died down in one part of the huge
+arena, the flame sprang up in another, and raged on with ever renewed
+fury. Outnumbered four and five to one in every engagement, and with
+the terrible war-balloons raining death on them from the clouds, the
+British armies had eclipsed all the triumphs of the long array of
+their former victories by the magnificent devotion that they showed
+in the hour of what seemed to be the death-struggle of the Empire.
+
+The glories of Inkermann and Balaclava, of Albuera and Waterloo,
+paled before the achievements of the whole-souled heroism displayed
+by the British soldiery standing, as it were, with its back to the
+wall, and fighting, not so much with any hope of victory, for that
+was soon seen to be a physical impossibility, but with the invincible
+determination not to permit the invader to advance on London save
+over the dead bodies of its defenders.
+
+Such a gallant defence had never been made before in the face of such
+irresistible odds. When the soldiers of the League first set foot on
+British soil the defending armies of the North and South had, with
+the greatest exertions, been brought up to a fighting strength of
+about twelve hundred thousand men. So stubborn had been the heroism
+with which they had disputed the progress of their enemies that by
+the time that the guns of the League were planted on the heights that
+commanded the Metropolis, more than a million and a half of men had
+gone down under the hail of British bullets and the rush of British
+bayonets.
+
+Of all the battlefields of this the bloodiest war in the history of
+human strife, none had been so deeply dyed with blood as had been the
+fair and fertile English gardens and meadows over which the hosts of
+the League had fought their way to the confines of London. Only the
+weight of overwhelming numbers, reinforced by engines of destruction
+which could strike without the possibility of effective retaliation,
+had made their progress possible.
+
+Had they met their heroic foes as they had met them in the days of
+the old warfare, their superiority of numbers would have availed them
+but little. They would have been hurled back and driven into the sea,
+and not a man of them all would have left British soil alive had it
+been but a question of military attack and defence.
+
+But this was not a war of men. It was a war of machines, and those
+who wielded the most effective machinery for the destruction of life
+won battle after battle as a matter of course, just as a man armed
+with a repeating rifle would overcome a better man armed with a bow
+and arrow.
+
+Natas had formed an entirely accurate estimate of the policy of the
+leaders of the League when he told Tremayne, in the library at
+Alanmere, that they would concentrate all their efforts on the
+reduction of London. The rest of the kingdom had been for the present
+entirely ignored.
+
+London was the heart of the British Empire and of the
+English-speaking world, for the matter of that, and therefore it had
+been determined to strike one deadly blow at the vital centre of the
+whole huge organism. That paralysed, the rest must fall to pieces of
+necessity. The fleet was destroyed, and every soldier that Britain
+could put into the field had been mustered for the defence of London.
+Therefore the fall of London meant the conquest of Britain.
+
+After the battles of Dover and Harwich the invading forces advanced
+upon London in the following order: The Army of the South had landed
+at Deal, Dover, and Folkestone in three divisions, and after a series
+of terrific conflicts had fought its way _viâ_ Chatham, Maidstone,
+and Tunbridge to the banks of the Thames, and occupied all the
+commanding positions from Shooter's Hill to Richmond. These three
+forces were composed entirely of French and Italian army corps, and
+numbered from first to last nearly four million men.
+
+On the north the invading force was almost wholly Russian, and was
+under the command of the Tzar in person, in whom the supreme command
+of the armies of the League had by common consent been now vested. A
+constant service of transports, plying day and night between Antwerp
+and Harwich, had placed at his disposal a force about equal to that
+of the Army of the South, although he had lost over seven hundred
+thousand men before he was able to occupy the line of heights from
+Hornsey to Hampstead, with flanking positions at Brondesbury and
+Harlesden to the west, and at Tottenham, Stratford, and Barking to
+the east.
+
+By the 29th of November all the railways were in the hands of the
+invaders. A chain of war-balloons between Barking and Shooter's Hill
+closed the Thames. The forts at Tilbury had been destroyed by an
+aërial bombardment. A flotilla of submarine torpedo-vessels had blown
+up the defences of the estuary of the Thames and Medway, and led to
+the fall of Sheerness and Chatham, and had then been docked at
+Sheerness, there being no further present use for them.
+
+The other half of the squadron, supported by a few battleships and
+cruisers which had survived the battle of Dover, had proceeded to
+Portsmouth, destroyed the booms and submarine defences, while a
+detachment of aerostats shelled the land defences, and then in a
+moment of wanton revenge had blown up the venerable hulk of the
+_Victory_, which had gone down at her moorings with her flag still
+flying as it had done a hundred years before at the fight of
+Trafalgar. After this inglorious achievement they had been laid up in
+dock to wait for their next opportunity of destruction, should it
+ever occur.
+
+London was thus cut off from all communication, not only with the
+outside world, but even from the rest of England. The remnants of the
+armies of defence had been gradually driven in upon the vast
+wilderness of bricks and mortar which now held more than eight
+millions of men, women, and children, hemmed in by long lines of
+batteries and entrenched camps, from which thousands of guns hurled
+their projectiles far and wide into the crowded masses of the houses,
+shattering them with bursting shells, and laying the whole streets in
+ruins, while overhead the war-balloons slowly circled hither and
+thither, dropping their fire-shells and completing the ruin and havoc
+wrought by the artillery of the siege-trains.
+
+Under such circumstances surrender was really only a matter of time,
+and that time had very nearly come. The London and North-Western
+Railway, which had been the last to fall into the hands of the
+invaders, had been closed for over a week, and food was running very
+short. Eight millions of people massed together in a space of thirty
+or forty square miles' area can only be fed and kept healthy under
+the most favourable conditions. Hemmed in as London now was, from
+being the best ordered great city in the world, it had degenerated
+with frightful rapidity into a vast abode of plague and famine, a
+mass of human suffering and misery beyond all conception or
+possibility of description.
+
+Defence there was now practically none; but still the invaders did
+not leave their vantage ground on the hills, and not a soldier of the
+League had so far set foot in London proper. Either the besiegers
+preferred to starve the great city into surrender at discretion, and
+then extort ruinous terms, or else they hesitated to plunge into that
+tremendous gulf of human misery, maddened by hunger and made
+desperate by despair. If they did so hesitate they were wise, for
+London was too vast to be carried by assault or by any series of
+assaults.
+
+No army could have lived in its wilderness of streets swarming with
+enemies, who would have fought them from house to house and street to
+street. Once they had entered that mighty maze of streets and squares
+both their artillery and their war-balloons would have been useless,
+for they would only have buried friend and foe in common destruction.
+There were plenty of ways into London, but the way out was a very
+different matter.
+
+Had a general assault been attempted, not a man would ever have got
+out of London alive. The commanders of the League saw this clearly,
+and so they kept their position on the heights, wasted the city with
+an almost constant bombardment, and, while they drew their supplies
+from the fertile lands in their rear, lay on their arms and waited
+for the inevitable.
+
+Within the besieged area martial law prevailed universally. Riots
+were of daily, almost hourly, occurrence, but they were repressed
+with an iron hand, and the rioters were shot down in the streets
+without mercy; for, though siege and famine were bad enough, anarchy
+breaking out amidst that vast sweltering mass of human beings would
+have been a thousand times worse, and so the King, who, assisted by
+the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Council, had assumed the control
+of the whole city, had directed that order was to be maintained at
+any price.
+
+The remains of the army were quartered in the parks under canvas, and
+billeted in houses throughout the various districts, in order to
+support the police in repressing disorder and protecting property.
+Still, in spite of all that could be done, matters were rapidly
+coming to a terrible pass. In a week, at the latest, the horses of
+the cavalry would be eaten. For a fortnight London had almost lived
+upon horse-flesh. In the poorer quarters there was not a dog to be
+seen, and a sewer rat was considered a delicacy.
+
+Eight million mouths had made short work of even the vast supplies
+that had been hurriedly poured into the city as soon as the invasion
+had become a certainty, and absolute starvation was now a matter of a
+few days at the outside. There were millions of money lying idle, but
+very soon a five-pound note would not buy even a little loaf of
+bread.
+
+But famine was by no means the only horror that afflicted London
+during those awful days and nights. All round the heights the booming
+of cannon sounded incessantly. Huge shells went screaming through the
+air overhead to fall and burst amidst some swarming hive of humanity,
+scattering death and mutilation where they fell; and high up in the
+air the fleet of aerostats perpetually circled, dropping their
+fire-shells and blasting cartridges on the dense masses of houses,
+until a hundred conflagrations were raging at once in different parts
+of the city.
+
+No help had come from outside. Indeed none was to be expected. There
+was only one Power in the world that was now capable of coping with
+the forces of the victorious League, but its overtures had been
+rejected, and neither the King nor any of his advisers had now the
+slightest idea as to how those who controlled it would now use it. No
+one knew the real strength of the Terrorists, or the Federation which
+they professed to control.
+
+All that was known was that, if they choose, they could with their
+aërial fleet sweep the war-balloons from the air in a few moments and
+destroy the batteries of the besiegers; but they had made no sign
+after the rejection of their President's offer to prevent the landing
+of the forces of the League on condition that the British Government
+accepted the Federation, and resigned its powers in favour of its
+Executive.
+
+The refusal of those terms had now cost more than a million British
+lives, and an incalculable amount of human suffering and destruction
+of property. Until the news of the disaster of Dover had actually
+reached London, no one had really believed that it was possible for
+an invading force to land on British soil and exist for twenty-four
+hours. Now the impossible had been made possible, and the last
+crushing blow must fall within the next few days. After that who knew
+what might befall?
+
+So far as could be seen, Britain lay helpless at the mercy of her
+foes. Her allies had ceased to exist as independent Powers, and the
+Russian and the Gaul were thundering at her gates as, fifteen hundred
+years before, the Goth had thundered at the gates of the Eternal City
+in the last days of the Roman Empire.
+
+If the terms of the Federation could have been offered again, it is
+probable that the King of England would have been the first man to
+own his mistake and that of his advisers and accept them, for now the
+choice lay between utter and humiliating defeat and the breaking up
+of the Empire, and the recognition of the Federation. After all, the
+kinship of a race was a greater fact in the supreme hour of national
+disaster than the maintenance of a dynasty or the perpetuation of a
+particular form of government.
+
+It was not now a question of nation against nation, but of race
+against race. The fierce flood of war had swept away all smaller
+distinctions. It was necessary to rise to the altitude of the problem
+of the Government, not of nations, but of the world. Was the genius
+of the East or of the West to shape the future destinies of the human
+race? That was the mighty problem of which the events of the next few
+weeks were to work out the solution, for when the sun set on the
+Field of Armageddon the fate of Humanity would be fixed for centuries
+to come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+AN ENVOY OF DELIVERANCE.
+
+
+From the time that the Tsar had received the conditional declaration
+of war from the President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation in America to
+nightfall on the 29th of November, when the surrender of the capital
+of the British Empire was considered to be a matter of a few days
+only, the Commander-in-Chief of the forces of the League was
+absolutely in the dark, not only as to the actual intentions of the
+Terrorists, if they had any, but also as to the doings of his allies
+in America.
+
+According to the stipulations arranged between himself and the
+confidential agent of the American Government, the blockading
+flotilla of dynamite cruisers ought to have sailed from America as
+soon as the cypher message containing the news of the battle of Dover
+reached New York. The message had been duly sent _viâ_ Queenstown and
+New York, and had been acknowledged in the usual way, but no definite
+reply had come to it, and a month had elapsed without the appearance
+of the promised squadron. The explanation of this will be readily
+guessed. The American end of the Queenstown cable had been
+reconnected with Washington, but it was under the absolute control of
+Tremayne, who permitted no one to use it save himself.
+
+Other messages had been sent to which no reply had been received, and
+a swift French cruiser, which had been launched at Brest since the
+battle of Dover, had been dispatched across the Atlantic to discover
+the reason of this strange silence. She had gone, but she had never
+returned. The Atlantic highway appeared to be barred by some
+invisible force. No vessels came from the westward, and those which
+started from the east were never heard of again.
+
+His Majesty had treated the summons of the President of the
+Federation with silent contempt, just as such a victorious autocrat
+might have been expected to do. True, he knew the terrific power
+wielded by the Terrorists through their aërial fleet, and he had an
+uncomfortable conviction, which refused to be entirely stifled, that
+in the days to come he would have to reckon with them and it.
+
+But that a member of the Terrorist Brotherhood could by any possible
+means have placed himself at the head of any body of men sufficiently
+numerous or well-disciplined to make them a force to be seriously
+reckoned with in military warfare, his Majesty had never for a moment
+believed.
+
+And, more than this, however disquieting might be the uncertainty due
+to the ominous silence on the other side of the Atlantic, and the
+non-arrival of the expected fleet, there stood the great and
+significant fact that the army of the League had been permitted,
+without molestation either from the Terrorists or the Federation in
+whose name they had presumed to declare war upon him, not only to
+destroy what remained of the British fleet, but to completely invest
+the very capital of Anglo-Saxondom itself.
+
+All this had been done; the sacred soil of Britain itself had been
+violated by the invading hosts; the army of defence had been slowly,
+and at a tremendous sacrifice of life on both sides, forced back from
+line after line, and position after position, into the city itself;
+his batteries were raining their hail of shot and shell from the
+heights round London, and his aerostats were hurling ruin from the
+sky upon the crowded millions locked up in the beleaguered space; and
+yet the man who had presumed to tell him that the hour in which he
+set foot on British soil would be the last of his Empire, had done
+absolutely nothing to interrupt the march of conquest.
+
+From this it will be seen that Alexander Romanoff was at least as
+completely in the dark as to the possible course of the events of the
+near future as was the King of England himself, shut up in his
+capital, and cut off from all communication from the rest of the
+world.
+
+On the morning of the 29th of November there was held at the Prime
+Minister's rooms in Downing Street a Cabinet Council, presided over
+by the King in person. After the Council had remained for about an
+hour in earnest consultation, a stranger was admitted to the room in
+which they were sitting.
+
+The reader would have recognised him in a moment as Maurice Colston,
+otherwise Alexis Mazanoff, for he was dressed almost exactly as he
+had been on that memorable night, just thirteen months before, when
+he made the acquaintance of Richard Arnold on the Thames Embankment.
+
+Well-dressed, well-fed, and perfectly at ease, he entered the Council
+Chamber without any aggressive assumption, but still with the quiet
+confidence of a man who knows that he is practically master of the
+situation. How he had even got into London, beleaguered as it was on
+every side in such fashion that no one could get out of it without
+being seen and shot by the besiegers, was a mystery; but how he could
+have in his possession, as he had, a despatch dated thirty-six hours
+previously in New York was a still deeper mystery; and upon neither
+of these points did he make the slightest attempt to enlighten the
+members of the British Cabinet.
+
+All that he said was that he was the bearer of a message from the
+President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation in America, and that he was
+instructed to return that night to New York with such answer as the
+British Government might think fit to make to it. It was this message
+that had been the subject of the deliberations of the Council before
+his admission, and its net effect was as follows.
+
+It was now practically certain, indeed proved to demonstration, that
+the forces at the command of the British Government were not capable
+of coping with those brought against them by the commanders of the
+League, and that therefore Britain, if left to her own resources,
+must inevitably succumb, and submit to such terms as her conquerors
+might think fit to impose upon her. The choice before the British
+Government thus lay between surrender to her foreign enemies, whose
+objects were well known to be dismemberment of the Empire and the
+reduction of Great Britain to the rank of a third-class Power,--to
+say nothing of the payment of a war indemnity which could not fail to
+be paralysing,--and the consent of those who controlled the destinies
+of the mother country to accept a Federation of the whole Anglo-Saxon
+race, to waive the merely national idea in favour of the racial one,
+and to permit the Executive Council of the Federation to assume those
+governmental functions which were exercised at present by the King
+and the British Houses of Parliament.
+
+In a word, the choice lay between conquest by a league of foreign
+powers and the merging of Britain into the Federation of the
+English-speaking peoples of the world.
+
+If the former choice were taken, the only prospect possible under the
+condition of things was a possibly enormous sacrifice of human life
+on the side of both Britain and its enemies, a gigantic loss in
+money, the crippling of British trade and commerce, and then a
+possible, nay probable, social revolution to which the message
+distinctly pointed.
+
+If the latter choice were taken, the forces of the Federation would
+be at once brought into the field against those of the League, the
+siege of London would be raised, the power of the invaders would be
+effectually broken for ever, and the stigma of conquest finally wiped
+away.
+
+It is only just to record the fact that in this supreme crisis of
+British history the man who most strongly insisted upon the
+acceptance of the terms which he had previously, as he now confessed
+in the most manly and outspoken fashion, rejected in ignorance of the
+true situation of affairs, was the man who believed that he would
+lose a crown by accepting them.
+
+When the Ambassador of the Federation had been presented to the
+Council, the King rose in his place and handed to him with his own
+hands a sealed letter, saying as he did so--
+
+"Mr. Mazanoff, I am still to a great extent in ignorance as to the
+inexplicable combination of events which has made it necessary for me
+to return this affirmative answer to the message of which you are the
+bearer. I am, however, fully aware that the Earl of Alanmere, whose
+name I have seen at the foot of this document with the most profound
+astonishment, is in a position to do what he says.
+
+"The course of events has been exactly that which he predicted. I
+know, too, that whatever causes may have led him to unite himself to
+those known as the Terrorists, he is an English nobleman, and a man
+to whom falsehood or bad faith is absolutely impossible. In your
+marvellous aërial fleet I know also that he wields the only power
+capable of being successfully opposed to those terrible machines
+which had wrought such havoc upon the fleets and armies, not only of
+Britain, but of Europe.
+
+"To a certain extent this is a surrender, but I feel that it will be
+better to surrender the destinies of Britain into the hands of her
+own blood and kindred than to the tender mercies of her alien
+enemies. My own personal feelings must weigh as nothing in the
+balance where the fate, not only of this country, but perhaps of the
+whole world, is now poised.
+
+"After all, the first duty of a Constitutional King is not to himself
+and his dynasty, but to his country and his people, and therefore I
+feel that it will be better for me and mine to be citizens of a free
+Federation of the English-speaking peoples, and of the nations to
+which Britain has given birth, than the titular sovereign and Royal
+family of a conquered country, holding the mockery of royalty on the
+sufferance of their conquerors.
+
+"Tell Lord Alanmere from me that I now accept the terms he has
+offered as President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation, first, because at
+all hazards I would see Britain delivered from her enemies; and,
+secondly, because I have chosen rather to be an English gentleman
+without a crown, than to wear a crown which after all would only be
+gift from my conquerors."
+
+Edward VII. spoke with visible emotion, but with a dignity which even
+Mazanoff, little and all as he respected the name of king, felt
+himself compelled to recognise and respect. He took the letter with a
+bow that was more one of reverence than of courtesy, and as he put it
+into his breast-pocket of his coat he said--
+
+"The President will receive your Majesty's reply with as genuine
+pleasure and satisfaction as I shall give it to him. Though I am a
+Russian without a drop of English blood in my veins, I have always
+looked upon the British race as the real bulwark of freedom, and I
+rejoice that the King of England has not permitted either tradition
+or personal feeling to stand in the way of the last triumph of the
+Anglo-Saxon race.
+
+"As long as the English language is spoken your Majesty's name will
+be held in greater honour for this sacrifice which you make to-day,
+than will that of any other English king for the greatest triumph of
+arms ever achieved in the history of your country.
+
+"I must now take my leave, for I must be in New York to-morrow night.
+I have your word that I shall not be watched or followed after I
+leave here. Hold the city for six days more at all costs, and on the
+seventh at the latest the siege shall be raised and the enemies of
+Britain destroyed in their own entrenchments."
+
+So saying, the envoy of the Federation bowed once more to the King
+and the astonished members of his Council, and was escorted to the
+door.
+
+Once in the street he strode away rapidly through Parliament Street
+and the Strand, then up Drury Lane, until he reached the door of a
+mean-looking house in a squalid court, and entering this with a
+latch-key, disappeared.
+
+Three hours later a Russian soldier of the line, wearing an almost
+imperceptible knot of red ribbon in one of the button-holes of his
+tunic, passed through the Russian lines on Hampstead Heath
+unchallenged by the sentries, and made his way northward to Northaw
+Wood, which he reached soon after nightfall.
+
+Within half an hour the _Ithuriel_ rose from the midst of a thick
+clump of trees like a grey shadow rising into the night, and darted
+southward and upward at such a speed that the keenest eyes must soon
+have lost sight of her from the earth.
+
+She passed over the beleaguered city at a height of nearly ten
+thousand feet, and then swept sharply round to the eastward. She
+stopped immediately over the lights of Sheerness, and descended to
+within a thousand feet of the dock, in which could be seen the
+detachment of the French submarine vessels lying waiting to be sent
+on their next errand of destruction.
+
+As soon as those on board her had made out the dock clearly she
+ascended a thousand feet and went about half a mile to the southward.
+From that position she poured a rapid hail of shells into the dock,
+which was instantly transformed into a cavity vomiting green flame
+and fragments of iron and human bodies. In five minutes nothing was
+left of the dock or its contents but a churned-up swamp of muddy
+water and shattered stonework.
+
+Then, her errand so far accomplished, the air-ship sped away to the
+south-westward, and within an hour she had destroyed in like fashion
+the submarine squadron in the Government dock at Portsmouth, and was
+winging her way westward to New York with the reply of the King of
+England to the President of the Federation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+THE EVE OF ARMAGEDDON.
+
+
+When the news of the destruction of the two divisions of the
+submarine squadron reached the headquarters of the League on the
+night of the 29th, it would have been difficult to say whether anger
+or consternation most prevailed among the leaders. A council of war
+was hurriedly summoned to discuss an event which it was impossible to
+look upon as anything less than a calamity.
+
+The destruction which had been wrought was of itself disastrous
+enough, for it deprived the League of the chief means by which it had
+destroyed the British fleet and kept command of the sea. But even
+more terrible than the actual destruction was the unexpected
+suddenness with which the blow had been delivered.
+
+For five months, that is to say, from the recapture of the _Lucifer_
+at Aberdeen, the Tsar and his coadjutors had seen nothing of the
+operations of the Terrorists; and now, without a moment's warning,
+this apparently omnipresent and yet almost invisible force had struck
+once more with irresistible effect, and instantly vanished back into
+the mystery out of which it had come.
+
+Who could tell when the next blow would fall, or in what shape the
+next assault would be delivered? In the presence of such enemies,
+invisible and unreachable, the commanders of the League, to their
+rage and disgust, felt themselves, on the eve of their supreme
+victory, as impotent as a man armed with a sword would have felt in
+front of a Gatling gun.
+
+Consternation naturally led to divided councils. The French and
+Italian commanders were for an immediate general assault on London at
+all hazards, and the enforcement of terms of surrender at the point
+of the sword. The Tsar, on the other hand, insisted on the pursuance
+of the original policy of reduction by starvation, as he rightly
+considered that, great as the attacking force was, it would be
+practically swamped amidst the infuriated millions of the besieged,
+and that, even if the assault were successful, the loss of life would
+be so enormous that the conquest of the rest of Britain--which in
+such a case would almost certainly rise to a man--would be next door
+to impossible.
+
+He, however, so far yielded as to agree to send a message to the King
+of England to arrange terms of surrender, if possible at once, in
+order to save further bloodshed, and then, if these terms were
+rejected, to prepare for a general assault on the seventh day from
+then.
+
+These terms were accepted as a compromise, and the next morning the
+bombardment ceased both from the land batteries and the air. At
+daybreak on the 30th an envoy left the Tsar's headquarters in one of
+the war-balloons, flying a flag of truce, and descended in Hyde Park.
+He was received by the King in Council at Buckingham Palace, and,
+after a lengthy deliberation, an answer was returned to the effect
+that on condition the bombardment ceased for the time being, London
+would be surrendered at noon on the 6th of December if no help had by
+that time arrived from the other cities of Britain. These terms,
+after considerable opposition from General le Gallifet and General
+Cosensz, the Italian Commander-in-Chief, were adopted and ratified at
+noon that day, almost at the very moment that Alexis Mazanoff was
+presenting the reply of the King of England to the President of the
+Federation in New York.
+
+As the relief expedition had been fully decided upon, whether the
+British Government recognised the Federation or not, everything was
+in readiness for an immediate start as soon as the _Ithuriel_ brought
+definite news as to the acceptation or rejection of the President's
+second offer. For the last seven weeks the ten dockyards of the east
+coast of America, and at Halifax in Nova Scotia, had been thronged
+with shipping, and swarming with workmen and sailors.
+
+All the vessels which had been swept off the Atlantic by the
+war-storm, and which were of sufficient size and speed to take part
+in the expedition, had been collected at these eleven ports. Whole
+fleets of liners of half a dozen different nationalities, which had
+been laid up since the establishment of the blockade, were now lying
+alongside the quays, taking in vast quantities of wheat and
+miscellaneous food-stuffs, which were being poured into their holds
+from the glutted markets of America and Canada. Every one of these
+vessels was fitted up as a troopship, and by the time all
+arrangements were complete, more than a thousand vessels, carrying on
+an average twelve hundred men each, were ready to take the sea.
+
+In addition to these there was a fleet of warships as yet unscathed
+by shot or shell, consisting of thirty battleships, a hundred and ten
+cruisers, and the flotilla of dynamite cruisers which had been
+constructed by the late Government at the expense of the capitalist
+Ring. There were no less than two hundred of these strange but
+terribly destructive craft, the lineal descendants of the _Vesuvius_,
+which, as the naval reader will remember, was commissioned in 1890.
+
+They were double-hulled vessels built on the whale-back plan, and the
+compartments between the inner and outer hull could be wholly or
+partially filled with water. When they were entirely filled the hull
+sank below the surface, leaving nothing as a mark to an enemy save a
+platform standing ten feet above the water. This platform,
+constructed throughout of 6-inch nickel-steel, was of oval shape, a
+hundred feet long and thirty broad in its greatest diameter, and
+carried the heavily armoured wheel-house and conning-tower, two
+funnels, six ventilators, and two huge pneumatic guns, each
+seventy-five feet long, working on pivots nearly amidships. These
+weapons, with an air-charge of three hundred atmospheres, would throw
+four hundred pounds of dynamite to a distance of three miles with
+such accuracy that the projectile would invariably fall within a
+space of twenty feet square. The guns could be discharged once a
+minute, and could thus hurl 48,000 lbs. of dynamite an hour upon a
+hostile fleet or fortifications.
+
+Each cruiser also carried two under-water torpedo tubes ahead and two
+astern. The funnels emitted no smoke, but merely supplied draught to
+the petroleum furnaces, which burned with practically no waste, and
+developed a head of steam which drove the long submerged hulls
+through the water at a rate of thirty-two knots, or more than
+thirty-six miles an hour.
+
+Such was the enormous naval armament, manned by nearly a hundred
+thousand men, which hoisted the Federation flag at one o'clock on the
+afternoon of the 30th of November, when orders were telegraphed north
+and south from Washington to get ready for sea. Two hours later the
+vast flotilla of warships and transports had cleared American waters,
+and was converging towards a point indicated by the intersection of
+the 41st parallel of latitude with the 40th meridian of longitude.
+
+At this ocean rendezvous the divisions of the fleet and its convoys
+met and shaped their course for the mouth of the English Channel.
+They proceeded in column of line abreast three deep, headed by the
+dynamite cruisers, after which came the other warships which had
+formed the American Navy, and after these again came the troopships
+and transports properly protected by cruisers on their flanks and in
+their rear.
+
+The commander of every warship and transport had the most minute
+instructions as to how he was to act on reaching British waters, and
+what these were will become apparent in due course. The weather was
+fairly good for the time of year, and, as there was but little danger
+of collision on the now deserted waters of the Atlantic, the whole
+flotilla kept at full speed all the way. As, however, its speed was
+necessarily limited by that of its slowest steamer until the scene of
+action was reached, it was after midnight on the 5th of December when
+its various detachments had reached their appointed stations on the
+English coast.
+
+At the entrance of the English Channel and St. George's Channel a few
+scouting cruisers, flying French, Russian, and Italian colours, had
+been run down and sunk by the dynamite cruisers. Strict orders had
+been given by Tremayne to destroy everything flying a hostile flag,
+and not to permit any news to be taken to England of the approach of
+the flotilla. The Federation was waging a war, not merely of conquest
+and revenge, but of extermination, and no more mercy was to be shown
+to its enemies than they had shown in their march of victory from one
+end of Europe to the other.
+
+While the Federation fleet had been crossing the Atlantic, other
+events no less important had been taking place in England and
+Scotland. The hitherto apparently inert mass of the population had
+suddenly awakened out of its lethargy. In town and country alike men
+forsook their daily avocations as if by one consent. As in America,
+artisans, pitmen, clerks, and tradesmen were suddenly transformed
+into soldiers, who drilled, first in squads of ten, and then in
+hundreds and thousands, and finally in tens of thousands, all
+uniformed alike in rough grey breeches and tunics, with a knot of red
+ribbon in the button-hole, and all armed with rifle, bayonet, and
+revolver, which they seemed to handle with a strange and ominous
+familiarity.
+
+All the railway traffic over the island was stopped, and the
+rolling-stock collected at the great stations along the lines to
+London, and at the same time all the telegraph wires communicating
+with the south and east were cut. As day after day passed, signs of
+an intense but strongly suppressed excitement became more and more
+visible all over the provinces, and especially in the great towns and
+cities.
+
+In London very much the same thing had happened. Hundreds of
+thousands of civilians vanished during that seven days of anxious
+waiting for the hour of deliverance, and in their place sprang up
+orderly regiments of grey-clad soldiers, who saw the red knot in each
+other's button-holes, and welcomed each other as comrades unknown
+before.
+
+To the surprise of the commanders of the regular army, orders had
+been issued by the King that all possible assistance was to be
+rendered to these strange legions, which had thus so suddenly sprang
+into existence; and the result was that when the sun set on the 5th
+of December, the twenty-first day of the total blockade of London,
+the beleaguered space contained over two millions of armed men,
+hungering both for food and vengeance, who, like the five millions of
+their fellow-countrymen outside London, were waiting for a sign from
+the sky to fling themselves upon the entrapped and unsuspecting
+invader.
+
+That night countless eyes were upturned throughout the length and
+breadth of Britain to the dun pall of wintry cloud that overspread
+the land. Yet so far, so perfect was the discipline of this gigantic
+host, not a sign of overt hostile movement had been made, and the
+commanders of the armies of the League looked forward with exulting
+confidence to the moment, now only a few hours distant, when the
+capital of the British Empire, cut off from all help, should be
+surrendered into their hands in accordance with the terms agreed
+upon.
+
+When night fell the _Ithuriel_ was floating four thousand feet above
+Aberdeen. Arnold and Natasha, wrapped in warm furs, were standing on
+deck impatiently watching the sun sinking down over the sea of clouds
+which lay between them and the earth.
+
+"There it goes at last!" exclaimed Natasha, as the last of the level
+beams shot across the cloud-sea and the rim of the pale disc sank
+below the surface of the vapoury ocean. "The time that we have waited
+and worked for so long has come at last. This is the eve of
+Armageddon! Who would think it, floating up here above the clouds and
+beneath those cold, calmly shining stars! And yet the fate of the
+whole world is trembling in the balance, and the doings of the next
+twenty-four hours will settle the destiny of mankind for generations
+to come. The hour of the Revolution has struck at last"--
+
+"And therefore it is time that the Angel of the Revolution should
+give the last signal with her own hand!" said Arnold, seized with a
+sudden fancy, "Come, you shall start the dynamo yourself."
+
+"Yes I will, and, I hope, kindle a flame that shall purge the earth
+of tyranny and oppression for ever. Richard, what must my father be
+thinking of just now down yonder in the cabin?"
+
+"I dare not even guess. To-morrow or the next day will be the day of
+reckoning, and then God help those of whom he demands payment, for
+they will need it. The vials of wrath are full, and before long the
+oppressors of the earth will have drained them to the dregs. Come, it
+is time we went down."
+
+They descended together to the engine-room, and meanwhile the
+air-ship sank through the clouds until the lights of Aberdeen lay
+about a thousand feet below. A lens of red glass had been fitted to
+the searchlight of the _Ithuriel_, and all that was necessary was to
+connect the forward engine with the dynamo.
+
+Arnold put Natasha's hand on a little lever. As she took hold of it
+she thought with a shudder of the mighty forces of destruction which
+her next movement would let loose. Then she thought of all that those
+nearest and dearest to her had suffered at the hands of Russian
+despotism, and of all the nameless horrors of the rule whose
+death-signal she was about to give.
+
+As she did so her grip tightened on the lever, and when Arnold,
+having given his orders to the head engineer as to speed and course,
+put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Now!" she pulled it back with
+a sharp, determined motion, and the next instant a broad fan of
+blood-red light shot over the _Ithuriel's_ bows.
+
+At the same moment the air-ship's propellers began to spin round, and
+then with the flood of red light streaming in front of her, she
+headed southward at full speed towards Edinburgh. The signal flashed
+over the Scottish capital, and then the _Ithuriel_ swerved round to
+the westward.
+
+Half an hour later Glasgow saw it, and then away she sped southward
+across the Border to Carlisle; and so through the long December night
+she flew hither and thither, eastward and westward, flashing the red
+battle-signal over field and village and town; and wherever it shone
+armed men sprang up like the fruit of the fabled dragon's teeth,
+companies were mustered in streets and squares and fields and marched
+to railway stations; and soon long trains, one after another in
+endless succession, got into motion, all moving towards the south and
+east, all converging upon London.
+
+Last of all, after it had made a swift circuit of northern and
+central and western England, the red light swept along the south
+coast, and then swerved northward again till it flashed thrice over
+London, and then it vanished into the darkness of the hour before the
+dawn of Armageddon.
+
+Since the ever-memorable night of Thursday the 29th of July 1588,
+three hundred and sixteen years before, when "The beacon blazed upon
+the roof of Edgcumbe's lofty Hall," and the answering fires sprang up
+"From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay," to tell
+that the Spanish Armada was in sight, there had been no such night in
+England, nor had men ever dreamed that there should be.
+
+But great as had been the deeds done by the heroes of the sixteenth
+century with the pigmy means at their command, they were but the
+merest child's play to the awful storm of devastation which, in a few
+hours, was to burst over southern England. Then it was England
+against Spain; now it was Anglo-Saxondom against the world; and the
+conquering race of earth, armed with the most terrific powers of
+destruction that human wit had ever devised, was rising in its wrath,
+millions strong, to wipe out the stain of invasion from the sacred
+soil of the motherland of the Anglo-Saxon nations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+THE OLD LION AT BAY.
+
+
+The morning of the 6th of December dawned grey and cold over London
+and the hosts that were waiting for its surrender. Scarcely any smoke
+rose from the myriad chimneys of the vast city, for the coal was
+almost all burnt, and what was left was selling at £12 a ton. Wood
+was so scarce that people were tearing up the woodwork of their
+houses to keep a little fire going.
+
+So the steel-grey sky remained clear, for towards daybreak the clouds
+had been condensed by a cold north-easter into a sharp fall of fine,
+icy snow, and as the sun gained power it shone chilly over the
+whitened landscape, the innumerable roofs of London, and the miles of
+tents lining the hills to the north and south of the Thames valley.
+
+The havoc wrought by the bombardment on the public buildings of the
+great city had been terrible. Of the Houses of Parliament only a
+shapeless heap of broken stones remained, the Law Courts were in
+ruins, what had been the Albert Hall was now a roofless ring of
+blackened walls, Nelson's Column lay shattered across Trafalgar
+Square, and the Royal Exchange, the Bank of England, and the Mansion
+House mingled their fragments in the heart of the almost deserted
+city.
+
+Only three of the great buildings of London had suffered no damage.
+These were the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, and St Paul's,
+which had been spared in accordance with special orders issued by the
+commanders of the League. The two former were spared for the same
+reason that the Germans had spared Strasburg Cathedral in
+1870--because their destruction would have been a loss, not to
+Britain alone, but to the world.
+
+The great church of the metropolis had been left untouched chiefly
+because it had been arranged that, on the fall of London, the Tsar
+was to be proclaimed Emperor of Asia under its dome, and at the same
+time General le Gallifet was to assume the Dictatorship of France and
+abolish the Republic, which for more than ten years had been the
+plaything of unprincipled financiers, and the laughing-stock of
+Europe. As the sun rose the great golden cross, rising high out of
+the wilderness of houses, shone more and more brightly under the
+brightening sky, and millions of eyes looked upon it from within the
+city and from without with feelings far asunder as triumph and
+defeat.
+
+At daybreak the last meal had been eaten by the defenders of the
+city. To supply it almost every animal left in London had been
+sacrificed, and the last drop of liquor was drunk, even to the last
+bottle of wine in the Royal cellars, which the King shared with his
+two commanders-in-chief, Lord Roberts and Lord Wolseley, in the
+presence of the troops on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. At nine
+o'clock the King and Queen attended service in St. Paul's, and when
+they left the Cathedral half an hour later the besiegers on the
+heights were astounded to hear the bells of all the steeples left
+standing in London ring out in a triumphant series of peals which
+rippled away eastward and westward from St. Paul's and Westminster
+Abbey, caught up and carried on by steeple after steeple, until from
+Highgate to Dulwich, and from Hammersmith to Canning Town, the
+beleaguered and starving city might have been celebrating some great
+triumph or deliverance.
+
+The astonished besiegers could only put the extraordinary
+manifestation down to joy on the part of the citizens at the near
+approaching end of the siege; but before the bells of London had been
+ringing for half an hour this fallacious idea was dispelled from
+their minds in a very stern and summary fashion.
+
+Since nightfall there had been no communication with the secret
+agents of the League in the various towns of England and Scotland. At
+ten o'clock a small company of Cossacks spurred and flogged their
+jaded horses up the northern slope of Muswell Hill, on which the Tsar
+had fixed his headquarters. Nearly every man was wounded, and the
+horses were in the last stages of exhaustion. Their captain was at
+once admitted to the presence of the Tsar, and, flinging himself on
+the ground before the enraged Autocrat, gasped out the dreadful
+tidings that his little company were the sole survivors of the army
+of occupation that had been left at Harwich, and which, twelve hours
+before, had been thirty thousand strong.
+
+A huge fleet of strange-looking vessels, flying a plain blood-red
+flag, had just before four A.M. forced the approaches to the harbour,
+sunk every transport and warship with guns that were fired without
+flame, or smoke, or report, and whose projectiles shattered
+everything that they struck. Immediately afterwards an immense
+flotilla of transports had steamed in, and, under the protection of
+those terrible guns, had landed a hundred thousand men, all dressed
+in the same plain grey uniform, with no facings or ornaments save a
+knot of red ribbon at the button-hole, and armed with magazine rifle
+and a bayonet and a brace of revolvers. All were English by their
+speech, and every man appeared to know exactly what to do with very
+few orders from his officers.
+
+This invading force had hunted the Russians out of Harwich like
+rabbits out of a warren, while the ships in the harbour had hurled
+their shells up into the air so that they fell back to earth on the
+retreating army and exploded with frightful effect. The general in
+command had at once telegraphed to London for a detachment of
+war-balloons and reinforcements, but no response had been received.
+
+After four hours' fighting the Russian army was in full retreat,
+while the attacking force was constantly increasing as transport
+after transport steamed into the harbour and landed her men. At
+Colchester the Russians had been met by another vast army which had
+apparently sprung from the earth, dressed and armed exactly as the
+invading force was. What its numbers were there was no possibility of
+telling.
+
+By this time, too, treachery began to show itself in the Russian
+ranks, and whole companies suddenly appeared with the red knot of
+ribbon in their tunics, and instantly turned their weapons against
+their comrades, shooting them down without warning or mercy. No
+quarter had been given to those who did not show the ribbon. Most of
+them died fighting, but those who had thrown away their arms were
+shot down all the same.
+
+Whoever commanded this strange army had manifestly given orders to
+take no prisoners, and it was equally certain that its movements were
+directed by the Terrorists, for everywhere the battle-cries had been,
+"In the Master's name!" and "Slay, and spare not!"
+
+The whole of the army, save the deserters, had been destroyed, and
+the deserters had immediately assumed the grey uniforms of those of
+the Terrorist army who had fallen. The Cossack captain and his forty
+or fifty followers were the sole remains of a body of three thousand
+men who had fought their way through the second army. The whole
+country to the north and east seemed alive with the grey soldiery,
+and it was only after a hundred hair-breadth escapes that they had
+managed to reach the protection of the lines round London.
+
+Such was the tale of the bringer of bad tidings to the Tsar at the
+moment when he was looking forward to the crowning triumph of his
+reign. Like the good soldier that he was, he wasted no time in
+thinking at a moment when everything depended on instant action.
+
+He at once despatched a war-balloon to the French and Italian
+headquarters with a note containing the terrible news from Harwich,
+and requesting Generals le Gallifet and Cosensz to lose no time in
+communicating with the eastern and southern ports, and in throwing
+out corps of observation supported by war-balloons. Evidently the
+American Government had played the League false at the last moment,
+and had allied herself with Britain.
+
+As soon as he had sent off this message, the Tsar ordered a fleet of
+forty aerostats to proceed to the north-eastward, in advance of a
+force of infantry and cavalry numbering three hundred thousand men,
+and supported by fifty batteries of field and machine guns, which he
+detached to stop the progress of the Federation army towards London.
+Before this force was in motion a reply came back from General le
+Gallifet to the effect that all communication with the south and east
+was stopped, and that an aerostat, which had been on scout duty
+during the night, had returned with the news that the whole country
+appeared to be up in arms from Portsmouth to Dover. Corps of
+observation and a fleet of thirty aerostats had been sent out, and
+three army corps were already on the march to the south and east.
+
+Meanwhile, the hour for the surrender of London was drawing very
+near, and all the while the bells were sending their mingled melody
+of peals and carillons up into the clear frosty air with a defiant
+joyousness that seemed to speak of anything but surrender. As twelve
+o'clock approached the guns of all the batteries on the heights were
+loaded and trained on different parts of the city, and the whole of
+the forces left after the detachment of the armies that had been sent
+to engage the battalions of the Federation prepared to descend upon
+the devoted city from all sides after the two hours' incessant
+bombardment that had been ordered to precede the general attack.
+
+It had been arranged that if the city surrendered a white flag was to
+be hoisted on the cross of St. Paul's.
+
+Within a few minutes of twelve the Tsar ascended to the roof of the
+Alexandra Palace on Muswell Hill, and turned his field-glasses on the
+towering dome. His face and lips were bloodless with repressed but
+intense anxiety, but the hands that held his glasses to his eyes were
+as steady as though he had been watching a review of his own troops.
+It was the supreme moment of his victorious career. He was
+practically master of Europe. Only Britain held out. The relieving
+forces would be rent to fragments by his war-balloons, and then
+decimated by his troops as the legions of Germany and Austria had
+been. The capital of the English-speaking world lay starving at his
+feet, and a few minutes would see--
+
+Ha! there goes the flag at last. A little ball of white bunting
+creeps up from the gallery above the dark dome. It clears the railing
+under the pedestal, and climbs to the apex of the shining cross. As
+it does so the wild chorus of the bells suddenly ceases, and out of
+the silence that follows come the deep booming strokes of the great
+bell of St. Paul's sounding the hour of twelve.
+
+As the last stroke dies away the ball bursts, and the White Ensign of
+Britain crossed by the Red Cross of St. George, and with the Jack in
+the corner, floats out defiantly on the breeze, greeted by the
+reawakening clamour of the bells, and a deep hoarse cry from millions
+of throats, that rolls like a vast sea of sound up the slopes to the
+encampments of the League.
+
+With an irrepressible cry of rage, Alexander dashed his field-glass
+to the ground, and shouted, in a voice broken with passion--
+
+"So! They have tricked us. Let the bombardment begin at once, and
+bring that flag down with the first shots!"
+
+But before the words were out of his mouth, the bombardment had
+already commenced in a very different fashion to that in which he had
+intended that it should begin. So intense had been the interest with
+which all eyes had been turned on the Cross of St. Paul's that no one
+had noticed twelve little points of shining light hanging high in air
+over the batteries of the besiegers, six to the north and six to the
+south.
+
+But the moment that the Ensign of St. George floated from the summit
+of St. Paul's a rapid series of explosions roared out like a
+succession of thunder-claps along the lines of the batteries. The
+hills of Surrey, and Kent, and Middlesex were suddenly transformed
+into volcanoes spouting flame and thick black smoke, and flinging
+clouds of dust and fragments of darker objects high into the air.
+
+The order of the Tsar was obeyed in part only, for by the time that
+the word to recommence the bombardment had been flashed round the
+circuit of the entrenchments, more than half the batteries had been
+put out of action. The twelve air-ships stationed at equal intervals
+round the vast ellipse, and discharging their No. 3 shell from their
+four guns ahead and astern, from an elevation of four thousand feet,
+had simultaneously wrecked half the batteries of the besiegers before
+their occupants had any clear idea of what was really happening.
+
+Wherever one of those shells fell and exploded, earth and stone and
+iron melted into dust under the terrific force of the exploding
+gases, and the air-ships, moving with a velocity compared with which
+the utmost speed of the aerostats was as a snail's pace, flitted
+hither and thither wherever a battery got into action, and destroyed
+it before the second round had been fired.
+
+There were still twenty-five aerostats at the command of the Tsar
+which had not been sent against the relieving forces, and as soon as
+it was realised that the aërial bombardment of the batteries came
+from the air-ships of the Terrorist fleet, they were sent into the
+air to engage them at all hazards. They outnumbered them two to one,
+but there was no comparison between the manœuvring powers of the two
+aërial squadrons.
+
+As soon as the aerostats rose into the air, the Terrorist fleet
+receded northward and southward from the batteries. Their guns had a
+six-mile range, and it did not matter to them which side of the
+assailed area they lay. They could still hurl their explosives with
+the same deadly precision on the appointed mark. But with the
+aerostats it was a very different matter. They could only drop their
+shells vertically, and where they were not exactly above the object
+of attack their shells exploded with comparative harmlessness.
+
+As a natural consequence they had to follow the air-ships, not only
+away from London, but over their own encampments, in order to bring
+them to anything like close quarters. The aerostats possessed one
+advantage, and one only, over the air-ships. They were able to rise
+to a much greater height. But this advantage the air-ships very soon
+turned into a disadvantage by reason of their immensely superior
+speed and ease of handling. They darted about at such a speed over
+the heads of the massed forces of the League on either side of
+London, that it was impossible to drop shells upon them without
+running the inevitable risk of missing the small and swiftly-moving
+air-ship, and so causing the shell to burst amidst friends instead of
+foes.
+
+Thus the Terrorist fleet, sweeping hither and thither, in wide and
+ever changing curves, lured the most dangerous assailants of the
+beleaguered city farther and farther away from the real scene of
+action, at the very time when they were most urgently needed to
+support the attacking forces which at that moment were being poured
+into London.
+
+To destroy the air-ships seemed an impossibility, since they could
+move at five times the speed of the swiftest aerostat, and yet to
+return to the bombardment of the city was to leave them free to
+commit what havoc they pleased upon the encampments of the armies of
+the League. So they were drawn farther and farther away from the
+beleaguered city, while their agile enemies, still keeping within
+their six-mile range, evaded their shells, and yet kept up a constant
+discharge of their own projectiles upon the salient points of the
+attack on London.
+
+By four o'clock in the afternoon all the batteries of the besiegers
+had been put out of action by the aërial bombardment. It was now a
+matter of man to man and steel to steel, and so the gage of final
+battle was accepted, and as dusk began to fall over the beleaguered
+city, the Russian, French and Italian hosts left their lines, and
+descended from their vantage ground to the assault on London, where
+the old Lion at bay was waiting for them with claws bared and teeth
+grinning defiance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+THE TURN OF THE BATTLE-TIDE.
+
+
+The force which the Tsar had detached to operate against the
+Federation Army of the North left the headquarters at eleven o'clock,
+and proceeded in four main divisions by Edmonton, Chingford,
+Chigwell, and Romford. The aerostats, regulating their speed so as to
+keep touch with the land force, maintained a position two miles ahead
+of it at three thousand feet elevation.
+
+Strict orders had been given to press on at the utmost speed, and to
+use every means to discover the Federationists, and bring them to an
+engagement with as little delay as possible; but they marched on hour
+after hour into the dusk of the early winter evening, with the sounds
+of battle growing fainter in their rear, without meeting with a sign
+of the enemy.
+
+As it would have been the height of imprudence to have advanced in
+the dark into a hostile country occupied by an enemy of great but
+unknown strength, General Pralitzin, the Commander of the Russian
+force, decided to bring his men to a halt at nightfall, and therefore
+took up a series of positions between Cheshunt, Epping, Chipping
+Ongar, and Ingatestone. From these points squadrons of Cossacks
+scoured the country in all directions, north, east, and west, in
+search of the so far invisible army; and at the same time he sent
+mounted messengers back to headquarters to report that no enemy had
+been found, and to ask for further orders.
+
+The aerostats slowed down their engines until their propellers just
+counteracted the force of the wind and they hung motionless at a
+height of a thousand feet, ranged in a semicircle about fifteen miles
+long over the heads of the columns.
+
+All this time the motions of the Russian army had been watched by the
+captain of the _Ithuriel_ from an elevation of eight thousand feet,
+five miles to the rear. As soon as he saw them making preparations
+for a halt, and had noticed the disposition of the aerostats, he left
+the conning-tower which he had occupied nearly all day, and went into
+the after saloon, where he found Natas and Natasha examining a large
+plan of London and its environs.
+
+"They have come to a halt at last," he said. "And if they only remain
+where they are for three hours longer, we have the whole army like
+rats in a trap, war-balloons and all. They have not seen us so far,
+for if they had they would certainly have sent an aerostat aloft to
+reconnoitre, and, of course, I must have destroyed it. The whole
+forty are arranged in a semicircle over the heads of the four main
+columns in divisions of ten."
+
+"And what do you propose to do with them now you have got them?" said
+Natasha, looking up with a welcoming smile.
+
+"Give me a cup of coffee first, for I am cold to the marrow, and then
+I'll tell you," replied Arnold, seating himself at the table, on
+which stood a coffee-urn with a spirit lamp beneath it, something
+after the style of a Russian samovar.
+
+Natasha filled a cup and passed it to him, and he went on--
+
+"You remember what I said to Tremayne in the Princess's sitting-room
+at Petersburg about the eagle and the crows just before the trial of
+the Tsar's first war-balloon. Well, if you like to spend a couple of
+hours with me in the conning-tower as soon as it is dark enough for
+us to descend, I will show you what I meant then. I suppose the
+original general orders stand good?" he said, turning to Natas.
+
+"Yes," replied the Master gravely. "They must all be destroyed. This
+is the day of vengeance and not of mercy. If my orders have been
+obeyed, all the men belonging to the International in this force will
+have managed to get to the rear by nightfall. They can be left to
+take care of themselves. Mazanoff assured me that all the members in
+the armies of the League fully understood what they are to do. Some
+of the war-balloons have been taken possession of by our men, but we
+don't know how many. As soon as you destroy the first of the fleet,
+these will rise and commence operations on the army, and they will
+also fly the red flag, so there will be no fear of your mistaking
+them."
+
+"Very well," said Arnold, who had been quietly sipping his coffee
+while he listened to the utterance of this death sentence on more
+than a quarter of a million of men. "If our fellows to the northward
+only obey orders promptly, there will not be many of the Russians
+left by sunrise. Now, Natasha, you had better put on your furs and
+come to the conning-tower; it's about time to begin."
+
+It did not take her many moments to wrap up, and within five minutes
+she and Arnold were standing in the conning-tower watching the camp
+fires of the Russian host coming nearer and nearer as the _Ithuriel_
+sank down through the rapidly increasing darkness towards the long
+dotted line which marked the position of the aerostats, whose great
+gas-holders stood out black and distinct against the whitened earth
+beneath them.
+
+By means of electric signals to the engineers the captain of the
+_Ithuriel_ was able to regulate both the speed and the elevation of
+the air-ship as readily as though he had himself been in charge of
+the engine-room. Giving Natasha a pair of night-glasses, and telling
+her to keep a bright look-out ahead, he brought the _Ithuriel_ round
+by the westward to a position about five miles west of the extremity
+of the line of war-balloons, and as soon as he got on a level with it
+he advanced comparatively slowly, until Natasha was able to make it
+out distinctly with the night-glass.
+
+Then he signalled to the wheel-house aft to disconnect the
+after-wheel, and at the same moment he took hold of the spokes of the
+forward-wheel in the conning-tower. The next signal was "Full speed
+ahead," and as the _Ithuriel_ gathered way and rushed forward on her
+errand of destruction he said hurriedly to Natasha--
+
+"Now, don't speak till it's over. I want all my wits for this work,
+and you'll want all your eyes."
+
+Without speaking, Natasha glanced up at his face, and saw on it
+somewhat of the same expression that she had seen at the moment when
+he put the _Ariel_ at the rock-wall which barred the entrance to
+Aeria. His face was pale, and his lips were set, and his eyes looked
+straight out from under his frowning brows with an angry gleam in
+them that boded ill for the fate of those against whom he was about
+to use the irresistible engine of destruction under his command.
+
+Twenty feet in front of them stretched out the long keen ram of the
+air-ship, edged and pointed like a knife. This was the sole weapon
+that he intended to use. It was impossible to train the guns at the
+tremendous speed at which the _Ithuriel_ was travelling, but under
+the circumstance the ram was the deadliest weapon that could have
+been employed.
+
+In four minutes from the time the _Ithuriel_ started on her eastward
+course the nearest war-balloon was only fifty yards away. The
+air-ship, travelling at a speed of nearly two hundred miles an hour,
+leapt out of the dusk like a flash of white light. In ten seconds
+more her ram had passed completely through the gas-holder without so
+much as a shock being felt. The next one was only five hundred yards
+away. Obedient to her rudder the _Ithuriel_ swerved, ripped her
+gas-holder from end to end, and then darted upon the next one even
+before a terrific explosion in their rear told that the car of the
+first one had struck the earth.
+
+So she sped along the whole line, darting hither and thither in
+obedience to the guiding hand that controlled her, with such
+inconceivable rapidity that before any of the unwieldy machines,
+saving only those whose occupants had been prepared for the assault,
+had time to get out of the way of the destroying ram, she had rent
+her way through the gas-holders of twenty-eight out of the forty
+balloons, and flung them to the earth to explode and spread
+consternation and destruction all along the van of the army encamped
+below.
+
+From beginning to end the attack had not lasted ten minutes. When the
+last of the aerostats had gone down under his terrible ram, Arnold
+signalled "Stop, and ascend," to the engine-room. A second signal
+turned on the searchlight in the bow, and from this a rapid series of
+flashes were sent up to the sky to the northward and eastward.
+
+[Illustration: "Her ram had passed completely through the gasholder."
+
+_See page 334._]
+
+The effect was as fearful as it was instantaneous. The twelve
+war-balloons which had escaped by flying the red flag took up their
+positions above the Russian lines, and began to drop their fire-shell
+and cyanogen bombs upon the masses of men below. The air-ship,
+swerving round again to the westward, with her fan-wheels aloft,
+moved slowly across the wide area over which men and horses were
+wildly rushing hither and thither in vain attempts to escape the rain
+of death that was falling upon them from the sky.
+
+Her searchlight, turned downwards to the earth, sought out the spots
+where they were crowded most thickly together, and then the
+air-ship's guns came into play also. Arnold had given orders to use
+the new fire-shell exclusively, and its effects proved to be
+frightful beyond description. Wherever one fell a blaze of intense
+light shone for an instant upon the earth. Then this burst into a
+thousand fragments, which leapt into the air and spread themselves
+far and wide in all directions, burning with inextinguishable fury
+for several minutes, and driving men and horses mad with agony and
+terror.
+
+No human fortitude or discipline could withstand the fearful rain of
+fire, in comparison with which even the deadly hail from the
+aerostats seemed insignificant. For half an hour the eight guns of
+the _Ithuriel_ hurled these awful projectiles in all directions,
+scattering death and hopeless confusion wherever they alighted, until
+the whole field of carnage seemed ablaze with them.
+
+At the end of this time three rockets soared up from her deck into
+the dark sky, and burst into myriads of brilliant white stars, which
+for a few moments shed an unearthly light upon the scene of
+indescribable confusion and destruction below. But they made more
+than this visible, for by their momentary light could be seen
+seemingly interminable lines of grey-clad figures swiftly closing in
+from all sides, chasing the Cossack scouts before them in upon the
+completely disorganised Russian host.
+
+A few minutes later a continuous roll of musketry burst out on front,
+and flank, and rear, and a ceaseless hail of rifle bullets began to
+plough its way through the helpless masses of the soldiers of the
+Tsar. They formed as well as they could to confront these new
+enemies, but the moment that the searchlight of the air-ship,
+constantly sweeping the field, fell upon a company in anything like
+order, a shell descended in the midst of it and broke it up again.
+
+All night long the work of death and vengeance went on; the grey
+lines ever closing in nearer and nearer upon the dwindling remnants
+of the Russian army. Hour after hour the hail of bullets never
+slackened. There was no random firing on the part of the Federation
+soldiers. Every man had been trained to use his rifle rapidly but
+deliberately, and never to fire until he had found his mark; and the
+consequence was that the long nickel-tipped bullets, fired
+point-blank into the dense masses of men, rent their way through half
+a dozen bodies before they were spent.
+
+At last the grey light began to break over an indescribably hideous
+scene of slaughter. Scarcely ten thousand men remained of the three
+hundred thousand who had started the day before in obedience to the
+order of the Tsar; and these were split up into formless squads and
+ragged companies fighting desperately amidst heaps of corpses for
+dear life, without any pretence at order or formation.
+
+The cannonade from the air had ceased, and the last scene in the
+drama of death had come. With bayonets fixed and rifles lowered to
+the charge, the long grey lines closed up, and, as the bugles rang
+out the long-awaited order, they swept forward at the double, horses
+and men went down like a field of standing corn under the
+irresistible rush of a million bayonets, and in twenty minutes all
+was over. Not a man of the whole Russian army was left alive, save
+those whose knot of red ribbon at the button-hole proclaimed them
+members of the International.
+
+As soon as it was light enough for Arnold to see clearly that the
+fate of the Russians was finally decided, he descended to the earth,
+and, after complimenting the commander and officers of the Federation
+troops on the splendid effectiveness of their force, and their
+admirable discipline and coolness, he gave orders for a two hours'
+rest and then a march on the Russian headquarters at Muswell Hill
+with every available man. The Tsar and his Staff were to be taken
+alive at all hazards; every other Russian who did not wear the
+International ribbon was to be shot down without mercy.
+
+These orders given, the _Ithuriel_ mounted into the air again, and
+disappeared in the direction of London. She passed over the now
+shattered and silent entrenchments of the Russians at a speed which
+made it possible to remain on deck without discomfort or danger, and
+at an elevation of two thousand feet. Natas was below in the saloon,
+alone with his own thoughts, the thoughts of twenty years of waiting
+and working and gradual approach to the hour of vengeance which was
+now so near. Andrew Smith was steering in the wheel-house, Lieutenant
+Marston was taking his watch below, after being on deck nearly the
+whole of the previous night, and Arnold and Natasha, wrapped in their
+warm furs, were pacing up and down the deck engaged in conversation
+which had not altogether to do with war.
+
+The sun had risen before the _Ithuriel_ passed over London, and
+through the clear, cold air they could see with their field-glasses
+signs of carnage and destruction which made Natasha's soul sicken
+within her to gaze upon them, and even shook Arnold's now hardened
+nerves. All the main thoroughfares leading into London from the north
+and south were choked with heaps of dead bodies in Russian, French,
+and Italian uniforms, in the midst of which those who still survived
+were being forced forward by the pressure of those behind. Every
+house that remained standing was spouting flames upon them from its
+windows; and where the streets opened into squares and wider streets
+there were barricades manned with British and Federation troops, and
+from their summits and loopholes the quick-firing guns were raining
+an incessant hail of shot and shell upon the struggling masses pent
+up in the streets.
+
+A horrible chorus of the rattle of small arms, the harsh, grinding
+roar of the machine guns, the hurrahs of the defenders, and the cries
+of rage and agony from the baffled and decimated assailants, rose
+unceasingly to their ears as they passed over the last battlefield of
+the Western nations, where the Anglo-Saxon, the Russ, and the Gaul
+were locked in the death struggle.
+
+"There is some awful work going on down there," said Arnold, as they
+headed away towards the south, where, from behind the Surrey hills,
+soon came the sound of some tremendous conflict. "For the present we
+must leave them to fight it out. They don't seem to have had such
+easy work of it to the south as we have had to the north; but I
+didn't expect they would, for they have probably detached a very much
+larger force of French and Italians to attack the Army of the South
+than the Russian lot we had to deal with."
+
+"Is all this frightful slaughter really necessary?" asked Natasha,
+slipping her arm through his, and looking up at him with eyes which
+for the first time were moistened by the tears of pity for her
+enemies.
+
+"Necessary or not," replied Arnold, "it is the Master's orders, and I
+have only to obey them. This is the day of vengeance for which he has
+waited so long, and you can hardly expect him to show much mercy. It
+lies between him and Tremayne. For my part I will stay my hand only
+when I am ordered to do so.
+
+"Still, if any one can influence Natas to mercy, you can. Nothing can
+now stop the slaughter on the north, I'm afraid, for the Russians are
+caught in a hopeless trap. The Londoners are enraged beyond control,
+and if the men spared them I believe the women would tear them to
+pieces. But there are two or three millions of lives or so to be
+saved at the south, and perhaps there is still time to do it. It
+would be a task worthy of the Angel of the Revolution; why should you
+not try it?"
+
+"I will do so," said Natasha, and without another word she turned
+away and walked quickly towards the entrance to the saloon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+ARMAGEDDON.
+
+
+On the southern side of London the struggle between the
+Franco-Italian armies and the troops of the Federation had been
+raging all night with unabated fury along a curved line extending
+from Bexley to Richmond.
+
+The railways communicating with the ports of the south and east had,
+for their own purposes, been left intact by the commanders of the
+League; and so sudden and utterly unexpected had been the invasion of
+the force from America, and the simultaneous uprising of the British
+Section of the Brotherhood, that they had fallen into the hands of
+the Federationists almost without a struggle. This had enabled the
+invaders and their allies to concentrate themselves rapidly along the
+line of action which had been carefully predetermined upon.
+
+Landing almost simultaneously at Southampton, Portsmouth, Shoreham,
+Newhaven, Hastings, Folkestone, Dover, Deal, Ramsgate, and Margate,
+they had been joined everywhere by their comrades of the British
+Section, whose first action, on receiving the signal from the sky,
+had been to seize the railways and shoot down, without warning or
+mercy, every soldier of the League who opposed them.
+
+What had happened at Harwich had at the same time and in the same
+fashion happened at Dover and Chatham. The troops in occupation had
+been caught and crushed at a blow between overwhelming forces in
+front and rear. Added to this, the International was immensely
+stronger in France and Italy than in Russia, and therefore the
+defections from the ranks of the League had been far greater than
+they had been in the north.
+
+Tens of thousands had donned the red ribbon as the Signal flashed
+over their encampments, and when the moment came to repel the assault
+of the mysterious grey legions that had sprung from no one knew
+where, the bewildered French and Italian officers found their
+regiments automatically splitting up into squads of tens and
+companies of hundreds, obeying other orders, and joining in the
+slaughter of their former comrades with the most perfect _sang
+froid_. By daybreak on the 6th the various divisions of the
+Federationists were well on their way to the French and Italian
+positions to the south of London. The utmost precautions had been
+taken to prevent any news reaching headquarters, and these, as has
+been seen, were almost entirely successful.
+
+The three army corps sent southward by General le Gallifet met with a
+ruinous disaster long before they came face to face with the enemy.
+Ten of the fleet of thirty war-balloons which had been sent to
+co-operate with them, had been manned and commanded by men of the
+International. They were of the newest type and the swiftest in the
+fleet, and their crews were armed with the strangest weapons that had
+yet been used in the war. These were bows and arrows, a curious
+anachronism amidst the elaborate machinery of destruction evolved by
+the science of the twentieth century, but none the less effective on
+that account. The arrows, instead of being headed in the usual way,
+carried on the end of the shaft two little glass tubes full of
+liquid, bound together, and tipped with fulminate.
+
+When the fleet had been in the air about an hour these ten aerostats
+had so distributed themselves that each of them, with a little
+manœuvring, could get within bowshot of two others. They also rose a
+little higher than the rest. The flutter of a white handkerchief was
+the signal agreed upon, and when this was given by the man in command
+of the ten, each of them suddenly put on speed, and ran up close to
+her nearest neighbour. A flight of arrows was discharged at the
+gas-holder, and then she headed away for the next nearest, and
+discharged a flight at her.
+
+Considering the apparent insignificance of the means employed, the
+effects were absolutely miraculous. The explosion of the fulminate on
+striking either the hard cordage of the net or one of the steel ribs
+used to give the gas-holder rigidity, broke the two tubes full of
+liquid. Then came another far more violent explosion, which tore
+great rents in the envelope. The imprisoned gas rushed out in
+torrents, and the crippled balloons began to sink, at first slowly,
+and then more and more rapidly, till the cars, weighted with crews,
+machinery, and explosives, struck the earth with a crash, and
+exploded, like so many huge shells, amidst the dense columns of the
+advancing army corps. In fifteen minutes each of the ten captured
+aerostats had sent two others to the earth, and then, completely
+masters of the position, those in charge of them began their assault
+on the helpless masses below them. This was kept up until the
+Federation troops appeared. Then they retired to the rear of the
+French and Italian columns, and devoted themselves to burning their
+stores and blowing up their ammunition trains with fire-shell.
+
+Assailed thus in front and rear, and demoralised by the defection of
+the thousands who, as soon as the battle became general, showed the
+red ribbon and echoed the fierce battle-cry of the Federation, the
+splendid force sent out by General le Gallifet was practically
+annihilated by midnight, and by daybreak the Federationists, after
+fifteen hours of almost continuous fighting, had stormed all the
+outer positions held by the French and Italians to the south of
+London, the batteries of which had already been destroyed by the
+air-ships.
+
+Thus, when the _Ithuriel_ passed over London on the morning of the
+7th the position of affairs was as follows: The two armies which had
+been detached by the Tsar and General le Gallifet to stop the advance
+of the Federationists had been destroyed almost to a man. Of the two
+fleets of war-balloons there remained twenty-two aerostats in the
+hands of the Terrorists, while the twenty-five sent by the Tsar
+against the air-ships had retired at nightfall to the depot at
+Muswell Hill to replenish their stock of fuel and explosives. Their
+ammunition-tenders, slow and unwieldy machines, adapted only for
+carrying large cargoes of shells, had been rammed and destroyed with
+ease by the air-ships during the running, or rather flying, fight of
+the previous afternoon.
+
+At sunset on the 6th the whole available forces of the League which
+could be spared from the defence of the positions, numbering more
+than three million men, had descended to the assault on London at
+nearly fifty different points.
+
+No human words could convey any adequate conception of that night of
+carnage and terror. The assailants were allowed to advance far into
+the mighty maze of streets and byways with so little resistance, that
+they began to think that the great city would fall an easy prey to
+them after all. But as they approached the main arteries of central
+London they came suddenly upon barricades so skilfully disposed that
+it was impossible to advance without storming them, and from which,
+as they approached them, burst out tempests of rifle and machine
+gunfire, under which the heads of their columns melted away faster
+than they advanced.
+
+Light, quick-firing guns, posted on the roofs of lofty buildings,
+rained death and mutilation upon them. The air-ships, flying hither
+and thither a few hundred feet above the house-tops, like spirits of
+destruction, sent their shells into their crowded masses and wrought
+the most awful havoc of all with their frightful explosives, blowing
+hundreds of men to indistinguishable fragments at every shot, while
+from the windows of every house that was not in ruins came a
+ceaseless hail of missiles from every kind of firearm, from a
+magazine rifle to a shot-gun.
+
+When morning came the Great Eastern Railway and the Thames had been
+cleared and opened, and the hearts of the starving citizens were
+gladdened by the welcome spectacle of train after train pouring in
+laden with provisions from Harwich, and of a fleet of steamers,
+flying the Federation flag, which filled the Thames below London
+Bridge, and was rapidly discharging its cargoes of food at the
+wharves and into lighters.
+
+As fast as the food could be unloaded it was distributed first to the
+troops manning the barricades, and then to the markets and shops,
+whence it was supplied free in the poorer districts, and at the usual
+prices in the richer ones. All that day London feasted and made
+merry, for now the Thames was open there seemed to be no end to the
+food that was being poured into the city which twelve hours before
+had eaten its last scanty provisions. As soon as one vessel was
+discharged another took its place, and opened its hold filled with
+the necessaries and some of the luxuries of life.
+
+The frightful butcheries at the barricades had stopped for the time
+being from sheer exhaustion on both sides. One cannot fight without
+food, and the defenders were half-starved when they began. Rage and
+the longing for revenge had lent them strength for the moment, but
+twelve hours of incessant street fighting, the most wearing of all
+forms of battle, had exhausted them, and they were heartily glad of
+the tacit truce which gave them time to eat and drink.
+
+As for the assailants, as soon as they saw conclusive proof that the
+blockade had been broken and the city victualled, they found
+themselves deserted by the ally on whose aid they had most counted.
+While the grip of famine remained on London they knew that its fall
+was only a matter of time; but now--if food could get in so could
+reinforcements, and they had not the remotest idea as to the number
+of the mysterious forces which had so suddenly sprung into existence
+outside their own lines.
+
+Added to this their losses during the night had been something
+appalling. The streets were choked with their dead, and the houses
+into which they had retired were filled with their wounded. So they,
+too, were glad of a rest, and many spoke openly of returning to their
+lines and abandoning the assault. If they did so it might be possible
+to fight their way to the coast, and escape out of this huge
+death-trap into which they had fallen on the very eve of their
+confidently-anticipated victory.
+
+So, during the whole of the 7th there was little or no hard fighting
+in London, but to the north and south the grey legions of the
+Federation fought their way mile by mile over the field of
+Armageddon, gradually driving in the two halves of the Russian and
+the Franco-Italian armies which had been faced about to oppose their
+progress while the other halves were making their assault on London.
+
+As soon as news reached the Tsar that the blockade of the river had
+been broken, he had ordered twelve of his remaining war-balloons to
+destroy the ships that were swarming below London Bridge. Their fuel
+and cargoes of explosives had been renewed, and they rose into the
+air to execute the Autocrat's command just as Natasha had taken leave
+of Arnold on her errand of mercy. He fathomed their design at once,
+swung the _Ithuriel_ rapidly round to the northward, and said to his
+lieutenant, who had just come on deck--
+
+"Mr. Marston, those fellows mean mischief. Put a three-minute time
+fuze on a couple of No. 3 fire-shell, and load the bow guns."
+
+The order was at once executed. He trained one of the guns himself,
+giving it an elevation sufficient to throw the shell over the rising
+balloons. As the sixtieth second of the first minute passed, he
+released the projectile. It soared away through the air, and burst
+with a terrific explosion about fifty feet over the ascending
+aerostats.
+
+The rain of fire spread out far and wide, and showered down upon the
+gas-holders. Then came a concussion that shook the air like a
+thunder-clap as the escaping gas mixed with the air, took fire, and
+exploded. Seven of the twelve aerostats instantly collapsed and
+plunged back again to the earth, spending the collective force of
+their explosives on the slopes of Muswell Hill. Meanwhile the second
+gun had been loaded and fired with the same effect on the remaining
+five.
+
+Arnold then ran the _Ithuriel_ up to within a mile of Muswell Hill,
+and found the remaining thirteen war-balloons in the act of making
+off to the northward.
+
+"Two more time-shells, quick!" he cried. "They are off to take part
+in the battle to the north, and must be stopped at once. Look lively,
+or they'll see us and rise out of range!"
+
+Almost before the words were out of his mouth one of the guns was
+ready. A moment later the messenger of destruction was speeding on
+its way, and they saw it explode fairly in the midst of the squadron.
+The second followed before the glare of the first explosion had
+passed, and this was the last shot fired in the aërial warfare
+between the air-ships and the war-balloons.
+
+[Illustration: "The rain of fire spread out far and wide."
+
+_See page 344._]
+
+The effects of these two shots were most extraordinary. The
+accurately-timed shells burst, not over, but amidst the aerostats,
+enveloping their cars in a momentary mist of fire. The intense heat
+evolved must have suffocated their crews instantaneously. Even if it
+had not done so their fate would have been scarcely less sudden or
+terrible, for the fire falling in the cars exploded their own shells
+even before it burst their gas-envelopes. With a roar and a shock as
+though heaven and earth were coming together, a vast dazzling mass of
+flame blazed out, darkening the daylight by contrast, and when it
+vanished again there was not a fragment of the thirteen aerostats to
+be seen.
+
+"So ends the Tsar's brief empire of the air!" said Arnold, as the
+smoke of the explosion drifted away. "And twenty-four hours more
+should see the end of his earthly Empire as well."
+
+"I hope so," said Natasha's voice at his elbow. "This awful
+destruction is sickening me. I knew war was horrible, but this is
+more like the work of fiends than of men. There is something
+monstrous, something superhumanly impious, in blasting your
+fellow-creatures with irresistible lightnings like this, as though
+you were a god instead of a man. Will you not be glad when it is
+over, Richard?"
+
+"Glad beyond all expression," replied her lover, the angry light of
+battle instantly dying out of his eyes as he looked upon her sweetly
+pitiful face. "But tell me, what success has my angel of mercy had in
+pleading for the lives of her enemies?" he continued, slipping his
+arm through hers, and leading her aft.
+
+"I don't know yet, but my father told me to ask you to go to him as
+soon as you could leave the deck. Go now, and, Richard, remember what
+I said to you when you offered me the empire of the world as we were
+going to Aeria. No one has such influence with the Master as you
+have, for you have given him the victory and delivered his enemies
+into his hands. For my sake, and for Humanity's, let your voice be
+for mercy and peace--surely we have shed blood enough now!"
+
+"It shall, angel mine! For your sweet sake I would spare even
+Alexander Romanoff himself and all his Staff."
+
+"You will never be asked to do that," said Natasha quietly, as Arnold
+disappeared down the companion-way.
+
+It was nearly an hour before he came on deck again, and by this time
+the _Ithuriel_, constantly moving to and fro over London, so that any
+change in the course of events could be at once reported to Natas,
+had shifted her position to the southward, and was hanging in the air
+over Sydenham Hill, the headquarters of General le Gallifet, whence
+could be plainly heard the roar of the tide of battle as it rolled
+ever northward over the hills of Surrey.
+
+An air-ship came speeding up from the southward as he reached the
+deck. He signalled to it to come alongside. It proved to be the
+_Mercury_ taking a message from Tremayne, who was personally
+commanding the Army of the South in the _Ariel_, to the air-ships
+operating with the Army of the North.
+
+"What is the message?" asked Arnold.
+
+"To engage and destroy the remaining Russian war-balloons, and then
+come south at once," replied the captain of the _Mercury_. "I am
+sorry to say both the _Lucifer_ and the _Azrael_ have been disabled
+by chance shots striking their propellers. The _Lucifer_ was so badly
+injured that she fell to the earth, and blew up with a perfectly
+awful explosion; but the _Azrael_ can still use her fan-wheels and
+stern propeller, though her air-planes are badly broken and twisted."
+
+Arnold frowned at the bad news, but took no further notice of it
+beyond saying--
+
+"That is unfortunate; but, I suppose, some casualties were inevitable
+under the circumstances." Then he added: "I have already destroyed
+all that were left of the Tsar's war-balloons, but you can take the
+other part of the message. Where is the _Ariel_ to be found?"
+
+The captain of the _Mercury_ gave him the necessary directions, and
+the two air-ships parted. Within an hour a council of war, consisting
+of Natas, Arnold, and Tremayne, was being held in the saloon of the
+_Ithuriel_, on the issue of which the lives of more than two millions
+of men depended.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+VICTORY.
+
+
+It was a little after three o'clock in the afternoon when Natas,
+Tremayne, and Arnold ended their deliberations in the saloon of the
+_Ithuriel_. At the same hour a council of war was being held by
+Generals le Gallifet and Cosensz at the Crystal Palace Hotel,
+Sydenham, where the two commanders had taken up their quarters.
+
+Since daybreak matters had assumed a very serious, if not desperate
+aspect for the troops of the League to the south of London.
+Communication had entirely ceased with the Tsar since the night
+before, and this could only mean that his Majesty had lost the
+command of the air, through the destruction or disablement of his
+fleet of aerostats. News from the force which had descended upon
+London told only of a fearful expenditure of life that had not
+purchased the slightest advantage.
+
+The blockade had been broken on the east, and, therefore, all hope of
+reducing the city by famine was at an end. Their own war-balloons had
+been either captured or destroyed, thousands of their men had
+deserted to the enemy, and multitudes more had been slain. Every
+position was dominated by the captured aerostats and the air-ships of
+the Terrorists. Even the building in which the council was being held
+might be shattered to fragments at any moment by a discharge of their
+irresistible artillery.
+
+Finally, it was practically certain that within the next few hours
+their headquarters must be surrounded, and then their only choice
+would lie between unconditional surrender and swift and inevitable
+destruction by an aërial bombardment. Manifestly the time had come to
+make terms if possible, and purchase their own safety and that of
+their remaining troops. Both the generals and every member of their
+respective staffs saw clearly that victory was now a physical
+impossibility, and so the immediate issue of the council was that
+orders were given to hoist the white flag over the tricolour and the
+Italian standard on the summits of the two towers of the Crystal
+Palace, and on the flagstaffs over the headquarters.
+
+These were at once seen by a squadron of air-ships coming from the
+north in obedience to Tremayne's summons, and within half an hour the
+same squadron was seen returning from the south headed by the
+flagship, also flying, to the satisfaction of the two generals, the
+signal of truce. The air-ships stopped over Sydenham and ranged
+themselves in a circle with their guns pointing down upon the
+headquarters, and the _Ariel_, with Tremayne on board, descended to
+within twenty feet of the ground in front of the hotel.
+
+As she did so an officer wearing the uniform of a French General of
+Division came forward, saluted, and said that he had a message for
+the Commander-in-Chief of the Federation forces. Tremayne returned
+the salute, and said briefly--
+
+"I am here. What is the message?"
+
+"I am commissioned by General Gallifet, Commander-in-Chief of the
+Southern Division, to request on his behalf the honour of an
+audience. He awaits you with General Cosensz in the hotel," replied
+the Frenchman, gazing in undisguised admiration at the wonderful
+craft which he now for the first time saw at close quarters.
+
+"With pleasure. I will be with you in a moment," said Tremayne, and
+as he spoke the _Ariel_ settled gently down to the earth, and the
+gangway steps dropped from her bow.
+
+As he entered the room in which the two generals were awaiting him,
+surrounded by their brilliantly-uniformed staffs, he presented a
+strange contrast to the men whose lives he held in the hollow of his
+hand. He was dressed in a dark tweed suit, with Norfolk jacket and
+knickerbockers, met by long shooting boots, just as though he was
+fresh from the moors, instead of from the battlefield on which the
+fate of the world was being decided. General le Gallifet advanced to
+meet him with a puzzled look of half-recognition on his face, which
+was at once banished by Tremayne holding out his hand without the
+slightest ceremony, and saying--
+
+"Ah, I see you recognise me, General!"
+
+"I do, my Lord Alanmere, and, you will permit me to add, with the
+most profound astonishment," replied the General, taking the
+proffered hand with a hearty grasp. "May I venture to hope that with
+an old acquaintance our negotiations may prove all the easier?"
+
+Tremayne bowed and said--
+
+"Rest assured, General, that they shall be as easy as my instructions
+will permit me to make them."
+
+"Your instructions! But I thought"--
+
+"That I was in supreme command. So I am in a sense, but I am the
+lieutenant of Natas for all that, and in a case like this his word is
+law. But come, what terms do you propose?"
+
+"That truce shall be proclaimed for twenty-four hours; that the
+commanders of the forces of the League shall meet this mysterious
+Natas, yourself, and the King of England, and arrange terms by which
+the armies of France, Russia, and Italy shall be permitted to
+evacuate the country with the honours of war."
+
+"Then, General, I may as well tell you at once that those terms are
+impossible," replied the Chief of the Federation quietly, but with a
+note of inflexible determination in his voice. "In the first place,
+'the honours of war' is a phrase which already belongs to the past.
+We see no honour in war, and if we can have our way this shall be the
+last war that shall ever be waged on earth.
+
+"Indeed, I may tell you that we began this war as one of absolute
+extermination. Had it not been for the intercession of Natasha, the
+daughter of Natas, you would not even have been given the opportunity
+of making terms of peace, or even of unconditional surrender. Our
+orders were simply to slay, and spare not, as long as a man remained
+in arms on British soil. You are, of course, aware that we have taken
+no prisoners"--
+
+"But, my lord, this is not war, it is murder on the most colossal
+scale!" exclaimed the General, utterly unable to control the
+agitation that these terrible words evoked, not only in his own
+breast, but in that of every man who heard them.
+
+"To us war and murder are synonymous terms, differing only as
+wholesale and retail," replied Tremayne drily; "for the mere names we
+care nothing. This world-war is none of our seeking; but if war can
+be cured by nothing but war, then we will wage it to the point of
+extermination. Now here are my terms. All the troops of the League on
+this side of the river Thames, on laying down their arms, shall be
+permitted to return to their homes, not as soldiers, but as peaceful
+citizens of the world, to go about their natural business as men who
+have sworn never to draw the sword again save in defence of their own
+homes."
+
+"And his Majesty the Tsar?"
+
+"You cannot make terms for the Tsar, General, and let me beg of you
+not to attempt to do so. No power under heaven can save him and his
+advisers from the fate that awaits them."
+
+"And if we refuse your terms, the alternative is what?"
+
+"Annihilation to the last man!"
+
+A dead silence followed these fearful words so calmly and yet so
+inflexibly spoken. General le Gallifet and the Italian
+Commander-in-Chief looked at one another and at the officers standing
+about them. A murmur of horror and indignation passed from lip to
+lip. Then Tremayne spoke again quickly but impressively--
+
+"Gentlemen, don't think that I am saying what I cannot do. We are
+inflexibly determined to stamp the curse of war out here and now, if
+it cost millions of lives to do so. Your forces are surrounded, your
+aerostats are captured or destroyed. It is no use mincing matters at
+a moment like this. It is life or death with you. If you do not
+believe me, General le Gallifet, come with me and take a flight round
+London in my air-ship yonder, and your own eyes shall see how
+hopeless all further struggle is. I pledge my word of honour as an
+English gentleman that you shall return in safety. Will you come?"
+
+"I will," said the French commander. "Gentlemen, you will await my
+return"; and with a bow to his companions, he followed the Chief out
+of the room, and embarked on the air-ship without further ado.
+
+[Illustration: "Do you understand now why you could not make terms
+for Russia?"
+
+_See page 351._]
+
+The _Ariel_ at once rose into the air. Tremayne reported to Natas
+what had been done, and then took the General into the deck saloon,
+and gave orders to proceed at full speed to Richmond, which was
+reached in what seemed to the Frenchman an inconceivably short space
+of time. Then the _Ariel_ swung round to the eastward, and at half
+speed traversed the whole line of battle over hill and vale, at an
+elevation of eight hundred feet, from Richmond to Shooter's Hill.
+
+What General le Gallifet saw more than convinced him that Tremayne
+had spoken without exaggeration when he said that annihilation was
+the only alternative to evacuation on his terms. The grey legions of
+the League seemed innumerable. Their long lines lapped round the
+broken squadrons of the League, mowing them down with incessant
+hailstorms of magazine fire, and overhead the air-ships and aerostats
+were hurling shells on them which made great dark gaps in their
+formations wherever they attempted anything like order. Every
+position of importance was either occupied or surrounded by the
+Federationists. There was no way open save towards London, and that
+way, as the General knew only too well, lay destruction.
+
+To the east of Shooter's Hill the air-ship swerved round to the
+northward. The Thames was alive with steamers flying the red flag,
+and carrying food and men into London. To the north of the river the
+battle had completely ceased as far as Muswell Hill.
+
+There the Black Eagle of Russia still floated from the roof of the
+Palace, and a furious battle was raging round the slopes of the hill.
+But the Russians were already surrounded, and manifestly outnumbered
+five to one, while six aerostats were circling to and fro, doing
+their work of death upon them with fearful effectiveness.
+
+"You see, General, that the aerostats do not destroy the Palace and
+bury the Tsar in its ruins, nor do I stop and do the same, as I could
+do in a few minutes. Do you understand now why you could not make
+terms for Russia?"
+
+"What your designs are Heaven and yourselves only know," replied the
+General, with quivering lips. "But I see that all is hopelessly lost.
+For God's sake let this carnage stop! It is not war, it is butchery,
+and we have deserved this retribution for employing those infernal
+contrivances in the first place. I always said it was not fair
+fighting. It is murder to drop death on defenceless men from the
+clouds. We will accept your terms. Let us get back to the south and
+save the lives of what remain of our brave fellows. If this is
+scientific warfare, I, for one, will fight no more!"
+
+"Well spoken, General!" said Tremayne, laying his hand upon his
+shoulder. "Those words of yours have saved two millions of human
+lives, and by this time to-morrow war will have ceased, I hope for
+ever, among the nations of the West."
+
+The _Ariel_ now swerved southward again, crossed London at full
+speed, and within half an hour General le Gallifet was once more
+standing in front of the Crystal Palace Hotel. As it was now getting
+dusk the searchlights of the air-ships were turned on, and they swept
+along the southern line of battle flashing the signal, "Victory!
+Cease firing!" to the triumphant hosts of the Federation, while at
+the same time the French and Italian commanders set the field
+telegraph to work and despatched messengers into London with the news
+of the terms of peace. By nightfall all fighting south of the Thames
+had ceased, and victors and vanquished were fraternising as though
+they had never struck a blow at each other, for war is a matter of
+diplomacy and Court intrigue, and not of personal animosity. The
+peoples of the world would be good enough friends if their rulers and
+politicians would let them.
+
+Meanwhile the battle raged with unabated fury round the headquarters
+of the Tsar. Here despotism was making its last stand, and making it
+bravely, in spite of the tremendous odds against it. But as twilight
+deepened into night the numbers of the assailants of the last of the
+Russian positions seemed to multiply miraculously.
+
+A never-ceasing flood of grey-clad soldiery surged up from the south,
+overflowed the barricades to the north, and swept the last of the
+Russians out of the streets like so much chaff. All the hundred
+streams converged upon Muswell Hill, and joined the ranks of the
+attacking force, and so the night fell upon the last struggle of the
+world-war. Even the Tsar himself now saw that the gigantic game was
+virtually over, and that the stake of world-empire had been played
+for--and lost.
+
+[Illustration: "A vision which no one who saw it forgot to the day of
+his death."
+
+_See page 353._]
+
+A powerful field searchlight had been fixed on the roof of the
+Palace, and, as it flashed hither and thither round the area of the
+battle, he saw fresh hosts of the British and Federation soldiers
+pouring in upon the scene of action, while his own men were being
+mown down by thousands under the concentrated fire of millions of
+rifles, and his regiments torn to fragments by the incessant storm of
+explosives from the sky.
+
+Hour after hour the savage fight went on, and the grey and red lines
+fought their way up and up the slopes, drawing the ring of flame and
+steel closer and closer round the summit of the hill on which the
+Autocrat of the North stood waiting for the hour of his fate to
+strike.
+
+The last line of the defenders of the position was reached at length.
+For an hour it held firm in spite of the fearful odds. Then it
+wavered and bent, and swayed to and fro in a last agony of
+desperation. The encircling lines seemed to surge backwards for a
+space. Then came a wild chorus of hurrahs, a swift forward rush of
+levelled bayonets, the clash of steel upon steel--and then butchery,
+vengeful and pitiless.
+
+The red tide of slaughter surged up to the very walls of the Palace.
+Only a few yards separated the foremost ranks of the victorious
+assailants from the little group of officers, in the midst of which
+towered the majestic figure of the White Tsar--an emperor without an
+empire, a leader without an army. He strode forward towards the line
+of bayonets fringing the crest of the hill, drew his sword, snapped
+the blade as a man would break a dry stick, and threw the two pieces
+to the ground, saying in English as he did so--
+
+"It is enough, I surrender!"
+
+Then he turned on his heel, and with bowed head walked back again to
+his Staff.
+
+Almost at the same moment a blaze of white light appeared in the sky,
+a hundred feet above the heads of the vast throng that encircled the
+Palace. Millions of eyes were turned up at once, and beheld a vision
+which no one who saw it forgot to the day of his death.
+
+The ten air-ships of the Terrorist fleet were ranged in two curves on
+either side of the _Ithuriel_, which floated about twenty feet below
+them, her silvery hull bathed in a flood of light from their electric
+lamps. In her bow, robed in glistening white fur, stood Natasha,
+transfigured in the full blaze of the concentrated searchlights. A
+silence of wonder and expectation fell upon the millions at her feet,
+and in the midst of it she began to sing the Hymn of Freedom. It was
+like the voice of an angel singing in the night of peace after
+strife.
+
+Men of every nation in Europe listened to her entranced, as she
+changed from language to language; and when at last the triumphant
+strains of the Song of the Revolution came floating down from her
+lips through the still night air, an irresistible impulse ran through
+the listening millions, and with one accord they took up the refrain
+in all the languages of Europe, and a mighty flood of exultant song
+rolled up in wave after wave from earth to heaven,--a song at once of
+victory and thanksgiving, for the last battle of the world-war had
+been lost and won, and the valour and genius of Anglo-Saxondom had
+triumphed over the last of the despotisms of Europe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+THE JUDGMENT OF NATAS.
+
+
+The myriad-voiced chorus of the Song of the Revolution ended in a
+mighty shout of jubilant hurrahs, in the midst of which the _Ariel_
+dropped lightly to the earth, and Tremayne, dressed now in the grey
+uniform of the Federation, with a small red rosette on the left
+breast of his tunic, descended from her deck to the ground with a
+drawn sword in his hand.
+
+He was at once recognised by several of the leaders, and as the
+words, "The Chief, the Chief," ran from lip to lip, those in the
+front ranks brought their rifles to the present, while the captains
+saluted with their swords. The British regulars and volunteers
+followed suit as if by instinct, and the chorus of cheers broke out
+again. Tremayne acknowledged the salute, and raised his hand to
+command silence. A hush at once fell upon the assembled multitude,
+and in the deep silence of anticipation which followed, he said in
+clear, ringing tones--
+
+"Soldiers of the Federation and the Empire! that which I hope will be
+the last battle of the Western nations has been fought and won. The
+Anglo-Saxon race has rallied to the defence of its motherland, and in
+the blood of its invaders has wiped out the stain of conquest. It has
+met the conquerors of Europe in arms, and on the field of battle it
+has vindicated its right to the empire of the world.
+
+"Henceforth the destinies of the human race are in its keeping, and
+it will worthily discharge the responsibility. It may yet be
+necessary for you to fight other battles with other races; but the
+victory that has attended you here will wait upon your arms
+elsewhere, and then the curse and the shame of war will be removed
+from the earth, let us hope for ever. European despotism has fought
+its last battle and lost, and those who have appealed to the sword
+shall be judged by the sword."
+
+As he said this, he pointed with his weapon towards the Tsar and his
+Staff, and continued, with an added sternness in his voice--
+
+"In the Master's name, take those men prisoners! Their fate will be
+decided to-morrow. Forward a company of the First Division; your
+lives will answer for theirs!"
+
+As the Chief ended his brief address to the victorious troops ten
+men, armed with revolver and sword, stepped forward, each followed by
+ten others armed with rifle and fixed bayonet, and immediately formed
+in a hollow square round the Tsar and his Staff. This summary
+proceeding proved too much for the outraged dignity of the fallen
+Autocrat, and he stepped forward and cried out passionately--
+
+"What is this? Is not my surrender enough? Have we not fought with
+civilised enemies, that we are to be treated like felons in the hour
+of defeat?"
+
+Tremayne raised his sword and cried sharply, "To the ready!" and
+instantly the prisoners were encircled by a hedge of levelled
+bayonets and rifle-barrels charged with death. Then he went on, in
+stern commanding tones--
+
+"Silence there! We do not recognise what you call the usages of
+civilised warfare. You are criminals against humanity, assassins by
+wholesale, and as such you shall be treated."
+
+There was nothing for it but to submit to the indignity, and within a
+few minutes the Tsar and those who with him had essayed the
+enslavement of the world were lodged in separate rooms in the
+building under a strong guard to await the fateful issue of the
+morrow.
+
+The rest of the night was occupied in digging huge trenches for the
+burial of the almost innumerable dead, a task which, gigantic as it
+was, was made light by the work of hundreds of thousands of willing
+hands. Those of the invaders who had fallen in London itself were
+taken down the Thames on the ebb tide in fleets of lighters, towed by
+steamers, and were buried at sea. Happily it was midwinter, and the
+temperature remained some degrees below freezing point, and so the
+great city was saved from what in summer would infallibly have
+brought pestilence in the track of war.
+
+At twelve o'clock on the following day the vast interior of St.
+Paul's Cathedral was thronged with the anxious spectators of the last
+scene in the tremendous tragedy which had commenced with the
+destruction of Kronstadt by the _Ariel_, and which had culminated in
+the triumph of Anglo-Saxondom over the leagued despotism and
+militarism of Europe.
+
+At a long table draped with red cloth, and placed under the dome in
+front of the chancel steps, sat Natas, with Tremayne and Natasha on
+his right hand, and Arnold and Alexis Mazanoff on his left. Radna,
+Anna Ornovski, and the other members of the Inner Circle of the
+Terrorists, including the President, Nicholas Roburoff, who had been
+pardoned and restored to his office at the intercession of Natasha,
+occupied the other seats, and behind them stood a throng of the
+leaders of the Federation forces.
+
+Neither the King of England nor any of his Ministers or military
+officers were present, as they had no voice in the proceedings which
+were about to take place. It had been decided, at a consultation with
+them earlier in the day, that it would be better that they should be
+absent.
+
+That which was to be done was unparalleled in the history of the
+world, and outside the recognised laws of nations; and so their
+prejudices were respected, and they were spared what they might have
+looked upon as an outrage on international policy, and the ancient
+but mistaken traditions of so-called civilised warfare.
+
+In front of the table two double lines of Federation soldiers, with
+rifles and fixed bayonets, kept a broad clear passage down to the
+western doors of the Cathedral. The murmur of thousands of voices
+suddenly hushed as the Cathedral clock struck the first stroke of
+twelve. It was the knell of an empire and a despotism. At the last
+stroke Natas raised his hand and said--
+
+"Bring up the prisoners!"
+
+There was a quick rustling sound, mingled with the clink of steel, as
+the two grey lines stiffened up to attention. Twelve commanders of
+divisions marched with drawn swords down to the end of the nave, a
+few rapid orders were given, and then they returned heading two
+double files of Federation guards, between which, handcuffed like
+common felons, walked the once mighty Tsar and the ministers of his
+now departed tyranny.
+
+The footsteps of the soldiers and their captives rang clearly upon
+the stones in the ominous breathless silence which greeted their
+appearance. The fallen Autocrat and his servants walked with downcast
+heads, like men in a dream, for to them it was a dream, this sudden
+and incomprehensible catastrophe which had overwhelmed them in the
+very hour of victory and on the threshold of the conquest of the
+world. Three days ago they had believed themselves conquerors, with
+the world at their feet; now they were being marched, guarded and in
+shackles, to a tribunal which acknowledged no law but its own, and
+from whose decision there was no appeal. Truly it was a dream, such a
+dream of disaster and calamity as no earthly despot had ever dreamt
+before.
+
+Four paces from the table they were halted, the Tsar in the centre,
+facing his unknown judge, and his servants on either side of him. He
+recognised Natasha, Anna Ornovski, Arnold, and Tremayne, but the
+recognition only added to his bewilderment.
+
+There was a slight flush on the face of Natas, and an angry gleam in
+his dark magnetic eyes, as he watched his captives approach; but when
+he spoke his tones were calm and passionless, the tones of the
+conqueror and the judge, rather than of the deeply injured man and a
+personal enemy. As the prisoners were halted in front of the table,
+and the rifle-butts of the guards rang sharply on the stone pavement,
+so deep a hush fell upon the vast throng in the Cathedral, that men
+seemed to hold their breath rather than break it until the Master of
+the Terror began to speak.
+
+"Alexander Romanoff, late Tsar of the Russias, and now prisoner of
+the Executive of the Brotherhood of Freedom, otherwise known to you
+as the Terrorists--you have been brought here with your advisers and
+the ministers of your tyranny that your crimes may be recounted in
+the presence of this congregation, and to receive sentence of such
+punishment as it is possible for human justice to mete out to you"--
+
+[Illustration: "Two bayonets crossed in front of him with a sharp
+clash."
+
+_See page 359._]
+
+"I deny both your justice and your right to judge. It is you who are
+the criminals, conspirators, and enemies of Society. I am a crowned
+King, and above all earthly laws"--
+
+Before he could say any more two bayonets crossed in front of him
+with a sharp clash, and he was instantly thrust back into his place.
+
+"Silence!" said Natas, in a tone of such stern command that even he
+instinctively obeyed. "As for our justice, let that be decided
+between you and me when we stand before a more awful tribunal than
+this. My right to judge even a crowned king who has no longer a
+crown, rests, as your own authority and that of all earthly rulers
+has ever done, upon the power to enforce my sentence, and I can and
+will enforce it upon you, you heir of a usurping murderess, whose
+throne was founded in blood and supported by the bayonets of her
+hired assassins. You have appealed to the arbitration of battle, and
+it has decided against you; you must therefore abide by its decision.
+
+"You have waged a war of merciless conquest at the bidding of
+insatiable ambition. You have posed as the peace-keeper of Europe
+until the train of war was laid, as you and your allies thought, in
+secret, and then you let loose the forces of havoc upon your
+fellow-men without ruth or scruple. Your path of victory has been
+traced in blood and flames from one end of Europe to the other; you
+have sacrificed the lives of millions, and the happiness of millions
+more, to a dream of world-wide empire, which, if realised, would have
+been a universal despotism.
+
+"The blood of the uncounted slain cries out from earth to heaven
+against you for vengeance. The days are past when those who made war
+upon their kind could claim the indulgence of their conquerors. You
+have been conquered by those who hold that the crime of aggressive
+war cannot be atoned for by the transfer of territory or the payment
+of money.
+
+"If this were your only crime we would have blood for blood, and life
+for life, as far as yours could pay the penalty. But there is more
+than this to be laid to our charge, and the swift and easy punishment
+of death would be too light an atonement for Justice to accept.
+
+"Since you ascended your throne you have been as the visible shape of
+God in the eyes of a hundred million subjects. Your hands have held
+the power of life and death, of freedom and slavery, of happiness and
+misery. How have you used it, you who have arrogated to yourself the
+attributes of a vicegerent of God on earth? As the power is, so too
+is the responsibility, and it will not avail you now to shelter
+yourself from it behind the false traditions of diplomacy and
+statecraft.
+
+"Your subjects have starved, while you and yours have feasted. You
+have lavished millions in vain display upon your palaces, while they
+have died in their hovels for lack of bread; and when men have asked
+you for freedom and justice, you have given them the knout, the
+chain, and the prison.
+
+"You have parted the wife from her husband"--
+
+Here for the moment the voice of Natas trembled with irrepressible
+passion, which, before he could proceed, broke from his heaving
+breast in a deep sob that thrilled the vast assembly like an electric
+shock, and made men clench their hands and grit their teeth, and
+wrung an answering sob from the breast of many a woman who knew but
+too well the meaning of those simple yet terrible words. Then Natas
+recovered his outward composure and went on; but now there was an
+angrier gleam in his eyes, and a fiercer ring in his voice.
+
+"You have parted the wife from her husband, the maid from her lover,
+the child from its parents. You have made desolate countless homes
+that once were happy, and broken hearts that had no thought of evil
+towards you--and you have done all this, and more, to maintain as
+vile a despotism as ever insulted the justice of man, or mocked at
+the mercy of God.
+
+"In the inscrutable workings of Eternal Justice it has come to pass
+that your sentence shall be uttered by the lips of one of your
+victims. For no offence known to the laws of earth or Heaven my flesh
+has been galled by your chains and torn by your whips. I have toiled
+to win your ill-gotten wealth in your mines, and by the hands of your
+brutal servants the iron has entered into my soul. Yet I am but one
+of thousands whose undeserved agony cries out against you in this
+hour of judgment.
+
+"Can you give us back what you have taken from us--the years of life
+and health and happiness, our wives and our children, our lovers and
+our kindred? You have ravished, but you cannot restore. You have
+smitten, but you cannot heal. You have killed, but you cannot make
+alive again. If you had ten thousand lives they could not atone,
+though each were dragged out to the bitter end in the misery that you
+have meted out to others.
+
+"But so far as you and yours can pay the debt it shall be paid to the
+uttermost farthing. Every pang that you have inflicted you shall
+endure. You shall drag your chains over Siberian snows, and when you
+faint by the wayside the lash shall revive you, as in the hands of
+your brutal Cossacks it has goaded on your fainting victims. You
+shall sweat in the mine and shiver in the cell, and your wives and
+your children shall look upon your misery and be helpless to help
+you, even as have been the fond ones who have followed your victims
+to exile and death.
+
+"They have seen your crimes without protest, and shared in your
+wantonness. They have toyed with the gold and jewels which they knew
+were bought with the price of misery and death, and so it is just
+that they should see your sufferings and share in your doom.
+
+"To the mines for life! And when the last summons comes to you and
+me, may Eternal Justice judge between us, and in its equal scales
+weigh your crimes against your punishment! Begone! for you have
+looked your last on freedom. You are no longer men; you are outcasts
+from the pale of the brotherhood of the humanity you have outraged!
+
+"Alexis Mazanoff, you will hold yourself responsible for the lives of
+the prisoners, and the execution of their sentence. You will see them
+in safe keeping for the present, and on the thirtieth day from now
+you will set out for Siberia."
+
+The sentence of Natas, the most terrible one which human lips could
+have uttered under the circumstances, was received with a breathless
+silence of awe and horror. Then Mazanoff rose from his seat, drew his
+sword, and saluted. As he passed round the end of the table the
+guards closed up round the prisoners, who were staring about them in
+stupefied bewilderment at the incredible horror of the fate which in
+a moment had hurled them from the highest pinnacle of earthly power
+and splendour down to the degradation and misery of the most wretched
+of their own Siberian convicts. No time was given for protest or
+appeal, for Mazanoff instantly gave the word "Forward!" and,
+surrounded by a hedge of bayonets, the doomed men were marched
+rapidly down between the two grey lines.
+
+As they reached the bottom of the nave the great central doors swung
+open, and through them came a mighty roar of execration from the
+multitude outside as they appeared on the top of the Cathedral steps.
+
+From St. Paul's Churchyard, down through Ludgate Hill and up the Old
+Bailey to the black frowning walls of Newgate, they were led through
+triple lines of Federation soldiers amidst a storm of angry cries
+from the crowd on either side,--cries which changed to a wild
+outburst of savage, pitiless exultation as the news of their dreadful
+sentence spread rapidly from lip to lip. They had shed blood like
+water, and had known no pity in the hour of their brief triumph, and
+so none was shown for them in the hour of their fall and retribution.
+
+The hour following their disappearance from the Cathedral was spent
+in a brief and simple service of thanksgiving for the victory which
+had wiped the stain of foreign invasion from the soil of Britain in
+the blood of the invader, and given the control of the destinies of
+the Western world finally into the hands of the dominant race of
+earth.
+
+The service began with a short but eloquent address from Natas, in
+which he pointed out the consequences of the victory and the
+tremendous responsibilities to the generations of men in the present
+and the future which it entailed upon the victors. He concluded with
+the following words--
+
+"My own part in this world-revolution is played out. For more than
+twenty years I have lived solely for the attainment of one object,
+the removal of the blot of Russian tyranny upon European
+civilisation, and the necessary punishment of those who were guilty
+of the unspeakable crime of maintaining it at such a fearful expense
+of human life and suffering.
+
+"That object has now been accomplished; the soldiers of freedom have
+met the hirelings of despotism on the field of the world's
+Armageddon, and the God of Battles has decided between them. Our
+motives may have been mistaken by those who only saw the bare outward
+appearance without knowing their inward intention, and our ends have
+naturally been misjudged by those who fancied that their
+accomplishment meant their own ruin.
+
+"Yet, as the events have proved, and will prove in the ages to come,
+we have been but as intelligent instruments in the hands of that
+eternal wisdom and justice which, though it may seem to sleep for a
+season, and permit the evildoer to pursue his wickedness for a space,
+never closes the eye of watchfulness or sheathes the sword of
+judgment. The empire of the earth has been given into the hands of
+the Anglo-Saxon race, and therefore it is fitting that the supreme
+control of affairs should rest in the hands of one of Anglo-Saxon
+blood and lineage.
+
+"For that reason I now surrender the power which I have so far
+exercised as the Master of the Brotherhood of Freedom into the hands
+of Alan Tremayne, known in Britain as Earl of Alanmere and Baron
+Tremayne, and from this moment the Brotherhood of Freedom ceases to
+exist as such, for its ends are attained, and the objects for which
+it was founded have been accomplished.
+
+"With the confidence born of intimate knowledge, I give this power
+into his keeping, and those who have shared his counsels and executed
+his commands in the past will in the future assist him as the Supreme
+Council, which will form the ultimate tribunal to which the disputes
+of nations will henceforth be submitted, instead of to the barbarous
+and bloody arbitration of battle.
+
+"No such power has ever been delivered into the hands of a single
+body of men before; but those who will hold it have been well tried,
+and they may be trusted to wield it without pride and without
+selfishness, the twin curses that have hitherto afflicted the divided
+nations of the earth, because, with the fate of humanity in their
+hands and the wealth of earth at their disposal, it will be
+impossible to tempt them with bribes, either of riches or of power,
+from the plain course of duty which will lie before them."
+
+As Natas finished speaking, he signed with his hand to Tremayne, who
+rose in his place and briefly addressed the assembly--
+
+"I and those who will share it with me accept alike the power and the
+responsibility--not of choice, but rather because we are convinced
+that the interests of humanity demand that we should do so. Those
+interests have too long been the sport of kings and their courtiers,
+and of those who have seen in selfish profit and aggrandisement the
+only ends of life worth living for.
+
+"Under the pretences of furthering civilisation and progress, and
+maintaining what they have been pleased to call law and order, they
+have perpetrated countless crimes of oppression, cruelty, and
+extortion, and we are determined that this shall have an end.
+
+"Henceforth, so far as we can insure it, the world shall be ruled,
+not by the selfishness of individuals, or the ambitions of nations,
+but in accordance with the everlasting and immutable principles of
+truth and justice, which have hitherto been burlesqued alike by
+despots on their thrones and by political partisans in the senates of
+so-called democratic countries.
+
+"To-morrow, at mid-day in this place, the chief rulers of Europe will
+meet us, and our intentions will be further explained. And now before
+we separate to go about the rest of the business of the day let us,
+as is fitting, give due thanks to Him who has given us the victory."
+
+He ceased speaking, but remained standing; the same instant the organ
+of the Cathedral pealed out the opening notes of the familiar
+Normanton Chant, and all those at the table, saving Natas, rose to
+their feet. Then Natasha's voice soared up clear and strong above the
+organ notes, singing the first line of the old well-known chant--
+
+  The strain upraise of joy and praise.
+
+And as she ceased the swell of the organ rolled out, and a mighty
+chorus of hallelujahs burst by one consent from the lips of the vast
+congregation, filling the huge Cathedral, and flowing out from its
+now wide-open doors until it was caught up and echoed by the
+thousands who thronged the churchyard and the streets leading into
+it.
+
+As this died away Radna sang the second line, and so the Psalm of
+Praise was sung through, as it were in strophe and anti-strophe,
+interspersed with the jubilant hallelujahs of the multitude who were
+celebrating the greatest victory that had ever been won on earth.
+
+That night the inhabitants of the delivered city gave themselves up
+to such revelry and rejoicing as had never been seen or heard in
+London since its foundation. The streets and squares blazed with
+lights and resounded with the songs and cheerings of a people
+delivered from an impending catastrophe which had bidden fair to
+overwhelm it in ruin, and bring upon it calamities which would have
+been felt for generations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+THE ORDERING OF EUROPE.
+
+
+While these events had been in progress three squadrons of air-ships
+had been speeding to St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Rome. Three vessels
+had been despatched to each city, and the instructions of those in
+command of the squadrons were to bring the German Emperor, the
+Emperor of Austria, and the King of Italy to London.
+
+The news of the defeat of the League had preceded them by telegraph,
+and all three monarchs willingly obeyed the summons which they
+carried to attend a Conference for the ordering of affairs of Europe.
+
+The German Emperor was at once released from his captivity, although
+only under a threat of the destruction of the city by the air-ships,
+for the Grand Duke Vladimir, who ruled at St. Petersburg as deputy of
+the Tsar, had first refused to believe the astounding story of the
+defeat of his brother and the destruction of his army. The terrible
+achievements of the air-ships were, however, too well and too
+certainly known to permit of resistance by force, and so the Kaiser
+was released, and made his first aërial voyage from St. Petersburg to
+London, arriving there at ten o'clock on the evening of the 8th, in
+the midst of the jubilations of the rejoicing city.
+
+The King of England had sent a despatch to the Emperor of Austria
+inviting him to the Conference, and General Cosensz had sent a
+similar one to the King of Italy, and so there had been no difficulty
+about their coming. At mid-day on the 9th the Conference was opened
+in St. Paul's, which was the only public building left intact in
+London capable of containing the vast audience that was present, an
+audience composed of men of every race and language in Europe.
+
+Natas was absent, and Tremayne occupied his seat in the centre of the
+table; the other members of the Inner Circle, now composing the
+Supreme Council of the Federation, were present, with the exception
+of Natasha, Radna, and Anna Ornovski, and the other seats at the
+table were occupied by the monarchs to whom the purposes of the
+Conference had been explained earlier in the day. France was
+represented in the person of General le Gallifet.
+
+The body of the Cathedral was filled to overflowing, with the
+exception of an open space kept round the table by the Federation
+guards.
+
+The proceedings commenced with a brief but impressive religious
+service conducted by the Primate of England, who ended it with a
+short but earnest appeal, delivered from the altar steps, to those
+composing the Conference, calling upon them to conduct their
+deliberations with justice and moderation, and reminding them of the
+millions who were waiting in other parts of Europe for the blessings
+of peace and prosperity which it was now in their power to confer
+upon them. As the Archbishop concluded the prayer for the blessing of
+Heaven upon their deliberation, with which he ended his address,
+Tremayne, after a few moments of silence, rose in his place and,
+speaking in clear deliberate tones, began as follows:--
+
+"Your Majesties have been called together to hear the statement of
+the practical issues of the conflict which has been decided between
+the armies of the Federation of the Anglo-Saxon peoples and those of
+the late Franco-Slavonian League.
+
+"Into the motives which led myself and those who have acted with me
+to take the part which we have done in this tremendous struggle,
+there is now no need for me to enter. It is rather with results than
+with motives that we have to deal, and those results may be very
+briefly stated.
+
+"We have demonstrated on the field of battle that we hold in our
+hands means of destruction against which it is absolutely impossible
+for any army fortress or fleet to compete with the slightest hope of
+victory; and more than this, we are in command of the only organised
+army and fleet now on land or sea. We have been compelled by the
+necessities of the case to use our powers unsparingly up to a certain
+point. That we have not used them beyond that point, as we might have
+done, to enslave the world, is the best proof that I can give of the
+honesty of our purposes with regard to the future.
+
+"But it must never be forgotten that these powers remain with us, and
+can be evoked afresh should necessity ever arise.
+
+"It is not our purpose to enter upon a war of conquest, or upon a
+series of internal revolutions in the different countries of Europe,
+the issue of which might be the subversion of all order, and the
+necessity for universal conquest on our part in order to restore it.
+
+"With two exceptions the internal affairs of all the nations of
+Europe, saving only Russia, which for the present we shall govern
+directly, will be left undisturbed. The present tenure of land will
+be abolished, and the only rights to the possession of it that will
+be recognised will be occupation and cultivation. Experience has
+shown that the holding of land for mere purposes of luxury or
+speculative profit leads to untold injustices to the general
+population of a country. The land on which cities and towns are built
+will henceforth belong to the municipalities, and the rents of the
+buildings will be paid in lieu of taxation.
+
+"The other exception is even more important than this. We have waged
+war in order that it may be waged no more, and we are determined that
+it shall now cease for ever. The peoples of the various nations have
+no interest in warfare. It has been nothing but an affliction and a
+curse to them, and we are convinced that if one generation grows up
+without drawing the sword, it will never be drawn again as long as
+men remain upon the earth. All existing fortifications will therefore
+be at once destroyed, standing armies will be disbanded, and all the
+warships in the world, which cannot be used for peaceful purposes,
+will be sent to the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean.
+
+"For the maintenance of peace and order each nation will maintain a
+body of police, in which all citizens between the ages of twenty and
+forty will serve in rotation, and this police will be under the
+control, first of the Sovereign and Parliament of the country, and
+ultimately of an International Board, which will sit once a year in
+each of the capitals of Europe in turn, and from whose decision there
+will be no appeal.
+
+"The possession of weapons of warfare, save by the members of this
+force, will be forbidden under penalty of death, as we shall
+presuppose that no man can possess such weapons save with intent to
+kill, and all killing, save execution for murder, will henceforth be
+treated as murder. Declaration of war by one country upon another
+will be held to be a national crime, and, should such an event ever
+occur, the forces of the Anglo-Saxon Federation will be at once armed
+by authority of the Supreme Council, and the guilty nation will be
+crushed and its territories will be divided among its neighbours.
+
+"Such are the broad outlines of the course which we intend to pursue,
+and all I have now to do is to commend them to your earnest
+consideration in the name of those over whom you are the constituted
+rulers."
+
+As the President of the Federation sat down the German Emperor rose
+and said in a tone which showed that he had heard the speech with but
+little satisfaction--
+
+"From what we have heard it would seem that the Federation of the
+Anglo-Saxon peoples considers itself as having conquered the world,
+and as being, therefore, in a position to dictate terms to all the
+peoples of the earth. Am I correct in this supposition?"
+
+Tremayne bowed in silence, and he continued--
+
+"But this amounts to the destruction of the liberties of all peoples
+who are not of the Anglo-Saxon race. It seems impossible to me to
+believe that free-born men who have won their liberty upon the
+battlefield will ever consent to submit to a despotism such as this.
+What if they refuse to do so?"
+
+Tremayne was on his feet in an instant. He turned half round and
+faced the Kaiser, with a frown on his brow and an ominous gleam in
+his eyes--
+
+"Your Majesty of Germany may call it a despotism if you choose, but
+remember that it is a despotism of peace and not of war, and that it
+affects only those who would be peace-breakers and drawers of the
+sword upon their fellow-creatures. I regret that you have made it
+necessary for me to remind you that we have conquered your
+conquerors, and that the despotism from which we have delivered the
+nations of Europe would infallibly have been ten thousand times worse
+than that which you are pleased to miscall by the name.
+
+"You deplore the loss of the right and the power to draw the sword
+one upon another. Well, now, take that right back again for the last
+time! Say here, and now, that you will not acknowledge the supremacy
+of the Council of the Federation, and take the consequences!
+
+"Our soldiers are still in the field, our aërial fleet is still in
+the air, and our sea-navy is under steam. But, remember, if you
+appeal to the sword it shall be with you as it was with Alexander
+Romanoff and the Russian force which invaded England. We have
+annihilated the army to a man, and exiled the Autocrat for life.
+Choose now, peace or war, and let those who would choose war with you
+take their stand beside you, and we will fight another Armageddon!"
+
+The pregnant and pitiless words brought the Kaiser to his senses in
+an instant. He remembered that his army was destroyed, his strongest
+fortresses dismantled, his treasury empty, and the manhood of his
+country decimated. He turned white to the lips and sank back into his
+chair, covered his face with his hands, and sobbed aloud. And so
+ended the last and only protest made by the spirit of militarism
+against the new despotism of peace.
+
+One by one the monarchs now rose in their places, bowed to the
+inevitable, and gave their formal adherence to the new order of
+things. General le Gallifet came last. When he had affixed his
+signature to the written undertaking of allegiance which they had all
+signed, he said, speaking in French--
+
+"I was born and bred a soldier, and my life has been passed either in
+warfare or the study of it. I have now drawn the sword for the last
+time, save to defend France from invasion. I have seen enough of
+modern war, or, as I should rather call it, murder by machinery, for
+such it only is now. They spoke truly who prophesied that the
+solution of the problem of aërial navigation would make war
+impossible. It has made it impossible, because it has made it too
+unspeakably horrible for humanity to tolerate it.
+
+"In token of the honesty of my belief I ask now that France and
+Germany shall bury their long blood-feud on their last battlefield,
+and in the persons of his German Majesty and myself shake hands in
+the presence of this company as a pledge of national forgiveness and
+perpetual peace."
+
+As he ceased speaking, he turned and held out his hand to the Kaiser.
+All eyes were turned on William II, to see how he would receive this
+appeal. For a moment he hesitated, then his manhood and chivalry
+conquered his pride and national prejudice, and amidst the cheers of
+the great assembly, he grasped the outstretched hand of his
+hereditary enemy, saying in a voice broken by emotion--
+
+"So be it. Since the sword is broken for ever, let us forget that we
+have been enemies, and remember only that we are neighbours."
+
+This ended the public portion of the Conference. From St. Paul's
+those who had composed it went to Buckingham Palace, in the grounds
+of which the aërial fleet was reposing on the lawns under a strong
+guard of Federation soldiers. Here they embarked, and were borne
+swiftly through the air to Windsor Castle, where they dined together
+as friends and guests of the King of England, and after dinner
+discussed far on into the night the details of the new European
+Constitution which was to be drawn up and formally ratified within
+the next few days.
+
+Shortly after noon on the following day the _Ithuriel_, with Natas,
+Natasha, Arnold, and Tremayne on board, rose into the air from the
+grounds of Buckingham Palace and headed away to the northward. The
+control of affairs was left for the time being to a committee of the
+members of what had once been the Inner Circle of the Terrorists, and
+which was now the Supreme Council of the Federation.
+
+This was under the joint presidency of Alexis Mazanoff and Nicholas
+Roburoff, who was exerting his great and well-proved administrative
+abilities to the utmost in order to atone for the fault which had led
+to the desertion of the _Lucifer_, and to amply justify the
+intercession of Natasha which had made it possible for him to be
+present at the last triumph of the Federation and the accomplishment
+of the long and patient work of the Brotherhood. There was an immense
+amount of work to be got through in the interval between the
+pronouncement of the judgment of Natas on the Tsar and his Ministers
+and the execution of the sentence. After twenty-four hours in Newgate
+they were transferred to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, and there, under a
+guard of Federation soldiers, who never left them for a moment day or
+night, they awaited the hour of their departure to Siberia.
+
+Communication with all parts of the Continent and America was rapidly
+restored. The garrisons of the League were withdrawn from the
+conquered cities, gave up their arms at the depots of their
+respective regiments, and returned to their homes. The French and
+Italian troops round London were disarmed and taken to France in the
+Federation fleet of transports. Meanwhile three air-ships were placed
+temporarily at the disposal of the Emperor of Austria, the Kaiser,
+and the King of Italy, to convey them to their capitals, and furnish
+them with the means of speedy transit about their dominions, and to
+and from London during the drawing up of the new European
+Constitution.
+
+A fleet of four air-ships and fifteen aerostats was also despatched
+to the Russian capital, and compelled the immediate surrender of the
+members of the Imperial family and the Ministers of the Government,
+and the instant disarmament of all troops on Russian soil, under pain
+of immediate destruction of St. Petersburg and Moscow, and invasion
+and conquest of the country by the Federation armies. The Council of
+State and the Ruling Senate were then dissolved, and the Executive
+passed automatically into the hands of the controllers of the
+Federation. Resistance was, of course, out of the question, and as
+soon as it was once known for certain that the Tsar had been taken
+prisoner and his army annihilated, no one thought seriously of it, as
+it would have been utterly impossible to have defended even Russia
+against the overwhelming forces of the Federation and the British
+Empire, assisted by the two aërial fleets.
+
+The _Ithuriel_, after a flight of a little more than an hour, stopped
+and descended to the earth on the broad, sloping, and now
+snow-covered lawn in front of Alanmere Castle. Lord Marazion and his
+daughter, who, as it is almost needless to say, had been kept well
+informed of the course of events since the Federation forces landed
+in England, had also been warned by telegraph of the coming of their
+aërial visitors, and before the _Ithuriel_ had touched the earth, the
+new mistress of Alanmere had descended the steps of the terrace that
+ran the whole length of the Castle front to welcome its lord and hers
+back to his own again.
+
+Then there were greetings of lovers and friends, well known to each
+other by public report and familiar description, yet never seen in
+the flesh till now, and of others long parted by distance and by
+misconception of aims and motives. But however pleasing it might be
+to dwell at length upon the details of such a meeting, and its
+delightful contrast to the horrors of unsparing war and merciless
+destruction, there is now no space to do so, for the original limits
+of this history of the near future have already been reached and
+overpassed, and it is time to make ready for the curtain to descend
+upon the last scenes of the world-drama of the Year of Wonders--1904.
+
+Tremayne was the first to alight, and he was followed by Natasha and
+Arnold at a respectful distance, which they kept until the first
+greeting between the two long and strangely-parted lovers was over.
+When at length Lady Muriel got out of the arms of her future lord,
+she at once ran to Natasha with both her hands outstretched, a very
+picture of grace and health and blushing loveliness.
+
+She was Natasha's other self, saving only for the incomparable
+brilliance of colouring and contrast which the daughter of Natas
+derived from her union of Eastern and Western blood. Yet no fairer
+type of purely English beauty than Muriel Penarth could have been
+found between the Border and the Land's End, and what she lacked of
+Natasha's half Oriental brilliance and fire she atoned for by an
+added measure of that indescribable blend of dignity and gentleness
+which makes the English gentlewoman perhaps the most truly lovable of
+all women on earth.
+
+"I could not have believed that the world held two such lovely
+women," said Arnold to Tremayne, as the two girls met and embraced.
+"How marvellously alike they are, too! They might be sisters. Surely
+they must be some relation."
+
+"Yes, I am sure they are," replied Tremayne; "such a resemblance
+cannot be accidental. I remember in that queer double life of mine,
+when I was your unconscious rival, I used to interchange them until
+they almost seemed to be the same identity to me. There is some
+little mystery behind the likeness which we shall have cleared up
+before very long now. Natas told me to take Lord Marazion to him in
+the saloon, and said he would not enter the Castle till he had spoken
+with him alone. There he is at the door! You go and make Muriel's
+acquaintance, and I will take him on board at once."
+
+So saying, Tremayne ran up the terrace steps, shook hands heartily
+with the old nobleman, and then came down with him towards the
+air-ship. As they met Lady Muriel coming up with Arnold on one side
+of her and Natasha on the other, Lord Marazion stopped suddenly with
+an exclamation of wonder. He took his arm out of Tremayne's, strode
+rapidly to Natasha, and, before his daughter could say a word of
+introduction, put his hands on her shoulders, and looked into her
+lovely upturned face through a sudden mist of tears that rose
+unbidden to his eyes.
+
+"It is a miracle!" he said, in a low voice that trembled with
+emotion. "If you are the daughter of Natas, there is no need to tell
+me who he is, for you are Sylvia Penarth's daughter too. Is not that
+so, Sylvia di Murska--for I know you bear your mother's name?"
+
+"Yes, I bear her name--and my father's. He is waiting for you in the
+air-ship, and he has much to say to you. You will bring him back to
+the Castle with you, will you not?"
+
+Natasha spoke with a seriousness that had more weight than her words,
+but Lord Marazion understood her meaning. He stooped down and kissed
+her on the brow, saying--
+
+"Yes, yes; the past is the past. I will go to him, and you shall see
+us come back together."
+
+"And so we are cousins!" exclaimed Lady Muriel, slipping her arm
+round Natasha's waist as she spoke. "I was sure we must be some
+relation to each other; for, though I am not so beautiful"--
+
+"Don't talk nonsense, or I shall call you 'Your Ladyship' for the
+rest of the day. Yes, of course we are alike, since our mothers were
+twin-sisters, and the very image of each other, according to their
+portraits."
+
+While the girls were talking of their new-found relationship, Arnold
+had dropped behind to wait for Tremayne, who, after he had taken Lord
+Marazion into the saloon of the _Ithuriel_, had left him with Natas
+and returned to the Castle alone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+THE STORY OF THE MASTER.
+
+
+That evening, when the lamps were lit and the curtains drawn in the
+library at Alanmere, in the same room in which Tremayne had seen the
+Vision of Armageddon, Natas told the story of Israel di Murska, the
+Jewish Hungarian merchant, and of Sylvia Penarth, the beautiful
+English wife whom he had loved better than his own faith and people,
+and how she had been taken from him to suffer a fate which had now
+been avenged as no human wrongs had ever been before.
+
+"Twenty-five years ago," he began, gazing dreamily into the great
+fire of pine-logs, round the hearth of which he and his listeners
+were sitting, "I, who am now an almost helpless, half-mutilated
+cripple, was a strong, active man, in the early vigour of manhood,
+rich, respected, happy, and prosperous even beyond the average of
+earthly good fortune.
+
+"I was a merchant in London, and I had inherited a large fortune from
+my father, which I had more than doubled by successful trading. I was
+married to an English wife, a woman whose grace and beauty are
+faithfully reflected in her daughter"--
+
+As Natas said this, the fierce light that had begun to shine in his
+eyes softened, and the hard ring left his voice, and for a little
+space he spoke in gentler tones, until sterner memories came and
+hardened them again.
+
+"I will not deny that I bought her with my gold and fair promises of
+a life of ease and luxury. But that is done every day in the world in
+which I then lived, and I only did as my Christian neighbours about
+me did. Yet I loved my beautiful Christian wife very dearly,--more
+dearly even than my people and my ancient faith,--or I should not
+have married her.
+
+"When Natasha was two years old the black pall of desolation fell
+suddenly on our lives, and blasted our great happiness with a misery
+so utter and complete that we, who were wont to count ourselves among
+the fortunate ones of the earth, were cast down so low that the
+beggar at our doors might have looked down upon us.
+
+"It was through no fault of mine or hers, nor through any
+circumstance over which either of us had any control, that we fell
+from our serene estate. On the contrary, it was through a work of
+pure mercy, intended for the relief of those of our people who were
+groaning under the pitiless despotism of Russian officialism and
+superstition, that I fell, as so many thousands of my race have
+fallen, into that abyss of nameless misery and degradation that
+Russian hands have dug for the innocent in the ghastly solitudes of
+Siberia, and, without knowing it, dragged my sweet and loving wife
+into it after me.
+
+"It came about in this wise.
+
+"I had a large business connection in Russia, and at a time when all
+Europe was ringing with the story of the persecution of the Russian
+Jews, I, at the earnest request of a committee of the leading Jews in
+London, undertook a mission to St. Petersburg, to bring their
+sufferings, if possible, under the direct notice of the Tsar, and to
+obtain his consent to a scheme for the payment of a general
+indemnity, subscribed to by all the wealthy Jews of the world, which
+should secure them against persecution and official tyranny until
+they could be gradually and completely removed from Russia.
+
+"I, of course, found myself thwarted at every turn by the heartless
+and corrupt officialism that stands between the Russian people and
+the man whom they still regard as the vicegerent of God upon earth.
+
+"Upon one pretext and another I was kept from the presence of the
+Tsar for weeks, until he left his dominions on a visit to Denmark.
+
+"Meanwhile I travelled about, and used my eyes as well as the
+officials would permit me, to see whether the state of things was
+really as bad as the accounts that had reached England had made it
+out to be.
+
+"I saw enough to convince me that no human words could describe the
+awful sufferings of the sons and daughters of Israel in that hateful
+land of bondage.
+
+"Neither their lives nor their honour, their homes nor their
+property, were safe from the malice and the lust and the rapacity of
+the brutal ministers of Russian officialdom.
+
+"I conversed with families from which fathers and mothers, sons and
+daughters had been spirited away, either never to return, or to come
+back years afterwards broken in health, ruined and dishonoured, to
+the poor wrecks of the homes that had once been peaceful, pure, and
+happy.
+
+"I saw every injury, insult, and degradation heaped upon them that
+patient and long-suffering humanity could bear, until my soul
+sickened within me, and my spirit rose in revolt against the hateful
+and inhuman tyranny that treated my people like vermin and wild
+beasts, for no offence save a difference in race and creed.
+
+"At last the shame and horror of it all got the better of my
+prudence, and the righteous rage that burned within me spoke out
+through my pen and my lips.
+
+"I wrote faithful accounts of all I had seen to the committee in
+England. They never reached their destination, for I was already a
+marked man, and my letters were stopped and opened by the police.
+
+"At last I one day attended a court of law, and heard one of those
+travesties of justice which the Russian officials call a trial for
+conspiracy.
+
+"There was not one tittle of anything that would have been called
+evidence, or that would not have been discredited and laughed out of
+court in any other country in Europe; yet two of the five prisoners,
+a man and a woman, were sentenced to death, and the other three, two
+young students and a girl who was to have been the bride of one of
+them in a few weeks' time, were doomed to five years in the mines of
+Kara, and after that, if they survived it, to ten years' exile in
+Sakhalin.
+
+"So awful and so hideous did the appalling injustice seem to me,
+accustomed as I was to the open fairness of the English criminal
+courts, that, overcome with rage and horror, I rose to my feet as the
+judge pronounced the frightful sentence, and poured forth a flood of
+passionate denunciations and wild appeals to the justice of humanity
+to revoke the doom of the innocent.
+
+"Of course I was hustled out of the court and flung into the street
+by the police attendants, and I groped my way back to my hotel with
+eyes blinded with tears of rage and sorrow.
+
+"That afternoon I was requested by the proprietor of the hotel to
+leave before nightfall. I expostulated in vain. He simply told me
+that he dared not have in his house a man who had brought himself
+into collision with the police, and that I must find other lodgings
+at once. This, however, I found to be no easy matter. Wherever I went
+I was met with cold looks, and was refused admittance.
+
+"Lower and lower sank my heart within me at each refusal, and the
+terrible conviction forced itself upon me that I was a marked man
+amidst all-powerful and unscrupulous enemies whom no Russian dare
+offend. I was a Jew and an outcast, and there was nothing left for me
+but to seek for refuge such as I could get among my own persecuted
+people.
+
+"Far on into the night I found one, a modest lodging, in which I
+hoped I could remain for a day or two while waiting for my passport,
+and making the necessary preparations to return to England and shake
+the mire of Russia off my feet for ever. It would have been a
+thousand times better for me and my dear ones, and for those whose
+sympathy and kindness involved them in my ruin, if, instead of going
+to that ill-fated house, I had flung myself into the dark waters of
+the Neva, and so ended my sorrows ere they had well begun.
+
+"I applied for my passport the next day, and was informed that it
+would not be ready for at least three days. The delay was, of course,
+purposely created, and before the time had expired a police visit was
+paid to the house in which I was lodging, and papers written in
+cypher were found within the lining of one of my hats.
+
+"I was arrested, and a guard was placed over the house. Without any
+further ceremony I was thrown into a cell in the fortress of Peter
+and Paul to await the translation of the cypher. Three days later I
+was taken before the chief of police, and accused of having in my
+possession papers proving that I was an emissary from the Nihilist
+headquarters in London.
+
+"I was told that my conduct had been so suspicious and of late so
+disorderly, that I had been closely watched during my stay in St.
+Petersburg, with the result that conclusive evidence of treason had
+been found against me.
+
+"As I was known to be wealthy, and to have powerful friends in
+England, the formality of a trial was dispensed with, and after
+eating my heart out for a month in my cell in the fortress, I was
+transferred to Moscow to join the next convict train for Siberia.
+Arrived there, I for the first time learned my sentence--ten years in
+the mines, and then ten in Sakhalin.
+
+"Thus was I doomed by the trick of some police spy to pass what bade
+fair to be the remainder of a life that had been so bright and full
+of fair promise in hopeless exile, torment, and degradation--and all
+because I protested against injustice and made myself obnoxious to
+the Russian police.
+
+"As the chain-gang that I was attached to left Moscow, I found to my
+intense grief that the good Jew and his wife who had given me shelter
+were also members of it. They had been convicted of 'harbouring a
+political conspirator,' and sentenced to five years' hard labour, and
+then exile for life, as 'politicals,' which, as you no doubt know,
+meant that, if they survived the first part of their sentence, they
+would be allowed to settle in an allotted part of Southern Siberia,
+free in everything but permission to leave the country.
+
+"Were I to talk till this time to-morrow I could not properly
+describe to you all the horrors of that awful journey along the Great
+Siberian road, from the Pillar of Farewells that marks the boundary
+between Europe and Asia across the frightful snowy wastes to Kara.
+
+"The hideous story has been told again and again without avail to the
+Christian nations of Europe, and they have permitted that awful crime
+against humanity to be committed year after year without even a
+protest, in obedience to the miserable principles that bade them to
+place policy before religion and the etiquette of nations before the
+everlasting laws of God.
+
+"After two years of heartbreaking toil at the mines my health utterly
+broke down. One day I fell fainting under the lash of the brutal
+overseer, and as I lay on the ground he ran at me and kicked me twice
+with his heavy iron-shod boots, once on the hip, breaking the bone,
+and once on the lower part of the spine, crushing the spinal cord,
+and paralysing my lower limbs for ever.
+
+"As this did not rouse me from my fainting-fit, the heartless fiend
+snatched a torch from the wall of the mine-gallery and thrust the
+burning end in my long thick beard, setting it on fire and scorching
+my flesh horribly, as you can see. I was carried out of the mine and
+taken to the convict hospital, where I lay for weeks between life and
+death, and only lived instead of died because of the quenchless
+spirit that was within me crying out for vengeance on my tormentors.
+
+"When I came back to consciousness, the first thing I learnt was that
+I was free to return to England on condition that I did not stop on
+my way through Russia.
+
+"My friends, urged on by the tireless energy of my wife's anxious
+love, had at last found out what had befallen me, and proceedings had
+been instituted to establish the innocence that had been betrayed by
+a common and too well-known device used by the Russian police to
+secure the conviction and removal of those who have become obnoxious
+to the bureaucracy.
+
+"Whether my friends would ever have accomplished this of themselves
+is doubtful, but suddenly the evidence of a pope of the Orthodox
+Church, to whom the spy who had put the forged letters in my hat had
+confessed the crime on his deathbed, placed the matter in such a
+strong clear light that not even the officialism of Russia could
+cloud it over. The case got to the ears of the Tsar, and an order was
+telegraphed to the Governor of Kara to release me and send me back to
+St. Petersburg on the conditions I have named.
+
+"Think of the mockery of such a pardon as that! By the unlawful
+brutality of an official, who was not even reprimanded for what he
+had done, I was maimed, crippled, and disfigured for life, and now I
+was free to return to the land I had left on an errand of mercy,
+which tyranny and corruption had wilfully misconstrued into a mission
+of crime, and punished with the ruin of a once happy and useful life.
+That was bad enough, but worse was to come before the cup of my
+miseries should be full."
+
+Natas was silent for a moment, and as he gazed into the fire the
+spasm of a great agony passed over his face, and two great tears
+welled up in his eyes and overflowed and ran down his cheeks on to
+his breast.
+
+"On receiving the order the governor telegraphed back that I was sick
+almost to death, and not able to bear the fatigue of the long,
+toilsome journey, and asked for further orders. As soon as this news
+reached my devoted wife she at once set out, in spite of all the
+entreaties of her friends and advisers, to cross the wastes of
+Siberia, and take her place at my bedside.
+
+"It was winter time, and from Ekaterinenburg, where the rail ended in
+those days, the journey would have to be performed by sledge. She,
+therefore, took with her only one servant and a courier, that she
+might travel as rapidly as possible.
+
+"She reached Tiumen, and there all trace was lost of her and her
+attendants. She vanished into that great white wilderness of ice and
+snow as utterly as though the grave had closed upon her. I knew
+nothing of her journey until I reached St. Petersburg many months
+afterwards.
+
+"All that money could do was done to trace her, but all to no avail.
+The only official news that ever came back out of that dark world of
+death and misery was that she had started from one of the
+post-stations a few hours before a great snow-storm had come on, that
+she had never reached the next station--and after that all was
+mystery.
+
+"Five years passed. I had returned to find my little daughter well
+and blooming into youthful beauty, and my affairs prospering in
+skilful and honest hands. I was richer in wealth than I had ever
+been, and in happiness poorer than a beggar, while the shadow of that
+awful uncertainty hung over me.
+
+"I could not believe the official story, for the search along the
+Siberian road had been too complete not to have revealed evidences of
+the catastrophe of which it told when the snows melted, and none such
+were ever found.
+
+"At length one night, just as I was going to bed, I was told that a
+man who would not give his name insisted on seeing me on business
+that he would tell no one but myself. All that he would say was that
+he came from Russia. That was enough. I ordered him to be admitted.
+
+"He was a stranger, ragged and careworn, and his face was stamped
+with the look of sullen, unspeakable misery that men's faces only
+wear in one part of the world.
+
+"'You are from Siberia,' I said, stretching out my hand to him.
+'Welcome, fellow-sufferer! Have you news for me?'
+
+"'Yes, I am from Siberia,' he replied, taking my hand; 'an escaped
+Nihilist convict from the mines. I have been four years getting from
+Kara to London, else you should have had my news sooner. I fear it is
+sad enough, but what else could you expect from the Russian
+prison-land? Here it is.'
+
+"As he spoke, he gave me an envelope, soiled and stained with long
+travel, and my heart stood still as I recognised in the blurred
+address the handwriting of my long-lost wife.
+
+"With trembling fingers I opened it, and through my tears I read a
+letter that my dear one had written to me on her deathbed four years
+before.
+
+"It has lain next my heart ever since, and every word is burnt into
+my brain, to stand there against the day of vengeance. But I have
+never told their full tale of shame and woe to mortal ears, nor ever
+can.
+
+"Let it suffice to say that my wife was beautiful with a beauty that
+is rare among the daughters of men; that a woman's honour is held as
+cheaply in the wildernesses of Siberia as is the life of a man who is
+a convict.
+
+"The official story of her death was false--false as are all the ten
+thousand other lies that have come out of that abode of oppression
+and misery, and she whom I mourned would have been well-favoured of
+heaven if she had died in the snowdrifts, as they said she did,
+rather than in the shame and misery to which her brutal destroyer
+brought her.
+
+"He was an official of high rank, and he had had the power to cover
+his crime from the knowledge of his superiors in St. Petersburg.
+
+"If it was ever known, it was hushed up for fear of the trouble that
+it would have brought to his masters; but two years later he visited
+Paris, and was found one morning in bed with a dagger in his black
+heart, and across his face the mark that told that he had died by
+order of the Nihilist Executive.
+
+"When I read those awful tidings from the grave, sorrow became
+quenchless rage, and despair was swallowed up in revenge. I joined
+the Brotherhood, and thenceforth placed a great portion of my wealth
+at their disposal. I rose in their councils till I commanded their
+whole organisation. No brain was so subtle as mine in planning
+schemes of revenge upon the oppressor, or of relief for the victims
+of his tyranny.
+
+"In a word, I became the brain of the Brotherhood which men used to
+call Nihilists, and then I organised another Society behind and above
+this which the world has known as the Terror, and which the great
+ones of the earth have for years dreaded as the most potent force
+that ever was arrayed against the enemies of humanity. Of this force
+I have been the controlling brain and the directing will. It was my
+creature, and it has obeyed me blindly; but ever since that fatal day
+in the mine at Kara I have been physically helpless, and therefore
+obliged to trust to others the execution of the plans that I
+conceived.
+
+"It was for this reason that I had need of you, Alan Tremayne, and
+this is why I chose you after I had watched you for years unseen as
+you grew from youth to manhood, the embodiment of all that has made
+the Anglo-Saxon the dominant factor in the development of present-day
+humanity.
+
+"I have employed a power which, as I firmly believe, was given to me
+when eternal justice made me the instrument of its vengeance upon a
+generation that had forgotten alike its God and its brother, to bend
+your will unconsciously to mine, and to compel you to do my bidding.
+How far I was justified in that let the result show.
+
+"It was once my intention to have bound you still closer to the
+Brotherhood by giving Natasha to you in marriage while you were yet
+under the spell of my will; but the Master of Destiny willed it
+otherwise, and I was saved from doing a great wrong, for the
+intention to do which I have done my best to atone."
+
+He paused for a moment and looked across the fireplace at Arnold and
+Natasha, who were sitting together on a big, low lounge that had been
+drawn up to the fire. Natasha raised her eyes for a moment and then
+dropped them. She knew what was coming, and a bright red flush rose
+up from her white throat to the roots of her dusky, lustrous hair.
+
+"Richard Arnold, in the first communication I ever had with you, I
+told you that if you used the powers you held in your hand well and
+wisely, you should, in the fulness of time, attain to your heart's
+desire. You have proved your faith and obedience in the hour of
+trial, and your strength and discretion in the day of battle. Now it
+is yours to ask and to have."
+
+For all answer Arnold put out his hand and took hold of Natasha's,
+and said quietly but clearly--
+
+"Give me this!"
+
+"So be it!" said Natas. "What you have worthily won you will worthily
+wear. May your days be long and peaceful in the world to which you
+have given peace!"
+
+And so it came to pass that three days later, in the little private
+chapel of Alanmere Castle, the two men who held the destinies of the
+world in their hands, took to wife the two fairest women who ever
+gave their loveliness to be the crown of strength and the reward of
+loyal love.
+
+For a week the Lord of Alanmere kept open house and royal state, as
+his ancestors had done five hundred years before him. The
+conventional absurdity of the honeymoon was ignored, as such brides
+and bridegrooms might have been expected to ignore it. Arnold and
+Natasha took possession of a splendid suite of rooms in the eastern
+wing of the Castle, and the two new-wedded couples passed the first
+days of their new happiness under one roof without the slightest
+constraint; for the Castle was vast enough for solitude when they
+desired it, and yet the solitude was not isolation or self-centred
+seclusion.
+
+Tremayne's private wire kept them hourly informed of what was going
+on in London, and when necessary the _Ithuriel_ was ready to traverse
+the space between Alanmere and the capital in an hour, as it did more
+than once to the great delight and wonderment of Tremayne's bride, to
+whom the marvellous vessel seemed a miracle of something more than
+merely human skill and genius.
+
+So the days passed swiftly and happily until the Christmas bells of
+1904 rang out over the length and breadth of Christendom, for the
+first time proclaiming in very truth and fact, so far as the Western
+world was concerned, "Peace on earth, Goodwill to Man."
+
+[Illustration: "Into the vast, white, silent wilderness, out of which
+none save the guards were destined ever to emerge again."
+
+_See page 385._]
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+On the 8th of January a swift warship, attended by two dynamite
+cruisers, left Portsmouth, bound for Odessa. She had on board the
+last of the Tsars of Russia, and those of his generals and Ministers
+who had been taken prisoners with him on Muswell Hill. A thousand
+feet overhead floated the _Ariel_, under the command of Alexis
+Mazanoff.
+
+From Odessa the prisoners were taken by train to Moscow. There, in
+the Central Convict Depot, they met their families and the officials
+whose share in their crimes made it necessary to bring them under the
+sentence pronounced by Natas. They were chained together in squads,
+Tsar and prince, noble and official, exactly as their own countless
+victims had been in the past, and so they were taken with their wives
+and children by train to Ekaterinenburg.
+
+Although the railway extended as far as Tomsk, Mazanoff made them
+disembark here, and marched them by the Great Siberian road to the
+Pillar of Farewells on the Asiatic frontier. There, as so many
+thousands of heart-broken, despairing men and women had done before
+them, they looked their last on Russian soil.
+
+From here they were marched on to the first Siberian _etapé_, one of
+a long series of foul and pestilential prisons which were to be the
+only halting-places on their long and awful journey. The next
+morning, as soon as the chill grey light of the winter's dawn broke
+over the snow-covered plains, the men were formed up in line, with
+the sleighs carrying the women and children in the rear. When all was
+ready Mazanoff gave the word: "Forward!" the whips of the Cossacks
+cracked, and the mournful procession moved slowly onward into the
+vast, white, silent wilderness, out of which none save the guards
+were destined ever to emerge again.
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE.
+
+"AND ON EARTH PEACE!"
+
+
+The winter and summer of 1905 passed in unbroken tranquillity all
+over Europe and the English-speaking world. The nations, at last
+utterly sickened of bloodshed by the brief but awful experience of
+the last six months of 1904, earnestly and gladly accepted the new
+order of things. From first to last of the war the slaughter had
+averaged more than a million of fighting men a month, and fully five
+millions of non-combatants, men, women, and children, had fallen
+victims to famine and disease, or had been killed during the
+wholesale destruction of fortified towns by the war-balloons of the
+League. At the lowest calculation the invasion of England had cost
+four million lives.
+
+It was an awful butcher's bill, and when the peoples of Europe awoke
+from the delirium of war to look back upon the frightful carnival of
+death and destruction, and realise that all this desolation and ruin
+had come to pass in little more than seven months, so deep a horror
+of war and all its abominations possessed them that they hailed with
+delight the safeguards provided against it by the new European
+Constitution which was made public at the end of March.
+
+It was a singularly short and simple document considering the immense
+changes which it introduced. It contained only five clauses. Of these
+the first proclaimed the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon Federation in
+all matters of international policy, and set forth the penalties to
+be incurred by any State that made war upon another.
+
+The second constituted an International Board of Arbitration and
+Control, composed of all the Sovereigns of Europe and their Prime
+Ministers for the time being, with the new President of the United
+States, the Governor-General of Canada, and the President of the now
+federated Australasian Colonies. This Board was to meet in sections
+every year in the various capitals of Europe, and collectively every
+five years in London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, and New York in
+rotation. There was no appeal from its decision save to the Supreme
+Council of the Federation, and this appeal could only be made with
+the consent of the President of that Council, given after the facts
+of the matter in dispute had been laid before him in writing.
+
+The third clause dealt with the rearrangement of the European
+frontiers. The Rhine from Karlsruhe to Basle was made the political
+as well as the natural boundary between France and Germany. The
+ancient kingdom of Poland was restored, with the frontiers it had
+possessed before the First Partition in 1773, and a descendant of
+Kosciusko, elected by the votes of the adult citizens of the
+reconstituted kingdom, was placed upon the throne. Turkey in Europe
+ceased to exist as a political power. Constantinople was garrisoned
+by British and Federation troops, and the country was administered
+for the time being by a Provisional Government under the presidency
+of Lord Cromer, who was responsible only to the Supreme Council. The
+other States were left undisturbed.
+
+The fourth and fifth clauses dealt with land, property, and law. All
+tenures of land existing before the war were cancelled at a stroke,
+and the soil of each country was declared to be the sole and
+inalienable property of the State. No occupiers were disturbed who
+were turning the land to profitable account, or who were making use
+of a reasonable area as a residential estate; but the great
+landowners in the country and the ground landlords in the towns
+ceased to exist as such, and all private incomes derived from the
+rent of land were declared illegal and so forfeited.
+
+All incomes unearned by productive work of hand or brain were
+subjected to a progressive tax, which reached fifty per cent. when
+the income amounted to £10,000 a year. It is almost needless to say
+that these clauses raised a tremendous outcry among the limited
+classes they affected; but the only reply made to it by the President
+of the Supreme Council was "that honestly earned incomes paid no tax,
+and that the idle and useless classes ought to be thankful to be
+permitted to exist at any price. The alternative of the tax would be
+compulsory labour paid for at its actual value by the State." Without
+one exception the grumblers preferred to pay the tax.
+
+All rents, revised according to the actual value of the produce or
+property, were to be paid direct to the State. As long as he paid
+this rent-tax no man could be disturbed in the possession of his
+holding. If he did not pay it the non-payment was to be held as
+presumptive evidence that he was not making a proper use of it, and
+he was to receive a year's notice to quit; but if at the end of that
+time he had amended his ways the notice was to be revoked.
+
+In all countries the Civil and Criminal Codes of Law were to be
+amalgamated and simplified by a committee of judges appointed
+directly by the Parliament with the assent of the Sovereign. The
+fifth clause of the Constitution plainly stated that no man was to be
+expected to obey a law that he could not understand, and that the
+Supreme Council would uphold no law which was so complicated that it
+needed a legal expert to explain it.
+
+It is almost needless to say that this clause swept away at a blow
+that pernicious class of hired advocates who had for ages grown rich
+on the weakness and the dishonesty of their fellow-men. In after
+years it was found that the abolition of the professional lawyer had
+furthered the cause of peace and progress quite as efficiently as the
+prohibition of standing armies had done.
+
+On the conclusion of the war the aërial fleet was increased to
+twenty-five vessels exclusive of the flagship. The number of
+war-balloons was raised to fifty, and three millions of Federation
+soldiers were held ready for active service until the conclusion of
+the war in the East between the Moslems and Buddhists. By November
+the Moslems were victors all along the line, and during the last week
+of that month the last battle between Christian and Moslem was fought
+on the Southern shore of the Bosphorus.
+
+All communications with the Asiatic and African shores of the
+Mediterranean were cut as soon as it became certain that Sultan
+Mohammed Reshad, at the head of a million and a half of victorious
+Moslems, and supported by Prince Abbas of Egypt at the head of seven
+hundred thousand more, was marching to the reconquest of Turkey. The
+most elaborate precautions were taken to prevent any detailed
+information as to the true state of things in Europe reaching the
+Sultan, as Tremayne and Arnold had come to the conclusion that it
+would be better, if he persisted in courting inevitable defeat, that
+it should fall upon him with crushing force and stupefying
+suddenness, so that he might be the more inclined to listen to reason
+afterwards.
+
+The Mediterranean was patrolled from end to end by air-ships and
+dynamite cruisers, and aërial scouts marked every movement of the
+victorious Sultan until it became absolutely certain that his
+objective point was Scutari. Meanwhile, two millions of men had been
+concentrated between Galata and Constantinople, while another million
+occupied the northern shore of the Dardanelles. An immense force of
+warships and dynamite cruisers swarmed between Gallipoli and the
+Golden Horn. Twenty air-ships and forty-five war-balloons lay outside
+Constantinople, ready to take the air at a moment's notice.
+
+The conqueror of Northern Africa and Southern Asia had only a very
+general idea as to what had really happened in Europe. His march of
+conquest had not been interrupted by any European expedition. The
+Moslems of India had exterminated the British garrisons, and there
+had been no attempt at retaliation or vengeance, as there had been in
+the days of the Mutiny. England, he knew, had been invaded, but
+according to the reports which had reached him, none of the invaders
+had ever got out of the island alive, and then the English had come
+out and conquered Europe. Of the wonderful doings of the aërial
+fleets only the vaguest rumours had come to his ears, and these had
+been so exaggerated and distorted, that he had but a very confused
+idea of the real state of affairs.
+
+The Moslem forces were permitted to advance without the slightest
+molestation to Scutari and Lamsaki, and on the evening of the 28th of
+November the Sultan took up his quarters in Scutari. That night he
+received a letter from the President of the Federation, setting forth
+succinctly, and yet very clearly, what had actually taken place in
+Europe, and calling upon him to give his allegiance to the Supreme
+Council, as the other sovereigns had done, and to accept the
+overlordship of Northern Africa and Southern Asia in exchange for
+Turkey in Europe. The letter concluded by saying that the immediate
+result of refusal to accept these terms would be the destruction of
+the Moslem armies on the following day. Before midnight, Tremayne
+received the Sultan's reply. It ran thus--
+
+    In the name of the Most Merciful God.
+
+      From MOHAMMED RESHAD, Commander of the Faithful, to ALAN
+      TREMAYNE, Leader of the English.
+
+    I have come to retake the throne of my fathers, and I am not to
+    be turned back by vain and boastful threats. What I have won with
+    the sword I will keep with the sword, and I will own allegiance
+    to none save God and His holy Prophet who have given me the
+    victory. Give me back Stamboul and my ancient dominions, and we
+    will divide the world between us. If not we must fight. Let the
+    reply to this come before daybreak.
+
+      MOHAMMED.
+
+
+No reply came back; but during the night the dynamite cruisers were
+drawn up within half a mile of the Asiatic shore with their guns
+pointing southward over Scutari, while other warships patrolled the
+coast to detect and frustrate any attempt to transport guns or troops
+across the narrow strip of water. With the first glimmer of light,
+the two aërial fleets took the air, the war-balloons in a long line
+over the van of the Moslem army, and the air-ships spread out in a
+semicircle to the southward. The hour of prayer was allowed to pass
+in peace, and then the work of death began. The war-balloons moved
+slowly forward in a straight line at an elevation of four thousand
+feet, sweeping the Moslem host from van to rear with a ceaseless hail
+of melinite and cyanogen bombs. Great projectiles soared silently up
+from the water to the north, and where they fell buildings were torn
+to fragments, great holes were blasted into the earth, and every
+human being within the radius of the explosion was blown to pieces,
+or hurled stunned to the ground. But more mysterious and terrible
+than all were the effects of the assault delivered by the air-ships,
+which divided into squadrons and swept hither and thither in wide
+curves, with the sunlight shining on their silvery hulls and their
+long slender guns, smokeless and flameless, hurling the most awful
+missiles of all far and wide, over a scene of butchery and horror
+that beggared all description.
+
+In vain the gallant Moslems looked for enemies in the flesh to
+confront them. None appeared save a few sentinels across the
+Bosphorus. And still the work of slaughter went on, pitiless and
+passionless as the earthquake or the thunderstorm. Millions of shots
+were fired into the air without result, and by the time the rain of
+death had been falling without intermission for two hours, an
+irresistible panic fell upon the Moslem soldiery. They had never met
+enemies like these before, and, brave as lions and yet simple as
+children, they looked upon them as something more than human, and
+with one accord they flung away their weapons and raised their hands
+in supplication to the sky. Instantly the aërial bombardment ceased,
+and within an hour East and West had shaken hands, Sultan Mohammed
+had accepted the terms of the Federation, and the long warfare of
+Cross and Crescent had ceased, as men hoped, for ever.
+
+Then the proclamation was issued disbanding the armies of Britain and
+the Federation and the forces of the Sultan. The warships steamed
+away westward on their last voyage to the South Atlantic, beneath
+whose waves they were soon to sink with all their guns and armaments
+for ever. The war-balloons were to be kept for purposes of
+transportation of heavy articles to Aeria, while the fleet of
+air-ships was to remain the sole effective fighting force in the
+world.
+
+While these events were taking place in Europe, those who had been
+banished as outcasts from the society of civilised men by the
+terrible justice of Natas had been plodding their weary way, in the
+tracks of the thousands they had themselves sent to a living grave,
+along the Great Siberian Road to the hideous wilderness, in the midst
+of which lie the mines of Kara. From the Pillar of Farewells to
+Tiumen, from thence to Tomsk,--where they met the first of the
+released political exiles returning in a joyous band to their beloved
+Russia,--and thence to Irkutsk, and then over the ice of Lake Baikal,
+and through the awful frozen desert of the Trans-Baikal Provinces,
+they had been driven like cattle until the remnant that had survived
+the horrors of the awful journey reached the desolate valley of the
+Kara and were finally halted at the Lower Diggings.
+
+Of nearly three hundred strong and well-fed men who had said good-bye
+to liberty at the Pillar of Farewells, only a hundred and twenty
+pallid and emaciated wretches stood shivering in their rags and
+chains when the muster was called on the morning after their arrival
+at Kara. Mazanoff and his escort had carried out their part of the
+sentence of Natas to the letter. The arctic blasts from the Tundras,
+the forced march, the chain and the scourge had done their work, and
+more than half the exile-convicts had found in nameless graves along
+the road respite from the long horrors of the fate which awaited the
+survivors.
+
+The first name called in the last muster was Alexander Romanoff.
+"Here," came in a deep hollow tone from the gaunt and ragged wreck of
+the giant who twelve months before had been the stateliest figure in
+the brilliant galaxy of European Royalty.
+
+"Your sentence is hard labour in the mines for"--The last word was
+never spoken, for ere it was uttered the tall and still erect form of
+the dethroned Autocrat suddenly shrank together, lurched forward, and
+fell with a choking gasp and a clash of chains upon the hard-trampled
+snow. A stream of blood rushed from his white, half-open lips, and
+when they went to raise him he was dead.
+
+If ever son of woman died of a broken heart it was Alexander
+Romanoff, last of the tyrants of Russia. Never had the avenging hand
+of Nemesis, though long-delayed, fallen with more precise and
+terrible justice. On the very spot on which thousands of his subjects
+and fellow-creatures, innocent of all crime save a desire for
+progress, had worn out their lives in torturing toil to provide the
+gold that had gilded his luxury, he fell as the Idol fell of old in
+the temple of Dagon.
+
+He had seen the blasting of his highest hopes in the hour of their
+apparent fruition. He had beheld the destruction of his army and the
+ruin of his dynasty. He had seen kindred and friends and faithful
+servants sink under the nameless horrors of a fate he could do
+nothing to alleviate, and with the knowledge that nothing but death
+could release them from it, and now at the last moment death had
+snatched from him even the poor consolation of sharing the sufferings
+of those nearest and dearest to him on earth.
+
+This happened on the 1st of December 1905, at nine o'clock in the
+morning. At the same hour Arnold leapt the _Ithuriel_ over the Ridge,
+passed down the valley of Aeria like a flash of silver light, and
+dropped to earth on the shores of the lake. In the same grove of
+palms which had witnessed their despairing betrothal he found Natasha
+swinging in a hammock, with a black-eyed six-weeks'-old baby nestling
+in her bosom, and her own loveliness softened and etherealised by the
+sacred grace of motherhood.
+
+"Welcome, my lord!" she said, with a bright flush of pleasure and the
+sweetest smile even he had ever seen transfiguring her beauty, as she
+stretched out her hand in welcome at his approach. "Does the King
+come in peace?"
+
+"Yes, Angel mine! the empire that you asked for is yours. There is
+not a regiment of men under arms in all the civilised world. The last
+battle has been fought and won, and so there is peace on earth at
+last!"
+
+  THE END
+
+  MORRISON AND GIBB PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now Ready, Third Edition.
+
+_308 pages, demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s._,
+
+THE CAPTAIN OF THE MARY ROSE.
+
+_A TALE OF TO-MORROW._
+
+By W. LAIRD CLOWES,
+
+U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE.
+
+With 60 Illustrations by the Chevalier de Martino and Fred. T. Jane.
+
+_A most graphic and enthralling description of the next Naval War
+between France and Great Britain._
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+THE FOLLOWING ARE A FEW PRESS OPINIONS.
+
+"Deserves something more than a mere passing notice."--_The Times._
+
+"Full of exciting situations.... Has manifold attractions for all
+sorts of readers."--_Army and Navy Gazette._
+
+"The most notable book of the season."--_The Standard._
+
+"A clever book. Mr. Clowes is pre-eminent for literary touch and
+practical knowledge of naval affairs."--_Daily Chronicle._
+
+"Mr. W. Laird Clowes' exciting story."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+"We read 'The Captain of the Mary Rose' at a sitting."--_The Pall
+Mall Gazette._
+
+"Written with no little spirit and imagination.... A stirring romance
+of the future."--_Manchester Guardian._
+
+"Is of a realistic and exciting character.... Designed to show what
+the naval warfare of the future may be."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+"One of the most interesting volumes of the year."--_Liverpool
+Journal of Commerce._
+
+"It is well told and magnificently illustrated."--_United Service
+Magazine._
+
+"Full of absorbing interest."--_Engineer's Gazette._
+
+"Is intensely realistic, so much so that after commencing the story
+every one will be anxious to read to the end."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+"The book is splendidly illustrated."--_Northern Whig._
+
+TOWER PUBLISHING CO. LIMITED,
+
+91 MINORIES, LONDON, E.C.;
+
+_And all Booksellers throughout the Kingdom_.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Angel of the Revolution, by George Griffith
+
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+Project Gutenberg's The Angel of the Revolution, by George Griffith
+
+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: The Angel of the Revolution
+       A Tale of the Coming Terror
+
+Author: George Griffith
+
+Illustrator: Fred T. Jane
+
+Release Date: February 18, 2010 [EBook #31324]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Michael Roe and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION
+
+
+MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
+
+[Illustration: _Drawn by Edwin S. Hope._
+
+NATASHA]
+
+
+
+
+THE ANGEL
+OF THE
+REVOLUTION
+
+A Tale of the Coming Terror
+
+
+BY
+GEORGE GRIFFITH
+
+_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY FRED. T. JANE_
+
+FIFTH EDITION
+
+LONDON
+TOWER PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED
+91 MINORIES, E.C.
+1894
+
+_Copyrighted Abroad_]    [_All Foreign Rights Reserved_
+
+TO
+CYRIL ARTHUR PEARSON
+TO WHOSE SUGGESTION
+THE WRITING OF THIS STORY
+WAS PRIMARILY DUE
+THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED
+BY
+THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  CHAP.                                        PAGE
+
+  I. AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR,                       1
+
+  II. AT WAR WITH SOCIETY,                       8
+
+  III. A FRIENDLY CHAT,                         16
+
+  IV. THE HOUSE ON CLAPHAM COMMON,              23
+
+  V. THE INNER CIRCLE,                          30
+
+  VI. NEW FRIENDS,                              37
+
+  VII. THE DAUGHTER OF NATAS,                   46
+
+  VIII. LEARNING THE PART,                      54
+
+  IX. THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS,                 63
+
+  X. THE "ARIEL,"                               70
+
+  XI. FIRST BLOOD,                              78
+
+  XII. IN THE MASTER'S NAME,                    85
+
+  XIII. FOR LIFE OR DEATH,                      91
+
+  XIV. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT,                98
+
+  XV. A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY,                   103
+
+  XVI. A WOOING IN MID-AIR,                    110
+
+  XVII. AERIA FELIX,                           119
+
+  XVIII. A NAVY OF THE FUTURE,                 127
+
+  XIX. THE EVE OF BATTLE,                      135
+
+  XX. BETWEEN TWO LIVES,                       141
+
+  XXI. JUST IN TIME,                           153
+
+  XXII. ARMED NEUTRALITY,                      162
+
+  XXIII. A BATTLE IN THE NIGHT,                169
+
+  XXIV. THE NEW WARFARE,                       179
+
+  XXV. THE HERALDS OF DISASTER,                188
+
+  XXVI. AN INTERLUDE,                          193
+
+  XXVII. ON THE TRACK OF TREASON,              201
+
+  XXVIII. A SKIRMISH IN THE CLOUDS,            208
+
+  XXIX. AN EMBASSY FROM THE SKY,               216
+
+  XXX. AT CLOSE QUARTERS,                      225
+
+  XXXI. A RUSSIAN RAID,                        233
+
+  XXXII. THE END OF THE CHASE,                 241
+
+  XXXIII. THE BREAKING OF THE CHARM,           247
+
+  XXXIV. THE PATH OF CONQUEST,                 251
+
+  XXXV. FROM CHAOS TO ARCADIE,                 258
+
+  XXXVI. LOVE AND DUTY,                        267
+
+  XXXVII. THE CAPTURE OF A CONTINENT,          276
+
+  XXXVIII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END,           289
+
+  XXXIX. THE BATTLE OF DOVER,                  295
+
+  XL. BELEAGUERED LONDON,                      301
+
+  XLI. AN ENVOY OF DELIVERANCE,                308
+
+  XLII. THE EVE OF ARMAGEDDON,                 315
+
+  XLIII. THE OLD LION AT BAY,                  323
+
+  XLIV. THE TURN OF THE BATTLE-TIDE,           331
+
+  XLV. ARMAGEDDON,                             339
+
+  XLVI. VICTORY,                               347
+
+  XLVII. THE JUDGMENT OF NATAS,                355
+
+  XLVIII. THE ORDERING OF EUROPE,              366
+
+  XLIX. THE STORY OF THE MASTER,               375
+
+  EPILOGUE.--"AND ON EARTH PEACE!"             386
+
+
+
+
+THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR.
+
+
+"Victory! It flies! I am master of the Powers of the Air at last!"
+
+They were strange words to be uttered, as they were, by a pale,
+haggard, half-starved looking young fellow in a dingy, comfortless
+room on the top floor of a South London tenement-house; and yet there
+was a triumphant ring in his voice, and a clear, bright flush on his
+thin cheeks that spoke at least for his own absolute belief in their
+truth.
+
+Let us see how far he was justified in that belief.
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+To begin at the beginning, Richard Arnold was one of those men whom
+the world is wont to call dreamers and enthusiasts before they
+succeed, and heaven-born geniuses and benefactors of humanity
+afterwards.
+
+He was twenty-six, and for nearly six years past he had devoted
+himself, soul and body, to a single idea--to the so far unsolved
+problem of aërial navigation.
+
+This idea had haunted him ever since he had been able to think
+logically at all--first dimly at school, and then more clearly at
+college, where he had carried everything before him in mathematics
+and natural science, until it had at last become a ruling passion
+that crowded everything else out of his life, and made him,
+commercially speaking, that most useless of social units--a
+one-idea'd man, whose idea could not be put into working form.
+
+He was an orphan, with hardly a blood relation in the world. He had
+started with plenty of friends, mostly made at college, who thought
+he had a brilliant future before him, and therefore looked upon him
+as a man whom it might be useful to know.
+
+But as time went on, and no results came, these dropped off, and he
+got to be looked upon as an amiable lunatic, who was wasting his
+great talents and what money he had on impracticable fancies, when he
+might have been earning a handsome income if he had stuck to the
+beaten track, and gone in for practical work.
+
+The distinctions that he had won at college, and the reputation he
+had gained as a wonderfully clever chemist and mechanician, had led
+to several offers of excellent positions in great engineering firms;
+but to the surprise and disgust of his friends he had declined them
+all. No one knew why, for he had kept his secret with the almost
+passionate jealousy of the true enthusiast, and so his refusals were
+put down to sheer foolishness, and he became numbered with the
+geniuses who are failures because they are not practical.
+
+When he came of age he had inherited a couple of thousand pounds,
+which had been left in trust to him by his father. Had it not been
+for that two thousand pounds he would have been forced to employ his
+knowledge and his talents conventionally, and would probably have
+made a fortune. But it was just enough to relieve him from the
+necessity of earning his living for the time being, and to make it
+possible for him to devote himself entirely to the realisation of his
+life-dream--at any rate until the money was gone.
+
+Of course he yielded to the temptation--nay, he never gave the other
+course a moment's thought. Two thousand pounds would last him for
+years; and no one could have persuaded him that with complete
+leisure, freedom from all other concerns, and money for the necessary
+experiments, he would not have succeeded long before his capital was
+exhausted.
+
+So he put the money into a bank whence he could draw it out as he
+chose, and withdrew himself from the world to work out the ideal of
+his life.
+
+Year after year passed, and still success did not come. He found
+practice very different from theory, and in a hundred details he met
+with difficulties he had never seen on paper. Meanwhile his money
+melted away in costly experiments which only raised hopes that ended
+in bitter disappointment. His wonderful machine was a miracle of
+ingenuity, and was mechanically perfect in every detail save one--it
+would do no practical work.
+
+Like every other inventor who had grappled with the problem, he had
+found himself constantly faced with that fatal ratio of weight to
+power. No engine that he could devise would do more than lift itself
+and the machine. Again and again he had made a toy that would fly, as
+others had done before him, but a machine that would navigate the air
+as a steamer or an electric vessel navigated the waters, carrying
+cargo and passengers, was still an impossibility while that terrible
+problem of weight and power remained unsolved.
+
+In order to eke out his money to the uttermost, he had clothed and
+lodged himself meanly, and had denied himself everything but the
+barest necessaries of life.
+
+Thus he had prolonged the struggle for over five years of toil and
+privation and hope deferred, and now, when his last sovereign had
+been changed and nearly spent, success--real, tangible, practical
+success--had come to him, and the discovery that was to be to the
+twentieth century what the steam-engine had been to the nineteenth
+was accomplished.
+
+He had discovered the true motive power at last.
+
+Two liquefied gases--which, when united, exploded spontaneously--were
+admitted by a clockwork escapement in minute quantities into the
+cylinders of his engine, and worked the pistons by the expansive
+force of the gases generated by the explosion. There was no weight
+but the engine itself and the cylinders containing the liquefied
+gases. Furnaces, boilers, condensers, accumulators, dynamos--all the
+ponderous apparatus of steam and electricity--were done away with,
+and he had a power at command greater than either of them.
+
+There was no doubt about it. The moment that his trembling fingers
+set the escapement mechanism in motion, the model that embodied the
+thought and labour of years rose into the air as gracefully as a bird
+on the wing, and sailed round and round in obedience to its rudder,
+straining hard at the string which prevented it from striking the
+ceiling. It was weighted in strict proportion to the load that the
+full-sized air-ship would have to carry. To increase this was merely
+a matter of increasing the power of the engine and the size of the
+floats and fans.
+
+The room was a large one, for the house had been built for a better
+fate than letting in tenements, and it ran from back to front with a
+window at each end. Out of doors there was a strong breeze blowing,
+and as soon as Arnold was sure that his ship was able to hold its own
+in still air, he threw both the windows open and let the wind blow
+straight through the room. Then he drew the air-ship down,
+straightened the rudder, and set it against the breeze.
+
+In almost agonised suspense he watched it rise from the floor, float
+motionless for a moment, and then slowly forge ahead in the teeth of
+the wind, gathering speed as it went. It was then that he had uttered
+that triumphant cry of "Victory!" All the long years of privation and
+hope deferred vanished in that one supreme moment of innocent and
+bloodless conquest, and he saw himself master of a kingdom as wide as
+the world itself.
+
+He let the model fly the length of the room before he stopped the
+clockwork and cut off the motive power, allowing it to sink gently to
+the floor. Then came the reaction. He looked steadfastly at his
+handiwork for several moments in silence, and then he turned and
+threw himself on to a shabby little bed that stood in one corner of
+the room and burst into a flood of tears.
+
+Triumph had come, but had it not come too late? He knew the boundless
+possibilities of his invention--but they had still to be realised. To
+do this would cost thousands of pounds, and he had just one
+half-crown and a few coppers. Even these were not really his own, for
+he was already a week behind with his rent, and another payment fell
+due the next day. That would be twelve shillings in all, and if it
+was not paid he would be turned into the street.
+
+As he raised himself from the bed he looked despairingly round the
+bare, shabby room. No; there was nothing there that he could pawn or
+sell. Everything saleable had gone already to keep up the struggle of
+hope against despair. The bed and wash-stand, the plain deal table,
+and the one chair that comprised the furniture of the room were not
+his. A little carpenter's bench, a few worn tools and odds and ends
+of scientific apparatus, and a dozen well-used books--these were all
+that he possessed in the world now, save the clothes on his back, and
+a plain painted sea-chest in which he was wont to lock up his
+precious model when he had to go out.
+
+His model! No, he could not sell that. At best it would fetch but the
+price of an ingenious toy, and without the secret of the two gases it
+was useless. But was not that worth something? Yes, if he did not
+starve to death before he could persuade any one that there was money
+in it. Besides, the chest and its priceless contents would be seized
+for the rent next day, and then--
+
+"God help me! What _am_ I to do?"
+
+The words broke from him like a cry of physical pain, and ended in a
+sob, and for all answer there was the silence of the room and the
+inarticulate murmur of the streets below coming up through the open
+windows.
+
+He was weak with hunger and sick with excitement, for he had lived
+for days on bread and cheese, and that day he had eaten nothing since
+the crust that had served him for breakfast. His nerves, too, were
+shattered by the intense strain of his final trial and triumph, and
+his head was getting light.
+
+With a desperate effort he recovered himself, and the heroic
+resolution that had sustained him through his long struggle came to
+his aid again. He got up and poured some water from the ewer into a
+cracked cup and drank it. It refreshed him for the moment, and he
+poured the rest of the water over his head. That steadied his nerves
+and cleared his brain. He took up the model from the floor, laid it
+tenderly and lovingly in its usual resting-place in the chest. Then
+he locked the chest and sat down upon it to think the situation over.
+
+Ten minutes later he rose to his feet and said aloud--
+
+"It's no use. I can't think on an empty stomach. I'll go out and have
+one more good meal if it's the last I ever have in the world, and
+then perhaps some ideas will come."
+
+So saying, he took down his hat, buttoned his shabby velveteen coat
+to conceal his lack of a waistcoat, and went out, locking the door
+behind him as he went.
+
+Five minutes' walk brought him to the Blackfriars Road, and then he
+turned towards the river and crossed the bridge just as the motley
+stream of city workers was crossing it in the opposite direction on
+their homeward journey.
+
+At Ludgate Circus he went into an eating-house and fared sumptuously
+on a plate of beef, some bread and butter, and a pint mug of coffee.
+As he was eating a paper-boy came in and laid an _Echo_ on the table
+at which he was sitting. He took it up mechanically, and ran his eye
+carelessly over the columns. He was in no humour to be interested by
+the tattle of an evening paper, but in a paragraph under the heading
+of Foreign News a once familiar name caught his eye, and he read the
+paragraph through. It ran as follows:--
+
+      RAILWAY OUTRAGE IN RUSSIA.
+
+    When the Berlin-Petersburg express stopped last night at Kovno,
+    the first stop after passing the Russian frontier, a shocking
+    discovery was made in the smoking compartment of the palace car
+    which has been on the train for the last few months. Colonel
+    Dornovitch, of the Imperial Police, who is understood to have
+    been on his return journey from a secret mission to Paris, was
+    found stabbed to the heart and quite dead. In the centre of the
+    forehead were two short straight cuts in the form of a *T*
+    reaching to the bone. Not long ago Colonel Dornovitch was
+    instrumental in unearthing a formidable Nihilist conspiracy, in
+    connection with which over fifty men and women of various social
+    ranks were exiled for life to Siberia. The whole affair is
+    wrapped in the deepest mystery, the only clue in the hands of the
+    police being the fact that the cross cut on the forehead of the
+    victim indicates that the crime is the work, not of the Nihilists
+    proper, but of that unknown and mysterious society usually
+    alluded to as the Terrorists, not one of whom has ever been seen
+    save in his crimes. How the assassin managed to enter and leave
+    the car unperceived while the train was going at full speed is an
+    apparently insoluble riddle. Saving the victim and the
+    attendants, the only passengers in the car who had not retired to
+    rest were another officer in the Russian service and Lord
+    Alanmere, who was travelling to St. Petersburg to resume, after
+    leave of absence, the duties of the Secretaryship to the British
+    Embassy, to which he was appointed some two years ago.
+
+"Why, that must be the Lord Alanmere who was at Trinity in my time,
+or rather Viscount Tremayne, as he was then," mused Arnold, as he
+laid the paper down. "We were very good friends in those days. I
+wonder if he'd know me now, and lend me a ten-pound note to get me
+out of the infernal fix I'm in? I believe he would, for he was one of
+the few really good-hearted men I have so far met with.
+
+"If he were in London I really think I should take courage from my
+desperation, and put my case before him and ask his help. However,
+he's not in London, and so it's no use wishing. Well, I feel more of
+a man for that shillingsworth of food and drink, and I'll go and wind
+up my dissipation with a pipe and a quiet think on the Embankment."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+AT WAR WITH SOCIETY.
+
+
+When Richard Arnold reached the Embankment dusk had deepened into
+night, so far, at least, as nature was concerned. But in London in
+the beginning of the twentieth century there was but little night to
+speak of, save in the sense of a division of time. The date of the
+paper which contained the account of the tragedy on the Russian
+railway was September 3rd, 1903, and within the last ten years
+enormous progress had been made in electric lighting.
+
+The ebb and flow in the Thames had at last been turned to account,
+and worked huge turbines which perpetually stored up electric power
+that was used not only for lighting, but for cooking in hotels and
+private houses, and for driving machinery. At all the great centres
+of traffic huge electric suns cast their rays far and wide along the
+streets, supplementing the light of the lesser lamps with which they
+were lined on each side.
+
+The Embankment from Westminster to Blackfriars was bathed in a flood
+of soft white light from hundreds of great lamps running along both
+sides, and from the centre of each bridge a million candle-power sun
+cast rays upon the water that were continued in one unbroken stream
+of light from Chelsea to the Tower.
+
+On the north side of the river the scene was one of brilliant and
+splendid opulence, that contrasted strongly with the half-lighted
+gloom of the murky wilderness of South London, dark and forbidding in
+its irredeemable ugliness.
+
+From Blackfriars Arnold walked briskly towards Westminster, bitterly
+contrasting as he went the lavish display of wealth around him with
+the sordid and seemingly hopeless poverty of his own desperate
+condition.
+
+He was the maker and possessor of a far greater marvel than anything
+that helped to make up this splendid scene, and yet the ragged tramps
+who were remorselessly moved on from one seat to another by the
+policemen as soon as they had settled themselves down for a rest and
+a doze, were hardly poorer than he was.
+
+For nearly four hours he paced backwards and forwards, every now and
+then stopping to lean on the parapet, and once or twice to sit down,
+until the chill autumn wind pierced his scanty clothing, and
+compelled him to resume his walk in order to get warm again.
+
+All the time he turned his miserable situation over and over again in
+his mind without avail. There seemed no way out of it; no way of
+obtaining the few pounds that would save him from homeless beggary
+and his splendid invention from being lost to him and the world,
+certainly for years, and perhaps for ever.
+
+And then, as hour after hour went by, and still no cheering thought
+came, the misery of the present pressed closer and closer upon him.
+He dare not go home, for that would be to bring the inevitable
+disaster of the morrow nearer, and, besides, it was home no longer
+till the rent was paid. He had two shillings, and he owed at least
+twelve. He was also the maker of a machine for which the Tsar of
+Russia had made a standing offer of a million sterling. That million
+might have been his if he had possessed the money necessary to bring
+his invention under the notice of the great Autocrat.
+
+That was the position he had turned over and over in his mind until
+its horrible contradictions maddened him. With a little money, riches
+and fame were his; without it he was a beggar in sight of starvation.
+
+And yet he doubted whether, even in his present dire extremity, he
+could, had he had the chance, sell what might be made the most
+terrific engine of destruction ever thought of to the head and front
+of a despotism that he looked upon as the worst earthly enemy of
+mankind.
+
+For the twentieth time he had paused in his weary walk to and fro to
+lean on the parapet close by Cleopatra's Needle. The Embankment was
+almost deserted now, save by the tramps and a few isolated wanderers
+like himself. For several minutes he looked out over the brightly
+glittering waters below him, wondering listlessly how long it would
+take him to drown if he dropped over, and whether he would be rescued
+before he was dead, and brought back to life, and prosecuted the next
+day for daring to try and leave the world save in the conventional
+and orthodox fashion.
+
+Then his mind wandered back to the Tsar and his million, and he
+pictured to himself the awful part that a fleet of air-ships such as
+his would play in the general European war that people said could not
+now be put off for many months longer. As he thought of this the
+vision grew in distinctness, and he saw them hovering over armies and
+cities and fortresses, and raining irresistible death and destruction
+down upon them. The prospect appalled him, and he shuddered as he
+thought that it was now really within the possibility of realisation;
+and then his ideas began to translate themselves involuntarily into
+words which he spoke aloud, completely oblivious for the time being
+of his surroundings.
+
+"No, I think I would rather destroy it, and then take my secret with
+me out of the world, than put such an awful power of destruction and
+slaughter into the hands of the Tsar, or, for the matter of that, any
+other of the rulers of the earth. Their subjects can butcher each
+other quite efficiently enough as it is. The next war will be the
+most frightful carnival of destruction that the world has ever seen;
+but what would it be like if I were to give one of the nations of
+Europe the power of raining death and desolation on its enemies from
+the skies! No, no! Such a power, if used at all, should only be used
+against and not for the despotisms that afflict the earth with the
+curse of war!"
+
+"Then why not use it so, my friend, if you possess it, and would see
+mankind freed from its tyrants?" said a quiet voice at his elbow.
+
+The sound instantly scattered his vision to the winds, and he turned
+round with a startled exclamation to see who had spoken. As he did
+so, a whiff of smoke from a very good cigar drifted past his
+nostrils, and the voice said again in the same quiet, even tones--
+
+"You must forgive me for my bad manners in listening to what you were
+saying, and also for breaking in upon your reverie. My excuse must be
+the great interest that your words had for me. Your opinions would
+appear to be exactly my own, too, and perhaps you will accept that as
+another excuse for my rudeness."
+
+It was the first really kindly, friendly voice that Richard Arnold
+had heard for many a long day, and the words were so well chosen and
+so politely uttered that it was impossible to feel any resentment, so
+he simply said in answer--
+
+"There was no rudeness, sir; and, besides, why should a gentleman
+like you apologise for speaking to a"--
+
+"Another gentleman," quickly interrupted his new acquaintance.
+"Because I transgressed the laws of politeness in doing so, and an
+apology was due. Your speech tells me that we are socially equals.
+Intellectually you look my superior. The rest is a difference only of
+money, and that any smart swindler can bury himself in nowadays if he
+chooses. But come, if you have no objection to make my better
+acquaintance, I have a great desire to make yours. If you will pardon
+my saying so, you are evidently not an ordinary man, or else,
+something tells me, you would be rich. Have a smoke and let us talk,
+since we apparently have a subject in common. Which way are you
+going?"
+
+"Nowhere--and therefore anywhere," replied Arnold, with a laugh that
+had but little merriment in it. "I have reached a point from which
+all roads are one to me."
+
+"That being the case I propose that you shall take the one that leads
+to my chambers in Savoy Mansions yonder. We shall find a bit of
+supper ready, I expect, and then I shall ask you to talk. Come
+along!"
+
+There was no more mistaking the genuine kindness and sincerity of the
+invitation than the delicacy with which it was given. To have refused
+would not only have been churlish, but it would have been for a
+drowning man to knock aside a kindly hand held out to help him; so
+Arnold accepted, and the two new strangely met and strangely assorted
+friends walked away together in the direction of the Savoy.
+
+The suite of rooms occupied by Arnold's new acquaintance was the beau
+ideal of a wealthy bachelor's abode. Small, compact, cosy, and richly
+furnished, yet in the best of taste withal, the rooms looked like an
+indoor paradise to him after the bare squalor of the one room that
+had been his own home for over two years.
+
+His host took him first into a dainty little bath-room to wash his
+hands, and by the time he had performed his scanty toilet supper was
+already on the table in the sitting-room. Nothing melts reserve like
+a good well-cooked meal washed down by appropriate liquids, and
+before supper was half over Arnold and his host were chatting
+together as easily as though they stood on perfectly equal terms and
+had known each other for years. His new friend seemed purposely to
+keep the conversation to general subjects until the meal was over and
+his pattern man-servant had removed the cloth and left them together
+with the wine and cigars on the table.
+
+As soon as he had closed the door behind him his host motioned Arnold
+to an easy-chair on one side of the fireplace, threw himself into
+another on the other side, and said--
+
+"Now, my friend, plant yourself, as they say across the water, help
+yourself to what there is as the spirit moves you, and talk--the more
+about yourself the better. But stop. I forgot that we do not even
+know each other's name yet. Let me introduce myself first.
+
+"My name is Maurice Colston; I am a bachelor, as you see. For the
+rest, in practice I am an idler, a dilettante, and a good deal else
+that is pleasant and utterly useless. In theory, let me tell you, I
+am a Socialist, or something of the sort, with a lively conviction as
+to the injustice and absurdity of the social and economic conditions
+which enable me to have such a good time on earth without having done
+anything to deserve it beyond having managed to be born the son of my
+father."
+
+He stopped and looked at his guest through the wreaths of his cigar
+smoke as much as to say: "And now who are you?"
+
+Arnold took the silent hint, and opened his mouth and his heart at
+the same time. Quite apart from the good turn he had done him, there
+was a genial frankness about his unconventional host that chimed in
+so well with his own nature that he cast all reserve aside, and told
+plainly and simply the story of his life and its master passion, his
+dreams and hopes and failures, and his final triumph in the hour when
+triumph itself was defeat.
+
+His host heard him through without a word, but towards the end of his
+story his face betrayed an interest, or rather an expectant anxiety,
+to hear what was coming next that no mere friendly concern of the
+moment for one less fortunate than himself could adequately account
+for. At length, when Arnold had completed his story with a brief but
+graphic description of the last successful trial of his model, he
+leant forward in his chair, and, fixing his dark, steady eyes on his
+guest's face, said in a voice from which every trace of his former
+good-humoured levity had vanished--
+
+"A strange story, and truer, I think, than the one I told you. Now
+tell me on your honour as a gentleman: Were you really in earnest
+when I heard you say on the embankment that you would rather smash up
+your model and take the secret with you into the next world, than
+sell your discovery to the Tsar for the million that he has offered
+for such an air-ship as yours?"
+
+"Absolutely in earnest," was the reply. "I have seen enough of the
+seamy side of this much-boasted civilisation of ours to know that it
+is the most awful mockery that man ever insulted his Maker with. It
+is based on fraud, and sustained by force--force that ruthlessly
+crushes all who do not bow the knee to Mammon. I am the enemy of a
+society that does not permit a man to be honest and live, unless he
+has money and can defy it. I have just two shillings in the world,
+and I would rather throw them into the Thames and myself after them
+than take that million from the Tsar in exchange for an engine of
+destruction that would make him master of the world."
+
+"Those are brave words," said Colston, with a smile. "Forgive me for
+saying so, but I wonder whether you would repeat them if I told you
+that I am a servant of his Majesty the Tsar, and that you shall have
+that million for your model and your secret the moment that you
+convince me that what you have told me is true."
+
+Before he had finished speaking Arnold had risen to his feet. He
+heard him out, and then he said, slowly and steadily--
+
+"I should not take the trouble to repeat them; I should only tell you
+that I am sorry that I have eaten salt with a man who could take
+advantage of my poverty to insult me. Good night."
+
+He was moving towards the door when Colston jumped up from his chair,
+strode round the table, and got in front of him. Then he put his two
+hands on his shoulders, and, looking straight into his eyes, said in
+a tone that vibrated with emotion--
+
+"Thank God, I have found an honest man at last! Go and sit down
+again, my friend, my comrade, as I hope you soon will be. Forgive me
+for the foolishness that I spoke! I am no servant of the Tsar. He and
+all like him have no more devoted enemy on earth than I am. Look! I
+will soon prove it to you."
+
+As he said the last words, Colston let go Arnold's shoulders, flung
+off his coat and waistcoat, slipped his braces off his shoulders, and
+pulled his shirt up to his neck. Then he turned his bare back to his
+guest, and said--
+
+"That is the sign-manual of Russian tyranny--the mark of the knout!"
+
+Arnold shrank back with a cry of horror at the sight. From waist to
+neck Colston's back was a mass of hideous scars and wheals, crossing
+each other and rising up into purple lumps, with livid blue and grey
+spaces between them. As he stood, there was not an inch of
+naturally-coloured skin to be seen. It was like the back of a man who
+had been flayed alive, and then flogged with a cat-o'-nine-tails.
+
+Before Arnold had overcome his horror his host had re-adjusted his
+clothing. Then he turned to him and said--
+
+"That was my reward for telling the governor of a petty Russian town
+that he was a brute-beast for flogging a poor decrepit old Jewess to
+death. Do you believe me now when I say that I am no servant or
+friend of the Tsar?"
+
+"Yes, I do," replied Arnold, holding out his hand, "you were right to
+try me, and I was wrong to be so hasty. It is a failing of mine that
+has done me plenty of harm before now. I think I know now what you
+are without your telling me. Give me a piece of paper and you shall
+have my address, so that you can come to-morrow and see the
+model--only I warn you that you will have to pay my rent to keep my
+landlord's hands off it. And then I must be off, for I see it's past
+twelve."
+
+"You are not going out again to-night, my friend, while I have a sofa
+and plenty of rugs at your disposal," said his host. "You will sleep
+here, and in the morning we will go together and see this marvel of
+yours. Meanwhile sit down and make yourself at home with another
+cigar. We have only just begun to know each other--we two enemies of
+Society!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A FRIENDLY CHAT.
+
+
+Soon after eight the next morning Colston came into the sitting-room
+where Arnold had slept on the sofa, and dreamt dreams of war and
+world-revolts and battles fought in mid-air between aërial navies
+built on the plan of his own model. When Colston came in he was just
+awake enough to be wondering whether the events of the previous night
+were a reality or part of his dreams--a doubt that was speedily set
+at rest by his host drawing back the curtains and pulling up the
+blinds.
+
+The moment his eyes were properly open he saw that he was anywhere
+but in his own shabby room in Southwark, and the rest was made clear
+by Colston saying--
+
+"Well, comrade Arnold, Lord High Admiral of the Air, how have you
+slept? I hope you found the sofa big and soft enough, and that the
+last cigar has left no evil effects behind it."
+
+"Eh? Oh, good morning! I don't know whether it was the whisky or the
+cigars, or what it was; but do you know I have been dreaming all
+sorts of absurd things about battles in the air and dropping
+explosives on fortresses and turning them into small volcanoes. When
+you came in just now I hadn't the remotest idea where I was. It's
+time to get up, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, it's after eight a good bit. I've had my tub, so the bath-room
+is at your service. Meanwhile, Burrows will be laying the table for
+breakfast. When you have finished your tub, come into my
+dressing-room, and let me rig you out. We are about of a size, and I
+think I shall be able to meet your most fastidious taste. In fact, I
+could rig you out as anything--from a tramp to an officer of the
+Guards."
+
+"It wouldn't take much change to accomplish the former, I'm afraid.
+But, really, I couldn't think of trespassing so far on your
+hospitality as to take your very clothes from you. I'm deep enough in
+your debt already."
+
+"Don't talk nonsense, Richard Arnold. The tone in which those last
+words were said shows me that you have not duly laid to heart what I
+said last night. There is no such thing as private property in the
+Brotherhood, of which I hope, by this time to-morrow, you will be an
+initiate.
+
+"What I have here is mine only for the purposes of the Cause,
+wherefore it is as much yours as mine, for to-day we are going on the
+Brotherhood's business. Why, then, should you have any scruples about
+wearing the Brotherhood's clothes? Now clear out and get tubbed, and
+wash some of those absurd ideas out of your head."
+
+"Well, as you put it that way, I don't mind, only remember that I
+don't necessarily put on the principles of the Brotherhood with its
+clothes."
+
+So saying, Arnold got up from the sofa, stretched himself, and went
+off to make his toilet.
+
+When he sat down to breakfast with his host half an hour later, very
+few who had seen him on the Embankment the night before would have
+recognised him as the same man. The tailor, after all, does a good
+deal to make the man, externally at least, and the change of clothes
+in Arnold's case had transformed him from a superior looking tramp
+into an aristocratic and decidedly good-looking man, in the prime of
+his youth, saving only for the thinness and pallor of his face, and a
+perceptible stoop in the shoulders.
+
+During breakfast they chatted about their plans for the day, and then
+drifted into generalities, chiefly of a political nature.
+
+The better Arnold came to know Maurice Colston the more remarkable
+his character appeared to him; and it was his growing wonder at the
+contradictions that it exhibited that made him say towards the end of
+the meal--
+
+"I must say you're a queer sort of conspirator, Colston. My idea of
+Nihilists and members of revolutionary societies has always taken the
+form of silent, stealthy, cautious beings, with a lively distrust and
+hatred of the whole human race outside their own circles. And yet
+here are you, an active member of the most terrible secret society in
+existence, pledged to the destruction of nearly every institution on
+earth, and carrying your life in your hand, opening your heart like a
+schoolboy to a man you have literally not known for twenty-four
+hours.
+
+"Suppose you had made a mistake in me. What would there be to prevent
+me telling the police who you are, and having you locked up with a
+view to extradition to Russia?"
+
+"In the first place," replied Colston quietly, "you would not do so,
+because I am not mistaken in you, and because, in your heart, whether
+you fully know it or not, you believe as I do about the destruction
+that is about to fall upon Society.
+
+"In the second place, if you did betray my confidence, I should be
+able to bring such an overwhelming array of the most respectable
+evidence to show that I was nothing like what I really am, that you
+would be laughed at for a madman; and, in the third place, there
+would be an inquest on you within twenty-four hours after you had
+told your story. Do you remember the death of Inspector Ainsworth, of
+the Criminal Investigation Department, about six months ago?"
+
+"Yes, of course I do. Hermit and all as I was, I could hardly help
+hearing about that, considering what a noise it made. But I thought
+that was cleared up. Didn't one of that gang of garotters that was
+broken up in South London a couple of months later confess to
+strangling him in the statement that he made before he was executed?"
+
+"Yes, and his widow is now getting ten shillings a week for life on
+account of that confession. Birkett no more killed Ainsworth than you
+did; but he had killed two or three others, and so the confession
+didn't do him very much harm.
+
+"No; Ainsworth met his death in quite another way. He accepted from
+the Russian secret police bureau in London a bribe of £250 down and
+the promise of another £250 if he succeeded in manufacturing enough
+evidence against a member of our Outer Circle to get him extradited
+to Russia on a trumped-up charge of murder.
+
+"The Inner Circle learnt of this from one of our spies in the Russian
+London police, and----, well, Ainsworth was found dead with the mark
+of the Terror upon his forehead before he had time to put his
+treachery into action. He was executed by two of the Brotherhood, who
+are members of the Metropolitan police force, and who were afterwards
+complimented by the magistrate for the intelligent efforts they had
+made in bringing the murderers to justice."
+
+Colston told the dark story in the most careless of tones between the
+puffs of his after-breakfast cigarette. Arnold stifled his horror as
+well as he was able, but he could not help saying, when his host had
+done--
+
+"This Brotherhood of yours is well named the Terror; but was not that
+rather a murder than an execution?"
+
+"By no means," replied Colston, a trifle coldly. "Society hangs or
+beheads a man who kills another. Ainsworth knew as well as we did
+that if the man he tried to betray by false evidence had once set
+foot in Russia, the torments of a hundred deaths would have been his
+before he had been allowed to die.
+
+"He betrayed his office and his faith to his English masters in order
+to commit this vile crime, and so he was killed as a murderous and
+treacherous reptile that was not fit to live. We of the Terror are
+not lawyers, and so we make no distinctions between deliberate
+plotting for money to kill and the act of killing itself. Our law is
+closer akin to justice than the hair-splitting fraud that is
+tolerated by Society."
+
+Either from emotional or logical reasons Arnold made no reply to this
+reasoning, and, seeing he remained silent, Colston resumed his
+ordinary nonchalant, good-humoured tone, and went on--
+
+"But come, that will be horrors enough for to-day. We have other
+business in hand, and we may as well get to it at once. About this
+wonderful invention of yours. Of course I believe all you have told
+me about it, but you must remember that I am only an agent, and that
+I am inexorably bound by certain rules, in accordance with which I
+must act.
+
+"Now, to be perfectly plain with you, and in order that we may
+thoroughly understand each other before either of us commits himself
+to anything, I must tell you that I want to see this model flying
+ship of yours in order to be able to report on it to-night to the
+Executive of the Inner Circle, to whom I shall also want to introduce
+you. If you will not allow me to do that say so at once, and, for the
+present at least, our negotiations must come to a sudden stop."
+
+"Go on," said Arnold quietly; "so far I consent. For the rest I would
+rather hear you to the end."
+
+"Very well. Then if the Executive approve of the invention, you will
+be asked to join the Inner Circle at once, and to devote yourself
+body and soul to the Society and the accomplishment of the objects
+that will be explained to you. If you refuse there will be an end of
+the matter, and you will simply be asked to give your word of honour
+to reveal nothing that you have seen or heard, and then allowed to
+depart in peace.
+
+"If, on the other hand, you consent, in consideration of the immense
+importance of your secret--which there is no need to disguise from
+you--to the Brotherhood, the usual condition of passing through the
+Outer Circle will be dispensed with, and you will be trusted as
+absolutely as we shall expect you to trust us.
+
+"Whatever funds you then require to manufacture an air-ship on the
+plan of your model will be placed at your disposal, and a suitable
+place will be selected for the works that you will have to build.
+When the ship is ready to take the air you will, of course, be
+appointed to the command of her, and you will pick your crew from
+among the workmen who will act under your orders in the building of
+the vessel.
+
+"They will all be members of the Outer Circle, who will not
+understand your orders, but simply obey them blindly, even to the
+death. One member of the Inner Circle will act as your second in
+command, and he will be as perfectly trusted as you will be, so that
+in unforeseen emergencies you will be able to consult with him with
+perfect confidence. Now I think I have told you all. What do you
+say?"
+
+Arnold was silent for a few minutes, too busy for speech with the
+rush of thoughts that had crowded through his brain as Colston was
+speaking. Then he looked up at his host and said--
+
+"May I make conditions?"
+
+"You may state them," replied he, with a smile, "but, of course, I
+don't undertake to accept them without consultation with my--I mean
+with the Executive."
+
+"Of course not," said Arnold. "Well, the conditions that I should
+feel myself obliged to make with your Executive would be, briefly
+speaking, these: I would not reveal to any one the composition of the
+gases from which I derive my motive force. I should manufacture them
+myself in given quantities, and keep them always under my own charge.
+
+"At the first attempt to break faith with me in this respect I would
+blow the air-ship and all her crew, including myself, into such
+fragments as it would be difficult to find one of them. I have and
+wish for no life apart from my invention, and I would not survive
+it."
+
+"Good!" interrupted Colston. "There spoke the true enthusiast. Go
+on."
+
+"Secondly, I would use the machine only in open warfare--when the
+Brotherhood is fighting openly for the attainment of a definite end.
+Once the appeal to force has been made I will employ a force such as
+no nation on earth can use without me, and I will use it as
+unsparingly as the armies and fleets engaged will employ their own
+engines of destruction on one another. But I will be no party to the
+destruction of defenceless towns and people who are not in arms
+against us. If I am ordered to do that I tell you candidly that I
+will not do it. I will blow the air-ship itself up first."
+
+"The conditions are somewhat stringent, although the sentiments are
+excellent," replied Colston; "still, of myself I can neither accept
+nor reject them. That will be for the Executive to do. For my own
+part I think that you will be able to arrive at a basis of agreement
+on them. And now I think we have said all we can say for the present,
+and so if you are ready we'll be off and satisfy my longing to see
+the invention that is to make us the arbiters of war--when war comes,
+which I fancy will not be long now."
+
+Something in the tone in which these last words were spoken struck
+Arnold with a kind of cold chill, and he shivered slightly as he said
+in answer to Colston--
+
+"I am ready when you are, and no less anxious than you to set eyes on
+my model. I hope to goodness it is all safe! Do you know, when I am
+away from it I feel just like a woman away from her first baby."
+
+A few minutes later two of the most dangerous enemies of Society
+alive were walking quietly along the Embankment towards Blackfriars,
+smoking their cigars and chatting as conventionally as though there
+were no such things on earth as tyranny and oppression, and their
+necessarily ever-present enemies conspiracy and brooding revolution.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE HOUSE ON CLAPHAM COMMON.
+
+
+Twenty minutes' walk took Arnold and Colston to the door of the
+tenement-house in which the former had lived since his fast-dwindling
+store of money had convinced him of the necessity of bringing his
+expenses down to the lowest possible limit if he wished to keep up
+the struggle with fate very much longer.
+
+As they mounted the dirty, evil-smelling staircase, Colston said--
+
+"Phew! Verily you are a hero of science if you have brought yourself
+to live in a hole like this for a couple of years rather than give up
+your dream, and grow fat on the loaves and fishes of
+conventionality."
+
+"This is a palace compared with some of the rookeries about here,"
+replied Arnold, with a laugh. "The march of progress seems to have
+left this half of London behind as hopeless. Ten years ago there were
+a good many thousands of highly respectable mediocrities living on
+this side of the river, but now I am told that the glory has departed
+from the very best of its localities, and given them up to various
+degrees of squalor. Vice, poverty, and misery seem to gravitate
+naturally southward in London. I don't know why, but they do. Well,
+here is the door of my humble den."
+
+As he spoke he put the key in the lock, and opened the door, bidding
+his companion enter as he did so.
+
+Arnold's anxiety was soon relieved by finding the precious model
+untouched in its resting-place, and it was at once brought out.
+Colston was delighted beyond his powers of expression with the
+marvellous ingenuity with which the miracle of mechanical skill was
+contrived and put together; and when Arnold, after showing and
+explaining to him all the various parts of the mechanism and the
+external structure, at length set the engine working, and the
+air-ship rose gracefully from the floor and began to sail round the
+room in the wide circle to which it was confined by its mooring-line,
+he stared at it for several minutes in wondering silence, following
+it round and round with his eyes, and then he said in a voice from
+which he vainly strove to banish the signs of the emotion that
+possessed him--
+
+"It is the last miracle of science! With a few such ships as that one
+could conquer the world in a month!"
+
+"Yes, that would not be a very difficult task, seeing that neither an
+army nor a fleet could exist for twelve hours with two or three of
+them hovering above it," replied Arnold.
+
+The trial over, Arnold set to work and took the model partly to
+pieces for packing up; and while he was putting it away in the old
+sea-chest, Colston counted out ten sovereigns and laid them on the
+table. Hearing the clink of the gold, Arnold looked up and said--
+
+"What is that for? A sovereign will be quite enough to get me out of
+my present scrape, and then if we come to any terms to-night it will
+be time enough to talk about payment."
+
+"The Brotherhood does not do business in that way," was the reply.
+"At present your only connection with it is a commercial one, and ten
+pounds is a very moderate fee for the privilege of inspecting such an
+invention as this. Anyhow, that is what I am ordered to hand over to
+you in payment for your trouble now and to-night, so you must accept
+it as it is given--as a matter of business."
+
+"Very well," said Arnold, closing and locking the chest as he spoke,
+"if you think it worth ten pounds, the money will not come amiss to
+me. Now, if you will remain and guard the household gods for a
+minute, I will go and pay my rent and get a cab."
+
+Half an hour later his few but priceless possessions were loaded on a
+four-wheeler and Arnold had bidden farewell for ever to the dingy
+room in which he had passed so many hours of toil and dreaming,
+suffering and disappointment. Before lunch time they were safely
+bestowed in a couple of rooms which Colston had engaged for him in
+the same building in which his own rooms were.
+
+In the afternoon, among other purchases, a more convenient case was
+bought for the model, and in this it was packed with the plans and
+papers which explained its construction, ready for the evening
+journey.
+
+The two friends dined together at six in Colston's rooms, and at
+seven sharp his servant announced that the cab was at the door.
+Within ten minutes they were bowling along the Embankment towards
+Westminster Bridge in a luxuriously appointed hansom of the newest
+type, with the precious case lying across their knees.
+
+"This is a comfortable cab," said Arnold, when they had gone a
+hundred yards or so. "By the way, how does the man know where to go?
+I didn't hear you give him any directions."
+
+"None were necessary," was the reply. "This cab, like a good many
+others in London, belongs to the Brotherhood, and the man who is
+driving is one of the Outer Circle. Our Jehus are the most useful
+spies that we have. Many is the secret of the enemy that we have
+learnt from, and many is the secret police agent who has been driven
+to his rendezvous by a Terrorist who has heard every word that has
+been spoken on the journey."
+
+"How on earth is that managed?"
+
+"Every one of the cabs is fitted with a telephonic arrangement
+communicating with the roof. The driver has only to button the wire
+of the transmitter up inside his coat so that the transmitter itself
+lies near to his ear, and he can hear even a whisper inside the cab.
+
+"The man who is driving us, for instance, has a sort of retainer from
+the Russian Embassy to be on hand at certain hours on certain nights
+in the week. Our cabs are all better horsed, better appointed, and
+better driven than any others in London, and, consequently, they are
+favourites, especially among the young attachés, and are nearly
+always employed by them on their secret missions or love affairs,
+which, by the way, are very often the same thing. Our own Jehu has a
+job on to-night, from which we expect some results that will mystify
+the enemy not a little. We got our first suspicions of Ainsworth from
+a few incautious words that he spoke in one of our cabs."
+
+"It's a splendid system, I should think, for discovering the
+movements of your enemies," said Arnold, not without an uncomfortable
+reflection on the fact that he was himself now completely in the
+power of this terrible organisation, which had keen eyes and ready
+hands in every capital of the civilised world. "But how do you guard
+against treachery? It is well known that all the Governments of
+Europe are spending money like water to unearth this mystery of the
+Terror. Surely all your men cannot be incorruptible."
+
+"Practically they are so. The very mystery which enshrouds all our
+actions makes them so. We have had a few traitors, of course; but as
+none of them has ever survived his treachery by twenty-four hours, a
+bribe has lost its attraction for the rest."
+
+In such conversation as this the time was passed, while the cab
+crossed the river and made its way rapidly and easily along
+Kennington Road and Clapham Road to Clapham Common. At length it
+turned into the drive of one of those solid abodes of pretentious
+respectability which front the Common, and pulled up before a big
+stucco portico.
+
+"Here we are!" exclaimed Colston, as the doors of the cab
+automatically opened. He got out first, and Arnold handed the case to
+him, and then followed him.
+
+Without a word the driver turned his horse into the road again and
+drove off towards town, and as they ascended the steps the front door
+opened, and they went in, Colston saying as they did so--
+
+"Is Mr. Smith at home?"
+
+"Yes, sir; you are expected, I believe. Will you step into the
+drawing-room?" replied the clean-shaven and immaculately respectable
+man-servant, in evening dress, who had opened the door for them.
+
+They were shown into a handsomely furnished room lit with electric
+light. As soon as the footman had closed the door behind him, Colston
+said--
+
+"Well, now, here you are in the conspirators' den, in the very
+headquarters of those Terrorists for whom Europe is being ransacked
+constantly without the slightest success. I have often wondered what
+the rigid respectability of Clapham Common would think if it knew the
+true character of this harmless-looking house. I hardly think an
+earthquake in Clapham Road would produce much more sensation than
+such a discovery would.
+
+"And now," he continued, his tone becoming suddenly much more
+serious, "in a few minutes you will be in the presence of the Inner
+Circle of the Terrorists, that is to say, of those who practically
+hold the fate of Europe in their hands. You know pretty clearly what
+they want with you. If you have thought better of the business that
+we have discussed you are still at perfect liberty to retire from it,
+on giving your word of honour not to disclose anything that I have
+said to you."
+
+"I have not the slightest intention of doing anything of the sort,"
+replied Arnold. "You know the conditions on which I came here. I
+shall put them before your Council, and if they are accepted your
+Brotherhood will, within their limits, have no more faithful adherent
+than I. If not, the business will simply come to an end as far as I
+am concerned, and your secret will be as safe with me as though I had
+taken the oath of membership."
+
+"Well said!" replied Colston, "and just what I expected you to say.
+Now listen to me for a minute. Whatever you may see or hear for the
+next few minutes say nothing till you are asked to speak. I will say
+all that is necessary at first. Ask no questions, but trust to
+anything that may seem strange being explained in due course--as it
+will be. A single indiscretion on your part might raise suspicions
+which would be as dangerous as they would be unfounded. When you are
+asked to speak do so without the slightest fear, and speak your mind
+as openly as you have done to me."
+
+"You need have no fear for me," replied Arnold. "I think I am
+sensible enough to be prudent, and I am quite sure that I am
+desperate enough to be fearless. Little worse can happen to me than
+the fate that I was contemplating last night."
+
+As he ceased speaking there was a knock at the door. It opened and
+the footman reappeared, saying in the most commonplace fashion--
+
+"Mr. Smith will be happy to see you now, gentlemen. Will you kindly
+walk this way?"
+
+They followed him out into the hall, and then, somewhat to Arnold's
+surprise, down the stairs at the back, which apparently led to the
+basement of the house.
+
+The footman preceded them to the basement floor and halted before a
+door in a little passage that looked like the entrance to a coal
+cellar. On this he knocked in peculiar fashion with the knuckles of
+one hand, while with the other he pressed the button of an electric
+bell concealed under the paper on the wall. The bell sounded faintly
+as though some distance off, and as it rang the footman said abruptly
+to Colston--
+
+"Das Wort ist Freiheit."
+
+Arnold knew German enough to know that this meant "The word is
+'Freedom,'" but why it should have been spoken in a foreign language
+mystified him not a little.
+
+While he was thinking about this the door opened, as if by a released
+spring, and he saw before him a long, narrow passage, lit by four
+electric arcs, and closed at the other end by a door, guarded by a
+sentry armed with a magazine rifle.
+
+He followed Colston down the passage, and when within a dozen feet of
+the sentry, he brought his rifle to the "ready," and the following
+strange dialogue ensued between him and Colston--
+
+"Quien va?"
+
+"Zwei Freunde der Bruderschaft."
+
+"Por la libertad?"
+
+"Für Freiheit über alles!"
+
+"Pass, friends."
+
+The rifle grounded as the words were spoken, and the sentry stepped
+back to the wall of the passage.
+
+At the same moment another bell rang beyond the door, and then the
+door itself opened as the other had done.
+
+They passed through, and it closed instantly behind them, leaving
+them in total darkness.
+
+Colston caught Arnold by the arm, and drew him towards him, saying as
+he did so--
+
+"What do you think of our system of passwords?"
+
+"Pretty hard to get through unless one knew them, I should think. Why
+the different languages?"
+
+"To make assurance doubly sure every member of the Inner Circle must
+be conversant with four European languages. On these the changes are
+rung, and even I did not know what the two languages were to be
+to-night before I entered the house, and if I had asked for 'Mr.
+Brown' instead of 'Mr. Smith,' we should never have got beyond the
+drawing-room.
+
+"When the footman told me in German that the word was 'Freedom,' I
+knew that I should have to answer the challenge of the sentry in
+German. I did not know that he would challenge in Spanish, and if I
+had not understood him, or had replied in any other language but
+German, he would have shot us both down without saying another word,
+and no one would ever have known what had become of us. You will be
+exempt from this condition, because you will always come with me. I
+am, in fact, responsible for you."
+
+"H'm, there doesn't seem much chance of any one getting through on
+false pretences," replied Arnold, with an irrepressible shudder. "Has
+any one ever tried?"
+
+"Yes, once. The two gentlemen whose disappearance made the famous
+'Clapham Mystery' of about twelve months ago. They were two of the
+smartest detectives in the French service, and the only two men who
+ever guessed the true nature of this house. They are buried under the
+floor on which you are standing at this moment."
+
+The words were spoken with a cruel inflexible coldness, which struck
+Arnold like a blast of frozen air. He shivered, and was about to
+reply when Colston caught him by the arm again, and said hurriedly--
+
+"H'st! We are going in. Remember what I said, and don't speak again
+till some one asks you to do so."
+
+As he spoke a door opened in the wall of the dark chamber in which
+they had been standing for the last few minutes, and a flood of soft
+light flowed in upon their dazzled eyes. At the same moment a man's
+voice said from the room beyond in Russian--
+
+"Who stands there?"
+
+"Maurice Colston and the Master of the Air," replied Colston in the
+same language.
+
+"You are welcome," was the reply, and then Colston, taking Arnold by
+the arm, led him into the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE INNER CIRCLE.
+
+
+As soon as Arnold's eyes got accustomed to the light, he saw that he
+was in a large, lofty room with panelled walls adorned with a number
+of fine paintings. As he looked at these his gaze was fascinated by
+them, even more than by the strange company which was assembled round
+the long table that occupied the middle of the room.
+
+Though they were all manifestly the products of the highest form of
+art, their subjects were dreary and repulsive beyond description.
+There was a horrible realism about them which reminded him
+irresistibly of the awful collection of pictorial horrors in the
+Musée Wiertz, in Brussels--those works of the brilliant but unhappy
+genius who was driven into insanity by the sheer exuberance of his
+own morbid imagination.
+
+Here was a long line of men and women in chains staggering across a
+wilderness of snow that melted away into the horizon without a break.
+Beside them rode Cossacks armed with long whips that they used on men
+and women alike when their fainting limbs gave way beneath them, and
+they were like to fall by the wayside to seek the welcome rest that
+only death could give them.
+
+There was a picture of a woman naked to the waist, and tied up to a
+triangle in a prison yard, being flogged by a soldier with willow
+wands, while a group of officers stood by, apparently greatly
+interested in the performance. Another painting showed a poor wretch
+being knouted to death in the market-place of a Russian town, and yet
+another showed a young and beautiful woman in a prison cell with her
+face distorted by the horrible leer of madness, and her little white
+hands clawing nervously at her long dishevelled hair.
+
+Arnold stood for several minutes fascinated by the hideous realism of
+the pictures, and burning with rage and shame at the thought that
+they were all too terribly true to life, when he was startled out of
+his reverie by the same voice that had called them from the dark room
+saying to him in English--
+
+"Well, Richard Arnold, what do you think of our little picture
+gallery? The paintings are good in themselves, but it may make them
+more interesting to you if you know that they are all faithful
+reproductions of scenes that have really taken place within the
+limits of the so-called civilised and Christian world. There are some
+here in this room now who have suffered the torments depicted on
+those canvases, and who could tell of worse horrors than even they
+portray. We should like to know what you think of our paintings?"
+
+Arnold glanced towards the table in search of Colston, but he had
+vanished. Around the long table sat fourteen masked and shrouded
+forms that were absolutely indistinguishable one from the other. He
+could not even tell whether they were men or women, so closely were
+their forms and faces concealed. Seeing that he was left to his own
+discretion, he laid the case containing the model, which he had so
+far kept under his arm, down on the floor, and, facing the strange
+assembly, said as steadily as he could--
+
+"My own reading tells me that they are only too true to the dreadful
+reality. I think that the civilised and Christian Society which
+permits such crimes to be committed against humanity, when it has the
+power to stop them by force of arms, is neither truly civilised nor
+truly Christian."
+
+"And would _you_ stop them if you could?"
+
+"Yes, if it cost the lives of millions to do it! They would be better
+spent than the thirty million lives that were lost last century over
+a few bits of territory."
+
+"That is true, and augurs well for our future agreement. Be kind
+enough to come to the table and take a seat."
+
+The masked man who spoke was sitting in the chair at the foot of the
+table, and as he said this one of those sitting at the side got up
+and motioned to Arnold to take his place. As soon as he had done so
+the speaker continued--
+
+"We are glad to see that your sentiments are so far in accord with
+our own, for that fact will make our negotiations all the easier.
+
+"As you are aware, you are now in the Inner Circle of the Terrorists.
+Yonder empty chair at the head of the table is that of our Chief,
+who, though not with us in person, is ever present as a guiding
+influence in our councils. We act as he directs, and it was from him
+that we received news of you and your marvellous invention. It is
+also by his direction that you have been invited here to-night with
+an object that you are already aware of.
+
+"I see from your face that you are about to ask how this can be,
+seeing that you have never confided your secret to any one until last
+night. It will be useless to ask me, for I myself do not know. We who
+sit here simply execute the Master's will. We ask no questions, and
+therefore we can answer none concerning him."
+
+"I have none to ask," said Arnold, seeing that the speaker paused as
+though expecting him to say something. "I came at the invitation of
+one of your Brotherhood to lay certain terms before you, for you to
+accept or reject as seems good to you. How you got to know of me and
+my invention is, after all, a matter of indifference to me. With your
+perfect system of espionage you might well find out more secret
+things than that."
+
+"Quite so," was the reply. "And the question that we have to settle
+with you is how far you will consent to assist the work of the
+Brotherhood with this invention of yours, and on what conditions you
+will do so."
+
+"I must first know as exactly as possible what the work of the
+Brotherhood is."
+
+"Under the circumstances there is no objection to your knowing that.
+In the first place, that which is known to the outside world as the
+Terror is an international secret society underlying and directing
+the operations of the various bodies known as Nihilists, Anarchists,
+Socialists--in fact, all those organisations which have for their
+object the reform or destruction, by peaceful or violent means, of
+Society as it is at present constituted.
+
+"Its influence reaches beyond these into the various trade unions and
+political clubs, the moving spirits of which are all members of our
+Outer Circle. On the other side of Society we have agents and
+adherents in all the Courts of Europe, all the diplomatic bodies, and
+all the parliamentary assemblies throughout the world.
+
+"We believe that Society as at present constituted is hopeless for
+any good thing. All kinds of nameless brutalities are practised
+without reproof in the names of law and order, and commercial
+economics. On one side human life is a splendid fabric of cloth of
+gold embroidered with priceless gems, and on the other it is a mass
+of filthy, festering rags, swarming with vermin.
+
+"We think that such a Society--a Society which permits considerably
+more than the half of humanity to be sunk in poverty and misery while
+a very small portion of it fools away its life in perfectly
+ridiculous luxury--does not deserve to exist, and ought to be
+destroyed.
+
+"We also know that sooner or later it will destroy itself, as every
+similar Society has done before it. For nearly forty years there has
+now been almost perfect peace in Europe. At the same time, over
+twenty millions of men are standing ready to take the field in a
+week.
+
+"War--universal war that will shake the world to its foundations--is
+only a matter of a little more delay and a few diplomatic hitches.
+Russia and England are within rifleshot of each other in Afghanistan,
+and France and Germany are flinging defiances at each other across
+the Rhine.
+
+"Some one must soon fire the shot that will set the world in a blaze,
+and meanwhile the toilers of the earth are weary of these dreadful
+military and naval burdens, and would care very little if the
+inevitable happened to-morrow.
+
+"It is in the power of the Terrorists to delay or precipitate that
+war to a certain extent. Hitherto all our efforts have been devoted
+to the preservation of peace, and many of the so-called outrages
+which have taken place in different parts of Europe, and especially
+in Russia, during the last few years, have been accomplished simply
+for the purpose of forcing the attention of the administrations to
+internal affairs for the time, and so putting off what would have led
+to a declaration of war.
+
+"This policy has not been dictated by any hope of avoiding war
+altogether, for that would have been sheer insanity. We have simply
+delayed war as long as possible, because we have not felt that we
+have been strong enough to turn the tide of battle at the right
+moment in favour of the oppressed ones of the earth and against their
+oppressors.
+
+"But this invention of yours puts a completely different aspect on
+the European situation. Armed with such a tremendous engine of
+destruction as a navigable air-ship must necessarily be, when used in
+conjunction with the explosives already at our disposal, we could
+make war impossible to our enemies by bringing into the field a force
+with which no army or fleet could contend without the certainty of
+destruction. By these means we should ultimately compel peace and
+enforce a general disarmament on land and sea.
+
+"The vast majority of those who make the wealth of the world are sick
+of seeing that wealth wasted in the destruction of human life, and
+the ruin of peaceful industries. As soon, therefore, as we are in a
+position to dictate terms under such tremendous penalties, all the
+innumerable organisations with which we are in touch all over the
+world will rise in arms and enforce them at all costs.
+
+"Of course, it goes without saying that the powers that are now
+enthroned in the high places of the world will fight bitterly and
+desperately to retain the rule that they have held for so long, but
+in the end we shall be victorious, and then on the ruins of this
+civilisation a new and a better shall arise.
+
+"That is a rough, brief outline of the policy of the Brotherhood,
+which we are going to ask you to-night to join. Of course, in the
+eyes of the world we are only a set of fiends, whose sole object is
+the destruction of Society, and the inauguration of a state of
+universal anarchy. That, however, has no concern for us. What is
+called popular opinion is merely manufactured by the Press according
+to order, and does not count in serious concerns. What I have
+described to you are the true objects of the Brotherhood; and now it
+remains for you to say, yes or no, whether you will devote yourself
+and your invention to carrying them out or not."
+
+For two or three minutes after the masked spokesman of the Inner
+Circle had ceased speaking, there was absolute silence in the room.
+The calmly spoken words which deliberately sketched out the ruin of a
+civilisation and the establishment of a new order of things made a
+deep impression on Arnold's mind. He saw clearly that he was standing
+at the parting of the ways, and facing the most tremendous crisis
+that could occur in the life of a human being.
+
+It was only natural that he should look back, as he did, to the life
+from which a single step would now part him for ever, without the
+possibility of going back. He knew that if he once put his hands to
+the plough, and looked back, death, swift and inevitable, would be
+the penalty of his wavering. This, however, he had already weighed
+and decided.
+
+Most of what he had heard had found an echo in his own convictions.
+Moreover, the life that he had left had no charms for him, while to
+be one of the chief factors in a world-revolution was a destiny
+worthy both of himself and his invention. So the fatal resolution was
+taken, and he spoke the words that bound him for ever to the
+Brotherhood.
+
+"As I have already told Mr. Colston," he began by saying, "I will
+join and faithfully serve the Brotherhood if the conditions that I
+feel compelled to make are granted"--
+
+"We know them already," interrupted the spokesman, "and they are
+freely granted. Indeed, you can hardly fail to see that we are
+trusting you to a far greater extent than it is possible for us to
+make you trust us, unless you choose to do so. The air-ship once
+built and afloat under your command, the game of war would to a great
+extent be in your own hands. True, you would not survive treachery
+very long; but, on the other hand, if it became necessary to kill
+you, the air-ship would be useless, that is, if you took your secret
+of the motive power with you into the next world."
+
+"As I undoubtedly should," added Arnold quietly.
+
+"We have no doubt that you would," was the equally quiet rejoinder.
+"And now I will read to you the oath of membership that you will be
+required to sign. Even when you have heard it, if you feel any
+hesitation in subscribing to it, there will still be time to
+withdraw, for we tolerate no unwilling or half-hearted recruits."
+
+Arnold bowed his acquiescence, and the spokesman took a piece of
+paper from the table and read aloud--
+
+"_I, Richard Arnold, sign this paper in the full knowledge that in
+doing so I devote myself absolutely for the rest of my life to the
+service of the Brotherhood of Freedom, known to the world as the
+Terrorists. As long as I live its ends shall be my ends, and no human
+considerations shall weigh with me where those ends are concerned. I
+will take life without mercy, and yield my own without hesitation at
+its bidding. I will break all other laws to obey those which it
+obeys, and if I disobey these I shall expect death as the just
+penalty of my perjury._"
+
+As he finished reading the oath, he handed the paper to Arnold,
+saying as he did so--
+
+"There are no theatrical formalities to be gone through. Simply sign
+the paper and give it back to me, or else tear it up and go in
+peace."
+
+Arnold read it through slowly, and then glanced round the table. He
+saw the eyes of the silent figures sitting about him shining at him
+through the holes in their masks. He laid the paper down on the table
+in front of him, dipped a pen in an inkstand that stood near, and
+signed the oath in a firm, unfaltering hand. Then--committed for
+ever, for good or evil, to the new life that he had adopted--he gave
+the paper back again.
+
+The President took it and read it, and then passed it to the mask on
+his right hand. It went from one to the other round the table, each
+one reading it before passing it on, until it got back to the
+President. When it reached him he rose from his seat, and, going to
+the fireplace, dropped it into the flames, and watched it until it
+was consumed to ashes. Then, crossing the room to where Arnold was
+sitting, he removed his mask with one hand, and held the other out to
+him in greeting, saying as he did so--
+
+"Welcome to the Brotherhood! Thrice welcome! for your coming has
+brought the day of redemption nearer!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+NEW FRIENDS.
+
+
+As Arnold returned the greeting of the President, all the other
+members of the Circle rose from their seats and took off their masks
+and the black shapeless cloaks which had so far completely covered
+them from head to foot.
+
+Then, one after the other, they came forward and were formally
+introduced to him by the President. Nine of the fourteen were men,
+and five were women of ages varying from middle age almost to
+girlhood. The men were apparently all between twenty-five and
+thirty-five, and included some half-dozen nationalities among them.
+
+All, both men and women, evidently belonged to the educated, or
+rather to the cultured class. Their speech, which seemed to change
+with perfect ease from one language to another in the course of their
+somewhat polyglot converse, was the easy flowing speech of men and
+women accustomed to the best society, not only in the social but the
+intellectual sense of the word.
+
+All were keen, alert, and swift of thought, and on the face of each
+one there was the dignifying expression of a deep and settled purpose
+which at once differentiated them in Arnold's eyes from the ordinary
+idle or merely money-making citizens of the world.
+
+As each one came and shook hands with the new member of the
+Brotherhood, he or she had some pleasant word of welcome and greeting
+for him; and so well were the words chosen, and so manifestly
+sincerely were they spoken, that by the time he had shaken hands all
+round Arnold felt as much at home among them as though he were in the
+midst of a circle of old friends.
+
+Among the women there were two who had attracted his attention and
+roused his interest far more than any of the other members of the
+Circle. One of these was a tall and beautifully-shaped woman, whose
+face and figure were those of a woman in the early twenties, but
+whose long, thick hair was as white as though the snows of seventy
+winters had drifted over it. As he returned her warm, firm
+hand-clasp, and looked upon her dark, resolute, and yet perfectly
+womanly features, the young engineer gave a slight start of
+recognition. She noticed this at once and said, with a smile and a
+quick flash from her splendid grey eyes--
+
+"Ah! I see you recognise me. No, I am not ashamed of my portrait. I
+am proud of the wounds that I have received in the war with tyranny,
+so you need not fear to confess your recognition."
+
+It was true that Arnold had recognised her. She was the original of
+the central figure of the painting which depicted the woman being
+flogged by the Russian soldiers.
+
+Arnold flushed hotly at the words with the sudden passionate anger
+that they roused within him, and replied in a low, steady voice--
+
+"Those who would sanction such a crime as that are not fit to live. I
+will not leave one stone of that prison standing upon another. It is
+a blot on the face of the earth, and I will wipe it out utterly!"
+
+"There are thousands of blots as black as that on earth, and I think
+you will find nobler game than an obscure Russian provincial prison.
+Russia has cities and palaces and fortresses that will make far
+grander ruins than that--ruins that will be worthy monuments of
+fallen despotism," replied the girl, who had been introduced by the
+President as Radna Michaelis. "But here is some one else waiting to
+make your acquaintance. This is Natasha. She has no other name among
+us, but you will soon learn why she needs none."
+
+Natasha was the other woman who had so keenly roused Arnold's
+interest. Woman, however, she hardly was, for she was seemingly still
+in her teens, and certainly could not have been more than twenty.
+
+He had mixed but little with women, and during the past few years not
+at all, and therefore the marvellous beauty of the girl who came
+forward as Radna spoke seemed almost unearthly to him, and confused
+his senses for the moment as some potent drug might have done. He
+took her outstretched hand in awkward silence, and for an instant so
+far forgot himself as to gaze blankly at her in speechless
+admiration.
+
+She could not help noticing it, for she was a woman, and for the same
+reason she saw that it was so absolutely honest and involuntary that
+it was impossible for any woman to take offence at it. A quick bright
+flush swept up her lovely face as his hand closed upon hers, her
+darkly-fringed lids fell for an instant over the most wonderful pair
+of sapphire-blue eyes that Arnold had ever even dreamed of, and when
+she raised them again the flush had gone, and she said in a sweet,
+frank voice--
+
+"I am the daughter of Natas, and he has desired me to bid you welcome
+in his name, and I hope you will let me do so in my own as well. We
+are all dying to see this wonderful invention of yours. I suppose you
+are going to satisfy our feminine curiosity, are you not?"
+
+The daughter of Natas! This lovely girl, in the first sweet flush of
+her pure and innocent womanhood, the daughter of the unknown and
+mysterious being whose ill-omened name caused a shudder if it was
+only whispered in the homes of the rich and powerful; the name with
+which the death-sentences of the Terrorists were invariably signed,
+and which had come to be an infallible guarantee that they would be
+carried out to the letter.
+
+No death-warrants of the most powerful sovereigns of Europe were more
+certain harbingers of inevitable doom than were those which bore this
+dreaded name. Whether he were high or low, the man who received one
+of them made ready for his end. He knew not where or when the fatal
+blow would be struck. He only knew that the invisible hand of the
+Terror would strike him as surely in the uttermost ends of the earth
+as it would in the palace or the fortress. Never once had it missed
+its aim, and never once had the slightest clue been obtained to the
+identity of the hand that held the knife or pistol.
+
+Some such thoughts as these flashed one after another through
+Arnold's brain as he stood talking with Natasha. He saw at once why
+she had only that one name. It was enough, and it was not long before
+he learnt that it was the symbol of an authority in the Circle that
+admitted of no question.
+
+She was the envoy of him whose word was law, absolute and
+irrevocable, to every member of the Brotherhood; to disobey whom was
+death; and to obey whom had, so far at least, meant swift and
+invariable success, even where it seemed least to be hoped for.
+
+Of course, Natasha's almost girlish question about the air-ship was
+really a command, which would have been none the less binding had she
+only had her own beauty to enforce it. As she spoke the President and
+Colston--who had only lost himself for the time behind a mask and
+cloak--came up to Arnold and asked him if he was prepared to give an
+exhibition of the powers of his model, and to explain its working and
+construction to the Circle at once.
+
+He replied that everything was perfectly ready for the trial, and
+that he would set the model working for them in a few minutes. The
+President then told him that the exhibition should take place in
+another room, where there would be much more space than where they
+were, and bade him bring the box and follow him.
+
+A door was now opened in the wall of the room remote from that by
+which he and Colston had entered, and through this the whole party
+went down a short passage, and through another door at the end which
+opened into a very large apartment, which, from the fact of its being
+windowless, Arnold rightly judged to be underground, like the
+Council-chamber that they had just left.
+
+A single glance was enough to show him the chief purpose to which the
+chamber was devoted. The wall at one end was covered with arm-racks
+containing all the newest and most perfect makes of rifles and
+pistols; while at the other end, about twenty paces distant, were
+three electric signalling targets, graded, as was afterwards
+explained to him, to one, three, and five hundred yards range.
+
+In a word, the chamber was an underground range for rifle and pistol
+practice, in which a volley could have been fired without a sound
+being heard ten yards away. It was here that the accuracy of the
+various weapons invented from time to time was tested; and here, too,
+every member of the Circle, man and woman, practised with rifle and
+pistol until an infallible aim was acquired. A register of scores was
+kept, and at the head of it stood the name of Radna Michaelis.
+
+A long table ran across the end at which the arm-racks were, and on
+this Arnold laid the case containing the model, he standing on one
+side of the table, and the members of the Circle on the other,
+watching his movements with a curiosity that they took no trouble to
+disguise.
+
+He opened the case, feeling something like a scientific demonstrator,
+with an advanced and critical class before him. In a moment the man
+disappeared, and the mechanician and the enthusiast took his place.
+As each part was taken out and laid upon the table, he briefly
+explained its use; and then, last of all, came the hull of the
+air-ship.
+
+This was three feet long and six inches broad in its midships
+diameter. It was made in two longitudinal sections of polished
+aluminium, which shone like burnished silver. It would have been
+cigar-shaped but for the fact that the forward end was drawn out into
+a long sharp ram, the point of which was on a level with the floor of
+the hull amidships as it lay upon the table. Two deep bilge-plates,
+running nearly the whole length of the hull, kept it in an upright
+position and prevented the blades of the propellers from touching the
+table. For about half its whole length the upper part of the hull was
+flattened and formed a deck from which rose three short strong masts,
+each of which carried a wheel of thin metal whose spokes were six
+inclined fans something like the blades of a screw.
+
+A little lower than this deck there projected on each side a broad,
+oblong, slightly curved sheet of metal, very thin, but strengthened
+by means of wire braces, till it was as rigid as a plate of solid
+steel, although it only weighed a few ounces. These air-planes worked
+on an axis amidships, and could be inclined either way through an
+angle of thirty degrees. At the pointed stern there revolved a
+powerful four-bladed propeller, and from each quarter, inclined
+slightly outwards from the middle line of the vessel, projected a
+somewhat smaller screw working underneath the after end of the
+air-planes.
+
+The hull contained four small double-cylinder engines, one of which
+actuated the stern-propeller, and the other three the fan-wheels and
+side-propellers. There were, of course, no furnaces, boilers, or
+condensers. Two slender pipes ran into each cylinder from suitably
+placed gas reservoirs, or power-cylinders, as the engineer called
+them, and that was all.
+
+Arnold deftly and rapidly put the parts together, continuing his
+running description as he did so, and in a few minutes the beautiful
+miracle of ingenuity stood complete before the wondering eyes of the
+Circle, and a murmur of admiration ran from lip to lip, bringing a
+flush of pleasure to the cheek of its creator.
+
+"There," said he, as he put the finishing touches to the apparatus,
+"you see that she is a combination of two principles--those of the
+Aëronef and the Aëroplane. The first reached its highest development
+in Jules Verne's imaginary "Clipper of the Clouds," and the second in
+Hiram Maxim's Aëroplane. Of course, Jules Verne's Aëronef was merely
+an idea, and one that could never be realised while Robur's
+mysterious source of electrical energy remained unknown--as it still
+does.
+
+"Maxim's Aëroplane is, as you all know, also an unrealised ideal so
+far as any practical use is concerned. He has succeeded in making it
+fly, but only under the most favourable conditions, and practically
+without cargo. Its two fatal defects have been shown by experience to
+be the comparatively overwhelming weight of the engine and the fuel
+that he has to carry to develop sufficient power to rise from the
+ground and progress against the wind, and the inability of the
+machine to ascend perpendicularly to any required height.
+
+"Without the power to do this no air-ship can be of any use save
+under very limited conditions. You cannot carry a railway about with
+you, or a station to get a start from every time you want to rise,
+and you cannot always choose a nice level plain in which to come
+down. Even if you could the Aëroplane would not rise again without
+its rails and carriage. For purposes of warfare, then, it may be
+dismissed as totally useless.
+
+"In this machine, as you see, I have combined the two principles.
+These helices on the masts will lift the dead weight of the ship
+perpendicularly without the slightest help from the side-planes,
+which are used to regulate the vessel's flight when afloat. I will
+set the engines that work them in motion independently of the others
+which move the propellers, and then you will see what I mean."
+
+As he spoke, he set one part of the mechanism working. Those watching
+saw the three helices begin to spin round, the centre one revolving
+in an opposite direction to the other two, with a soft whirring sound
+that gradually rose to a high-pitched note.
+
+When they attained their full speed they looked like solid wheels,
+and then the air-ship rose, at first slowly, and then more and more
+swiftly, straight up from the table, until it strained hard at the
+piece of cord which prevented it from reaching the roof.
+
+A universal chorus of "bravas" greeted it as it rose, and every eye
+became fixed on it as it hung motionless in the air, sustained by its
+whirling helices. After letting it remain aloft for a few minutes
+Arnold pulled it down again, saying as he did so--
+
+"That, I think, proves that the machine can rise from any position
+where the upward road is open, and without the slightest assistance
+of any apparatus. Now it shall take a voyage round the room.
+
+"You see it is steered by this rudder-fan under the stern propeller.
+In the real ship it will be worked by a wheel, like the rudder of a
+sea-going vessel; but in the model it is done by this lever, so that
+I can control it by a couple of strings from the ground."
+
+He went round to the other side of the table while he was speaking,
+and adjusted the steering gear, stopping the engines meanwhile. Then
+he put the model down on the floor, set all four engines to work, and
+stood behind with the guiding-strings in his hands. The spectators
+heard a louder and somewhat shriller whirring noise than before, and
+the beautiful fabric, with its shining, silvery hull and side-planes,
+rose slantingly from the ground and darted forward down the room,
+keeping Arnold at a quick run with the rudder-strings tightly
+strained.
+
+Like an obedient steed, it instantly obeyed the slightest pull upon
+either of them, and twice made the circuit of the room before its
+creator pulled it down and stopped the machinery.
+
+The experiment was a perfect and undeniable success in every respect,
+and not one of those who saw it had the slightest doubt as to
+Arnold's air-ship having at last solved the problem of aërial
+navigation, and made the Brotherhood lords of a realm as wide as the
+atmospheric ocean that encircles the globe.
+
+As soon as the model was once more resting on the table, the
+President came forward and, grasping the engineer by both hands, said
+in a voice from which he made but little effort to banish the emotion
+that he felt--
+
+"Bravo, brother! Henceforth you shall be known to the Brotherhood as
+the Master of the Air, for truly you have been the first among the
+sons of men to fairly conquer it. Come, let us go back and talk, for
+there is much to be said about this, and we cannot begin too soon to
+make arrangements for building the first of our aërial fleet. You can
+leave your model where it is in perfect safety, for no one ever
+enters this room save ourselves."
+
+So saying the President led the way to the Council-chamber, and
+there, after the _Ariel_--as it had already been decided to name the
+first air-ship--had been christened in anticipation in twenty-year
+old champagne, the Circle settled down at once to business, and for a
+good three hours discussed the engineer's estimate and plans for
+building the first vessel of the aërial fleet.
+
+At length all the practical details were settled, and the President
+rose in token of the end of the conference. As he did so he said
+somewhat abruptly to Arnold--
+
+"So far so good. Now there is nothing more to be done but to lay
+those plans before the Chief and get his authority for withdrawing
+out of the treasury sufficient money to commence operations. I
+presume you could reproduce them from memory if necessary--at any
+rate, in sufficient outline to make them perfectly intelligible?"
+
+"Certainly," was the reply. "I could reproduce them in _fac simile_
+without the slightest difficulty. Why do you ask?"
+
+"Because the Chief is in Russia, and you must go to him and place
+them before him from memory. They are far too precious to be trusted
+to any keeping, however trustworthy. There are such things as railway
+accidents, and other forms of sudden death, to say nothing of the
+Russian customs, false arrests, personal searches, and imprisonments
+on mere suspicion.
+
+"We can risk none of these, and so there is nothing for it but your
+going to Petersburg and verbally explaining them to the Chief. You
+can be ready in three days, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, in two, if you like," replied Arnold, not a little taken aback
+at the unexpected suddenness of what he knew at once to be the first
+order that was to test his obedience to the Brotherhood. "But as I am
+absolutely ignorant of Russia and the Russians, I suppose you will
+make such arrangements as will prevent my making any innocent but
+possibly awkward mistakes."
+
+"Oh yes," replied the President, with a smile, "all arrangements have
+been made already, and I expect you will find them anything but
+unpleasant. Natasha goes to Petersburg in company with another lady
+member of the Circle whom you have not yet seen.
+
+"You will go with them, and they will explain everything to you _en
+route_, if they have no opportunity of doing so before you start. Now
+let us go upstairs and have some supper. I am famished, and I suppose
+every one else is too."
+
+Arnold simply bowed in answer to the President; but one pair of eyes
+at least in the room caught the quick, faint flush that rose in his
+cheek as he was told in whose company he was to travel. As for
+himself, if the journey had been to Siberia instead of Russia, he
+would have felt nothing but pleasure at the prospect after that.
+
+They left the Council-chamber by the passage and the ante-room, the
+sentry standing to attention as they passed him, each giving the word
+in turn, till the President came last and closed the doors behind
+him. Then the sentry brought up the rear and extinguished the lights
+as he left the passage.
+
+Fifteen minutes later there sat down to supper, in the solidly
+comfortable dining-room of the upper house, a party of ladies and
+gentlemen who chatted through the meal as merrily and innocently as
+though there were no such things as tyranny or suffering in the
+world, and whom not the most acute observer would have taken for the
+most dangerous and desperately earnest body of conspirators that ever
+plotted the destruction, not of an empire, but of a civilisation and
+a social order that it had taken twenty centuries to build up.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE DAUGHTER OF NATAS.
+
+
+Supper was over about eleven, and then the party adjourned to the
+drawing-room, where for an hour or so Arnold sat and listened to such
+music and singing as he had never heard in his life before. The songs
+seemed to be in every language in Europe, and he did not understand
+anything like half of them, so far, at least, as the words were
+concerned.
+
+They were, however, so far removed from the average drawing-room
+medley of twaddle and rattle that the music interpreted the words
+into its own universal language, and made them almost superfluous.
+
+For the most part they were sad and passionate, and once or twice,
+especially when Radna Michaelis was singing, Arnold saw tears well up
+into the eyes of the women, and the brows of the men contract and
+their hands clench with sudden passion at the recollection of some
+terrible scene or story that was recalled by the song.
+
+At last, close on midnight, the President rose from his seat and
+asked Natasha to sing the "Hymn of Freedom." She acknowledged the
+request with an inclination of her head, and then as Radna sat down
+to the piano, and she took her place beside it, all the rest rose to
+their feet like worshippers in a church.
+
+The prelude was rather longer than usual, and as Radna played it
+Arnold heard running through it, as it were, echoes of all the
+patriotic songs of Europe from "Scots Wha Hae" and "The Shan van
+Voght" to the forbidden Polish National Hymn and the Swiss Republican
+song, which is known in England as "God Save the Queen." The prelude
+ended with a few bars of the "Marseillaise," and then Natasha began.
+
+It was a marvellous performance. As the air changed from nation to
+nation the singer changed the language, and at the end of each verse
+the others took up the strain in perfect harmony, till it sounded
+like a chorus of the nations in miniature, each language coming in
+its turn until the last verse was reached.
+
+Then there was silence for a moment, and then the opening chords of
+the "Marseillaise" rang out from the piano, slow and stately at
+first, and then quickening like the tread of an army going into
+battle.
+
+Suddenly Natasha's voice soared up, as it were, out of the music, and
+a moment later the Song of the Revolution rolled forth in a flood of
+triumphant melody, above which Natasha's pure contralto thrilled
+sweet and strong, till to Arnold's intoxicated senses it seemed like
+the voice of some angel singing from the sky in the ears of men, and
+it was not until the hymn had been ended for some moments that he was
+recalled to earth by the President saying to him--
+
+"Some day, perhaps, you will be floating in the clouds, and you will
+hear that hymn rising from the throats of millions gathered together
+from the ends of the earth, and when you hear that you will know that
+our work is done, and that there is peace on earth at last."
+
+"I hope so," replied the engineer quietly, "and, what is more, I
+believe that some day I shall hear it."
+
+"I believe so too," suddenly interrupted Radna, turning round on her
+seat at the piano, "but there will be many a battle-song sung to the
+accompaniment of battle-music before that happens. I wish"--
+
+"That all Russia were a haystack, and that you were beside it with a
+lighted torch," said Natasha, half in jest and half in earnest.
+
+"Yes, truly!" replied Radna, turning round and dashing fiercely into
+the "Marseillaise" again.
+
+"I have no doubt of it. But, come, it is after midnight, and we have
+to get back to Cheyne Walk. The princess will think we have been
+arrested or something equally dreadful. Ah, Mr. Colston, we have a
+couple of seats to spare in the brougham. Will you and our Admiral of
+the Air condescend to accept a lift as far as Chelsea?"
+
+"The condescension is in the offer, Natasha," replied Colston,
+flushing with pleasure and glancing towards Radna the while. Radna
+answered with an almost imperceptible sign of consent, and Colston
+went on: "If it were in an utterly opposite direction"--
+
+"You would not be asked to come, sir. So don't try to pay compliments
+at the expense of common sense," laughed Natasha before he could
+finish. "If you do you shall sit beside me instead of Radna all the
+way."
+
+There was a general smile at this retort, for Colston's avowed
+devotion to Radna and the terrible circumstances out of which it had
+sprung was one of the romances of the Circle.
+
+As for Arnold, he could scarcely believe his ears when he heard that
+he was to ride from Clapham Common to Chelsea sitting beside this
+radiantly beautiful girl, behind whose innocence and gaiety there lay
+the shadow of her mysterious and terrible parentage.
+
+Lovely and gentle as she seemed, he knew even now how awful a power
+she held in the slender little hand whose nervous clasp he could
+still feel upon his own, and this knowledge seemed to raise an
+invisible yet impassable barrier between him and the possibility of
+looking upon her as under other circumstances it would have been
+natural for a man to look upon so fair a woman.
+
+Natasha's brougham was so far an improvement on those of the present
+day that it had two equally comfortable seats, and on these the four
+were cosily seated a few minutes after the party broke up. To Arnold,
+and, doubtless, to Colston also, the miles flew past at an unheard-of
+speed; but for all that, long before the carriage stopped at the
+house in Cheyne Walk, he had come to the conviction that, for good or
+evil, he was now bound to the Brotherhood by far stronger ties than
+any social or political opinions could have formed.
+
+After they had said good-night at the door, and received an
+invitation to lunch for the next day to talk over the journey to
+Russia, he and Colston decided to walk to the Savoy, for it was a
+clear moonlit night, and each had a good deal to say to the other,
+which could be better and more safely said in the open air than in a
+cab. So they lit their cigars, buttoned up their coats, and started
+off eastward along the Embankment to Vauxhall.
+
+"Well, my friend, tell me how you have enjoyed your evening, and what
+you think of the company," said Colston, by way of opening the
+conversation.
+
+"Until supper I had a very pleasant time of it. I enjoyed the
+business part of the proceedings intensely, as any other mechanical
+enthusiast would have done, I suppose. But I frankly confess that
+after that my mind is in a state of complete chaos, in the midst of
+which only one figure stands out at all distinctly."
+
+"And that figure is?"
+
+"Natasha. Tell me--who is she?"
+
+"I know no more as to her true identity than you do, or else I would
+answer you with pleasure."
+
+"What! Do you mean to say"--
+
+"I mean to say just what I have said. Not only do I not know who she
+is, but I do not believe that more than two or three members of the
+Circle, at the outside, know any more than I do. Those are, probably,
+Nicholas Roburoff, the President of the Executive, and his wife, and
+Radna Michaelis."
+
+"Then, if Radna knows, how comes it that you do not know? You must
+forgive me if I am presuming on a too short acquaintance; but it
+certainly struck me to-night that you had very few secrets from each
+other."
+
+"There is no presumption about it, my dear fellow," replied Colston,
+with a laugh. "It is no secret that Radna and I are lovers, and that
+she will be my wife when I have earned her."
+
+"Now you have raised my curiosity again," interrupted Arnold, in an
+inquiring tone.
+
+"And will very soon satisfy it. You saw that horrible picture in the
+Council-chamber? Yes. Well, I will tell you the whole story of that
+some day when we have more time; but for the present it will be
+enough for me to tell you that I have sworn not to ask Radna to come
+with me to the altar while a single person who was concerned in that
+nameless crime remains alive.
+
+"There were five persons responsible for it to begin with--the
+governor of the prison, the prefect of police for the district, a
+spy, who informed against her, and the two soldiers who executed the
+infernal sentence. It happened nearly three years ago, and there are
+two of them alive still--the governor and the prefect of police.
+
+"Of course the Brotherhood would have removed them long ago had it
+decided to do so; but I got the circumstances laid before Natas, by
+the help of Natasha, and received permission to execute the sentences
+myself. So far I have killed three with my own hand, and the other
+two have not much longer to live.
+
+"The governor has been transferred to Siberia, and will probably be
+the last that I shall reach. The prefect is now in command of the
+Russian secret police in London, and unless an accident happens he
+will never leave England."
+
+Colston spoke in a cold, passionless, merciless tone, just as a
+lawyer might speak of a criminal condemned to die by the ordinary
+process of the law, and as Arnold heard him he shuddered. But at the
+same time the picture in the Council-chamber came up before his
+mental vision, and he was forced to confess that men who could so far
+forget their manhood as to lash a helpless woman up to a triangle and
+flog her till her flesh was cut to ribbons, were no longer men but
+wild beasts, whose very existence was a crime. So he merely said--
+
+"They were justly slain. Now tell me more about Natasha."
+
+"There is very little more that I can tell you, I'm afraid. All I
+know is that the Brotherhood of the Terror is the conception and
+creation of a single man, and that that man is Natas, the father of
+Natasha, as she is known to us. His orders come to us either directly
+in writing through Natasha, or indirectly through him you have heard
+spoken of as the Chief."
+
+"Oh, then the Chief is not Natas?"
+
+"No, we have all of us seen him. In fact, when he is in London he
+always presides at the Circle meetings. You would hardly believe it,
+but he is an English nobleman, and Secretary to the English Embassy
+at Petersburg."
+
+"Then he is Lord Alanmere, and an old college friend of mine!"
+exclaimed Arnold. "I saw his name in the paper the night before last.
+It was mentioned in the account of the murder"--
+
+"We don't call those murders, my friend," drily interrupted Colston;
+"we call them what they really are--executions."
+
+"I beg your pardon; I was using the phraseology of the newspaper.
+What was his crime?"
+
+"I don't know. But the fact that the Chief was there when he died is
+quite enough for me. Well, as I was saying, the Chief, as we call
+him, is the visible and supreme head of the Brotherhood so far as we
+are concerned. We know that Natas exists, and that he and the Chief
+admit no one save Natasha to their councils.
+
+"They control the treasury absolutely, and apart from the
+contributions of those of the members who can afford to make them,
+they appear to provide the whole of the funds. Of course, Lord
+Alanmere, as you know, is enormously wealthy, and probably Natas is
+also rich. At any rate, there is never any want of money where the
+work of the Brotherhood is concerned.
+
+"The estimates are given to Natasha when the Chief is not present,
+and at the next meeting she brings the money in English gold and
+notes, or in foreign currency as may be required, and that is all we
+know about the finances.
+
+"Perhaps I ought to tell you that there is also a very considerable
+mystery about the Chief himself. When he presides at the Council
+meetings he displays a perfectly marvellous knowledge of both the
+members and the working of the Brotherhood.
+
+"It would seem that nothing, however trifling, is hidden from him;
+and yet when any of us happen to meet him, as we often do, in
+Society, he treats us all as the most perfect strangers, unless we
+have been regularly introduced to him as ordinary acquaintances. Even
+then he seems utterly ignorant of his connection with the
+Brotherhood.
+
+"The first time I met him outside the Circle was at a ball at the
+Russian Embassy. I went and spoke to him, giving the sign of the
+Inner Circle as I did so. To my utter amazement, he stared at me
+without a sign of recognition, and calmly informed me, in the usual
+way, that I had the advantage of him.
+
+"Of course I apologised, and he accepted the apology with perfect
+good humour, but as an utter stranger would have done. A little later
+Natasha came in with the Princess Ornovski, whom you are going to
+Russia with, and who is there one of the most trusted agents of the
+Petersburg police. I told her what had happened.
+
+"She looked at me for a moment rather curiously with those wonderful
+eyes of hers; then she laughed softly, and said, 'Come, I will set
+that at rest by introducing you; but mind, not a word about politics
+or those horrible secret societies, as you value my good opinion.'
+
+"I understood from this that there was something behind which could
+not be explained there, where every other one you danced with might
+be a spy, and I was introduced to his Lordship, and we became very
+good friends in the ordinary social way; but I failed to gather the
+slightest hint from his conversation that he even knew of the
+existence of the Brotherhood.
+
+"When we left I drove home with Natasha and the Princess to supper,
+and on the way Natasha told me that his Lordship found it necessary
+to lead two entirely distinct lives, and that he adhered so rigidly
+to this rule that he never broke it even with her. Since then I have
+been most careful to respect what, after all, is a very wise, if not
+an absolutely necessary, precaution on his part."
+
+"And, now," said Arnold, speaking in a tone that betrayed not a
+little hesitation and embarrassment, "if you can do so, answer me one
+more question, and do so as shortly and directly as you can. Is
+Natasha in love with, or betrothed to, any member of the Brotherhood
+as far as you know?"
+
+Colston stopped and looked at him with a laugh in his eyes. Then he
+put his hand on his shoulder and said--
+
+"As I thought, and feared! You have not escaped the common lot of all
+heart-whole men upon whom those terrible eyes of hers have looked.
+The Angel of the Revolution, as we call her among ourselves, is
+peerless among the daughters of men. What more natural, then, that
+all the sons of men should fall speedy victims to her fatal charms?
+So far as I know, every man who has ever seen her is more or less in
+love with her--and mostly more!
+
+"As for the rest, I am as much in the dark as you are, save for the
+fact that I know, on the authority of Radna, that she is not
+betrothed to any one, and, so far as _she_ knows, still in the
+blissful state of maiden fancy-freedom."
+
+"Thank God for that!" said Arnold, with an audible sigh of relief.
+Then he went on in somewhat hurried confusion, "But there, of course,
+you think me a presumptuous ass, and so I am; wherefore"--
+
+"There is no need for you to talk nonsense, my dear fellow. There
+never can be presumption in an honest man's love, no matter how
+exalted the object of it may be. Besides, are you not now the central
+hope of the Revolution, and is not yours the hand that shall hurl
+destruction on its enemies?
+
+"As for Natasha, peerless and all as she is, has not the poet of the
+ages said of just such as her--
+
+  She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd;
+  She is a woman: therefore to be won?
+
+"And who, too, has a better chance of winning her than you will have
+when you are commanding the aërial fleet of the Brotherhood, and,
+like a very Jove, hurling your destroying bolts from the clouds, and
+deciding the hazard of war when the nations of Europe are locked in
+the death-struggle? Why, you see such a prospect makes even me
+poetical.
+
+"Seriously, though, you must not consider the distance between you
+too great. Remember that you are a very different person now to what
+you were a couple of days ago. Without any offence, I may say that
+you were then nameless, while now you have the chance of making a
+name that will go down to all time as that of the solver of the
+greatest problem of this or any other age.
+
+"Added to this, remember that Natasha, after all, is a woman, and,
+more than that, a woman devoted heart and soul to a great cause, in
+which great deeds are soon to be done. Great deeds are still the
+shortest way to a woman's heart, and that is the way you must take if
+you are to hope for success."
+
+"I will!" simply replied Arnold, and the tone in which the two words
+were said convinced Colston that he meant all that they implied to
+its fullest extent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+LEARNING THE PART.
+
+
+It was nearly eleven the next morning by the time Arnold and Colston
+had finished breakfast. This was mostly due to the fact that Arnold
+had passed an almost entirely sleepless night, and had only begun to
+doze off towards morning. The events of the previous evening kept on
+repeating themselves in various sequences time after time, until his
+brain reeled in the whirl of emotions that they gave rise to.
+
+Although of a strongly mathematical and even mechanical turn of mind,
+the young engineer was also an enthusiast, and therefore there was a
+strong colouring of romance in his nature which lifted him far above
+the level upon which his mere intellect was accustomed to work.
+
+Where intellect alone was concerned--as, for instance, in the working
+out of a problem in engineering or mechanics--he was cool,
+calculating, and absolutely unemotional. His highly-disciplined mind
+was capable of banishing every other subject from consideration save
+the one which claimed the attention of the hour, and of incorporating
+itself wholly with the work in hand until it was finished.
+
+These qualities would have been quite sufficient to assure his
+success in life on conventional lines. They would have made him rich,
+and perhaps famous, but they would never have made him a great
+inventor; for no one can do anything really great who is not a
+dreamer as well as a worker.
+
+It was because he was a dreamer that he had sacrificed everything to
+the working out of his ideal, and risked his life on the chance of
+success, and it was for just the same reason that the tremendous
+purposes of the Brotherhood had been able to fire his imagination
+with luridly brilliant dreams of a gigantic world-tragedy in which
+he, armed with almost supernatural powers, should play the central
+part.
+
+This of itself would have been enough to make all other
+considerations of trivial moment in his eyes, and to bind him
+irrevocably to the Brotherhood. He saw, it is true, that a frightful
+amount of slaughter and suffering would be the price either of
+success or failure in so terrific a struggle; but he also knew that
+that struggle was inevitable in some form or other, and whether he
+took a part in it or not.
+
+But since the last sun had set a new element had come into his life,
+and was working in line with both his imagination and his ambition.
+So far he had lived his life without any other human love than what
+was bound up with his recollections of his home and his boyhood. As a
+man he had never loved any human being. Science had been his only
+mistress, and had claimed his undivided devotion, engrossing his mind
+and intellect completely, but leaving his heart free.
+
+And now, as it were in an instant, a new mistress had come forward
+out of the unknown. She had put her hand upon his heart, and, though
+no words of human speech had passed between them, save the merest
+commonplaces, her soul had said to his, "This is mine. I have called
+it into life, and for me it shall live until the end."
+
+He had heard this as plainly as though it had been said to him with
+the lips of flesh, and he had acquiesced in the imperious claim with
+a glad submission which had yet to be tinged with the hope that it
+might some day become a mastery.
+
+Thus, as the silent, sleepless hours went by, did he review over and
+over again the position in which he found himself on the threshold of
+his strange new life, until at last physical exhaustion brought sleep
+to his eyes if not to his brain, and he found himself flying over the
+hills and vales of dreamland in his air-ship, with the roar of battle
+and the smoke of ruined towns far beneath him, and Natasha at his
+side, sharing with him the dominion of the air that his genius had
+won.
+
+At length Colston came in to tell him that the breakfast was
+spoiling, and that it was high time to get up if they intended to be
+in time for their appointment at Chelsea. This brought him out of bed
+with effective suddenness, and he made a hasty toilet for breakfast,
+leaving more important preparations until afterwards.
+
+During the meal their conversation naturally turned chiefly on the
+visit that they were to pay, and Colston took the opportunity of
+explaining one or two things that it was necessary for him to know
+with regard to the new acquaintance that he was about to make at
+Chelsea.
+
+"So far as the outside world is concerned," said he, "Natasha is the
+niece of the Princess Ornovski. She is the daughter of a sister of
+hers, who married an English gentleman, named Darrel, who was drowned
+with his wife about twelve years ago, when the _Albania_ was wrecked
+off the coast of Portugal. The Princess had a sister, who was drowned
+with her husband in the _Albania_, and she left a daughter about
+Natasha's then age, but who died of consumption shortly after in
+Nice.
+
+"Under these circumstances, it was, of course, perfectly easy for the
+Princess to adopt Natasha, and introduce her into Society as her
+niece as soon as she reached the age of coming out.
+
+"This has been of immense service to the Brotherhood, as the Princess
+is, as I told you, one of the most implicitly trusted allies of the
+Petersburg police. She is received at the Russian Court, and is
+therefore able to take Natasha into the best Russian Society, where
+her extraordinary beauty naturally enables her to break as many
+hearts as she likes, and to learn secrets which are of the greatest
+importance to the Brotherhood.
+
+"Her Society name is Fedora Darrel, and it will scarcely be necessary
+to tell you that outside our own Circle no such being as Natasha has
+any existence."
+
+"I perfectly understand," replied Arnold. "The name shall never pass
+my lips save in privacy, and indeed it is hardly likely that it will
+ever do so even then, for your habit of calling each other by your
+Christian names is too foreign to my British insularity."
+
+"It is a Russian habit, as you, of course, know, and added to that,
+we are, so far as the Cause is concerned, all brothers and sisters
+together, and so it comes natural to us. Anyhow, you will have to use
+it with Natasha, for in the Circle she has no other name, and to call
+her Miss Darrel there would be to produce something like an
+earthquake."
+
+"Oh, in that case, I daresay I shall be able to avoid the calamity,
+though there will seem to be a presumption about it that will not
+make me very comfortable at first."
+
+"Too much like addressing one's sweetheart, eh?"
+
+This brought the conversation to a sudden stop, for Arnold's only
+reply to it was a quick flush, and a lapse into silence that was a
+good deal more eloquent than any verbal reply could have been.
+Colston noticed it with a smile, and got up and lit a pipe.
+
+For the first time for a good few years Arnold took considerable
+pains with his toilet that morning. A new fit-out had just been
+delivered by a tailor who had promised the things within twenty-four
+hours, and had kept his word. The consequences were that he was able
+to array himself in perfect morning costume, from his hat to his
+boots, and that was what it had not been his to do since he left
+college.
+
+Colston had recommended him in his easy friendly way to pay
+scrupulous attention to externals in the part that he would
+henceforth have to play before the world. He fully saw the wisdom of
+this advice, for he knew that, however well a part may be played, if
+it is not dressed to perfection, some sharp eyes will see that it is
+a part and not a reality.
+
+The playing of his part was to begin that day, and he recognised that
+at least one of the purposes of his visit to Natasha was the
+determining of what that part was to be. He thus looked forward with
+no little curiosity to the events of the afternoon, quite apart from
+the supreme interest that centred in his hostess.
+
+They started out nearly a couple of hours before they were due at
+Cheyne Walk, as they had several orders to give with regard to
+Arnold's outfit for the journey that was before him; and this done,
+they reached the house about a quarter of an hour before lunch time.
+
+They were received in the most delightful of sitting-rooms by a very
+handsome, aristocratic-looking woman, who might have been anywhere
+between forty and fifty. She shook hands very cordially with Arnold,
+saying as she did so--
+
+"Welcome, Richard Arnold! The friends of the Cause are mine, and I
+have heard much about you already from Natasha, so that I already
+seem to know you. I am very sorry that I was not able to be at the
+Circle last night to see what you had to show. Natasha tells me that
+it is quite a miracle of genius."
+
+"She is too generous in her praise," replied Arnold, speaking as
+quietly as he could in spite of the delight that the words gave him.
+"It is no miracle, but only the logical result of thought and work.
+Still, I hope that it will be found to realise its promise when the
+time of trial comes."
+
+"Of that I have no doubt, from all that I hear," said the Princess.
+"Before long I shall hope to see it for myself. Ah, here is Natasha.
+Come, I must introduce you afresh, for you do not know her yet as the
+world knows her."
+
+Arnold heard the door open behind him as the Princess spoke, and,
+turning round, saw Natasha coming towards him with her hand
+outstretched and a smile of welcome on her beautiful face. Before
+their hands met the Princess moved quietly between them and said,
+half in jest and half in earnest--
+
+"Fedora, permit me to present to you Mr. Richard Arnold, who is to
+accompany us to Russia to inspect the war-balloon offered to our
+Little Father the Tsar. Mr. Arnold, my niece, Fedora Darrel. There,
+now you know each other."
+
+"I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Arnold," said Natasha,
+with mock gravity as they shook hands. "I have heard much already of
+your skill in connection with aërial navigation, and I have no doubt
+but that your advice will be of the greatest service to his Majesty."
+
+"That is as it may be," answered Arnold, at once entering into the
+somewhat grim humour of the situation. "But if it is possible I
+should like to hear something a little definite as to this mission
+with which I have been, I fear, undeservingly honoured. I have been
+very greatly interested in the problem of aërial navigation for some
+years past, but I must confess that this is the first I have heard of
+these particular war-balloons."
+
+"It is for the purpose of enlightening you on that subject that this
+little party has been arranged," said the Princess, turning for the
+moment away from Colston, with whom she was talking earnestly in a
+low tone. "Ha! There goes the lunch-bell. Mr. Colston, your arm.
+Fedora, will you show Mr. Arnold the way?"
+
+Arnold opened the door for the Princess to go out, and then followed
+with Natasha on his arm. As they went out, she said in a low tone to
+him--
+
+"I think, if you don't mind, you had better begin at once to call me
+Miss Darrel, so as to get into the way of it. A slip might be
+serious, you know."
+
+"Your wishes are my laws, Miss Darrel," replied he, the name slipping
+as easily off his tongue as if he had known her by it for months. It
+may have been only fancy on his part, he thought he felt just the
+lightest imaginable pressure on his arm as he spoke. At any rate, he
+was vain enough or audacious enough to take the impression for a
+reality, and walked the rest of the way to the dining-room on air.
+
+The meal was dainty and perfectly served, but there were no servants
+present, for obvious reasons, and so they waited on themselves.
+Colston sat opposite the Princess and carved the partridges, while
+Arnold was _vis-à-vis_ to Natasha, a fact which had a perceptible
+effect upon his appetite.
+
+"Now," said the Princess, as soon as every one was helped, "I will
+enlighten you, Mr. Arnold, as to your mission to Russia. One part of
+the business, I presume, you are already familiar with?"
+
+Arnold bowed his assent, and she went on--
+
+"Then the other is easily explained. Interested as you are in the
+question, I suppose there is no need to tell you that for several
+years past the Tsar has had an offer open to all the world of a
+million sterling for a vessel that will float in the air, and be
+capable of being directed in its course as a ship at sea can be
+directed."
+
+"Yes, I am well aware of the fact. Pray proceed." As he said this
+Arnold glanced across the table at Natasha, and a swift smile and a
+flash from her suddenly unveiled eyes told him that she, too, was
+thinking of how the world's history might have been altered had the
+Tsar's million been paid for his invention. Then the Princess went
+on--
+
+"Well, through a friend at the Russian Embassy, I have learnt that a
+French engineer has, as he says, perfected a balloon constructed on a
+new principle, which he claims will meet the conditions of the Tsar's
+offer.
+
+"My friend also told me that his Majesty had decided to take an
+entirely disinterested opinion with regard to this invention, and
+asked me if I could recommend any English engineer who had made a
+study of aërial navigation, and who would be willing to go to Russia,
+superintend the trials of the war-balloon, and report as to their
+success or otherwise.
+
+"This happened a few days ago only, and as I had happened to read an
+article that you will remember you wrote about six months ago in the
+_Nineteenth_, or, as it is now called, the _Twentieth Century_, I
+thought of your name, and said I would try to find some one. Two days
+later I got news from the Circle of your invention--never mind how;
+you will learn that later on--and called at the Embassy to say I had
+found some one whose judgment could be absolutely relied upon. Now,
+wasn't that kind of me, to give you such a testimonial as that to his
+Omnipotence the Tsar of All the Russias?"
+
+Once more Arnold bowed his acknowledgments--this time somewhat
+ironically, and Natasha interrupted the narrative by saying with a
+spice of malice in her voice--
+
+"No doubt the Little Father will duly recognise your kindness,
+Princess, when he gets quite to the bottom of the matter."
+
+"I hope he will," replied the Princess, "but that is a matter of the
+future--and of considerable doubt as well." Then, turning to Arnold
+again, she continued--
+
+"You will now, of course, see the immense advantage there appeared to
+be in getting you to examine these war-balloons. They are evidently
+the only possible rivals to your own invention in the field, and
+therefore it is of the utmost importance that you should know their
+strength or their weakness, as the case may be.
+
+"Well, that is all I have to say, so far. It has been decided that
+you shall go, if you are willing, with us to Petersburg the day after
+to-morrow to see the balloon, and make your report. All your expenses
+will be paid on the most liberal scale, for the Tsar is no niggard in
+spending either his own or other people's money, and you will have a
+handsome fee into the bargain for your trouble."
+
+"So far as the work is concerned, of course, I undertake it
+willingly," said Arnold, as the Princess stopped speaking. "But it
+hardly seems to me to be right that I should take even the Tsar's
+money under such circumstances. To tell you the truth, it looks to me
+rather uncomfortably like false pretences."
+
+Again Natasha's eyes flashed approval across the table, but
+nevertheless she said--
+
+"You seem to forget, my friend, that we are at war with the Tsar, and
+all's fair in--in love and war. Besides, if you have any scruples
+about keeping the fee for your professional services--which, after
+all, you will render as honestly as though it were the merest matter
+of business--you can put it into the treasury, and so ease your
+conscience. Remember, too," she went on more seriously, "how the
+enormous wealth of this same Tsar has swollen by the confiscation of
+fortunes whose possessors had committed no other crime than becoming
+obnoxious to the corrupt bureaucracy."
+
+"I will take the fee if I fairly earn it, Miss Darrel," replied
+Arnold, returning the glance as he spoke, "and it shall be my first
+contribution to the treasury of the Brotherhood."
+
+"Spoken like a sensible man," chimed in the Princess. "After all, it
+is no worse than spoiling the Egyptians, and you have scriptural
+authority for that. However, you can do as you like with his
+Majesty's money when you get it. The main fact is that you have the
+opportunity of going to earn it, and that Colonel Martinov is coming
+here to tea this afternoon to bring our passports, specially
+authorising us to travel without customs examination or any kind of
+questioning to any part of the Tsar's dominions, and that, I can
+assure you, is a very exceptional honour indeed."
+
+"Who did you say? Martinov? Is that the Colonel Martinov who is the
+director of the secret police here?" asked Colston hurriedly.
+
+"Yes," replied the Princess, "the same. Why do you ask?"
+
+"Because," said Colston quietly, "he received the sentence of death
+nearly a month ago, and to-morrow night he will be executed, unless
+there is some accident. It was he who stood with the governor of
+Brovno in the prison-yard and watched Radna Michaelis flogged by the
+soldiers. I received news this morning that the arrangements are
+complete, and that the sentence will be carried out to-morrow night."
+
+"Yes, that is so," added Natasha, as Colston ceased speaking.
+"Everything is settled. It is therefore well that he should do
+something useful before he meets his fate."
+
+"How curious that it should just happen so!" said the Princess
+calmly, as she rose from the table and moved towards the door
+followed by Natasha.
+
+As soon as the ladies had left the room, Colston and Arnold lit their
+cigarettes and chatted while they smoked over their last glass of
+claret. Arnold would have liked to have asked more about the coming
+tragedy, but something in Colston's manner restrained him; and so the
+conversation remained on the subject of the Russian journey until
+they returned to the sitting-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS.
+
+
+On the 6th of March 1904, just six months after Arnold's journey to
+Russia, a special meeting of the Inner Circle of the Terrorists took
+place in the Council-chamber, at the house on Clapham Common.
+
+Although it was only attended by twelve persons all told, and those
+men and women whose names were unknown outside the circle of their
+own Society and the records of the Russian police, it was the most
+momentous conference that had taken place in the history of the world
+since the council of war that Abdurrhaman the Moslem had held with
+his chieftains eleven hundred and seventy-two years before, and, by
+taking their advice, spared the remnants of Christendom from the
+sword of Islam.
+
+Then the fate of the world hung in the balance of a council of war,
+and the supremacy of the Cross or the Crescent depended, humanly
+speaking, upon the decision of a dozen warriors. Now the fate of the
+civilisation that was made possible by that decision, lay at the
+mercy of a handful of outlaws and exiles who had laboriously brought
+to perfection the secret schemes of a single man.
+
+The work of the Terrorists was finally complete. Under the whole
+fabric of Society lay the mines which a single spark would now
+explode, and above this slumbering volcano the earth was trembling
+with the tread of millions of armed men, divided into huge hostile
+camps, and only waiting until Diplomacy had finished its work in the
+dark, and gave the long-awaited signal of inevitable and universal
+war.
+
+To-night that spark was to be shaken from the torch of Revolution,
+and to-morrow the first of the mines would explode. After that, if
+the course to be determined on by the Terrorist Council failed to
+arrive at the results which it was designed to reach, the armies of
+Europe would fight their way through the greatest war that the world
+had ever seen, the Fates would once more decide in favour of the
+strongest battalions, the fittest would triumph, and a new era of
+military despotism would begin--perhaps neither much better nor much
+worse than the one it would succeed.
+
+If, on the other hand, the plans of the Terrorists were successfully
+worked out to their logical conclusion, it would not be war only, but
+utter destruction that Society would have to face. And then with
+dissolution would come anarchy. The thrones of the world would be
+overthrown, the fabric of Society would be dissolved, commerce would
+come to an end, the structure that it had taken twenty centuries of
+the discipline of war and the patient toil of peace to build up,
+would crumble into ruins in a few short months, and then--well, after
+that no man could tell what would befall the remains of the human
+race that had survived the deluge. The means of destruction were at
+hand, and they would be used without mercy, but for the rest no man
+could speak.
+
+When Nicholas Roburoff, the President of the Executive, rose in his
+place at eight o'clock to explain the business in hand, every member
+present saw at a glance, by the gravity of his demeanour, that the
+communication that he had to make was of no ordinary nature, but even
+they were not prepared for the catastrophe that he announced in the
+first sentence that he uttered.
+
+"Friends," he said, in a voice that was rendered deeply impressive by
+the emotion that he vainly tried to conceal, "it is my mournful duty
+to tell you that she whom any one of us would willingly shed our
+blood to serve or save from the slightest evil, our beautiful and
+beloved Angel of the Revolution, as we so fondly call her, Natasha,
+the daughter of the Master, has, in the performance of her duty to
+the Cause, fallen into the hands of Russia."
+
+Save for a low, murmuring groan that ran round the table, the news
+was received in silence. It was too terrible, too hideous in the
+awful meaning that its few words conveyed, for any exclamations of
+grief, or any outburst of anger, to express the emotions that it
+raised.
+
+Not one of those who heard it but had good reason to know what it
+meant for a revolutionist to fall into the hands of Russia. For a man
+it meant the last extremity of human misery that flesh and blood
+could bear, but for a young and beautiful woman it was a fate that no
+words could describe--a doom that could only be thought of in silence
+and despair; and so the friends of Natasha were silent, though they
+did not yet despair. Roburoff bowed his head in acknowledgment of the
+inarticulate but eloquent endorsement of his words, and went on--
+
+"You already know the outcome of Richard Arnold's visit to Russia;
+how he was present at the trial of the Tsar's war-balloon, and was
+compelled to pronounce it such a complete success, that the Autocrat
+at once gave orders for the construction of a fleet of fifty
+aërostats of the same pattern; and how, thanks to the warning
+conveyed by Anna Ornovski, he was able to prevent his special
+passport being stolen by a police agent, and so to foil the designs
+of the chief of the Third Section to stop him taking the secret of
+the construction of the war-balloon out of Russia. You also know that
+he brought back the Chief's authority to build an air-ship after the
+model which was exhibited to us here, and that since his return he
+has been prosecuting that work on Drumcraig Island, one of the
+possessions of the Chief in the Outer Hebrides, which he placed at
+his disposal for the purpose.
+
+"You know, also, that Natasha and Anna Ornovski went to Russia partly
+to discover the terms of the secret treaty that we believed to exist
+between France and Russia, and partly to warn, and, if possible,
+remove from Russian soil a large number of our most valuable allies,
+whose names had been revealed to the Minister of the Interior,
+chiefly through the agency of the spy Martinov, who was executed in
+this room six months ago.
+
+"The first part of the task was achieved, not without difficulty, but
+with complete success, and of that more anon. The second part was
+almost finished when Natasha and Anna Ornovski were surprised in the
+house of Alexei Kassatkin, a member of the Moscow Nihilist Circle, in
+the Bolshoi Dmitrietka. He had been betrayed by one of his own
+servants, and a police visit was the result.
+
+"Added to this there is reason to believe that she had, quite apart
+from this, become acquainted with enough official secrets to make her
+removal desirable in high quarters. I need not tell you that that is
+the usual way in which the Tsar rewards those of his secret servants
+who get to know too much.
+
+"The fact of her being found in the house of a betrayed Nihilist was
+taken as sufficient proof of sympathy or complicity, and she was
+arrested. Natasha, as Fedora Darrel, claimed to be a British subject,
+and, as such, to be allowed to go free in virtue of the Tsar's safe
+conduct, which she exhibited. Instead of that she was taken before
+the chief of the Moscow police, rudely interrogated, and then
+brutally searched. Unhappily, in the bosom of her dress was found a
+piece of paper bearing some of the new police cypher. That was
+enough. That night they were thrown into prison, and three days later
+taken to the convict depot under sentence of exile by administrative
+process to Sakhalin for life.
+
+"You know what that means for a beautiful woman like Natasha. She
+will not go to Sakhalin. They do not bury beauty like hers in such an
+abode of desolation as that. If she cannot be rescued, she will only
+have two alternatives before her. She will become the slave and
+plaything of some brutal governor or commandant at one of the
+stations, or else she will kill herself. Of course, of these two she
+would choose the latter--if she could and when she could. Should she
+be driven to that last resort of despair, she shall be avenged as
+woman never yet was avenged; but rescue must, if possible, come
+before revenge.
+
+"The information that we have received from the Moscow agent tells us
+that the convict train to which Natasha and Anna Ornovski are
+attached left the depot nearly a fortnight ago; they were to be taken
+by train in the usual way to Nizhni Novgorod, thence by barge on the
+Volga and Kama to Perm, and on by rail to Tiumen, the forwarding
+station for the east. Until they reach Tiumen they will be safe from
+anything worse than what the Russians are pleased to call
+'discipline,' but once they disappear into the wilderness of Siberia
+they will be lost to the world, and far from all law but the will of
+their official slave-drivers.
+
+"It has, therefore, been decided that the rescue shall be attempted
+before the chain-gang leaves Tiumen, if it can be reached in time. As
+nearly as we can calculate, the march will begin on the morning of
+Friday the 9th, that is to say, in three nights and one day from now.
+Happily we possess the means of making the rescue, if it can be
+accomplished by human means. I have received a report from Richard
+Arnold saying that the _Ariel_ is complete, and that she has made a
+perfectly satisfactory trial trip to the clouds. The _Ariel_ is the
+only vehicle in existence that could possibly reach the frontier of
+Siberia in the given time, and it is fitting that her first duty
+should be the rescue of the Angel of the Revolution from the clutches
+of the Tyrant of the North.
+
+"Alexis Mazanoff, it is the will of the Master that you shall take
+these instructions to Richard Arnold and accompany him on the voyage
+in order to show him what course to steer, and assist him in every
+way possible. You will find the Chief's yacht at Port Patrick ready
+to convey you to Drumcraig Island. When you have heard what is
+further necessary for you to hear, you will take the midnight express
+from Euston. Have you any preparations to make?"
+
+"No," replied Mazanoff, or Colston, to call him by a name more
+familiar to the reader. "I can start in half an hour if necessary,
+and on such an errand you may, of course, depend on me not to lose
+much time. I presume there are full instructions here?"
+
+"Yes, both for the rescue and for your conduct afterwards, whether
+you are successful or unsuccessful," said the President. Then turning
+to the others he continued--
+
+"You may now rest assured that all that can be done to rescue Natasha
+will be done, and we must therefore turn to other matters. I said a
+short time ago that the conditions of the secret treaty between
+France and Russia had been discovered by the two brave women who are
+now suffering for their devotion to the cause of the Revolution. A
+full copy of them is in the hands of the Chief, who arrives in London
+to-day, and will at once lay the documents before Mr. Balfour, the
+Premier.
+
+"It is extremely hostile to England, and amounts, in fact, to a
+compact on the part of France to declare war and seize the Suez
+Canal, as soon as the first shot is fired between Great Britain and
+Russia. In return for this, Russia is to invade Germany and Austria,
+destroy the eastern frontier fortresses with her fleet of
+war-balloons, and then cross over and do the same on the Rhine, while
+France at last throws herself upon her ancient foe.
+
+"Meanwhile, the French fleet is to concentrate in the Mediterranean
+as quietly and rapidly as possible, before war actually breaks out,
+so as to be able to hold the British and Italians in check, and shut
+the Suez Canal, while Russia, who is pushing her troops forward to
+the Hindu Kush, gets ready for a dash at the passes, and a rush upon
+Cashmere, before Britain can get sufficient men out to India by the
+Cape to give her very much trouble.
+
+"As there also exists a secret compact between Britain and the Triple
+Alliance, binding all four powers to declare war the moment one is
+threatened, the disclosure of this treaty must infallibly lead to war
+in a few weeks. In addition to this, measures have been taken to
+detach Italy from the Triple Alliance at the last moment, if
+possible. Success in this respect is, however, somewhat uncertain.
+
+"To make assurance doubly sure, the Chief informs me that he has
+ordered Ivan Brassoff, who is in command of a large reconnoitring
+party on the Afghan side of the Hindu Kush, to provoke reprisals from
+a similar party of Indian troops who have been told off to watch
+their movements. Captain Brassoff is one of us, and can be depended
+upon to obey at all costs. He will do this in a fortnight from now,
+and therefore we may feel confident that Great Britain and Russia
+will be at war within a month.
+
+"With the first outbreak of war our work for the present ceases, so
+far as active interference goes. We shall therefore withdraw from the
+scene of action until the arrival of the supreme moment when the
+nations of Europe shall be locked in the death-struggle, and the fate
+of the world will rest in our hands. The will of the Master now is
+that all the members of the Brotherhood shall at once wind up their
+businesses, and turn all of their possessions that are not portable
+and useful into money.
+
+"A large steamer has been purchased and manned with members of the
+Outer Circle who are sailors by profession. She is now being loaded
+at Liverpool with all the machinery and materials necessary for the
+construction of twelve air-ships like the _Ariel_. This steamer, when
+ready for sea, will sail, ostensibly, for Rio de Janeiro with a cargo
+of machinery, but in reality for Drumcraig, where she will embark the
+workmen who will be left there by the _Ariel_ with all the working
+plant on the island, and from there she will proceed to a lonely
+island off the West Coast of Africa, between Cape Blanco and Cape
+Verde, where new works will be set up and the fleet of air-ships put
+together as rapidly as possible.
+
+"The position of this island is in the instructions which Alexis
+Mazanoff takes to Drumcraig to-night, and the _Ariel_ will rendezvous
+there when the work that is in hand for her is done. The members of
+the Brotherhood will, of course, go in the steamer as passengers for
+Rio, so that no suspicions may be aroused, and every one must be
+ready to embark in ten days from now.
+
+"That is all I have to say at present in the name of the Master. And
+now, Alexis Mazanoff, it is time you set out. We shall remain here
+and discuss every detail fully so that nothing may be overlooked. You
+will find that everything has been provided for in the instructions
+you have, so go, and may the Master of Destiny be with you!"
+
+As he spoke he held out his hand, which the young man grasped
+heartily, saying--
+
+"Farewell! I will obey to the death, and if success can be earned we
+will earn it. If not, you shall hear of the _Ariel's_ work in Russia
+before the week is out."
+
+He then took leave of the other members of the Council, coming last
+to Radna. As their hands clasped she said--
+
+"I wish I could come with you, but that is impossible. But bring
+Natasha back to us safe and sound, and there is nothing that you can
+ask of me that I will not say 'yes' to. Go, and God speed your good
+work. Farewell!"
+
+For all answer he took her in his arms before them all. Their lips
+met in one long silent kiss, and a moment later he had gone to strike
+the first blow in the coming world-war, and to bring the beginning of
+sorrows on the Tyrant of the North.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE "ARIEL."
+
+
+On the sixth stroke of twelve that night the Scotch express drew out
+of Euston Station. At half-past nine the next morning, the _Lurline_,
+Lord Alanmere's yacht, steamed out of Port Patrick Harbour, and at
+one o'clock precisely she dropped her anchor in the little inlet that
+served for a harbour at Drumcraig.
+
+Colston had the quarter-boat lowered and pulled ashore without a
+moment's delay, and as his foot touched the shore Arnold grasped his
+hand, and, after the first words of welcome, asked for the latest
+news of Natasha.
+
+Without immediately answering, Colston put his arm through his, drew
+him away from the men who were standing about, and told him as
+briefly and gently as he could the terrible news of the calamity that
+had befallen the Brotherhood, and the errand upon which he had come.
+
+Arnold received the blow as a brave man should--in silence. His now
+bronzed face turned pale, his brows contracted, and his teeth
+clenched till Colston could hear them gritting upon each other. Then
+a great wave of agony swept over his soul as a picture too horrible
+for contemplation rose before his eyes, and after that came calm, the
+calm of rapid thought and desperate resolve.
+
+He remembered the words that Natasha had used in a letter that she
+had given him when she took leave of him in Russia. "We shall trust
+to you to rescue us, and, if that is no longer possible, to avenge
+us."
+
+Yes, and now the time had come to justify that trust and prove his
+own devotion. It should be proved to the letter, and if there was
+cause for vengeance, the proof should be written in blood and flame
+over all the wide dominions of the Tsar. Grief might come after, when
+there was time for it; but this was the hour of action, and a strange
+savage joy seemed to come with the knowledge that the safety of the
+woman he loved now depended mainly upon his own skill and daring.
+
+Colston respected his silence, and waited until he spoke. When he did
+he was astonished at the difference that those few minutes had made
+in the young engineer. The dreamer and the enthusiast had become the
+man of action, prompt, stern, and decided. Colston had never before
+heard from his lips the voice in which he at length said to him--
+
+"Where is this place? How far is it as the crow flies from here?"
+
+"At a rough guess I should say about two thousand two hundred miles,
+almost due east, and rather less than two hundred miles on the other
+side of the Ourals."
+
+"Good! That will be twenty hours' flight for us, or less if this
+south-west wind holds good."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Colston. "Twenty hours, did you say? You must
+surely be making some mistake. Don't you mean forty hours? Think of
+the enormous distance. Why, even then we should have to travel over
+sixty miles an hour through the air."
+
+"My dear fellow, I don't make mistakes where figures are concerned.
+The paradox of aërial navigation is 'the greater the speed the less
+the resistance.'
+
+"In virtue of that paradox I am able to tell you that the speed of
+the _Ariel_ in moderate weather is a hundred and twenty miles an
+hour, and a hundred and twenty into two thousand two hundred goes
+eighteen times and one-third. This is Wednesday, and we have to be on
+the Asiatic frontier at daybreak on Friday. We shall start at dusk
+to-night, and you shall see to-morrow's sun set over the Ourals."
+
+"That means from the eastern side of the range!"
+
+"Of course. There will be no harm in being a few hours too soon. In
+case we may have a long cruise, I must have additional stores, and
+power-cylinders put on board. Come, you have not seen the _Ariel_
+yet.
+
+"I have made several improvements on the model, as I expected to do
+when I came to the actual building of the ship, and, what is more
+important than that, I have immensely increased the motive power and
+economised space and weight at the same time. In fact, I don't
+despair now of two hundred miles an hour before very long. Come!"
+
+The engineer and the enthusiast had now come to the fore again, and
+the man and the lover had receded, put back, as it were, until the
+time for love, or perchance for sorrow, had come.
+
+He put his arm through Colston's, and led him up a hill-path and
+through a little gorge which opened into a deep valley, completely
+screened on all sides by heather-clad hills. Sprinkled about the
+bottom of this valley were a few wooden dwelling-houses and
+workshops, and in the centre was a huge shed, or rather an enclosure
+now, for its roof had been taken off.
+
+In this lay, like a ship in a graving-dock, a long, narrow,
+grey-painted vessel almost exactly like a sea-going ship, save for
+the fact that she had no funnel, and that her three masts, instead of
+yards, each carried a horizontal fan-wheel, while from each of her
+sides projected, level with the deck, a plane twice the width of the
+deck and nearly as long as the vessel herself.
+
+They entered the enclosure and walked round the hull. This was
+seventy feet long and twelve wide amidships, and save for size it was
+the exact counterpart of the model already described.
+
+As soon as he had taken Colston round the hull, and roughly explained
+its principal features, reserving more detailed description and the
+inspection of the interior for the voyage, he gave the necessary
+orders for preparing for a lengthy journey, and the two went on board
+the _Lurline_ to dinner, which Colston had deferred in order to eat
+it in Arnold's company.
+
+After dinner they carefully discussed the situation in order that
+every possible accident might be foreseen, argued the pros and cons
+of the venture in all their bearings, and even went so far as to plan
+the vengeance they would take should, by any chance, the rescue fail
+or come too late.
+
+The instructions, signed by Natas himself, were very precise on
+certain essential points, and in their broad outlines, but, like all
+wisely planned instructions to such men as these, they left ample
+margin for individual initiative in case of emergency.
+
+Some of the stores of the _Lurline_ had to be transferred to the
+_Ariel_, and these were taken ashore after dinner, and at the same
+time Colston made his first inspection of the interior of the
+air-ship, under the guidance of her creator. What struck him most at
+first sight was the apparent inadequacy of the machinery to the
+attainment of the tremendous speed at which Arnold had promised they
+should travel.
+
+There were four somewhat insignificant-looking engines in all. Of
+these, one drove the stern propeller, one the side propellers, and
+two the fan-wheels on the masts. He learnt as soon as the voyage
+began, that, by a very simple switch arrangement, the power of the
+whole four engines could be concentrated on the propellers; for, once
+in the air, the lifting wheels were dispensed with and lowered on
+deck, and the ship was entirely sustained by the pressure of the air
+under her planes.
+
+There was not an ounce of superfluous wood or metal about the
+beautifully constructed craft, but for all that she was complete in
+every detail, and the accommodation she had for crew and passengers
+was perfectly comfortable, and in some respects cosy in the extreme.
+Forward there was a spacious cabin with berths for six men, and aft
+there were separate cabins for six people, and a central saloon for
+common use.
+
+On deck there were three structures, a sort of little conning tower
+forward, a wheel-house aft, and a deck saloon amidships. All these
+were, of course, so constructed as to offer the least possible
+resistance to the wind, or rather the current created by the vessel
+herself when flying through the air at a speed greater than that of
+the hurricane itself.
+
+All were closely windowed with toughened glass, for it is hardly
+necessary to say that, but for such a protection, every one who
+appeared above the level of the deck would be almost instantly
+suffocated, if not whirled overboard, by the rush of air when the
+ship was going at full speed. Her armament consisted of four long,
+slender cannon, two pointing over the bows, and two over the stem.
+
+The crew that Arnold had chosen for the voyage consisted, curiously
+enough, of men belonging to the four nationalities which would be
+principally concerned in the Titanic struggle which a few weeks would
+now see raging over Europe. Their names were Andrew Smith,
+Englishman, and coxswain; Ivan Petrovitch, Russian; Franz Meyer,
+German; and Jean Guichard, Frenchman. Diverse as they were, there
+never were four better workers, or four better friends.
+
+They had no country but the world, and no law save those which
+governed their Brotherhood. They conversed in assorted but perfectly
+intelligible English, for the very simple reason that Mr. Andrew
+Smith consistently refused to attempt even the rudiments of any other
+tongue.
+
+While the stores were being put on board, Arnold made a careful
+examination of every part of the machinery, and then of the whole
+vessel, in order to assure himself that everything was in perfect
+order. This done, he gave his final instructions to those of the
+little community who were left behind to await the arrival of the
+steamer, and as the sun sank behind the western ridges of the island,
+he went on board the _Ariel_ with Colston, took his place at the
+wheel, and ordered the fan-wheels to be set in motion.
+
+Colston was standing by the open door of the wheel-house as Arnold
+communicated his order to the engine-room by pressing an electric
+button, one of four in a little square of mahogany in front of the
+wheel.
+
+There was no vibration or grinding, as would have been the case in
+starting a steamer, but only a soft whirring, humming sound, that
+rose several degrees in pitch as the engines gained speed, and the
+fan-wheels revolved faster and faster until they sang in the air, and
+the _Ariel_ rose without a jar or a tremor from the ground, slowly at
+first, and then more and more swiftly, until Colston saw the ground
+sinking rapidly beneath him, and the island growing smaller and
+smaller, until it looked like a little patch on the dark grey water
+of the sea.
+
+Away to the north and west he could see the innumerable islands of
+the Hebrides, while to the east the huge mountainous mass of the
+mainland of Scotland loomed dark upon the horizon.
+
+When the barometer marked eight hundred feet above the sea-level, the
+_Ariel_ passed through a stratum of light clouds, and on the upper
+side of this the sun was still shining, shooting his almost level
+rays across it as though over some illimitable sea of white fleecy
+billows, whose crests were tipped with rosy, golden light.
+
+Above the surface of this fairy sea rose north-eastward the black
+mass of Ben More on the Island of Mull, and to the southward, the
+lesser peaks of Jura and Islay.
+
+While he was still wrapped in admiration of the strange beauty of
+this, to him, marvellous scene, the _Ariel_ had risen to a thousand
+feet, still almost in a vertical line from the island. Arnold now
+pressed another button, and the stern propeller began to revolve
+swiftly and noiselessly, and Colston saw the waves of the cloud-sea
+begin to slip behind, although so smooth was the working of the
+machinery, and the motion of the air-ship, that, but for this, he
+could hardly have guessed that he was in motion.
+
+Arnold now turned a few spokes of the wheel, and headed the _Ariel_
+due east by the compass. Then he touched a third button. The side
+propellers began to turn swiftly on their axes, and, at the same time
+the speed of the fan-wheels slackened, and gradually stopped.
+
+Colston now began to feel the air rushing by him in a stream so rapid
+and strong, that he had to take hold of the side of the wheel-house
+doorway to steady himself.
+
+"I think you had better come inside and shut the door," said Arnold.
+"We are getting up speed now, and in a few minutes you won't be able
+to hold yourself there. You'll be able to see just as well inside."
+
+Colston did as he was bidden, and as soon as he was safely inside
+Arnold pulled a lever beside the wheel, and slightly inclined the
+planes from forward aft. At the same time the fan-wheels began to
+slide down the masts until they rested upon the deck.
+
+"Now, you shall see her fly," said Arnold, taking a speaking-tube
+from the wall and whistling thrice into it.
+
+Colston felt a slight tremor in the deck beneath his feet, and then a
+lifting movement. He staggered a little, and said to Arnold--
+
+"What's that? Are we going higher still?"
+
+"Yes," replied the engineer. "She is feeling the air-planes now under
+the increased speed. I am going up to fifteen hundred feet, so that
+we shall only have the highest peaks to steer clear of in crossing
+Scotland. Now, use your eyes, and you will see something worth
+looking at."
+
+The upper part of the wheel-house was constructed almost entirely of
+glass, and so Colston could see just as well as if he had been on
+deck outside. He did use his eyes. In fact, for some time to come,
+all his other senses seemed to be merged in that of sight, for the
+scene was one of such rare and marvellous beauty, and the sensations
+that it called up were of so completely novel a nature, that, for the
+time being, he felt as though he had been suddenly transported into
+fairyland.
+
+The cloud-sea now lay about seven hundred feet beneath them. The sun
+had sunk quite below the horizon, even at that elevation; but his
+absence was more than made up for by the nearly full moon, which had
+risen to the southward, as though to greet the conqueror of the air,
+and was spreading a flood of silvery radiance over the snowy plain
+beneath, through the great gaps in which they could see the darker
+sheen of the moving sea-waves.
+
+Their course lay almost exactly along the fifty-sixth parallel of
+latitude, and took them across Argyle, Dumbarton, and Stirlingshire
+to the head of the Firth of Forth. As they approached the mainland,
+Colston saw one or two peaks rise up out of the clouds, and soon they
+were sweeping along in the midst of a score or so of these. To the
+left Ben Lomond towered into the clear sky above his attendant peaks,
+and to the right the lower summits of the Campsie Fells soon rose a
+few miles ahead.
+
+The rapidity with which these mountain-tops rose up on either side,
+and were left behind, proved to Colston that the _Ariel_ must be
+travelling at a tremendous speed, and yet, but for a very slight
+quivering of the deck, there was no motion perceptible, so smoothly
+did the air-ship glide through the elastic medium in which she
+floated.
+
+So engrossed was he with the unearthly beauty of the new world into
+which he had risen, that for nearly two hours he stood without
+speaking a word. Arnold, wrapped in his own thoughts, maintained a
+like silence, and so they sped on amidst a stillness that was only
+broken by the soft whirring of the propellers, and the singing of the
+wind past the masts and stays.
+
+At length a faint sound like the dashing of breakers on a rocky coast
+roused Colston from his reverie, and he turned to Arnold and said--
+
+"What is that? Not the sea, surely!"
+
+"Yes, those are the waves of the Firth of Forth breaking on the
+shores of Fife."
+
+"What! Do you mean to tell me that we have crossed Scotland already?
+Why, we have not been an hour on the way yet!"
+
+"Oh yes, we have," replied the engineer. "We have been nearly two.
+You have been so busy looking about you that you have not noticed how
+the time has passed. We have travelled a little over two hundred and
+forty miles. We are over the German Ocean now, and as there will be
+no more hills until we reach the Ourals we can go down a little."
+
+As he spoke he moved the lever beside him about an inch, and
+instantly the clouds seemed to rise up toward them as the _Ariel_
+swept downwards in her flight. A hundred feet above them Arnold
+touched the lever again, and the air-ship at once resumed her
+horizontal course.
+
+Then he put her head a little more to the northward, and called down
+the speaking tube for Andrew Smith to come and relieve him. A minute
+later Smith's head appeared at the top of the companion-ladder which
+led from the saloon to the wheel-house, and Arnold gave him the wheel
+and the course, saying at the same time to Colston--
+
+"Now, come down and have something to eat, and then we will have a
+smoke and a chat and go to bed. There is nothing more to be seen
+until the morning, and then I will show you Petersburg as it looks
+from the clouds."
+
+"If you told me you would show me the Ourals themselves, I should
+believe you after what I have seen," replied Colston, as together
+they descended the companion-way from the wheel-house to the saloon.
+
+"Ah, I'm afraid that would be too much even for the _Ariel_ to
+accomplish in the time," said Arnold. "Still, I think I can guarantee
+that you shall cross Europe in such time as no man ever crossed it
+before."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+FIRST BLOOD.
+
+
+After supper the two friends ascended to the deck saloon for a smoke,
+and to continue their discussion of the tremendous events in which
+they were so soon to be taking part. They found the _Ariel_ flying
+through a cloudless sky over the German Ocean, whose white-crested
+billows, silvered by the moonlight, were travelling towards the
+north-east under the influence of the south-west breeze from which
+the engineer had promised himself assistance when they started.
+
+"We seem to be going at a most frightful speed," said Colston,
+looking down at the water. "There's a strong south-west breeze
+blowing, and yet those white horses seem to be travelling quite the
+other way."
+
+"Yes," replied Arnold, looking down. "This wind will be travelling
+about twenty miles an hour, and that means that we are making nearly
+a hundred and fifty. The German Ocean here is five hundred miles
+across, and we shall cross it at this rate in about three hours and a
+half, and if the wind holds over the land we shall sight Petersburg
+soon after sunrise.
+
+"The sun will rise to-morrow morning a few minutes after five by
+Greenwich time, which is about two hours behind Petersburg time.
+Altogether we shall make, I expect, from two to two and a half hours'
+gain on time."
+
+The two men talked until a few minutes after ten, and then went to
+bed. Colston, who had been travelling all the previous night, began
+to feel drowsy in spite of the excitement of the novel voyage, and
+almost as soon as he lay down in his berth dropped off into a sound,
+dreamless sleep, and knew nothing more until Arnold knocked at his
+door and said--
+
+"If you want to see the sun rise, you had better get up. Coffee will
+be ready in a quarter of an hour."
+
+Colston pulled back the slide which covered the large oblong pane of
+toughened glass which was let into the side of his cabin and looked
+out. There was just light enough in the grey dawn to enable him to
+see that the _Ariel_ was passing over a sea dotted in the distance
+with an immense number of islands.
+
+"The Baltic," he said to himself as he jumped out of bed. "This is
+travelling with a vengeance! Why, we must have travelled a good deal
+over a thousand miles during the night. I suppose those islands will
+be off the coast of Finland. If so, we are not far from Petersburg,
+as the _Ariel_ seems to count distance."
+
+The most magnificent spectacle that Colston had ever seen in his
+life, or, for the matter of that, ever dreamed of, was the one that
+he saw from the conning-tower of the _Ariel_ while the sun was rising
+over the vast plain of mingled land and water which stretched away to
+the eastward until it melted away into the haze of early morning.
+
+The sky was perfectly clear and cloudless, save for a few light
+clouds that hung about the eastern horizon, and were blazing gold and
+red in the light of the newly-risen sun. The air-ship was flying at
+an elevation of about two thousand feet, which appeared to be her
+normal height for ordinary travelling. There was land upon both sides
+of them, but in front opened a wide bay, the northern shores of which
+were still fringed with ice and snow.
+
+"That is the Gulf of Finland," said Arnold. "The winter must have
+been very late this year, and that probably means that we shall find
+the eastern side of the Ourals still snow-bound."
+
+"So much the better," replied Colston. "They will have a much better
+chance of escape if there is good travelling for a sleigh."
+
+"Yes," replied Arnold, his brows contracting as he spoke. "Do you
+know, if it were not for the Master's explicit orders, I should be
+inclined to smash up the station at Ekaterinburg a few hours
+beforehand, and then demand the release of the whole convict train,
+under penalty of laying the town in ruins."
+
+Colston shook his head, saying--
+
+"No, no, my friend, we must have a little more diplomacy than that.
+Your thirst for the life of the enemy will, no doubt, be fully
+gratified later on. Besides, you must remember that you would
+probably blow some hundreds of perfectly innocent people to pieces,
+and very possibly a good many friends of the Cause among them."
+
+"True," replied Arnold; "I didn't think of that; but I'll tell you
+what we can do, if you like, without transgressing our instructions
+or hurting any one except the soldiers of the Tsar, who, of course,
+are paid to slaughter and be slaughtered, and so don't count."
+
+"What is that?" asked Colston.
+
+"We shall be passing over Kronstadt in a little over an hour, and we
+might take the opportunity of showing his Majesty the Tsar what the
+_Ariel_ can do with the strongest fortress in Europe. How would you
+like to fire the first shot in the war of the Revolution?"
+
+Colston was silent for a few moments, and then he looked up and
+said--
+
+"There is not the slightest reason why we should not take a shot at
+Kronstadt, if only to give the Russians a foretaste of favours to
+come. Still, I won't fire the first shot on any account, simply
+because that honour belongs to you. I'll fire the second with
+pleasure."
+
+"Very good," replied Arnold. "We'll have two shots apiece, one each
+as we approach the fortress, and one each as we leave it. Now come
+and take a preparatory lesson in the new gunnery."
+
+They went down into the chief saloon, and there Arnold showed Colston
+a model of the new weapon with which the _Ariel_ was armed, and
+thoroughly explained the working of it. After this they went to the
+wheel-house, where Arnold inclined the planes at a sharper angle, and
+sent the _Ariel_ flying up into the sky, until the barometer showed
+an elevation of three thousand feet.
+
+Then he signalled to the engine-room, the fan-wheels rose from the
+deck, as if by their own volition, and, as soon as they reached their
+places, began to spin round faster and faster, until Colston could
+again hear the high-pitched singing sound that he had heard as the
+_Ariel_ rose from Drumcraig Island.
+
+At the same time the speed of the vessel rapidly decreased; the side
+propellers ceased working, and the stern-screw revolved more and more
+slowly, until the speed came down to about thirty miles an hour.
+
+By this time the great fortress of Kronstadt could be distinctly seen
+lying upon its island, like some huge watch-dog crouched at the
+entrance to his master's house, guarding the way to St. Petersburg.
+
+"Now," said Arnold, "we can go outside without any fear of being
+blown off into space."
+
+They went out and walked forward to the bow. Arrived there they found
+two of the men, each with a curious-looking shell in his arms. The
+projectiles were about two feet long and six inches in diameter, and
+were, as Arnold told Colston, constructed of _papier-maché_. There
+were three blades projecting from the outside, and running spirally
+from the point to the butt. These fitted into grooves in the inside
+of the cannon, which were really huge air-guns twenty feet long,
+including the air-chamber at the breech.
+
+The projectiles were placed in position, the breeches of the guns
+closed, and a minute later the air-chambers were filled with air at a
+pressure of two hundred atmospheres, pumped from the forward engines
+through pipes leading up to the guns for the purpose.
+
+"Now," said Arnold, "we're ready! Meanwhile you two can go and load
+the two after guns."
+
+The men saluted and retired, and Arnold continued--
+
+"Just take a look down with your glasses and see if they see us. I
+expect they do by this time."
+
+Colston put his field-glass to his eyes, and looked down at the
+fortress, which was now only six or seven miles ahead.
+
+"Yes," he said, "at any rate I can see a lot of little figures
+running about on the roof of one of the ramparts, which I suppose are
+soldiers. What's the range of your gun? I should say the fortress is
+about six miles off now."
+
+"We can hit it from here, if you like," replied Arnold, "and if we
+were a thousand feet higher I could send a shell into Petersburg.
+See! there is the City of Palaces. Away yonder in the distance you
+can just see the sun shining on the houses. We could see it quite
+plainly if it wasn't for the haze that seems to be lying over the
+Neva."
+
+While he was speaking, Arnold trained the gun according to a scale on
+a curved steel rod which passed through a screw socket in the breech
+of the piece.
+
+"Now," he said. "Watch!"
+
+He pressed a button on the top of the breech. There was a sharp but
+not very loud sound as the compressed air was released; something
+rushed out of the muzzle of the gun, and a few seconds later, Colston
+could see the missile boring its way through the air, and pursuing a
+slanting but perfectly direct path for the centre of the fortress.
+
+A second later it struck. He could see a bright greenish flash as it
+smote the steel roof of the central fort. Then the fort seemed to
+crumble up and dissolve into fragments, and a few moments later a
+dull report floated up into the sky mingled, as he thought, with
+screams of human agony.
+
+For a moment he stared in silence through the glasses, then he turned
+to Arnold and said in a voice that trembled with violent emotion--
+
+"Good God, that is awful! The whole of the centre citadel is gone as
+though it had been swept off the face of the earth. I can hardly see
+even the ruins of it. Surely that's murder rather than war!"
+
+"No more murder than the use of torpedoes in naval warfare, as far as
+I can see," replied Arnold coolly. "Remember, too," he continued in a
+sterner tone, "that fortress belongs to the power that flogged Radna
+and has captured Natasha. Come, let's see what execution you can do."
+
+He crossed the deck and set the other gun by its scale, saying as he
+did so--
+
+"Put your finger on the button and press when I tell you."
+
+Colston did as he was bid, and as his finger touched the little knob
+his hand was as firm as though he had been making a shot at
+billiards.
+
+"Now!"
+
+He pressed the button down hard. There was the same sharp sound, and
+a second messenger of destruction sped on its way towards the doomed
+fortress.
+
+[Illustration: "Good God, that is awful."
+
+_See page 82._]
+
+They saw it strike, and then came the flash, and after that a huge
+cloud of dust mingled with flying objects that might have been blocks
+of masonry, guns, or human bodies, rose into the air, and then fell
+back again to the earth.
+
+"There goes one of the angles of the fortification into the sea,"
+said Arnold, as he saw the effects of the shot. "Kronstadt won't be
+much good when the war breaks out, it strikes me. I suppose they'll
+be replying soon with a few rifle shots. We'd better quicken up a
+bit."
+
+He went aft to the wheel-house, followed by Colston, and signalled
+for the three propellers to work at their utmost speed. The order was
+instantly obeyed; the fan-wheels ceased revolving, and under the
+impetus of her propellers the _Ariel_ leapt forwards and upwards like
+an eagle on its upward swoop, rose five hundred feet in the air, and
+then swept over Kronstadt at a speed of more than a hundred miles an
+hour.
+
+As they passed over they saw a series of flashes rise from one of the
+untouched portions of the fortress, but no bullets came anywhere near
+them. In fact, they must have passed through the air two or three
+miles astern of the flying _Ariel_. No soldier who ever carried a
+rifle could have sent a bullet within a thousand yards of an object
+seventy feet long travelling over a hundred miles an hour at a height
+of nearly four thousand feet, and so the Russians wasted their
+ammunition.
+
+As soon as they had passed over the fortress, Arnold signalled for
+the propellers to stop, and the fan-wheels to revolve again at half
+speed. The air-ship stopped within three miles, and remained
+suspended in air over the opening mouth of the Neva. Then the two
+after guns were trained upon the fortress, and Colston and Arnold
+fired them together.
+
+The two shells struck at the same moment, one in each of two angles
+of the ramparts. Their impact was followed by a tremendous explosion,
+far greater than could be accounted for by the shells themselves.
+
+"There goes one, if not two, of his powder magazines. Look! half the
+fortress is a wreck. I wonder which fired the lucky shot."
+
+The man who a year before had been an inoffensive student of
+mechanics and an enthusiast dreaming of an unsolved problem, spoke of
+the frightful destruction of life and the havoc that he had caused by
+just pressing a button with his finger, as coolly and quietly as a
+veteran officer of artillery might have spoken of shelling a fort.
+
+There were two reasons for this almost miraculous change. One was to
+be found in the bitter hatred of Russian tyranny which he had imbibed
+during the last six months, and the other was the fact that the woman
+for whom he would have himself died a thousand deaths if necessary,
+was a captive in Russian chains, being led at that moment to slavery
+and degradation.
+
+As soon as they had seen the effects of the last two shots, Arnold
+said with a grim, half-smile on his lips--
+
+"I think it will be better if we don't show ourselves too plainly to
+Petersburg. It will take some time for the news of the destruction of
+Kronstadt to reach the city, and, of course, there will be the
+wildest rumours as to the agency by which it was done, so we may as
+well leave them to argue the matter out among themselves."
+
+He signalled again to the engine-room, and with the united aid of her
+planes and fan-wheels the _Ariel_ mounted up and up into the sky,
+driven only by the stern-propeller and with the force of the other
+engines concentrated on the lifting wheels, until a height of five
+thousand feet was reached.
+
+At that height she would have looked, if she could have been seen at
+all, nothing more than a little grey spot against the blue of the
+sky, and as they heard afterwards she passed over St. Petersburg
+without being noticed.
+
+From St. Petersburg to Tiumen, as the crow flies, the distance is
+1150 English miles, and nine hours after she had passed over the
+Capital of the North, the _Ariel_ had winged her way over the Ourals
+and the still snow-clad forests of the eastern slopes, past the
+tear-washed Pillar of Farewells, and had come to a rest after her
+voyage of two thousand two hundred miles, including the delay at
+Kronstadt, in twenty hours almost to the minute, as her captain had
+predicted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+IN THE MASTER'S NAME.
+
+
+The _Ariel_, in order to avoid being seen from the town, had made a
+wide circuit to the northward at a considerable elevation, and as
+soon as a suitable spot had been sought out by means of the
+field-glasses, she dropped suddenly and swiftly from the clouds into
+the depths of the dense forest through which the Tobolsk road runs
+from Tiumen to the banks of the Tobol.
+
+From Tiumen to the Tobol is about twenty-five miles by road. The
+railway, which was then finished as far as Tomsk, ran to Tobolsk by a
+more northerly and direct route than the road, but convicts were
+still marched on foot along the great post road after the gangs had
+been divided at Tiumen according to their destinations.
+
+The spot which had been selected for the resting-place of the _Ariel_
+was a little glade formed by the bend of a frozen stream about five
+miles east of the town, and at a safe distance from the road.
+
+Painted a light whitish-grey all over, she would have been invisible
+even from a short distance as she lay amid the snow-laden trees, and
+Arnold gave strict orders that all the window-slides were to be kept
+closed, and no light shown on any account.
+
+Every precaution possible was taken to obviate a discovery which
+should seriously endanger the success of the rescue, but,
+nevertheless, the fan-wheels were kept aloft, and everything was in
+readiness to rise into the air at a moment's notice should any
+emergency require them to do so.
+
+It was a little after three o'clock on the Thursday afternoon when
+the _Ariel_ settled down in her resting-place, and half an hour later
+Colston and Ivan Petrovitch appeared on deck completely disguised,
+the former as a Russian fur trader, and the latter as his servant.
+
+All the arrangements for the rescue had been once more gone over in
+every detail, and just before he swung himself over the side Colston
+shook hands for the last time with Arnold, saying as he did so--
+
+"Well, good-bye again, old fellow! Ivan shall come back and bring you
+the news, if necessary; but if he doesn't come, don't be uneasy, but
+possess your soul in patience till you hear the whistle from the road
+in the morning. I expect the train will get in sometime during the
+night, and in that case we shall have everything ready to make the
+attempt soon after daybreak, if not before.
+
+"If we can get as far as this without being pursued we shall come
+right on board. If not we must trust to our horses and our pistols to
+keep the Cossacks at a distance till you can help us. In any case,
+rest assured that once clear of Tiumen, we shall never be taken
+alive. Those are the Master's orders, and I will shoot Natasha myself
+before she goes back to captivity."
+
+"Yes, do so," replied Arnold. His lips quivered as he spoke, but
+there was no tremor in the hand with which he gripped Colston's in
+farewell. "She will prefer death to slavery, and I shall prefer it
+for her. But if you have to do it you will at least have the
+consolation of knowing that within twelve hours of your death the
+Tsar shall be lying buried beneath the ruins of the Peterhof Palace.
+I will have his life for hers if only I live to take it."
+
+"I will tell her," said Colston simply, "and if die she must, she
+will die content."
+
+So saying, he descended the little rope-ladder, followed by Ivan, and
+in a few moments the two were lost in the deep shadow of the trees,
+while Arnold went down into the saloon to await with what patience he
+might the moment that would decide the fate of the daughter of Natas
+and the man who had gone, as he would so gladly have done, to risk
+his life to restore her to liberty.
+
+Rather more than half an hour's tramp through the forest brought
+Colston and Ivan out on the road at a point a little less than five
+miles from Tiumen.
+
+Colston was provided with passports and permits to travel for himself
+and Ivan. These, of course, were forged on genuine forms which the
+Terrorists had no difficulty in obtaining through their agents in
+high places, who were as implicitly trusted as the Princess Ornovski
+had been but a few months before.
+
+So skilfully were they executed, however, that it would have been a
+very keen official eye that had discovered anything wrong with them.
+They described him as "Stepan Bakuinin, fur merchant of Nizhni
+Novgorod, travelling in pursuit of his business, with his servant,
+Peter Petrovitch, also of Nizhni Novgorod."
+
+Instead of going straight into the town by the main road they made a
+considerable detour and entered it by a lane that led them through a
+collection of miserable huts occupied by the poorest class of
+Siberian mujiks, half peasants, half townsfolk, who cultivate their
+patches of ground during the brief spring and summer, and struggle
+through the long dreary winter as best they can on their scanty
+savings and what work they can get to do from the Government or their
+richer neighbours.
+
+Colston had never been in Tiumen before, but Ivan had, for ten years
+before he had voluntarily accompanied his father, who had been
+condemned to five years' forced labour on the new railway works from
+Tiumen to Tobolsk, for giving a political fugitive shelter in his
+house. He had died of hard labour and hard usage, and that was one
+reason why Ivan was a member of the Outer Circle of the Terrorists.
+
+He led his master through the squalid suburb to the business part of
+the town, which had considerably developed since the through line to
+Tobolsk and Tomsk had been constructed, and at length they stopped
+before a comfortable-looking house in the street that ends at the
+railway station.
+
+They knocked, gave their names, and were at once admitted. The
+servant who opened the door to them led them to a room in which they
+found a man of about fifty in the uniform of a sub-commissioner of
+police. As Colston held out his hand to him he said--
+
+"In the Master's name!"
+
+The official took his hand, and, bending over it, replied in a low
+tone--
+
+"I am his servant. What is his will?"
+
+"That Anna Ornovski and Fedora Darrel, the English girl who was taken
+with her, be released as soon as may be," replied Colston. "Is the
+train from Ekaterinburg in yet?"
+
+"Not yet. The snow is still deep between here and the mountains. The
+winter has been very severe and long. We have almost starved in
+Tiumen in spite of the railway. There has been a telegram from
+Ekaterinburg to say that the train descended the mountain safely, and
+one from Kannishlov to say that we expect it soon after ten
+to-night."
+
+"Good! That is sooner than we expected in London. We thought it would
+not reach here till to-morrow morning."
+
+"In London! What do you mean? You cannot have come from London, for
+there has been no train for two days."
+
+"Nevertheless I have come from London. I left England yesterday
+evening."
+
+"Yesterday evening! But, with all submission, that is impossible. If
+there were a railway the whole distance it could not be done."
+
+"To the Master there is nothing impossible. Look! I received that the
+evening I left London."
+
+As he spoke, Colston held out an envelope. The Russian examined it
+closely. It bore the Ludgate Hill post-mark, which was dated "March
+7."
+
+Colston's host bent over it with almost superstitious reverence, and
+handed it back, saying humbly--
+
+"Forgive my doubts, Nobleness! It is a miracle! I ask no more. The
+Tsar himself could not have done it. The Master is all powerful, and
+I am proud to be his servant, even to the death."
+
+Although the twentieth century had dawned, the Siberian Russians were
+still inclined to look even upon the railway as a miracle. This man,
+although he occupied a post of very considerable responsibility and
+authority under the Russian Government, was only a member of the
+Outer Circle of the Terrorists, as most of the officials were, and
+therefore he knew nothing of the existence of the _Ariel_, and
+Colston purposely mystified him with the apparent miracle of his
+presence in Tiumen after so short an absence from London, in order to
+command his more complete obedience in the momentous work that was on
+hand.
+
+He allowed the official a few moments to absorb the full wonder of
+the seeming marvel, and then he replied--
+
+"Yes, we are all his servants _to the death_. At least I know of none
+who have even thought of treason to him and lived to put their
+thoughts into action. But tell me, are all the arrangements complete
+as far as you can make them? Much depends upon how you carry them
+out, you know, to say nothing of the two thousand roubles that I
+shall hand to you as soon as the two ladies are delivered into my
+charge."
+
+"All is arranged, Nobleness," replied the official, bowing
+involuntarily at the mention of the money. "Such of the prisoners,
+that is to say the politicals, who can afford to pay for the
+privilege, may, by the new regulations, be lodged in the houses of
+approved persons during their sojourn in Tiumen, if it be only for a
+night, and so escape the common prison.
+
+"We knew at the police bureau of the arrest of the Princess Ornovski
+some days ago, and I have obtained permission from the chief of
+police to lodge her Highness and her companion in misfortune--if they
+are prepared to pay what I shall ask. It has come to be looked upon
+as a sort of perquisite of diligent officials, and as I have been
+very diligent here I had no difficulty in getting the
+permission--which I shall have to pay for in due course."
+
+"Just so! Nothing for nothing in Russian official circles. Very good.
+Now listen. If this escape is successfully accomplished you will be
+degraded and probably punished into the bargain for letting the
+prisoners slip through your fingers. But that must not happen if it
+can be prevented.
+
+"Now this has been foreseen, as everything is with the Master; and
+his orders are that you shall take this passport--which you will find
+in perfect order, save for the fact that the date has been slightly
+altered--from me as soon as I have got the ladies safely in the
+troika out on the Tobolsk road, put off the livery of the Tsar,
+disguise yourself as effectually as may be, and take the first train
+back to Perm and Nizhni Novgorod as Stepan Bakuinin, fur merchant.
+
+"The servant you can leave behind on any excuse. From Novgorod you
+can travel _viâ_ Moscow to Königsberg, and, if you will take my
+advice, you will get out of Russia as soon as the Fates will let
+you."
+
+"It shall be done, Nobleness. But how will the disappearance of
+Dmitri Soudeikin, sub-commissioner of police, be accounted for?"
+
+"That also has been provided for. Before you go you will pin this
+with a dagger to your sitting-room table."
+
+The official took the little piece of paper which Colston held out to
+him as he spoke. It read thus--
+
+    Dmitri Soudeikin, sub-commissioner of police at Tiumen, has been
+    removed for over-zeal in the service of the Tsar.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+Soudeikin bowed almost to the ground as the dreaded name of the
+Master of the Terror met his eyes, and then he said, as he handed the
+paper back--
+
+"It is so! The Master sees all, and cares for the least of his
+servants. My life shall be forfeited if the ladies are not released
+as I have said."
+
+"It probably will be," returned Colston drily. "None of us expect to
+get out of this business alive if it does not succeed. Now that is
+all I have to say for the present. It is for you to bring the ladies
+here as your prisoners, to see us out of the town before daybreak,
+and to have the troika in readiness for us on the Tobolsk road. Then
+see to yourself and I will be responsible for the rest."
+
+As it still wanted more than two hours to the expected arrival of the
+train, Soudeikin had the samovar, or tea-urn, brought in, and Colston
+and Ivan made a hearty meal after their five-mile walk through the
+snow. Then they and their host lit their pipes, and smoked and
+chatted until a distant whistle warned Soudeikin that the train was
+at last approaching the station, and that it was time for him to be
+on duty to receive his convict-lodgers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+FOR LIFE OR DEATH.
+
+
+No time had ever seemed so long to Colston as did the hour and a half
+which passed after the departure of Soudeikin until his return. He
+would have given anything to have accompanied him to the station, but
+it would have been so very unwise to have incurred the risk of being
+questioned, and perhaps obliged to show the passport that Soudeikin
+was to use, that he controlled his impatience as best he could, and
+let events take their course.
+
+At length, when he had looked at his watch for the fiftieth time, and
+found that it indicated nearly half-past eleven, there was a heavy
+knock at the door. As it opened, Colston heard a rattle of arms and a
+clinking of chains. Then there was a sound of gruff guttural voices
+in the entrance-hall, and the next moment the door of the room was
+thrown open, and Soudeikin walked in, followed by a young man in the
+uniform of a lieutenant of the line, and after them came two
+soldiers, to one of whom was handcuffed the Princess Ornovski, and to
+the other Natasha.
+
+Shocked as he was at the pitiable change that had taken place in the
+appearance of the two prisoners since he had last seen them in
+freedom, Colston was far too well trained in the school of conspiracy
+to let the slightest sign of surprise or recognition escape him.
+
+He and Ivan rose as the party entered, greeted Soudeikin and saluted
+the officer, hardly glancing at the two pale, haggard women in their
+rough grey shapeless gowns and hoods as they stood beside the men to
+whom they were chained.
+
+As the officer returned Colston's salute he turned to Soudeikin and
+said civilly enough--
+
+"I did not know you had another guest. I hope we shall not overcrowd
+you."
+
+"By no means," replied the commissioner, waving his hand toward
+Colston as he spoke. "This is only my nephew, Ernst Vronski, who is
+staying with me for a day or two on his way through to Nizhni
+Novgorod with his furs, and that is his servant, Ivan Arkavitch. You
+need not be uneasy. I have plenty of rooms, as I live almost alone,
+and I have set apart one for the prisoners which I think will satisfy
+you in every way. Would it please you to come and see it?"
+
+"Yes, we will go now and get them put in safety for the night, if you
+will lead the way."
+
+As the party left the room Colston caught one swift glance from
+Natasha which told him that she understood his presence in the house
+fully, and he felt that, despite her miserable position, he had an
+ally in her who could be depended upon.
+
+The officer carefully examined the room which had been provided for
+the two prisoners, tried the heavy shutters with which the windows
+were closed, and took from Soudeikin the keys of the padlocks to the
+bars which ran across them. He then directed the prisoners to be
+released from their handcuffs and locked them in the room, stationing
+one of the soldiers at the door and sending the other to patrol the
+back of the house from which the two windows of the room looked out.
+
+At the end of two hours the sentries were to change places, and in
+two hours more they were to be relieved by a detachment from the
+night patrol. This arrangement had been foreseen by Soudeikin, and it
+had been settled that the rescue was to be attempted as soon as the
+guard had been changed.
+
+This would give the prisoners time to get a brief but much needed
+rest after their long and miserable journey from Perm, penned up like
+sheep in iron-barred cattle trucks, and it would leave the drowsiest
+part of the night, from four o'clock to sunrise, for the hazardous
+work in hand.
+
+"That is a pretty girl you have there, captain," said Colston, as the
+officer returned to the sitting-room. "Is she for the mines or
+Sakhalin?"
+
+"For Sakhalin by sentence, but as a matter of fact for neither, as
+far as I can see."
+
+"You mean that the Little Father will pardon her or give her a
+lighter sentence, I suppose."
+
+The officer grinned meaningly as he replied--
+
+"_Nu vot!_ That is hardly likely. What I mean is that Captain
+Kharkov, who is in command of the convict train from here, has had
+instructions to convey her as comfortably as possible, and with no
+more fatigue than is necessary, to Tchit, in the Trans-Baikal, and
+that he is also charged with a letter from the Governor of Perm to
+the Governor of Tchit.
+
+"You know these gentlemen like to do each other a good turn when they
+can, and so, putting two and two together, I should say that his
+Excellency of Perm has concluded that our pretty prisoner will serve
+to beguile the dulness of that Godforsaken hole in which his
+Excellency of Tchit is probably dying of _ennui_. She will be more
+comfortable there than at Sakhalin, and it is a lucky thing for her
+that she has found favour in his Excellency's eyes."
+
+Colston could have shot the fellow where he sat leering across the
+table; but though his blood was at boiling point, he controlled
+himself sufficiently to make a reply after the same fashion, and soon
+after took his leave and retired for the night.
+
+At four o'clock the guard was changed. The new officer, after taking
+the keys, unlocked the door of the room in which Natasha and the
+Princess were confined, and roused them up to satisfy himself that
+they were still in safe keeping. It was a brutal formality, but
+perfectly characteristic of Siberian officialism.
+
+The man who had been on guard so far joined the patrol and returned
+to the barracks, while the new officer made himself comfortable with
+a bottle of brandy, with which Soudeikin had obligingly provided him,
+in the sitting-room. It was a bitterly cold night, and he drank a
+couple of glasses of it in quick succession. Ten minutes after he had
+swallowed the second he rolled backwards on the couch on which he was
+sitting and went fast asleep. A few moments later he had ceased to
+breathe.
+
+Then the door opened softly and Soudeikin and Colston slipped into
+the room. The former shook him by the shoulder. His eyes remained
+half closed, his head lolled loosely from side to side, and his arms
+hung heavily downwards.
+
+"He's gone," whispered Soudeikin; and, without another word, they set
+to work to strip the uniform off the lifeless body. Then Colston
+dressed himself in it and gave his own clothes to Soudeikin.
+
+As soon as the change was effected, Colston took the keys and went to
+the door at which the sentry was keeping guard. The man was already
+half asleep, and blinked at him with drowsy eyes as he challenged
+him. For all answer the Terrorist levelled his pistol at his head and
+fired. There was a sharp crack that could hardly have been heard on
+the other side of the wall, and the man tumbled down with a bullet
+through his brain.
+
+Colston stepped over the corpse, unlocked the door, and found Natasha
+and the Princess already dressed in male attire as two peasant boys,
+with sheepskin coats and shapkas, and wide trousers tucked into their
+half boots. These disguises had been provided beforehand by
+Soudeikin, and hidden in the bed in which they were to sleep.
+
+Colston grasped their hands in silence, and the three left the room.
+In the passage they found Ivan and Soudeikin, the former dressed in
+the uniform of the soldier who had been on guard outside the house,
+and whose half-stripped corpse was now lying buried in the snow.
+
+"Ready?" whispered Soudeikin.
+
+"Have you finished in there?" asked Colston, jerking his thumb
+towards the sitting-room.
+
+Soudeikin nodded in reply, and the five left the house by the back
+door.
+
+It was then after half-past four. Fortunately it was a dark cloudy
+morning, and the streets of the town were utterly deserted. By ones
+and twos they stole through the by-streets and lanes without meeting
+a soul, until Soudeikin at length stopped at a house on the eastern
+edge of the town about a mile from the Tobolsk road.
+
+He tapped at one of the windows. The door was softly opened by an
+invisible hand, and they entered and passed through a dark passage
+and out into a stable-yard behind the house. Under a shed they found
+a troika, or three-horse sleigh, with the horses ready harnessed, in
+charge of a man dressed as a mujik.
+
+They got in without a word, all but Soudeikin, who went to the
+horses' heads, while the other man went and opened the gates of the
+yard. The bells had been removed from the harness, and the horses'
+feet made no sound as Soudeikin led them out through the gate. Ivan
+took the reins, and Colston held out his hand from the sleigh. There
+was a roll of notes in it, and as he gave it to Soudeikin he
+whispered--
+
+"Farewell! If we succeed, the Master shall know how well you have
+done your part."
+
+Soudeikin took the money with a salute and a whispered farewell, and
+Ivan trotted his horses quietly down the lane and swung round into
+the road at the end of it.
+
+So far all had gone well, but the supreme moment of peril had yet to
+come. A mile away down the road was the guard-house on the Tobolsk
+road leading out of the town, and this had to be passed before there
+was even a chance of safety.
+
+As there was no hope of getting the sleigh past unobserved, Colston
+had determined to trust to a rush when the moment came. He had given
+Natasha and the Princess a magazine pistol apiece, and held a brace
+in his own hands; so among them they had a hundred shots.
+
+Ivan kept his horses at an easy trot till they were within a hundred
+yards of the guard-house. Then, at a sign from Colston, he suddenly
+lashed them into a gallop, and the sleigh dashed forward at a
+headlong speed, swept round the curve past the guard-house, hurling
+one of the sentries on guard to the earth, and away out on to the
+Tobolsk road.
+
+The next instant the notes of a bugle rang out clear and shrill just
+as another sounded from the other end of the town. Colston at once
+guessed what had happened. The inspector of the patrols, in going his
+rounds, had called at Soudeikin's house to see if all was right, and
+had discovered the tragedy that had taken place. He looked back and
+saw a body of Cossacks galloping down the main street towards the
+guard-house, waving their lanterns and brandishing their spears above
+their heads.
+
+"Whip up, Ivan, they will be on us in a couple of minutes!" he cried
+and Ivan swung his long whip out over his horses' ears, and shouted
+at them till they put their heads down and tore over the smooth snow
+in gallant style.
+
+By the time the race for life or death really began they had a good
+mile start, and as they had only four more to go Ivan did not spare
+his cattle, but plied whip and voice with a will till the trees
+whirled past in a continuous dark line, and the sleigh seemed to fly
+over the snow almost without touching it.
+
+Still the Cossacks gained on them yard by yard, till at the end of
+the fourth mile they were less than three hundred yards behind. Then
+Colston leant over the back of the sleigh, and taking the best aim he
+could, sent half a dozen shots among them. He saw a couple of the
+flying figures reel and fall, but their comrades galloped heedlessly
+over them, yelling wildly at the tops of their voices, and every
+moment lessening the distance between themselves and the sleigh.
+
+Colston fired a dozen more shots into them, and had the satisfaction
+of seeing three or four of them roll into the snow. At the same time
+he put a whistle to his lips, and blew a long shrill call that
+sounded high and clear above the hoarse yells of the Cossacks.
+
+Their pursuers were now within a hundred yards of them, and Natasha,
+speaking for the first time since the race had begun, said--
+
+"I think I can do something now."
+
+As she spoke she leaned out of the sleigh sideways, and began firing
+rapidly at the Cossacks. Shot after shot told either upon man or
+beast, for the daughter of Natas was one of the best shots in the
+Brotherhood; but before she had fired a dozen times a bright gleam of
+white light shot downwards over the trees, apparently from the
+clouds, full in the faces of their pursuers.
+
+Involuntarily they reined up like one man, and their yells of fury
+changed in an instant into a general cry of terror. The Cossacks are
+as brave as any soldiers on earth, and they can fight any mortal foe
+like the fiends that they are, but here was an enemy they had never
+seen before, a strange, white, ghostly-looking thing that floated in
+the clouds and glared at them with a great blazing, blinding eye,
+dazzling them and making their horses plunge and rear like things
+possessed.
+
+They were not long left in doubt as to the intentions of their new
+enemy. Something came rushing through the air and struck the ground
+almost at the feet of their first rank. Then there was a flash of
+green light, a stunning report, and men and horses were rent into
+fragments and hurled into the air like dead leaves before a
+hurricane.
+
+Only three or four who had turned tail at once were left alive; and
+these, without daring to look behind them, drove their spurs into
+their horses' flanks and galloped back to Tiumen, half mad with
+terror, to tell how a demon had come down from the skies, annihilated
+their comrades, and carried the fugitives away into the clouds upon
+its back.
+
+When they reached the town it was a scene of the utmost panic.
+Soldiers were galloping and running hither and thither, bugles were
+sounding, and the whole population were turning out into the
+snow-covered streets. On every lip there were only two
+words--"Natas!" "The Terrorists!"
+
+The death sentence on Soudeikin, the sub-commissioner of police, had
+been found pinned with a dagger to the table in the room in which lay
+the body of the lieutenant, with the bloody *T* on his forehead.
+Soudeikin had vanished utterly, leaving only his uniform behind him;
+so had the two prisoners for whom he had made himself responsible,
+and at the door of their room lay the corpse of the sentry with a
+bullet-hole clean through his head from front to back, while in the
+snow under one of the windows of the room lay the body of the other
+sentry, stabbed through the heart.
+
+From the very midst of one of the strongholds of Russian tyranny in
+Siberia, two important prisoners and a police official had been
+spirited away as though by magic, and now upon the top of all the
+wonder and dismay came the fugitive Cossacks with their wild tale
+about the air-demon that had swooped down and destroyed their troop
+at a single blow. To crown all, half an hour later three horses, mad
+with fear, came galloping up the Tobolsk road, dragging behind them
+an empty sleigh, to one of the seats of which was pinned a scrap of
+paper on which was written--
+
+"The daughter of Natas sends greeting to the Governor of Tiumen, and
+thanks him for his hospitality."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT.
+
+
+On the morning of Tuesday, the 9th of March 1904, the _Times_
+published the following telegram at the head of its Foreign
+Intelligence:--
+
+      ASTOUNDING OCCURRENCE IN RUSSIA.
+
+      _Destruction of Kronstadt by an unknown Air-Ship._
+      (_From our own Correspondent._)
+
+      St. Petersburg, _March 8th_, 4 P.M.
+
+    Between six and seven this morning, the fortress of Kronstadt was
+    partially destroyed by an unknown air-ship, which was first
+    sighted approaching from the westward at a tremendous speed.
+
+    Four shots in all were fired upon the fortress, and produced the
+    most appalling destruction. There was no smoke or flame visible
+    from the guns of the air-ship, and the explosives with which the
+    missiles were charged must have been far more powerful than
+    anything hitherto used in warfare, as in the focus of the
+    explosion masses of iron and steel and solid masonry were
+    instantly reduced to powder.
+
+    Two shots were fired as the strange vessel approached, and two as
+    she left the fortress. The two latter exploded over one of the
+    powder magazines, dissolved the steel roof to dust, and ignited
+    the whole contents of the magazine, blowing that portion of the
+    fortification bodily into the sea. At least half the garrison has
+    disappeared, most of the unfortunate men having been practically
+    annihilated by the terrific force of the explosions.
+
+    The air-ship was not of the navigable balloon type, and is
+    described by the survivors as looking more like a flying
+    torpedo-boat than anything else. She flew no flag, and there is
+    no clue to her origin.
+
+    After destroying the fortress, she ascended several thousand
+    feet, and continued her eastward course at such a prodigious
+    speed, that in less than five minutes she was lost to sight.
+
+    The excitement in St. Petersburg almost reaches the point of
+    panic. All efforts to keep the news of the disaster secret have
+    completely failed, and I have therefore received permission to
+    send this telegram, which has been revised by the Censorship, and
+    may therefore be accepted as authentic.
+
+Within an hour of the appearance of this telegram, which appeared
+only in the _Times_, the Russian Censorship having refused to allow
+any more to be despatched, the astounding news was flying over the
+wires to every corner of the world.
+
+The _Times_ had a lengthy and very able article on the subject,
+which, although by no means alarmist in tone, told the world, in
+grave and weighty sentences, that there could now be no doubt but
+that the problem of aërial navigation had been completely solved, and
+that therefore mankind stood confronted by a power that was
+practically irresistible, and which changed the whole aspect of
+warfare by land and sea.
+
+In the face of this power, the fortresses, armies, and fleets of the
+world were useless and helpless. The destruction of Kronstadt had
+proved that to demonstration. From a height of several thousand feet,
+and a distance of nearly seven miles, the unknown air-vessel had
+practically destroyed, with four shots from her mysterious,
+smokeless, and flameless guns, the strongest fortress in Europe. If
+it could do that, and there was not the slightest doubt but that it
+had done so, it could destroy armies wholesale without a chance of
+reprisals, sink fleets, and lay cities in ruins, at the leisure of
+those who commanded it.
+
+And here arose the supreme question of the hour--a question beside
+which all other questions of national or international policy sank
+instantly into insignificance--Who were those who held this new and
+appalling power in their hands? It was hardly to be believed that
+they were representatives of any regularly-constituted national
+Power, for, although the air was full of rumours of war, there was at
+present unbroken peace all over the world.
+
+Even in the hands of a recognised Power, the possession of such a
+frightful engine of destruction could not be viewed by the rest of
+the world with anything but the gravest apprehension, for that Power,
+however insignificant otherwise, would now be in a position to
+terrorise any other nation, or league of nations, however great.
+Manifestly those who had built the one air-vessel that had been seen,
+and had given such conclusive proof of her terrible powers, could
+construct a fleet if they chose to do so, and then the world would be
+at their mercy.
+
+If, however, as seemed only too probable, the machine was in the
+hands of a few irresponsible individuals, or, still worse, in those
+of such enemies of humanity as the Nihilists, or that yet more
+mysterious and terrible society who were popularly known as the
+Terrorists, then indeed the outlook was serious beyond forecast or
+description. At any moment the forces of destruction and anarchy
+might be let loose upon the world, in such fashion that little less
+than the collapse of the whole fabric of Society might be expected as
+the result.
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+The above necessarily brief and imperfect digest gives only the
+headings of an article which filled nearly two columns of the
+_Times_, and it is needless to say that such an article in the
+leading columns of the most serious and respectable newspaper in the
+world produced an intense impression wherever it was read.
+
+Of course the telegram was instantly copied by the evening papers,
+which ran out special editions for the sole purpose of reproducing
+it, with their own comments upon it, which, after all, were not much
+more original than the telegram. Meanwhile the _Berliner Tageblatt_,
+the _Newe Freie Presse_, the _Kölnische Zeitung_, and the _Journal
+des Débats_ had received later and somewhat similar telegrams, and
+had given their respective views of the catastrophe to the world.
+
+By noon all the capitals of Europe were in a fever of expectation and
+apprehension. The cables had carried the news to America and India;
+and when the evening of the same day brought the telegraphic account
+of the extraordinary occurrence at Tiumen in the grey dusk of the
+early morning, proving almost conclusively that the rescue had been
+effected by the same agency that had destroyed Kronstadt, and that,
+worse than all, the air-vessel was at the command of Natas, the
+unknown Chief of the mysterious Terrorists, excitement rose almost to
+frenzy, and everywhere the wildest rumours were accepted as truth.
+
+In a word, the "psychological moment" had come all over Europe, the
+moment in which all men were thinking of the same thing, discussing
+the same event, and dreading the same results. To have found a
+parallel state of affairs, it would have been necessary to go back
+more than a hundred years, to the hour when the head of Louis XVI.
+fell into the basket of the guillotine, and the monarchies of Europe
+sprang to arms to avenge his death.
+
+Meanwhile other and not less momentous events had, unknown to the
+newspapers or the public, been taking place in three very different
+parts of the world.
+
+On the evening of Saturday, the 6th, Lord Alanmere had called upon
+Mr. Balfour in Downing Street, and laid the duplicates of the secret
+treaty between France and Russia, and copies of all the memoranda
+appertaining to it, before him, and had convinced him of their
+authenticity. At the same time he showed him plans of the
+war-balloons, of which a fleet of fifty would within a few days be at
+the command of the Tsar.
+
+The result of this interview was a meeting of a Cabinet Council, and
+the immediate despatch of secret orders to mobilise the fleet and the
+army, to put every available ship into commission, and to double the
+strength of the Mediterranean Squadron at once. That evening three
+Queen's messengers left Charing Cross by the night mail, one for
+Berlin, one for Vienna, and one for Rome, each of them bearing a copy
+of the secret treaty.
+
+On Monday morning a Council of Ministers was held at the Peterhof
+Palace in St. Petersburg, presided over by the Tsar, and convened to
+discuss the destruction of Kronstadt.
+
+At this Council it was announced that the fleet of war-balloons would
+be ready to take the air in a week's time from then, and that the
+concentration of troops on the Afghan frontier was as complete as it
+could be without provoking immediate hostilities with Britain. In
+fact, so close were the Cossacks and the Indian troops to each other,
+both on the Pamirs and on the western slopes of the Hindu Kush, that
+a collision might be expected at any moment.
+
+The Council of the Tsar decided to let matters take their course in
+the East, and to make all arrangements with France to simultaneously
+attack the Triple Alliance as soon as the war-balloons had been
+satisfactorily tested.
+
+Soon after daybreak on Wednesday, the 10th, an affair of outposts
+took place near the northern end of the Sir Ulang Pass of the Hindu
+Kush, between two considerable bodies of Cossacks and Ghoorkhas, in
+which, after a stubborn fight, the Russians gave way before the
+magazine fire of the Indian troops, and fled, leaving nearly a fourth
+of their number on the field.
+
+The news of this encounter reached London on Wednesday night, and was
+published in the papers on Thursday morning, together with the
+intelligence that the fight had been watched from a height of nearly
+three thousand feet by a small party of men and women in an air-ship,
+evidently a vessel of war, from the fact that she carried four long
+guns. She took no part in the fight, and as soon as it was over went
+off to the south-west at a speed which carried her out of sight in a
+few minutes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY.
+
+
+While all Europe was thrilling with the apprehension of approaching
+war, and the excitement caused by the appearance of the strange
+air-ship and the news of its terrible exploits at Kronstadt and
+Tiumen, the _Ariel_ herself was quietly pursuing her way in mid-air
+south-westerly from the scene of the skirmish outside the Sir Ulang
+Pass.
+
+She was bound for a region in the midst of Africa, which, even in the
+first decade of the twentieth century, was still unknown to the
+geographer and untrodden by the explorer.
+
+Fenced in by huge and precipitous mountains, round whose bases lay
+vast forests and impenetrable swamps and jungles, from whose deadly
+areas the boldest pioneers had turned aside as being too hopelessly
+inhospitable to repay the cost and toil of exploration, it had
+remained undiscovered and unknown save by two men, who had reached it
+by the only path by which it was accessible--through the air and over
+the mountains which shut it in on every side from the external world.
+
+These two adventurous travellers were a wealthy and eccentric
+Englishman, named Louis Holt, and Thomas Jackson, his devoted
+retainer, and these two had taken it into their heads--or rather
+Louis Holt had taken it into his head--to achieve in fact the feat
+which Jules Verne had so graphically described in fiction, and to
+cross Africa in a balloon.
+
+They had set out from Zanzibar towards the end of the last year of
+the nineteenth century, and, with the exception of one or two vague
+reports from the interior, nothing more had been heard of them until,
+nearly a year later, a collapsed miniature balloon had been picked up
+in the Gulf of Guinea by the captain of a trading steamer, who had
+found in the little car attached to it a hermetically sealed
+meat-tin, which contained a manuscript, the contents of which will
+become apparent in due course.
+
+The captain of the steamer was a practical and somewhat stupid man,
+who read the manuscript with considerable scepticism, and then put it
+away, having come to the conclusion that it was no business of his,
+and that there was no money in it anyhow. He thought nothing more of
+it until he got back to Liverpool, and then he gave it to a friend of
+his, who was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and who duly
+laid it before that body.
+
+It was published in the _Transactions_, and there was some talk of
+sending out an expedition under the command of an eminent explorer to
+rescue Louis Holt and his servant; but when that personage was
+approached on the subject, it was found that the glory would not be
+at all commensurate with the expense and risk, and so, after being
+the usual nine days' wonder, and being duly elaborated by several
+able editors in the daily and weekly press, the strange adventures of
+Louis Holt had been dismissed, as of doubtful authenticity, into the
+limbo of exhausted sensations.
+
+One man, however, had laid the story to heart somewhat more
+seriously, and that was Richard Arnold, who, on reading it, had
+formed the resolve that, if ever his dream of aërial navigation were
+realised, the first use he would make of his air-ship would be to
+discover and rescue the lonely travellers who were isolated from the
+rest of the world in the strange, inaccessible region of which the
+manuscript had given a brief but graphic and fascinating account. He
+was now carrying out that resolve, and at the same time working out a
+portion of a plan that was not his own, and which he had been very
+far from foreseeing when he made the resolution.
+
+Louis Holt's original MS. had been purchased by the President of the
+Inner Circle, and the _Ariel_ was now, in fact, on a voyage of
+exploration, the object of which was the discovery of this unknown
+region, with a view to making it the seat of a settlement from which
+the members of the Executive could watch in security and peace the
+course of the tremendous struggle which would, ere long, be shaking
+the world to its foundations.
+
+In such a citadel as this, fenced in by a series of vast natural
+obstacles, impassable to all who did not possess the means of aërial
+locomotion, they would be secure from molestation, though all the
+armies of Europe sought to attack them; and the _Ariel_ could, if
+necessary, traverse in twenty-five hours the three thousand odd miles
+which separated it from the centre of Europe.
+
+After the rescue of Natasha and the Princess on the Tobolsk road, the
+_Ariel_, in obedience to the orders of the Council, had shaped her
+course southward to the western slopes of the Hindu Kush, in order to
+be present at the prearranged attack of the Cossacks on the British
+reconnoitring force.
+
+Arnold's orders were simply to wait for the engagement, and only to
+watch it, unless the British were attacked in overwhelming numbers.
+In that case he was to have dispersed the Russian force, as the plan
+of the Terrorists did not allow of any advantage being gained by the
+soldiers of the Tsar in that part of the world just then.
+
+As the British had defeated them unaided, the _Ariel_ had taken no
+part in the affair, and, after vanishing from the sight of the
+astonished combatants, had proceeded upon her voyage of discovery.
+
+As a good month would have to elapse before she could keep her
+rendezvous with the steamer that was to bring out the materials for
+the construction of the new air-ships from England, there was plenty
+of time to make the voyage in a leisurely and comfortable fashion. As
+soon, therefore, as he was out of sight of the skirmishers, he had
+reduced the speed of the _Ariel_ to about forty miles an hour, using
+only the stern-propeller driven by one engine, and supporting the
+ship on the air-planes and two fan-wheels.
+
+At this speed he would traverse the three thousand odd miles which
+lay between the Hindu Kush and "Aeria"--as Louis Holt had somewhat
+fancifully named the region that could be reached only through the
+air--in a little over seventy-five hours, or rather more than three
+days.
+
+Those three days were the happiest that his life had so far
+contained. The complete success of his invention, and the absolute
+fulfilment of his promises to the Brotherhood, had made him a power
+in the world, and a power which, as he honestly believed, would be
+used for the highest good of mankind when the time came to finally
+confront and confound the warring forces of rival despotisms.
+
+But far more than this in his eyes was the fact that he had been able
+to use the unique power which his invention had placed in his hands,
+to rescue the woman that he loved so dearly from a fate which, even
+now that it was past, he could not bring himself to contemplate.
+
+When she had first greeted him in the Council-chamber of the Inner
+Circle, the distance that had separated her from him had seemed
+immeasurable, and she--the daughter of Natas and the idol of the most
+powerful society in the world--might well have looked down upon
+him--the nameless dreamer of an unrealised dream, and a pauper, who
+would not have known where to have looked for his next meal, had the
+Brotherhood not had faith in him and his invention.
+
+But now all that was changed. The dream had become the reality, and
+the creation of his genius was bearing her with him swiftly and
+smoothly through a calm atmosphere, and under a cloudless sky, over
+sea and land, with more ease than a bird wings its flight through
+space. He had accomplished the greatest triumph in the history of
+human discovery. He had revolutionised the world, and ere long he
+would make war impossible. Surely this entitled him to approach even
+her on terms of equality, and to win her for his own if he could.
+
+Natasha saw this too as clearly as he did--more clearly, perhaps;
+for, while he only arrived at the conclusion by a process of
+reasoning, she reached it intuitively at a single step. She knew that
+he loved her, that he had loved her from the moment that their hands
+had first met in greeting, and, peerless as she was among women, she
+was still a woman, and the homage of such a man as this was sweet to
+her, albeit it was still unspoken.
+
+She knew, too, that the hopes of the Revolution, which, before all
+things human, claimed her whole-souled devotion, now depended mainly
+upon him, and the use that he might make of the power that lay in his
+hands, and this of itself was no light bond between them, though not
+necessarily having anything to do with affection.
+
+So far she was heart-whole, and though many had attempted the task,
+no man had yet made her pulses beat a stroke faster for his sake.
+Ever since she had been old enough to know what tyranny meant, she
+had been trained to hate it, and prepared to work against it, and, if
+necessary, to sacrifice herself body and soul to destroy it.
+
+Thus hatred rather than love had been the creed of her life and the
+mainspring of her actions, and, save her father and her one friend
+Radna, she stood aloof from mankind and its loves and friendships,
+rather the beautiful incarnation of an abstract principle than a
+woman, to whom love and motherhood were the highest aims of
+existence.
+
+More than this, she was the daughter of a Jew, and therefore held
+herself absolutely at her father's disposal as far as marriage was
+concerned, and if he had given her in wedlock even to a Russian
+official, telling her that the Cause demanded the sacrifice, she
+would have obeyed, though her heart had broken in the same hour.
+
+Although he had never hinted directly at such a thing, the conviction
+had been growing upon her for the last two or three years that Natas
+really intended her to marry Tremayne, and so, in the case of his own
+death, form a bond that should hold him to the Brotherhood when the
+chain of his own control was snapped. Though she instinctively shrank
+from such a union of mere policy, she would enter it without
+hesitation at her father's bidding, and for the sake of the Cause to
+which her life was devoted.
+
+How great such a sacrifice would be, should it ever be asked of her,
+no one but herself could ever know, for she was perfectly well aware
+that in Tremayne's strange double life there were two loves, one of
+which, and that not the real and natural one, was hers.
+
+Had she felt that she had the disposal of herself in her own hands,
+she would not, perhaps, have waited with such painful apprehension
+the avowal which hour after hour, now that they were brought into
+such close and constant relationships on board this little vessel
+high in mid-air, she saw trembling on the lips of her rescuer.
+
+Arnold's life of hard, honest work, and his constant habit of facing
+truth in its most uncompromising forms, had made dissimulation almost
+impossible to him; and added to that, situated as he was, there was
+no necessity for it. Colston knew of his love, and the Princess had
+guessed it long ago. Did Natasha know his open secret? Of that he
+hardly dared to be sure, though something told him that the
+inevitable moment of knowledge was near at hand.
+
+For the first twenty-four hours of the voyage he had seen very little
+of either her or the Princess, as they had mostly remained in their
+cabins, enjoying a complete rest after the terrible fatigue and
+suffering they had gone through since their capture in Moscow, but on
+the Thursday morning they had had breakfast in the saloon with him
+and Colston, and had afterwards spent a portion of the morning on
+deck, deeply interested in watching the fight between the British and
+Russians. Thanks to Radna's foresight, they had each found a trunk
+full of suitable clothing on board the _Ariel_. These had been taken
+to Drumcraig by Colston, and placed in the cabins intended for their
+use, and so they were able to discard the uncouth but useful costumes
+in which they had made their escape.
+
+In the afternoon Arnold had had to perform the pleasant task of
+showing them over the _Ariel_, explaining the working of the
+machinery, and putting the wonderful vessel through various
+evolutions to show what she was capable of doing.
+
+He rushed her at full speed through the air, took flying leaps over
+outlying spurs of mountain ranges that lay in their path, swooped
+down into valleys, and flew over level plains fifty yards from the
+ground, like an albatross over the surface of a smooth tropic sea.
+Then he soared up from the earth again, until the horizon widened out
+to vast extent, and they could see the mighty buttresses of "the Roof
+of the World" stretching out below them in an endless succession of
+ranges as far as the eye could reach.
+
+Neither Natasha nor the Princess could find words to at all
+adequately express all that they saw and learnt during that day of
+wonders, and all night Natasha could hardly sleep for waking dreams
+of universal empire, and a world at peace equitably ruled by a power
+that had no need of aggression, because all the realms of earth and
+air belonged to those who wielded it.
+
+When at last she did go to sleep, it was to dream again, and this
+time of herself, the Angel of the Revolution, sharing the aërial
+throne of the world-empire with the man who had made revolutions
+impossible by striking the sword from the hand of the tyrants of
+earth for ever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A WOOING IN MID AIR.
+
+
+After breakfast on the Friday morning, Natasha and Arnold were
+standing in the bows of the _Ariel_, admiring the magnificent
+panorama that lay stretched out five thousand feet below them.
+
+The air-ship had by this time covered a little over 2000 miles of her
+voyage, and was now speeding smoothly and swiftly along over the
+south-western shore of the Red Sea, a few miles southward of the
+sixteenth parallel of latitude. Eastward the bright blue waves of the
+sea were flashing behind them in the cloudless morning sun; the high
+mountains of the African coast rose to right and left and in front of
+them; and through the breaks in the chain they could see the huge
+masses of Abyssinia to the southward, and the vast plains that
+stretched away westward across the Blue and White Niles, away to the
+confines of the Libyan Desert.
+
+"What a glorious world!" exclaimed Natasha, after gazing for many
+silent minutes with entranced eyes over the limitless landscape. "And
+to think that, after all, all this is but a little corner of it!"
+
+"It is yours, Natasha, if you will have it," replied Arnold quietly,
+yet with a note in his voice that warned her that the moment which
+she had expected and yet dreaded, had already come. There was no use
+in avoiding the inevitable for a time. It would be better if they
+understood each other at once; and so she looked round at him with
+eyebrows elevated in well-simulated surprise, and said--
+
+"Mine! What do you mean, my friend?"
+
+There was an almost imperceptible emphasis on the last word that
+brought the blood to Arnold's cheek, and he answered, with a ring in
+his voice that gave unmistakable evidence of the effort that he was
+making to restrain the passion that inspired his words--
+
+"I mean just what I say. All the kingdoms of the world, and the glory
+of them, from pole to pole, and from east to west, shall be yours,
+and shall obey your lightest wish. I have conquered the air, and
+therefore the earth and sea. In two months from now I shall have an
+aërial navy afloat that will command the world, and I--is it not
+needless to tell you, Natasha, why I glory in the possession of that
+power? Surely you must know that it is because I love you more than
+all that a subject world can give me, and because it makes it
+possible for me, if not to win you, at least not to be unworthy to
+attempt the task?"
+
+It was a distinctly unconventional declaration--such a one, indeed,
+as no woman had ever heard since Alexander the Great had whispered in
+the ears of Lais his dreams of universal empire, but there was a
+straightforward earnestness about it which convinced her beyond
+question that it came from no ordinary man, but from one who saw the
+task before him clearly, and had made up his mind to achieve it.
+
+For a moment her heart beat faster than it had ever yet done at the
+bidding of a man's voice, and there was a bright flush on her cheeks,
+and a softer light in her eyes, as she replied in a more serious tone
+than Arnold had ever heard her use--
+
+"My friend, you have forgotten something. You and I are not a man and
+a woman in the relationship that exists between us. We are two
+factors in a work such as has never been undertaken since the world
+began; two units in a mighty problem whose solution is the happiness
+or the ruin of the whole human race. It is not for us to speak of
+individual love while these tremendous issues hang undecided in the
+balance.
+
+"One does not speak of love in the heat of war, and you and I and
+those who are with us are at war with the powers of the earth, and
+higher things than the happiness of individuals are at stake. You
+know my training has been one of hate and not of love, and till the
+hate is quenched I must not know what love is.
+
+"Remember your oath--the oath which I have taken as well as you--'_As
+long as I live those ends shall be my ends, and no human
+considerations shall weigh with me where those ends are concerned._'
+Is not this love of which you speak a human consideration that might
+clash with the purposes of the Brotherhood whose ends you and I have
+solemnly sworn to hold supreme above all earthly things?
+
+"My father has told me that when love takes possession of a human
+soul, reason abdicates her throne, and great aims become impossible.
+No, no; that great power which you hold in your hands was not given
+you just to win the love of a woman, and I tell you frankly that you
+will never win mine with it.
+
+"More than this, if I saw you using it for such an end, I would take
+care that you did not use it for long. No man ever had such an awful
+responsibility laid upon him as the possession of this power lays
+upon you. It is yours to make or mar the future of the human race, of
+which I am but a unit. It is not the power that will ever win either
+my respect or my love, but the wisdom and the justice with which it
+may be used."
+
+"Ah! I see you distrust me. You think that because I have the power
+to be a despot, that therefore I may forget my oath and become one. I
+forgive you for the thought, unworthy of you as it is, and also, I
+hope, of me. No, Natasha; I am no skilled hand at love-making, for I
+have never wooed any mistress but one before to-day, and she is won
+only by plain honesty and hard service; just what I will devote to
+the winning of you, whether you are to be won or not--but I must have
+expressed myself clumsily indeed for you to have even thought of
+treason to the Cause.
+
+"You are no more devoted adherent of it than I am. You have suffered
+in one way and I in another from the falsehood and rottenness of
+present-day Society, but you do not hate it more utterly than I do,
+and you would not go to greater lengths than I would to destroy it.
+Yours is a hatred of emotion, and mine is a hatred of reason. I have
+proved that, as Society is constituted, it is the worst and not the
+best qualities of humanity that win wealth and power, and such
+respect as the vulgar of all classes can give. But it is not such
+power as this that I would lay at your feet, when I ask you to share
+the world-empire with me. It is an empire of peace and not of war
+that I shall offer to you."
+
+"Then," said Natasha, taking a step towards him, and laying her hand
+on his arm as she spoke, "when you have made war impossible to the
+rivalry of nations and races, and have proclaimed peace on earth,
+then I will give myself to you, body and soul, to do with as you
+please, to kill or to keep alive, for then truly you will have done
+that which all the generations of men before you have failed to do,
+and it will be yours to ask and to have."
+
+As she spoke these last words Natasha bowed her proudly-carried head
+as though in submission to the dictum that her own lips had
+pronounced; and Arnold, laying his hand on hers and holding it for a
+moment unresisting in his own, said--
+
+"I accept the condition, and as you have said so shall it be. You
+shall hear no more words of love from my lips until the day that
+peace shall be proclaimed on earth and war shall be no more; and when
+that day comes, as it shall do, I will hold you to your words, and I
+will claim you and take you, body and soul, as you have said, though
+I break every other human tie save man's love for woman to possess
+you."
+
+Natasha looked him full in the eyes as he spoke these last words. She
+had never heard such words before, and by their very strength and
+audacity they compelled her respect and even her submission. Her
+heart was still untamed and unconquered, and no man was its lord, yet
+her eyes sank before the steady gaze of his, and in a low sweet voice
+she answered--
+
+"So be it! There never was a true woman yet who did not love to meet
+her master. When that day comes I shall have met my master, and I
+will do his bidding. Till then we are friends and comrades in a
+common Cause to which both our lives are devoted. Is it not better
+that it should be so?"
+
+"Yes, I am content. I would not take the prize before I have won it.
+Only answer me one question frankly, and then I have done till I may
+speak again."
+
+"What is that."
+
+"Have I a rival--not among men, for of that I am careless--but in
+your own heart?"
+
+"No, none. I am heart-whole and heart-free. Win me if you can. It is
+a fair challenge, and I will abide by the result, be it what it may."
+
+"That is all I ask for. If I do not win you, may Heaven do so to me
+that I shall have no want of the love of woman for ever!"
+
+So saying, he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it, in token of
+the compact that was made between them. Then, intuitively divining
+that she wished to be alone, he turned away without another word, and
+walked to the after end of the vessel.
+
+Natasha remained where she was for a good half-hour, leaning on the
+rail that surrounded the deck, and gazing out dreamily over the
+splendid and ever-changing scene that lay spread out beneath her.
+Truly it was a glorious world, as she had said, even now, cursed as
+it was with war and the hateful atrocities of human selfishness, and
+the sordid ambition of its despots.
+
+What would it be like in the day when the sword should lie rusting on
+the forgotten battle-field, and the cannon's mouth be choked with the
+desert dust for ever? What was now a hell of warring passions would
+then be a paradise of peaceful industry, and he who had the power, if
+any man had, to turn that hell into the paradise that it might be,
+had just told her that he loved her, and would create that paradise
+for her sake.
+
+Could he do it? Was not this marvellous creation of his genius, that
+was bearing her in mid-air over land and sea, as woman had never
+travelled before, a sufficient earnest of his power? Truly it was.
+And to be won by such a man was no mean destiny, even for her, the
+daughter of Natas, and the peerless Angel of the Revolution.
+
+Situated as they were, it would of course have been impossible, even
+if it had been in any way desirable, for Arnold and Natasha to have
+kept their compact secret from their fellow-travellers, who were at
+the same time their most intimate friends.
+
+There was not, however, the remotest reason for attempting to do so.
+Although with regard to the rest of the world the members of the
+Brotherhood were necessarily obliged to live lives of constant
+dissimulation, among themselves they had no secrets from each other.
+
+Thus, for instance, it was perfectly well known that Tremayne, during
+those periods of his double life in which he acted as Chief of the
+Inner Circle, regarded the daughter of Natas with feelings much
+warmer than those of friendship or brotherhood in a common cause, and
+until Arnold and his wonderful creation appeared on the scene, he was
+looked upon as the man who, if any man could, would some day win the
+heart of their idolised Angel.
+
+Of the other love that was the passion of his other life, no one save
+Natasha, and perhaps Natas himself, knew anything; and even if they
+had known, they would not have considered it possible for any other
+woman to have held a man's heart against the peerless charms of
+Natasha. In fact they would have looked upon such rivalry as mere
+presumption that it was not at all necessary for their incomparable
+young Queen of the Terror to take into serious account.
+
+In Arnold, however, they saw a worthy rival even to the Chief
+himself, for there was a sort of halo of romance, even in their eyes,
+about this serious, quiet-spoken young genius, who had come suddenly
+forth from the unknown obscurity of his past life to arm the
+Brotherhood with a power which revolutionised their tactics and
+virtually placed the world at their mercy. In a few months he had
+become alike their hero and their supreme hope, so far as all active
+operations went; and now that with his own hand he had snatched
+Natasha from a fate of unutterable misery, and so signally punished
+her persecutors, it seemed to be only in the fitness of things that
+he should love her, win her for his own, if won she was to be by any
+man.
+
+This, at any rate, was the line of thought which led the Princess and
+Colston each to express their unqualified satisfaction with the state
+of affairs arrived at in the compact that had been made between
+Natasha and Arnold--"armed neutrality," as the former smilingly
+described to the Princess while she was telling her of the strange
+wooing of her now avowed lover. Natasha was no woman to be wooed and
+won in the ordinary way, and it was fitting that she should be the
+guerdon of such an achievement as no man had ever undertaken before,
+since the world began.
+
+The voyage across Africa progressed pleasantly and almost
+uneventfully for the thirty-six hours after the crossing of the Red
+Sea. After passing over the mountains of the coast, the _Ariel_ had
+travelled at a uniform height of about 3000 feet over a magnificent
+country of hill and valley, forest and prairie, occasionally being
+obliged to rise another thousand feet or so to cross some of the
+ridges of mountain chains which rose into peaks and mountain knots,
+some of which touched the snow-line.
+
+Several times the air-ship was sighted by the people of the various
+countries over which she passed, and crowds swarmed out of the
+villages and towns, gesticulating wildly, and firing guns and beating
+drums to scare the flying demon away.
+
+Once or twice they heard bullets singing through the air, but of
+these they took little heed, beyond quickening the speed of the
+air-ship for the time, knowing that there was not a chance in a
+hundred thousand of the _Ariel_ being hit, and that even if she were
+the bullet would glance harmlessly off her smooth hull of hardened
+aluminium.
+
+Once only they descended in a delightful little valley among the
+mountains, which appeared to be totally uninhabited, and here they
+renewed their store of fresh water, and laid in one of fruit, as well
+as taking advantage of the opportunity to stretch their legs on
+_terra firma_.
+
+This was on the Saturday morning; and when they again rose into the
+air to continue their voyage, they saw that they had crossed the
+great mountain mass that divides the Sahara from the little-known
+regions of Equatorial Africa, and that in front of them to the
+south-west lay, as far as the eye could reach, a boundless expanse of
+dense forest and jungle and swamp, a gloomy and forbidding-looking
+region which it would be well-nigh impossible to traverse on foot.
+
+Early in the afternoon the four voyagers were gathered in the
+deck-saloon, closely examining a somewhat rudely-drawn chart that was
+spread out on the table. It was the map that formed part of the
+manuscript which had been found in the car of Louis Holt's miniature
+balloon, and sketched out his route from Zanzibar to Aeria, and the
+country lying round so far as he had been able to observe it.
+
+"This gives us, after all, very little idea of the distance we have
+yet to go," said Arnold; "for though Holt has got his latitude
+presumably right, we have very little clue to his longitude, for he
+says himself that his watch was stopped in a thunder-storm, and that
+in the same storm he lost all count of the distance he had travelled.
+Added to that, he admits that he was blown about for twelve days in
+one direction and another, so that all we really know is that
+somewhere across this fearful wilderness beneath us we shall find
+Aeria, but where is still a problem."
+
+"What is your own idea?" asked Colston.
+
+"Not a very clear one, I must confess. At this elevation we can see
+about sixty miles as the atmosphere is now, and as far as we can see
+to the south-west there is nothing but the same kind of country that
+we have under us. We have travelled rather more than 2700 miles since
+we left the Hindu Kush, and according to my reckoning Aeria lies
+somewhere between 3000 and 3200 miles south-west of where we started
+from on Thursday morning. That means that we are within between three
+and five hundred miles of Aeria, unless, indeed, our calculations are
+wholly at fault, and at that rate, as we only have about four and a
+half hours' daylight left, we shall not get there to-day at our
+present speed."
+
+"Couldn't we go a bit faster?" put in Natasha. "You know I and the
+Princess are dying to see this mysterious unknown country that only
+two other people have ever seen."
+
+"You have but to say so, Natasha, and it is already done," replied
+Arnold, signalling at the same moment to the engine-room by means of
+a similar arrangement of electric buttons to that which was in the
+wheel-house. "Only you must remember that you must not go out on deck
+now, or you will be blown away like a feather into space."
+
+While he was speaking the three propellers had begun to revolve at
+full speed, and the _Ariel_ darted forward with a velocity that
+caused the mountains she had just crossed to sink rapidly on the
+horizon.
+
+All the afternoon the _Ariel_ flew at full speed over the seemingly
+interminable wilderness of swamp and jungle, until, when the
+equatorial sun was within a few degrees of the horizon, one of the
+crew, who had been stationed in the conning tower at the bows,
+signalled to call the attention of the man in the wheel-house.
+Arnold, who was in the after-saloon at the time, heard the signal,
+and hurried forward to the look-out. He gave one quick glance ahead,
+signalled "half-speed" to the engine-room, and then went aft again to
+the saloon, and said--
+
+"Aeria is in sight!"
+
+Immediately everyone hastened to the deck saloon, from the windows of
+which could be seen a huge mass of mountains looming dark and
+distinct against the crimsoning western sky.
+
+It rose like some vast precipitous island out of the sea of forest
+that lay about its base; and above the mighty rock-walls that seemed
+to rise sheer from the surrounding plain at least a dozen peaks
+towered into the sky, two of their summits covered with eternal snow,
+and shining like points of rosy fire in the almost level rays of the
+sun.
+
+As nearly as Arnold could judge in the deceptive state of the
+atmosphere, they were still between thirty and forty miles from it,
+and as it would not be safe to approach its lofty cliffs at a high
+rate of speed in the half light that would so soon merge into
+darkness, he said to his companions--
+
+"We shall have to find a resting-place up among the cliffs on this
+side to-night, for we have lost the moon, and unless it were
+absolutely necessary to cross the mountains in the dark, I should not
+care to do so with the ladies on board. Besides, there is no hurry
+now that we are here, and we shall get a much finer first impression
+of our new kingdom if we cross at sunrise. What do you think?"
+
+All agreed that this would be the best plan, and so the _Ariel_ ran
+up to within a mile of the rocks, and then the forward engine was
+connected with the dynamo, and the searchlight, which had so
+disconcerted the Cossacks on the Tobolsk road, was turned on to the
+cliffs, which they carefully explored, until they found a little
+plateau covered with luxuriant vegetation and well watered, about two
+thousand feet above the plain below.
+
+Here it was decided to come to a halt for the night, and to reserve
+the exploration of Aeria for the morning, and so the fan-wheels were
+sent aloft, and the _Ariel_, after hovering for a few minutes over
+the verdant little plain seeking for a suitable spot to alight in,
+sank gently to the earth after her flight of more than three thousand
+miles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+AERIA FELIX.
+
+
+Every one on board the _Ariel_ was astir the next morning as soon as
+the first rays of dawn were shooting across the vast plain that
+stretched away to the eastward, and by the time it was fairly
+daylight breakfast was over and all were anxiously speculating as to
+what they would find on the other side of the tremendous cliffs, on
+an eyrie in which they had found a resting-place for the night.
+
+As soon as all was ready for a start, Arnold said to Natasha, who was
+standing alone with him on the after part of the deck--
+
+"If you would like to steer the _Ariel_ into your new kingdom, I
+shall be delighted to give you the lesson in steering that I promised
+you yesterday."
+
+Natasha saw the inner meaning of the offer at a glance, and replied
+with a smile that made his blood tingle--
+
+"That would be altogether too great a responsibility for a beginner.
+I might run on to some of these fearful rocks. But if you will take
+the helm when the dangerous part comes, I will learn all I can by
+watching you."
+
+"As long as you are with me in the wheel-house for the next hour or
+so," said Arnold, with almost boyish frankness, "I shall be content.
+I need scarcely tell you why I want to be alone with you when we
+first sight this new home of our future empire."
+
+"I have half a mind not to come after that very injudicious speech.
+Still, if only for the sake of its delightful innocence, I will
+forgive you this time. You really must practise the worldly art of
+dissimulation a little, or I shall have to get the Princess to play
+chaperon."
+
+Natasha spoke these words in a bantering tone, and with a flush on
+her lovely cheeks, that forced Arnold to cut short the conversation
+for the moment, by giving an order to Andrew Smith, who at that
+instant put his head out of the wheel-house door to say--
+
+"All ready, sir!"
+
+"Very well," replied Arnold. "I will take the wheel, and do you tell
+every one to keep under cover."
+
+Smith saluted, and disappeared, and then Natasha and Arnold went into
+the wheel-house, while Colston and the Princess took their places in
+the deck-saloon, the two men off duty going into the conning tower
+forward.
+
+"Why every one under cover, Captain Arnold?" asked Natasha, as soon
+as the two were ensconced in the wheel-house and the door shut.
+
+"Because I am going to put the _Ariel_ through her paces, and enter
+Aeria in style," replied he, signalling for the fan-wheels to
+revolve. "The fact is that, so far as I can see, these mountains are
+too high for us to rise over them by means of the lifting-wheels,
+which are only calculated to carry the ship to a height of about five
+thousand feet. After that the air gets too rarefied for them to get a
+solid grip. Now, these mountains look to me more like seven thousand
+feet high."
+
+"Then how will you get over them?"
+
+"I shall first take a cruise and see if I can find a negotiable gap,
+and then leap it."
+
+"What! Leap seven thousand feet?"
+
+"No; you forget that we shall be over five thousand up when we take
+the jump, and I have no doubt that we shall find a place where a
+thousand feet or so more will take us over. That we shall rise easily
+with the planes and propellers, and you will see such a leap as man
+never made in the world before."
+
+While he was speaking the _Ariel_ had risen from the ground, and was
+hanging a few hundred feet above the little plateau. He gave the
+signal for the wheels to be lowered, and the propellers to set to
+work at half-speed. Then he pulled the lever which moved the
+air-planes, and the vessel sped away forwards and upwards at about
+sixty miles an hour.
+
+Arnold headed her away from the mountains until he had got an offing
+of a couple of miles, and then he swung her round and skirted the
+cliffs, rising ever higher and higher, and keeping a sharp look-out
+for a depression among the ridges that still towered nearly three
+thousand feet above them.
+
+When he had explored some twenty miles of the mountain wall, Arnold
+suddenly pointed towards it, and said--
+
+"There is a place that I think will do. Look yonder, between those
+two high peaks away to the southward. That ridge is not more than six
+thousand feet from the earth, and the _Ariel_ can leap that as easily
+as an Irish hunter would take a five-barred gate."
+
+"It looks dreadfully high from here," said Natasha, in spite of
+herself turning a shade paler at the idea of taking a six thousand
+foot ridge at a flying leap. She had splendid nerves, but this was
+her first aërial voyage, and it was also the first time that she had
+ever been brought so closely face to face with the awful grandeur of
+Nature in her own secret and solitary places.
+
+She would have faced a levelled rifle without flinching, but as she
+looked at that frowning mass of rocks towering up into the sky, and
+then down into the fearful depths below, where huge trees looked like
+tiny shrubs, and vast forests like black patches of heather on the
+earth, her heart stood still in her breast when she thought of the
+frightful fate that would overwhelm the _Ariel_ and her crew should
+she fail to rise high enough to clear the ridge, or if anything went
+wrong with her machinery at the critical moment.
+
+"Are you sure you can do it?" she asked almost involuntarily.
+
+"Perfectly sure," replied Arnold quietly, "otherwise I should not
+attempt it with you on board. The _Ariel_ contains enough explosives
+to reduce her and us to dust and ashes, and if we hit that ridge
+going over, she would go off like a dynamite shell. No, I know what
+she can do, and you need not have the slightest fear!"
+
+"I am not exactly afraid, but it _looks_ a fearful thing to attempt."
+
+"If there were any danger I should tell you--with my usual lack of
+dissimulation. But really there is none, and all you have to do is to
+hold tight when I tell you, and keep your eyes open for the first
+glimpse of Aeria."
+
+By this time the _Ariel_ was more than ten miles away from the
+mountains. Arnold, having now got offing enough, swung her round
+again, headed her straight for the ridge between the two peaks, and
+signalled "full speed" to the engine-room.
+
+In an instant the propellers redoubled their revolutions, and the
+_Ariel_ gathered way until the wind sang and screamed past her masts
+and stays. She covered eight miles in less than four minutes, and it
+seemed to Natasha as though the rock-wall were rushing towards them
+at an appalling speed, still frowning down a thousand feet above
+them. For the instant she was all eyes. She could neither open her
+lips nor move a limb for sheer, irresistible, physical terror. Then
+she heard Arnold say sharply--
+
+"Now, hold on tight!"
+
+The nearest thing to her was his own arm, the hand of which grasped
+one of the spokes of the steering wheel. Instinctively she passed her
+own arm under it, and then clasped it with both her hands. As she did
+so she felt the muscles tighten and harden. Then with his other hand
+he pulled the lever back to the full, and inclined the planes to
+their utmost.
+
+Suddenly, as though some Titan had overthrown it, the huge black wall
+of rock in front seemed to sink down into the earth, the horizon
+widened out beyond it, and the _Ariel_ soared upwards and swept over
+it nearly a thousand feet to the good.
+
+"Ah!"
+
+The exclamation was forced from her white lips by an impulse that
+Natasha had no power to resist. All the pride of her nature was
+conquered and humbled for the moment by the marvel that she had seen,
+and by the something, greater and stranger than all, that she saw in
+the man beside her who had worked this miracle with a single touch of
+his hand. A moment later she had recovered her self-possession. She
+unclasped her hands from his arm, and as the colour came back to her
+cheeks she said, as he thought, more sweetly than she had ever spoken
+to him before--
+
+"My friend, you have glorious nerves where physical danger is
+concerned, and now I freely forgive you for fainting in the
+Council-chamber when Martinov was executed. But don't try mine again
+like that if you can help it. For the moment I thought that the end
+of all things had come. Oh, look! What a paradise! Truly this is a
+lovely kingdom that you have brought me to!"
+
+[Illustration: "The _Ariel_ sank down after the leap across the
+ridge."
+
+_See page 123._]
+
+"And one that you and I will yet reign over together," replied Arnold
+quietly, as he moved the lever again and allowed the _Ariel_ to sink
+smoothly down the other side of the ridge over which she had taken
+her tremendous leap.
+
+When she had called it a paradise, Natasha had used almost the only
+word that would fitly describe the scene that opened out before them
+as the _Ariel_ sank down after her leap across the ridge. The
+interior of the mountain mass took the form of an oval valley, as
+nearly as they could guess about fifty miles long by perhaps thirty
+wide. All round it the mountains seemed to rise unbroken by a single
+gap or chasm to between three and four thousand feet above the lowest
+part of the valley, and above this again the peaks rose high into the
+sky, two of them to the snow-line, which in this latitude was over
+15,000 feet above the sea.
+
+Of the two peaks which reached to this altitude, one was at either
+end of a line drawn through the greater length of the valley, that is
+to say, from north to south. At least ten other peaks all round the
+walls of the valley rose to heights varying from eight to twelve
+thousand feet.
+
+The centre of the valley was occupied by an irregularly shaped lake,
+plentifully dotted with islands about its shores, but quite clear of
+them in the middle. In its greatest length it would be about twelve
+miles long, while its breadth varied from five miles to a few hundred
+yards. Its sloping shores were covered with the most luxuriant
+vegetation, which reached upwards almost unbroken, but changing in
+character with the altitude, until there was a regular series of
+transitions, from the palms and bananas on the shores of the lake, to
+the sparse and scanty pines and firs that clung to the upper slopes
+of the mountains.
+
+The lake received about a score of streams, many of which began as
+waterfalls far up the mountains, while two of them at least had their
+origin in the eternal snows of the northern and southern peaks. So
+far as they could see from the air-ship, the lake had no outlet, and
+they were therefore obliged to conclude that its surplus waters
+escaped by some subterranean channel, probably to reappear again as a
+river welling from the earth, it might be, hundreds of miles away.
+
+Of inhabitants there were absolutely no traces to be seen, from the
+direction in which the _Ariel_ was approaching. Animals and birds
+there seemed to be in plenty, but of man no trace was visible, until
+in her flight along the valley the _Ariel_ opened up one of the many
+smaller valleys formed by the ribs of the encircling mountains.
+
+There, close by a clump of magnificent tree-ferns, and nestling under
+a precipitous ridge, covered from base to summit with dark-green
+foliage and brilliantly-coloured flowers, was a well-built log-hut
+surrounded by an ample verandah, also almost smothered in flowers,
+and surmounted by a flagstaff from which fluttered the tattered
+remains of a Union-Jack.
+
+In a little clearing to one side of the hut, a man, who might very
+well have passed for a modern edition of Robinson Crusoe, so far as
+his attire was concerned, was busily skinning an antelope which hung
+from a pole suspended from two trees. His back was turned towards
+them, and so swift and silent had been their approach that he did not
+hear the soft whirring of the propellers until they were within some
+three hundred yards of him.
+
+Then, just as he looked round to see whence the sound came, Andrew
+Smith, who was standing in the bows near the conning tower, put his
+hands to his mouth and roared out a regular sailor's hail--
+
+"Thomas Jackson, ahoy!"
+
+The man straightened himself up, stared open-mouthed for a moment at
+the strange apparition, and then, with a yell either of terror or
+astonishment, bolted into the house as hard as he could run.
+
+As soon as he was able to speak for laughing at the queer incident,
+Arnold sent the fan-wheels aloft and lowered the _Ariel_ to within
+about twenty feet of the ground over a level patch of sward, across
+which meandered a little stream on its way to the lake. While she was
+hanging motionless over this, the man who had fled into the house
+reappeared, almost dragging another man, somewhat similarly attired,
+after him, and pointing excitedly towards the _Ariel_.
+
+The second comer, if he felt any astonishment at the apparition that
+had invaded his solitude, certainly betrayed none. On the contrary,
+he walked deliberately from the hut to the bit of sward over which
+the _Ariel_ hung motionless, and, seeing two ladies leaning on the
+rail that ran round the deck, he doffed his goatskin cap with a
+well-bred gesture, and said, in a voice that betrayed not the
+slightest symptom of surprise--
+
+"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! Good morning, and welcome to
+Aeria! I see that the problem of aërial navigation has been solved; I
+always said it would be in the first ten years of the twentieth
+century, though I often got laughed at by the wiseacres who know
+nothing until they see a thing before their noses. May I ask whether
+that little message that I sent to the outside world some years ago
+has procured me the pleasure of this visit?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holt. Your little balloon was picked up about three years
+ago in the Gulf of Guinea, and, after various adventures and much
+discussion, has led to our present voyage."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it. I suppose there were plenty of noodles
+who put it down to a practical joke or something of that sort? What's
+become of Stanley? Why didn't he come out and rescue me, as he did
+Emin? Not glory enough, I suppose? It would bother him, too, to get
+over these mountains, unless he flew over. By the way, has he got an
+air-ship?"
+
+"No," replied Arnold, with a laugh. "This is the only one in
+existence, and she has not been a week afloat. But if you'll allow
+us, we'll come down and get generally acquainted, and after that we
+can explain things at our leisure."
+
+"Quite so, quite so; do so by all means. Most happy, I'm sure. Ah!
+beautiful model. Comes down as easily as a bird. Capital mechanism.
+What's your motive-power? Gas, electricity--no, not steam, no
+funnels! Humph! Very ingenious. Always said it would be done some
+day. Build flying navies next, and be fighting in the clouds. Then
+there'll be general smash. Serve 'em right. Fools to fight. Why can't
+they live in peace?"
+
+While Louis Holt was running along in this style, jerking his words
+out in little short snappy sentences, and fussing about round the
+air-ship, she had sunk gently to the earth, and her passengers had
+disembarked.
+
+Arnold for the time being took no notice of the questions with regard
+to the motive-power, but introduced first himself, then the ladies,
+and then Colston, to Louis Holt, who may be described here, as
+elsewhere, as a little, bronzed, grizzled man, anywhere between
+fifty-five and seventy, with a lean, wiry, active body, a good square
+head, an ugly but kindly face, and keen, twinkling little grey eyes,
+that looked straight into those of any one he might be addressing.
+
+The introductions over, he was invited on board the _Ariel_, and a
+few minutes later, in the deck-saloon, he was chattering away
+thirteen to the dozen, and drinking with unspeakable gusto the first
+glass of champagne he had tasted for nearly five years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A NAVY OF THE FUTURE.
+
+
+Arnold's instructions from the Council had been to remain in Aeria,
+and make a thorough exploration of the wonderful region described in
+Louis Holt's manuscript, until the time came for him to meet the
+_Avondale_, the steamer which was to bring out the materials for
+constructing the Terrorists' aërial navy.
+
+Louis Holt and his faithful retainer, during the three years and a
+half that they had been shut up in it from the rest of the world, had
+made themselves so fully acquainted with its geography that very
+little of its surface was represented by blanks on the map which the
+former had spent several months in constructing, and so no better or
+more willing guides could have been placed at their service than they
+were.
+
+Holt was an enthusiastic naturalist, and he descanted at great length
+on the strangeness of the flora and fauna that it had been his
+privilege to discover and classify in this isolated and hitherto
+unvisited region. It appeared that neither its animals nor its plants
+were quite like those of the rest of the continent, but seemed rather
+to belong to an anterior geological age.
+
+From this fact he had come to the conclusion that at some very remote
+period, while the greater portion of Northern Africa was yet
+submerged by the waters of that ocean of which what is now the Sahara
+was probably the deepest part, Aeria was one of the many islands that
+had risen above its surface; and that, as the land rose and the
+waters subsided, its peculiar shape had prevented the forms of life
+which it contained from migrating or becoming modified in the
+struggle for existence with other forms, just as the flora and fauna
+of Australia have been shut off from those of the rest of the world.
+
+There were no traces of human inhabitants to be found; but there were
+apparently two or three families of anthropoid apes, that seemed, so
+far as Holt had been able to judge--for they were extremely shy and
+cunning, and therefore difficult of approach--to be several degrees
+nearer to man, both in structure and intelligence, than any other
+members of the Simian family that had been discovered in other parts
+of the world.
+
+As may well be imagined, a month passed rapidly and pleasantly away,
+what with exploring excursions by land and air, in the latter of
+which by no means the least diverting element was the keen and
+quaintly-expressed delight of Louis Holt at the new method of travel.
+Two or three times Arnold had, for his satisfaction, sent the _Ariel_
+flying over the ridge across which she had entered Aeria, but he had
+always been content with a glimpse of the outside world, and was
+always glad to get back again to the "happy valley," as he invariably
+called his isolated paradise.
+
+The brief sojourn in this delightful land had brought back all the
+roses to Natasha's lovely cheeks, and had completely restored both
+her and the Princess to the perfect health that they had lost during
+their short but terrible experience of Russian convict life; but
+towards the end of the month they both began to get restless and
+anxious to get away to the rendezvous with the steamer that was
+bringing their friends and comrades out from England.
+
+So it came about that an hour or so after sunrise on Friday, the 20th
+of May, the company of the _Ariel_ bade farewell for a time to Louis
+Holt and his companion, leaving with them a good supply of the
+creature comforts of civilisation which alone were lacking in Aeria,
+rose into the air, and disappeared over the ridge to the north-west.
+
+They had rather more than 2500 miles of plain and mountain and desert
+to cross, before they reached the sea-coast on which they expected to
+meet the steamer, and Arnold regulated the speed of the _Ariel_ so
+that they would reach it about daybreak on the following morning.
+
+The voyage was quite uneventful, and the course that they pursued led
+them westward through the Zegzeb and Nyti countries, then
+north-westward along the valley of the Niger, and then westward
+across the desert to the desolate sandy shores of the Western Sahara,
+which they crossed at sunrise on the Sunday morning, in the latitude
+of the island which was to form their rendezvous with the steamer.
+
+They sighted the island about an hour later, but there was no sign of
+any vessel for fifty miles round it. The ocean appeared totally
+deserted, as, indeed, it usually is, for there is no trade with this
+barren and savage coast, and ships going to and from the southward
+portions of the continent give its treacherous sandbanks as wide a
+berth as possible. This, in fact, was the principal reason why this
+rocky islet, some sixty miles from the coast, had been chosen by the
+Terrorists for their temporary dockyard.
+
+According to their calculations, the steamer would not be due for
+another twenty-four hours at the least, and at that moment would be
+about three hundred miles to the northward. The _Ariel_ was therefore
+headed in that direction, at a hundred miles an hour, with a view to
+meeting her and convoying her for the rest of her voyage, and
+obviating such a disaster as Natasha's apprehensions pointed to.
+
+The air-ship was kept at a height of two thousand feet above the
+water, and a man was stationed in the forward conning tower to keep a
+bright look-out ahead. For more than three hours she sped on her way
+without interruption, and then, a few minutes before twelve, the man
+in the conning tower signalled to the wheel-house--"Steamer in
+sight."
+
+The signal was at once transmitted to the saloon, where Arnold was
+sitting with the rest of the party; he immediately signalled
+"half-speed" in reply to it, and went to the conning tower to see the
+steamer for himself.
+
+She was then about twelve miles to the northward. At the speed at
+which the _Ariel_ was travelling a very few minutes sufficed to bring
+her within view of the ocean voyagers. A red flag flying from the
+stern of the air-ship was answered by a similar one from the mainmast
+of the steamer. The _Ariel's_ engines were at once slowed down, the
+fan-wheels went aloft, and she sank gently down to within twenty feet
+of the water, and swung round the steamer's stern.
+
+As soon as they were within hailing distance, those on board the
+air-ship recognised Nicholas Roburoff and his wife, Radna Michaelis,
+and several other members of the Inner Circle, standing on the bridge
+of the steamer. Handkerchiefs were waved, and cries of welcome and
+greeting passed and re-passed from the air to the sea, until Arnold
+raised his hand for silence, and, hailing Roburoff, said--
+
+"Are you all well on board?"
+
+"Yes, all well," was the reply, "though we have had rather a risky
+time of it, for war was generally declared a fortnight ago, and we
+have had to run the blockade for a good part of the way. That is why
+we are a little before our time. Can you come nearer? We have some
+letters for you."
+
+"Yes," replied Arnold. "I'll come alongside. You go ahead, I'll do
+the rest."
+
+So saying, he ran the _Ariel_ up close to the quarter of the
+_Avondale_ as easily as though she had been lying at anchor instead
+of going twenty miles an hour through the water, and went forward and
+shook hands with Roburoff over the rail, taking a packet of letters
+from him at the same time. Meanwhile Colston, who had grasped the
+situation at a glance, had swung himself on to the steamer's deck,
+and was already engaged in an animated conversation with Radna.
+
+The first advantage that Arnold took of the leisure that was now at
+his disposal, was to read the letter directed to himself that was
+among those for Natasha, the Princess, and Colston, which had been
+brought out by the _Avondale_. He recognised the writing as
+Tremayne's, and when he opened the envelope he found that it
+contained a somewhat lengthy letter from him, and an enclosure in an
+unfamiliar hand, which consisted of only a few lines, and was signed
+"Natas."
+
+He started as his eye fell on the terrible name, which now meant so
+much to him, and he naturally read the note to which it was appended
+first. There was neither date nor formal address, and it ran as
+follows:--
+
+    You have done well, and fulfilled your promises as a true man
+    should. For the personal service that you have rendered to me I
+    will not thank you in words, for the time may come when I shall
+    be able to do so in deeds. What you have done for the Cause was
+    your duty, and for that I know that you desire no thanks. You
+    have proved that you hold in your hands such power as no single
+    man ever wielded before. Use it well, and in the ages to come men
+    shall remember your name with blessings, and you, if the Master
+    of Destiny permits, shall attain to your heart's desire.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+Arnold laid the little slip of paper down almost reverently, for, few
+as the words were, they were those of a man who was not only Natas,
+the Master of the Terror, but also the father of the woman whose
+love, in spite of his oath, was the object to the attainment of which
+he held all things else as secondary, and who therefore had the power
+to crown his life-work with the supreme blessing without which it
+would be worthless, however glorious, for he knew full well that,
+though he might win Natasha's heart, she herself could never be his
+unless Natas gave her to him.
+
+The other letter was from Tremayne, dated more than a fortnight
+previously, and gave him a brief _résumé_ of the course of events in
+Europe since his voyage of exploration had begun. It also urged him
+to push on the construction of the aërial navy as fast as possible,
+as there was now no telling where or how soon its presence might be
+required to determine the issue of the world-war, the first
+skirmishes of which had already taken place in Eastern Europe. Natas
+and the Chief were both in London, making the final arrangements for
+the direction of the various diplomatic and military agents of the
+Brotherhood throughout Europe. From London they were to go to
+Alanmere, where they would remain until all arrangements were
+completed. As soon as the fleet was built and the crews and
+commanders of the air-ships had thoroughly learned their duties, the
+flagship was to go to Plymouth, where the _Lurline_ would be lying.
+The news of her arrival would be telegraphed to Alanmere, and Natas
+and Tremayne would at once come south and put to sea in her. The
+air-ship was to wait for them at a point two hundred miles due
+south-west of the Land's End, and pick them up. The yacht was then to
+be sunk, and the Executive of the Terrorists would for the time being
+vanish from the sight of men.
+
+It is unnecessary to say that Arnold carried out the plans laid down
+in this letter in every detail, and with the utmost possible
+expedition. The _Avondale_ arrived the next day at the island which
+had been chosen as a dockyard, and the ship-building was at once
+commenced.
+
+All the material for constructing the air-ships had been brought out
+completely finished as far as each individual part was concerned, and
+so there was nothing to do but to put them together. The crew and
+passengers of the steamer included the members of the Executive of
+the Inner Circle, and sixty picked members of the Outer Circle,
+chiefly mechanics and sailors, destined to be first the builders and
+then the crews of the new vessels.
+
+These, under Arnold's direction, worked almost day and night at the
+task before them. Three of the air-ships were put together at a time,
+twenty men working at each, and within a month from the time that the
+_Avondale_ discharged her cargo, the twelve new vessels were ready to
+take the air.
+
+They were all built on the same plan as the _Ariel_, and eleven of
+them were practically identical with her as regards size and speed;
+but the twelfth, the flagship of the aërial fleet, had been designed
+by Arnold on a more ambitious scale.
+
+This vessel was larger and much more powerful than any of the others.
+She was a hundred feet long, with a beam of fifteen feet amidships.
+On her five masts she carried five fan-wheels, capable of raising her
+vertically to a height of ten thousand feet without the assistance of
+her air-planes, and her three propellers, each worked by duplex
+engines, were able to drive her through the air at a speed of two
+hundred miles an hour in a calm atmosphere.
+
+She was armed with two pneumatic guns forward and two aft, each
+twenty-five feet long and with a range of twelve miles at an altitude
+of four thousand feet; and in addition to these she carried two
+shorter ones on each broadside, with a range of six miles at the same
+elevation. She also carried a sufficient supply of power-cylinders to
+give her an effective range of operations of twenty thousand miles
+without replenishing them.
+
+In addition to the building materials and the necessary tools and
+appliances for putting them together, the cargo of the _Avondale_ had
+included an ample supply of stores of all kinds, not the least
+important part of which consisted of a quantity of power-cylinders
+sufficient to provide the whole fleet three times over.
+
+The necessary chemicals and apparatus for charging them were also on
+board, and the last use that Arnold made of the engines of the
+steamer, which he had disconnected from the propeller and turned to
+all kinds of uses during the building operations, was to connect them
+with his storage pumps and charge every available cylinder to its
+utmost capacity.
+
+At length, when everything that could be carried in the air-ships had
+been taken out of the steamer, she was towed out into deep water, and
+then a shot from one of the flagship's broadside guns sent her to the
+bottom of the sea, so severing the last link which had connected the
+now isolated band of revolutionists with the world on which they were
+ere long to declare war.
+
+The naming of the fleet was by common consent left to Natasha, and
+her half-oriental genius naturally led her to appropriately name the
+air-ships after the winged angels and air-spirits of Moslem and other
+Eastern mythologies. The flagship she named the _Ithuriel_, after the
+angel who was sent to seek out and confound the Powers of Darkness in
+that terrific conflict between the upper and nether worlds, which was
+a fitting antetype to the colossal struggle which was now to be waged
+for the empire of the earth.
+
+Arnold's first task, as soon as the fleet finally took the air, was
+to put the captains and crews of the vessels through a thorough
+drilling in management and evolution. A regular code of signals had
+been arranged, by means of which orders as to formation, speed,
+altitude, and direction could be at once transmitted from the
+flagship. During the day flags were used, and at night flashes from
+electric reflectors.
+
+The scene of these evolutions was practically the course taken by the
+_Ariel_ from Aeria to the island; and as the captains and lieutenants
+of the different vessels were all men of high intelligence, and
+carefully selected for the work, and as the mechanism of the
+air-ships was extremely simple, the whole fleet was well in hand by
+the time the mountain mass of Aeria was sighted a week after leaving
+the island.
+
+Arnold in the _Ithuriel_ led the way to a narrow defile on the
+south-western side, which had been discovered during his first visit,
+and which admitted of entrance to the valley at an elevation of about
+3000 feet. Through this the fleet passed in single file soon after
+sunrise one lovely morning in the middle of June, and within an hour
+the thirteen vessels had come to rest on the shores of the lake.
+
+Then for the first time, probably, since the beginning of the world,
+the beautiful valley became the scene of a busy activity, in the
+midst of which the lean wiry figure of Louis Holt seemed to be here,
+there, and everywhere at once, doing the honours of Aeria as though
+it were a private estate to which the Terrorists had come by his
+special invitation.
+
+He was more than ever delighted with the air-ships, and especially
+with the splendid proportions of the _Ithuriel_, and the brilliant
+lustre of her polished hull, which had been left unpainted, and shone
+as though her plates had been of burnished silver. Altogether he was
+well pleased with this invasion of a solitude which, in spite of its
+great beauty and his professed contempt for the world in general, had
+for the last few months been getting a good deal more tedious than he
+would have cared to admit.
+
+In the absence of Natas and the Chief, the command of the new colony
+devolved, in accordance with the latter's directions, upon Nicholas
+Roburoff, who was a man of great administrative powers, and who set
+to work without an hour's delay to set his new kingdom in order,
+marking out sites for houses and gardens, and preparing materials for
+building them and the factories for which the water-power of the
+valley was to be utilised.
+
+Arnold, as admiral of the fleet, had transferred the command of the
+_Ariel_ to Colston, but he retained him as his lieutenant in the
+_Ithuriel_ for the next voyage, partly because he wanted to have him
+with him on what might prove to be a momentous expedition, and partly
+because Natasha, who was naturally anxious to rejoin her father as
+soon as possible, wished to have Radna for a companion in place of
+the Princess, who had elected to remain in the valley. As another
+separation of the lovers, who, according to the laws of the
+Brotherhood, now only waited for the formal consent of Natas to their
+marriage, was not to be thought of, this arrangement gave everybody
+the most perfect satisfaction.
+
+Three days sufficed to get everything into working order in the new
+colony, and on the morning of the fourth the _Ithuriel_, having on
+board the original crew of the _Ariel_, reinforced by two engineers
+and a couple of sailors, rose into the air amidst the cheers of the
+assembled colonists, crossed the northern ridge, and vanished like a
+silver arrow into space.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE EVE OF BATTLE.
+
+
+It will now be necessary to go back about six weeks from the day that
+the _Ithuriel_ started on her northward voyage, and to lay before the
+reader a brief outline of the events which had transpired in Europe
+subsequently to the date of Tremayne's letter to Arnold.
+
+On the evening of that day he went down to the House of Lords, to
+make his speech in favour of the Italian Loan. He had previously
+spoken some half dozen times since he had taken his seat, and, young
+as he was, had always commanded a respectful hearing by his sound
+common sense and his intimate knowledge of foreign policy, but none
+of his brother peers had been prepared for the magnificent speech
+that he had made on this momentous night.
+
+He had never given his allegiance to any of the political parties of
+the day, but he was one of the foremost advocates of what was then
+known as the Imperial policy, and which had grown up out of what is
+known in the present day as Imperial Federation. To this he
+subordinated everything else, and held as his highest, and indeed
+almost his only political ideal, the consolidation of Britain and her
+colonies into an empire commercially and politically intact and apart
+from the rest of the world, self-governing in all its parts as
+regards local affairs, but governed as a whole by a representative
+Imperial Parliament, sitting in London, and composed of delegates
+from all portions of the empire.
+
+This ideal--which, it is scarcely necessary to say, was still
+considered as "beyond the range of practical politics"--formed the
+keynote of such a speech as had never before been heard in the
+British House of Lords. He commenced by giving a rapid but minute
+survey of foreign policy, which astounded the most experienced of his
+hearers. Not only was it absolutely accurate as far as they could
+follow it, but it displayed an intimate knowledge of involutions of
+policy at which British diplomacy had only guessed.
+
+More than this, members of the Government and the Privy Council saw,
+to their amazement, that the speaker knew the inmost secrets of their
+own policy even better than they did themselves. How he had become
+possessed of them was a mystery, and all that they could do was to
+sit and listen in silent wonder.
+
+He drew a graphic word-picture of the nations of the earth standing
+full-armed on the threshold of such a war as the world had never seen
+before,--a veritable Armageddon, which would shake the fabric of
+society to its foundations, even if it did not dissolve it finally in
+the blood of countless battlefields.
+
+He estimated with marvellous accuracy the exact amount of force which
+each combatant would be able to put on to the field, and summed up
+the appalling mass of potential destruction that was ready to burst
+upon the world at a moment's notice. He showed the position of Italy,
+and proved to demonstration that if the loan were not immediately
+granted, it would be necessary either for Britain to seize her fleet,
+as she did that of Denmark a century before--an act which the
+Italians would themselves resist at all hazards--or else to finance
+her through the war, as she had financed Germany during the
+Napoleonic struggle.
+
+To grant the loan would be to save the Italian fleet and army for the
+Triple Alliance; to refuse it would be to detach Italy from the
+Alliance, and to drive her into the arms of their foes, for not only
+could she not stand alone amidst the shock of the contending Powers,
+but without an immediate supply of ready money she would not be able
+to keep the sea for a month.
+
+Thus, he said in conclusion, the fate of Europe, and perhaps of the
+world, lay for the time being in their Lordships' hands. The Double
+Alliance was already numerically stronger than the Triple, and,
+moreover, they had at their command a new means of destruction, for
+the dreadful effectiveness of which he could vouch from personal
+experience.
+
+The trials of the Russian war-balloons had been secret, it was true,
+but he had nevertheless witnessed them, no matter how, and he knew
+what they could accomplish. It was true that there were in existence
+even more formidable engines than these, but they belonged to no
+nation, and were in the hands of those whose hands were against every
+man's, and whose designs were still wrapped in the deepest mystery.
+
+He therefore besought his hearers not to trust too implicitly to that
+hitherto unconquerable valour and resource which had so far rendered
+Britain impregnable to her enemies. These were not the days of
+personal valour. They were the days of warfare by machinery, of
+wholesale destruction by means which men had never before been called
+upon to face, and which annihilated from a distance before mere
+valour had time to strike its blow.
+
+If ever the Fates were on the side of the biggest battalions, they
+were now, and, so far as human foresight could predict the issue of
+the colossal struggle, the greatest and the most perfectly equipped
+armaments would infallibly insure the ultimate victory, quite apart
+from considerations of personal heroism and devotion.
+
+No such speech had been heard in either House since Edmund Burke had
+fulminated against the miserable policy which severed America from
+Britain, and split the Anglo-Saxon race in two; but now, as then,
+personal feeling and class prejudice proved too strong for eloquence
+and logic.
+
+Italy was the most intensely Radical State in Europe, and she was
+bankrupt to boot; and, added to this, there was a very strong party
+in the Upper House which believed that Britain needed no such ally,
+that with Germany and Austria at her side she could fight the world,
+in spite of the Tsar's new-fangled balloons, which would probably
+prove failures in actual war as similar inventions had done before,
+and even if her allies succumbed, had she not stood alone before, and
+could she not do it again if necessary?
+
+She would fulfil her engagement with the Triple Alliance, and declare
+war the moment that one of the Powers was attacked, but she would not
+pour British gold in millions into the bottomless gulf of Italian
+bankruptcy.
+
+Such were the main points in the speech of the Duke of Argyle, who
+followed Lord Alanmere, and spoke just before the division. When the
+figures were announced, it was found that the Loan Guarantee Bill had
+been negatived by a majority of seven votes.
+
+The excitement in London that night was tremendous. The two Houses of
+Parliament had come into direct collision on a question which the
+Premier had plainly stated to be of vital importance, and a deadlock
+seemed inevitable. The evening papers brought out special editions
+giving Tremayne's speech _verbatim_, and the next morning the whole
+press of the country was talking of nothing else.
+
+The "leading journals," according to their party bias, discussed it
+pro and con, and rent each other in a furious war of words, the
+prelude to the sterner struggle that was to come.
+
+Unhappily the parties in Parliament were very evenly balanced, and a
+very strong section of the Radical Opposition was, as it always had
+been, bitterly opposed to the arrangement with the Triple Alliance,
+which every one suspected and no one admitted until Tremayne
+astounded the Lords by reciting its conditions in the course of his
+speech.
+
+It was the avowed object of this section of the Opposition to stand
+out of the war at any price till the last minute, and not to fight at
+all if it could possibly be avoided. The immediate consequence was
+that, when the Government on the following day asked for an urgency
+vote of ten millions for the mobilisation of the Volunteers and the
+Naval Reserve, the Opposition, led by Mr. John Morley, mustered to
+its last man, and defeated the motion by a majority of eleven.
+
+The next day a Cabinet Council was held, and in the afternoon Mr.
+Balfour rose in a densely-crowded House, and, after a dignified
+allusion to the adverse vote of the previous day, told the House that
+in view of the grave crisis which was now inevitable in European
+affairs, a crisis in which the fate, not only of Britain, but of the
+whole Western world, would probably be involved, the Ministry felt it
+impossible to remain in office without the hearty and unequivocal
+support of both Houses--a support which the two adverse votes in
+Lords and Commons had made it hopeless to look for as those Houses
+were at present constituted.
+
+He had therefore to inform the House that, after consultation with
+his colleagues, he had decided to place the resignations of the
+Ministry in the hands of his Majesty,[1] and appeal to the country on
+the plain issue of Intervention or Non-intervention. Under the
+circumstances, there was nothing else to be done. The deplorable
+crisis which immediately followed was the logical consequence of the
+inherently vicious system of party government.
+
+While the fate of the world was practically trembling in the balance,
+Europe, armed to the teeth in readiness for the Titanic struggle that
+a few weeks would now see shaking the world, was amused by the
+spectacle of what was really the most powerful nation on earth losing
+its head amidst the excitement of a general election, and frittering
+away on the petty issues of party strife the energies that should
+have been devoted with single-hearted unanimity to preparation for
+the conflict whose issue would involve its very existence.
+
+For a month the nations held their hand, why, no one exactly knew,
+except, perhaps, two men who were now in daily consultation in a
+country house in Yorkshire. It may have been that the final
+preparations were not yet complete, or that the combatants were
+taking a brief breathing-space before entering the arena, or that
+Europe was waiting to see the decision of Britain at the
+ballot-boxes, or possibly the French fleet of war-balloons was not
+quite ready to take the air,--any of these reasons might have been
+sufficient to explain the strange calm before the storm; but
+meanwhile the British nation was busy listening to the conflicting
+eloquence of partisan orators from a thousand platforms throughout
+the land, and trying to make up its mind whether it should return a
+Conservative or a Radical Ministry to power.
+
+In the end, Mr. Balfour came back with a solid hundred majority
+behind him, and at once set to work to, if possible, make up for lost
+time. The moment of Fate had, however, gone by for ever. During the
+precious days that had been fooled away in party strife, French gold
+and Russian diplomacy had done their work.
+
+The day after the Conservative Ministry returned to power, France
+declared war, and Russia, who had been nominally at war with Britain
+for over a month, suddenly took the offensive, and poured her Asiatic
+troops into the passes of the Hindu Kush. Two days later, the
+defection of Italy from the Triple Alliance told Europe how
+accurately Tremayne had gauged the situation in his now historic
+speech, and how the month of strange quietude had been spent by the
+controllers of the Double Alliance.
+
+The spell was broken at last. After forty years of peace, Europe
+plunged into the abyss of war; and from one end of the Continent to
+the other nothing was heard but the tramp of vast armies as they
+marshalled themselves along the threatened frontiers, and
+concentrated at the points of attack and defence.
+
+On all the lines of ocean traffic, steamers were hurrying homeward or
+to neutral ports, in the hope of reaching a place of safety before
+hostilities actually broke out. Great liners were racing across the
+Atlantic either to Britain or America with their precious freights,
+while those flying the French flag on the westward voyage prepared to
+run the gauntlet of the British cruisers as best they might.
+
+All along the routes to India and the East the same thing was
+happening, and not a day passed but saw desperate races between fleet
+ocean greyhounds and hostile cruisers, which, as a rule, terminated
+in favour of the former, thanks to the superiority of private
+enterprise over Government contract-work in turning out ships and
+engines.
+
+In Britain the excitement was indescribable. The result of the
+general election had cast the final die in favour of immediate war in
+concert with the Triple Alliance. The defection of Italy had
+thoroughly awakened the popular mind to the extreme gravity of the
+situation, and the declaration of war by France had raised the blood
+of the nation to fever heat. The magic of battle had instantly
+quelled all party differences so far as the bulk of the people was
+concerned, and no one talked of anything but the war and its
+immediate issues. Men forgot that they belonged to parties, and only
+remembered that they were citizens of the same nation.
+
+[Footnote 1: At the period in which the action of the narrative takes
+place, her Majesty Queen Victoria had abdicated in favour of the
+present Prince of Wales, and was living in comparative retirement at
+Balmoral, retaining Osborne as an alternative residence.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+BETWEEN TWO LIVES.
+
+
+Six weeks after he had made his speech in the House of Lords,
+Tremayne was sitting in his oak-panelled library at Alanmere, in deep
+and earnest converse with a man who was sitting in an invalid chair
+by a window looking out upon the lawn. The face of this man exhibited
+a contrast so striking and at the same time terrible, that the most
+careless glance cast upon it would have revealed the fact that it was
+the face of a man of extraordinary character, and that the story of
+some strange fate was indelibly stamped upon it.
+
+The upper part of it, as far down as the mouth, was cast in a mould
+of the highest and most intellectual manly beauty. The forehead was
+high and broad and smooth, the eyebrows dark and firm but finely
+arched, the nose somewhat prominently aquiline, but well shaped, and
+with delicate, sensitive nostrils. The eyes were deep-set, large and
+soft, and dark as the sky of a moonless night, yet shining in the
+firelight with a strange magnetic glint that seemed to fasten
+Tremayne's gaze and hold it at will.
+
+But the lower portion of the face was as repulsive as the upper part
+was attractive. The mouth was the mouth of a wild beast, and the lips
+and cheeks and chin were seared and seamed as though with fire, and
+what looked like the remains of a moustache and beard stood in black
+ragged patches about the heavy unsightly jaws.
+
+When the thick, shapeless lips parted, they did so in a hideous grin,
+which made visible long, sharp white teeth, more like those of a wolf
+than those of a human being.
+
+His body, too, exhibited no less strange a contrast than his face
+did. To the hips it was that of a man of well-knit, muscular frame,
+not massive, but strong and well-proportioned. The arms were long and
+muscular, and the hands white and small, but firm, well-shaped, and
+nervous.
+
+But from his hips downwards, this strange being was a dwarf and a
+cripple. His hips were narrow and shrunken, one of his legs was some
+inches shorter than the other, and both were twisted and distorted,
+and hung helplessly down from the chair as he sat.
+
+Such was Natas, the Master of the Terror, and the man whose wrongs,
+whatever they might have been, had caused him to devote his life to a
+work of colossal vengeance, and his incomparable powers to the
+overthrow of a whole civilisation.
+
+The tremendous task to which he had addressed himself with all the
+force of his mighty nature for twenty years, was now at length
+approaching completion. The mine that he had so patiently laid, year
+after year, beneath the foundations of Society, was complete in every
+detail, the first spark had been applied, and the first rumbling of
+the explosion was already sounding in the ears of men, though they
+little knew how much it imported. The work of the master-intellect
+was almost done. The long days and nights of plotting and planning
+were over, and the hour for action had arrived at last.
+
+For him there was little more to do, and the time was very near when
+he could retire from the strife, and watch in peace and confidence
+the reaping of the harvest of ruin and desolation that his hands had
+sown. Henceforth, the central figure in the world-revolution must be
+the young English engineer, whose genius had brought him forth out of
+his obscurity to take command of the subjugated powers of the air,
+and to arbitrate the destinies of the world.
+
+This was why he was sitting here, in the long twilight of the June
+evening, talking so earnestly with the man who, under the spell of
+his mysterious power and master-will, had been his second self in
+completing the work that he had designed, and had thought and spoken
+and acted as he had inspired him against all the traditions of his
+race and station, in that strange double life that he had lived, in
+each portion of which he had been unconscious of all that he had been
+and had done in the other. The time had now come to draw aside the
+veil which had so far divided these two lives from each other, to
+show him each as it was in very truth, and to leave him free to
+deliberately choose between them.
+
+Natas had been speaking without any interruption from Tremayne for
+nearly an hour, drawing the parallel of the two lives before him with
+absolute fidelity, neither omitting nor justifying anything, and his
+wondering hearer had listened to him in silence, unable to speak for
+the crowding emotions which were swarming through his brain. At
+length Natas concluded by saying--
+
+"And now, Alan Tremayne, I have shown you faithfully the two paths
+which you have trodden since first I had need of you. So far you have
+been as clay in the hands of the potter. Now the spell is removed,
+and you are free to choose which of them you will follow to the
+end,--that of the English gentleman of fortune and high position,
+whose country is on the brink of a war that will tax her vast
+resources to the utmost, and may end in her ruin; or that of the
+visible and controlling head of the only organisation which can at
+the supreme moment be the arbiter of peace or war, order or anarchy,
+and which alone, if any earthly power can, will evolve order out of
+chaos, and bring peace on earth at last."
+
+As Natas ceased, Tremayne passed his hand slowly over his eyes and
+brows, as though to clear away the mists which obscured his mental
+vision. Then he rose from his chair, and paced the floor with quick,
+uneven strides for several minutes. At length he replied, speaking as
+one might who was just waking from some evil dream--
+
+"You have made a conspirator and a murderer of me. How is it possible
+that, knowing this, I can again become what I was before your
+infernal influence was cast about me?"
+
+"What you have done at my command is nothing to you, and leaves no
+stain upon your honour, if you choose to put it so, for it was not
+your will that was working within you, but mine. As for the killing
+of Dornovitch, it was necessary, and you were the only instrument by
+which it could have been accomplished before irretrievable harm had
+been done.
+
+"He alone of the outside world possessed the secret of the Terror. A
+woman of the Outer Circle in Paris had allowed her love for him to
+overcome her duty to the Brotherhood, and had betrayed what she
+could, in order, as she vainly thought, to shield him from its
+vengeance for the executive murders of the year before. He too had on
+him the draft of the secret treaty, the possession of which has
+enabled us to control the drift of European politics at the most
+crucial time.
+
+"Had he escaped, not only would hundreds of lives have been
+sacrificed on suspicion to Russian official vengeance, but Russia and
+France would now be masters of the British line of communication to
+the East, for it would not have been possible for Mr. Balfour to have
+been forewarned, and therefore forearmed, in time to double the
+Mediterranean Squadron as he has done. Surely one Russian's life is
+not too great a price to pay for all that."
+
+"I do not care for the man's life, for he was an enemy, and even then
+plotting the ruin of my own country in the dark. It is not the
+killing, but the manner of it. England does not fight her battles
+with the assassin's knife, and his blood is on my hands"--
+
+"On your hands, perhaps, but not on your soul. It is on mine, and I
+will answer for it when we stand face to face at the Bar where all
+secrets are laid bare. The man deserved death, for he was plotting
+the death of thousands. What matter then how or by whose hands he
+died?
+
+"It is time the world had done with these miserable sophistries, and
+these spurious distinctions between murder by wholesale and by
+retail, and it soon will have done with them. I, by your hand, killed
+Dornovitch in his sleep. That was murder, says the legal casuist. You
+read this morning in the _Times_ how one of the Russian war-balloons
+went the night before last and hung in the darkness over a sleeping
+town on the Austrian frontier, and dropped dynamite shells upon it,
+killing and maiming hundreds who had no personal quarrel with Russia.
+That is war, and therefore lawful!
+
+"Nonsense, my friend, nonsense! There is no difference. All violence
+is crime, if you will, but it is a question of degree only. The world
+is mad on this subject of war. It considers the horrible thing
+honourable, and gives its highest distinctions to those who shed
+blood most skilfully on the battlefield, and the triumphs that are
+won by superior force or cunning are called glorious, and those who
+achieve them the nations fall down and worship.
+
+"The nations must be taught wisdom, for war has had victims enough.
+But men are still foolish, and to cure them a terrible lesson will be
+necessary. But that lesson shall be taught, even though the whole
+earth be turned into a battlefield, and all the dwellings of men into
+charnel-houses, in order to teach it to them."
+
+"In other words, Society is to be dissolved in order that anarchy and
+lawlessness may take its place. Society may not be perfect,--nay, I
+will grant that its sins are many and grievous, that it has forgotten
+its duty both to God and man in its worship of Mammon and its slavery
+to externals,--but you who have plotted its destruction, have you
+anything better to put in its place? You can destroy, perhaps, but
+can you build up?"
+
+"The jungle must be cleared and the swamp drained before the
+habitations of men can be built in their place. It has been mine to
+destroy, and I will pursue the work of destruction to the end, as I
+have sworn to do by that Name which a Jew holds too sacred for
+speech. I believe myself to be the instrument of vengeance upon this
+generation, even as Joshua was upon Canaan, and as Khalid the Sword
+of God was upon Byzantium in the days of her corruption. You may hold
+this for an old man's fancy if you will, but it shall surely come to
+pass in the fulness of time, which is now at hand; and then, where I
+have destroyed, may you, if you will, build up again!"
+
+"What do you mean? You are speaking in parables."
+
+"Which shall soon be made plain. You read in your newspaper this
+morning of a mysterious movement that is taking place throughout the
+Buddhist peoples of the East. They believe that Buddha has returned
+to earth, reincarnated, to lead them to the conquest of the world.
+Now, as you know, every fourth man, woman, and child in the whole
+human race is a Buddhist, and the meaning of this movement is that
+that mighty mass of humanity, pent up and stagnant for centuries, is
+about to burst its bounds and overflow the earth in a flood of
+desolation and destruction.
+
+"The nations of the West know nothing of this, and are unsheathing
+the sword to destroy each other. Like a house divided against itself,
+their power shall be brought to confusion, and their empire be made
+as a wilderness. And over the starving and war-smitten lands of
+Europe these Eastern swarms shall sweep, innumerable as the locusts,
+resistless as the pestilence, and what fire and sword have spared
+they shall devour, and nothing shall be left of all the glory of
+Christendom but its name and the memory of its fall!"
+
+Natas spoke his frightful prophecy like one entranced, and when he
+had finished he let his head fall forward for a moment on his breast,
+as though he were exhausted. Then he raised it again, and went on in
+a calmer voice--
+
+"There is but one power under heaven that can stand between the
+Western world and this destruction, and that is the race to which you
+belong. It is the conquering race of earth, and the choicest fruit of
+all the ages until now. It is nearly two hundred million strong, and
+it is united by the ties of kindred blood and speech the wide world
+over.
+
+"But it is also divided by petty jealousies, and mean commercial
+interests. But for these the world might be an Anglo-Saxon planet.
+Would it not be a glorious task for you, who are the flower of this
+splendid race, so to unite it that it should stand as a solid barrier
+of invincible manhood before which this impending flood of yellow
+barbarism should dash itself to pieces like the cloud-waves against
+the granite summits of the eternal hills?"
+
+"A glorious task, truly!" exclaimed Tremayne, once more springing
+from his chair and beginning to pace the room again; "but the man is
+not yet born who could accomplish it."
+
+"There are fifty men on earth at this moment who can accomplish it,
+and of them the two chief are Englishmen,--yourself and this Richard
+Arnold, whose genius has given the Terrorists the command of the air.
+
+"Come, Alan Tremayne! here is a destiny such as no man ever had
+before revealed to him. It is not for a man of your nation and
+lineage to shrink from it. You have reproached me for using you to
+unworthy ends, as you thought them, and with pulling down where I am
+not able to build up again. Obey me still, this time of your own free
+will and with your eyes open, and, as I have pulled down by your
+hand, so by it will I build up again, if the Master of Destiny shall
+permit me; and if not, then shall you achieve the task without me.
+Now give me your ears, for the words that I have to say are weighty
+ones.
+
+"No human power can stop the war that has now begun, nor can any
+curtail it until it has run its appointed course. But we have at our
+command a power which, if skilfully applied at the right moment, will
+turn the tide of conflict in favour of Britain, and if at that moment
+the Mother of Nations can gather her children about her in obedience
+to the call of common kindred, all shall be well, and the world shall
+be hers.
+
+"But before that is made possible she must pass through the fire, and
+be purged of that corruption which is even now poisoning her blood
+and clouding her eyes in the presence of her enemies. The overweening
+lust of gold must be burnt out of her soul in the fiery crucible of
+war, and she must learn to hold honour once more higher than wealth,
+and rich and poor and gentle and simple must be as one family, and
+not as master and servant.
+
+"East and west, north and south, wherever the English tongue is
+spoken, men must clasp hands and forget all other things save that
+they are brothers of blood and speech, and that the world is theirs
+if they choose to take it. This is a work that cannot be done by any
+nation, but only by a whole race, which with millions of hands and a
+single heart devotes itself to achieve success or perish."
+
+"Brave words, brave words!" cried Tremayne, pausing in his walk in
+front of the chair in which Natas sat; "and if you could make me
+believe them true, I would follow you blindly to the end, no matter
+what the path might be. But I cannot believe them. I cannot think
+that you or I and a few followers, even aided by Arnold and his
+aërial fleet, could accomplish such a stupendous task as that. It is
+too great. It is superhuman! And yet it would be glorious even to
+fail worthily in such a task, even to fall fighting in such a Titanic
+conflict!"
+
+He paused, and stood silent and irresolute, as though appalled by the
+prospect with which he was confronted here at the parting of the
+ways. He glanced at the extraordinary being sitting near him, and saw
+his deep, dark eyes fixed upon him, as though they were reading his
+very soul within him. Then he took a step towards the cripple's
+chair, took his right hand in his, and said slowly and steadily and
+solemnly--
+
+"It is a worthy destiny! I will essay it for good or evil, for life
+or death. I am with you to the end!"
+
+As Tremayne spoke the fatal words which once more bound him, and this
+time for life and of his own free will, to Natas the Jew, this
+cripple who, chained to his chair, yet aspired to the throne of a
+world, he fancied he saw his shapeless lips move in a smile, and into
+his eyes there came a proud look of mingled joy and triumph as he
+returned the handclasp, and said in a softer, kinder voice than
+Tremayne had ever heard him use before--
+
+"Well spoken! Those words were worthy of you and of your race! As
+your faith is, so shall your reward be. Now wheel my chair to yonder
+window that looks out towards the east, and you shall look past the
+shadows into the day which is beyond. So! that will do. Now get
+another chair and sit beside me. Fix your eyes on that bright star
+that shows above the trees, and do not speak, but think only of that
+star and its brightness."
+
+Tremayne did as he was bidden in silence, and when he was seated
+Natas swept his hands gently downwards over his open eyes again and
+again, till the lids grew heavy and fell, shutting out the brightness
+of the star, and the dim beauty of the landscape which lay sleeping
+in the twilight and the June night.
+
+Then suddenly it seemed as though they opened again of their own
+accord, and were endowed with an infinite power of vision. The trees
+and lawns of the home park of Alanmere and the dark rolling hills of
+heather beyond were gone, and in their place lay stretched out a
+continent which he saw as though from some enormous height, with its
+plains and lowlands and rivers, vast steppes and snowclad hills,
+forests and tablelands, huge mountain masses rearing lonely peaks of
+everlasting ice to a sunlight that had no heat; and then beyond these
+again more plains and forests, that stretched away southward until
+they merged in the all-surrounding sea.
+
+[Illustration: "You have seen the Field of Armageddon."
+
+_See page 149._]
+
+Then he seemed to be carried forward towards the scene until he could
+distinguish the smallest objects upon the earth, and he saw, swarming
+southward and westward, vast hordes of men, that divided into long
+streams, and poured through mountain passes and defiles, and spread
+themselves again over fertile lands, like locusts over green fields
+of young corn. And wherever those hordes swept forward, a long line
+of fire and smoke went in front of them, and where they had passed
+the earth was a blackened wilderness.
+
+Then, too, from the coasts and islands vast fleets of war-ships put
+out, pouring their clouds of smoke to the sky, and making swiftly for
+the southward and westward, where from other coasts and islands other
+vessels put out to meet them, and, meeting them, were lost with them
+under great clouds of grey smoke, through which flashed incessantly
+long livid tongues of flame.
+
+Then, like a panorama rolled away from him, the mighty picture
+receded and new lands came into view, familiar lands which he had
+traversed often. They too were black and wasted with the tempest of
+war from east to west, but nevertheless those swarming streams came
+on, countless and undiminished, up out of the south and east, while
+on the western verge vast armies and fleets battled desperately with
+each other on sea and land, as though they heeded not those locust
+swarms of dusky millions coming ever nearer and nearer.
+
+Once more the scene rolled backwards, and he saw a mighty city
+closely beleaguered by two vast hosts of men, who slowly pushed their
+batteries forward until they planted them on all the surrounding
+heights, and poured a hail of shot and shell upon the swarming,
+helpless millions that were crowded within the impassable ring of
+fire and smoke. Above the devoted city swam in mid-air strange shapes
+like monstrous birds of prey, and beneath where they floated the
+earth seemed ever and anon to open and belch forth smoke and flame
+into which the crumbling houses fell and burnt in heaps of shapeless
+ruins. Then----
+
+He felt a cool hand laid almost caressingly on his brow, and the
+voice of Natas said beside him--
+
+"That is enough. You have seen the Field of Armageddon, and when the
+day of battle comes you shall be there and play the part allotted to
+you from the beginning. Do you believe?"
+
+"Yes," replied Tremayne, rising wearily from his chair, "I believe;
+and as the task is, so may Heaven make my strength in the stress of
+battle!"
+
+"Amen!" said Natas very solemnly.
+
+That night the young Lord of Alanmere went sleepless to bed, and lay
+awake till dawn, revolving over and over again in his mind the
+marvellous things that he had seen and heard, and the tremendous task
+to which he had now irrevocably committed himself for good or evil.
+In all these waking dreams there was ever present before his mental
+vision the face of a woman whose beauty was like and yet unlike that
+of the daughter of Natas. It lacked the brilliance and subtle charm
+which in Natasha so wondrously blended the dusky beauty of the
+daughters of the South with the fairer loveliness of the daughters of
+the North; but it atoned for this by that softer grace and sweetness
+which is the highest charm of purely English beauty.
+
+It was the face of the woman whom, in that portion of his strange
+double life which had been free from the mysterious influence of
+Natas, he had loved with well-assured hope that she would one day
+rule his house and broad domains with him. She was now Lady Muriel
+Penarth, the daughter of Lord Marazion, a Cornish nobleman, whose
+estates abutted on those which belonged to Lord Alanmere as Baron
+Tremayne, of Tremayne, in the county of Cornwall, as the _Peerage_
+had it. Noble alike by lineage and nature, no fairer mistress could
+have been found for the lands of Tremayne and Alanmere, but--what
+seas of blood and flame now lay between him and the realisation of
+his love-ideal!
+
+He must forsake his own, and become a revolutionary and an outcast
+from Society. He must draw the sword upon the world and his own race,
+and, armed with the most awful means of destruction that the wit of
+man had ever devised, he must fight his way through universal war to
+that peace which alone he could ask her to share with him. Still much
+could be done before he took the final step of severance which might
+be perpetual, and he would lose no time in doing it.
+
+As soon as it was fairly light, he rose and took a long, rapid walk
+over the home park, and when he returned to breakfast at nine he had
+resolved to execute forthwith a deed of gift, transferring the whole
+of his vast property, which was unentailed and therefore entirely at
+his own disposal, to the woman who was to have shared it with him in
+a few months as his wife. If the Fates were kind, he would come back
+from the world-war and reclaim both the lands and their mistress, and
+if not he would have the satisfaction of knowing that his broad acres
+at least had a worthy mistress.
+
+At breakfast he met Natas again, and during the meal one of his
+footmen entered, bringing the letters that had come by the morning
+post.
+
+There were several letters for each of them, those for Natas being
+addressed to "Herr F. Niemand," and for some time they were both
+employed in looking through their correspondence. Suddenly Natas
+looked up, and said--
+
+"When do you expect to hear that Arnold is off the south coast?"
+
+"Almost any day now; in fact, within the week, if everything has gone
+right. Here is a letter from Johnston to say that the _Lurline_ has
+arrived at Plymouth, and that a bright look-out is being kept for
+him. He will telegraph here and to the club in London as soon as the
+air-ship is sighted. Twenty-four hours will then see us on board the
+_Ariel_, or whichever of the ships he comes in."
+
+"I hope the news will come soon, for Michael Roburoff, the
+President's brother, who has been in command of the American Section,
+cables to say that he sails from New York the day after to-morrow
+with detailed accounts. That means that he will come with full
+reports of what the Section has done and will be ready to do when the
+time comes, and also what the enemy are doing.
+
+"He sails in the _Aurania_, and as the Atlantic routes are swarming
+with war-ships and torpedo-boats, she will probably have to run the
+gauntlet, and it is of the last importance that Michael and his
+reports reach us safely. It will therefore be necessary for the
+air-ship to meet the _Aurania_ as soon as possible on her passage,
+and take him off her before any harm happens to him. If he and his
+reports fell into the hands of the enemy, there is no telling what
+might happen."
+
+"As nearly as I can calculate," said Tremayne, "the air-ship should
+be sighted in three days from now, perhaps in two. It will take the
+_Aurania_ over four days to cross the Atlantic, and so we ought to be
+able to meet her somewhere in mid-ocean if she is able to get so far
+without being overhauled. Unfortunately she is known to be a British
+ship and subsidised by the British Government, so there will be very
+little chance of her getting through under the American flag. Still
+she's about the fastest steamer afloat, and will take a lot of
+catching."
+
+"And if the worst comes and she falls into the hands of the enemy, we
+must fight our first naval battle and retake her, even if we have to
+sink a few cruisers to do so," added Natas; "for, come what may,
+Michael must not be captured."
+
+"Arnold will almost certainly come in his flagship, and if she is
+what he promised, she should be more than a match for a whole fleet,
+so I don't think there is much to fear unless the _Aurania_ gets sunk
+before we reach her," said Tremayne.
+
+Natas and his host devoted the rest of the forenoon to their
+correspondence, and to making the final arrangements for leaving
+Alanmere. Tremayne wrote full instructions to his lawyers for the
+drawing up of the deed, and directed them to have it ready for his
+signature by two o'clock on the following day. After lunch he rode
+over to Knaresborough himself with the post-bag, telegraphed an
+abstract of his instructions in advance, and ordered his private
+saloon carriage to be attached to the up express which passed through
+at eight the next morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+JUST IN TIME.
+
+
+As the train drew up in King's Cross station at twelve the next day,
+almost the first words that Tremayne heard were--
+
+"Special _Pall Mall_, sir! Appearance of the mysterious air-ship over
+Plymouth this morning! Great battle in Austria yesterday, defeat of
+the Austrians--awful slaughter with war-balloons! Special!"
+
+The boy was selling the papers as fast as he could hand them out to
+the eager passengers. Tremayne secured one, shut the door of the
+saloon again, and, turning to the middle page, read aloud to Natas--
+
+"We have just received a telegram from our Plymouth correspondent, to
+say that soon after daybreak this morning torpedo-boat No. 157
+steamed into the Sound, bringing the news that she had sighted a
+large five-masted air-ship about ten miles from the coast, when in
+company with the cruiser _Ariadne_, whose commander had despatched
+her with the news. Hardly had the report been received when the
+air-ship herself passed over Mount Edgcumbe and came towards the
+town.
+
+"The news spread like wildfire, and in a few minutes the streets were
+filled with crowds of people, who had thrown on a few clothes and
+rushed out to get a look at the strange visitant. At first it was
+thought that an attack on the arsenal was intended by the mysterious
+vessel, and the excitement had risen almost to the pitch of panic,
+when it was observed that she was flying a plain white flag, and that
+her intentions were apparently peaceful.
+
+"Panic then gave place to curiosity. The air-ship crossed the town at
+an elevation of about 3000 feet, described a complete circle round it
+in the space of a few minutes, and then suddenly shot up into the air
+and vanished to the south-westward at an inconceivable speed. The
+vessel is described as being about a hundred feet long, and was
+apparently armed with eight guns. Her hull was of white polished
+metal, probably aluminium, and shone like silver in the sunlight.
+
+"The wildest rumours are current as to the object of her visit, but
+of course no credence can be attached to any of them. The vessel is
+plainly of the same type as that which destroyed Kronstadt two months
+ago, but larger and more powerful. The inference is that she is one
+of a fleet in the hands of the Terrorists, and the profoundest
+uncertainty and anxiety prevail throughout naval and military circles
+everywhere as to the use that they may make of these appalling means
+of destruction should they take any share in the war."
+
+"Humph!" said Tremayne, as he finished reading. "Johnston's telegram
+must have crossed us on the way, but I shall find one at the club.
+Well, we have no time to lose, for we ought to start for Plymouth
+this evening. Your men will take you straight to the Great Western
+Hotel, and I will hurry my business through as fast as possible, and
+meet you there in time to catch the 6.30. At this rate we shall meet
+the _Aurania_ soon after she leaves New York."
+
+Within the next six hours Tremayne transferred the whole of his vast
+property in a single instrument to his promised wife, thus making her
+the richest woman in England; handed the precious deeds to her
+astonished father; obtained his promise to take his wife and daughter
+to Alanmere at the end of the London season, and to remain there with
+her until he returned to reclaim her and his estates together; and
+said good-bye to Lady Muriel herself in an interview which was a good
+deal longer than that which he had with his bewildered and somewhat
+scandalised lawyers, who had never before been forced to rush any
+transaction through at such an indecent speed. Had Lord Alanmere not
+been the best client in the kingdom, they might have rebelled against
+such an outrage on the law's time-honoured delays; but he was not a
+man to be trifled with, and so the work was done and an unbeatable
+record in legal despatch accomplished, albeit very unwillingly, by
+the men of law.
+
+By midnight the _Lurline_, ostensibly bound for Queenstown, had
+cleared the Sound, and, with the Eddystone Light on her port bow,
+headed away at full-speed to the westward. She was about the fastest
+yacht afloat, and at a pinch could be driven a good twenty-seven
+miles an hour through the water. As both Natas and Tremayne were
+anxious to join the air-ship as soon as possible, every ounce of
+steam that her boilers would stand was put on, and she slipped along
+in splendid style through the long, dark seas that came rolling
+smoothly up Channel from the westward.
+
+In an hour and a half after passing the Eddystone she sighted the
+Lizard Light, and by the time she had brought it well abeam the first
+interruption of her voyage occurred. A huge, dark mass loomed
+suddenly up out of the darkness of the moonless night, then a
+blinding, dazzling ray of light shot across the water from the
+searchlight of a battleship that was patrolling the coast, attended
+by a couple of cruisers and four torpedo-boats. One of these last
+came flying towards the yacht down the white path of the beam of
+light, and Tremayne, seeing that he would have to give an account of
+himself, stopped his engines and waited for the torpedo-boat to come
+within hail.
+
+"Steamer ahoy! Who are you? and where are you going to at that
+speed?"
+
+"This is the _Lurline_, the Earl of Alanmere's yacht, from Plymouth
+to Queenstown. We're only going at our usual speed."
+
+"Oh, if it's the _Lurline_, you needn't say that," answered the
+officer who had hailed from the torpedo-boat, with a laugh. "Is Lord
+Alanmere on board?"
+
+"Yes, here I am," said Tremayne, replying instead of his
+sailing-master. "Is that you, Selwyn? I thought I recognised your
+voice."
+
+"Yes, it's I, or rather all that's left of me after two months in
+this buck-jumping little brute of a craft. She bobs twice in the same
+hole every time, and if it's a fairly deep hole she just dives right
+through and out on the other side; and there are such a lot of
+Frenchmen about that we get no rest day or night on this patrolling
+business."
+
+"Very sorry for you, old man; but if you will seek glory in a
+torpedo-boat, I don't see that you can expect anything else. Will you
+come on board and have a drink?"
+
+"No, thanks. Very sorry, but I can't stop. By the way, have you heard
+of that air-ship that was over this way this morning? I wonder what
+the deuce it really is, and what it's up to?"
+
+"I've heard of it; it was in the London papers this morning. Have you
+seen any more of it?"
+
+"Oh yes; the thing was cruising about in mid-air all this morning,
+taking stock of us and the Frenchmen too, I suppose. She vanished
+during the afternoon. Where to, I don't know. It's awfully
+humiliating, you know, to be obliged to crawl about here on the
+water, at twenty-five knots at the utmost, while that fellow is
+flying a hundred miles an hour or so through the clouds without
+turning a hair, or I ought to say without as much as a puff of smoke.
+He seems to move of his own mere volition. I wonder what on earth he
+is."
+
+"Not much on earth apparently, but something very considerable in the
+air, where I hope he'll stop out of sight until I get to Queenstown;
+and as I want to get there pretty early in the morning, perhaps
+you'll excuse me saying good-night and getting along, if you won't
+come on board."
+
+"No, very sorry I can't. Good-night, and keep well in to the coast
+till you have to cross to Ireland. Good-bye?"
+
+"Good-bye!" shouted Tremayne in reply, as the torpedo-boat swung
+round and headed back to the battleship, and he gave the order to go
+ahead again at full-speed.
+
+In another hour they were off the Land's End, and from there they
+headed out due south-west into the Atlantic. They had hardly made
+another hundred miles before it began to grow light, and then it
+became necessary to keep a bright look-out for the air-ship, for
+according to what they had heard from the commander of the
+torpedo-boat she might be sighted at any moment as soon as it was
+light enough to see her.
+
+Another hour passed, but there was still no sign of the air-ship.
+This of course was to be expected, for they had still another
+seventy-five miles or so to go before the rendezvous was reached.
+
+"Steamer to the south'ard!" sang out the man on the forecastle, just
+as Tremayne came on deck after an attempt at a brief nap. He picked
+up his glass, and took a good look at the thin cloud of smoke away on
+the southern horizon.
+
+From what he could see it was a large steamer, and was coming up very
+fast, almost at right angles to the course of the _Lurline_. Fifteen
+minutes later he was able to see that the stranger was a warship, and
+that she was heading for Queenstown. She was therefore either a
+British ship attached to the Irish Squadron, or else she was an enemy
+with designs on the liners bound for Liverpool.
+
+In either case it was most undesirable that the yacht should be
+overhauled again. Any mishap to her, even a lengthy delay, might have
+the most serious consequences. A single unlucky shell exploding in
+her engine-room would disable her, and perhaps change the future
+history of the world.
+
+Tremayne therefore altered her course a little more to the northward,
+thus increasing the distance between her and the stranger, and at the
+same time ordered the engineer to keep up the utmost head of steam,
+and get the last possible yard out of her.
+
+The alteration in her course appeared to be instantly detected by the
+warship, for she at once swerved off more to the westward, and
+brought herself dead astern of the _Lurline_. She was now near enough
+for Tremayne to see that she was a large cruiser, and attended by a
+brace of torpedo-boats, which were running along one under each of
+her quarters, like a couple of dogs following a hunter.
+
+There was now no doubt but that, whatever her nationality, she was
+bent on overhauling the yacht, if possible, and the dense volumes of
+smoke that were pouring out of her funnels told Tremayne that she was
+stoking up vigorously for the chase.
+
+By this time she was about seven miles away, and the _Lurline_, her
+twin screws beating the water at their utmost speed, and every plate
+in her trembling under the vibration of her engines, rushed through
+the water faster than she had ever done since the day she was
+launched. As far as could be seen, she was holding her own well in
+what had now become a dead-on stern chase.
+
+Still the stranger showed no flag, and though Tremayne could hardly
+believe that a hostile cruiser and a couple of torpedo-boats would
+venture so near to the ground occupied by the British battle-ships,
+the fact that she showed no colours looked at the best suspicious.
+Determined to settle the question, if possible, one way or the other,
+he ran up the ensign of the Royal Yacht Squadron.
+
+This brought no reply from the cruiser, but a column of bluish-white
+smoke shot up a moment later from the funnels of one of the
+torpedo-boats, telling that she had put on the forced draught, and,
+like a greyhound slipped from the leash, she began to draw away from
+the big ship, plunging through the long rollers, and half-burying
+herself in the foam that she threw up from her bows.
+
+Tremayne knew that there were some of these viperish little craft in
+the French navy that could be driven thirty miles an hour through the
+water, and if this was one of them, capture was only a matter of
+time, unless the air-ship sighted them and came to the rescue.
+
+Happily, although there was a considerable swell on, the water was
+smooth and free from short waves, and this was to the advantage of
+the _Lurline_; for she went along "as dry as a bone," while the
+torpedo-boat, lying much lower in the water, rammed her nose into
+every roller, and so lost a certain amount of way. The yacht was
+making a good twenty-eight miles an hour under the heroic efforts of
+the engineers; and at this rate it would be nearly two hours before
+she was overhauled, provided that the torpedo-boat was not able to
+use the gun that she carried forward of her funnels with any
+dangerous effect.
+
+There could now be no doubt as to the hostility of the pursuers. Had
+they been British, they would have answered the flag flying at the
+peak of the yacht.
+
+"Steamer coming down from the nor'ard, sir!" suddenly sang out a man
+whom Tremayne had just stationed in the fore cross-trees to look out
+for the air-ship that was now so anxiously expected.
+
+A dense volume of smoke was seen rising in the direction indicated,
+and a few minutes later a second big steamer came into view, bearing
+down directly on the yacht, and so approaching the torpedo-boat
+almost stem on. There was no doubt about her nationality. A glance
+through the glass showed Tremayne the white ensign floating above the
+horizontal stream of smoke that stretched behind her. She was a
+British cruiser, no doubt a scout of the Irish Squadron, and had
+sighted the smoke of the yacht and her pursuers, and had come to
+investigate.
+
+Tremayne breathed more freely now, for he knew that his flag would
+procure the assistance of the new-comer in case it was wanted, as
+indeed it very soon was.
+
+Hardly had the British cruiser come well in sight than a puff of
+smoke rose from the deck of the other warship, and a shell came
+whistling through the air, and burst within a hundred yards of the
+_Lurline_. Twenty-four hours ago Tremayne had been one of the richest
+men in England, and just now he would have willingly given all that
+he had possessed to be twenty-five miles further to the
+south-westward than he was.
+
+Another shell from the Frenchman passed clear over the _Lurline_, and
+plunged into the water and burst, throwing a cloud of spray high into
+the air. Then came one from the torpedo-boat, but she was still too
+far off for her light gun to do any damage, and the projectile fell
+spent into the sea nearly five hundred yards short.
+
+Immediately after this came a third shell from the French cruiser,
+and this, by an unlucky chance, struck the forecastle of the yacht,
+burst, and tore away several feet of the bulwarks, and, worse than
+all, killed four of her crew instantly.
+
+"First blood!" said Tremayne to himself through his clenched teeth.
+"That shall be an unlucky shot for you, my friend, if we reach the
+air-ship before you sink us."
+
+Meanwhile the two cruisers, each approaching the other at a speed of
+more than twenty miles an hour, had got within shot. A puff of smoke
+spurted out from the side of the latest comer. The well-aimed
+projectile passed fifty yards astern of the _Lurline_, and struck the
+advancing torpedo-boat square on the bow.
+
+The next instant it was plainly apparent that there was nothing more
+to be feared from her. The solid shot had passed clean through her
+two sides. Her nose went down and her stern came up. Then bang went
+another gun from the British cruiser. This time the messenger of
+death was a shell. It struck the inclined deck amidships, there was a
+flash of flame, a cloud of steam rose up from her bursting boilers,
+and then she broke in two and vanished beneath the smooth-rolling
+waves.
+
+Two minutes later the duel began in deadly earnest. The tricolor ran
+up to the masthead of the French cruiser, and jets of mingled smoke
+and flame spurted one after the other from her sides, and shells
+began bursting in quick succession round the rapidly-advancing
+Englishman. Evidently the Frenchman, with his remaining torpedo-boat,
+thought himself a good match for the British cruiser, for he showed
+no disposition to shirk the combat, despite the fact that he was so
+near to the cruising ground of a powerful squadron.
+
+As the two cruisers approached each other, the fire from their heavy
+guns was supplemented by that of their light quick-firing armament,
+until each of them became a floating volcano, vomiting continuous
+jets of smoke and flame, and hurling showers of shot and shell across
+the rapidly-lessening space between them.
+
+The din of the hideous concert became little short of appalling, even
+to the most hardened nerves. The continuous deep booming of the heavy
+guns, as they belched forth their three-hundred-pound projectiles,
+mingled with the sharp ringing reports of the thirty and forty pound
+quick-firers, and the horrible grinding rattle of the machine guns in
+the tops that sounded clearly above all, and every few seconds came
+the scream and the bang of bursting shells, and the dull, crashing
+sound of rending and breaking steel, as the terrible missiles of
+death and destruction found their destined mark.
+
+Happily the _Lurline_ was out of the line of fire, or she would have
+been torn to fragments and sent to the bottom in a few seconds. She
+continued on her course at her utmost speed, and the French cruiser
+was, of course, too busy to pay any further attention to her. Not so
+the remaining torpedo-boat, however, which, leaving the two big ships
+to fight out their duel for the present, was pursuing the yacht at
+the utmost speed of her forced draught.
+
+Capture or destruction soon only became a matter of a few minutes.
+Tremayne, determined to hold on till he was sunk or sighted the
+air-ship, kept his flag flying and his engines working to the last
+ounce that the quivering boilers would stand, and the Frenchman,
+seeing that he was determined to escape if he could, opened fire on
+him with his twenty-pounder.
+
+Owing to the high speed of the two vessels, and the rolling of the
+torpedo-boat, not much execution was done at first; but, as the
+distance diminished, shell after shell crashed through the bulwarks
+of the _Lurline_, ripping them longitudinally, and tearing up the
+deck-planks with their jagged fragments. The wheel-house and the
+funnel escaped by a miracle, and the yacht being end on to her
+pursuer, the engines and boilers were comparatively safe.
+
+One boat had also escaped, and that was hanging ready to be lowered
+at a moment's notice.
+
+At last a shell struck the funnel, burst, and shattered it to
+fragments. Almost at the same moment the man in the fore-cross-trees,
+who had stuck to his post in defiance of the cannonade, sang out with
+a triumphant shout--
+
+"The air-ship! The air-ship!"
+
+Hardly had the words left his lips when a shell from the torpedo-boat
+struck the _Lurline_ under the quarter, and ripped one of her plates
+out like a sheet of paper. The next instant the engineer rushed up on
+deck, crying--
+
+"The bottom's out of her! She'll go down in five minutes!"
+
+Tremayne, who was the only man on deck save the look-out, ran out of
+the wheel-house, dived into the cabin, and a moment later reappeared
+with Natas in his arms, and followed by his two attendants. Then,
+without the loss of a second, but in perfect order, the quarter-boat
+was manned and lowered, and pulled clear of the ill-fated _Lurline_
+just as she pitched backwards into the sea and went down with a run,
+stern foremost.
+
+The air-ship, coming up at a tremendous speed, swooped suddenly down
+from a height of two thousand feet, and slowed up within a thousand
+yards of the torpedo-boat. A projectile rushed through the air and
+landed on the deck of the Frenchman. There was a flash of greenish
+flame, a cloud of mingled smoke and steam, and when this had drifted
+away there was not a vestige of the torpedo-boat to be seen. Then a
+few fragments of iron splashed into the water here and there, and
+that was all that betokened her fate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+ARMED NEUTRALITY.
+
+
+Hardly had the _Lurline_ disappeared than the air-ship was lying
+alongside the boat, floating on the water as easily and lightly as a
+seagull, and Natas and his two attendants, Tremayne, and the three
+men who had been saved from the yacht, were at once taken on board.
+
+It would be useless to interrupt the progress of the narrative to
+describe the welcoming greetings which passed between the rescued
+party and the crew of the _Ithuriel_, or the amazement of Arnold and
+his companions when Natasha threw her arms round the neck of the
+almost helpless cripple, who was rifted over the rail by Tremayne and
+his two attendants, kissed him on the brow, and said so that all
+could hear her--
+
+"We were in time! Thank God we were in time, my father!"
+
+Her father! This paralytic creature, who could not move a yard
+without the assistance of some one else--this was Natas, the father
+of Natasha, and the Master of the Terror, the man who had planned the
+ruin of a civilisation, and for all they knew might aspire to the
+empire of the world!
+
+It was marvellous, inconceivable, but there was no time to think
+about it now, for the two cruisers were still blazing away at each
+other, and Tremayne had determined to punish the Frenchman for his
+discourtesy in not answering his flag, and his inhumanity in firing
+on an unarmed vessel which was well known as a private pleasure-yacht
+all round the western and southern shores of Europe.
+
+As soon as Natas had been conveyed into the saloon, Tremayne, after
+returning Arnold's hearty handclasp, said to him--
+
+"That rascally Frenchman chased and fired on us, and then sent his
+torpedo-boat after us, without the slightest provocation. I purposely
+hoisted the Yacht Squadron flag to show that we were non-combatants,
+and still he sank us. I suppose he took the _Lurline_ for a fast
+despatch boat, but still he ought to have had the sense and the
+politeness to let her alone when he saw she was a yacht, so I want
+you to teach him better manners."
+
+"Certainly," replies Arnold. "I'll sink him for you in five seconds
+as soon as we get aloft again."
+
+"I don't want you to do that if you can help it. She has five or six
+hundred men on board, who are only doing as they are told, and we
+have not declared war on the world yet. Can't you disable her, and
+force her to surrender to the British cruiser that came to our
+rescue? You know we must have been sunk or captured half an hour ago
+if she had not turned up so opportunely, in spite of your so happily
+coming fifty miles this side of the rendezvous. I should like to
+return the compliment by delivering his enemy into his hand."
+
+"I quite see what you mean, but I'm afraid I can't guarantee success.
+You see, our artillery is intended for destruction, and not for
+disablement. Still I'll have a try with pleasure. I'll see if I can't
+disable his screws, only you mustn't blame me if he goes to the
+bottom by accident."
+
+"Certainly not, you most capable destroyer of life and property,"
+laughed Tremayne. "Only let him off as lightly as you can. Ah,
+Natasha! Good morning again! I suppose Natas has taken no harm from
+the unceremonious way in which I had to almost throw him on board the
+boat. Aërial voyaging seems to agree with you, you"--
+
+"Must not talk nonsense, my Lord of Alanmere, especially when there
+is sterner work in hand," interrupted Natasha, with a laugh. "What
+are you going to do with those two cruisers that are battering each
+other to pieces down there? Sink them both, or leave them to fight it
+out?"
+
+"Neither, with your permission, fair lady. The British cruiser saved
+us by coming on the scene at the right moment, and as the Frenchman
+fired upon us without due cause, I want Captain Arnold to disable her
+in some way and hand her over a prisoner to our rescuer."
+
+"Ah, that would be better, of course. One good turn deserves another.
+What are you going to do, Captain Arnold?"
+
+"Drop a small shell under his stern and disable his propellers, if I
+can do so without sinking him, which I am afraid is rather doubtful,"
+replied Arnold.
+
+While they were talking, the _Ithuriel_ had risen a thousand feet or
+so from the water, and had advanced to within about half a mile of
+the two cruisers, which were now manoeuvring round each other at a
+distance of about a thousand yards, blazing away without cessation,
+and waiting for some lucky shot to partially disable one or the
+other, and so give an opportunity for boarding, or ramming.
+
+In the old days, when France and Britain had last grappled in the
+struggle for the mastery of the sea, the two ships would have been
+laid alongside each other long before this. But that was not to be
+thought of while those terrible machine guns were able to rain their
+hail of death down from the tops, and the quick-firing cannon were
+hurling their thirty shots a minute across the intervening space of
+water.
+
+The French cruiser had so far taken no notice of the sudden
+annihilation of her second torpedo-boat by the air-ship, but as soon
+as the latter made her way astern of her she seemed to scent
+mischief, and turned one of her three-barrelled Nordenfeldts on to
+her. The shots soon came singing about the _Ithuriel_ in somewhat
+unpleasant proximity, and Arnold said--
+
+"Monsieur seems to take us for a natural enemy, and if he wants fight
+he shall have it. If I don't disable him with this shot I'll sink him
+with the next."
+
+So saying he trained one of the broadside guns on the stern of the
+French cruiser, and at the right moment pressed the button. The shell
+bored its way through the air and down into the water until it struck
+and exploded against the submerged rudder.
+
+A huge column of foam rose up under the cruiser's stern; half lifted
+out of the water, she plunged forward with a mighty lurch, burying
+her forecastle in the green water, and then she righted and lay
+helpless upon the sea, deprived of the power of motion and steering,
+and with the useless steam roaring in great clouds from her pipes. A
+moment later she began to settle by the stern, showing that her after
+plates had been badly injured, if not torn away by the explosion.
+
+Meanwhile the _Ithuriel_ had shot away out of range until the two
+cruisers looked like little toy-ships spitting fire at each other,
+and Arnold said to Tremayne, who was with him in the wheel-house--
+
+"I think that has settled her, as far as any more real fighting is
+concerned. Look! She can't stand that sort of thing very long."
+
+He handed Tremayne the glasses as he spoke. The French cruiser was
+lying motionless upon the water, with her after compartments full,
+and very much down by the stern. She was still blazing away gamely
+with all her available guns, but it was obvious at a glance that she
+was now no match for her antagonist, who had taken full advantage of
+the help rendered by her unknown ally, and was pouring a perfect hail
+of shot and shell point-blank into her half-disabled adversary,
+battering her deck-works into ruins, and piercing her hull again and
+again.
+
+At length, when the splendid fabric had been reduced to little better
+than a floating wreck by the terrible cannonade, the fire from the
+British cruiser stopped, and the signal "Will you surrender?" flew
+from her masthead.
+
+A few moments later the tricolor, for the first time in the war,
+dipped to the White Ensign, and the naval duel was over.
+
+"Now we will leave them to talk it over," said Tremayne, shutting the
+glasses. "I should like to hear what they have to say about us, I
+must confess, but there is something more important to be done, and
+the sooner we are on the other side of the Atlantic the better. The
+_Aurania_ started from New York this morning. How soon can you get
+across?"
+
+"In about sixteen hours if we had to go all the way," replied Arnold.
+"It is, say, three thousand miles from here to New York, and the
+_Ithuriel_ can fly two hundred miles an hour if necessary. But the
+_Aurania_, if she starts in good time, will make between four and
+five hundred miles during the day, and so we ought to meet her soon
+after sundown this evening if we are lucky."
+
+As Arnold ceased speaking, the report of a single gun came up from
+the water, and a string of signal flags floated out from the masthead
+of the British cruiser.
+
+"Hullo!" said Tremayne, once more turning the glasses on the two
+vessels, "that was a blank cartridge, and as far as I can make out
+that signal reads, 'We want to speak you.' And look: there goes a
+white flag to the fore. His intentions are evidently peaceful. What
+do you say, shall we go down?"
+
+"I see no objection to it. It will only make a difference of half an
+hour or so, and perhaps we may learn something worth knowing from the
+captain about the naval force afloat in the Atlantic. I think it
+would be worth while. We have no need for concealment now; and
+besides, all Europe is talking about us, so there can be no harm in
+showing ourselves a bit more closely."
+
+"Very well, then, we will go down and hear what he has to say,"
+replied Tremayne. "But I don't think it would be well for me to show
+myself just now, and so I will go below."
+
+Arnold at once signalled the necessary order from the conning tower
+to the engine-room. The fan-wheels revolved more slowly, and the
+_Ithuriel_ sank swiftly downwards towards the two cruisers, now lying
+side by side.
+
+As soon as she came to a standstill within speaking distance of the
+British man-of-war, discipline was for the moment forgotten on board
+of both victor and vanquished, under the influence of the intense
+excitement and curiosity aroused by seeing the mysterious and
+much-talked-of air-ship at such close quarters.
+
+The French and British captains were both standing on the
+quarter-deck eagerly scanning the strange craft through their glasses
+till she came near enough to dispense with them, and every man and
+officer on board the two cruisers who was able to be on deck, crowded
+to points of 'vantage, and stared at her with all their eyes. The
+whole company of the _Ithuriel_, with the exception of Natas,
+Tremayne, and those whose duties kept them in the engine-room, were
+also on deck, and Arnold stood close by the wheel-house and the after
+gun, ready to give any orders that might be necessary in case the
+conversation took an unfriendly turn.
+
+"May I ask the name of that wonderful craft, and to what I am
+indebted for the assistance you have given me?" hailed the British
+captain.
+
+"Certainly. This is the Terrorist air-ship _Ithuriel_, and we
+disabled the French cruiser because her captain had the bad manners
+to fire upon and sink an unarmed yacht that had no quarrel with him.
+But for that we should have left you to fight it out."
+
+"The Terrorists, are you? If I had known that, I confess I should not
+have asked to speak you, and I tell you candidly that I am sorry you
+did not leave us to fight it out, as you say. As I cannot look upon
+you as an ally or a friend, I can only regret the advantage you have
+given me over an honourable foe."
+
+There was an emphasis on the word "honourable" which brought a flush
+to Arnold's cheek, as he replied--
+
+"What I did to the French cruiser I should have done whether you had
+been on the scene or not. We are as much your foes as we are those of
+France, that is to say, we are totally indifferent to both of you. As
+for _honourable_ foes, I may say that I only disabled the French
+cruiser because I thought she had acted both unfairly and
+dishonourably. But we are wasting time. Did you merely wish to speak
+to us in order to find out who we were?"
+
+"Yes, that was my first object, I confess. I also wished to know
+whether this is the same air-ship which crossed the Mediterranean
+yesterday, and if not, how many of these vessels there are in
+existence, and what you mean to do with them?"
+
+"Before I answer, may I ask how you know that an air-ship crossed the
+Mediterranean yesterday?" asked Arnold, thoroughly mystified by this
+astounding piece of news.
+
+"We had it by telegraph at Queenstown during the night. She was going
+northward, when observed, by Larnaka"--
+
+"Oh yes, that was one of our despatch boats," replied Arnold, forcing
+himself to speak with a calmness that he by no means felt. "I'm
+afraid my orders will hardly allow me to answer your other questions
+very fully, but I may tell you that we have a fleet of air-ships at
+our command, all constructed in England under the noses of your
+intelligent authorities, and that we mean to use them as it seems
+best to us, should we at any time consider it worth our while to
+interfere in the game that the European Powers are playing with each
+other. Meanwhile we keep a position of armed neutrality. When we
+think the war has gone far enough we shall probably stop it when a
+good opportunity offers."
+
+This was too much for a British sailor to listen to quietly on his
+own quarter-deck, whoever said it, and so the captain of the
+_Andromeda_ forgot his prudence for the moment, and said somewhat
+hotly--
+
+"Confound it, sir! you talk as if you were omnipotent and arbiters of
+peace and war. Don't go too far with your insolence, or I shall haul
+that flag of truce down and give you five minutes to get out of range
+of my guns or take your chance"--
+
+For all answer there came a contemptuous laugh from the deck of the
+_Ithuriel_, the rapid ringing of an electric bell, and the
+disappearance of her company under cover. Then with one mighty leap
+she rose two thousand feet into the air, and before the astounded and
+disgusted captain of H.M. cruiser _Andromeda_ very well knew what had
+become of her, she was a mere speck of light in the sky, speeding
+away at two hundred miles an hour to the westward.
+
+As soon as she was fairly on her course, Arnold gave up the wheel to
+one of the crew, and went into the saloon to discuss with Tremayne
+and Natas the all-important scrap of news that had fallen from the
+lips of the captain of the British cruiser. What was the other
+air-ship that had been seen crossing the Mediterranean?
+
+Surely it must be one of the Terrorist fleet, for there were no
+others in existence. And yet strict orders had been given that none
+of the fleet were to take the air until the _Ithuriel_ returned. Was
+it possible that there were traitors, even in Aeria, and that the
+air-ship seen from Larnaka was a deserter going northward to the
+enemy, the worst enemy of all, the Russians?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+A BATTLE IN THE NIGHT.
+
+
+At half-past five on the morning of the 23rd of June, the Cunard
+liner _Aurania_ left New York for Queenstown and Liverpool. She was
+the largest and swiftest passenger steamer afloat, and on her maiden
+voyage she had lowered the Atlantic record by no less than twelve
+hours; that is to say, she had performed the journey from Sandy Hook
+to Queenstown in four days and a half exactly. Her measurement was
+forty-five thousand tons, and her twin screws, driven by quadruple
+engines, developing sixty thousand horse-power, forced her through
+the water at the unparalleled speed of thirty knots, or thirty-four
+and a half statute miles an hour.
+
+Since the outbreak of the war it had been found necessary to take all
+but the most powerful vessels off the Atlantic route, for, as had
+long been foreseen, the enemies of the Anglo-German Alliance were
+making the most determined efforts to cripple the Transatlantic trade
+of Britain and Germany, and swift, heavily-armed French and Italian
+cruisers, attended by torpedo-boats and gun-boats, and supported by
+battle-ships and depôt vessels for coaling purposes, were swarming
+along the great ocean highway.
+
+These, of course, had to be opposed by an equal or greater force of
+British warships. In fact, the burden of keeping the Atlantic route
+open fell entirely on Britain, for the German and Austrian fleets had
+all the work they were capable of doing nearer home in the Baltic and
+Mediterranean.
+
+The terrible mistake that had been made by the House of Lords in
+negativing the Italian Loan had already become disastrously apparent,
+for though the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance was putting forth every
+effort, its available ships were only just sufficient to keep the
+home waters clear and the ocean routes practically open, even for the
+fastest steamers.
+
+The task, therefore, which lay before the _Aurania_ when she cleared
+American waters was little less than running the gauntlet for nearly
+three thousand miles. The French cruiser which had been captured by
+the _Andromeda_, thanks to the assistance of the _Ithuriel_, had left
+Brest with the express purpose of helping to intercept the great
+Cunarder, for she had crossed the Atlantic five times already without
+a scratch since the war had begun, showing a very clean pair of heels
+to everything that had attempted to overhaul her, and now on her
+sixth passage a grand effort was to be made to capture or cripple the
+famous ocean greyhound.
+
+It was by far her most important voyage in more senses than one. In
+the first place, her incomparable speed and good luck had made her
+out of sight the prime favourite with those passengers who were
+obliged to cross the Atlantic, war or no war, and for the same
+reasons she also carried more mails and specie than any other liner,
+and this voyage she had an enormously valuable consignment of both on
+board. As for passengers, every available foot of space was taken for
+months in advance.
+
+Enterprising agents on both sides of the water had bought up every
+berth from stem to stern, and had put them up to auction, realising
+fabulous prices, which had little chance of being abated, even when
+her sister ship the _Sidonia_, the construction of which was being
+pushed forward on the Clyde with all possible speed, was ready to
+take the water.
+
+But the chief importance of this particular passage lay, though
+barely half a dozen persons were aware of it, in the fact that among
+her passengers was Michael Roburoff, chief of the American Section of
+the Terrorists, who was bringing to the Council his report of the
+work of the Brotherhood in the United States, together with the
+information which he had collected, by means of an army of spies, as
+to the true intentions of the American Government with regard to the
+war.
+
+These, so far as the rest of the world was concerned, were a profound
+secret, and he was the only man outside the President's Cabinet and
+the Tsar's Privy Council who had accurate information with regard to
+them. The _Aurania_ was therefore not only carrying mails, treasure,
+and passengers, but, in the person of Michael Roburoff, she was
+carrying secrets on the revelation of which the whole issue of the
+war and the destiny of the world might turn.
+
+America was the one great Power not involved in the tremendous
+struggle that was being waged. The most astute diplomatist in Europe
+had no idea what her real policy was, but every one knew that the
+side on which she threw the weight of her boundless wealth and vast
+resources must infallibly win in the long run.
+
+The plan that had been adopted by Britain for keeping the Atlantic
+route open was briefly as follows:--All along the 3000 miles of the
+steamer track a battleship was stationed at the end of every day's
+run, that is to say, at intervals of about 500 miles, and patrolled
+within a radius of 100 miles. Each of these was attended by two
+heavily-armed cruisers and four torpedo-boats, while between these
+points swifter cruisers were constantly running to and fro convoying
+the liners.
+
+Thus, when the _Aurania_ left New York, she was picked up on the
+limit of the American water by two cruisers, which would keep pace
+with her as well as they could until she reached the first
+battleship. As she passed the ironclad these two would leave her, and
+the next two would take up the running, and so on until she reached
+the range of operations of the Irish Squadron.
+
+No other Power in the world could have maintained such a system of
+ocean police, but Britain was putting forth the whole of her mighty
+naval strength, and so she spared neither ships nor money to keep
+open the American and Canadian routes, for on them nearly half her
+food-supply depended, as well as her chief line of communication with
+the far East.
+
+On the other hand, her enemies were making desperate efforts to break
+the chain of steel that was thus stretched across the hemisphere, for
+they well knew that, this once broken, the first real triumph of the
+war would have been won.
+
+Five hundred miles out from New York the _Aurania_ was joined by the
+_Oceana_, the largest vessel on the Canadian Pacific line from
+Halifax to Liverpool. So far no enemy had been seen. The two great
+liners reached the first battleship together, and were joined by the
+second pair of cruisers. Before sunset the Cunarder had drawn ahead
+of her companions, and by nightfall was racing away alone over the
+water with every light carefully concealed, and keeping an eager
+look-out for friend or foe.
+
+There was no moon, and the sky was so heavily overcast with clouds,
+that, under any other circumstances, it would have been the height of
+rashness to go rushing through the darkness at such a headlong speed.
+But the captain of the _Aurania_ was aware of the state of the road,
+and he knew that in speed and secrecy lay his only chances of getting
+his magnificent vessel through in safety.
+
+Soon after ten o'clock lights were sighted dead ahead. The course was
+slightly altered, and the great liner swept past one of the North
+German Lloyd boats in company with a cruiser. The private signal was
+made and answered, and in half an hour she was again alone amidst the
+darkness.
+
+It was nearly eleven o'clock, when Michael Roburoff, who was standing
+under the lee of one of the ventilators amidships, smoking a last
+pipe before turning in, saw a figure muffled in a huge grey ulster
+creeping into the deeper shadows under the bridge. It was so dark
+that he could only just make out the outline of the figure, but he
+could see enough to rouse his ever ready suspicions in the furtive
+movements that the man was making.
+
+He stole out on the starboard, that is the southward, rail of the
+spar-deck, and Michael, straining his eyes to the utmost, saw him
+take a round flat object from under his coat, and then look round
+stealthily to see if he was observed. As he did so Michael whipped a
+pistol out of his pocket, levelled it at the man, and said in a low,
+distinct tone--
+
+"Put that back, or I'll shoot!"
+
+For all answer the man raised his arm to throw the object overboard.
+Michael, taking the best aim he could in the darkness, fired. The
+bullet struck the elbow of the raised arm, the man lurched forward
+with a low cry of rage and pain, grasped the object with his other
+hand, and, as he fell to the deck, flung it into the sea.
+
+Scarcely had it touched the water when it burst into flame, and an
+intensely bright blaze of bluish-white light shot up, shattering the
+darkness, and illuminating the great ship from the waterline to the
+trucks of her masts. Instantly the deck of the liner was a scene of
+wild excitement. In a moment the man whom Roburoff had wounded was
+secured in the act of trying to throw himself overboard. Michael
+himself was rapidly questioned by the captain, who was immediately on
+the spot.
+
+He told his story in a dozen words, and explained that he had fired
+to disable the man and prevent the fire-signal falling into the sea.
+There was no doubt about the guilt of the traitor, for he himself cut
+the captain's interrogation short by saying defiantly, in broken
+English that at once betrayed him as a Frenchman--
+
+"Yees, I do it! I give signal to ze fleet down there. If I succeeded,
+I got half million francs. I fail, so shoot! C'est la fortune de la
+guerre! Voilà, look! They come!"
+
+As the spy said this he pointed to the south-eastern horizon. A brief
+bright flash of white light went up through the night and vanished.
+It was the answering signal from the French or Italian cruisers,
+which were making all speed up from the south-east to head off the
+_Aurania_ before she reached the next station and gained the
+protection of the British battleship.
+
+The spy's words were only too true. He had gone to America for the
+sole purpose of returning in the _Aurania_ and giving the signal at
+this particular point on the passage. Within ten miles were four of
+the fleetest French and Italian cruisers, six torpedo-boats, and two
+battleships, which, by keeping well to the southward during the day,
+and then putting on all steam as soon as night fell, had managed to
+head off the ocean greyhound at last.
+
+Two cruisers and a battleship with two torpedo-boats were coming up
+from the south-east; one cruiser, the other battleship, and two
+torpedo-boats were bearing down from the south-west, and the
+remaining cruiser and brace of torpedo-boats had managed to slip
+through the British line and gain a position to the northward.
+
+This large force had not been brought up without good reason. The
+_Aurania_ was the biggest prize afloat, and well worth fighting for,
+if it came to blows, as it very probably would do; added to which
+there was a very good chance of one or two other liners falling
+victims to a well-planned and successful raid.
+
+The French spy was at once sent below and put into safe keeping, and
+the signal to "stoke up" was sent to the engine-rooms. The firemen
+responded with a will, extra hands were put on in the stokeholes, and
+the furnaces taxed to their utmost capacity. The boilers palpitated
+under the tremendous head of steam, the engines throbbed and groaned
+like labouring giants, and the great ship, trembling like some live
+animal under the lash, rushed faster and faster over the long dark
+rollers under the impulse of her whirling screws.
+
+There was no longer any need for concealment even if it had been
+possible. Speed and speed only afforded the sole chance of escape. Of
+course the captain of the _Aurania_ had no idea of the strength or
+disposition of the force that had undertaken his capture. Had he
+known the true state of the case, his anxiety would have been a good
+deal greater than it was. He fully believed that he could outsteam
+the vessels to the south-east, and, once past these, he knew that he
+would be in touch with the British ships at the next station before
+any harm could come to him. He therefore headed a little more to the
+northward, and trusted with perfect confidence to his heels.
+
+Michael Roburoff was the hero of the moment, and the captain
+cordially thanked him for his prompt attempt to frustrate the
+atrocious act of the spy which deliberately endangered the liberty
+and perhaps the lives of more than a thousand non-combatants.
+Michael, however, cut his thanks short by taking him aside and asking
+him what he thought of the position of affairs. He spoke so seriously
+that the captain thought he was frightened, and by way of reassuring
+him replied cheerily--
+
+"Don't have any fear for the _Aurania_, Mr. Roburoff. That's only a
+cruiser, or perhaps a couple, down there, and the enemy haven't a
+ship that I can't give a good five knots and a beating to. We shall
+sight the British ships soon after daybreak, and by that time those
+fellows will be fifty miles behind us."
+
+"I have as much confidence in the _Aurania's_ speed as you have,
+Captain Frazer," replied Michael, "but I'm afraid you are underrating
+the enemy's strength. Do you know that within the last few days it
+has been almost doubled, and that a determined effort is to be made,
+not only to catch or sink the _Aurania_, but also to break the
+British line of posts, and cut the line of American and Canadian
+communication altogether?"
+
+"No, sir," replied the captain, looking sharply at Michael. "I don't
+know anything of the sort, neither do the commanders of the British
+warships on this side. If your information is correct, I should like
+to know how you came by it. You are a Russian by name"--
+
+"But not a subject of the Tsar," quickly interrupted Michael. "I am
+an American citizen, and I have come by this information not as the
+friend of Russia, as you seem to suspect, but as her enemy, or rather
+as the enemy of her ruler. How I got it is my business. It is enough
+for you to know that it is correct, and that you are in far greater
+danger than you think you are. The signal given by that French spy
+was evidently part of a prearranged plan, and for all you know you
+may even now be surrounded, or steaming straight into a trap that has
+been laid for you. If I may advise, I would earnestly counsel you to
+double on your course and make every effort to rejoin the other liner
+and the cruisers we have passed."
+
+"Nonsense, sir, nonsense!" answered the captain testily. "Our
+watch-dogs are far too wide awake to be caught napping like that. You
+have been deceived by one of the rumours that are filling the air
+just now. You can go to your berth and sleep in peace, and to-morrow
+you shall be half-way across the Atlantic without an enemy's ship in
+sight."
+
+"Captain Frazer," said Michael very seriously, "with your leave I
+shall not go to my berth; and what is more, I can tell you that very
+few of us will get much sleep to-night, and that if you do not back I
+hardly think you will be flying the British flag to-morrow. Ha! look
+there--and there!"
+
+Michael seized the captain's arm suddenly, and pointed rapidly to the
+south-east and north-east. Two thin rays of light flashed up into the
+sky one after the other. Then came a third from the south-west, and
+then darkness again. At the same instant came the hails from the
+look-outs announcing the lights.
+
+Captain Frazer was wrong, and he saw that he was at a glance. The
+flash in the north-east could not be from a friend, for it was a
+plain answer to the known enemy in the south-east, and so too in all
+probability was the third. If so, the _Aurania_ was almost
+surrounded.
+
+The captain wasted no words in confessing his error, but ran up on to
+the bridge to rectify it as far as he could at once. The helm was put
+hard over, the port screw was reversed, and the steamer swung round
+in a wide sweep, and was soon speeding back westward over her own
+tracks. An hour's run brought her in sight of the lights of the
+_North German_ and her escort. She slowed as she passed them, and
+told the news. Then she sped on again at full-speed to meet the
+_Oceana_ and the two cruisers, which were about fifty miles behind.
+
+By one A.M. the three cruisers and the three liners had joined
+forces, and were steaming westward at twenty knots an hour, the
+liners in single file led by a cruiser, and having one on each beam.
+Soon the flashes on the horizon grew more frequent, always drawing
+closer together.
+
+Then those in the westward dropped from the perpendicular to the
+horizontal, and swept the water as though seeking something. It was
+not long before the darting rays of one of the searchlights fell
+across the track of the British flotilla. Instantly from all three
+points converging flashes were concentrated upon it, revealing the
+outline of every ship with the most perfect distinctness.
+
+The last hope of running through the hostile fleet unperceived had
+now vanished. There was nothing for it but to go ahead full-speed,
+and trust to the chances of a running fight to get clear. With a view
+of finding out the strength of the enemy, the British cruisers now
+turned their searchlights on and swept the horizon.
+
+A very few moments sufficed to show that an overwhelming force was
+closing in on them from three sides. They were completely caught in a
+trap, from which there was no escape save by running the gauntlet.
+Whichever way they headed they would have to pass through the
+converging fire of the enemy.
+
+The weakest point, so far as they could see, was the one cruiser and
+two torpedo-boats to the northward, and so towards them they headed.
+At the speed at which they were travelling it needed but a few
+minutes to bring them within range, and the British commanders
+rightly decided to concentrate their fire for the present on the
+single cruiser and her two attendants, in the hope of sinking them
+before the others could get into action.
+
+At three thousand yards the heavy guns came into play, and a storm of
+shell was hurled upon the advancing foe, who lost no time in replying
+in the same terms. As the vessels approached each other the shooting
+became closer and terribly effective.
+
+The searchlights of the British cruisers were kept full ahead, and
+every attempt of the torpedo-boats to get round on the flank was
+foiled by a hail of shot from the quick-firing guns. Within fifteen
+minutes of opening fire one of these was sunk and the other disabled.
+The French cruiser, too, suffered fearfully from the tempest of shot
+and shell that was rained upon her.
+
+Had the British got within range of her half an hour sooner the plan
+would have been completely foiled. As it was, her fate was sealed,
+but it was too late. The three British warships rushed at her
+together, vomiting flame and smoke and iron across the
+rapidly-decreasing distance, until within five hundred yards of her.
+Then the fire from the two on either flank suddenly stopped.
+
+The centre one, still blazing away, put on her forced draught,
+swerved sharply round, and then darted in on her with the ram. There
+was a terrific shock, a heavy, grinding crunch, and then the mighty
+mass of the charging vessel, hurled at nearly thirty miles an hour
+upon her victim, bored and ground her resistless way into her side.
+
+Then she suddenly reversed her engines and backed out. In less than
+thirty seconds it was all over. The Frenchman, almost cut in half by
+the frightful blow, reeled once, and once only, and then went down
+like a stone.
+
+But by this time the other two divisions of the enemy were within
+range, and through the roar of the lighter artillery now came the
+deep, sullen boom of the big guns on the battleships, and the great
+thousand-pound projectiles began to scream through the air and fling
+the water up into mountains of foam where they pitched.
+
+Where one of them struck, death and destruction would follow as
+surely as though it were a thunderbolt from Heaven. The three liners
+scattered and steamed away to the northward as fast as their
+propellers would drive them. But what was their utmost speed to that
+of the projectiles cleaving through the air at more than two thousand
+feet a second?
+
+See! one at length strikes the German liner square amidships, and
+bursts. There is a horrible explosion. The searchlight thrown on her
+shows a cloud of steam and smoke and flame rising up from her riven
+decks. Where her funnels were is a huge ragged black hole. This is
+visible for an instant, then her back breaks, and in two halves she
+follows the French cruiser to the bottom of the Atlantic.
+
+The sinking of the German liner was the signal for the appearance of
+a new actor on the scene, and the commencement of a work of
+destruction more appalling than anything that human warfare had so
+far known.
+
+Michael Roburoff, standing on the spar-deck of the flying _Aurania_,
+suddenly saw a bright stream of light shoot down from the clouds, and
+flash hither and thither, till it hovered over the advancing French
+and Italian squadron. For the moment the combat ceased, so astounded
+were the combatants on both sides at this mysterious apparition.
+
+Then, without the slightest warning, with no flash or roar of guns,
+there came a series of frightful explosions among the ships of the
+pursuers. They followed each other so quickly that the darkness
+behind the electric lights seemed lit with a continuous blaze of
+livid green flame for three or four minutes.
+
+Then there was darkness and silence. Black darkness and absolute
+silence. The searchlights were extinguished, and the roar of the
+artillery was still. The British waited in dazed silence for it to
+begin again, but it never did. The whole of the pursuing squadron had
+been annihilated.
+
+[Illustration: "This mysterious apparition."
+
+_See page 178._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE NEW WARFARE.
+
+
+It will now be necessary, in order to insure the continuity of the
+narrative, to lay before the reader a brief sketch of the course of
+events in Europe from the actual commencement of hostilities on a
+general scale between the two immense forces which may be most
+conveniently designated as the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance and the
+Franco-Slavonian League.
+
+In order that these two terms may be fully understood, it will be
+well to explain their general constitution. When the two forces, into
+which the declaration of war ultimately divided the nations of
+Europe, faced each other for the struggle which was to decide the
+mastery of the Western world, the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance consisted
+primarily of Britain, Germany, and Austria, and, ranged under its
+banner, whether from choice or necessity, stood Holland, Belgium, and
+Denmark in the north-west, with Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey in the
+south-west.
+
+Egypt was strongly garrisoned for the land defence of the Suez Canal
+and the high road to the East by British, Indian, and Turkish troops.
+British and Belgian troops held Antwerp and the fortresses of the
+Belgian Quadrilateral in force.
+
+A powerful combined fleet of British, Danish, and Dutch war vessels
+of all classes held the approaches by the Sound and Kattegat to the
+Baltic Sea, and co-operated in touch with the German fleet; the Dutch
+and the German having, at any rate for the time being, and under the
+pressure of irresistible circumstances, laid aside their hereditary
+national hatred, and consented to act as allies under suitable
+guarantees to Holland.
+
+The co-operation of Denmark had been secured, in spite of the family
+connections existing between the Danish and the Russian Courts, and
+the rancour still remaining from the old Schleswig-Holstein quarrel,
+by very much the same means that had been taken in the historic days
+of the Battle of the Baltic. It is true that matters had not gone so
+far as they went when Nelson disobeyed orders by putting his
+telescope to his blind eye, and engaged the Danish fleet in spite of
+the signals; but a demonstration of such overwhelming force had been
+made by sea and land on the part of Britain and Germany, that the
+House of Dagmar had bowed to the inevitable, and ranged itself on the
+side of the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance.
+
+Marshalled against this imposing array of naval and military force
+stood the Franco-Slavonian League, consisting primarily of France,
+Russia, and Italy, supported--whether by consent or necessity--by
+Spain, Portugal, and Servia. The co-operation of Spain had been
+purchased by the promise of Gibraltar at the conclusion of the war,
+and that of Portugal by the guarantee of a largely increased sphere
+of influence on the West Coast of Africa, plus the Belgian States of
+the Congo.
+
+Roumania and Switzerland remained neutral, the former to be a
+battlefield for the neighbouring Powers, and the latter for the
+present safe behind her ramparts of everlasting snow and ice.
+Scandinavia also remained neutral, the sport of the rival diplomacies
+of East and West, but not counted of sufficient importance to
+materially influence the colossal struggle one way or the other.
+
+In round numbers the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance had seven millions of
+men on the war footing, including, of course, the Indian and Colonial
+forces of the British Empire, while in case of necessity urgent
+levies were expected to produce between two and three millions more.
+Opposed to these, the Franco-Slavonian League had about ten millions
+under arms, with nearly three millions in reserve.
+
+As regards naval strength, the Alliance was able to pit rather more
+than a thousand warships of all classes, and about the same number of
+torpedo-boats, against nearly nine hundred warships and about seven
+hundred torpedo-boats at the disposal of the League.
+
+In addition to this latter armament, it is very necessary to name a
+fleet of a hundred war-balloons of the type mentioned in an earlier
+chapter, fifty of which belonged to Russia and fifty to France. No
+other European Power possessed any engine of destruction that was
+capable of being efficiently matched against the invention of M.
+Riboult, who was now occupying the position of Director of the aërial
+fleet in the service of the League.
+
+It would be both a tedious repetition of sickening descriptions of
+scenes of bloodshed and a useless waste of space, to enumerate in
+detail all the series of conflicts by sea and land which resulted
+from the collision of the tremendous forces which were thus arrayed
+against each other in a conflict that was destined to be unparalleled
+in the history of the human race.
+
+To do so would be to occupy pages filled with more or less technical
+descriptions of strategic movements, marches, and countermarches,
+skirmishes, reconnaissances, and battles, which followed each other
+with such unparalleled rapidity that the combined efforts of the war
+correspondents of the European press proved entirely inadequate to
+keep pace with them in the form of anything like a continuous
+narrative.
+
+It will therefore be necessary to ask the reader to remain content
+with such brief summary as has been given, supplemented with the
+following extracts from a very lengthy _résumé_ of the leading events
+of the war up to date, which were published in a special War
+Supplement issued by the _Daily Telegraph_ on the morning of Tuesday
+the 28th of June 1904:--
+
+"Although little more than a period of six weeks has elapsed since
+the actual outbreak of hostilities which marked the commencement of
+what, be its issue what it may, must indubitably prove the most
+colossal struggle in the history of human warfare, changes have
+already occurred which must infallibly mark their effect upon the
+future destiny of the world. Almost as soon as the first shot was
+fired the nations of Europe, as if by instinct or under the influence
+of some power higher than that of international diplomacy,
+automatically marshalled themselves into the two most mighty hosts
+that have ever trod the field of battle since man first fought with
+man.
+
+"Not less than twenty millions of men are at this moment facing each
+other under arms throughout the area of the war. These are almost
+equally divided; for, although what is now known as the
+Franco-Slavonian League has some three millions of men more on land,
+it may be safely stated that the preponderance of naval strength
+possessed by the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance fully counterbalances this
+advantage.
+
+"There is, however, another most important element which has now for
+the first time been introduced into warfare, and which, although it
+is most unhappily arrayed amongst the forces opposed to our own
+country and her gallant allies, it would be both idle and most
+imprudent to ignore. We refer, of course, to the two fleets of
+war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable
+aerostats, possessed by France and Russia.
+
+"So tremendous has been the influence which these terrible inventions
+have exercised upon the course of the war, that we are not
+transgressing the bounds of sober truth when we say that they have
+utterly disconcerted and brought to nought the highest strategy and
+the most skilfully devised plans of the brilliant array of masters of
+the military art whose presence adorns the ranks and enlightens the
+councils of the Alliance.
+
+"Since the day when the Russians crossed the German and Austrian
+frontiers, and the troops of France and Italy simultaneously flung
+themselves across the western frontiers of Germany and through the
+passes of the Tyrol, their progress, unparalleled in rapidity even by
+the marvellous marches of Napoleon, has been marked, not by what we
+have hitherto been accustomed to call battles, but rather by a series
+of colossal butcheries.
+
+"In every case of any moment the method of procedure on the part of
+the attacking forces has been the same, and, with the deepest regret
+we confess it, it has been marked with the same unvarying success.
+Whenever a large army has been set in motion upon a predetermined
+point of attack, whether a fortress, an entrenched camp, or a
+strongly occupied position in the field, a squadron of aerostats has
+winged its way through the air under cover of the darkness of night,
+and silently and unperceived has marked the disposition of forces,
+the approximate strength of the army or the position to be attacked,
+and, as far as they were observable, the points upon which the attack
+could be most favourably delivered. Then they have returned with
+their priceless information, and, according to it, the assailants
+have been able, in every case so far, to make their assault where
+least expected, and to make it, moreover, upon an already partially
+demoralised force.
+
+"From the detailed descriptions which we have already published of
+battles and sieges, or rather of the storming of great fortresses, it
+will be remembered that every assault on the part of the troops of
+the League has been preceded by a preliminary and irresistible attack
+from the clouds.
+
+"The aerostats have stationed themselves at great elevations over the
+ramparts of fortresses and the bivouacs of armies, and have rained
+down a hail of dynamite, melinite, fire-shells and cyanogen
+poison-grenades, which have at once put guns out of action, blown up
+magazines, rendered fortifications untenable, and rent masses of
+infantry and squadrons of cavalry into demoralised fragments, before
+they had the time or the opportunity to strike a blow in reply. Then
+upon these silenced batteries, these wrecked fortifications, and
+these demoralised brigades, there has been poured a storm of
+artillery fire from the untouched enemy, advancing in perfect order,
+and inspired with high-spirited confidence, which has been
+irresistibly opposed to the demoralisation of their enemies.
+
+"Is it any wonder, or any disgrace, to the defeated, that under such
+novel and appalling conditions the orderly and disciplined onslaughts
+of the legions of the League have in almost every case been
+completely successful? The sober truth is that the invention and
+employment of these devastating appliances have completely altered
+the face of the field of battle and the conditions of modern warfare.
+It is not in human valour, no matter how heroic or self-devoted it
+may be, to oppose itself with anything like confidence to an enemy
+which strikes from the skies, and cannot be struck in return.
+
+"It was thus that the battles of Alexandrovo, Kalisz, and Czernowicz
+were won in the early stages of the war upon the Austro-German
+frontier. So, too, in the Rhine Provinces, were the battles of
+Treves, Mulhausen, and Freiburg turned by the aid of the French
+aerostats from battles into butcheries. It was under the assault of
+these irresistible engines that the great fortresses of Königsberg,
+Thorn, Breslau, Strasburg, and Metz, to say nothing of many minor,
+but strongly fortified, places, were first reduced to a state of
+impotence for defence, and then battered into ruins by the siege-guns
+of the assailants.
+
+"All these terrible events, forming a series of catastrophes
+unparalleled in the annals of war, are still fresh in the minds of
+our readers, for they have followed one upon the other with almost
+stupefying rapidity, and it is yet hardly six weeks since the
+Cossacks and Uhlans were engaged in their first skirmish near Gnesen.
+
+"This is an amazingly brief space of time for the fate of empires to
+be decided, and yet we are forced, with the utmost sorrow and
+reluctance, to admit that what were two months ago the magnificently
+disciplined and equipped armies of Germany and Austria, are now
+completely shattered and broken up into fragmentary and isolated army
+corps, decimated as to numbers and demoralised as to discipline,
+gathered in and about such strong places as are left to them, and
+awaiting only with the courage of desperation the moment, we fear the
+inevitable moment, when they shall be finally crushed between the
+rapidly converging hosts of the victorious League.
+
+"Within the next few days, Berlin, Hanover, Prague, Munich, and
+Vienna must be invested, and may possibly be destroyed or compelled
+to ignominious and unconditional surrender by the irresistible forces
+that will be arrayed against them.
+
+"Meanwhile, with still deeper regret, we are forced to confess that
+those operations in the Low Countries and the east of Europe and Asia
+Minor in which our own gallant troops have been engaged in
+conjunction with their several allies, have been, if not equally
+disastrous, at least void of any tangible success.
+
+"Erzeroum, Trebizond, and Scutari have fallen; the passes of the
+Balkans have been forced, although at immense cost to the enemy;
+Belgrade has been stormed; Adrianople is invested, and Constantinople
+is therefore most seriously threatened.
+
+"By heroic efforts the French attack upon the Quadrilateral has been
+rolled back at a fearful expense of human life. Antwerp is still
+untouched, and the command of the Baltic is still ours. In our own
+waters, as well as in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, we have won
+victories which prove that Great Britain is still the unconquered,
+and we trust unconquerable, mistress of the seas. We have kept the
+Dardanelles open, and the Suez Canal is still inviolate.
+
+"Two combined attacks, delivered by the allied French and Italian
+squadrons on Malta and Gibraltar, have been repulsed by Admiral
+Beresford with heavy loss to the enemy, thanks to the timely warning
+delivered to Mr. Balfour by the Earl of Alanmere--upon whose
+mysterious disappearance we comment in another column--and the Prime
+Minister's prompt and statesmanlike action in doubling the strength
+of the Mediterranean fleet before the outbreak of hostilities.
+
+"Thanks to the tireless activity and splendid handling of the Channel
+fleet, the North Sea Division, and the Irish Squadron, the enemy's
+flag has been practically swept from the home waters, and the shores
+of our beloved country are as inviolate as they have been for more
+than seven centuries. These brilliant achievements go far to
+compensate us as an individual nation for the disasters which have
+befallen our allies on the Continent, and, in addition, we have the
+satisfaction of knowing that, so far, the most complete success has
+attended our arms in the East, and that the repeated and determined
+assaults of our Russian foes have been triumphantly hurled back from
+the impregnable bulwarks of our Indian Empire.
+
+"It has been pointed out, and it would be vain to ignore the fact,
+that not only have all our victories been won in the absence of the
+aërial fleets of the League; but that we, in common with our allies,
+have been worsted in each of the happily few cases in which even one
+of these terrible aerostats has delivered its assaults upon us.
+Against this, however, we take leave to set our belief that these
+machines do not yet inspire sufficient confidence in their possessors
+to warrant them in undertaking operations above the sea, or at any
+considerable distance from their bases of manoeuvring. It is true
+that we are entirely ignorant of the essentials of their
+construction; but the fact that no attempt has yet been made to send
+them into action over blue water inspires us with the hope and belief
+that their effective range of operations is confined to the land....
+
+"It would be superfluous to say that the British Empire is now
+involved in a struggle in comparison with which all our former wars
+sink into absolute insignificance, a struggle which will tax its
+immense resources to the very utmost. Nothing, however, has yet
+occurred to warrant the belief that those resources will not prove
+equal to the strain, or that the greatest empire on earth will not
+emerge from this combat of the giants with her ancient glory enhanced
+by new and hitherto unequalled triumphs.
+
+"Certainly at no period in our history have we been so splendidly
+prepared to face our enemies both at home and abroad. All arms of the
+Services are in the highest state of efficiency, and the Government
+dockyards and arsenals, as well as private firms, are working day and
+night to still further strengthen them, and provide ample supplies of
+munitions of war. The hearts of all the nations united under our flag
+are beating as that of one man, and from the highest to the lowest
+ranks of Society all are inspired by a spirit of whole-souled
+patriotism which, if necessary, will make any sacrifice to preserve
+the flag untarnished, and the honour of Britain without a spot.
+
+"At the head of affairs stands the man who of all others has proved
+himself to be the most fitted to direct the destinies of the empire
+in this tremendous crisis of her history. Party feeling for the time
+being has almost entirely disappeared, save amongst the few scattered
+bands of isolated Revolutionaries and malcontents, and Mr. Balfour
+possesses the absolute confidence of his Majesty on the one hand, and
+the undivided support of an impregnable majority in both Houses of
+Parliament on the other. He is admirably seconded by such lieutenants
+as Lord Randolph Churchill, Sir Joseph Chamberlain, and Sir George J.
+Goschen on his own side of the House, and by the Earls of Rosebery
+and Morley, Lord Brassey, and Sir Charles Dilke in what, previous to
+the outbreak of the war, was the opposing political camp, but which
+is now a party as loyal as that of the Government to the best
+interests of the Empire, and fully determined to give the utmost
+possible moral support consistent with fair and impartial criticism.
+
+"The disastrous mistake which was made by a very small majority of
+the Upper House in rejecting the Government guarantee for the
+ill-fated Italian loan is now, of course, past repair; for Italy, as
+events have proved, exasperated by what her spokesmen termed her
+selfish betrayal by Britain, has passionately thrown herself into the
+arms of the League, and the Alliance has now no more bitter enemy
+than she is. It is, however, only justice to those who defeated the
+loan to add that they have now clearly seen and frankly owned their
+grievous mistake, and rallied as one man to the support of the
+Government."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+THE HERALDS OF DISASTER.
+
+
+Another column in the same issue contained an account of the
+"Mysterious Disappearance of Lord Alanmere" and the doings of the
+_Ithuriel_ in the Atlantic. The account concluded as follows:--
+
+"As the enemy's squadron came up in chase it was annihilated without
+warning and with appalling suddenness by the air-ship, which must
+have crossed the Atlantic in something like sixteen hours. After this
+fearful achievement it descended to the _Aurania_, took off a saloon
+passenger named Michael Roburoff, evidently, from his reception, a
+Terrorist himself, and then vanished through the clouds. For the
+present, and until we have fuller information, we attempt no detailed
+analysis of these astounding events. We merely content ourselves with
+saying in the most solemn words that we can use, that, awful and
+disastrous as is the war that is now raging throughout the greatest
+part of the old world, it is our firm belief that, behind the
+smoke-clouds of battle, and beneath the surface of visible events,
+there is working a secret power, possibly greater than any which has
+yet been called into action, and which at an unexpected moment may
+suddenly put forth its strength, upheave the foundations of Society,
+and bury existing institutions in the ruins of Civilisation.
+
+"One fact is quite manifest, and that is, that although the League
+possesses a weapon of fearful efficiency for destruction in their
+fleet of aerostats, the Terrorists, controlled by no law save their
+own, and hampered by no traditions or limitations of civilised
+warfare, are in command of another fleet of unknown strength, the
+air-ships of which are apparently as superior to the aerostats of the
+League as a modern battleship would be to a three-decker of the time
+of Nelson.
+
+"The power represented by such a fleet as this is absolutely
+inconceivable. The aerostats are large, clumsy, and comparatively
+slow. They do not carry guns, and can only drop their projectiles
+vertically downwards. Moreover, their sphere of operations has so far
+been entirely confined to the land.
+
+"Very different, however, would seem to be the powers of the
+Terrorist air-ships. They have proved conclusively that they are
+swift almost beyond imagination. They have crossed oceans and
+continents in a few hours; they can ascend to enormous heights, and
+they carry artillery of unknown design and tremendous range, whose
+projectiles excel in destructiveness the very lightnings of heaven
+itself.
+
+"In the presence of such an awful and mysterious power as this even
+the quarrels of nations seem to shrink into unimportance, and almost
+to pettiness. Where and when it may strike, no man knows save those
+who wield it, and therefore there is nothing for the peoples of the
+earth, however mighty they may be, to do but to await the blow in
+humiliating impotence, but still with a humble trust in that Higher
+Power which alone can save it from accomplishing the destruction of
+Society and the enslavement of the human race."
+
+It may well be imagined with what interest, and it may fairly be
+added with what intense anxiety, these words were read by hundreds of
+thousands of people throughout the British Islands. Even the news
+from the Seat of War began to pall in interest before such tidings as
+these, invested as they were with the irresistible if terrible charm
+of the unknown and the mysterious.
+
+By noon it was almost impossible to get any one in London or any of
+the large towns to talk of anything but the disappearance of Lord
+Alanmere, the Terrorists, and their marvellous aërial fleet. But it
+goes without saying that nowhere did the news produce greater
+distress or more utter bewilderment than it did among the occupants
+of Alanmere Castle, and especially in the breast of her who had been
+so quickly and so strangely installed as its new owner and mistress.
+
+Everywhere the wildest rumours passed from lip to lip, growing in
+sensation and absurdity as they went. A report, telegraphed by an
+anonymous idiot from Liverpool, to the effect that six air-ships had
+appeared over the Mersey, and demanded a ransom of £10,000,000 from
+the town, was eagerly seized on by the cheaper evening papers, which
+rushed out edition after edition on the strength of it, until the
+_St. James's Gazette_ put an end to the excitement by publishing a
+telegram from the Mayor of Liverpool denouncing the report as an
+insane and criminal hoax.
+
+The next edition of the _St. James's_, however, contained a telegram
+from Hiorring, in Denmark, _viâ_ Newcastle, which was of almost, if
+not quite, as startling and disquieting a nature, and which,
+moreover, contained a very considerable measure of truth. The
+telegram ran as follows:--
+
+      NAVAL DISASTER IN THE BALTIC.
+
+      _The Sound forced by a Russian Squadron, assisted by a
+      Terrorist Air-Ship._
+
+      (_From our own Correspondent._)
+
+      Hiorring, _June 28th_, 8 A.M.
+
+    With the deepest regret I have to record the first naval disaster
+    to the British arms during the present war. As soon as it became
+    dark last night heavy firing was heard from Copenhagen to the
+    southward, and before long the sound deepened into an almost
+    continuous roar of light and heavy guns.
+
+    Our naval force in the Baltic was so strong that it was deemed
+    incredible that the Russian fleet, which we have held imprisoned
+    here since the commencement of hostilities, should dream even of
+    making an attempt to escape. The cannonade, however, was the
+    beginning of such an attempt, and it is useless disguising the
+    fact that it has been completely successful. That this would have
+    been the case, or, indeed, that the attempt would ever have been
+    made by the Russian fleet alone, cannot be for a moment credited.
+    But, incredible as it seems, it is nevertheless true that it was
+    assisted, and that in a practically irresistible fashion, by one
+    of those air-ships which have hitherto been believed to belong
+    exclusively to the Terrorists, that is to say, to the deadliest
+    enemies that Russia possesses.
+
+    As nearly as is known the Russian fleet consisted of twelve
+    battleships, twenty-five armoured and unarmoured cruisers, and
+    about forty torpedo-boats. These came charging ahead at full
+    speed into the entrance to the Sound in spite of the overwhelming
+    force of the Allied fleets, supported by the fortresses of
+    Copenhagen and Elsinore. The attack was so sudden and so
+    completely unexpected, that it must be confessed the defenders
+    were to a certain extent taken unawares. The Russians came on in
+    the form of an elongated wedge, their most powerful vessels being
+    at the apex and external sides.
+
+    [Illustration: "On the water the results of the air-ship's attack
+    were destructive almost beyond description."
+
+    _See page 191._]
+
+    The firing was furious and sustained from beginning to end of the
+    rush, but the damage inflicted by the cannonade of the Russian
+    fleet and the torpedo-boats, which every now and then darted out
+    from between the warships as opportunity offered to employ their
+    silent and deadly weapons, was as nothing in comparison with the
+    frightful havoc achieved by the air-ship.
+
+    This extraordinary craft hovered over the attacking force,
+    darting hither and thither with bewildering rapidity, and raining
+    down shells charged with an unknown explosive of fearful power
+    among the crowded ships of the great force which was blocking the
+    Sound. Half a dozen of these shells were fired upon the seaward
+    fortifications of Copenhagen in passing, and produced a perfectly
+    paralysing effect.
+
+    On the water the results of the air-ship's attack were
+    destructive almost beyond description, particularly when she
+    stationed herself over the Allied fleet and began firing her four
+    guns right and left, ahead and astern. Every time a shell struck
+    either a battleship or a cruiser, the terrific explosion which
+    resulted either sank the ship in a few minutes, or so far
+    disabled it that it fell an easy prey to the guns and rams of the
+    Russians. As for the torpedo-boats which were struck, they were
+    simply scattered over the water in indistinguishable fragments.
+
+    Under these conditions maintenance of formation and effective
+    fighting were practically impossible, and the huge iron wedge of
+    the Russian squadron was driven almost without a check through
+    the demoralised ranks of the Allied fleet. The Gut of Elsinore
+    was reached in a little more than three hours after the first
+    sounds of the cannonade were heard. Shortly before this the
+    air-ship had stationed itself about a thousand feet above the
+    water, and a mile from the fortifications.
+
+    From this position it commenced a brief, rapid cannonade from its
+    smokeless and flameless guns, the effects of which on the
+    fortress are said to have been indescribably awful. Great blocks
+    of steel-sheathed masonry were dislodged from the ramparts and
+    hurled bodily into the sea, carrying with them guns and men to
+    irretrievable destruction. In less than half an hour the once
+    impregnable fortress of Elsinore was little better than a heap of
+    ruins. The last shell blew up the central magazine; the
+    tremendous explosion was heard for miles along the coast, and
+    proved to be the closing act of the briefest but most deadly
+    great naval action in the history of war.
+
+    The Russian fleet steamed triumphantly past the silenced Cerberus
+    of the Sound with flashing searchlights, blazing rockets, and
+    jubilant salvos of blank cartridge in honour of their really
+    brilliant victory.
+
+    The losses of the Allied fleet, so far as they are at present
+    known, are distressingly heavy. We have lost the battleships
+    _Neptune_, _Hotspur_, _Anson_, _Superb_, _Black Prince_, and
+    _Rodney_, the armoured cruisers _Narcissus_, _Beatrice_, and
+    _Mersey_, the unarmoured cruisers _Arethusa_, _Barossa_, _Clyde_,
+    _Lais_, _Seagull_, _Grasshopper_, and _Nautilus_, and not less
+    than nineteen torpedo-boats of the first and second classes.
+
+    The Germans and Danes have lost the battleships _Kaiser Wilhelm_,
+    _Friedrich der Grosse_, _Dantzig_, _Viborg_, and _Funen_, five
+    German and three Danish cruisers, and about a dozen
+    torpedo-boats.
+
+    Under whatever circumstances the Russians have obtained the
+    assistance of the air-ship, which rendered them services that
+    have proved so disastrous to the Allies, there can be no doubt
+    but that her arrival on the scene puts a completely different
+    aspect on the face of affairs at sea.
+
+    I have written this telegram on board first-class torpedo-boat,
+    No. 87, which followed the Russian fleet from the Sound round the
+    Skawe. They passed through the Kattegat in two columns of line
+    ahead, with the air-ship apparently resting after her flight on
+    board one of the largest steamers. We could see her quite
+    distinctly by the glare of the rockets and the electric light.
+    She is a small three-masted vessel almost exactly resembling the
+    one which partially destroyed Kronstadt in the middle of March.
+
+    After rounding the Skawe, the Russian fleet steamed away westward
+    into the German Ocean, and we put in here to send off our
+    despatches. This telegram has, of course, been officially
+    revised, and my information, as far as it goes, can therefore be
+    relied upon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+AN INTERLUDE.
+
+
+At noon on the 26th, as the tropical sun was pouring down its
+vertical rays upon the lovely valley of Aeria, the _Ithuriel_ crossed
+the Ridge which divided it from the outer world, and came to rest on
+the level stretch of sward on the northern shore of the lake.
+
+Before she touched the earth Arnold glanced rapidly round and
+discovered his aërial fleet resting under a series of large
+palm-thatched sheds which had already been erected to protect them
+from the burning sun, and the rare but violent tropical rain-storms.
+He counted them. There were only eleven, and therefore the evil
+tidings that they had heard from the captain of the _Andromeda_ was
+true.
+
+Even before greetings were exchanged with the colonists Natas ordered
+Nicholas Roburoff to be summoned on board alone. He received him in
+the lower saloon, on either side of which, as he went in, he found a
+member of the crew armed with a magazine rifle and fixed bayonet.
+
+Seated at the cabin table were Natas, Tremayne, and Arnold. The
+President was received in cold and ominous silence, not even a glance
+of recognition was vouchsafed to him. He stood at the other end of
+the table with bowed head, a prisoner before his judges. Natas looked
+at him for some moments in dead silence, and there was a dark gleam
+of anger in his eyes which made Arnold tremble for the man whose life
+hung upon a word of a judge from whose sentence there could be no
+appeal.
+
+At length Natas spoke; his voice was hard and even; there were no
+modulations in it that displayed the slightest feeling, whether of
+anger or any other emotion. It was like the voice of an impassive
+machine speaking the very words of Fate itself.
+
+"You know why we have returned, and why you have been sent for?"
+
+"Yes, Master."
+
+Roburoff's voice was low and respectful, but there was no quaver of
+fear in it.
+
+"You were left here in command of the settlement and in charge of the
+fleet. You were ordered to permit no vessel to leave the valley till
+the flagship returned. One of them was seen crossing the
+Mediterranean in a northerly direction three days ago. Either you are
+a traitor, or that vessel is in the hands of traitors. Explain."
+
+Nicholas Roburoff remained silent for a few moments. His breast
+heaved once or twice convulsively, as though he were striving hard to
+repress some violent emotion. Then he drew himself up like a soldier
+coming to attention, and, looking straight in front of him, told his
+story briefly and calmly, though he knew that, according to the laws
+of the Order, its sequel might, and probably would, be his own death.
+
+"The night of the day on which the flagship left the valley was
+visited by a violent storm, which raged for about four hours without
+cessation. We had no proper shelter but the air-ships, and so I
+distributed the company among them.
+
+"When nearly all had been provided for, there was one vessel left
+unoccupied, and four of the unmarried men had not been accommodated.
+They therefore took their places in the spare vessel. They were Peter
+Tamboff, Amos Vornjeh, Ivan Tscheszco, and Paul Oreloff, all
+Russians.
+
+"We closed the hatches of the vessels, and remained inside till the
+storm ceased. When we were able to open the hatches again, it was
+pitch dark--so dark that it was impossible to see even a yard from
+one's face. Suspecting no evil, we retired to rest again till
+sunrise. When day dawned it was found that the vessel in which the
+four men I have named had taken shelter had disappeared.
+
+"I at once ordered three vessels to rise and pass through the defile.
+On the outside we separated and made the entire circuit of Aeria,
+rising as high as the fan-wheels would take us, and examining the
+horizon in all directions for the missing vessel.
+
+"We failed to discover her, and were forced to the conclusion that
+the deserters had taken her away early in the night at full speed,
+and would, therefore, be far beyond the possibility of capture, as we
+possessed no faster vessel than the missing one. So we returned. That
+is all."
+
+"Go to the forward cabin and remain there till you're sent for," said
+Natas.
+
+The President instantly turned and walked mechanically through the
+door that was opened for him by one of the sentinels. The other went
+in front of him, the second behind, closing the door as he left the
+saloon.
+
+A brief discussion took place between Natas and his two lieutenants,
+and within a quarter of an hour Nicholas Roburoff was again standing
+at the end of the table to hear the decision of his judges. Without
+any preamble it was delivered by Natas in these words--
+
+"We have heard your story, and believe it. You have been guilty of a
+serious mistake, for these four men were all ordinary members of the
+Outer Circle, who had only been brought here on account of their
+mechanical skill to occupy subordinate positions. You therefore
+committed a grave error, amounting almost to a breach of the rule
+which states that no members of the Outer Circle shall be entrusted
+with any charge, or work, save under the supervision of a member of
+the Inner Circle responsible for them.
+
+"Had such a breach been even technically committed your life would
+have been forfeited, and you would have been executed for breach of
+trust. We have considered the circumstances, and find you guilty of
+indiscretion and want of forethought.
+
+"You will cease from now to be President of the Inner Circle. Your
+place will be taken for the time by Alan Tremayne as Chief of the
+Executive. You will cease also to share the Councils of the Order for
+a space of twelve months, during which time you will be incapable of
+any responsible charge or authority. Your restoration will, of
+course, depend upon your behaviour. I have said."
+
+As he finished speaking Natas waved his hand towards the door. It was
+opened, the sentries stepped aside, and Nicholas Roburoff walked out
+in silence, with bowed head and a heart heavy with shame. The penalty
+was really the most severe that could be inflicted on him, for he
+found himself suddenly deprived both of authority and the confidence
+of his chiefs at the very hour when the work of the Brotherhood was
+culminating to its fruition.
+
+Yet, heavy as the punishment seemed in comparison with the fault, it
+was justified by the necessities of the case. Without the strictest
+safeguards, not only against treachery or disobedience, but even mere
+carelessness, it would have been impossible to have carried on the
+tremendous work which the Brotherhood had silently and secretly
+accomplished, and which was soon to produce results as momentous as
+they would be unexpected. No one knew this better than the late
+President himself, who frankly acknowledged the justice and the
+necessity of his punishment, and prepared to devote himself heart and
+soul to regaining his lost credit in the eyes of the Master.
+
+No sooner was the sentence pronounced than the matter was instantly
+dismissed and never alluded to again, so far as Roburoff was
+concerned, by any one. No one presumed even to comment upon a word or
+deed of the Master. The disgraced President fell naturally, and
+apparently without observation, into his humbler sphere of duties,
+and the members of the colony treated him with exactly the same
+friendliness and fraternity as they had done before. Natas had
+decided, and there was nothing more for any one to say or do in the
+matter.
+
+Arnold, as soon as he had exchanged greetings with the Princess, now
+known simply as Anna Ornovski, and his other friends and
+acquaintances in the colony, not, of course, forgetting Louis Holt,
+at once shut himself up in his laboratory by the turbine, and for the
+next four hours remained invisible, preparing a large supply of his
+motor gases, and pumping them into the exhausted cylinders of the
+_Ithuriel_, and all the others that were available, by means of his
+hydraulic machinery.
+
+Soon after four he had finished his task, and come out to take his
+part in a ceremony of a very different character to that at which he
+had been obliged to assist earlier in the day. This was the
+fulfilment of the promise which Radna Michaelis had made to Colston
+in the Council-chamber of the house on Clapham Common on the evening
+of his departure on the expedition which had so brilliantly proved
+the powers of the _Ariel_, and brought such confusion on the enemies
+of the Brotherhood.
+
+Almost the first words that Colston had said to Radna when he boarded
+the _Avondale_ were--
+
+"Natasha is yonder, safe and sound, and you are mine at last!"
+
+And she had replied very quietly, yet with a thrill in her voice that
+told her lover how gladly she accepted her own condition--
+
+"What you have fairly won is yours to take when you will have it.
+Besides, you cannot do justice on Kastovitch now, for it has already
+been done. We had news before we left England that he had been shot
+through the heart by the brother of a girl whom he treated worse than
+he treated me."
+
+But, as has been stated before, the laws of the Brotherhood did not
+permit of the marriage of any of its members without the direct
+sanction of Natas, and therefore it had been necessary to wait until
+now.
+
+As Radna and Colston were two of the most trusted and prominent
+members of the Inner Circle, it was fitting that their wedding should
+be honoured by the presence of the Master in person. An added
+solemnity was also given to it by the fact that, in all human
+probability, it was the first time since the world began that the
+mighty hills which looked down upon Aeria had witnessed the plighting
+of the troth of a man and a woman.
+
+Like all other formal acts of the Brotherhood, the ceremony was
+simple in the extreme; but, in this case at least, it was none the
+less impressive on that account. In a lovely glade, through which a
+crystal stream ran laughing on its way to the lake, Natas sat under
+the shade of a spreading tree-fern. In front of him was a small table
+covered with a white cloth, on which lay a roll of parchment and a
+copy of the Hebrew Scriptures.
+
+At this table, facing Natas, stood the betrothed pair with their
+witnesses, Natasha for Radna, and Arnold for Colston, or Alexis
+Mazanoff, to give him his true name, which must, of course, be used
+on such an occasion. In a wide semicircle some four yards off stood
+all the members of the little community, Louis Holt and his faithful
+servitor not excepted.
+
+In the midst of a silence broken only by the whispering of the warm,
+scented wind in the tree-tops, the Master of the Terror spoke in a
+kindly yet solemn tone--
+
+"Alexis Mazanoff and Radna Michaelis, you stand here before Heaven,
+and in the presence of your comrades, to take each other for wedded
+wife and husband, till death shall part the hands that now are
+joined!
+
+"Your mutual vows have long ago been pledged, and what you are about
+to do is good earnest of their fulfilment. But above the duty that
+you owe to each other stands your duty to that great Cause to which
+you have already irrevocably devoted your lives. You have already
+sworn that as long as you shall live its ends shall be your ends, and
+that no human considerations shall weigh with you where those ends
+are concerned. Do you take each other for husband and wife subject to
+that condition and all that it implies?"
+
+"We do!" replied the lovers with one voice, and then Natas went on--
+
+"Then by the laws of our Order, the only laws that we are permitted
+to obey, I pronounce you man and wife before Heaven and this company.
+Be faithful to each other and the Cause in the days to come as you
+have been in the days that are past, and if it shall please the
+Master of Destiny that you shall be blessed with children, see to it
+that you train them up in the love of truth, freedom, and justice,
+and in the hatred of tyranny and wrong.
+
+"May the blessings of life be yours as you shall deserve them, and
+when the appointed hour shall come, may you be found ready to pass
+from the mystery of the things that are into the deeper mystery of
+the things that are to be!"
+
+So saying, the Master raised his hands as though in blessing, and as
+Alexis and Radna bent their heads the slanting sunrays fell upon the
+thickly coiled white hair of the new-made wife, crowning her shapely
+head like a diadem of silver.
+
+All that remained to do now was to sign the Marriage Roll of the
+Brotherhood, and when they had done this the entry stood as
+follows:--
+
+    "Married on the tenth day of the Month Tamuz, in the Year of the
+    World five thousand six hundred and sixty-four, in the presence
+    of me, Natas, and those of the Brotherhood now resident in the
+    Colony of Aeria:--
+
+      {ALEXIS MAZANOFF,
+      {RADNA MICHAELIS MAZANOFF.
+
+      Witnesses   {RICHARD ARNOLD,
+                  {NATASHA.
+
+As Natasha laid down the pen after signing she looked up quickly, as
+though moved by some sudden impulse, her eyes met Arnold's, and an
+instant later the happy flush on Radna's cheek was rivalled by that
+which rose to her own. Her lips half parted in a smile, and then she
+turned suddenly away to be the first to offer her congratulations to
+the newly-wedded wife, while Arnold, his heart beating as it had
+never done since the model of the _Ariel_ first rose from the floor
+of his room in the Southwark tenement-house, grasped Mazanoff by the
+hand and said simply--
+
+"God bless you both, old man!"
+
+The whole ceremony had not taken more than fifteen minutes from
+beginning to end. After Arnold came Tremayne with his good wishes,
+and then Anna Ornovski and the rest of the friends and comrades of
+the newly-wedded lovers.
+
+One usually conspicuous feature in similar ceremonies was entirely
+wanting. There were no wedding presents. For this there was a very
+sufficient reason. All the property of the members of the Inner
+Circle, saving only articles of personal necessity, were held in
+common. Articles of mere convenience or luxury were looked upon with
+indifference, if not with absolute contempt, and so no one had
+anything to give.
+
+After all, this was not a very serious matter for a company of men
+and women who held in their hands the power of levying indemnities to
+any amount upon the wealth-centres of the world under pain of
+immediate destruction.
+
+That evening the supper of the colonists took the shape of a sylvan
+marriage feast, eaten in the open air under the palms and tree ferns,
+as the sun was sinking down behind the western peaks of Aeria, and
+the full moon was rising over those to the eastward.
+
+The whole earth might have been searched in vain for a happier
+company of men and women than that which sat down to the marriage
+feast of Radna Michaelis and Alexis Mazanoff in the virgin groves of
+Aeria. For the time being the world-war and all its horrors were
+forgotten, and they allowed their thoughts to turn without restraint
+to the promise of the days when the work of the Brotherhood should be
+accomplished, and there should be peace on earth at last.
+
+It had been decided that three of the air-ships would be sufficient
+for the chase and capture or destruction, as the case might be, of
+the deserters. These were the _Ithuriel_, under the command of
+Arnold; the _Ariel_, commanded by Mazanoff, who, of course, did not
+sail alone; and the _Orion_, in charge of Tremayne, who had already
+mastered the details of aërial navigation under Arnold's tuition.
+
+To the unspeakable satisfaction of the latter, Natas had signified
+his intention of accompanying him in the _Ithuriel_. As Natasha
+utterly refused to be parted so soon from her father again, one of
+his attendants was dispensed with and she took his place. This fact
+had, of course, something to do with the Admiral's satisfaction with
+the arrangement.
+
+By nine o'clock the moon was high in the heavens. At that hour the
+fan-wheels of the little squadron rose from the decks, and at a
+signal from Arnold began to revolve. The three vessels ascended
+quietly into the air amidst the cheers and farewells of the
+colonists, and in single file passed slowly down the beautiful valley
+bathed in the brilliant moonlight. One by one they disappeared
+through the defile that led to the outer world, and, once clear of
+the mountains, the _Ithuriel_, with one of her consorts on either
+side, headed away due north at the speed of a hundred miles an hour.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+ON THE TRACK OF TREASON.
+
+
+The _Ithuriel_ and her consorts crossed the northern coast of Africa
+soon after daybreak on the 27th, in the longitude of Alexandria, at
+an elevation of nearly 4000 feet. From thence they pursued almost the
+same course as that steered by the deserters, as Natas had rightly
+judged that they would first make for Russia, probably St.
+Petersburg, and there hand the air-ship over to the representatives
+of the Tsar.
+
+There was, of course, another alternative, and that was the
+supposition that they had stolen the _Lucifer_--the "fallen Angel,"
+as Natasha had now re-named her--for purposes of piracy and private
+revenge; but that was negatived by the fact that Tamboff knew that he
+only had a certain supply of motive power which he could not renew,
+and which, once exhausted, left his air-ship as useless as a steamer
+without coal. His only reasonable course, therefore, would be to sell
+the vessel to the Tsar, and leave his Majesty's chemists to discover
+and renew the motive power if they could.
+
+These conclusions once arrived at, it was an easy matter for the keen
+and subtle intellect of Natas to deduce from them almost the exact
+sequence of events that had actually taken place. The _Lucifer_ had a
+sufficient supply of power-cylinders and shells for present use, and
+these would doubtless be employed at once by the Tsar, who would
+trust to his chemists and engineers to discover the nature of the
+agents employed.
+
+For this purpose it would be absolutely necessary for him to give
+them one or two of the shells, and at least two of the spare
+power-cylinders as subjects for their experiments.
+
+Now Natas knew that if there was one man in Russia who could discover
+the composition of the explosives, that man was Professor Volnow of
+the Imperial Arsenal Laboratory, and therefore the shells and
+cylinders would be sent to him at the Arsenal for examination. The
+whereabouts of the deserters for the present mattered nothing in
+comparison with the possible discovery of the secret on which the
+whole power of the Terrorists depended.
+
+That once revealed, the sole empire of the air was theirs no longer.
+The Tsar, with millions of money at his command, could very soon
+build an aërial fleet, not only equal, but, numerically at least,
+vastly superior to their own, and this would practically give him the
+command of the world.
+
+Natas therefore came to the conclusion that no measures could be too
+extreme to be justified by such a danger as this, and so, after a
+consultation with the commanders of the three vessels, it was decided
+to, if necessary, destroy the Arsenal at St. Petersburg, on the
+strength of the reasoning that had led to the logical conclusion that
+within its precincts the priceless secret either might be or had
+already been discovered.
+
+As the crow flies, St. Petersburg is thirty degrees of latitude, or
+eighteen hundred geographical miles, north of Alexandria, and this
+distance the _Ithuriel_ and her consorts, flying at a speed of a
+hundred and twenty miles an hour, traversed in fifteen hours,
+reaching the Russian capital a few minutes after seven on the evening
+of the 27th.
+
+The Rome of the North, basking in the soft evening sunlight of the
+incomparable Russian summer, lay vast and white and beautiful on the
+islands formed by the Neva and its ten tributaries; its innumerable
+palaces, churches, and theatres, and long straight streets of stately
+houses, its parks and gardens, and its green shady suburbs, making up
+a picture which forced an exclamation of wonder from Arnold's lips as
+the air-ships slowed down and he left the conning-tower of the
+_Ithuriel_ to admire the magnificent view from the bows. They passed
+over the city at a height of four thousand feet, and so were quite
+near enough to see and enjoy the excitement and consternation which
+their sudden appearance instantly caused among the inhabitants. The
+streets and squares filled in an inconceivably short space of time
+with crowds of people, who ran about like tiny ants upon the ground,
+gesticulating and pointing upwards, evidently in terror lest the fate
+of Kronstadt was about to fall upon St. Petersburg.
+
+The experimental department of the Arsenal had within the last two or
+three years been rebuilt on a large space of waste ground outside the
+northern suburbs, and to this the three air-ships directed their
+course after passing over the city. It was a massive three-storey
+building, built in the form of a quadrangle. The three air-ships
+stopped within a mile of it at an elevation of two thousand feet. It
+had been decided that, before proceeding to extremities, which, after
+all, might still leave them in doubt as to whether or not they had
+really destroyed all means of analysing the explosives, they should
+make an effort to discover whether Professor Volnow had received them
+for experiment, and, if so, what success he had had.
+
+Mazanoff had undertaken this delicate and dangerous task, and so, as
+soon as the _Ithuriel_ and the _Orion_ came to a standstill, and hung
+motionless in the air, with all their guns ready trained on different
+parts of the building, the _Ariel_ sank suddenly and swiftly down,
+and stopped within forty feet of the heads of a crowd of soldiers and
+mechanics, who had rushed pell-mell out of the building, under the
+impression that it was about to be destroyed.
+
+The bold manoeuvre of the _Ariel_ took officers and men completely by
+surprise. So intense was the terror in which these mysterious
+air-ships were held, and so absolute was the belief that they were
+armed with perfectly irresistible means of destruction, that the
+sight of one of them at such close quarters paralysed all thought and
+action for the time being. The first shock over, the majority of the
+crowd took to their heels and fled incontinently. Of the remainder a
+few of the bolder spirits handled their rifles and looked inquiringly
+at their officers. Mazanoff saw this, and at once raised his hand
+towards the sky and shouted--
+
+"Ground arms! If a shot is fired the Arsenal will be destroyed as
+Kronstadt was, and then we shall attack Petersburg."
+
+The threat was sufficient. A grey-haired officer in undress uniform
+glanced up at the _Ithuriel_ and her consort, and then at the guns of
+the _Ariel_, all four of which had been swung round and brought to
+bear on the side of the building near which she had descended. He was
+no coward, but he saw that Mazanoff had the power to do what he said,
+and that even if this one air-ship were captured or destroyed, the
+other two would take a frightful vengeance. He thought of Kronstadt,
+and decided to parley. The rifle butts had come to the ground before
+Mazanoff had done speaking.
+
+"Order arms, and keep silence!" said the officer, and then he
+advanced alone from the crowd and said--
+
+"Who are you, and what is your errand?"
+
+"Alexis Mazanoff, late prisoner of the Tsar, and now commander of the
+Terrorist air-ship _Ariel_. I have not come to destroy you unless you
+force me to do so, but to ask certain questions, and demand the
+giving up of certain property delivered into your hands by deserters
+and traitors."
+
+"What are your questions?"
+
+"First, is Professor Volnow in the building?"
+
+"He is."
+
+"Then I must ask you to send for him at once."
+
+It went sorely against the grain of the servant of the Tsar to
+acquiesce in the demand of an outlaw, but there was nothing else for
+it. The outlaw could blow him and all his subordinates into space
+with a pressure of his finger; and so he sent an orderly with a
+request for the presence of the professor. Meanwhile Mazanoff
+continued--
+
+"An air-ship similar to this arrived here three days ago, I believe?"
+
+The officer bit his lips with rage at his helpless position, and
+bowed affirmatively.
+
+"And certain articles were taken out of her for examination here--two
+gas cylinders and a projectile, I believe?"
+
+Again the officer bowed, wondering how on earth the Terrorist could
+have come by such accurate information.
+
+"And the air-ship has been sent on to the seat of war, while the
+Professor is trying to discover the composition of the gases and the
+explosive used in the shell?" went on Mazanoff, risking a last shot
+at the truth.
+
+The officer did not bow this time. Giving way at last to his rising
+fury, he stamped on the ground and almost screamed--
+
+"Great God! you insolent scoundrel! Why do you ask me questions when
+you know the answers as well as I do, and better? Yes, we have got
+one of your diabolical ships of the air, and we will build a fleet
+like it and hunt you from the world!"
+
+"All in good time, my dear sir," replied Mazanoff ironically. "When
+you have found a place in which to build them that we cannot blow off
+the face of the earth before you get one finished. Meanwhile, let me
+beg of you to keep your temper, and to remember that there is a lady
+present. That girl standing yonder by the gun was once stripped and
+flogged by Russians calling themselves men and soldiers. Her fingers
+are itching to make the movement that would annihilate you and every
+one standing near you, so pray try keep your temper; for if we fire a
+shot the air-ships up yonder will at once open fire, and not stop
+while there is a stone of that building left upon another. Ah! here
+comes the Professor."
+
+As he spoke the man of science advanced, looking wonderingly at the
+air-ship. Mazanoff made a sign to the old officer to keep silence,
+and continued in the same polite tone that he had used all along--
+
+"Good evening, Professor! I have come to ask you whether you have yet
+made any experiments on the contents of the shell and the two
+cylinders that were given to you for examination?"
+
+"I must first ask for your authority to put such an inquiry to me on
+a confidential subject," replied the Professor stiffly.
+
+"On the authority given me by the power to enforce an answer, sir,"
+returned the Terrorist quietly. "I know that Professor Volnow will
+not lie to me, even at the order of the Tsar, and when I tell you
+that your refusal to reply will cost the lives of every one here, and
+possibly involve the destruction of Petersburg itself, I feel sure
+that, as a mere matter of humanity, you will comply with my request."
+
+"Sir, the orders of my master are absolute secrecy on this subject,
+and I will obey them to the death. I have analysed the contents of
+one of the cylinders, but what they are I will tell to no one save by
+the direct command of his Majesty. That is all I have done."
+
+"Then in that case, Professor, I must ask you to surrender yourself
+prisoner of war, and to come on board this vessel at once."
+
+As Mazanoff said this the _Ariel_ dropped to within ten feet of the
+ground, and a rope-ladder fell over the side.
+
+"Come, Professor, there is no time to be lost. I shall give the order
+to fire in one minute from now."
+
+He took out his watch, and began to count the seconds. Ten, twenty,
+thirty passed and the Professor stood irresolute. Two of the
+_Ariel's_ guns pointed at the gables of the Arsenal, and two swept
+the crowded space in front.
+
+Konstantin Volnow knew enough to see clearly the frightful slaughter
+and destruction that twenty seconds more would bring if he refused to
+give himself up. As Mazanoff counted "forty" he threw up his hands
+with a gesture of despair, and cried--
+
+"Stop! I will come. The Tsar has as good servants as I am! Colonel,
+tell his Majesty that I gave myself up to save the lives of better
+men."
+
+Then the Professor mounted the ladder amidst a murmur of relief and
+applause from the crowd, and, gaining the deck of the _Ariel_, bowed
+coldly to Mazanoff and said--
+
+"I am your prisoner, sir!"
+
+The captain of the _Ariel_ bowed in reply, and stamped thrice on the
+deck. The fan-wheels whirled round, and the air-ship rapidly
+ascended, at the same time moving diagonally across the quadrangle of
+the Arsenal.
+
+Scarcely had she reached the other side when there was a tremendous
+explosion in the north-eastern angle of the building. A sheet of
+flame shot up through the roof, the walls split asunder, and masses
+of stone, wood, and iron went flying in all directions, leaving only
+a fiercely burning mass of ruins where the gable had been.
+
+The Professor turned ashy pale, staggered backwards with both his
+hands clasped to his head, and gasped out brokenly as he stared at
+the conflagration--
+
+"God have mercy on me! My laboratory! My assistant--I told him"--
+
+"What did you tell him, Professor?" said Mazanoff sternly, grasping
+him suddenly by the arm.
+
+"I told him not to open the other cylinder."
+
+"And he has done so, and paid for his disobedience with his life,"
+said Mazanoff calmly. "Console yourself, my dear sir! He has only
+saved me the trouble of destroying your laboratory. I serve a sterner
+and more powerful master than yours. He ordered me to make your
+experiments impossible if it cost a thousand lives to do so, and I
+would have done it if necessary. Rest content with the knowledge that
+you have saved, not only the rest of the Arsenal, but also
+Petersburg, by your surrender; for sooner than that secret had been
+revealed, we should have laid the city in ruins to slay the man who
+had discovered it."
+
+The prisoner of the Terrorists made no reply, but turned away in
+silence to watch the rapidly receding building, in the angle of which
+the flames were still raging furiously. A few minutes later the
+_Ariel_ had rejoined her consorts. Her captain at once went on board
+the flagship to make his report and deliver up his prisoner to Natas,
+who looked sharply at him and said--
+
+"Professor, will you give me your word of honour to attempt no
+communication with the earth while it may be found necessary to
+detain you? If not, I shall be compelled to keep you in strict
+confinement till it is beyond your power to do so."
+
+"Sir, I give you my word that I will not do so," said the Professor,
+who had now somewhat regained his composure.
+
+"Very well," replied Natas. "Then on that condition you will be made
+free of the vessel, and we will make you as comfortable as we can.
+Captain Arnold, full speed to the south-westward, if you please."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+A SKIRMISH IN THE CLOUDS.
+
+
+A few minutes after two on the following morning, that is to say on
+the 28th, the electric signal leading from the conning-tower of the
+_Ithuriel_ to the wall of Arnold's cabin, just above his berth,
+sounded. As it was only permitted to be used on occasions of urgency,
+he knew that his presence was immediately required forward for some
+good reason, and so he turned out at once, threw a dressing-gown over
+his sleeping suit, and within three minutes was standing in the
+conning-tower beside Andrew Smith, whose watch it then happened to
+be.
+
+"Well, Smith, what's the matter?"
+
+"Fleet of war-balloons coming up from the south'ard, sir. You can
+just see 'em, sir, coming on in line under that long bank of cloud."
+
+The captain of the _Ithuriel_ took the night-glasses, and looked
+eagerly in the direction pointed out by his keen-eyed coxswain. As
+soon as he picked them up he had no difficulty in making out twelve
+small dark spots in line at regular intervals sharply defined against
+a band of light that lay between the earth and a long dark bank of
+clouds.
+
+It was a division of the Tsar's aërial fleet, returning from some
+work of death and destruction in the south to rejoin the main force
+before Berlin. Arnold's course was decided on in an instant. He saw a
+chance of turning the tables on his Majesty in a fashion that he
+would find as unpleasant as it would be unexpected. He turned to his
+coxswain and said--
+
+"How is the wind, Smith?"
+
+"Nor'-nor'-west, with perhaps half a point more north in it, sir.
+About a ten-knot breeze--at least that's the drift that Mr. Marston's
+allowing for."
+
+"Yes, that's near enough. Then those fellows, if they are going full
+speed, are coming up at about twenty miles an hour, or not quite
+that. They're nearly twenty miles off, as nearly as I can judge in
+this light. What do you make it?"
+
+"That's about it, sir; rather less than more, if anything, to my
+mind."
+
+"Very well, then. Now signal to stop, and send up the fan-wheels; and
+tell the _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ to close up and speak."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," said the coxswain, as he saluted and disappeared.
+Arnold at once went back to his cabin and dressed, telling his second
+officer, Frank Marston, a young Englishman, whom he had chosen to
+take Mazanoff's place, to do the same as quietly as possible, as he
+did not wish to awaken any of his three passengers just at present.
+
+By the time he got on deck the three air-ships had slowed down
+considerably, and the two consorts of the _Ithuriel_ were within easy
+speaking distance. Mazanoff and Tremayne were both on deck, and to
+them he explained his plans as follows--
+
+"There are a dozen of the Tsar's war-balloons coming up yonder to the
+southward, and I am going to head them off and capture the lot if I
+can. If we can do that, we can make what terms we like for the
+surrender of the _Lucifer_.
+
+"You two take your ships and get to windward of them as fast as you
+can. Keep a little higher than they are, but not much. On no account
+let one of them get above you. If they try to descend, give each one
+that does so a No. 1 shell, and blow her up. If one tries to pass
+you, ram her in the upper part of the gas-holder, and let her down
+with a smash.
+
+"I am going up above them to prevent any of them from rising too far.
+They can outfly us in that one direction, so I shall blow any that
+attempt it into little pieces. If you have to fire on any of them,
+don't use more than No. 1; you'll find that more than enough.
+
+"Keep an eye on me for signals, and remember that the whole fleet
+must be destroyed rather than one allowed to escape. I want to give
+the Tsar a nice little surprise. He seems to be getting a good deal
+too cock-sure about these old gas-bags of his, and it's time to give
+him a lesson in real aërial warfare."
+
+There was not a great newspaper in the world that would not have
+given a very long price to have had the privilege of putting a
+special correspondent on the deck of the _Ithuriel_ for the two hours
+which followed the giving of Arnold's directions to his brother
+commanders of the little squadron. The journal which could have
+published an exclusive account of the first aërial skirmish in the
+history of the world would have scored a triumph which would have
+left its competitors a long way behind in the struggle to be "up to
+date."
+
+As soon as Arnold had given his orders, the three air-ships at once
+separated. The _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ shot away to the southward on
+only a slightly upward course, while the _Ithuriel_ soared up beyond
+the stratum of clouds which lay in thin broken masses rather more
+than four thousand feet above the earth.
+
+It was still rather more than an hour before sunrise, and, as the
+moon had gone down, and the clouds intercepted most of the starlight,
+it was just "the darkest hour before the dawn," and therefore the
+most favourable for the carrying out of the plan that Arnold had in
+view.
+
+Shortly after half-past two he knocked at Natasha's cabin-door, and
+said--
+
+"If you would like to see an aërial battle, get up and come into the
+conning-tower at once. We have overtaken a squadron of Russian
+war-balloons, and we are going either to capture or destroy them."
+
+"Glorious!" exclaimed Natasha, wide awake in an instant at such
+startling news. "I'll be with you in five minutes. Tell my father,
+and please don't begin till I come."
+
+"I shouldn't think of opening the ball without your ladyship's
+presence," laughed Arnold in reply, and then he went and called Natas
+and his attendant and the Professor before going to the
+conning-tower, where in a very few minutes he was joined by Natasha.
+The first words she said were--
+
+"I have told Ivan to send us some coffee as soon as he has attended
+to my father. You see how thoughtful I am for your creature comforts.
+Now, where are the war-balloons?"
+
+[Illustration: "Come now, and fire the first shot in the warfare of
+the future."
+
+_See page 211._]
+
+"On the other side of those clouds. There, look down through that big
+rift, and you will see one of them."
+
+"Why, what a height we must be from the earth! The balloon looks like
+a little toy thing, but it must be a great clumsy contrivance for all
+that."
+
+"The barometer gives five thousand three hundred feet. You will soon
+see why I have come up so high. The balloons can rise to fifteen or
+twenty thousand feet, if they wish to, and in that way they could
+easily escape us; therefore, if one of them attempts to rise through
+those clouds, I shall send him back to earth in little bits."
+
+"And what are the other two air-ships doing?"
+
+"They are below the clouds, heading the balloons off from the Russian
+camp, which is about fifty miles to the north-westward. Ha! look,
+there go the searchlights!"
+
+As he spoke, two long converging beams of light darted across a broad
+space of sky that was free from cloud. They came from the _Ariel_ and
+the _Orion_, which thus suddenly revealed themselves to the
+astonished and disgusted Russians, one at each end of their long
+line, and only a little more than half a mile ahead of it.
+
+The searchlights flashed to and fro along the line, plainly showing
+the great masses of the aerostats' gas-holders, with their long
+slender cars beneath them. A blue light was burnt on the largest of
+the war-balloons, and at once the whole flotilla began to ascend
+towards the clouds, followed by the two air-ships.
+
+"Here they come!" said Arnold, as he saw them rising through a
+cloud-rift. "Come out and watch what happens to the first one that
+shows herself."
+
+He went out on deck, followed by Natasha, and took his place by one
+of the broadside guns. At the same time he gave the order for the
+_Ithuriel's_ searchlight to be turned on, and to sweep the
+cloud-field below her. Presently a black rounded object appeared
+rising through the clouds like a whale coming to the surface of the
+sea.
+
+He trained the gun on to it as it came distinctly into view, and said
+to Natasha--
+
+"Come, now, and fire the first shot in the warfare of the future. Put
+your finger on the button, and press when I tell you."
+
+Natasha did as he told her, and at the word "Fire!" pressed the
+little ivory button down. The shell struck the upper envelope of the
+balloon, passed through, and exploded. A broad sheet of flame shot
+up, brilliantly illuminating the sea of cloud for an instant, and all
+was darkness again. A few seconds later there came another blaze, and
+the report of a much greater explosion from below the clouds.
+
+"What was that?" asked Natasha.
+
+"That was the car full of explosives striking the earth and going off
+promiscuously," replied Arnold. "There isn't as much of that aerostat
+left as would make a pocket-handkerchief or a walking-stick."
+
+"And the crew?"
+
+"Never knew what happened to them. In the new warfare people will not
+be merely killed, they will be annihilated."
+
+"Horrible!" exclaimed Natasha, with a shudder. "I think you may do
+the rest of the shooting. The effects of that shot will last me for
+some time. Look, there's another of them coming up!"
+
+The words were hardly out of her mouth before Arnold had crossed to
+the other side of the deck and sped another missile on its errand of
+destruction with almost exactly the same result as before. This
+second shot, as it was afterwards found, threw the Russian squadron
+into complete panic.
+
+The terrific suddenness with which the two aerostats had been
+destroyed convinced those in command of the others that there was a
+large force of air-ships above the clouds ready to destroy them one
+by one as they ascended. Arnold waited for a few minutes, and then,
+seeing that no others cared to risk the fate that had overwhelmed the
+first two that had sought to cross the cloud-zone, sank rapidly
+through it, and then stopped again.
+
+He found himself about six hundred feet above the rest of the
+squadron. The _Ithuriel_ coming thus suddenly into view, her eight
+guns pointing in all directions, and her searchlight flashing hither
+and thither as though seeking new victims, completed the
+demoralisation of the Russians. For all they knew there were still
+more air-ships above the clouds. Even this one could not be passed
+while those mysterious guns of unknown range and infallible aim were
+sweeping the sky, ready to hurl their silent lightnings in every
+direction.
+
+Ascend they dare not. To descend was to be destroyed in detail as
+they lay helpless upon the earth. There was only one chance of
+escape, and that was to scatter. The commander of the squadron at
+once signalled for this to be done, and the aerostats headed away to
+all points of the compass. But here they had reckoned without the
+incomparable speed of their assailants.
+
+Before they had moved a hundred yards from their common centre the
+_Ariel_ and the _Orion_ headed away in different directions, and in
+an inconceivably short space of time had described a complete circle
+round them, and then another and another, narrowing each circle that
+they made. One of the aerostats, watching its opportunity, put on
+full speed and tried to get outside the narrowing zone. She had
+almost succeeded, when the _Orion_ swerved outwards and dashed at her
+with the ram.
+
+In ten seconds she was overtaken. The keen steel prow of the
+air-ship, driven at more than a hundred miles an hour, ripped her
+gas-holder from end to end as if it had been tissue paper. It
+collapsed like broken bubble, and the wreck, with its five occupants
+and its load of explosives, dropped like a stone to the earth, three
+thousand feet below, exploding like one huge shell as it struck.
+
+This was the last blow struck in the first aërial battle in the
+history of warfare. The Russians had no stomach for this kind of
+fighting. It was all very well to sail over armies and fortresses on
+the earth and drop shells upon them without danger of retaliation;
+but this was an entirely different matter.
+
+Three of the aerostats had been destroyed in little more than as many
+minutes, so utterly destroyed that not a vestige of them remained,
+and the whole squadron had not been able to strike a blow in
+self-defence. They carried no guns, not even small arms, for they had
+no use for them in the work that they had to do. There were only two
+alternatives before them--surrender or piecemeal destruction.
+
+As soon as she had destroyed the third aerostat, the _Orion_ swerved
+round again, and began flying round the squadron as before in an
+opposite direction to the _Ariel_. None of the aerostats made an
+attempt to break the strange blockage again. As the circles narrowed
+they crowded closer and closer together, like a flock of sheep
+surrounded by wolves.
+
+Meanwhile the _Ithuriel_, floating above the centre of the disordered
+squadron, descended slowly until she hung a hundred feet above the
+highest of them. Then Arnold with his searchlight flashed a signal to
+the _Ariel_ which at once slowed down, the _Orion_ continuing on her
+circular course as before.
+
+As soon as the _Ariel_ was going slowly enough for him to make
+himself heard, Mazanoff shouted through a speaking-trumpet--
+
+"Will you surrender, or fight it out?"
+
+"_Nu vot_! how can we fight with those devil-ships of yours? What is
+your pleasure?"
+
+The answering hail came from one of the aerostats in the centre of
+the squadron. Mazanoff at once replied--
+
+"Unconditional surrender for the present, under guarantee of safety
+to every one who surrenders. Who are you?"
+
+"Colonel Alexei Alexandrovitch, in command of the squadron. I
+surrender on those terms. Who are you?"
+
+"The captain of the Terrorist air-ship _Ariel_. Be good enough to
+come out here, Colonel Alexei Alexandrovitch."
+
+One of the aerostats moved out of the midst of the Russian squadron
+and made its way towards the _Ariel_. As she approached Mazanoff
+swung his bow round and brought it level with the car of the
+aerostat, at the same time training one of his guns full on it. Then,
+with his arm resting on the breach of the gun, he said,--
+
+"Come on board, Colonel, and bid your balloon follow me. No nonsense,
+mind, or I'll blow you into eternity and all your squadron after
+you."
+
+The Russian did as he was bidden, and the _Ariel_, followed by the
+aerostat, ascended to the _Ithuriel_, while the _Orion_ kept up her
+patrol round the captive war-balloons.
+
+"Colonel Alexandrovitch, in command of the Tsar's aërial squadron,
+surrenders unconditionally, save for guarantee of personal safety to
+himself and his men," reported Mazanoff, as he came within earshot of
+the flagship.
+
+"Very good," replied Arnold from the deck of the _Ithuriel_. "You will
+keep Colonel Alexandrovitch as hostage for the good behaviour of the
+rest, and shoot him the moment one of the balloons attempts to
+escape. After that destroy the rest without mercy. They will form in
+line close together. The _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ will convoy them on
+either flank, and you will follow me until you have the signal to
+stop. On the first suspicion of any attempt to escape you will know
+what to do. You have both handled your ships splendidly."
+
+Mazanoff saluted formally, more for the sake of effect than anything
+else, and descended again to carry out his orders. The captured
+flotilla was formed in line, the balloons being closed up until there
+was only a couple of yards or so between any of them and her next
+neighbour, with the _Orion_ and the _Ariel_ to right and left, each
+with two guns trained on them, and the _Ithuriel_ flying a couple of
+hundred feet above them. In this order captors and captured made
+their way at twenty miles an hour to the north-west towards the
+headquarters of the Tsar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+AN EMBASSY FROM THE SKY.
+
+
+By the time the captured war-balloons had been formed in order, and
+the voyage fairly commenced, the eastern sky was bright with the
+foreglow of the coming dawn, and, as the flotilla was only floating
+between eight and nine hundred feet above the earth, it was not long
+before the light was sufficiently strong to render the landscape
+completely visible.
+
+Far and wide it was a scene of desolation and destruction, of wasted,
+blackened fields trampled into wildernesses by the tread of countless
+feet, of forests of trees broken, scorched, and splintered by the
+iron hail of artillery, and of towns and villages, reduced to heaps
+of ruins, still smouldering with the fires that had destroyed them.
+
+No more eloquent object-lesson in the horrors of what is called
+civilised warfare could well have been found than the scene which was
+visible from the decks of the air-ships. The promised fruits of a
+whole year of patient industry had been withered in a few hours under
+the storm-blast of war; homes which but a few days before had
+sheltered stalwart, well-fed peasants and citizens, were now mere
+heaps of blackened brick and stone and smoking thatches.
+
+Streets which had been the thoroughfares of peaceful industrious
+folk, who had no quarrel with the Powers of the earth, or with any of
+their kind, were now strewn with corpses and encumbered with ruins,
+and the few survivors, more miserable than those who had died, were
+crawling, haggard and starving, amidst the wrecks of their vanished
+prosperity, seeking for some scanty morsels of food to prolong life
+if only for a few more days of misery and nights of sleepless
+anxiety.
+
+As the sun rose and shed its midsummer splendour, as if in sublime
+mockery, over the scene of suffering and desolation, hideous features
+of the landscape were brought into stronger and more horrifying
+relief; the scorched and trampled fields were seen to be strewn with
+unburied corpses of men and horses, and ploughed up with cannon shot
+and torn into great irregular gashes by shells that had buried
+themselves in the earth and then exploded.
+
+It was evident that some frightful tragedy must have taken place in
+this region not many hours before the air-ships had arrived upon the
+scene. And this, in fact, had been the case. Barely three days
+previously the advance guard of the Russian army of the North had
+been met and stubbornly but unsuccessfully opposed by the remnants of
+the German army of the East, which, driven back from the frontier,
+was retreating in good order to join the main force which had
+concentrated about Berlin, under the command of the Emperor, there to
+fight out the supreme struggle, on the issue of which depended the
+existence of that German Empire which fifty years before had been so
+triumphantly built up by the master-geniuses of the last generation.
+
+After a flight of a little over two hours the flotilla came in sight
+of the Russian army lying between Cüstrin on the right and
+Frankfort-on-Spree on the left. The distance between these two towns
+is nearly twelve English miles, and yet the wings of the vast host
+under the command of the Tsar spread for a couple of miles on either
+side to north and south of each of them.
+
+In spite of the colossal iniquity which it concealed, the spectacle
+was one of indescribable grandeur. Almost as far as the eye could
+reach the beams of the early morning sun were gleaming upon
+innumerable white tents, and flashing over a sea of glittering metal,
+of bare bayonets and sword scabbards, of spear points and helmets, of
+gold-laced uniforms and the polished accoutrements of countless
+batteries of field artillery.
+
+Far away to the westward the stately city of Berlin could be seen
+lying upon its intersecting waters, and encircled by its
+fortifications bristling with guns, and in advance of it were the
+long serried lines of its defenders gathered to do desperate battle
+for home and fatherland.
+
+As soon as the Russian army was fairly in sight the _Ithuriel_ shot
+ahead, sank to the level of the flotilla, and then stopped until she
+was overtaken by the _Orion_. Tremayne was on deck, and Arnold as
+soon as he came alongside said--
+
+"You must stop here for the present. I want the aerostat commanded by
+Colonel Alexandrovitch to come with me; meanwhile you and the _Ariel_
+will rise with the rest of the balloons to a height of four thousand
+feet; you will keep strict guard over the balloons, and permit no
+movement to be made until my return. We are going to bring his
+Majesty the Tsar to book, or else make things pretty lively for him
+if he won't listen to reason."
+
+"Very well," replied Tremayne. "I will do as you say, and await
+developments with considerable interest. If there is going to be a
+fight, I hope you're not going to leave us out in the cold."
+
+"Oh no," replied Arnold. "You needn't be afraid of that. If his
+Majesty won't come to terms, you will smash up the war-balloons and
+then come and join us in the general bombardment. I see, by the way,
+that there are ten or a dozen more of these unwieldy monsters with
+the Russian force moored to the ground yonder on the outskirts of
+Cüstrin. It will be a little amusement for us if we have to come to
+blows to knock them to pieces before we smash up the Tsar's
+headquarters.
+
+So saying, Arnold increased the speed of the _Ithuriel_, swept round
+in front of the line, and communicated the same instructions to the
+captain of the _Ariel_.
+
+A few minutes later the _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ began to rise with
+their charges to the higher regions of the air, leaving the
+_Ithuriel_ and the one aerostat to carry out the plan which had been
+arranged by Natas and Arnold an hour previously.
+
+As the speed of the aerostat was only about twenty miles an hour
+against the wind, a rope was passed from the stern of the _Ithuriel_
+to the cordage connecting the car with the gas-holder, and so the
+aerostat was taken in tow by the air-ship, and dragged through the
+air at a speed of about forty miles an hour, as a wind-bound sailing
+vessel might have been towed by a steamer.
+
+On the journey the elevation was increased to more than four thousand
+feet,--an elevation at which both the _Ithuriel_ and her captive, and
+especially the former, presented practically impossible marks for the
+Russian riflemen. Almost immediately over Cüstrin they came to a
+standstill, and then Colonel Alexandrovitch and Professor Volnow were
+summoned by Natas into the deck saloon.
+
+He explained to them the mission which he desired them to undertake,
+that is to say, the conveyance of a letter from himself to the Tsar
+offering terms for the surrender of the _Lucifer_. They accepted the
+mission; and in order that they might fully understand the gravity of
+it, Natas read them the letter, which ran as follows:--
+
+      ALEXANDER ROMANOFF,--
+
+    Three days ago one of my fleet of air-ships, named the _Lucifer_,
+    was delivered into your hands by traitors and deserters, whose
+    lives are forfeit in virtue of the oaths which they took of their
+    own free will. I have already taken measures to render abortive
+    the analysis which you ordered to be performed in the chemical
+    department of your Arsenal at St. Petersburg, and I have now come
+    to make terms, if possible, for the restoration of the air-ship.
+    Those terms are as follows--
+
+    An hour before daybreak this morning I captured nine of your
+    war-balloons, after destroying three others which attempted to
+    escape. I have no desire to take any present part in the war
+    which you are now carrying on with the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance,
+    and if you will tell me where the _Lucifer_ is now to be found,
+    and will despatch orders both by land and through Professor
+    Volnow, who brings this letter to you, and will return with your
+    answer, for her to be given up to me forthwith with everything
+    she has on board, and will surrender with her the four traitors
+    who delivered her into your hands, I will restore the nine
+    war-balloons to you intact, and when I have recovered the
+    _Lucifer_ I will take no further part in the war unless either
+    you or your opponents proceed to unjustifiable extremities.
+
+    If you reject these terms, or if I do not receive an answer to
+    this letter within two hours of the time that the bearer of it
+    descends in the aerostat, I shall give orders for the immediate
+    destruction of the war-balloons now in my hands, and I shall then
+    proceed to destroy Cüstrin and the other aerostats which are
+    moored near the town. That done I shall, for the time being,
+    devote the force at my disposal to the defence of Berlin, and do
+    my utmost to bring about the defeat and dispersal of the army
+    which will then no longer be commanded by yourself.
+
+    In case you may doubt what I say as to the capture of the fleet
+    of war-balloons, Professor Volnow will be accompanied by Colonel
+    Alexei Alexandrovitch, late in command of the squadron, and now
+    my prisoner of war.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+The ambassadors were at once transferred to the aerostat, and with a
+white flag hoisted on the after stays of the balloon she began to
+sink rapidly towards the earth, and at the same time Natas gave
+orders for the _Ithuriel_ to ascend to a height of eight thousand
+feet in order to frustrate any attempts that might be made, whether
+with or without the orders of the Tsar, to injure her by means of a
+volley from the earth.
+
+Even from that elevation, those on board the _Ithuriel_ were able
+with the aid of their field-glasses to see with perfect ease the
+commotion which the appearance of the air-ship with the captured
+aerostat had produced in the Russian camp. The whole of the vast
+host, numbering more than four millions of men, turned out into the
+open to watch their aërial visitors, and everywhere throughout the
+whole extent of the huge camp the plainest signs of the utmost
+excitement were visible.
+
+In less than half an hour they saw the aerostat touch the earth near
+to a large building, above which floated the imperial standard of
+Russia. An hour had been allowed for the interview and for the Tsar
+to give his decision, and half an hour for the aerostat to return and
+meet the air-ship.
+
+In all the history of the world there had probably never been an hour
+so pregnant with tremendous consequences, not only to Europe, but to
+the whole civilised world, as that was; and though apparently a
+perfect calm reigned throughout the air-ship, the issue of the
+embassy was awaited with the most intense anxiety.
+
+Another half hour passed, and hardly a word was spoken on the deck of
+the _Ithuriel_, hanging there in mid-air over the mighty Russian
+host, and in range of the field-glasses of the outposts of the German
+army of Berlin lying some ten or twelve miles away to the westward.
+
+It was the calm before the threatening storm,--a storm which in less
+than an hour might break in a hail of death and destruction from the
+sky, and turn the fields of earth into a volcano of shot and flame.
+Certainly the fate of an empire, and perhaps of Europe, or indeed the
+world, hung in the balance over that field of possible carnage.
+
+If the Russians regained their war-balloons and were left to
+themselves, nothing that the heroic Germans could do would be likely
+to save Berlin from the fate that had overwhelmed Strassburg and
+Metz, Breslau and Thorn.
+
+On the other hand, should the aerostat not return in time with a
+satisfactory answer, the victorious career of the Tsar would be cut
+short by such a bolt from the skies as had wrecked his fortress at
+Kronstadt,--a blow which he could neither guard against nor return,
+for it would come from an unassailable vantage point, a little vessel
+a hundred feet long floating in the air six thousand feet from the
+earth, and looking a mere bright speck amidst the sunlight. She
+formed a mark that the most skilful rifle-shot in his army could not
+hit once in a thousand shots, and against whose hull of hardened
+aluminium, bullets, even if they struck, would simply splash and
+scatter, like raindrops on a rock.
+
+The remaining minutes of the last half hour were slipping away one by
+one, and still no sign came from the earth. The aerostat remained
+moored near the building surmounted by the Russian standard, and the
+white flag, which, according to arrangement, had been hauled down to
+be re-hoisted if the answer of the Tsar was favourable, was still
+invisible. When only ten minutes of the allotted time were left,
+Arnold, moving his glass from his eyes, and looking at his watch,
+said to Natas--
+
+"Ten minutes more; shall I prepare?"
+
+"Yes," said Natas. "And let the first gun be fired with the first
+second of the eleventh minute. Destroy the aerostats first and then
+the batteries of artillery. After that send a shell into Frankfort,
+if you have a gun that will carry the distance, so that they may see
+our range of operations; but spare the Tsar's headquarters for the
+present."
+
+"Very good," replied Arnold. Then, turning to his lieutenant, he
+said--
+
+"You have the guns loaded with No. 3, I presume, Mr. Marston, and the
+projectile stands are filled, I see. Very good. Now descend to six
+thousand feet and go a mile to the westward. Train one broadside gun
+on that patch of ground where you see those balloons, another to
+strike in the midst of those field-guns yonder by the
+ammunition-waggons, and train the starboard after-gun to throw a
+shell into Frankfort. The distance is a little over twelve miles, so
+give sufficient elevation."
+
+By the time these orders had been executed, swiftly as the necessary
+evolution had been performed, only four minutes of the allotted time
+were left. Arnold took his stand by the broadside gun trained on the
+aerostats, and, with one hand on the breech of the gun and the other
+holding his watch, he waited for the appointed moment. Natasha stood
+by him with her eyes fastened to the eye-pieces of the glasses
+watching for the white flag in breathless suspense.
+
+"One minute more!" said Arnold.
+
+"Stop, there it goes!" cried Natasha as the words left his lips. "His
+Majesty has yielded to circumstances!"
+
+Arnold took the glasses from her, and through them saw a tiny white
+speck shining against the black surface of the gas-holder of the
+balloon. He handed the glasses back to her, saying--
+
+"We must not be too sure of that. His message may be one of
+defiance."
+
+"True," said Natasha. "We shall see."
+
+Ten minutes later the aerostat was released from her moorings and
+rose swiftly and vertically into the air. As soon as it reached her
+own altitude the _Ithuriel_ shot forward to meet it, and stopped
+within a couple of hundred yards, a gun ready trained upon the car in
+case of treachery. In the car stood Professor Volnow and Colonel
+Alexandrovitch. The former held something white in his hand, and
+across the intervening space came the reassuring hail: "All well!"
+
+In five minutes he was standing on the deck of the _Ithuriel_
+presenting a folded paper to Natas. He was pale to the lips, and his
+whole body trembled with violent emotion. As he handed him the paper,
+he said to Natas in a low, husky voice that was barely recognisable
+as his--
+
+"Here is the answer of the Tsar. Whether you are man or fiend, I know
+not, but his Majesty has yielded and accepted your terms. May I never
+again witness such anger as was his when I presented your letter. It
+was not till the last moment that he yielded to my entreaties and
+those of his staff, and ordered the white flag to be hoisted."
+
+"Yes," replied Natas. "He tempted his fate to the last moment. The
+guns were already trained upon Cüstrin, and thirty seconds more would
+have seen his headquarters in ruins. He did wisely, if he acted
+tardily."
+
+So saying, Natas broke the imperial seal. On a sheet of paper bearing
+the imperial arms were scrawled three or four lines in the Autocrat's
+own handwriting--
+
+    I accept your main terms. The air-ship has joined the Baltic
+    fleet. She will be delivered to you with all on board. The four
+    men are my subjects, and I feel bound to protect them; they will
+    therefore not be delivered up. Do as you like.
+
+      ALEXANDER.
+
+"A Royal answer, though it comes from a despot," said Natas as he
+refolded the paper. "I will waive that point, and let him protect the
+traitors, if he can. Colonel Alexandrovitch," he continued, turning
+to the Russian, who had also boarded the air-ship, "you are free. You
+may return to your war-balloon, and accompany us to give the order
+for the release of your squadron."
+
+"Free!" suddenly screamed the Russian, his face livid and distorted
+with passion. "Free, yes, but disgraced! Ruined for life, and
+degraded to the ranks! I want no freedom from you. I will not even
+have my life at your hands, but I will have yours, and rid the earth
+of you if I die a thousand deaths!"
+
+As he spoke he wrenched his sword from its scabbard, thrust the
+Professor aside, and rushed at Natas with the uplifted blade. Before
+it had time to descend a stream of pale flame flashed over the back
+of the Master's chair, accompanied by a long, sharp rattle, and the
+Russian's body dropped instantly to the deck riddled by a hail of
+bullets.
+
+"I saw murder in that man's eyes when he began to speak," said
+Natasha, putting back into her pocket the magazine pistol that she
+had used with such terrible effect.
+
+"I saw it too, daughter," quietly replied Natas. "But you need not
+have been afraid; the blow would never have reached me, for I would
+have paralysed him before he could have made the stroke."
+
+"Impossible! No man could have done it!"
+
+The exclamation burst involuntarily from the lips of Professor
+Volnow, who had stood by, an amazed and horrified spectator of the
+rapidly enacted tragedy.
+
+"Professor," said Natas, in quick, stern tones, "I am not accustomed
+to say what is not true, nor yet to be contradicted by any one in
+human shape. Stand there till I tell you to move."
+
+As he spoke these last words Natas made a swift, sweeping downward
+movement with one of his hands, and fixed his eyes upon those of the
+Professor. In an instant Volnow's muscles stiffened into immovable
+rigidity, and he stood rooted to the deck powerless to move so much
+as a finger.
+
+"Captain Arnold," continued Natas, as though nothing had happened.
+"We will rejoin our consorts, please, and release the aerostats in
+accordance with the terms. This man's body will be returned in one of
+them to his master, and the Professor here will write an account of
+his death in order that it may not be believed that we have murdered
+him. Konstantin Volnow, go into the saloon and write that letter, and
+bring it to me when it is done."
+
+Like an automaton the Professor turned and walked mechanically into
+the deck-saloon. Meanwhile the _Ithuriel_ started on her way towards
+the captive squadron. Before she reached it Volnow returned with a
+sheet of paper in his hand filled with fresh writing, and signed with
+his name.
+
+Natas took it from him, read it, and then fixing his eyes on his
+again, said--
+
+"That will do. I give you back your will. Now, do you believe?"
+
+The Professor's body was suddenly shaken with such a violent
+trembling that he almost fell to the deck. Then he recovered himself
+with a violent effort, and cried through his chattering teeth--
+
+"Believe! How can I help it? Whoever and whatever you are, you are
+well named the Master of the Terror."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+AT CLOSE QUARTERS.
+
+
+As soon as the captive war-balloons had been released, the _Ithuriel_
+and her consorts, without any further delay or concern for the issue
+of the decisive battle which would probably prove to be the
+death-struggle of the German Empire, headed away to the northward at
+the utmost speed of the two smaller vessels. Their objective point
+was Copenhagen, and the distance rather more than two hundred and
+sixty miles in a straight line.
+
+This was covered in under two hours and a half, and by noon they had
+reached the Danish capital. In crossing the water from Stralsund they
+had sighted several war-vessels, all flying British, German, or
+Danish colours, and all making a northerly course like themselves.
+They had not attempted to speak to any of these, because, as they
+were all apparently bound for the same point, and, as the speed of
+the air-ships was more than five times as great as that of the
+swiftest cruiser, to do so would have been a waste of time, when
+every moment might be of the utmost consequence.
+
+Off Copenhagen the aërial travellers saw the first signs of the
+terrible night's work, with the details of which the reader has
+already been made acquainted. Wrecked fortifications, cruisers and
+battleships bearing every mark of a heavy engagement, some with their
+top-works battered into ruins, their military masts gone, and their
+guns dismounted; some down by the head, and some by the stern, and
+others evidently run ashore to save them from sinking; and the
+harbour crowded with others in little better condition--everywhere
+there were eloquent proofs of the disaster which had overtaken the
+Allied fleets on the previous night.
+
+"There seems to have been some rough work going on down there within
+the last few hours," said Arnold to Natas as they came in sight of
+this scene of destruction. "The Russians could not have done this
+alone, for when the war began they were shut up in the Baltic by an
+overwhelming force, of which these seem to be the remains. And those
+forts yonder were never destroyed by anything but our shells."
+
+"Yes," replied Natas. "It is easy to see what has happened. The
+_Lucifer_ was sent here to help the Russian fleet to break the
+blockade, and it looks as though it had been done very effectually.
+We are just a few hours too late, I fear.
+
+"That one victory will have an immense effect on the course of the
+war, for it is almost certain that the Russians will make for the
+Atlantic round the north of the Shetland Islands, and co-operate with
+the French and Italian squadrons along the British line of
+communication with the West. That once cut, food will go up to famine
+prices in Britain, and the end will not be far off."
+
+Natas spoke without the slightest apparent personal interest in the
+subject; but his words brought a flush to Arnold's cheeks, and make
+him suddenly clench his hands and knit his brows. After all he was an
+Englishman, and though he owed England nothing but the accident of
+his birth, the knowledge that one of his own ships should be the
+means of bringing this disaster upon her made him forget for the
+moment the gulf that he had placed between himself and his native
+land, and long to go to her rescue. But it was only a passing
+emotion. He remembered that his country was now elsewhere, and that
+all his hopes were now alien to Britain and her fortunes.
+
+If Natas noticed the effect of his words he made no sign that he did,
+and he went on in the same even tone as before--
+
+"We must overtake the fleet, and either recapture the _Lucifer_ or
+destroy her before she does any more mischief in Russian hands. The
+first thing to do is to find out what has happened, and what course
+they have taken. Hoist the Union Jack over a flag of truce on all
+three ships, and signal to Mazanoff to come alongside. We had better
+stop here till we get the news."
+
+The Master's orders were at once executed, and as soon as the _Ariel_
+was floating beside the flagship he said to her captain--
+
+"Go down and speak that cruiser lying at anchor off the harbour, and
+learn all you can of what has happened. Tell them freely how it
+happened that the _Lucifer_ assisted the Russian, if it turns out
+that she did so. Say that we have no hostility to Britain at present,
+but rather the reverse, and that our only purpose just now is to
+retake the air-ship and prevent her doing any more damage. If you can
+get any newspapers, do so."
+
+"I understand fully," replied Mazanoff, and a minute later his vessel
+was sinking rapidly down towards the cruiser.
+
+His reception was evidently friendly, for those on board the
+_Ithuriel_ saw that he ran the _Ariel_ close alongside the
+man-of-war, after the first hails had been exchanged, and conversed
+for some time with a group of officers across the rails of the two
+vessels. Then a large roll of newspapers was passed from the cruiser
+to the air-ship, salutes were exchanged, and the _Ariel_ rose
+gracefully into the air to rejoin her consorts, followed by the
+envious glances of the crews of the battered warships.
+
+Mazanoff presented his report, the facts of which were substantially
+those given in the _St. James's Gazette_ telegram, and added that the
+British officers had confessed to him that the damage done was so
+great, both to the fleet and the shore fortifications, that the Sound
+was now practically as open as the Atlantic, and that it would be two
+or three weeks before even half the Allied force would be able to
+take the sea in fighting trim.
+
+They added that there was not the slightest need to conceal their
+condition, as the Russians, who had steamed in triumph past their
+shattered ships and silenced forts, knew it just as well as they did.
+As regards the Russian fleet, it had been followed past the Skawe,
+and had headed out westward.
+
+In their opinion it would consider itself strong enough, with the aid
+of the air-ship, to sweep the North Sea, and would probably attempt
+to force the Straits of Dover, as it has done the Sound, and effect a
+junction with the French squadrons at Brest and Cherbourg. This done,
+a combined attack might possibly be made upon Portsmouth, or the
+destruction of the Channel fleet attempted. The effects of the
+air-ship's shells upon both forts and ships had been so appalling
+that the Russians would no doubt think themselves strong enough for
+anything as long as they had possession of her.
+
+"They were extremely polite," said Mazanoff, as he concluded his
+story. "They asked me to go ashore and interview the Admiral, who,
+they told me, would guarantee any amount of money on behalf of the
+British Government if we would only co-operate with their fleets for
+even a month. They said Britain would gladly pay a hundred thousand a
+month for the hire of each ship and her crew; and they looked quite
+puzzled when I refused point-blank, and said that a million a month
+would not do it.
+
+"They evidently take us for a new sort of pirates, corsairs of the
+air, or something of that kind; for when I said that a few odd
+millions were no good to people who could levy blackmail on the whole
+earth if they chose, they stared at me and asked me what we did want
+if we didn't want money. The idea that we could have any higher aims
+never seemed to have entered their heads, and, of course, I didn't
+enlighten them."
+
+"Quite right," said Natas, with a quiet laugh. "They will learn our
+aims quite soon enough. And now we must overtake the Russian fleet as
+soon as possible. You say they passed the Skawe soon after five this
+morning. That gives them nearly six hours' start, and if they are
+steaming twenty miles an hour, as I daresay they are, they will now
+be some hundred and twenty miles west of the Skawe. Captain Arnold,
+if we cut straight across Zeeland and Jutland, about what distance
+ought we to travel before we meet them?"
+
+Arnold glanced at the chart which lay spread out on the table of the
+saloon in which they were sitting, and said--
+
+"I should say a course of about two hundred miles due north-west from
+here ought to take us within sight of them, unless they are making
+for the Atlantic, and keep very close to the Swedish coast. In that
+case I should say two hundred and fifty in the same direction."
+
+"Very well, then, let us take that course and make all the speed we
+can," said Natas; and within ten minutes the three vessels were
+speeding away to the north-westward at a hundred and twenty miles an
+hour over the verdant lowlands of the Danish peninsula.
+
+The _Ithuriel_ kept above five miles ahead of the others, and when
+the journey had lasted about an hour and three-quarters, the man who
+had been stationed in the conning-tower signalled, "Fleet in sight"
+to the saloon. The air-ships were then travelling at an elevation of
+3000 feet. A good ten miles to the northward could be seen the
+Russian fleet steering to the westward, and, judging by the dense
+clouds of smoke that were pouring out of the funnels of the vessels,
+making all the speed they could.
+
+Arnold, who had gone forward to the conning-tower as soon as the
+signal sounded, at once returned to the saloon and made his formal
+report to Natas.
+
+"The Russian fleet is in sight, heading to the westward, and
+therefore evidently meaning to reach the Atlantic by the north of the
+Shetlands. There are twelve large battleships, about twenty-five
+cruisers of different sizes, eight of them very large, and a small
+swarm of torpedo-boats being towed by the larger vessels, I suppose
+to save their coal. I see no signs of the _Lucifer_ at present, but
+from what we have learnt she will be on the deck of one of the large
+cruisers. What are your orders?"
+
+"Recover the air-ship if you can," replied Natas. "Send Mazanoff with
+Professor Volnow to convey the Tsar's letter to the Admiral, and
+demand the surrender of the _Lucifer_. If he refuses, let the _Ariel_
+return at once, and we will decide what to do. I leave the details
+with you with the most perfect confidence."
+
+Arnold bowed in silence and retired, catching, as he turned to leave
+the saloon, a glance from Natasha which, it must be confessed, meant
+more to him than even the command of the Master. From the expression
+of his face as he went to the wheel-house to take charge of the ship,
+it was evident that it would go hard with the Russian fleet if the
+Admiral refused to recognise the order of the Tsar.
+
+When he got to the wheel-house the _Ithuriel_ was almost over the
+fleet. He signalled "stop" to the engine-room. Immediately the
+propellers slowed and then ceased their rapid revolutions, and at the
+same time the fan-wheels went aloft and began to revolve. This was a
+prearranged signal to the others to do the same, and by the time they
+had overtaken the flagship they also came to a standstill. As soon as
+they were within speaking distance Arnold hailed the _Orion_ and the
+_Ariel_ to come alongside.
+
+After communicating to Tremayne and Mazanoff the orders of Natas, he
+said to the latter--
+
+"You will take Professor Volnow to present the Tsar's letter to the
+Admiral in command of the fleet. Fly the Russian flag over a flag of
+truce, and if he acknowledges it say that if the _Lucifer_ is given
+up we shall allow the fleet to go on its way unmolested and without
+asking any question.
+
+"The cruiser that has her on board must separate from the rest of the
+fleet and allow two of your men to take possession of her and bring
+her up here. The lives of the four traitors are safe for the present
+if the air-ship is given up quietly."
+
+"And if they will not recognise the authority of the Tsar's letter,
+and refuse to give the air-ship up, what then?" asked Mazanoff.
+
+"In that case haul down the Russian flag, and get aloft as quickly as
+you can. You can leave the rest to us," said Arnold. "Meanwhile,
+Tremayne, will you go down to two thousand feet or so, and keep your
+eye on that big cruiser a bit ahead of the rest of the fleet. I fancy
+I can make out the _Lucifer_ on her deck. Train a couple of guns on
+her, and don't let the air-ship rise without orders. I shall stop up
+here for the present, and be ready to make things lively for the
+Admiral if he refuses to obey his master's orders."
+
+The _Ariel_ took the Professor on board, and hoisted the Russian
+colours over the flag of truce, and began to sink down towards the
+fleet. As she descended, the Admiral in command of the squadron,
+already not a little puzzled by the appearance of the three
+air-ships, was still more mystified by seeing the Russian ensign
+flying from her flagstaff.
+
+Was this only a ruse of the Terrorists, or were they flying the
+Russian flag for a legitimate reason? As he knew from the experience
+of the previous night that the air-ships, if their intentions were
+hostile, could destroy his fleet in detail without troubling to
+parley with him, he concluded that there was a good reason for the
+flag of truce, and so he ordered one to be flown from his own
+masthead in answer to it.
+
+The white flag at once enabled Mazanoff to single out the huge
+battleship on which it was flying as the Admiral's flagship. The
+fleet was proceeding in four columns of line abreast. First two long
+lines of cruisers, each with one or two torpedo boats in tow, and
+with scouts thrown out on each wing, and then two lines of
+battleships, in the centre of the first of which was the flagship.
+
+It was a somewhat risky matter for the _Ariel_ to descend thus right
+in the middle of the whole fleet, but Mazanoff had his orders, and
+they had to be obeyed, and so down he went, running his bow up to
+within a hundred feet of the hurricane deck, on which stood the
+Admiral surrounded by several of his officers.
+
+"I have a message for the Admiral of the fleet," he shouted, as soon
+as he came within hail.
+
+"Who are you, and from whom is your message?" came the reply.
+
+"Konstantin Volnow, of the Imperial Arsenal at Petersburg, brings the
+message from the Tsar in writing.'
+
+"His Majesty's messenger is welcome. Come alongside."
+
+The _Ariel_ ran ahead until her prow touched the rail of the
+hurricane deck, and the Professor advanced with the Tsar's letter in
+his hand, and gave it to the Admiral, saying--
+
+"You are acquainted with me, Admiral Prabylov. Though I bear it
+unwillingly, I can vouch for the letter being authentic. I saw his
+Majesty write it, and he gave it into my hands."
+
+"Then how do you come to be an unwilling bearer of it?" asked the
+Admiral, scowling and gnawing his moustache as he read the unwelcome
+letter. "What are these terms, and with whom were they made?"
+
+"Pardon me, Admiral," interrupted Mazanoff, "that is not the
+question. I presume you recognise his Majesty's signature, and see
+that he desires the air-ship to be given up."
+
+"His Majesty's signature can be forged, just as Nihilists' passports
+can be, Mr. Terrorist, for that's what I presume you are, and"--
+
+"Admiral, I solemnly assure you that that letter is genuine, and that
+it is really his Majesty's wish that the air-ship should be given
+up," the Professor broke in before Mazanoff had time to reply. "It is
+to be given in exchange for nine war-balloons which these air-ships
+captured before daybreak this morning."
+
+"How do you come to be the bearer of it, sir? Please answer me that
+first."
+
+"I am a prisoner of war. I surrendered to save the Arsenal and
+perhaps Petersburg from destruction under circumstances which I
+cannot now explain"--
+
+"Thank you, sir, that is quite enough! A pretty story, truly! And you
+ask me to believe this, and to give up that priceless air-ship on
+such grounds as these--a story that would hardly deceive a child? You
+captured nine of the Tsar's war-balloons this morning, had an
+interview with his Majesty, got this letter from him at Cüstrin--more
+than five hundred miles away, and bring it here, and it is barely two
+in the afternoon!
+
+"No, gentlemen, I am too old a sailor to be taken in by a yarn like
+that. I believe this letter to be a forgery, and I will not give the
+air-ship up on its authority."
+
+"That is your last word, is it?" asked Mazanoff, white with passion,
+but still forcing himself to speak coolly.
+
+"That is my last word, sir, save to tell you that if you do not haul
+that flag you are masquerading under down at once I will fire upon
+you," shouted the Admiral, tearing the Tsar's letter into fragments
+as he spoke.
+
+"If I haul that flag down it will be the signal for the air-ships up
+yonder to open fire upon you, so your blood be on your own heads!"
+said Mazanoff, stamping thrice on the deck as he spoke. The
+propellers of the _Ariel_ whirled round in a reverse direction, and
+she sprang swiftly back from the battleship, at the same time rising
+rapidly in the air.
+
+Before she had cleared a hundred yards, and before the flag of truce
+was hauled down, there was a sharp, grinding report from one of the
+tops of the man-of-war, and a hail of bullets from a machine gun
+swept across the deck. Mazanoff heard a splintering of wood and
+glass, and a deep groan beside him. He looked round and saw the
+Professor clasp his hand to a great red wound in his breast, and fall
+in a heap on the deck.
+
+This was the event of an instant. The next he had trained one of the
+bow-guns downwards on the centre of the deck of the Russian flagship
+and sent the projectile to its mark. Then quick as thought he sprang
+over and discharged the other gun almost at random. He saw the
+dazzling green flash of the explosions, then came a shaking of the
+atmosphere, and a roar as of a hundred thunder-claps in his ears, and
+he dropped senseless to the deck beside the corpse of the Professor.
+
+[Illustration: "There was a sharp, grinding report from one of the
+tops of the man-of-war."
+
+_See page 232._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+A RUSSIAN RAID.
+
+
+Mazanoff came to himself about ten minutes later, lying on one of the
+seats in the after saloon, and all that he saw when he first opened
+his eyes was the white anxious face of Radna bending over him.
+
+"What is the matter? What has happened? Where am I?" he asked, as
+soon as his tongue obeyed his will. His voice, although broken and
+unsteady, was almost as strong as usual, and Radna's face immediately
+brightened as she heard it. A smile soon chased away her anxious
+look, and she said cheerily--
+
+"Ah, come! you're not killed after all. You are still on board the
+_Ariel_, and what has happened is this as far as I can see. In your
+hurry to return the shot from the Russian flagship you fired your
+guns at too close range, and the shock of the explosion stunned you.
+In fact, we thought for the moment you had blown the _Ariel_ up too,
+for she shook so that we all fell down; then her engines stopped, and
+she almost fell into the water before they could be started again."
+
+"Is she all right now? Where's the Russian fleet, and what happened
+to the flagship? I must get on deck," exclaimed Mazanoff, sitting up
+on the seat. As he did so he put his hand to his head and said: "I
+feel a bit shaky still. What's that--brandy you've got there? Get me
+some champagne, and put the brandy into it. I shall be all right when
+I've had a good drink. Now I think of it, I wonder that explosion
+didn't blow us to bits. You haven't told me what became of the
+flagship," he continued, as Radna came back with a small bottle of
+champagne and uncorked it.
+
+"Well, the flagship is at the bottom of the German Ocean. When
+Petroff told me that you had fallen dead, as he said, on deck, I ran
+up in defiance of your orders and saw the battleship just going down.
+The shells had blown the middle of her right out, and a cloud of
+steam and smoke and fire was rising out of a great ragged space where
+the funnels had been. Before I got you down here she broke right in
+two and went down."
+
+"That serves that blackguard Prabylov right for saying we forged the
+Tsar's letter, and firing on a flag of truce. Poor Volnow's dead, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Oh yes," replied Radna sadly. "He was shot almost to pieces by the
+volley from the machine gun. The deck saloon is riddled with bullets,
+and the decks badly torn up, but fortunately the hull and propellers
+are almost uninjured. But come, drink this, then you can go up and
+see for yourself."
+
+So saying she handed him a tumbler of champagne well dashed with
+brandy. He drank it down at a gulp, like the Russian that he was, and
+said as he put the glass down--
+
+"That's better. I feel a new man. Now give me a kiss, _batiushka_,
+and I'll be off."
+
+When he reached the deck he found the _Ariel_ ascending towards the
+_Ithuriel_, and about a mile astern of the Russian fleet, the vessels
+of which were blazing away into the air with their machine guns, in
+the hope of "bringing him down on the wing," as he afterwards put it.
+He could hear the bullets singing along underneath him; but the
+_Ariel_ was rising so fast, and going at such a speed through the
+air, that the moment the Russians got the range they lost it again,
+and so merely wasted their ammunition.
+
+Neither the _Ithuriel_ nor the _Orion_ seemed to have taken any part
+in the battle so far, or to have done anything to avenge the attack
+made upon the _Ariel_. Mazanoff wondered not a little at this, as
+both Arnold and Tremayne must have seen the fate of the Russian
+flagship. As soon as he got within speaking distance of the
+_Ithuriel_, he sang out to Arnold, who was on the deck--
+
+"I got in rather a tight place down there. That scoundrel fired upon
+us with the flag of truce flying, and when I gave him a couple of
+shells in return I thought the end of the world was come."
+
+"You fired at too close range, my friend. Those shells are sudden
+death to anything within a hundred yards of them. Are you all well on
+board? You've been knocked about a bit, I see."
+
+"No; poor Volnow's dead. He was killed standing close beside me, and
+I wasn't touched, though the explosion of the shell knocked the
+senses out of me completely. However, the machinery's all right, and
+I don't think the hull is hurt to speak of. But what are you doing? I
+should have thought you'd have blown half the fleet out of the water
+by this time."
+
+"No. We saw that you had amply avenged yourself, and the Master's
+orders were not to do anything till you returned. You'd better come
+on board and consult with him."
+
+Mazanoff did so, and when he had told his story to Natas, the latter
+mystified him not a little by replying--
+
+"I am glad that none of you are injured, though, of course, I'm sorry
+that I sent Volnow to his death; but that is the fortune of war. If
+one of us fell into his master's hands his fate would be worse than
+that. You avenged the outrage promptly and effectively.
+
+"I have decided not to injure the Russian fleet more than I can help.
+It has work to do which must not be interfered with. My only object
+is to recover the _Lucifer_, if possible, and so we shall follow the
+fleet for the present across the North Sea on our way to the
+rendezvous with the other vessels from Aeria which are to meet us on
+Rockall Island, and wait our opportunity. Should the opportunity not
+come before then, we must proceed to extremities, and destroy her and
+the cruiser that has her on board.
+
+"And do you think we shall get such an opportunity?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Natas. "But it is possible. I don't think it
+likely that the fleet will have coal enough for a long cruise in the
+Atlantic, and therefore it is possible that they will make a descent
+on Aberdeen, which they are quite strong enough to capture if they
+like, and coal up there. In that case it is extremely probable that
+they will make use of the air-ship to terrorise the town into
+surrender, and as soon as she takes the air we must make a dash for
+her, and either take her or blow her to pieces."
+
+Arnold expressed his entire agreement with this idea, and, as the
+event proved, it was entirely correct. Instead of steering
+nor'-nor'-west, as they would have done had they intended to go round
+the Shetland Islands, or north-west, had they chosen the course
+between the Orkneys and the Shetlands, the Russian vessels kept a due
+westerly course during the rest of the day, and this course could
+only take them to the Scotch coast near Aberdeen.
+
+The distance from where they were was a little under five hundred
+miles, and at their present rate of steaming they would reach
+Aberdeen about four o'clock on the following afternoon. The air-ships
+followed them at a height of four thousand feet during the rest of
+the day and until shortly before dawn on the following morning.
+
+They then put on speed, took a wide sweep to the northward, and
+returned southward over Banffshire, and passing Aberdeen to the west,
+found a secluded resting-place on the northern spur of the
+Kincardineshire Hills, about five miles to the southward of the
+Granite City.
+
+Here the repairs which were needed by the _Ariel_ were at once taken
+in hand by her own crew and that of the _Ithuriel_, while the _Orion_
+was sent out to sea again to keep a sharp look-out for the Russian
+fleet, which she would sight long before she herself became visible,
+and then to watch the movements of the Russians from as great a
+distance as possible until it was time to make the counter-attack.
+
+As Aberdeen was then one of the coaling depots for the North Sea
+Squadron, it was defended by two battleships, the _Ascalon_ and the
+_Menelaus_, three powerful coast-defence vessels, the _Thunderer_,
+the _Cyclops_, and the _Pluto_, six cruisers, and twelve
+torpedo-boats. The shore defences consisted of a fort on the north
+bank at the mouth of the Dee, mounting ten heavy guns, and the
+Girdleness fort, mounting twenty-four 9-inch twenty-five ton guns, in
+connection with which was a station for working navigable torpedoes
+of the Brennan type, which had been considerably improved during the
+last ten years.
+
+Shortly after two o'clock on the afternoon of the 30th the _Orion_
+returned to her consorts with the news that the Russian fleet was
+forty miles off the land, heading straight for Aberdeen, and that
+there were no other warships in sight as far as could be seen to the
+southward. From this fact it was concluded that the Russians had
+escaped the notice of the North Sea Squadron, and so would only have
+the force defending Aberdeen to reckon with.
+
+Even had they not possessed the air-ship, this force was so far
+inferior to their own that there would be little chance of
+successfully defending the town against them. They had eleven
+battleships, twenty-five cruisers, eight of which were very large and
+heavily armed, and forty torpedo-boats, to pit against the little
+British force and the two forts.
+
+But given the assistance of the _Lucifer_, and the town practically
+lay at their mercy. They evidently feared no serious opposition in
+their raid, for, without even waiting for nightfall, they came on at
+full speed, darkening the sky with their smoke, the battleships in
+the centre, a dozen cruisers on either side of them, and one large
+cruiser about a mile ahead of their centre.
+
+When the captain of the _Ascalon_, who was in command of the port,
+saw the overwhelming force of the hostile fleet, he at once came to
+the conclusion that it would be madness for him to attempt to put to
+sea with his eleven ships and six torpedo-boats. The utmost that he
+could do was to remain inshore and assist the forts to keep the
+Russians at bay, if possible, until the assistance, which had already
+been telegraphed for to Dundee and the Firth of Forth, where the bulk
+of the North Sea Squadron was then stationed, could come to his aid.
+
+Five miles off the land the Russian fleet stopped, and the _Lucifer_
+rose from the deck of the big cruiser and stationed herself about a
+mile to seaward of the mouth of the river at an elevation of three
+thousand feet. Then a torpedo-boat flying a flag of truce shot out
+from the Russian line and ran to within a mile of the shore.
+
+The Commodore of the port sent out one of his torpedo-boats to meet
+her, and this craft brought back a summons to surrender the port for
+twelve hours, and permit six of the Russian cruisers to fill up with
+coal. The alternative would be bombardment of the town by the fleet
+and the air-ship, which alone, as the Russians said, held the fort
+and the ships at its mercy.
+
+To this demand the British Commodore sent back a flat refusal, and
+defiance to the Russian Commander to do his worst.
+
+Where the _Ithuriel_ and her consorts were lying the hills between
+them and the sea completely screened them from the observation of
+those on board the _Lucifer_. Arnold and Tremayne had climbed to the
+top of a hill above their ships, and watched the movements of the
+Russians through their glasses. As soon as they saw the _Lucifer_
+rise into the air they returned to the _Ithuriel_ to form their plans
+for their share in the conflict that they saw impending.
+
+"I'm afraid we can't do much until it gets a good deal darker than it
+is now," said Arnold, in reply to a question from Natas as to his
+view of the situation. "If we take the air now the _Lucifer_ will see
+us; and we must remember that she is armed with the same weapons as
+we have, and a shot from one of her guns would settle any of us that
+it struck. Even if we hit her first we should destroy her, and we
+could have done that easily yesterday.
+
+"It has felt very like thunder all day, and I see there are some very
+black-looking clouds rolling up there over the hills to the
+south-west. My advice is to wait for those. I'm afraid we can't do
+anything to save the town under the circumstances, but in this state
+of the atmosphere a heavy bombardment is practically certain to bring
+on a severe thunderstorm, and to fetch those clouds up at the double
+quick.
+
+"I don't for a moment think that the British will surrender, big and
+all as the Russian force is, and as they have never seen the effects
+of our shells they won't fear the _Lucifer_ much until she commences
+operations, and then it will be too late. Listen! They've begun.
+There goes the first gun!"
+
+A deep, dull boom came rolling up the hills from the sea as he spoke,
+and was almost immediately followed by a rapid series of similar
+reports, which quickly deepened into a continuous roar. Every one who
+could be spared from the air-ship at once ran up to the top of the
+hill to watch the progress of the fight. The Russian fleet had
+advanced to within three miles of the land, and had opened a furious
+cannonade on the British ships and the forts, which were manfully
+replying to it with every available gun.
+
+By the time the watchers on the hill had focussed their glasses on
+the scene, the _Lucifer_ discharged her first shell on the fort on
+Girdleness. They saw the blaze of the explosion gleam through the
+smoke that already hung thick over the low building. Another and
+another followed in quick succession, and the firing from the fort
+ceased. The smoke drifted slowly away, and disclosed a heap of
+shapeless ruins.
+
+"That is horrible work, isn't it?" said Arnold to Tremayne through
+his clenched teeth. "Anywhere but on British ground would not be so
+bad, but the sight of that makes my blood boil. I would give my ears
+to take our ships into the air, and smash up that Russian fleet as we
+did the French Squadron in the Atlantic."
+
+"There spoke the true Briton, Captain Arnold," said Natasha, who was
+standing beside him under a clump of trees. "Yes, I can quite
+understand how you feel watching a scene like that, for country is
+country after all. Even my half-English blood is pretty near boiling
+point; and though I wouldn't give my ears, I would give a good deal
+to go with you and do as you say.
+
+"But you may rest assured that the Master's way is the best, and will
+prove the shortest road to the universal peace which can only come
+through universal war. Courage, my friend, and patience! There will
+be a heavy reckoning to pay for this sort of thing one day, and that
+before very long."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Tremayne. "There goes the other fort. I suppose it
+will be the turn of the ships next. What a frightful scene! Twenty
+minutes ago it was as peaceful as these hills, and look at it now."
+
+The second fort had been destroyed as rapidly as the first, and the
+cessation of the fire of both had made a very perceptible difference
+in the cannonade, though the great guns of the Russian fleet still
+roared continuously and poured a hurricane of shot and shell into the
+mouth of the river across which the British ships were drawn, keeping
+up the unequal conflict like so many bull-dogs at bay.
+
+Over them and the river hung a dense pall of bluish-white smoke,
+through which the _Lucifer_ sent projectile after projectile in the
+attempt to sink the British ironclads. As those on board her could
+only judge by the flash of the guns, the aim was very imperfect, and
+several projectiles were wasted, falling into the sea and exploding
+there, throwing up mountains of water, but not doing any further
+damage. At length a brilliant green flash shot up through the smoke
+clouds over the river mouth.
+
+"He's hit one of the ships at last!" exclaimed Tremayne, as he saw
+the flash. "It'll soon be all up with poor old Aberdeen."
+
+"I don't think so," exclaimed Arnold. "At any rate the _Lucifer_
+won't do much more harm. There comes the storm at last! Back to the
+ships all of you at once, it's time to go aloft!"
+
+As he spoke a brilliant flash of lightning split the inky clouds
+which had now risen high over the western hills, and a deep roll of
+thunder came echoing up the valleys as if in answer to the roar of
+the cannonade on the sea. The moment every one was on board, Arnold
+gave the signal to ascend. As soon as the fan-wheels had raised them
+a hundred feet from the ground he gave the signal for full speed
+ahead, and the three air-ships swept upwards to the west as though to
+meet the coming storm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+THE END OF THE CHASE.
+
+
+The flight of the _Ithuriel_ and her consorts was so graduated, that
+as they rose to the level of the storm-cloud they missed it and
+passed diagonally beyond it at a sufficient distance to avoid
+disturbing the electrical balance between it and the earth. The
+object of doing so was not so much to escape a discharge of
+electricity, since all the vital parts of the machinery and the
+power-cylinders were carefully insulated, but rather in order not to
+provoke a lightning flash which might have revealed their rapid
+passage to the occupants of the _Lucifer_.
+
+As it was, they swept upwards and westward at such a speed that they
+had gained the cover of the thunder-cloud, and placed a considerable
+area of it between themselves and the town, long before the storm
+broke over Aberdeen, and so they were provided with ample shelter
+under, or rather over, which they were to make their attack on the
+_Lucifer_.
+
+They waited until the clouds coming up from the westward joined those
+which had begun to gather thick and black and threatening over the
+Russian fleet soon after the tremendous cannonade had begun. The
+shock of the meeting of the two cloud-squadrons formed a fitting
+counterpart to the drama of death and destruction that was being
+played on land and sea.
+
+The brilliant sunshine of the midsummer afternoon was suddenly
+obscured by a darkness born of smoke and cloud like that of a
+midwinter night. The smoke of the cannonade rose heavily and mingled
+with the clouds, and the atmospheric concussions produced by the
+discharge of hundreds of heavy guns, brought down the rain in
+torrents. Almost continuous streams of lightning flashed from cloud
+to cloud, and from heaven to earth, eclipsing the spouting fire of
+the guns, while to the roar of the bombardment was added an almost
+unbroken roll of thunder.
+
+Above all this hideous turmoil of human and elemental strife, the
+three air-ships floated for awhile in a serene and sunlit atmosphere.
+But this was only for a time. Arnold had taken the position and
+altitude of the _Lucifer_ very carefully by means of his sextant and
+compass before he rose into the air, and as soon as his preparations
+were complete he made another observation of the angle of the sun's
+elevation, allowing, of course, for his own, and placed his three
+ships as nearly perpendicular as he could over the _Lucifer_,
+floating on the under side of the storm-cloud.
+
+His preparations had been simple in the extreme. Four light strong
+grappling-irons hung downwards from the _Ithuriel_, two at the bow
+and two at the stern, by thin steel-wire rope; two similar ones hung
+from the starboard side of the _Orion_, which was on his left hand,
+and two from the port side of the _Ariel_, which was on his right
+hand. As they gained the desired position, a man was stationed at
+each of the ropes, with instructions how to act when the word was
+given. Then the fan-wheels were slowed down, and the three vessels
+sank swiftly through the cloud.
+
+Through the mist and darkness underneath they saw the white shape of
+the _Lucifer_ almost immediately below them, so accurately had the
+position been determined. They sank a hundred feet farther, and then
+Arnold shouted--
+
+"Now is your time. Cast!"
+
+Instantly the eight grappling-irons dropped and swung towards the
+_Lucifer_, hooking themselves in the stays of her masts and the
+railing that ran completely round her deck.
+
+"Now, up again, and ahead!" shouted Arnold once more, and the
+fan-wheels of the three ships revolved at their utmost speed; the
+air-planes had already been inclined to the full, the nine propellers
+whirled round, and the recaptured _Lucifer_ was dragged forward and
+upwards through the mist and darkness of the thunder-cloud into the
+bright sunshine above.
+
+[Illustration: "Now is your time, cast!"
+
+_See page 242._]
+
+So suddenly had the strange manoeuvre been executed that those on
+board her had not time to grasp what had really happened to them
+before they found themselves captured and utterly helpless. As she
+hung below her three captors it was impossible to bring one of the
+_Lucifer's_ guns to bear upon them, while four guns, two from the
+_Ariel_ and two from the _Orion_, grinned down upon her ready to blow
+her into fragments at the least sign of resistance.
+
+Added to this, a dozen magazine rifles covered her deck, threatening
+sudden death to the six bewildered men who were still staring
+helplessly about them in wonderment at the strange thing that had
+happened to them.
+
+"Who are the Russian officers in command of that air-ship?" hailed
+Mazanoff from the _Ariel_.
+
+Two men in Russian uniform raised their hands in reply, and Mazanoff
+hailed again--
+
+"Which will you have--surrender or death? If you surrender your lives
+are safe, and we will put you on to the land as soon as possible; if
+not you will be shot."
+
+"We surrender!" exclaimed one of the officers, drawing his sword and
+dropping it on the deck. The other followed suit, and Mazanoff
+continued--
+
+"Very good. Remain where you are. The first man that moves will be
+shot down."
+
+Almost before the last words had left his lips half a dozen men had
+slid down the wire ropes and landed on the deck of the _Lucifer_. The
+moment their feet had touched the deck each whipped a magazine pistol
+out of his belt and covered his man.
+
+Within a couple of minutes the captives were all disarmed; indeed,
+most of them had thrown their weapons down on the first summons. The
+arms were tossed overboard, and all but the two Russian officers were
+rapidly bound hand and foot. Then three of the six men descended to
+the engine-room, and one went to the wheel-house. In another minute
+the fan-wheels of the _Lucifer_ began to spin round faster, and
+quickly raised her to the level of the other three ships, and so the
+recapture of the deserter was completed.
+
+The two officers were at once summoned on board the _Ithuriel_ and
+shut up under guard in separate cabins. The rest of the crew of the
+_Lucifer_ was found to consist of the four traitors who had carried
+her away, and two Russian engineers who had been put on board to
+assist in the working of the vessel.
+
+As soon as these had been replaced by a crew drafted from the
+_Ithuriel_ and her consorts under the command of Lieutenant Marston,
+Arnold gave the order to go ahead at fifty miles an hour to the
+northward, and the four air-ships immediately sped away in that
+direction, leaving Aberdeen to its fate, and within a little over an
+hour the sounds of both storm and battle had died away in silence
+behind them.
+
+When they were fairly under way Natas ordered the four deserters to
+be brought before him in the after saloon of the flagship. He sat at
+one end of the table, and they were placed in a line in front of him
+at the other, each with a guard behind him, and the muzzle of a
+pistol at his head.
+
+"Peter Tamboff, Amos Vornjeh, Ivan Tscheszco, and Paul Oreloff! you
+have broken your oaths, betrayed your companions, deserted the Cause
+to which you devoted your lives, and placed in the hands of the
+Russian tyrant the means of destruction which has enabled him to
+break the blockade of the Baltic, and so perhaps to change the whole
+course of the war which he is now waging, as you well know, with the
+object of conquering Europe and enslaving its peoples.
+
+"Already the lives of thousands of better men than you have been lost
+through this vile treason of yours, the vilest of all treason, for it
+was committed for love of money. By the laws of the Brotherhood your
+lives are forfeit, and if you had a hundred lives each they would be
+forfeited again by the calamities that your treason has brought, and
+will bring, upon the world. You will die in half an hour. If you have
+any preparations to make for the next world, make them. I have done
+with you. Go!"
+
+Half an hour later the four deserters were taken up on to the deck of
+the _Ithuriel_. The signal was given to stop the flotilla, which was
+then flying three thousand feet above the waters of the Moray Firth.
+As soon as they came to a standstill their crews were summoned on
+deck. The three smaller vessels floated around the _Ithuriel_ at a
+distance of about fifty yards from her. The traitors, bound hand and
+foot, were stood up facing the rail of the flagship, and four of her
+crew were stationed opposite to them on the other side of the deck
+with loaded rifles.
+
+They were allowed one last look upon sun and sky, and then their eyes
+were bandaged. As soon as this was done Arnold raised his hand; the
+four rifles came up to the ready; a stream of flame shot from the
+muzzles, and the bodies of the four traitors lurched forward over the
+rail and disappeared into the abyss beneath.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," said Arnold in French, turning to the two Russian
+officers who had been spectators of the scene, "that is how we punish
+traitors. Your own lives are spared because we do not murder
+prisoners of war. You will, I hope, in due time return to your
+master, and you will tell him why we have been obliged to retake the
+air-ship which he surrendered to us by force, and therefore why we
+destroyed his flagship in the North Sea. If Admiral Prabylov had
+obeyed his orders, the _Lucifer_ would have been surrendered to us
+quietly, and there would have been for the present no further
+trouble.
+
+"Tell him also from me, as Admiral of the Terrorist fleet, that, so
+far as matters have now gone, we shall take no further part in the
+war; but that the moment he brings his war-balloons across the waters
+which separate Britain from Europe, the last hour of his empire will
+have struck.
+
+"If he neglects this warning with which I now entrust you, I will
+bring a force against him before which he shall be as helpless as the
+armies of the Alliance have so far been before him and his
+war-balloons; and, more than this, tell him that if I conquer I will
+not spare. I will hold him and his advisers strictly to account for
+all that may happen after that moment.
+
+"There will be no treaties with conquered enemies in the hour of our
+victory. We will have blood for blood, and life for life. Remember
+that, and bear the message to him faithfully. For the present you
+will be prisoners on parole; but I warn you that you will be watched
+night and day, and at the first suspicion of treachery you will be
+shot, and cast into the air as those traitors were just now.
+
+"You will remain on board this ship. The two engineers will be placed
+one on board of each of two of our consorts. In twenty-four hours or
+so you will be landed on Spanish soil and left to your own devices.
+Meanwhile we shall make you as comfortable as the circumstances
+permit."
+
+The two Russian officers bowed their acknowledgments, and Arnold gave
+the signal for the flotilla to proceed.
+
+It was then about seven o'clock in the evening. Flying at the rate of
+a hundred miles an hour, the squadron crossed the mouth of the Moray
+Firth trending to the westward until they passed over Thurso, and
+then took a westerly course to Rockall Island, four hundred miles to
+the west. Here they met the two other air-ships which had been
+despatched from Aeria with extra power-cylinders and munitions of war
+in case they had been needed for a prolonged campaign.
+
+The cylinders, which had been exhausted on board the _Ithuriel_ and
+her three consorts, were replaced, and then the whole squadron rose
+into the air from one of the peaks of Rockall Island and winged its
+way southward to the north-western coast of Spain. They made the
+Spanish land near Corunna shortly before eight on the following
+evening, and here the four Russian prisoners were released on the
+sea-shore and provided with money to take them as far as Valladolid,
+whence they would be able to communicate with the French military
+authorities at Toulouse.
+
+The Terrorist Squadron then rose once more into the air, ascended to
+a height of two thousand feet, skirted the Portuguese coast, and then
+took a south-easterly course over Morocco through one of the passes
+of the Atlas Mountains, and so across the desert of Sahara and the
+wilds of Central Africa to Aeria.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+THE BREAKING OF THE CHARM.
+
+
+The first news of the Russian attack on Aberdeen was received in
+London soon after five o'clock on the afternoon of the 30th, and
+produced an effect which it is quite beyond the power of language to
+describe. The first telegram containing the bare announcement of the
+fact fell like a bolt from the blue on the great Metropolis. It ran
+as follows:--
+
+      Aberdeen, 4.30 P.M.
+
+    A large fleet, supposed to be the Russian fleet which broke the
+    blockade of the Baltic on the morning of the 28th, has appeared
+    off the town. About forty large vessels can be made out. Our
+    defences are quite inadequate to cope with such an immense force,
+    but we shall do our best till help comes.
+
+After that the wires were kept hot with messages until well into the
+night. The newspapers rushed out edition after edition to keep pace
+with them, and in all the office windows of the various journals
+copies of the telegrams were posted up as soon as they arrived.
+
+As the messages multiplied in number they brought worse and worse
+tidings, until excitement grew to frenzy and frenzy degenerated into
+panic. The thousand tongues of rumour wagged faster and faster as
+each hour went by. The raid upon a single town was magnified into a
+general invasion of the whole country.
+
+Very few people slept in London that night, and the streets were
+alive with anxious crowds till daybreak, waiting for the
+confidently-expected news of the landing of the Russian troops, in
+spite of the fact that the avowed and real object of the raid had
+been made public early in the evening. The following are the most
+important of the telegrams which were received, and will suffice to
+inform the reader of the course of events after the departure of the
+four air-ships from the scene of action--
+
+      5 P.M.
+
+    A message has been received from the Commander of the Russian
+    fleet demanding the surrender of the town for twelve hours to
+    allow six of his ships to fill up with coal. The captain of the
+    _Ascalon_, in command of the port, has refused this demand, and
+    declares that he will fight while he has a ship that will float
+    or a gun that can be fired. The Russians are accompanied by the
+    air-ship which assisted them to break the blockade of the Sound.
+    She is now floating over the town. The utmost terror prevails
+    among the inhabitants, and crowds are flying into the country to
+    escape the bombardment. Aid has been telegraphed for to Edinburgh
+    and Dundee; but if the North Sea Squadron is still in the Firth
+    of Forth, it cannot get here under nearly twelve hours' steaming.
+
+      5.30 P.M.
+
+    The bombardment has commenced, and fearful damage has been done
+    already. With three or four shells the air-ship has blown up and
+    utterly destroyed the fort on Girdleness, which mounted
+    twenty-four heavy guns. But for the ships, this leaves the town
+    almost unprotected. News has just come from the North Shore that
+    the batteries there have met with the same fate. The Russians are
+    pouring a perfect storm of shot and shell into the mouth of the
+    river where our ships are lying, but the town has so far been
+    spared.
+
+      5.45 P.M.
+
+    We have just received news from Edinburgh that the North Sea
+    Squadron left at daybreak this morning under orders to proceed to
+    the mouth of the Elbe to assist in protecting Hamburg from an
+    anticipated attack by the same fleet which has attacked us. There
+    is now no hope that the town can be successfully defended, and
+    the Provost has called a towns-meeting to consider the
+    advisability of surrender, though it is feared that the Russians
+    may now make larger demands. The whole country side is in a state
+    of the utmost panic.
+
+      7 P.M.
+
+    The towns-meeting empowered the Provost to call upon Captain
+    Marchmont, of the _Ascalon_, to make terms with the Russians in
+    order to save the town from destruction. He refused point blank,
+    although one of the coast-defence ships, the _Thunderer_, has
+    been disabled by shells from the air-ship, and all his other
+    vessels have been terribly knocked about by the incessant
+    cannonade from the fleet, which has now advanced to within two
+    miles of the shore, having nothing more to fear from the land
+    batteries. A terrific thunderstorm is raging, and no words can
+    describe the horror of the scene. The air-ship ceased firing
+    nearly an hour ago.
+
+      10 P.M.
+
+    Five of our eleven ships--two battleships and three
+    cruisers--have been sunk; the rest are little better than mere
+    wrecks, and seven torpedo-boats have been destroyed in attempting
+    to torpedo some of the enemy's ships. Heavy firing has been heard
+    to the southward, and we have learnt from Dundee that four
+    battleships and six cruisers have been sent to our relief. A
+    portion of the Russian fleet has been detached to meet them. We
+    cannot hope anything from them. Captain Marchmont has now only
+    four ships capable of fighting, but refuses to strike his flag.
+    The storm has ceased, and a strong land breeze has blown the
+    clouds and smoke to seaward. The air-ship has disappeared. Six
+    large Russian ironclads are heading at full speed towards the
+    mouth of the river--
+
+The telegram broke off short here, and no more news was received from
+Aberdeen for several hours. Of this there was only one possible
+explanation. The town was in the hands of the Russians, and they had
+cut the wires. The long charm was broken, and the Isle Inviolate was
+inviolate no more. The next telegram from the North came from Findon,
+and was published in London just before ten o'clock on the following
+morning. It ran thus--
+
+      Findon, N.B., 9.15.
+
+    About ten o'clock last night the attack on Aberdeen ended in a
+    rush of six ironclads into the river mouth. They charged down
+    upon the four half-crippled British ships that were left, and in
+    less than five minutes rammed and sank them. The Russians then
+    demanded the unconditional surrender of the town, under pain of
+    bombardment and destruction. There was no other course but to
+    yield, and until eight o'clock this morning the town has been in
+    the hands of the enemy.
+
+    The Russians at once landed a large force of sailors and marines,
+    cut the telegraph wires and the railway lines, and fired without
+    warning upon every one who attempted to leave the town. The
+    stores of coal and ammunition were seized, and six large cruisers
+    were taking in coal all night. The banks were also entered, and
+    the specie taken possession of, as indemnity for the town. At
+    eight o'clock the cruisers and battleships steamed out of the
+    river without doing further damage. The squadron from the Tay was
+    compelled to retire by the overwhelming force that the Russians
+    brought to bear upon it after Aberdeen surrendered.
+
+    Half an hour ago the Russian fleet was lost sight of proceeding
+    at full speed to the north-eastward. Our loss has been terribly
+    heavy. The fort and batteries have been destroyed, all the ships
+    have been sunk or disabled, and of the whole defending force
+    scarcely three hundred men remain. Captain Marchmont went down on
+    the _Ascalon_ with his flag flying, and fighting to the last
+    moment.
+
+While the excitement caused by the news of the raid upon Aberdeen was
+at its height, that is to say, on the morning of the 2nd of July,
+intelligence was received in London of a tremendous disaster to the
+Anglo-Teutonic Alliance. It was nothing less, in short, than the fall
+of Berlin, the collapse of the German Empire, and the surrender of
+the Kaiser and the Crown Prince to the Tsar. After nearly sixty hours
+of almost continuous fighting, during which the fortifications had
+been wrecked by the war-balloons, the German ammunition-trains burnt
+and blown up by the fire-shells rained from the air, and the heroic
+defenders of the city disorganised by the aërial bombardment of
+melinite shells and cyanogen poison-bombs, and crushed by an
+overwhelming force of not less than four million assailants. So fell
+like a house of cards the stately fabric built up by the genius of
+Bismarck and Moltke; and so, after bearing his part gallantly in the
+death-struggle of his empire, had the grandson of the conqueror of
+Sedan yielded up his sword to the victorious Autocrat of the Russias.
+
+The terrible news fell upon London like the premonitory echo of an
+approaching storm. The path of the triumphant Muscovites was now
+completely open to the forts of the Belgian Quadrilateral, under the
+walls of which they would form a junction, which nothing could now
+prevent, with the beleaguering forces of France. Would the Belgian
+strongholds be able to resist any more effectually than the
+fortifications of Berlin had done the assaults of the terrible
+war-balloons of the Tsar?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+THE PATH OF CONQUEST.
+
+
+This narrative does not in any sense pretend to be a detailed history
+of the war, but only of such phases of it as more immediately concern
+the working out of those deep-laid and marvellously-contrived plans
+designed by their author to culminate in nothing less than the
+collapse of the existing fabric of Society, and the upheaval of the
+whole basis of civilisation.
+
+It will therefore be impossible to follow the troops of the Alliance
+and the League through the different campaigns which were being
+simultaneously carried out in different parts of Europe. The most
+that can be done will be to present an outline of the leading events
+which, operating throughout a period of nearly three months, prepared
+the way for the final catastrophe in which the tremendous issues of
+the world-war were summed up.
+
+The fall of Berlin was the first decisive blow that had been struck
+during the war. Under it the federation of kingdoms and states which
+had formed the German Empire fell asunder almost instantly, and the
+whole fabric collapsed like a broken bubble. The shock was felt
+throughout the length and breadth of Europe, and it was immediately
+seen that nothing but a miracle could save the whole of Central
+Europe from falling into the hands of the League.
+
+Its immediate results were the surrender of Magdeburg, Brunswick,
+Hanover, and Bremen. Hamburg, strongly garrisoned by British and
+German troops, supported by a powerful squadron in the Elbe, and
+defended by immense fortifications on the landward side, alone
+returned a flat defiance to the summons of the Tsar. The road to the
+westward, therefore, lay entirely open to his victorious troops. As
+for Hamburg, it was left for the present under the observation of a
+corps of reconnaissance to be dealt with when its time came.
+
+When Berlin fell the position of affairs in Europe may be briefly
+described as follows:--The French army had taken the field nearly
+five millions strong, and this immense force had been divided into an
+Army of the North and an Army of the East. The former, consisting of
+about two millions of men, had been devoted to the attack on the
+British and German forces holding an almost impregnable position
+behind the chain of huge fortresses known at present as the Belgian
+Quadrilateral.
+
+This Army of the North, doubtless acting in accordance with the
+preconceived schemes of operations arranged by the leaders of the
+League, had so far contented itself with a series of harassing
+attacks upon different points of the Allied position, and had made no
+forward movement in force. The Army of the East, numbering nearly
+three million men, and divided into fifteen army corps, had crossed
+the German frontier immediately on the outbreak of the war, and at
+the same moment that the Russian Armies of the North and South had
+crossed the eastern Austro-German frontier, and the Italian army had
+forced the passes of the Tyrol.
+
+The whole of the French fleet of war-balloons had been attached to
+the Army of the East with the intention, which had been realised
+beyond the most sanguine expectations, of overrunning and subjugating
+Central Europe in the shortest possible space of time. It had swept
+like a destroying tempest through the Rhine Provinces, leaving
+nothing in its track but the ruins of towns and fortresses, and wide
+wastes of devastated fields and vineyards.
+
+Before the walls of Munich it had effected a junction with the
+Italian army, consisting of ten army corps, numbering two million
+men. The ancient capital of Bavaria fell in three days under the
+assault of the aërial fleet and the overwhelming numbers of the
+attacking force. Then the Franco-Italian armies advanced down the
+valley of the Danube and invested Vienna, which, in spite of the
+heroic efforts of what had been left of the Austrian army after the
+disastrous conflicts on the Eastern frontier, was stormed and sacked
+after three days and nights of almost continuous fighting, and the
+most appalling scenes of bloodshed and destruction, four days after
+the surrender of the German Emperor to the Tsar had announced the
+collapse of what had once been the Triple Alliance.
+
+From Vienna the Franco-Italian armies continued their way down the
+valley of the Danube, and at Budapest was joined by the northern
+division of the Russian Army of the South, and from there the mighty
+flood of destruction rolled south-eastward until it overflowed the
+Balkan peninsula, sweeping everything before it as it went, until it
+joined the force investing Constantinople.
+
+The Turkish army, which had retreated before it, had concentrated
+upon Gallipoli, where, in conjunction with the allied British and
+Turkish Squadrons holding the Dardanelles, it prepared to advance to
+the relief of Constantinople.
+
+The final attack upon the Turkish capital had been purposely delayed
+until the arrival of the French war-balloons, and as soon as these
+appeared upon the scene the work of destruction instantly
+recommenced. After four days of bombardment by sea and land, and from
+the air, and a rapid series of what can only be described as
+wholesale butcheries, the ancient capital of the Sultan shared the
+fate of Berlin and Vienna, and after four centuries and a half the
+Turkish dominion in Europe died in its first stronghold.
+
+Meanwhile one of the wings of the Franco-Italian army had made a
+descent upon Gallipoli, and after forty-eight hours' incessant
+fighting had compelled the remnant of the Turkish army, which it thus
+cut off from Constantinople, to take refuge on the Turkish and
+British men-of-war under the protection of the guns of the fleet. In
+view of the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, and the terrible
+effectiveness of the war-balloons, it was decided that any attempt to
+retake Constantinople, or even to continue to hold the Dardanelles,
+could only result in further disaster.
+
+The forts of the Dardanelles were therefore evacuated and blown up,
+and the British and Turkish fleet, with the remains of the Turkish
+army on board, steamed southward to Alexandria to join forces with
+the British Squadron that was holding the northern approaches to the
+Suez Canal. There the Turkish troops were landed, and the Allied
+fleets prepared for the naval battle which the release of the Russian
+Black Sea Squadron, through the opening of the Dardanelles, was
+considered to have rendered inevitable.
+
+Five days later was fought a second battle of the Nile, a battle
+compared with which the former conflict, momentous as it had been,
+would have seemed but child's play. On the one side Admiral
+Beresford, in command of the Mediterranean Squadron, had collected
+every available ship and torpedo-boat to do battle for the defence of
+the all-important Suez Canal, and opposed to him was an immense
+armament formed by the junction of the Russian Black Sea Squadron
+with the Franco-Italian fleet, or rather those portions of it which
+had survived the attacks, or eluded the vigilance of the British
+Admiral.
+
+The battle, fought almost on the ancient battle-ground of Nelson and
+Collingwood, was incomparably the greatest sea-fight in the history
+of war.
+
+The fleet under Admiral Beresford's command consisted of fifty-five
+battleships of the first and second class, forty-six armoured and
+seventy-two unarmoured cruisers, fifty-four gunboats, and two hundred
+and seventy torpedo-boats; while the Franco-Italian Allied fleets
+mustered between them forty-six battleships, seventy-five armoured
+and sixty-three unarmoured cruisers, forty gunboats, and two hundred
+and fifty torpedo-boats.
+
+The battle began soon after sundown on the 24th of August, and raged
+continuously for over sixty hours. The whole issue of the fight was
+the question of the command of the Mediterranean, and the British
+line of communication with India and the East _viâ_ the Suez Canal.
+
+The prize was well worthy of the tremendous struggle that the two
+contending forces waged for it; and from the two Admirals in command
+to the boys employed on the most insignificant duties about the
+ships, every one of the combatants seemed equally impressed with the
+magnitude of the momentous issues at stake.
+
+To the League, victory meant a deadly blow inflicted upon the only
+enemy now seriously to be reckoned with. It meant the severing of the
+British Empire into two portions, and the cutting of the one
+remaining channel of supply upon which the heart of the Empire now
+depended for its nutrition. To destroy Admiral Beresford's fleet
+would be to achieve as great a triumph on the sea as the armies of
+the League had achieved on land by the taking of Berlin, Vienna, and
+Constantinople. On the other hand, the defeat of the Franco-Italian
+fleets meant complete command of the Mediterranean, and the ability
+to destroy in detail all the important sea-board fortresses and
+arsenals of the League that were situated on its shores.
+
+It meant the keeping open of the Suez Canal, the maintenance of
+communication with India and Australia by the shortest route, and,
+what was by no means the least important consideration, the
+vindication of British prestige in Egypt, the Soudan, and India. It
+was with these enormous gains and losses before their eyes that the
+two forces engaged and fought as perhaps men had never fought with
+each other in the world before. Everything that science and
+experience could suggest was done by the leaders of both sides. Human
+life was counted as nothing in the balance, and deeds of the most
+reckless heroism were performed in countless instances as the mighty
+struggle progressed.
+
+With such inflexible determination was the battle waged on either
+side, and so appalling was the destruction accomplished by the
+weapons brought into play, that by sunrise on the morning of the
+27th, more than half the opposing fleets had been destroyed, and of
+the remainder the majority were so crippled that a continuance of the
+fight had become a matter of physical impossibility.
+
+What advantage remained appeared to be on the side of the remains of
+the Franco-Italian fleet; but this was speedily negatived an hour
+after sunrise by the appearance of a fresh British Squadron,
+consisting of the five battleships, fifteen cruisers, and a large
+flotilla of gunboats and torpedo-boats which had passed through the
+Canal during the night from Aden and Suakim, and appeared on the
+scene just in time to turn the tide of battle decisively in favour of
+the British Admiral.
+
+As soon as this new force got into action it went to work with
+terrible effectiveness, and in three hours there was not a single
+vessel that was still flying the French or Italian flag. The victory
+had, it is true, been bought at a tremendous price, but it was
+complete and decisive, and at the moment that the last of the ships
+of the League struck her flag, Admiral Beresford stood in the same
+glorious position as Sir George Rodney had done a hundred and
+twenty-two years before, when he saved the British Empire in the
+ever-memorable victory of the 12th of April 1782.
+
+The triumph in the Mediterranean was, however, only a set-off to a
+disaster which had occurred more than five weeks previously in the
+Atlantic. The Russian fleet, which had broken the blockade of the
+Sound, with the assistance of the _Lucifer_, had, after coaling at
+Aberdeen, made its way into the Atlantic, and there, in conjunction
+with the Franco-Italian fleets operating along the Atlantic steamer
+route, had, after a series of desperate engagements, succeeded in
+breaking up the line of British communication with America and
+Canada.
+
+This result had been achieved mainly in consequence of the contrast
+between the necessary methods of attack and defence. On the one hand,
+Britain had been compelled to maintain an extended line of ocean
+defence more than three thousand miles in length, and her ships had
+further been hampered by the absolute necessity of attending, first,
+to the protection of the Atlantic liners, and, secondly, to warding
+off isolated attacks which were directed upon different parts of the
+line by squadrons which could not be attacked in turn without
+breaking the line of convoy which it was all-essential to preserve
+intact.
+
+For two or three weeks there had been a series of running fights; but
+at length the ocean chain had broken under the perpetual strain, and
+a repulse inflicted on the Irish Squadron by a superior force of
+French, Italian, and Spanish warships had settled the question of the
+command of the Atlantic in favour of the League. The immediate result
+of this was that food supplies from the West practically stopped.
+
+Now and then a fleet Atlantic greyhound ran the blockade and brought
+her priceless cargo into a British port; but as the weeks went by
+these occurrences became fewer and further between, till the time
+news was received in London of the investment of the fortresses of
+the Quadrilateral by the innumerable hosts of the League, brought
+together by the junction of the French and Russian Armies of the
+North and the conquerors of Vienna and Constantinople, who had
+returned on their tracks after garrisoning their conquests in the
+East.
+
+Food in Britain, already at war prices, now began to rise still
+further, and soon touched famine prices. Wheat, which in the last
+decade of the nineteenth century had averaged about £9 a ton, rose to
+over £31 a ton, its price two years before the Battle of Waterloo.
+Other imported food-stuffs, of course, rose in proportion with the
+staple commodity, and the people of Britain saw, at first dimly, then
+more and more clearly, the real issue that had been involved in the
+depopulation of the rural districts to swell the populations of the
+towns, and the consequent lapse of enormous areas of land either into
+pasturage or unused wilderness.
+
+In other words, Britain began to see approaching her doors an enemy
+before whose assault all human strength is impotent and all valour
+unavailing. Like Imperial Rome, she had depended for her food supply
+upon external sources, and now these sources were one by one being
+cut off.
+
+The loss of the command of the Atlantic, the breaking of the Baltic
+blockade, and the consequent closing of all the continental ports
+save Hamburg, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp, had left her
+entirely dependent upon her own miserably insufficient internal
+resources and the Mediterranean route to India and the East.
+
+More than this, too, only Hamburg, Antwerp, and the fortresses of the
+Quadrilateral now stood between her and actual invasion,--that
+supreme calamity which, until the raid upon Aberdeen, had been for
+centuries believed to be impossible.
+
+Once let the League triumph in the Netherlands, as it had done in
+Central and South-Eastern Europe, and its legions would descend like
+an avalanche upon the shores of England, and the Lion of the Seas
+would find himself driven to bay in the stronghold which he had held
+inviolate for nearly a thousand years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+FROM CHAOS TO ARCADIE.
+
+
+During the three months of incessant strife and carnage which deluged
+the plains and valleys of Europe with blood after the fall of Berlin,
+the Terrorists took no part whatever in the war. At long intervals an
+air-ship was seen from the earth flying at full speed through the
+upper regions of the atmosphere, now over Europe, now over America,
+and now over Australia or the Cape of Good Hope; but if they held any
+communication with the earth they did so secretly, and only paid the
+briefest of visits, the objects of which could only be guessed at.
+
+When one was sighted the fact was mentioned in the newspapers, and
+vague speculations were indulged in; but there was soon little room
+left for these in the public attention, especially in Britain, for as
+the news of disaster after disaster came pouring in, and the hosts of
+the League drew nearer and nearer to the western shores of Europe,
+all eyes were turned more and more anxiously across "the silver
+streak" which now alone separated the peaceful hills and valleys of
+England and Scotland from the destroying war-storm which had so
+swiftly desolated the fields of Europe, and all hearts were heavy
+with apprehension of coming sorrows.
+
+The rapidity of their movements had naturally led to the supposition
+that several of the air-ships had taken the air for some unknown
+purpose, but in reality there were only two of them afloat during
+nearly the whole of the three mouths.
+
+Of these, one was the _Orion_, on board of which Tremayne was
+visiting the various centres of the Brotherhood throughout the
+English-speaking world, making everything ready for the carrying out
+at the proper time of the great project to which he had devoted
+himself since the memorable night at Alanmere, when he had seen the
+vision of the world's Armageddon. The other was under the command of
+Michael Roburoff, who was busy in America and Canada perfecting the
+preparations for checkmating the designs of the American Ring, which
+were described in a former chapter.
+
+The remainder of the members of the Inner Circle and those of the
+Outer Circle, living in Aeria, were quietly pursuing the most
+peaceful avocations, building houses and water-mills, clearing fields
+and laying out gardens, fishing in the lake and streams, and hunting
+in the forests as though they had never heard of the horrors of war,
+and had no part or share in the Titanic strife whose final issue they
+would soon have to go forth and decide.
+
+One of the hardest workers in the colony was the Admiral of the
+aërial fleet. Morning after morning he shut himself up in his
+laboratory for three or four hours experimenting with explosives of
+various kinds, and especially on a new form of fire-shell which he
+had invented, and which he was now busy perfecting in preparation for
+the next, and, as he hoped, final conflict that he would have to wage
+with the forces of despotism and barbarism.
+
+The afternoons he spent supervising the erection of the mills, and
+the construction of new machinery, and in exploring the mountain
+sides in search of mineral wealth, of which he was delighted to find
+abundant promise that was afterwards realised beyond his
+expectations.
+
+On these exploring expeditions he was frequently accompanied by
+Natasha and Radna and her husband. Sometimes Arnold would be enticed
+away from his chemicals, and his designs on the lives of his enemies,
+and after breakfasting soon after sunrise would go off for a long
+day's ramble to some unknown part of their wonderful domain, in
+which, like children in a fairyland, they were always discovering
+some new wonders and beauties. And, indeed, no children could have
+been happier or freer from care than they were during this delightful
+interval in the tragedy in which they were so soon to play such
+conspicuous parts. The two wedded lovers, with the dark past put far
+behind them for ever, found perfect happiness in each other's
+society, and so left, it is almost needless to add, Arnold and
+Natasha pretty much to their own devices. Indeed, Natasha had more
+than once declared that she would have to get the Princess to join
+the party, as Radna had proved herself a hopeless failure as a
+chaperone.
+
+Every one in the valley by this time looked upon Arnold and Natasha
+as lovers, though their rank in the Brotherhood was so high that no
+one ventured to speak of them as betrothed save by implication. How
+Natas regarded them was known only to himself. He, of course, saw
+their intimacy, and since he said nothing he doubtless looked upon it
+with approval; but whether he regarded it as an intimacy of friends
+or of lovers, remained a mystery even to Natasha herself, for he
+never by any chance made an allusion to it.
+
+As for Arnold, he had scrupulously observed the compact tacitly made
+between them on the first and only occasion that he had ever spoken
+words of love to her. They were the best of friends, the closest
+companions, and their intercourse with each other was absolutely
+frank and unrestrained, just as it would have been between two close
+friends of the same sex; but they understood each other perfectly,
+and by no word or deed did either cross the line that divides
+friendship from love.
+
+She trusted him absolutely in all things, and he took this trust as a
+sacred pledge between them that until his part of their compact had
+been performed, love was a forbidden subject, not even to be
+approached.
+
+So perfectly did Natasha play her part that though he spent hours and
+hours alone with her on their exploring expeditions, and in rowing
+and sailing on the lake, and though he spent many another hour in
+solitude, weighing her every word and action, he was utterly unable
+to truthfully congratulate himself on having made the slightest
+progress towards gaining that love without which, even if he held her
+to the compact in the day of victory, victory itself would be robbed
+of its crowning glory and dearest prize.
+
+To a weaker man it would have been an impossible situation, this
+constant and familiar companionship with a girl whose wonderful
+beauty dazzled his eyes and fired his blood as he looked upon it, and
+whose winning charm of manner and grace of speech and action seemed
+to glorify her beauty until she seemed a being almost beyond the
+reach of merely human love--rather one of those daughters of men whom
+the sons of God looked upon in the early days of the world, and found
+so fair that they forsook heaven itself to woo them.
+
+Trained and disciplined as he had been in the sternest of all
+schools, and strengthened as he was by the knowledge of the compact
+that existed between them, there were moments when his self-control
+was very sorely tried, moments when her hand would be clasped in his,
+or rested on his shoulder as he helped her across a stream or down
+some steep hillside, or when in the midst of some animated discussion
+she would stop short and face him, and suddenly confound his logic
+with a flash from her eyes and a smile on her lips that literally
+forced him to put forth a muscular effort to prevent himself from
+catching her in his arms and risking everything for just one kiss,
+one taste of the forbidden fruit within his reach, and yet parted
+from him by a sea of blood and flame that still lay between the world
+and that empire of peace which he had promised to win for her sweet
+sake.
+
+Once, and once only, she had tried him almost too far. They had been
+discussing the possibility of ruling the world without the ultimate
+appeal to force, when the nations, weary at length of war, should
+have consented to disarm, and she, carried away by her own eloquent
+pleading for the ultimate triumph of peace and goodwill on earth, had
+laid her hand upon his arm, and was looking up at him with her lovely
+face aglow with the sweetest expression even he had ever seen upon
+it.
+
+Their eyes met, and there was a sudden silence between them. The
+eloquent words died upon her lips, and a deep flush rose to her
+cheeks and then faded instantly away, leaving her pale and with a
+look almost of terror in her eyes. He took a quick step backwards,
+and, turning away as though he feared to look any longer upon her
+beauty, said in a low tone that trembled with the strength of his
+repressed passion--
+
+"Natasha, for God's sake remember that I am only made of flesh and
+blood!"
+
+In a moment she was by his side again, this time with her eyes
+downcast and her proud little head bent as though in acknowledgment
+of his reproof. Then she looked up again, and held out her hand and
+said--
+
+"Forgive me; I have done wrong! Let us be friends again!"
+
+There was a gentle emphasis on the word "friends" that was
+irresistible. He took her hand in silence, and after a pressure that
+was almost imperceptibly returned, let it go again, and they walked
+on together; but there was very little more said between them that
+evening.
+
+This had happened one afternoon towards the middle of September, and
+two days later their delightful companionship came suddenly to an
+end, and the bond that existed between them was severed in a moment
+without warning, as a nerve thrilling with pleasure might be cut by
+an unexpected blow with a knife.
+
+On the 16th of September the _Orion_ returned from Australia. She
+touched the earth shortly after mid-day, and before sunset the
+_Azrael_, the vessel in which Michael Roburoff had gone to America,
+also returned, but without her commander. Her lieutenant, however,
+brought a despatch from him, which he delivered at once to Natas,
+who, immediately on reading it, sent for Tremayne.
+
+It evidently contained matters of great importance, for they remained
+alone together discussing it for over an hour. At the end of that
+time Tremayne left the Master's house and went to look for Arnold. He
+found him just helping Natasha out of a skiff at a little
+landing-stage that had been built out into the lake for boating
+purposes. As soon as greetings had been exchanged, he said--
+
+"Natasha, I have just left your father. He asked me, if I saw you, to
+tell you that he wishes to speak to you at once."
+
+"Certainly," said Natasha. "I hope you have not brought bad news home
+from your travels. You are looking very serious about something," and
+without waiting for an answer, she was gone to obey her father's
+summons. As soon as she was out of earshot Tremayne put his arm
+through Arnold's, and, drawing him away towards a secluded portion of
+the shore of the lake, said--
+
+"Arnold, old man, I have some very serious news for you. You must
+prepare yourself for the severest strain that, I believe, could be
+put on your loyalty and your honour."
+
+"What is it? For Heaven's sake don't tell me that it has to do with
+Natasha!" exclaimed Arnold, stopping short and facing round, white to
+the lips with the sudden fear that possessed him. "You know"--
+
+"Yes, I know everything," replied Tremayne, speaking almost as gently
+as a woman would have done, "and I am sorry to say that it has to do
+with her. I know what your hopes have been with regard to her, and no
+man on earth could have wished to see those hopes fulfilled more
+earnestly than I have done, but"--
+
+"What do you mean, Tremayne? Speak out, and let me know the worst. If
+you tell me that I am to give her up, I tell you that I am"--
+
+"'That I am an English gentleman, and that I will break my heart
+rather than my oath'--that is what you will tell me when I tell you
+that you must not only give up your hopes of winning Natasha, but
+that it is the Master's orders that you shall have the _Ithuriel_
+ready to sail at midnight to take her to America to Michael Roburoff,
+who has written to Natas to ask her for his wife."
+
+Arnold heard him out in dazed, stupefied silence. It seemed too
+monstrous, too horrible, to be true. The sudden blow had stunned him.
+He tried to speak, but the words would not come. Tremayne, still
+standing with his arm through his, felt his whole body trembling, as
+though stricken with some sudden palsy. He led him on again, saying
+in a sterner tone than before--
+
+"Come, come! Play the man, and remember that the work nearest to your
+hand is war, and not love. Remember the tremendous issues that are
+gathering to their fulfilment, and the part that you have to play in
+working them out. This is not a question of the happiness or the
+hopes of one man or woman, but of millions, of the whole human race.
+You, and you alone, hold in your hands the power to make the defeat
+of the League certain."
+
+"And I will use it, have no fear of that!" replied Arnold, stopping
+again and passing his hand over his eyes like a man waking from an
+evil dream. "What I have sworn to do I will do; I am not going back
+from my oath. I will obey to the end, for she will do the same, and
+what would she think of me if I failed! Leave me alone for a bit now,
+old man. I must fight this thing out with myself, but the _Ithuriel_
+shall be ready to start at twelve."
+
+Tremayne saw that he was himself again, and that it was better that
+he should do as he said; so with a word of farewell he turned away
+and left him alone with his thoughts. Half-way back to the settlement
+he met Natasha coming down towards the lake. She was deadly pale, but
+she walked with a firm step, and carried her head as proudly erect as
+ever. As they met she stopped him and said--
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+Tremayne's first thought was to try and persuade her to go back and
+leave Arnold to himself, but a look at Natasha's white set face and
+burning eyes warned him that she was not in a mood to take advice,
+and so he told her, and without another word she went on swiftly down
+the path that led to the lake.
+
+The brief twilight of the tropics had passed before he reached a
+grove of palms on the western shore of the lake, towards which he had
+bent his steps when he left Tremayne. He walked with loose, aimless
+strides, now quickly and now slowly, and now stopping to watch the
+brightening moon shining upon the water.
+
+He caught himself thinking what a lovely night it would be to take
+Natasha for a row, and then his mind sprang back with a jerk to the
+remembrance of the horrible journey that he was to begin at
+midnight--to take Natasha to another man, and leave her with him as
+his wife.
+
+No, it could not be true. It was impossible that he should have
+fought and triumphed as he had done, and all for this. To give up the
+one woman he had ever loved in all his life, the woman he had
+snatched from slavery and degradation when not another man on earth
+could have done it.
+
+What had this Roburoff done that she should be given to him for the
+mere asking? Why had he not come in person like a man to woo and win
+her if he could, and then he would have stood aside and bowed to her
+choice. But this curt order to take her away to him as though she
+were some piece of merchandise--no, if such things were possible,
+better that he had never--
+
+"Richard!"
+
+He felt a light touch on his arm, and turned round sharply. Natasha
+was standing beside him. He had been so engrossed by his dark
+thoughts that he had not heard her light step on the soft sward, and
+now he seemed to see her white face and great shining eyes looking up
+at him in the moonlight as though there was some mist floating
+between him and her. Suddenly the mist seemed to vanish. He saw tears
+under the long dark lashes, and the sweet red lips parted in a faint
+smile.
+
+Lose her he might to-morrow, but for this one moment she was his and
+no other man's, let those who would say nay. That instant she was
+clasped helpless and unresisting in his arms, and her lips were
+giving his back kiss for kiss. Wreck and chaos might come now for all
+he cared. She loved him, and had given herself to him, if only for
+that one moonlit hour.
+
+After that he could plunge into the battle again, and slay and spare
+not--yes, and he would slay without mercy. He would hurl his
+lightnings from the skies, and where they struck there should be
+death. If not love and life, then hate and death--it was not his
+choice. Let those who had chosen see to that; but for the present
+love and life were his, why should he not live? Then the mad, sweet
+delirium passed, and saner thoughts came. He released her suddenly,
+almost brusquely, and said with a harsh ring in his voice--
+
+"Why did you come? Have you forgotten what so nearly happened the day
+before yesterday?"
+
+"No, I have not forgotten it. I have remembered it, and that is why I
+came to tell you--what you know now."
+
+Her face was rosy enough now, and she looked him straight in the eyes
+as she spoke, proud to confess the mastery that he had won.
+
+"Now listen," she went on, speaking in a low, quick, passionate tone.
+"The will of the Master must be done. There is no appeal from that,
+either for you or me. He can dispose of me as he chooses, and I shall
+obey, as I warned you I should when you first told me that you would
+win me if you could.
+
+"Well, you have won me, so far as I can be won. I love you, and I
+have come to tell you so before the shadow falls between us. And I
+have come to tell you that what you have won shall belong to no one
+else. I will obey my father to the letter, but the spirit is my
+affair. Now kiss me again, dear, and say good-bye. We have had our
+glimpse of heaven, and this is not the only life."
+
+For one more brief moment she surrendered herself to him again. Their
+lips met and parted, and in an instant she had slipped out of his
+arms and was gone, leaving him dazed with her beauty and her
+winsomeness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+LOVE AND DUTY.
+
+
+An hour later he walked back to the settlement, looking five years
+older than he had done a couple of hours before, but with his nerves
+steady and with the light of a solemn resolve burning in his eyes. He
+went straight to the _Ithuriel_, and made a minute personal
+inspection of the whole vessel, inside and out. He saw that every
+cylinder was charged, and that there was an ample supply of spare
+ones and ammunition on board, including a number of his new
+fire-shells. Then he went to Lieutenant Marston's quarters, and told
+him to have the crew in their places by half-past eleven; and this
+done, he paid a formal visit to the Master to report all ready.
+
+Natas received him as usual, just as though nothing out of the common
+had happened; and if he noticed the change that had come over him, he
+made no sign that he did so. When Arnold had made his report, he
+merely said--
+
+"Very good. You will start at twelve. The Chief has told you the
+nature and purpose of the voyage you are about to make, I presume?"
+
+He bowed a silent affirmative, and Natas went on--
+
+"The Chief and Anna Ornovski will go with you as witnesses for
+Michael Roburoff and Natasha, and the Chief will be provided with my
+sealed orders for your guidance in the immediate future. The
+rendezvous is a house on one of the spurs of the Alleghany Mountains.
+What time will it take to reach there?"
+
+"The distance is about seven thousand miles. That will be from thirty
+to thirty-five hours' flight according to the wind. With a fair wind
+we shall reach the Alleghanies a little before sunrise on the 18th."
+
+"Then to make sure of that, if possible, you had better start an hour
+earlier. Natasha is making her preparations, and will be on board at
+eleven."
+
+"Very well; I will be ready to start then," replied Arnold, speaking
+as calmly and formally as Natas had done. Then he saluted and walked
+out.
+
+When he got into the open air he drew a deep breath. His teeth came
+together with a sharp snap, and his hands clenched. So it was true,
+then, this horrible thing, this sacrilege, this ruin, that had fallen
+upon his life and hers. Natas had spoken of giving her to this man as
+quietly as though it had been the most natural proceeding possible,
+an understood arrangement about which there could be no question.
+Well, he had sworn, and he would obey, but there would be a heavy
+price to pay for his obedience.
+
+He did not see Natasha again that night. When the _Ithuriel_ rose
+into the air she was in her cabin with the Princess, and did not
+appear during the voyage save at meals, when all the others were
+present, and then she joined in the conversation with a composure
+which showed that, externally at least, she had quite regained her
+habitual self-control.
+
+Arnold spent the greater part of the voyage in the deck-saloon with
+Tremayne, talking over the events of the war, and arranging plans of
+future action. By mutual consent the object of their present voyage
+was not mentioned. As Arnold was more than two months and a half
+behind the news, he found not a little relief in hearing from
+Tremayne of all that had taken place since the recapture of the
+_Lucifer_.
+
+The two men, who were now to be the active leaders of the Revolution
+which, as they hoped, was soon to overturn the whole fabric of
+Society, and introduce a new social order of things, conversed in
+this fashion, quietly discussing the terrific tragedy in which they
+were to play the leading parts, and arranging all the details of
+their joint action, until well into the night of the 17th.
+
+About eleven Tremayne went to his cabin, and Arnold, going to the
+conning-tower, told the man on the look-out to go below until he was
+called. Then he took his place, and remained alone with his thoughts
+as the _Ithuriel_ sped on her way a thousand feet above the deserted
+waters of the Atlantic, until the dark mass of the American Continent
+loomed up in front of him to the westward.
+
+As soon as he sighted land he went aft to the wheel-house, and
+slightly inclined the air-planes, causing the _Ithuriel_ to soar
+upwards until the barometer marked a height of 6000 feet. At this
+elevation he passed over the mouth of the Chesapeake, and across
+Virginia; and a little more than an hour before sunrise the
+_Ithuriel_ sank to the earth on one of the spurs of the Alleghanies,
+in sight of a lonely weather-board house, in one of the windows of
+which three lights were burning in the form of a triangle.
+
+This building was used ostensibly as a shooting and hunting-box by
+Michael Roburoff and a couple of his friends, and in reality as a
+meeting-place for the Inner Circle or Executive Council of the
+American Section of the Brotherhood. This Section was, numerically
+speaking, the most important of the four branches into which the
+Outer Circle of the Brotherhood was divided--that is to say, the
+British, Continental, American, and Colonial Sections.
+
+All told, the Terrorists had rather more than five million adherents
+in America and Canada, of whom more than four millions were men in
+the prime of life, and nearly all of Anglo-Saxon blood and English
+speech. All these men were not only armed, but trained in the use of
+firearms to a high degree of skill; their organisation, which had
+gradually grown up with the Brotherhood for twenty years, was known
+to the world only under the guise of the different forms of
+industrial unionism, but behind these there was a perfect system of
+discipline and command which the outer world had never even
+suspected.
+
+The Section was divided first into squads of ten under the command of
+an eleventh, who alone knew the leaders of the other squads in his
+neighbourhood. Ten of these squads made a company, commanded by one
+man, who was only known to the squad-captains, and who alone knew the
+captain of the regiment, which was composed of ten companies.
+
+The next step in the organisation was the brigade, consisting of ten
+regiments, the captains of which alone knew the commander of the
+brigade, while the commanders of the brigades were alone acquainted
+with the members of the Inner Circle or Executive Council which
+managed the affairs of the whole Section, and whose Chief was the
+only man in the Section who could hold any communication with the
+Inner Circle of the Brotherhood itself, which, under the immediate
+command of Natas, governed the whole organisation throughout the
+world.
+
+This description will serve for all the Sections, as all were
+modelled upon exactly the same plan. The advantages of such an
+organisation will at once be obvious. In the first place, no member
+of the rank and file could possibly betray more than ten of his
+fellows, including his captain; while his treachery could, if
+necessary, be made known in a few hours to ten thousand others, not
+one of whom he knew, and thus it would be impossible for him to
+escape the invariable death penalty. The same is, of course, equally
+true of the captains and the commanders.
+
+On the other hand, the system was equally convenient for the
+transmission of orders from headquarters. An order given to ten
+commanders of brigades could, in a single night, be transmitted
+individually to the whole of the Section, and yet those in command of
+the various divisions would not know whence the orders came, save as
+regards their immediate superiors.
+
+It will be necessary for the reader to bear these few particulars in
+mind in order to understand future developments, which, without them,
+might seem to border on the impossible. It is only necessary to add
+that the full fighting strength of the four Sections of the
+Brotherhood amounted to about twelve millions of men, a considerable
+proportion of whom were serving as soldiers in the armies of the
+League and the Alliance, and that in its cosmopolitan aspect it was
+known to the rank and file as the Red International, whose members
+knew each other only by the possession of a little knot of red ribbon
+tied into the button-hole in a peculiar fashion on occasions of
+meetings for instruction or drill.
+
+The three lights burning in the form of a triangle in the window of
+the house were a prearranged signal to avoid mistake on the part of
+those on board the air-ship. When they reached the earth, Arnold,
+acting under the instructions of Tremayne, who was his superior on
+land though his voluntary subordinate when afloat, left the
+_Ithuriel_ and her crew in charge of Lieutenant Marston and Andrew
+Smith, the coxswain.
+
+The remainder disembarked, and then the air-ship rose from the ground
+and ascended out of sight through a layer of clouds that hung some
+eight hundred feet above the high ground of the hills. Lieutenant
+Marston's orders were to remain out of sight for an hour and then
+return.
+
+Arnold had not seen Natasha for several hours previous to the
+landing, and he noticed with wonder, by no means unmixed with
+something very like anger, that she looked a great deal more cheerful
+than she had done during the voyage. She had preserved her composure
+all through, but the effort of restraint had been visible. Now this
+had vanished, although the supreme hour of the sacrifice that her
+father had commanded her to make was actually at hand. When her feet
+touched the earth she looked round with a smile on her lips and a
+flush on her cheeks, and said, in a voice in which there was no
+perceptible trace of anxiety or suffering--
+
+"So this is the place of my bridal, is it? Well, I must say that a
+more cheerful one might have been selected; yet perhaps, after all,
+such a gloomy spot is more suitable to the ceremony. Come along; I
+suppose the bridegroom will be anxiously waiting the coming of the
+bride. I wonder what sort of a reception I shall have. Come, my Lord
+of Alanmere, your arm; and you, Captain Arnold, bring the Princess.
+We have a good deal to do before it gets light."
+
+These were strange words to be uttered by a girl who but a few hours
+before had voluntarily confessed her love for one man, and was on the
+eve of compulsorily giving herself up to another one. Had it been any
+one else but Natasha, Arnold could have felt only disgust; but his
+love made it impossible for him to believe her guilty of such
+unworthy lightness as her words bespoke, even on the plain evidence
+before him, so he simply choked back his anger as best he might, and
+followed towards the house, speechless with astonishment at the
+marvellous change that had come over the daughter of Natas.
+
+Tremayne knocked in a peculiar fashion on the window, and then
+repeated the knock on the door, which was opened almost immediately.
+
+"Who stands there?" asked a voice in French.
+
+"Those who bring the expected bride," replied Tremayne in German.
+
+"And by whose authority?" This time the question was in Spanish.
+
+"In the Master's name," said Tremayne in English.
+
+"Enter! you are welcome."
+
+A second door was now opened inside the house, and through it a light
+shone into the passage. The four visitors entered, and, passing
+through the second door, found themselves in a plainly-furnished
+room, down the centre of which ran a long table, flanked by five
+chairs on each side, in each of which, save one, sat a masked and
+shrouded figure exactly similar to those which Arnold had seen when
+he was first introduced to the Council-chamber in the house on
+Clapham Common. In a chair at one end of the table sat another figure
+similarly draped.
+
+The door was closed as they entered, and the member of the Circle who
+had let them in returned to his seat. No word was spoken until this
+was done. Then Natasha, leaving her three companions by the door,
+advanced alone to the lower end of the table.
+
+As she did so, Arnold for the first time noticed that she carried her
+magazine pistol in a sheath at her belt. He and Tremayne were, as a
+matter of course, armed with a brace of these weapons, but this was
+the first time that he had ever seen Natasha carry her pistol openly.
+Wondering greatly what this strange sight might mean, he waited with
+breathless anxiety for the drama to begin.
+
+As Natasha took her stand at the opposite end of the table, the
+figure in the chair at the top rose and unmasked, displaying the
+pallid countenance of the Chief of the American Section. He looked to
+Arnold anything but a bridegroom awaiting his bride, and the ceremony
+which was to unite him to her for ever. His cheeks and lips were
+bloodless, and his eyes wandered restlessly from Natasha to Tremayne
+and back again. He glanced to and fro in silence for several moments,
+and when he at last found his voice he said, in half-choked, broken
+accents--
+
+"What is this? Why am I honoured by the presence of the Chief and the
+Admiral of the Air? I asked only that if the Master consented to
+grant my humble petition in reward for my services, the daughter of
+Natas should come attended simply by a sister of the Brotherhood and
+the messenger that I sent."
+
+They let him finish, although it was with manifest difficulty that he
+stammered to the end of his speech. Arnold, still wondering at the
+strange turn events had taken, saw Tremayne's lips tighten and his
+brows contract in the effort to repress a smile. The other masked
+figures at the table moved restlessly in their seats, and glanced
+from one to another. Seeing this, Tremayne stepped quickly forward to
+Natasha's side, and said in a stern, commanding tone--
+
+"I am the Chief of the Central Council, and I order every one here to
+keep his seat and remain silent until the daughter of Natas has
+spoken."
+
+The ten masked and hooded heads instantly bowed consent. Then
+Tremayne stepped back again, and Natasha spoke. There was a keen,
+angry light in her eyes, and a bright flush upon her cheek, but her
+voice was smooth and silvery, and in strange contrast to the words
+that she used, almost to the end.
+
+"Did you think, Michael Roburoff, that the Master of the Terror would
+send his daughter to her bridal so poorly escorted as you say? Surely
+that would have been almost as much of a slight as you put upon me
+when, instead of coming to woo me as a true lover should have done,
+you contented yourself with sending a messenger as though you were
+some Eastern potentate despatching an envoy to demand the hand of the
+daughter of a vassal.
+
+"It would seem that this sudden love which you do me the honour to
+profess for me has destroyed your manners as well as your reason. But
+since you have assumed so high a dignity, it is not seemly that you
+should stand to hear what I have to say; sit down, for it looks as
+though standing were a trouble to you."
+
+Michael Roburoff, who by this time could scarcely support himself on
+his trembling limbs, sank suddenly back into his chair and covered
+his face with his hands.
+
+"That is not very lover-like to cover your eyes when the bride that
+you have asked for is standing in front of you; but as long as you
+don't cover your ears as well, I will forgive you the slight. Now,
+listen.
+
+"I have come, as you see, and I have brought with me the answer of
+the Master to your request. Until an hour ago I did not know what it
+was myself, for, like the rest of the faithful members of the
+Brotherhood, I obey the word of the Master blindly.
+
+"You, as it would appear, maddened by what you are pleased to call
+your love for me, have dared to attempt to make terms where you swore
+to obey blindly to the death. You have dared to place me, the
+daughter of Natas, in the balance against the allegiance of the
+American Section on the eve of the supreme crisis of its work, thus
+imperilling the results of twenty years of labour.
+
+"If you had not been mad you would have foreseen the results of such
+treachery. As it is you must learn them now. What I have said has
+been proved by your own hand, and the proof is here in the hand of
+the Chief. This is the answer of Natas to the servant who would have
+betrayed him in the hour of trial."
+
+She took a folded paper from her belt as she spoke, and, unfolding
+it, read in clear, deliberate tones--
+
+    Michael Roburoff, late chief of the American Section of the
+    Brotherhood. When you joined the Order, you took an oath to obey
+    the directions of its chiefs to the death, and you acknowledged
+    that death would be the just penalty of perjury. My orders to you
+    were to complete the arrangements for bringing the American
+    Section into action when you received the signal to do so.
+    Instead of doing that, you have sought to bargain with me for the
+    price of its allegiance. That is treachery, and the penalty of
+    treachery is death.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+"Those are the words of the Master," continued Natasha, throwing the
+paper down upon the table with one hand, and drawing her pistol with
+the other. "It rests with the Chief to say when and where the
+sentence of the Master shall be carried out."
+
+[Illustration: "He dropped back into his chair with a bullet in his
+brain."
+
+_See page 275._]
+
+"Let it be carried out here, and now," said Tremayne, "and let him
+who has anything to say against it speak now, or for ever hold his
+peace."
+
+The ten heads bowed once more in silence, and Natasha went on still
+addressing the trembling wretch who sat huddled in the chair in front
+of her.
+
+"You have asked for a bride, Michael Roburoff, and she has come to
+you, and I can promise you that you shall sleep soundly in her
+embrace. Your bride is Death, and I have chosen to bring her to you
+with my own hand, that all here may see how the daughter of Natas can
+avenge an insult to her womanhood.
+
+"You have been guilty of treachery to the Brotherhood, and for that
+you might have been punished by any hand; but you would also have
+condemned me to the infamy of a loveless marriage, and that is an
+insult that no one shall punish but myself. Look up, and, if you can,
+die like a man."
+
+Roburoff took his hands from his face, and with an inarticulate cry
+started to his feet. The same instant Natasha's hand went up, her
+pistol flashed, and he dropped back again into his chair with a
+bullet in his brain. Then she replaced the pistol in her belt, and
+going up to Arnold held out both her hands and said, as he clasped
+them in his own--
+
+"If the Master's reply had been different, that bullet would by this
+time have been in my own heart."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+THE CAPTURE OF A CONTINENT.
+
+
+Within an hour after the execution of Michael Roburoff the _Ithuriel_
+was winging her way back to Aeria, and at least two of her company
+were anticipating their return to the valley with feelings very
+different to those with which they had contemplated their departure.
+
+When the last farewells and congratulations had been spoken, and the
+air-ship rose from the earth, Tremayne returned to the house to
+commence forthwith the great task which now developed upon him; for
+in addition to being Chief of the Central Executive, he now assumed
+the direct command of the American Section, which, after long
+consideration, had been selected as the nucleus of the Federation of
+the English-speaking peoples of the world.
+
+For a fortnight he worked almost night and day, attending to every
+detail with the utmost care, and bringing into play all those rare
+powers of mind which in the first instance had led Natas to select
+him as the visible head of the Executive. In this way the chief
+consequence of the love-madness of Roburoff had been to place at the
+head of affairs in America the one man of all others most fitted by
+descent and ability to carry out such a work, and to this fact its
+complete success must in a great measure be attributed.
+
+So perfectly were his plans laid and executed, that right up to the
+moment when the signal was given and the plans became actions,
+American society went about its daily business without the remotest
+suspicion that it was living on the slope of a slumbering volcano
+whose fires were so soon to burst forth and finally consume the
+social fabric which, despite its splendid exterior, was inwardly as
+rotten as were the social fabrics of Rome and Byzantium on the eve of
+their fall.
+
+On the 1st of October the cables brought the news of the fall of the
+Quadrilateral, the storming of Hamburg, and the retreat of the
+British forces on Antwerp. Four days later came the tidings of a
+great battle under the walls of Antwerp, in which the British and
+German forces, outnumbered ten to one by the innumerable hosts of the
+League, had suffered a decisive defeat, which rendered it imperative
+for them to fall back upon the Allied fleets in the Scheldt, and to
+leave the Netherlands to the mercy of the Tsar and his allies, who
+were thus left undisputed masters of the continent of Europe.
+
+This last and crowning victory had been achieved by exactly the same
+means which had accomplished all the other triumphs of the campaign,
+and therefore there will be no need to enter into any detailed
+description of it. Indeed, the fall of the Quadrilateral and the
+defeat of the last army of the Alliance round Antwerp would have been
+accomplished much more easily and speedily than it had been but for
+the fact that the weather, which had been fine up to the end of July,
+had suddenly broken, and a succession of violent storms and gales
+from the north and north-west had made it impossible for the
+war-balloons to be brought into action with any degree of
+effectiveness.
+
+During the last week of September the storms had ceased, and then the
+work of destruction began. Not even the hitherto impregnable
+fortresses of Tournay, Mons, Namur, and Liége had been able to
+withstand the assault from the air any better than the forts of
+Berlin or the walls of Constantinople. A day's bombardment had
+sufficed to reduce them to ruins, and, the chain once broken, the
+armies of the League swept in wave after wave across the plains which
+they had guarded.
+
+The loss of life had been unparalleled even in this the greatest of
+all wars, for the British and Germans had fought with a dogged
+resolution which, but for the vastly superior numbers and the
+irresistible means of destruction employed against them, must
+infallibly have triumphed. As it was, it was only when valour had
+achieved its last sacrifice, and further resistance became rather
+madness than devotion, that the retreat was finally sounded in time
+to embark the remnants of the armies of the Alliance on board the
+warships. Happily at the very hour when this was being done the
+weather broke again, and the ships of the Allied fleets were
+therefore able to make their way to sea through storm and darkness,
+unmolested by the war-balloons.
+
+While the American press was teeming with columns of description
+telegraphed at enormous cost from the seat of war, and with
+absolutely misleading articles as to the policy of the League and the
+attitude of studious neutrality that was to be observed by the United
+States Government, the dockyards, controlled directly and indirectly
+by the American Ring, were working night and day putting the
+finishing touches to the flotilla of dynamite cruisers and other
+war-vessels intended to carry out the plan revealed by Michael
+Roburoff on board the _Ithuriel_, after he had been taken off the
+_Aurania_ in the Mid-Atlantic.
+
+Briefly described, this was as follows:--Representative government in
+America had by this time become a complete sham. The whole political
+machinery and internal resources of the United States were now
+virtually at the command of a great Ring of capitalists who, through
+the medium of the huge monopolies which they controlled, and the
+enormous sums of money at their command, held the country in the
+hollow of their hand. These men were as totally devoid of all human
+feeling or public sentiment as it was possible for human beings to
+be. They had grown rich in virtue of their contempt of every
+principle of justice and mercy, and they had no other object in life
+than to still further increase their gigantic hoards of wealth, and
+to multiply the enormous powers which they already wielded. The then
+condition of affairs in Europe had presented them with such an
+opportunity as no other combination of circumstances could have given
+them, and ignoring, as such wretches would naturally do, all ties of
+blood and kindred speech, they had determined to take advantage of
+the situation to the utmost.
+
+In the guise of the United States Government the Ring had concluded a
+secret treaty with the commanders of the League, in virtue of which,
+at a stipulated point in the struggle, America was to declare war on
+Britain, invade Canada by land, and send to sea an immense flotilla
+of swift dynamite cruisers of tremendously destructive power, which
+had been constructed openly in the Government dockyards, ostensibly
+for coast defence, and secretly in private yards belonging to the
+various Corporations composing the Ring.
+
+This flotilla was to co-operate with the fleet of the League as soon
+as England had been invaded, and complete the blockade of the British
+ports. Were this once accomplished nothing could save Britain from
+starvation into surrender, and the British Empire from disintegration
+and partition between the Ring and the Commanders of the League, who
+would then practically divide the mastery of the world among them.
+
+On the night of the 4th of October the five words: "The hour and the
+man," went flying over the wires from Washington throughout the
+length and breadth of the North American Continent. The next morning
+half the industries of the United States were paralysed; all the
+lines of communication by telegraph and rail between the east and
+west were severed, the shore ends of the Atlantic cables were cut, no
+newspapers appeared, and every dockyard on the eastern coast was in
+the hands of the Terrorists.
+
+To complete the stupor produced by this swift succession of
+astounding events, when the sun rose an air-ship was seen floating
+high in the air over the ten arsenals of the United States--that is
+to say, over Portsmouth, Charlestown, Brooklyn, League Island, New
+London, Washington, Norfolk, Pensacola, Mare Island, and Port Royal,
+while two others held Chicago and St. Louis, the great railway
+centres for the west and south, at their mercy, and the _Ithuriel_,
+with a broad red flag flying from her stern, swept like a meteor
+along the eastern coast from Maine to Florida.
+
+To attempt to describe the condition of frenzied panic into which the
+inhabitants of the threatened cities, and even the whole of the
+Eastern States were thrown by the events of that ever-memorable
+morning, would be to essay an utterly hopeless task. From the
+millionaire in his palace to the outcasts who swarmed in the slums,
+not a man or a woman kept a cool head save those who were in the
+councils of the Terrorists. The blow had fallen with such stupefying
+suddenness that as far as America was concerned the Revolution was
+practically accomplished before any one very well knew what had
+happened.
+
+Out of the midst of an apparently peaceful and industrious population
+five millions of armed men had sprung in a single night. Factories
+and workshops had opened their doors, but none entered them; ships
+lay idle by the wharves, offices were deserted, and the great reels
+of paper hung motionless beside the paralysed machines which should
+have converted them into newspapers.
+
+It was not a strike, for no mere trade organisation could have
+accomplished such a miracle. It was the force born of the
+accumulation of twenty years of untiring labour striking one mighty
+blow which shattered the commercial fabric of a continent in a single
+instant. Those who had been clerks or labourers yesterday, patient,
+peaceful, and law-abiding, were to-day soldiers, armed and
+disciplined, and obeying with automatic regularity the unheard
+command of some unknown chief.
+
+This of itself would have been enough to throw the United States into
+a panic; but, worse than all, the presence of the air-ships, holding
+at their mercy the arsenals and the richest cities in the Eastern
+States, proved that tremendous and all as it was, this was only a
+phase of some vast and mysterious cataclysm which might as easily
+involve the whole civilised world as it could overwhelm the United
+States of America.
+
+By noon, almost without striking a blow, every dynamite cruiser and
+warship on the eastern coast had been seized and manned by the
+Terrorists. To the dismay of the authorities, it was found that more
+than half the army and navy, officers and men alike, had obeyed the
+mysterious summons that had gone throughout the land the night
+before; and matters reached a climax when, as the clocks of
+Washington were striking twelve, the President himself was arrested
+in the White House.
+
+All the streets of Washington were in the hands of the Terrorists,
+and at one o'clock Tremayne, after posting guards at all the
+approaches, entered the Senate, and in the name of Natas proclaimed
+the Constitution of the United States null and void, and the
+Government dissolved.
+
+Then with a copy of the Constitution in his hand he proceeded to the
+steps of the Capitol, and, in the presence of a vast throng of the
+armed members of the American Section, he proclaimed the Federation
+of the English-speaking races of the world, in virtue of their bonds
+of kindred blood and speech and common interests; and amidst a scene
+of the wildest enthusiasm called upon all who owned those bonds to
+forget the artificial divisions that had separated them into hostile
+nations and communities, and to follow the leadership of the
+Brotherhood to the conquest of the earth.
+
+Then in a few strong and simple phrases he exposed the subservience
+of the Government to the capitalist Ring, and described the inhuman
+compact that it had entered into with the arch-enemies of national
+freedom and personal liberty to crush the motherland of the
+Anglo-Saxon nations, and for the sake of sordid gain to rivet the
+fetters of oppression upon the limbs of the race which for a thousand
+years had stood in the forefront of the battle for freedom.
+
+As he concluded his appeal, one mighty shout of wrath and execration
+rose up to heaven from a million throats. He waited until this died
+away into silence, then, raising the copy of the Constitution above
+his head, he cried in clear ringing tones--
+
+"For a hundred and fifty years this has been boasted as the bulwark
+of liberty, and used as the instrument of social and commercial
+oppression. The Republic of America has been governed, not by
+patriots and statesmen, but by millionaires and their hired political
+puppets. It is therefore a fraud and a sham, and deserves no longer
+to exist!"
+
+So saying, he tore the paper into fragments and cast them into the
+air amidst a storm of cheers and volley after volley of musketry.
+While the enthusiasm was at its height the _Ithuriel_ suddenly swept
+downwards from the sky in full view of the mighty assemblage that
+swarmed round the Capitol. She was greeted with a roar of wondering
+welcome, for her appearance was the fulfilment of a promise upon
+which the success of the Revolution in America had largely depended.
+
+This was the promise, issued by Tremayne several days previously
+through the commanders of the various divisions of the Section, that
+as soon as the Anglo-Saxon Federation was proclaimed and accepted in
+America, the whole Brotherhood throughout the world would fall into
+line with it, and place its aërial navy at the disposal of its
+leaders. Practically this was giving the empire of the world in
+exchange for a money-despotism, of which every one save the
+millionaires and their servants had become heartily sick.
+
+There were few who in their hearts did not believe the Republic to be
+a colossal fraud, and therefore there were few who regretted it.
+
+The _Ithuriel_ passed slowly over the heads of the wondering crowd,
+and came to a standstill alongside the steps on which Tremayne was
+standing. The crowd saw a man on her deck shake hands with Tremayne
+and give him a folded paper. Then the air-ship swept gracefully
+upward again in a spiral curve until she hung motionless over the
+dome of the Capitol.
+
+Amidst a silence born of breathless interest to know the import of
+this message from the sky, Tremayne opened the paper, glanced at its
+contents, and handed it to the senior officer in command of the
+brigades, who stood beside him. This man, a veteran who had grown
+grey in the service of the Brotherhood, advanced with the open paper
+in his hand, and read out in a loud voice--
+
+    Natas sends greeting to the Brotherhood in America. The work has
+    been well done, and the reward of patient labour is at hand. This
+    is to name Alan Tremayne, Chief of the Central Executive, first
+    President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation throughout the world, and
+    to invest him with the supreme authority for the ordering of its
+    affairs. The aërial navy of the Brotherhood is placed at his
+    disposal to co-operate with the armies and fleets of the
+    Federation.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+When the mighty shout of acclamation which greeted the reading of
+this commission had died away, Tremayne stepped forward again and
+spoke the few words that now remained to be said--
+
+"I accept the office and all that it implies. The fate of the world
+lies in our hands, and as we decide it so will the future lot of
+humanity be good or evil. The armies of the Franco-Slavonian League
+are now masters of the continent of Europe, and are preparing for the
+invasion of Britain. The first use that I shall make of the authority
+now vested in me will be to summon the Tsar in the name of the
+Federation to sheathe the sword at once, and relinquish his designs
+on Britain. The moment that one of his soldiers sets foot on the
+sacred soil of our motherland I shall declare war upon him, and it
+shall be a war, not of conquest, but of extermination, and we will
+make an end of tyranny on earth for ever.
+
+"Now let those who are not on guard-duty go to their homes, and
+remember that they are now citizens of a greater realm than the
+United States, and endowed with more than national duties and
+responsibilities. Let every man's person and property be respected,
+and let the penalty of all violence be death. Those who have plotted
+against the public welfare will be dealt with in due course, and
+yonder air-ship will be despatched with our message to the Tsar at
+sundown. Long live the Federation!"
+
+Millions of throats took up the cry as the last words left his lips
+until it rolled away from the Capitol in mighty waves of sound,
+flowing along the crowded streets and overrunning the utmost confines
+of the capital.
+
+Thus, without the loss of a hundred lives, and in a space of less
+than twelve hours, was the Revolution in America accomplished. The
+triumph of the Terrorists was as complete as it had been unexpected.
+Menaced by air and sea and land, the great centres of population made
+no resistance, and, when they learnt the true object of the
+Revolution, wanted to make none. No one really believed in the late
+Government, and every one in his soul hated and despised the
+millionaires.
+
+There was no bond between them and their fellow-men but money, and
+the moment that was snapped they were looked upon in their true
+nature as criminals and outcasts from the pale of humanity. By
+sundown, when the _Ithuriel_ left for the seat of war, the members of
+the Ring and those of the late Government who refused to acknowledge
+the Federation were lodged in prison, and news had been received from
+Montreal that the simultaneous rising of the Canadian Section had
+been completely successful, and that all the railways and arsenals
+and ships of war were in the hands of the Terrorists, so completing
+the capture of the North American continent.
+
+The President of the Federation and his faithful subordinates went to
+work, without losing an hour, to reorganise as far as was necessary
+the internal affairs of the continent of which they had so suddenly
+become the undisputed masters. There was some trouble with the
+British authorities in Canada, who, from mistaken motives of duty to
+the mother country, at first refused to recognise the Federation.
+
+The consequence of this was that Tremayne went north the next day and
+had an interview with the Governor-General at Montreal. At the same
+time he ordered six air-ships and twenty-five dynamite cruisers to
+blockade the St. Lawrence and the eastern ports. The Canadian Pacific
+Railway and the telegraph lines to the west were already in the hands
+of the Terrorists, and a million men were under arms waiting his
+commands.
+
+A very brief explanation, therefore, sufficed to show the Governor
+that forcible resistance would not only be the purest madness, but
+that it would also seriously interfere with the working of the great
+scheme of Federation, the object of which was, not merely to place
+Britain in the first place among the nations, but to make the
+Anglo-Saxon race the one dominant power in the whole world.
+
+To all the Governor's objections on the score of loyalty to the
+British Crown, Tremayne, who heard him to the end without
+interruption, simply replied in a tone that precluded all further
+argument--
+
+"The day of states and empires, and therefore of loyalty to
+sovereigns, has gone by. The history of nations is the history of
+intrigue, quarrelling, and bloodshed, and we are determined to put a
+stop to warfare for good and all. We hold in our hands the only power
+that can thwart the designs of the League and avert an era of tyranny
+and retrogression. That power we intend to use whether the British
+Government likes it or not.
+
+"We shall save Britain, if necessary, in spite of her rulers. If they
+stand in the way, so much the worse for them. They will be called
+upon to resign in favour of the Federation and its Executive within
+the next seven days. If they consent, the forces of the League will
+never cross the Straits of Dover. If they refuse we shall allow
+Britain to taste the results of their choice, and then settle the
+matter in our own way."
+
+The next day the Governor dissolved the Canadian Legislatures "under
+protest," and retired into private life for the present. He felt that
+it was no time to argue with a man who had millions of men behind
+him, to say nothing of an aërial fleet which alone could reduce
+Montreal to ruins in twelve hours.
+
+After arranging matters in Canada the President returned to
+Washington in the _Ariel_, which he had taken into his personal
+service for the present, and set about disposing of the Ring and
+those members of the late Government who were most deeply implicated
+in the secret alliance with the leaders of the League. When the facts
+of this scheme were made public they raised such a storm of popular
+indignation, that if those responsible for it had been turned loose
+in the streets of Washington they would have been torn to pieces like
+vermin.
+
+As it was, however, they were placed upon their trial before a
+Commission of seven members of the Inner Circle of the American
+Section, presided over by the President. Their guilt was speedily
+proved beyond the shadow of a doubt. Documents, memoranda, and
+telegrams were produced by men who had seemed their most trusted
+servants, but had been in reality members of the Brotherhood told off
+to unearth their schemes.
+
+Cyphers were translated which showed that they had practically sold
+the resources of the country in advance to the Tsar and his allies,
+and that they were only waiting the signal to declare war without
+warning and without cause upon Britain, blockade her ports, and
+starve her into surrender and acceptance of any terms that the
+victors might choose to impose. Last of all, the terms of the bargain
+between the League and the Ring were produced, signed by the late
+President and the Secretary of State, and countersigned by the
+Russian Minister at Washington.
+
+The Court sat for three days, and reassembled on the fourth to
+deliver its verdict and sentence. Fifteen members of the late
+Government, including the President, the Vice-President, and the
+Secretary of State, and twenty-four great capitalists composing the
+Ring, were found guilty of giving and receiving bribes, directly and
+indirectly, and of betraying and conspiring to betray the confidence
+of the American people in its elected representatives, and also of
+conspiring to make war without due cause on a friendly Power for
+purely commercial reasons.
+
+At eleven o'clock on the morning of the 9th of October the President
+of the Federation rose in the Senate House, amidst breathless
+silence, to pronounce the sentence of the Court.
+
+"All the accused," he said, speaking in slow, deliberate tones, "have
+been proved guilty of such treason against their own race and the
+welfare of humanity as no men ever were guilty of before in all the
+disreputable history of state-craft. In view of the suffering and
+misery to millions of individuals, and the irreparable injury to the
+cause of civilisation that would have resulted from the success of
+their schemes, it would be impossible for human wit to devise any
+punishment which in itself would be adequate. The sentence of the
+Court is the extreme penalty known to human justice--Death!"
+
+A shudder passed through the vast assembly as he pronounced the
+ominous word, and the accused, who but a few days before had looked
+upon the world as their footstool, gazed with blanched faces and
+terror-stricken eyes upon each other. He paused for a moment, and
+looked sternly upon them. Then he went on--
+
+"But the Federation does not seek a punishment of revenge, but of
+justice; nor shall its first act of government be the shedding of
+blood, however guilty. Therefore, as President I override the
+sentence of death, and instead condemn you, who have been proved
+guilty of this unspeakable crime, to confiscation of the wealth that
+you have acquired so unscrupulously and used so mercilessly, and to
+perpetual banishment with your wives and families, who have shared
+the profits of your infamous traffic.
+
+"You will be at once conveyed to Kodiak Island, off the south coast
+of Alaska, and landed there. Once every six months you will be
+visited by a steamer, which will supply you with the necessaries of
+life, and the original penalty of death will be the immediate
+punishment of any one of you who attempts to return to a world of
+which you from this moment cease to be citizens."
+
+The sentence was carried out without an hour's delay. The exiles,
+with their wives and families, were placed under a strong guard in a
+special train, which conveyed them from Washington _viâ_ St. Louis to
+San Francisco, where they were transferred to a steamer which took
+them to the lonely and desolate island in the frozen North which was
+to be their home for the rest of their lives. They were followed by
+the execrations of a whole people and the regrets of none save the
+money-worshippers who had respected them, not as men, but as
+incarnations of the purchasing power of wealth.
+
+The huge fortunes which they had amassed, amounting in the aggregate
+to more than three hundred millions in English money, were placed in
+the public treasury for the immediate purposes of the war which the
+Federation was about to wage for the empire of the world. All their
+real estate property was transferred to the various municipalities in
+which it was situated, and their rents devoted to the relief of
+taxation, while the railways and other enterprises which they had
+controlled were declared public property, and placed in the hands of
+boards of management composed of their own officials.
+
+Within a week everything was working as smoothly as though no
+Revolution had ever taken place. All officials whose honesty there
+was no reason to suspect were retained in their offices, while those
+who were dismissed were replaced without any friction. All the
+affairs of government were conducted upon purely business principles,
+just as though the country had been a huge commercial concern, save
+for the fact that the chief object was efficiency and not
+profit-making.
+
+Money was abundantly plentiful, and the necessaries of life were
+cheaper than they had ever been before. Perhaps the principal reason
+for this happy state of affairs was the fact that law and politics
+had suddenly ceased to be trades at which money could be made. People
+were amazed at the rapidity with which public business was
+transacted.
+
+The President and his Council had at one stroke abrogated every civil
+and criminal law known to the old Constitution, and proclaimed in
+their place a simple, comprehensive code which was practically
+identical with the Decalogue. To this a final clause was added,
+stating that those who could not live without breaking any of these
+laws would not be considered as fit to live in civilised society, and
+would therefore be effectively removed from the companionship of
+their fellows.
+
+While the internal affairs of the Federation in America were being
+thus set in order, events had been moving rapidly in other parts of
+the world. The Tsar, the King of Italy, and General le Gallifet, who
+was now Dictator of France in all but name, were masters of the
+continent of Europe. The Anglo-Teutonic Alliance was a thing of the
+past. Germany, Austria, and Turkey were completely crushed, and the
+minor Powers had succumbed.
+
+Britain, crippled by the terrible cost in ships and men of the
+victory of the Nile, had evacuated the Mediterranean after
+dismantling the fortifications of Gibraltar and Malta, and had
+concentrated the remains of her fleets in the home waters, to prepare
+for the invasion which was now inevitable as soon as fair winds and
+fine weather made it possible for the war-balloons of the League to
+cross the water and co-operate with the invading forces.
+
+The Tsar, as had been expected, had not even deigned to reply to
+Tremayne's summons to disarm, and so the last arrangements for
+bringing the forces of the Federation into action at the proper time
+were pushed on with the utmost speed. The blockade of the American
+and Canadian coasts was rigidly maintained, and no vessels allowed to
+enter or leave any of the ports. All the warships of the League had
+been withdrawn from the Atlantic, and the great ocean highway
+remained unploughed by a single keel.
+
+On the 10th of October the _Ithuriel_ had returned from her second
+trip to the West, with the refusal of the British Government to
+recognise the Federation as a duly constituted Power, or to have any
+dealings with its leaders. "Great Britain," the reply concluded,
+"will stand or fall alone; and even in the event of ultimate defeat,
+the King of England will prefer to make terms with the sovereigns
+opposed to him rather than with those whose acts have proved them to
+be beyond the pale of the law of nations."
+
+"Ah!" said Tremayne to Arnold, as he read the royal words, "the
+policy which lost the American Colonies for the sake of an idea still
+rules at Westminster, it seems. But I'm not going to let the old Lion
+be strangled in his den for all that.
+
+"Natas was right when he said that Britain would have to pass through
+the fire before she would accept the Federation, and so I suppose she
+must, more's the pity. Still, perhaps it will be all for the best in
+the long run. You can't expect to root up a thousand-year-old oak as
+easily as a mushroom that only came up the day before yesterday."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
+
+
+It is now time to return to Britain, to the land which the course of
+events had so far appeared to single out as the battle-ground upon
+which was to be fought the Armageddon of the Western World--that
+conflict of the giants, the issue of which was to decide whether the
+Anglo-Saxon race was still to remain in the forefront of civilisation
+and progress, or whether it was to fall, crushed and broken, beneath
+the assaults of enemies descending upon the motherland of the
+Anglo-Saxon nations; whether the valour and personal devotion, which
+for a thousand years had scarcely known a defeat by flood or field,
+was still to pursue its course of victory, or whether it was to
+succumb to weight of numbers and mechanical discipline, reinforced by
+means of assault and destruction which so far had turned the
+world-war of 1904 into a succession of colossal and unparalleled
+butcheries, such as had never been known before in the history of
+human strife.
+
+When the Allied fleets, bearing the remains of the British and German
+armies which had been driven out of the Netherlands, reached England,
+and the news of the crowning disaster of the war in Europe was
+published in detail in the newspapers, the popular mind seemed
+suddenly afflicted with a paralysis of stupefaction.
+
+Men looked back over the long series of triumphs in which British
+valour and British resolution had again and again proved themselves
+invulnerable to the assaults of overwhelming numbers. They thought of
+the glories of the Peninsula, of the unbreakable strength of the thin
+red line at Waterloo, of the magnificent madness of Balaclava, and
+the invincible steadiness and discipline that had made Inkermann a
+word to be remembered with pride as long as the English name endured.
+
+Then their thoughts reverted to the immediate past, and they heard
+the shock of colossal armaments, compared with which the armies of
+the past appeared but pigmies in strength. They saw empires defended
+by millions of soldiers crushed in a few weeks, and a wave of
+conquest sweep in one unbroken roll from end to end of a continent in
+less time than it would have taken Napoleon or Wellington to have
+fought a single campaign. Huge fortresses, rendered, as men had
+believed, impregnable by the employment of every resource known to
+the most advanced military science, had been reduced to heaps of
+defenceless ruins in a few hours by a bombardment, under which their
+magnificent guns had lain as impotent as though they had been the
+culverins of three hundred years ago.
+
+It seemed like some hideous nightmare of the nations, in which Europe
+had gone mad, revelling in superhuman bloodshed and destruction,--a
+conflict in which more than earthly forces had been let loose,
+accomplishing a carnage so immense that the mind could only form a
+dim and imperfect conception of it. And now this red tide of
+desolation had swept up to the western verge of the Continent, and
+was there gathering strength and volume day by day against the hour
+when it should burst and oversweep the narrow strip of water which
+separated the inviolate fields of England from the blackened and
+blood-stained waste that it had left behind it from the Russian
+frontier to the German Ocean.
+
+It seemed impossible, and yet it was true. The first line of defence,
+the hitherto invincible fleet, magnificently as it had been managed,
+and heroically as it had been fought, had failed in the supreme hour
+of trial. It had failed, not because the sailors of Britain had done
+their duty less valiantly than they had done in the days of Rodney
+and Nelson, but simply because the conditions of naval warfare had
+been entirely changed, because the personal equation had been almost
+eliminated from the problem of battle, and because the new warfare of
+the seas had been waged rather with machinery than with men.
+
+In all the war not a single battle had been fought at close quarters;
+there had been plenty of instances of brilliant manoeuvring, of
+torpedo-boats running the gauntlet and hurling their deadly missiles
+against the sides of battleships and cruisers, and of ships rammed
+and sunk in a few instants by consummately-handled opponents; but the
+days of boarding and cutting out, of night surprises and fire-ships,
+had gone by for ever.
+
+The irresistible artillery with which modern science had armed the
+warships of all nations had made these feats impossible, and so had
+placed the valour which achieved them out of court. Within the last
+few weeks scarcely a day had passed but had witnessed the return of
+some mighty ironclad or splendid cruiser, which had set out a miracle
+of offensive and defensive strength, little better than a floating
+ruin, wrecked and shattered almost beyond recognition by the awful
+battle-storm through which she had passed.
+
+The magnificent armament which had held the Atlantic route had come
+back represented only by a few crippled ships almost unfit for any
+further service. True, they and those which never returned had
+rendered a splendid account of themselves before the enemy, but the
+fact remained--they were not defeated, but they were no longer able
+to perform the Titanic task which had been allotted to them.
+
+So, too, with the Mediterranean fleet, which, so far as sea-fighting
+was concerned, had achieved the most splendid triumph of the war. It
+had completely destroyed the enemy opposed to it, but the victory had
+been purchased at such a terrible price that, but for the squadron
+which had come to its aid, it would hardly have been able to reach
+home in safety.
+
+In a word, the lesson of the struggle on the sea had been, that
+modern artillery was just as effective whether fired by Englishmen,
+Frenchmen, or Russians; that where a torpedo struck a warship was
+crippled, no matter what the nationality or the relative valour of
+her crew; and that where once the ram found its mark the ship that it
+struck went down, no matter what flag she was flying.
+
+And then, behind and beyond all that was definitely known in England
+of the results of the war, there were vague rumours of calamities and
+catastrophes in more distant parts of the world, which seemed to
+promise nothing less than universal anarchy, and the submergence of
+civilisation under some all-devouring wave of barbarism.
+
+All regular communications with the East had been stopped for several
+weeks; that India was lost, was guessed by intuition rather than
+known as a certainty. Australia was as isolated from Britain as
+though it had been on another planet, and now every one of the
+Atlantic cables had suddenly ceased to respond to the stimulus of the
+electric current. No ships came from the East, or West, or South. The
+British ports were choked with fleets of useless merchantmen, to
+which the markets of the world were no longer open.
+
+Some few venturesome craft that had set out to explore the now silent
+ocean had never returned, and every warship that could be made fit
+for service was imperatively needed to meet the now inevitable attack
+on the shores of the English Channel and the southern portions of the
+North Sea. Only one messenger had arrived from the outside world
+since the remains of Admiral Beresford's fleet had returned from the
+Mediterranean, and she had come, not by land or sea, but through the
+air.
+
+On the 6th of October an air-ship had been seen flying at an
+incredible speed across the south of England. She had reached London,
+and touched the ground during the night on Hampstead Heath; the next
+day she had descended again in the same place, taken a single man on
+board, and then vanished into space again. What her errand had been
+is well known to the reader; but outside the members of the Cabinet
+Council no one in England, save the King and his Ministers, knew the
+object of her mission.
+
+For fifteen days after that event the enemy across the water made no
+sign, although from the coast of Kent round about Deal and Dover
+could be seen fleets of transports and war-vessels hurrying along the
+French coast, and on clear days a thousand telescopes turned towards
+the French shore made visible the ominous clusters of moving black
+spots above the land, which betokened the presence of the terrible
+machines which had wrought such havoc on the towns and fortresses of
+Europe.
+
+It was only the calm before the final outburst of the storm. The Tsar
+and his allies were marshalling their hosts for the invasion, and
+collecting transports and fleets of war-vessels to convoy them. For
+several days strong north-westerly gales had made the sea impassable
+for the war-balloons, as though to the very last the winds and waves
+were conspiring to defend their ancient mistress. But this could not
+last for ever.
+
+Sooner or later the winds must sink or change, and then these
+war-hawks of the air would wing their flight across the silver
+streak, and Portsmouth, and Dover, and London would be as defenceless
+beneath their attack as Berlin, Vienna, and Hamburg had been. And
+after them would come the millions of the League, descending like a
+locust swarm upon the fields of eastern England; and after that would
+come the deluge.
+
+But the old Lion of the Seas was not skulking in his lair, or
+trembling at the advent of his enemies, however numerous and mighty
+they might be. On sea not a day passed but some daring raid was made
+on the transports passing to and fro in the narrow seas, and all the
+while a running fight was kept up with cruisers and battleships that
+approached too near to the still inviolate shore. So surely as they
+did so the signals flashed along the coast; and if they escaped at
+all from the fierce sortie that they provoked, it was with
+shot-riddled sides and battered top-works, sure signs that the Lion
+still had claws, and could strike home with them.
+
+On shore, from Land's End to John o' Groats, and from Holyhead to the
+Forelands, everything that could be done was being done to prepare
+for the struggle with the invader. It must, however, be confessed
+that, in comparison with the enormous forces of the League, the ranks
+of the defenders were miserably scanty. Forty years of universal
+military service on the Continent had borne their fruits.
+
+Soldiers are not made in a few weeks or months; and where the League
+had millions in the field, Britain, even counting the remnant of her
+German allies, that had been brought over from Antwerp, could hardly
+muster hundreds of thousands. All told, there were little more than a
+million men available for the defence of the country; and should the
+landing of the invaders be successfully effected, not less than six
+millions of men, trained to the highest efficiency, and flushed with
+a rapid succession of unparalleled victories, would be hurled against
+them.
+
+This was the legitimate outcome of the policy to which Britain had
+adhered since first she had maintained a standing army, instead of
+pursuing the ancient policy of making every man a soldier, which had
+won the triumphs of Creçy and Agincourt. She had trusted everything
+to her sea-line of defence. Now that was practically broken, and it
+seemed inevitable that her second line, by reason of its miserable
+inadequacy, should fail her in a trial which no one had ever dreamt
+it would have to endure.
+
+A very grave aspect was given to the situation by the fact that the
+great mass of the industrial population seemed strangely indifferent
+to the impending catastrophe which was hanging over the land. It
+appeared to be impossible to make them believe that an invasion of
+Britain was really at hand, and that the hour had come when every man
+would be called upon to fight for the preservation of his own hearth
+and home.
+
+Vague threats of "eating the Russians alive" if they ever did dare to
+come, were heard on every hand; but beyond this, and apart from the
+regular army and the volunteers, men went about their daily
+avocations very much as usual, grumbling at the ever-increasing price
+of food, and here and there breaking out into bread riots wherever it
+was suspected that some wealthy man was trying to corner food for his
+own commercial benefit, but making no serious or combined efforts to
+prepare for a general rising in case the threatened invasion became a
+fact.
+
+Such was the general state of affairs in Britain when, on the night
+of the 27th of October, the north-west gales sank suddenly to a calm,
+and the dawn of the 28th brought the news from Dover to London that
+the war-balloons of the League had taken the air, and were crossing
+the Straits.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+THE BATTLE OF DOVER.
+
+
+Until the war of 1904, it had been an undisputed axiom in naval
+warfare that a territorial attack upon an enemy's coast by a fleet
+was foredoomed to failure unless that enemy's fleet had been either
+crippled beyond effective action, or securely blockaded in distant
+ports. As an axiom secondary to this, it was also held that it would
+be impossible for an invading force, although convoyed by a powerful
+fleet, to make good its footing upon any portion of a hostile coast
+defended by forts mounting heavy long-range guns.
+
+These principles have held good throughout the history of naval
+warfare from the time when Sir Walter Raleigh first laid them down in
+the early portion of his _History of the World_, written after the
+destruction of the Spanish Armada.
+
+But now two elements had been introduced which altered the conditions
+of naval warfare even more radically than one of them had changed
+those of military warfare. Had it not been for this the attack upon
+the shores of England made by the commanders of the League would
+probably either have been a failure, or it would have stopped at a
+demonstration of force, as did that of the great Napoleon in 1803.
+
+The portion of the Kentish coast selected for the attack was that
+stretching from Folkestone to Deal, and it would perhaps have been
+difficult to find in the whole world any portion of sea-coast more
+strongly defended than this was on the morning of October 28, 1904;
+and yet, as the event proved, the fortresses which lined it were as
+useless and impotent for defence as the old Martello towers of a
+hundred and fifty years before would have been.
+
+As the war-balloons rose into the air from the heights above
+Boulogne, good telescopes at Dover enabled their possessors to count
+no less than seventy-five of them. Fifty of these were quite newly
+constructed, and were of a much improved type, as they had been built
+in view of the practical experience gained by the first fleet.
+
+This aërial fleet divided into three squadrons; one, numbering
+twenty-five, steered south-westward in the direction of Folkestone,
+twelve shaped their course towards Deal, and the remaining
+thirty-eight steered directly across the Straits to Dover. As they
+approached the English coast they continually rose, until by the time
+they had reached the land, aided by the light south-easterly breeze
+which was then blowing, they floated at a height of more than five
+thousand feet.
+
+All this while not a warship or a transport had put to sea. The whole
+fleet of the League lay along the coast of France between Calais and
+Dieppe, under the protection of shore batteries so powerful that it
+would have been madness for the British fleet to have assumed the
+offensive with regard to them. With the exception of two squadrons
+reserved for a possible attack upon Portsmouth and Harwich, all that
+remained from the disasters and costly victories of the war of the
+once mighty British naval armament was massed together for the
+defence of that portion of the coast which would evidently have to
+bear the brunt of the attack of the League.
+
+Ranged along the coast from Folkestone to Deal was an armament
+consisting of forty-five battleships of the first, second, and third
+classes, supported by fifteen coast-defence ironclads, seventy
+armoured and thirty-two unarmoured cruisers, forty gunboats, and a
+hundred and fifty torpedo-boats.
+
+Such was the still magnificent fleet that patrolled the waters of the
+narrow sea,--a fleet as impotent for the time being as a flotilla of
+Thames steamboats would have been in face of the tactics employed
+against it by the League. Had the enemy's fleet but come out into the
+open, as it would have been compelled to do under the old conditions
+of warfare, to fight its way across the narrow strip of water, there
+is little doubt but that the issue of the day would have been very
+different, and that what had been left of it would have been driven
+back, shattered and defeated, to the shelter of the French shore
+batteries.
+
+But, in accordance with the invariable tactics of the League, the
+first and most deadly assault was delivered from the air. The
+war-balloons stationed themselves above the fortifications on land,
+totally ignoring the presence of the fleet, and a few minutes after
+ten o'clock began to rain their deadly hail of explosives down upon
+them. Fifteen were placed over Dover Castle, and five over the fort
+on the Admiralty Pier, while the rest were distributed over the town
+and the forts on the hills above it. In an hour everything was in a
+state of the most horrible confusion. The town was on fire in a
+hundred places from the effects of the fire-shells. The Castle hill
+seemed as if it had been suddenly turned into a volcano; jets of
+bright flame kept leaping up from its summit and sides, followed by
+thunderous explosions and masses of earth and masonry hurled into the
+air, mingled with guns and fragments of human bodies.
+
+The end of the Admiralty Pier, with its huge blocks of stone wrenched
+asunder and pulverised by incessant explosions of dynamite and
+emmensite, collapsed and subsided into the sea, carrying fort, guns,
+and magazine with it; and all along the height of the Shakespeare
+cliff the earthworks had been blown up and scattered into dust, and a
+huge portion of the cliff itself had been blasted out and hurled down
+on to the beach.
+
+Meanwhile the victims of this terrible assault had, in the nature of
+the case, been able to do nothing but keep up a vertical fire, in the
+hope of piercing the gas envelopes of the balloons, and so bringing
+them to the earth. For more than an hour this fusilade produced no
+effect; but at length the concentrated fire of several Maxim and
+Nordenfelt guns, projecting a hail of missiles into the sky, brought
+about a result which was even more disastrous to the town than it was
+to its assailants.
+
+Four of the aerostats came within the zone swept by the bullets.
+Riddled through and through, their gas-holders collapsed, and their
+cars plunged downwards from a height of more than 5000 feet. A few
+seconds later four frightful explosions burst forth in different
+parts of the town, for the four cargoes exploded simultaneously as
+they struck the earth.
+
+The emmensite and dynamite tore whole streets of houses to fragments,
+and hurled them far and wide into the air, to fall back again on
+other parts of the town, and at the same time the fire-shells
+ignited, and set the ruins blazing like so many furnaces. No more
+shots were fired into the air after that.
+
+There was nothing for it but for British valour to bow to the
+inevitable, and evacuate the town and what remained of its
+fortifications; and so with sad and heavy hearts the remnant of the
+brave defenders turned their faces inland, leaving Dover to its fate.
+Meanwhile exactly the same havoc had been wrought upon Folkestone and
+Deal. Hour after hour the merciless work continued, until by three
+o'clock in the afternoon there was not a gun left upon the whole
+range of coast that was capable of firing a shot.
+
+All this time the ammunition tenders of the aërial fleet had been
+winging their way to and fro across the Strait constantly renewing
+the shells of the war-balloons.
+
+As soon as it began to grow dusk the naval battle commenced.
+Numerically speaking the attacking force was somewhat inferior to
+that of the defenders, but now the second element, which so
+completely altered the tactics of sea fighting, was for the first
+time in the war brought into play.
+
+As the battleships of the League steamed out to engage the opponents,
+who were thirsting to avenge the destruction that had been wrought
+upon the land, a small flotilla of twenty-five insignificant-looking
+little craft, with neither masts nor funnels, and looking more like
+half-submerged elongated turtles than anything else, followed in tow
+close under their quarters. Hardly had the furious cannonade broken
+out into thunder and flame along the two opposing lines, than these
+strange craft sank gently and silently beneath the waves. They were
+submarine vessels belonging to the French navy, an improved type of
+the _Zédé_ class, which had been in existence for more than ten
+years.[1]
+
+These vessels were capable of sinking to a depth of twenty feet, and
+remaining for four hours without returning to the surface. They were
+propelled by twin screws worked by electricity at a speed of twenty
+knots, and were provided with an electric searchlight, which enabled
+them to find the hulls of hostile ships in the dark.
+
+Each carried three torpedoes, which could be launched from a tube
+forward so as to strike the hull of the doomed ship from beneath. As
+soon as the torpedo was discharged the submarine boat spun round on
+her heel and headed away at full speed in an opposite direction out
+of the area of the explosion.
+
+The effects of such terrible and, indeed, irresistible engines of
+naval warfare were soon made manifest upon the ships of the British
+fleet. In the heat of the battle, with every gun in action, and
+raining a hail of shot and shell upon her adversary, a great
+battleship would receive an unseen blow, struck in the dark upon her
+most vulnerable part, a huge column of water would rise up from under
+her side, and a few minutes later the splendid fabric would heel over
+and go down like a floating volcano, to be quenched by the waves that
+closed over her.
+
+But as if it were not enough that the defending fleet should be
+attacked from the surface of the water and the depths of the sea, the
+war-balloons, winging their way out from the scene of ruin that they
+had wrought on shore, soon began to take their part in the work of
+death and destruction.
+
+Each of them was provided with a mirror set a little in front of the
+bow of the car, at an angle which could be varied according to the
+elevation. A little forward of the centre of the car was a tube fixed
+on a level with the centre of the mirror. The ship selected for
+destruction was brought under the car, and the speed of the balloon
+was regulated so that the ship was relatively stationary to it.
+
+As soon as the glare from one of the funnels could be seen through
+the tube reflected in the centre of the mirror, a trap was sprung in
+the floor of the car, and a shell charged with dynamite, which, it
+will be remembered, explodes vertically downwards, was released, and,
+where the calculations were accurately made, passed down the funnel
+and exploded in the interior of the vessel, bursting her boilers and
+reducing her to a helpless wreck at a single stroke.
+
+Every time this horribly ingenious contrivance was successfully
+brought into play a battleship or a cruiser was either sunk or
+reduced to impotence. In order to make their aim the surer, the
+aerostats descended to within three hundred yards of their prey, and
+where the missile failed to pass through the funnel it invariably
+struck the deck close to it, tearing up the armour sheathing, and
+wrecking the funnel itself so completely that the steaming-power of
+the vessel was very seriously reduced.
+
+All night long the battle raged incessantly along a semicircle some
+twelve miles long, the centre of which was Dover. Crowds of anxious
+watchers on the shore watched the continuous flashes of the guns
+through the darkness, varied ever and anon by some tremendous
+explosion which told the fate of a warship that had fired her last
+shot.
+
+All night long the incessant thunder of the battle rolled to and fro
+along the echoing coast, and when morning broke the light dawned upon
+a scene of desolation and destruction on sea and shore such as had
+never been witnessed before in the history of warfare. On land were
+the smoking ruins of houses, still smouldering in the remains of the
+fires which had consumed them; forts which twenty-four hours before
+had grinned defiance at the enemy were shapeless heaps of earth and
+stone, and armour-plating torn into great jagged fragments; and on
+sea were a few half-crippled wrecks, the remains of the British
+fleet, with their flags still flying, and such guns as were not
+disabled firing their last rounds at the victorious foe.
+
+To the eastward of these about half the fleet of the League, in but
+little better condition, was advancing in now overwhelming force upon
+them, and behind these again a swarm of troopships and transports
+were heading out from the French shore. About an hour after dawn the
+_Centurion_, the last of the British battleships, was struck by one
+of the submarine torpedoes, broke in two, and went down with her flag
+flying and her guns blazing away to the last moment. So ended the
+battle of Dover, the most disastrous sea-fight in the history of the
+world, and the death-struggle of the Mistress of the Seas.
+
+The last news of the tremendous tragedy reached the now
+panic-stricken capital half an hour before the receipt of similar
+tidings from Harwich, announcing the destruction of the defending
+fleet and forts, and the capture of the town by exactly the same
+means as those employed against Dover. Nothing now lay between London
+and the invading forces but the utterly inadequate army and the lines
+of fortifications, which could not be expected to offer any more
+effective resistance to the assault of the war-balloons than had
+those of the three towns on the Kentish coast.
+
+[Footnote 1: _The Naval Annual_ for 1893 mentions two types of
+submarine boats, the _Zédé_ and the _Goubet_, both belonging to the
+French navy, which had then been tried with success. The same work
+mentions no such vessels belonging to Britain, nor yet any prospect
+of her possessing one. The effects described here as produced by
+these terrible machines are little, if at all, exaggerated. Granted
+ten years of progress, and they will be reproduced to a
+certainty.--AUTHOR.]
+
+[Illustration: "The _Centurion_, the last of the British battleships,
+was struck by one of the submarine torpedoes."
+
+_See page 300._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+BELEAGUERED LONDON.
+
+
+A month had passed since the battle of Dover. It had been a month of
+incessant fighting, of battles by day and night, of heroic defences
+and dearly-bought victories, but still of constant triumphs and
+irresistible progress for the ever-increasing legions of the League.
+From sunrise to sunrise the roar of artillery, the rattle of
+musketry, and the clash of steel had never ceased to sound to the
+north and south of London as, over battlefield after battlefield, the
+two hosts which had poured in constant streams through Harwich and
+Dover had fought their way, literally mile by mile, towards the
+capital of the modern world.
+
+Day and night the fighting never stopped. As soon as two hostile
+divisions had fought each other to a standstill, and from sheer
+weariness of the flesh the battle died down in one part of the huge
+arena, the flame sprang up in another, and raged on with ever renewed
+fury. Outnumbered four and five to one in every engagement, and with
+the terrible war-balloons raining death on them from the clouds, the
+British armies had eclipsed all the triumphs of the long array of
+their former victories by the magnificent devotion that they showed
+in the hour of what seemed to be the death-struggle of the Empire.
+
+The glories of Inkermann and Balaclava, of Albuera and Waterloo,
+paled before the achievements of the whole-souled heroism displayed
+by the British soldiery standing, as it were, with its back to the
+wall, and fighting, not so much with any hope of victory, for that
+was soon seen to be a physical impossibility, but with the invincible
+determination not to permit the invader to advance on London save
+over the dead bodies of its defenders.
+
+Such a gallant defence had never been made before in the face of such
+irresistible odds. When the soldiers of the League first set foot on
+British soil the defending armies of the North and South had, with
+the greatest exertions, been brought up to a fighting strength of
+about twelve hundred thousand men. So stubborn had been the heroism
+with which they had disputed the progress of their enemies that by
+the time that the guns of the League were planted on the heights that
+commanded the Metropolis, more than a million and a half of men had
+gone down under the hail of British bullets and the rush of British
+bayonets.
+
+Of all the battlefields of this the bloodiest war in the history of
+human strife, none had been so deeply dyed with blood as had been the
+fair and fertile English gardens and meadows over which the hosts of
+the League had fought their way to the confines of London. Only the
+weight of overwhelming numbers, reinforced by engines of destruction
+which could strike without the possibility of effective retaliation,
+had made their progress possible.
+
+Had they met their heroic foes as they had met them in the days of
+the old warfare, their superiority of numbers would have availed them
+but little. They would have been hurled back and driven into the sea,
+and not a man of them all would have left British soil alive had it
+been but a question of military attack and defence.
+
+But this was not a war of men. It was a war of machines, and those
+who wielded the most effective machinery for the destruction of life
+won battle after battle as a matter of course, just as a man armed
+with a repeating rifle would overcome a better man armed with a bow
+and arrow.
+
+Natas had formed an entirely accurate estimate of the policy of the
+leaders of the League when he told Tremayne, in the library at
+Alanmere, that they would concentrate all their efforts on the
+reduction of London. The rest of the kingdom had been for the present
+entirely ignored.
+
+London was the heart of the British Empire and of the
+English-speaking world, for the matter of that, and therefore it had
+been determined to strike one deadly blow at the vital centre of the
+whole huge organism. That paralysed, the rest must fall to pieces of
+necessity. The fleet was destroyed, and every soldier that Britain
+could put into the field had been mustered for the defence of London.
+Therefore the fall of London meant the conquest of Britain.
+
+After the battles of Dover and Harwich the invading forces advanced
+upon London in the following order: The Army of the South had landed
+at Deal, Dover, and Folkestone in three divisions, and after a series
+of terrific conflicts had fought its way _viâ_ Chatham, Maidstone,
+and Tunbridge to the banks of the Thames, and occupied all the
+commanding positions from Shooter's Hill to Richmond. These three
+forces were composed entirely of French and Italian army corps, and
+numbered from first to last nearly four million men.
+
+On the north the invading force was almost wholly Russian, and was
+under the command of the Tzar in person, in whom the supreme command
+of the armies of the League had by common consent been now vested. A
+constant service of transports, plying day and night between Antwerp
+and Harwich, had placed at his disposal a force about equal to that
+of the Army of the South, although he had lost over seven hundred
+thousand men before he was able to occupy the line of heights from
+Hornsey to Hampstead, with flanking positions at Brondesbury and
+Harlesden to the west, and at Tottenham, Stratford, and Barking to
+the east.
+
+By the 29th of November all the railways were in the hands of the
+invaders. A chain of war-balloons between Barking and Shooter's Hill
+closed the Thames. The forts at Tilbury had been destroyed by an
+aërial bombardment. A flotilla of submarine torpedo-vessels had blown
+up the defences of the estuary of the Thames and Medway, and led to
+the fall of Sheerness and Chatham, and had then been docked at
+Sheerness, there being no further present use for them.
+
+The other half of the squadron, supported by a few battleships and
+cruisers which had survived the battle of Dover, had proceeded to
+Portsmouth, destroyed the booms and submarine defences, while a
+detachment of aerostats shelled the land defences, and then in a
+moment of wanton revenge had blown up the venerable hulk of the
+_Victory_, which had gone down at her moorings with her flag still
+flying as it had done a hundred years before at the fight of
+Trafalgar. After this inglorious achievement they had been laid up in
+dock to wait for their next opportunity of destruction, should it
+ever occur.
+
+London was thus cut off from all communication, not only with the
+outside world, but even from the rest of England. The remnants of the
+armies of defence had been gradually driven in upon the vast
+wilderness of bricks and mortar which now held more than eight
+millions of men, women, and children, hemmed in by long lines of
+batteries and entrenched camps, from which thousands of guns hurled
+their projectiles far and wide into the crowded masses of the houses,
+shattering them with bursting shells, and laying the whole streets in
+ruins, while overhead the war-balloons slowly circled hither and
+thither, dropping their fire-shells and completing the ruin and havoc
+wrought by the artillery of the siege-trains.
+
+Under such circumstances surrender was really only a matter of time,
+and that time had very nearly come. The London and North-Western
+Railway, which had been the last to fall into the hands of the
+invaders, had been closed for over a week, and food was running very
+short. Eight millions of people massed together in a space of thirty
+or forty square miles' area can only be fed and kept healthy under
+the most favourable conditions. Hemmed in as London now was, from
+being the best ordered great city in the world, it had degenerated
+with frightful rapidity into a vast abode of plague and famine, a
+mass of human suffering and misery beyond all conception or
+possibility of description.
+
+Defence there was now practically none; but still the invaders did
+not leave their vantage ground on the hills, and not a soldier of the
+League had so far set foot in London proper. Either the besiegers
+preferred to starve the great city into surrender at discretion, and
+then extort ruinous terms, or else they hesitated to plunge into that
+tremendous gulf of human misery, maddened by hunger and made
+desperate by despair. If they did so hesitate they were wise, for
+London was too vast to be carried by assault or by any series of
+assaults.
+
+No army could have lived in its wilderness of streets swarming with
+enemies, who would have fought them from house to house and street to
+street. Once they had entered that mighty maze of streets and squares
+both their artillery and their war-balloons would have been useless,
+for they would only have buried friend and foe in common destruction.
+There were plenty of ways into London, but the way out was a very
+different matter.
+
+Had a general assault been attempted, not a man would ever have got
+out of London alive. The commanders of the League saw this clearly,
+and so they kept their position on the heights, wasted the city with
+an almost constant bombardment, and, while they drew their supplies
+from the fertile lands in their rear, lay on their arms and waited
+for the inevitable.
+
+Within the besieged area martial law prevailed universally. Riots
+were of daily, almost hourly, occurrence, but they were repressed
+with an iron hand, and the rioters were shot down in the streets
+without mercy; for, though siege and famine were bad enough, anarchy
+breaking out amidst that vast sweltering mass of human beings would
+have been a thousand times worse, and so the King, who, assisted by
+the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Council, had assumed the control
+of the whole city, had directed that order was to be maintained at
+any price.
+
+The remains of the army were quartered in the parks under canvas, and
+billeted in houses throughout the various districts, in order to
+support the police in repressing disorder and protecting property.
+Still, in spite of all that could be done, matters were rapidly
+coming to a terrible pass. In a week, at the latest, the horses of
+the cavalry would be eaten. For a fortnight London had almost lived
+upon horse-flesh. In the poorer quarters there was not a dog to be
+seen, and a sewer rat was considered a delicacy.
+
+Eight million mouths had made short work of even the vast supplies
+that had been hurriedly poured into the city as soon as the invasion
+had become a certainty, and absolute starvation was now a matter of a
+few days at the outside. There were millions of money lying idle, but
+very soon a five-pound note would not buy even a little loaf of
+bread.
+
+But famine was by no means the only horror that afflicted London
+during those awful days and nights. All round the heights the booming
+of cannon sounded incessantly. Huge shells went screaming through the
+air overhead to fall and burst amidst some swarming hive of humanity,
+scattering death and mutilation where they fell; and high up in the
+air the fleet of aerostats perpetually circled, dropping their
+fire-shells and blasting cartridges on the dense masses of houses,
+until a hundred conflagrations were raging at once in different parts
+of the city.
+
+No help had come from outside. Indeed none was to be expected. There
+was only one Power in the world that was now capable of coping with
+the forces of the victorious League, but its overtures had been
+rejected, and neither the King nor any of his advisers had now the
+slightest idea as to how those who controlled it would now use it. No
+one knew the real strength of the Terrorists, or the Federation which
+they professed to control.
+
+All that was known was that, if they choose, they could with their
+aërial fleet sweep the war-balloons from the air in a few moments and
+destroy the batteries of the besiegers; but they had made no sign
+after the rejection of their President's offer to prevent the landing
+of the forces of the League on condition that the British Government
+accepted the Federation, and resigned its powers in favour of its
+Executive.
+
+The refusal of those terms had now cost more than a million British
+lives, and an incalculable amount of human suffering and destruction
+of property. Until the news of the disaster of Dover had actually
+reached London, no one had really believed that it was possible for
+an invading force to land on British soil and exist for twenty-four
+hours. Now the impossible had been made possible, and the last
+crushing blow must fall within the next few days. After that who knew
+what might befall?
+
+So far as could be seen, Britain lay helpless at the mercy of her
+foes. Her allies had ceased to exist as independent Powers, and the
+Russian and the Gaul were thundering at her gates as, fifteen hundred
+years before, the Goth had thundered at the gates of the Eternal City
+in the last days of the Roman Empire.
+
+If the terms of the Federation could have been offered again, it is
+probable that the King of England would have been the first man to
+own his mistake and that of his advisers and accept them, for now the
+choice lay between utter and humiliating defeat and the breaking up
+of the Empire, and the recognition of the Federation. After all, the
+kinship of a race was a greater fact in the supreme hour of national
+disaster than the maintenance of a dynasty or the perpetuation of a
+particular form of government.
+
+It was not now a question of nation against nation, but of race
+against race. The fierce flood of war had swept away all smaller
+distinctions. It was necessary to rise to the altitude of the problem
+of the Government, not of nations, but of the world. Was the genius
+of the East or of the West to shape the future destinies of the human
+race? That was the mighty problem of which the events of the next few
+weeks were to work out the solution, for when the sun set on the
+Field of Armageddon the fate of Humanity would be fixed for centuries
+to come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+AN ENVOY OF DELIVERANCE.
+
+
+From the time that the Tsar had received the conditional declaration
+of war from the President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation in America to
+nightfall on the 29th of November, when the surrender of the capital
+of the British Empire was considered to be a matter of a few days
+only, the Commander-in-Chief of the forces of the League was
+absolutely in the dark, not only as to the actual intentions of the
+Terrorists, if they had any, but also as to the doings of his allies
+in America.
+
+According to the stipulations arranged between himself and the
+confidential agent of the American Government, the blockading
+flotilla of dynamite cruisers ought to have sailed from America as
+soon as the cypher message containing the news of the battle of Dover
+reached New York. The message had been duly sent _viâ_ Queenstown and
+New York, and had been acknowledged in the usual way, but no definite
+reply had come to it, and a month had elapsed without the appearance
+of the promised squadron. The explanation of this will be readily
+guessed. The American end of the Queenstown cable had been
+reconnected with Washington, but it was under the absolute control of
+Tremayne, who permitted no one to use it save himself.
+
+Other messages had been sent to which no reply had been received, and
+a swift French cruiser, which had been launched at Brest since the
+battle of Dover, had been dispatched across the Atlantic to discover
+the reason of this strange silence. She had gone, but she had never
+returned. The Atlantic highway appeared to be barred by some
+invisible force. No vessels came from the westward, and those which
+started from the east were never heard of again.
+
+His Majesty had treated the summons of the President of the
+Federation with silent contempt, just as such a victorious autocrat
+might have been expected to do. True, he knew the terrific power
+wielded by the Terrorists through their aërial fleet, and he had an
+uncomfortable conviction, which refused to be entirely stifled, that
+in the days to come he would have to reckon with them and it.
+
+But that a member of the Terrorist Brotherhood could by any possible
+means have placed himself at the head of any body of men sufficiently
+numerous or well-disciplined to make them a force to be seriously
+reckoned with in military warfare, his Majesty had never for a moment
+believed.
+
+And, more than this, however disquieting might be the uncertainty due
+to the ominous silence on the other side of the Atlantic, and the
+non-arrival of the expected fleet, there stood the great and
+significant fact that the army of the League had been permitted,
+without molestation either from the Terrorists or the Federation in
+whose name they had presumed to declare war upon him, not only to
+destroy what remained of the British fleet, but to completely invest
+the very capital of Anglo-Saxondom itself.
+
+All this had been done; the sacred soil of Britain itself had been
+violated by the invading hosts; the army of defence had been slowly,
+and at a tremendous sacrifice of life on both sides, forced back from
+line after line, and position after position, into the city itself;
+his batteries were raining their hail of shot and shell from the
+heights round London, and his aerostats were hurling ruin from the
+sky upon the crowded millions locked up in the beleaguered space; and
+yet the man who had presumed to tell him that the hour in which he
+set foot on British soil would be the last of his Empire, had done
+absolutely nothing to interrupt the march of conquest.
+
+From this it will be seen that Alexander Romanoff was at least as
+completely in the dark as to the possible course of the events of the
+near future as was the King of England himself, shut up in his
+capital, and cut off from all communication from the rest of the
+world.
+
+On the morning of the 29th of November there was held at the Prime
+Minister's rooms in Downing Street a Cabinet Council, presided over
+by the King in person. After the Council had remained for about an
+hour in earnest consultation, a stranger was admitted to the room in
+which they were sitting.
+
+The reader would have recognised him in a moment as Maurice Colston,
+otherwise Alexis Mazanoff, for he was dressed almost exactly as he
+had been on that memorable night, just thirteen months before, when
+he made the acquaintance of Richard Arnold on the Thames Embankment.
+
+Well-dressed, well-fed, and perfectly at ease, he entered the Council
+Chamber without any aggressive assumption, but still with the quiet
+confidence of a man who knows that he is practically master of the
+situation. How he had even got into London, beleaguered as it was on
+every side in such fashion that no one could get out of it without
+being seen and shot by the besiegers, was a mystery; but how he could
+have in his possession, as he had, a despatch dated thirty-six hours
+previously in New York was a still deeper mystery; and upon neither
+of these points did he make the slightest attempt to enlighten the
+members of the British Cabinet.
+
+All that he said was that he was the bearer of a message from the
+President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation in America, and that he was
+instructed to return that night to New York with such answer as the
+British Government might think fit to make to it. It was this message
+that had been the subject of the deliberations of the Council before
+his admission, and its net effect was as follows.
+
+It was now practically certain, indeed proved to demonstration, that
+the forces at the command of the British Government were not capable
+of coping with those brought against them by the commanders of the
+League, and that therefore Britain, if left to her own resources,
+must inevitably succumb, and submit to such terms as her conquerors
+might think fit to impose upon her. The choice before the British
+Government thus lay between surrender to her foreign enemies, whose
+objects were well known to be dismemberment of the Empire and the
+reduction of Great Britain to the rank of a third-class Power,--to
+say nothing of the payment of a war indemnity which could not fail to
+be paralysing,--and the consent of those who controlled the destinies
+of the mother country to accept a Federation of the whole Anglo-Saxon
+race, to waive the merely national idea in favour of the racial one,
+and to permit the Executive Council of the Federation to assume those
+governmental functions which were exercised at present by the King
+and the British Houses of Parliament.
+
+In a word, the choice lay between conquest by a league of foreign
+powers and the merging of Britain into the Federation of the
+English-speaking peoples of the world.
+
+If the former choice were taken, the only prospect possible under the
+condition of things was a possibly enormous sacrifice of human life
+on the side of both Britain and its enemies, a gigantic loss in
+money, the crippling of British trade and commerce, and then a
+possible, nay probable, social revolution to which the message
+distinctly pointed.
+
+If the latter choice were taken, the forces of the Federation would
+be at once brought into the field against those of the League, the
+siege of London would be raised, the power of the invaders would be
+effectually broken for ever, and the stigma of conquest finally wiped
+away.
+
+It is only just to record the fact that in this supreme crisis of
+British history the man who most strongly insisted upon the
+acceptance of the terms which he had previously, as he now confessed
+in the most manly and outspoken fashion, rejected in ignorance of the
+true situation of affairs, was the man who believed that he would
+lose a crown by accepting them.
+
+When the Ambassador of the Federation had been presented to the
+Council, the King rose in his place and handed to him with his own
+hands a sealed letter, saying as he did so--
+
+"Mr. Mazanoff, I am still to a great extent in ignorance as to the
+inexplicable combination of events which has made it necessary for me
+to return this affirmative answer to the message of which you are the
+bearer. I am, however, fully aware that the Earl of Alanmere, whose
+name I have seen at the foot of this document with the most profound
+astonishment, is in a position to do what he says.
+
+"The course of events has been exactly that which he predicted. I
+know, too, that whatever causes may have led him to unite himself to
+those known as the Terrorists, he is an English nobleman, and a man
+to whom falsehood or bad faith is absolutely impossible. In your
+marvellous aërial fleet I know also that he wields the only power
+capable of being successfully opposed to those terrible machines
+which had wrought such havoc upon the fleets and armies, not only of
+Britain, but of Europe.
+
+"To a certain extent this is a surrender, but I feel that it will be
+better to surrender the destinies of Britain into the hands of her
+own blood and kindred than to the tender mercies of her alien
+enemies. My own personal feelings must weigh as nothing in the
+balance where the fate, not only of this country, but perhaps of the
+whole world, is now poised.
+
+"After all, the first duty of a Constitutional King is not to himself
+and his dynasty, but to his country and his people, and therefore I
+feel that it will be better for me and mine to be citizens of a free
+Federation of the English-speaking peoples, and of the nations to
+which Britain has given birth, than the titular sovereign and Royal
+family of a conquered country, holding the mockery of royalty on the
+sufferance of their conquerors.
+
+"Tell Lord Alanmere from me that I now accept the terms he has
+offered as President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation, first, because at
+all hazards I would see Britain delivered from her enemies; and,
+secondly, because I have chosen rather to be an English gentleman
+without a crown, than to wear a crown which after all would only be
+gift from my conquerors."
+
+Edward VII. spoke with visible emotion, but with a dignity which even
+Mazanoff, little and all as he respected the name of king, felt
+himself compelled to recognise and respect. He took the letter with a
+bow that was more one of reverence than of courtesy, and as he put it
+into his breast-pocket of his coat he said--
+
+"The President will receive your Majesty's reply with as genuine
+pleasure and satisfaction as I shall give it to him. Though I am a
+Russian without a drop of English blood in my veins, I have always
+looked upon the British race as the real bulwark of freedom, and I
+rejoice that the King of England has not permitted either tradition
+or personal feeling to stand in the way of the last triumph of the
+Anglo-Saxon race.
+
+"As long as the English language is spoken your Majesty's name will
+be held in greater honour for this sacrifice which you make to-day,
+than will that of any other English king for the greatest triumph of
+arms ever achieved in the history of your country.
+
+"I must now take my leave, for I must be in New York to-morrow night.
+I have your word that I shall not be watched or followed after I
+leave here. Hold the city for six days more at all costs, and on the
+seventh at the latest the siege shall be raised and the enemies of
+Britain destroyed in their own entrenchments."
+
+So saying, the envoy of the Federation bowed once more to the King
+and the astonished members of his Council, and was escorted to the
+door.
+
+Once in the street he strode away rapidly through Parliament Street
+and the Strand, then up Drury Lane, until he reached the door of a
+mean-looking house in a squalid court, and entering this with a
+latch-key, disappeared.
+
+Three hours later a Russian soldier of the line, wearing an almost
+imperceptible knot of red ribbon in one of the button-holes of his
+tunic, passed through the Russian lines on Hampstead Heath
+unchallenged by the sentries, and made his way northward to Northaw
+Wood, which he reached soon after nightfall.
+
+Within half an hour the _Ithuriel_ rose from the midst of a thick
+clump of trees like a grey shadow rising into the night, and darted
+southward and upward at such a speed that the keenest eyes must soon
+have lost sight of her from the earth.
+
+She passed over the beleaguered city at a height of nearly ten
+thousand feet, and then swept sharply round to the eastward. She
+stopped immediately over the lights of Sheerness, and descended to
+within a thousand feet of the dock, in which could be seen the
+detachment of the French submarine vessels lying waiting to be sent
+on their next errand of destruction.
+
+As soon as those on board her had made out the dock clearly she
+ascended a thousand feet and went about half a mile to the southward.
+From that position she poured a rapid hail of shells into the dock,
+which was instantly transformed into a cavity vomiting green flame
+and fragments of iron and human bodies. In five minutes nothing was
+left of the dock or its contents but a churned-up swamp of muddy
+water and shattered stonework.
+
+Then, her errand so far accomplished, the air-ship sped away to the
+south-westward, and within an hour she had destroyed in like fashion
+the submarine squadron in the Government dock at Portsmouth, and was
+winging her way westward to New York with the reply of the King of
+England to the President of the Federation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+THE EVE OF ARMAGEDDON.
+
+
+When the news of the destruction of the two divisions of the
+submarine squadron reached the headquarters of the League on the
+night of the 29th, it would have been difficult to say whether anger
+or consternation most prevailed among the leaders. A council of war
+was hurriedly summoned to discuss an event which it was impossible to
+look upon as anything less than a calamity.
+
+The destruction which had been wrought was of itself disastrous
+enough, for it deprived the League of the chief means by which it had
+destroyed the British fleet and kept command of the sea. But even
+more terrible than the actual destruction was the unexpected
+suddenness with which the blow had been delivered.
+
+For five months, that is to say, from the recapture of the _Lucifer_
+at Aberdeen, the Tsar and his coadjutors had seen nothing of the
+operations of the Terrorists; and now, without a moment's warning,
+this apparently omnipresent and yet almost invisible force had struck
+once more with irresistible effect, and instantly vanished back into
+the mystery out of which it had come.
+
+Who could tell when the next blow would fall, or in what shape the
+next assault would be delivered? In the presence of such enemies,
+invisible and unreachable, the commanders of the League, to their
+rage and disgust, felt themselves, on the eve of their supreme
+victory, as impotent as a man armed with a sword would have felt in
+front of a Gatling gun.
+
+Consternation naturally led to divided councils. The French and
+Italian commanders were for an immediate general assault on London at
+all hazards, and the enforcement of terms of surrender at the point
+of the sword. The Tsar, on the other hand, insisted on the pursuance
+of the original policy of reduction by starvation, as he rightly
+considered that, great as the attacking force was, it would be
+practically swamped amidst the infuriated millions of the besieged,
+and that, even if the assault were successful, the loss of life would
+be so enormous that the conquest of the rest of Britain--which in
+such a case would almost certainly rise to a man--would be next door
+to impossible.
+
+He, however, so far yielded as to agree to send a message to the King
+of England to arrange terms of surrender, if possible at once, in
+order to save further bloodshed, and then, if these terms were
+rejected, to prepare for a general assault on the seventh day from
+then.
+
+These terms were accepted as a compromise, and the next morning the
+bombardment ceased both from the land batteries and the air. At
+daybreak on the 30th an envoy left the Tsar's headquarters in one of
+the war-balloons, flying a flag of truce, and descended in Hyde Park.
+He was received by the King in Council at Buckingham Palace, and,
+after a lengthy deliberation, an answer was returned to the effect
+that on condition the bombardment ceased for the time being, London
+would be surrendered at noon on the 6th of December if no help had by
+that time arrived from the other cities of Britain. These terms,
+after considerable opposition from General le Gallifet and General
+Cosensz, the Italian Commander-in-Chief, were adopted and ratified at
+noon that day, almost at the very moment that Alexis Mazanoff was
+presenting the reply of the King of England to the President of the
+Federation in New York.
+
+As the relief expedition had been fully decided upon, whether the
+British Government recognised the Federation or not, everything was
+in readiness for an immediate start as soon as the _Ithuriel_ brought
+definite news as to the acceptation or rejection of the President's
+second offer. For the last seven weeks the ten dockyards of the east
+coast of America, and at Halifax in Nova Scotia, had been thronged
+with shipping, and swarming with workmen and sailors.
+
+All the vessels which had been swept off the Atlantic by the
+war-storm, and which were of sufficient size and speed to take part
+in the expedition, had been collected at these eleven ports. Whole
+fleets of liners of half a dozen different nationalities, which had
+been laid up since the establishment of the blockade, were now lying
+alongside the quays, taking in vast quantities of wheat and
+miscellaneous food-stuffs, which were being poured into their holds
+from the glutted markets of America and Canada. Every one of these
+vessels was fitted up as a troopship, and by the time all
+arrangements were complete, more than a thousand vessels, carrying on
+an average twelve hundred men each, were ready to take the sea.
+
+In addition to these there was a fleet of warships as yet unscathed
+by shot or shell, consisting of thirty battleships, a hundred and ten
+cruisers, and the flotilla of dynamite cruisers which had been
+constructed by the late Government at the expense of the capitalist
+Ring. There were no less than two hundred of these strange but
+terribly destructive craft, the lineal descendants of the _Vesuvius_,
+which, as the naval reader will remember, was commissioned in 1890.
+
+They were double-hulled vessels built on the whale-back plan, and the
+compartments between the inner and outer hull could be wholly or
+partially filled with water. When they were entirely filled the hull
+sank below the surface, leaving nothing as a mark to an enemy save a
+platform standing ten feet above the water. This platform,
+constructed throughout of 6-inch nickel-steel, was of oval shape, a
+hundred feet long and thirty broad in its greatest diameter, and
+carried the heavily armoured wheel-house and conning-tower, two
+funnels, six ventilators, and two huge pneumatic guns, each
+seventy-five feet long, working on pivots nearly amidships. These
+weapons, with an air-charge of three hundred atmospheres, would throw
+four hundred pounds of dynamite to a distance of three miles with
+such accuracy that the projectile would invariably fall within a
+space of twenty feet square. The guns could be discharged once a
+minute, and could thus hurl 48,000 lbs. of dynamite an hour upon a
+hostile fleet or fortifications.
+
+Each cruiser also carried two under-water torpedo tubes ahead and two
+astern. The funnels emitted no smoke, but merely supplied draught to
+the petroleum furnaces, which burned with practically no waste, and
+developed a head of steam which drove the long submerged hulls
+through the water at a rate of thirty-two knots, or more than
+thirty-six miles an hour.
+
+Such was the enormous naval armament, manned by nearly a hundred
+thousand men, which hoisted the Federation flag at one o'clock on the
+afternoon of the 30th of November, when orders were telegraphed north
+and south from Washington to get ready for sea. Two hours later the
+vast flotilla of warships and transports had cleared American waters,
+and was converging towards a point indicated by the intersection of
+the 41st parallel of latitude with the 40th meridian of longitude.
+
+At this ocean rendezvous the divisions of the fleet and its convoys
+met and shaped their course for the mouth of the English Channel.
+They proceeded in column of line abreast three deep, headed by the
+dynamite cruisers, after which came the other warships which had
+formed the American Navy, and after these again came the troopships
+and transports properly protected by cruisers on their flanks and in
+their rear.
+
+The commander of every warship and transport had the most minute
+instructions as to how he was to act on reaching British waters, and
+what these were will become apparent in due course. The weather was
+fairly good for the time of year, and, as there was but little danger
+of collision on the now deserted waters of the Atlantic, the whole
+flotilla kept at full speed all the way. As, however, its speed was
+necessarily limited by that of its slowest steamer until the scene of
+action was reached, it was after midnight on the 5th of December when
+its various detachments had reached their appointed stations on the
+English coast.
+
+At the entrance of the English Channel and St. George's Channel a few
+scouting cruisers, flying French, Russian, and Italian colours, had
+been run down and sunk by the dynamite cruisers. Strict orders had
+been given by Tremayne to destroy everything flying a hostile flag,
+and not to permit any news to be taken to England of the approach of
+the flotilla. The Federation was waging a war, not merely of conquest
+and revenge, but of extermination, and no more mercy was to be shown
+to its enemies than they had shown in their march of victory from one
+end of Europe to the other.
+
+While the Federation fleet had been crossing the Atlantic, other
+events no less important had been taking place in England and
+Scotland. The hitherto apparently inert mass of the population had
+suddenly awakened out of its lethargy. In town and country alike men
+forsook their daily avocations as if by one consent. As in America,
+artisans, pitmen, clerks, and tradesmen were suddenly transformed
+into soldiers, who drilled, first in squads of ten, and then in
+hundreds and thousands, and finally in tens of thousands, all
+uniformed alike in rough grey breeches and tunics, with a knot of red
+ribbon in the button-hole, and all armed with rifle, bayonet, and
+revolver, which they seemed to handle with a strange and ominous
+familiarity.
+
+All the railway traffic over the island was stopped, and the
+rolling-stock collected at the great stations along the lines to
+London, and at the same time all the telegraph wires communicating
+with the south and east were cut. As day after day passed, signs of
+an intense but strongly suppressed excitement became more and more
+visible all over the provinces, and especially in the great towns and
+cities.
+
+In London very much the same thing had happened. Hundreds of
+thousands of civilians vanished during that seven days of anxious
+waiting for the hour of deliverance, and in their place sprang up
+orderly regiments of grey-clad soldiers, who saw the red knot in each
+other's button-holes, and welcomed each other as comrades unknown
+before.
+
+To the surprise of the commanders of the regular army, orders had
+been issued by the King that all possible assistance was to be
+rendered to these strange legions, which had thus so suddenly sprang
+into existence; and the result was that when the sun set on the 5th
+of December, the twenty-first day of the total blockade of London,
+the beleaguered space contained over two millions of armed men,
+hungering both for food and vengeance, who, like the five millions of
+their fellow-countrymen outside London, were waiting for a sign from
+the sky to fling themselves upon the entrapped and unsuspecting
+invader.
+
+That night countless eyes were upturned throughout the length and
+breadth of Britain to the dun pall of wintry cloud that overspread
+the land. Yet so far, so perfect was the discipline of this gigantic
+host, not a sign of overt hostile movement had been made, and the
+commanders of the armies of the League looked forward with exulting
+confidence to the moment, now only a few hours distant, when the
+capital of the British Empire, cut off from all help, should be
+surrendered into their hands in accordance with the terms agreed
+upon.
+
+When night fell the _Ithuriel_ was floating four thousand feet above
+Aberdeen. Arnold and Natasha, wrapped in warm furs, were standing on
+deck impatiently watching the sun sinking down over the sea of clouds
+which lay between them and the earth.
+
+"There it goes at last!" exclaimed Natasha, as the last of the level
+beams shot across the cloud-sea and the rim of the pale disc sank
+below the surface of the vapoury ocean. "The time that we have waited
+and worked for so long has come at last. This is the eve of
+Armageddon! Who would think it, floating up here above the clouds and
+beneath those cold, calmly shining stars! And yet the fate of the
+whole world is trembling in the balance, and the doings of the next
+twenty-four hours will settle the destiny of mankind for generations
+to come. The hour of the Revolution has struck at last"--
+
+"And therefore it is time that the Angel of the Revolution should
+give the last signal with her own hand!" said Arnold, seized with a
+sudden fancy, "Come, you shall start the dynamo yourself."
+
+"Yes I will, and, I hope, kindle a flame that shall purge the earth
+of tyranny and oppression for ever. Richard, what must my father be
+thinking of just now down yonder in the cabin?"
+
+"I dare not even guess. To-morrow or the next day will be the day of
+reckoning, and then God help those of whom he demands payment, for
+they will need it. The vials of wrath are full, and before long the
+oppressors of the earth will have drained them to the dregs. Come, it
+is time we went down."
+
+They descended together to the engine-room, and meanwhile the
+air-ship sank through the clouds until the lights of Aberdeen lay
+about a thousand feet below. A lens of red glass had been fitted to
+the searchlight of the _Ithuriel_, and all that was necessary was to
+connect the forward engine with the dynamo.
+
+Arnold put Natasha's hand on a little lever. As she took hold of it
+she thought with a shudder of the mighty forces of destruction which
+her next movement would let loose. Then she thought of all that those
+nearest and dearest to her had suffered at the hands of Russian
+despotism, and of all the nameless horrors of the rule whose
+death-signal she was about to give.
+
+As she did so her grip tightened on the lever, and when Arnold,
+having given his orders to the head engineer as to speed and course,
+put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Now!" she pulled it back with
+a sharp, determined motion, and the next instant a broad fan of
+blood-red light shot over the _Ithuriel's_ bows.
+
+At the same moment the air-ship's propellers began to spin round, and
+then with the flood of red light streaming in front of her, she
+headed southward at full speed towards Edinburgh. The signal flashed
+over the Scottish capital, and then the _Ithuriel_ swerved round to
+the westward.
+
+Half an hour later Glasgow saw it, and then away she sped southward
+across the Border to Carlisle; and so through the long December night
+she flew hither and thither, eastward and westward, flashing the red
+battle-signal over field and village and town; and wherever it shone
+armed men sprang up like the fruit of the fabled dragon's teeth,
+companies were mustered in streets and squares and fields and marched
+to railway stations; and soon long trains, one after another in
+endless succession, got into motion, all moving towards the south and
+east, all converging upon London.
+
+Last of all, after it had made a swift circuit of northern and
+central and western England, the red light swept along the south
+coast, and then swerved northward again till it flashed thrice over
+London, and then it vanished into the darkness of the hour before the
+dawn of Armageddon.
+
+Since the ever-memorable night of Thursday the 29th of July 1588,
+three hundred and sixteen years before, when "The beacon blazed upon
+the roof of Edgcumbe's lofty Hall," and the answering fires sprang up
+"From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay," to tell
+that the Spanish Armada was in sight, there had been no such night in
+England, nor had men ever dreamed that there should be.
+
+But great as had been the deeds done by the heroes of the sixteenth
+century with the pigmy means at their command, they were but the
+merest child's play to the awful storm of devastation which, in a few
+hours, was to burst over southern England. Then it was England
+against Spain; now it was Anglo-Saxondom against the world; and the
+conquering race of earth, armed with the most terrific powers of
+destruction that human wit had ever devised, was rising in its wrath,
+millions strong, to wipe out the stain of invasion from the sacred
+soil of the motherland of the Anglo-Saxon nations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+THE OLD LION AT BAY.
+
+
+The morning of the 6th of December dawned grey and cold over London
+and the hosts that were waiting for its surrender. Scarcely any smoke
+rose from the myriad chimneys of the vast city, for the coal was
+almost all burnt, and what was left was selling at £12 a ton. Wood
+was so scarce that people were tearing up the woodwork of their
+houses to keep a little fire going.
+
+So the steel-grey sky remained clear, for towards daybreak the clouds
+had been condensed by a cold north-easter into a sharp fall of fine,
+icy snow, and as the sun gained power it shone chilly over the
+whitened landscape, the innumerable roofs of London, and the miles of
+tents lining the hills to the north and south of the Thames valley.
+
+The havoc wrought by the bombardment on the public buildings of the
+great city had been terrible. Of the Houses of Parliament only a
+shapeless heap of broken stones remained, the Law Courts were in
+ruins, what had been the Albert Hall was now a roofless ring of
+blackened walls, Nelson's Column lay shattered across Trafalgar
+Square, and the Royal Exchange, the Bank of England, and the Mansion
+House mingled their fragments in the heart of the almost deserted
+city.
+
+Only three of the great buildings of London had suffered no damage.
+These were the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, and St Paul's,
+which had been spared in accordance with special orders issued by the
+commanders of the League. The two former were spared for the same
+reason that the Germans had spared Strasburg Cathedral in
+1870--because their destruction would have been a loss, not to
+Britain alone, but to the world.
+
+The great church of the metropolis had been left untouched chiefly
+because it had been arranged that, on the fall of London, the Tsar
+was to be proclaimed Emperor of Asia under its dome, and at the same
+time General le Gallifet was to assume the Dictatorship of France and
+abolish the Republic, which for more than ten years had been the
+plaything of unprincipled financiers, and the laughing-stock of
+Europe. As the sun rose the great golden cross, rising high out of
+the wilderness of houses, shone more and more brightly under the
+brightening sky, and millions of eyes looked upon it from within the
+city and from without with feelings far asunder as triumph and
+defeat.
+
+At daybreak the last meal had been eaten by the defenders of the
+city. To supply it almost every animal left in London had been
+sacrificed, and the last drop of liquor was drunk, even to the last
+bottle of wine in the Royal cellars, which the King shared with his
+two commanders-in-chief, Lord Roberts and Lord Wolseley, in the
+presence of the troops on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. At nine
+o'clock the King and Queen attended service in St. Paul's, and when
+they left the Cathedral half an hour later the besiegers on the
+heights were astounded to hear the bells of all the steeples left
+standing in London ring out in a triumphant series of peals which
+rippled away eastward and westward from St. Paul's and Westminster
+Abbey, caught up and carried on by steeple after steeple, until from
+Highgate to Dulwich, and from Hammersmith to Canning Town, the
+beleaguered and starving city might have been celebrating some great
+triumph or deliverance.
+
+The astonished besiegers could only put the extraordinary
+manifestation down to joy on the part of the citizens at the near
+approaching end of the siege; but before the bells of London had been
+ringing for half an hour this fallacious idea was dispelled from
+their minds in a very stern and summary fashion.
+
+Since nightfall there had been no communication with the secret
+agents of the League in the various towns of England and Scotland. At
+ten o'clock a small company of Cossacks spurred and flogged their
+jaded horses up the northern slope of Muswell Hill, on which the Tsar
+had fixed his headquarters. Nearly every man was wounded, and the
+horses were in the last stages of exhaustion. Their captain was at
+once admitted to the presence of the Tsar, and, flinging himself on
+the ground before the enraged Autocrat, gasped out the dreadful
+tidings that his little company were the sole survivors of the army
+of occupation that had been left at Harwich, and which, twelve hours
+before, had been thirty thousand strong.
+
+A huge fleet of strange-looking vessels, flying a plain blood-red
+flag, had just before four A.M. forced the approaches to the harbour,
+sunk every transport and warship with guns that were fired without
+flame, or smoke, or report, and whose projectiles shattered
+everything that they struck. Immediately afterwards an immense
+flotilla of transports had steamed in, and, under the protection of
+those terrible guns, had landed a hundred thousand men, all dressed
+in the same plain grey uniform, with no facings or ornaments save a
+knot of red ribbon at the button-hole, and armed with magazine rifle
+and a bayonet and a brace of revolvers. All were English by their
+speech, and every man appeared to know exactly what to do with very
+few orders from his officers.
+
+This invading force had hunted the Russians out of Harwich like
+rabbits out of a warren, while the ships in the harbour had hurled
+their shells up into the air so that they fell back to earth on the
+retreating army and exploded with frightful effect. The general in
+command had at once telegraphed to London for a detachment of
+war-balloons and reinforcements, but no response had been received.
+
+After four hours' fighting the Russian army was in full retreat,
+while the attacking force was constantly increasing as transport
+after transport steamed into the harbour and landed her men. At
+Colchester the Russians had been met by another vast army which had
+apparently sprung from the earth, dressed and armed exactly as the
+invading force was. What its numbers were there was no possibility of
+telling.
+
+By this time, too, treachery began to show itself in the Russian
+ranks, and whole companies suddenly appeared with the red knot of
+ribbon in their tunics, and instantly turned their weapons against
+their comrades, shooting them down without warning or mercy. No
+quarter had been given to those who did not show the ribbon. Most of
+them died fighting, but those who had thrown away their arms were
+shot down all the same.
+
+Whoever commanded this strange army had manifestly given orders to
+take no prisoners, and it was equally certain that its movements were
+directed by the Terrorists, for everywhere the battle-cries had been,
+"In the Master's name!" and "Slay, and spare not!"
+
+The whole of the army, save the deserters, had been destroyed, and
+the deserters had immediately assumed the grey uniforms of those of
+the Terrorist army who had fallen. The Cossack captain and his forty
+or fifty followers were the sole remains of a body of three thousand
+men who had fought their way through the second army. The whole
+country to the north and east seemed alive with the grey soldiery,
+and it was only after a hundred hair-breadth escapes that they had
+managed to reach the protection of the lines round London.
+
+Such was the tale of the bringer of bad tidings to the Tsar at the
+moment when he was looking forward to the crowning triumph of his
+reign. Like the good soldier that he was, he wasted no time in
+thinking at a moment when everything depended on instant action.
+
+He at once despatched a war-balloon to the French and Italian
+headquarters with a note containing the terrible news from Harwich,
+and requesting Generals le Gallifet and Cosensz to lose no time in
+communicating with the eastern and southern ports, and in throwing
+out corps of observation supported by war-balloons. Evidently the
+American Government had played the League false at the last moment,
+and had allied herself with Britain.
+
+As soon as he had sent off this message, the Tsar ordered a fleet of
+forty aerostats to proceed to the north-eastward, in advance of a
+force of infantry and cavalry numbering three hundred thousand men,
+and supported by fifty batteries of field and machine guns, which he
+detached to stop the progress of the Federation army towards London.
+Before this force was in motion a reply came back from General le
+Gallifet to the effect that all communication with the south and east
+was stopped, and that an aerostat, which had been on scout duty
+during the night, had returned with the news that the whole country
+appeared to be up in arms from Portsmouth to Dover. Corps of
+observation and a fleet of thirty aerostats had been sent out, and
+three army corps were already on the march to the south and east.
+
+Meanwhile, the hour for the surrender of London was drawing very
+near, and all the while the bells were sending their mingled melody
+of peals and carillons up into the clear frosty air with a defiant
+joyousness that seemed to speak of anything but surrender. As twelve
+o'clock approached the guns of all the batteries on the heights were
+loaded and trained on different parts of the city, and the whole of
+the forces left after the detachment of the armies that had been sent
+to engage the battalions of the Federation prepared to descend upon
+the devoted city from all sides after the two hours' incessant
+bombardment that had been ordered to precede the general attack.
+
+It had been arranged that if the city surrendered a white flag was to
+be hoisted on the cross of St. Paul's.
+
+Within a few minutes of twelve the Tsar ascended to the roof of the
+Alexandra Palace on Muswell Hill, and turned his field-glasses on the
+towering dome. His face and lips were bloodless with repressed but
+intense anxiety, but the hands that held his glasses to his eyes were
+as steady as though he had been watching a review of his own troops.
+It was the supreme moment of his victorious career. He was
+practically master of Europe. Only Britain held out. The relieving
+forces would be rent to fragments by his war-balloons, and then
+decimated by his troops as the legions of Germany and Austria had
+been. The capital of the English-speaking world lay starving at his
+feet, and a few minutes would see--
+
+Ha! there goes the flag at last. A little ball of white bunting
+creeps up from the gallery above the dark dome. It clears the railing
+under the pedestal, and climbs to the apex of the shining cross. As
+it does so the wild chorus of the bells suddenly ceases, and out of
+the silence that follows come the deep booming strokes of the great
+bell of St. Paul's sounding the hour of twelve.
+
+As the last stroke dies away the ball bursts, and the White Ensign of
+Britain crossed by the Red Cross of St. George, and with the Jack in
+the corner, floats out defiantly on the breeze, greeted by the
+reawakening clamour of the bells, and a deep hoarse cry from millions
+of throats, that rolls like a vast sea of sound up the slopes to the
+encampments of the League.
+
+With an irrepressible cry of rage, Alexander dashed his field-glass
+to the ground, and shouted, in a voice broken with passion--
+
+"So! They have tricked us. Let the bombardment begin at once, and
+bring that flag down with the first shots!"
+
+But before the words were out of his mouth, the bombardment had
+already commenced in a very different fashion to that in which he had
+intended that it should begin. So intense had been the interest with
+which all eyes had been turned on the Cross of St. Paul's that no one
+had noticed twelve little points of shining light hanging high in air
+over the batteries of the besiegers, six to the north and six to the
+south.
+
+But the moment that the Ensign of St. George floated from the summit
+of St. Paul's a rapid series of explosions roared out like a
+succession of thunder-claps along the lines of the batteries. The
+hills of Surrey, and Kent, and Middlesex were suddenly transformed
+into volcanoes spouting flame and thick black smoke, and flinging
+clouds of dust and fragments of darker objects high into the air.
+
+The order of the Tsar was obeyed in part only, for by the time that
+the word to recommence the bombardment had been flashed round the
+circuit of the entrenchments, more than half the batteries had been
+put out of action. The twelve air-ships stationed at equal intervals
+round the vast ellipse, and discharging their No. 3 shell from their
+four guns ahead and astern, from an elevation of four thousand feet,
+had simultaneously wrecked half the batteries of the besiegers before
+their occupants had any clear idea of what was really happening.
+
+Wherever one of those shells fell and exploded, earth and stone and
+iron melted into dust under the terrific force of the exploding
+gases, and the air-ships, moving with a velocity compared with which
+the utmost speed of the aerostats was as a snail's pace, flitted
+hither and thither wherever a battery got into action, and destroyed
+it before the second round had been fired.
+
+There were still twenty-five aerostats at the command of the Tsar
+which had not been sent against the relieving forces, and as soon as
+it was realised that the aërial bombardment of the batteries came
+from the air-ships of the Terrorist fleet, they were sent into the
+air to engage them at all hazards. They outnumbered them two to one,
+but there was no comparison between the manoeuvring powers of the two
+aërial squadrons.
+
+As soon as the aerostats rose into the air, the Terrorist fleet
+receded northward and southward from the batteries. Their guns had a
+six-mile range, and it did not matter to them which side of the
+assailed area they lay. They could still hurl their explosives with
+the same deadly precision on the appointed mark. But with the
+aerostats it was a very different matter. They could only drop their
+shells vertically, and where they were not exactly above the object
+of attack their shells exploded with comparative harmlessness.
+
+As a natural consequence they had to follow the air-ships, not only
+away from London, but over their own encampments, in order to bring
+them to anything like close quarters. The aerostats possessed one
+advantage, and one only, over the air-ships. They were able to rise
+to a much greater height. But this advantage the air-ships very soon
+turned into a disadvantage by reason of their immensely superior
+speed and ease of handling. They darted about at such a speed over
+the heads of the massed forces of the League on either side of
+London, that it was impossible to drop shells upon them without
+running the inevitable risk of missing the small and swiftly-moving
+air-ship, and so causing the shell to burst amidst friends instead of
+foes.
+
+Thus the Terrorist fleet, sweeping hither and thither, in wide and
+ever changing curves, lured the most dangerous assailants of the
+beleaguered city farther and farther away from the real scene of
+action, at the very time when they were most urgently needed to
+support the attacking forces which at that moment were being poured
+into London.
+
+To destroy the air-ships seemed an impossibility, since they could
+move at five times the speed of the swiftest aerostat, and yet to
+return to the bombardment of the city was to leave them free to
+commit what havoc they pleased upon the encampments of the armies of
+the League. So they were drawn farther and farther away from the
+beleaguered city, while their agile enemies, still keeping within
+their six-mile range, evaded their shells, and yet kept up a constant
+discharge of their own projectiles upon the salient points of the
+attack on London.
+
+By four o'clock in the afternoon all the batteries of the besiegers
+had been put out of action by the aërial bombardment. It was now a
+matter of man to man and steel to steel, and so the gage of final
+battle was accepted, and as dusk began to fall over the beleaguered
+city, the Russian, French and Italian hosts left their lines, and
+descended from their vantage ground to the assault on London, where
+the old Lion at bay was waiting for them with claws bared and teeth
+grinning defiance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+THE TURN OF THE BATTLE-TIDE.
+
+
+The force which the Tsar had detached to operate against the
+Federation Army of the North left the headquarters at eleven o'clock,
+and proceeded in four main divisions by Edmonton, Chingford,
+Chigwell, and Romford. The aerostats, regulating their speed so as to
+keep touch with the land force, maintained a position two miles ahead
+of it at three thousand feet elevation.
+
+Strict orders had been given to press on at the utmost speed, and to
+use every means to discover the Federationists, and bring them to an
+engagement with as little delay as possible; but they marched on hour
+after hour into the dusk of the early winter evening, with the sounds
+of battle growing fainter in their rear, without meeting with a sign
+of the enemy.
+
+As it would have been the height of imprudence to have advanced in
+the dark into a hostile country occupied by an enemy of great but
+unknown strength, General Pralitzin, the Commander of the Russian
+force, decided to bring his men to a halt at nightfall, and therefore
+took up a series of positions between Cheshunt, Epping, Chipping
+Ongar, and Ingatestone. From these points squadrons of Cossacks
+scoured the country in all directions, north, east, and west, in
+search of the so far invisible army; and at the same time he sent
+mounted messengers back to headquarters to report that no enemy had
+been found, and to ask for further orders.
+
+The aerostats slowed down their engines until their propellers just
+counteracted the force of the wind and they hung motionless at a
+height of a thousand feet, ranged in a semicircle about fifteen miles
+long over the heads of the columns.
+
+All this time the motions of the Russian army had been watched by the
+captain of the _Ithuriel_ from an elevation of eight thousand feet,
+five miles to the rear. As soon as he saw them making preparations
+for a halt, and had noticed the disposition of the aerostats, he left
+the conning-tower which he had occupied nearly all day, and went into
+the after saloon, where he found Natas and Natasha examining a large
+plan of London and its environs.
+
+"They have come to a halt at last," he said. "And if they only remain
+where they are for three hours longer, we have the whole army like
+rats in a trap, war-balloons and all. They have not seen us so far,
+for if they had they would certainly have sent an aerostat aloft to
+reconnoitre, and, of course, I must have destroyed it. The whole
+forty are arranged in a semicircle over the heads of the four main
+columns in divisions of ten."
+
+"And what do you propose to do with them now you have got them?" said
+Natasha, looking up with a welcoming smile.
+
+"Give me a cup of coffee first, for I am cold to the marrow, and then
+I'll tell you," replied Arnold, seating himself at the table, on
+which stood a coffee-urn with a spirit lamp beneath it, something
+after the style of a Russian samovar.
+
+Natasha filled a cup and passed it to him, and he went on--
+
+"You remember what I said to Tremayne in the Princess's sitting-room
+at Petersburg about the eagle and the crows just before the trial of
+the Tsar's first war-balloon. Well, if you like to spend a couple of
+hours with me in the conning-tower as soon as it is dark enough for
+us to descend, I will show you what I meant then. I suppose the
+original general orders stand good?" he said, turning to Natas.
+
+"Yes," replied the Master gravely. "They must all be destroyed. This
+is the day of vengeance and not of mercy. If my orders have been
+obeyed, all the men belonging to the International in this force will
+have managed to get to the rear by nightfall. They can be left to
+take care of themselves. Mazanoff assured me that all the members in
+the armies of the League fully understood what they are to do. Some
+of the war-balloons have been taken possession of by our men, but we
+don't know how many. As soon as you destroy the first of the fleet,
+these will rise and commence operations on the army, and they will
+also fly the red flag, so there will be no fear of your mistaking
+them."
+
+"Very well," said Arnold, who had been quietly sipping his coffee
+while he listened to the utterance of this death sentence on more
+than a quarter of a million of men. "If our fellows to the northward
+only obey orders promptly, there will not be many of the Russians
+left by sunrise. Now, Natasha, you had better put on your furs and
+come to the conning-tower; it's about time to begin."
+
+It did not take her many moments to wrap up, and within five minutes
+she and Arnold were standing in the conning-tower watching the camp
+fires of the Russian host coming nearer and nearer as the _Ithuriel_
+sank down through the rapidly increasing darkness towards the long
+dotted line which marked the position of the aerostats, whose great
+gas-holders stood out black and distinct against the whitened earth
+beneath them.
+
+By means of electric signals to the engineers the captain of the
+_Ithuriel_ was able to regulate both the speed and the elevation of
+the air-ship as readily as though he had himself been in charge of
+the engine-room. Giving Natasha a pair of night-glasses, and telling
+her to keep a bright look-out ahead, he brought the _Ithuriel_ round
+by the westward to a position about five miles west of the extremity
+of the line of war-balloons, and as soon as he got on a level with it
+he advanced comparatively slowly, until Natasha was able to make it
+out distinctly with the night-glass.
+
+Then he signalled to the wheel-house aft to disconnect the
+after-wheel, and at the same moment he took hold of the spokes of the
+forward-wheel in the conning-tower. The next signal was "Full speed
+ahead," and as the _Ithuriel_ gathered way and rushed forward on her
+errand of destruction he said hurriedly to Natasha--
+
+"Now, don't speak till it's over. I want all my wits for this work,
+and you'll want all your eyes."
+
+Without speaking, Natasha glanced up at his face, and saw on it
+somewhat of the same expression that she had seen at the moment when
+he put the _Ariel_ at the rock-wall which barred the entrance to
+Aeria. His face was pale, and his lips were set, and his eyes looked
+straight out from under his frowning brows with an angry gleam in
+them that boded ill for the fate of those against whom he was about
+to use the irresistible engine of destruction under his command.
+
+Twenty feet in front of them stretched out the long keen ram of the
+air-ship, edged and pointed like a knife. This was the sole weapon
+that he intended to use. It was impossible to train the guns at the
+tremendous speed at which the _Ithuriel_ was travelling, but under
+the circumstance the ram was the deadliest weapon that could have
+been employed.
+
+In four minutes from the time the _Ithuriel_ started on her eastward
+course the nearest war-balloon was only fifty yards away. The
+air-ship, travelling at a speed of nearly two hundred miles an hour,
+leapt out of the dusk like a flash of white light. In ten seconds
+more her ram had passed completely through the gas-holder without so
+much as a shock being felt. The next one was only five hundred yards
+away. Obedient to her rudder the _Ithuriel_ swerved, ripped her
+gas-holder from end to end, and then darted upon the next one even
+before a terrific explosion in their rear told that the car of the
+first one had struck the earth.
+
+So she sped along the whole line, darting hither and thither in
+obedience to the guiding hand that controlled her, with such
+inconceivable rapidity that before any of the unwieldy machines,
+saving only those whose occupants had been prepared for the assault,
+had time to get out of the way of the destroying ram, she had rent
+her way through the gas-holders of twenty-eight out of the forty
+balloons, and flung them to the earth to explode and spread
+consternation and destruction all along the van of the army encamped
+below.
+
+From beginning to end the attack had not lasted ten minutes. When the
+last of the aerostats had gone down under his terrible ram, Arnold
+signalled "Stop, and ascend," to the engine-room. A second signal
+turned on the searchlight in the bow, and from this a rapid series of
+flashes were sent up to the sky to the northward and eastward.
+
+[Illustration: "Her ram had passed completely through the gasholder."
+
+_See page 334._]
+
+The effect was as fearful as it was instantaneous. The twelve
+war-balloons which had escaped by flying the red flag took up their
+positions above the Russian lines, and began to drop their fire-shell
+and cyanogen bombs upon the masses of men below. The air-ship,
+swerving round again to the westward, with her fan-wheels aloft,
+moved slowly across the wide area over which men and horses were
+wildly rushing hither and thither in vain attempts to escape the rain
+of death that was falling upon them from the sky.
+
+Her searchlight, turned downwards to the earth, sought out the spots
+where they were crowded most thickly together, and then the
+air-ship's guns came into play also. Arnold had given orders to use
+the new fire-shell exclusively, and its effects proved to be
+frightful beyond description. Wherever one fell a blaze of intense
+light shone for an instant upon the earth. Then this burst into a
+thousand fragments, which leapt into the air and spread themselves
+far and wide in all directions, burning with inextinguishable fury
+for several minutes, and driving men and horses mad with agony and
+terror.
+
+No human fortitude or discipline could withstand the fearful rain of
+fire, in comparison with which even the deadly hail from the
+aerostats seemed insignificant. For half an hour the eight guns of
+the _Ithuriel_ hurled these awful projectiles in all directions,
+scattering death and hopeless confusion wherever they alighted, until
+the whole field of carnage seemed ablaze with them.
+
+At the end of this time three rockets soared up from her deck into
+the dark sky, and burst into myriads of brilliant white stars, which
+for a few moments shed an unearthly light upon the scene of
+indescribable confusion and destruction below. But they made more
+than this visible, for by their momentary light could be seen
+seemingly interminable lines of grey-clad figures swiftly closing in
+from all sides, chasing the Cossack scouts before them in upon the
+completely disorganised Russian host.
+
+A few minutes later a continuous roll of musketry burst out on front,
+and flank, and rear, and a ceaseless hail of rifle bullets began to
+plough its way through the helpless masses of the soldiers of the
+Tsar. They formed as well as they could to confront these new
+enemies, but the moment that the searchlight of the air-ship,
+constantly sweeping the field, fell upon a company in anything like
+order, a shell descended in the midst of it and broke it up again.
+
+All night long the work of death and vengeance went on; the grey
+lines ever closing in nearer and nearer upon the dwindling remnants
+of the Russian army. Hour after hour the hail of bullets never
+slackened. There was no random firing on the part of the Federation
+soldiers. Every man had been trained to use his rifle rapidly but
+deliberately, and never to fire until he had found his mark; and the
+consequence was that the long nickel-tipped bullets, fired
+point-blank into the dense masses of men, rent their way through half
+a dozen bodies before they were spent.
+
+At last the grey light began to break over an indescribably hideous
+scene of slaughter. Scarcely ten thousand men remained of the three
+hundred thousand who had started the day before in obedience to the
+order of the Tsar; and these were split up into formless squads and
+ragged companies fighting desperately amidst heaps of corpses for
+dear life, without any pretence at order or formation.
+
+The cannonade from the air had ceased, and the last scene in the
+drama of death had come. With bayonets fixed and rifles lowered to
+the charge, the long grey lines closed up, and, as the bugles rang
+out the long-awaited order, they swept forward at the double, horses
+and men went down like a field of standing corn under the
+irresistible rush of a million bayonets, and in twenty minutes all
+was over. Not a man of the whole Russian army was left alive, save
+those whose knot of red ribbon at the button-hole proclaimed them
+members of the International.
+
+As soon as it was light enough for Arnold to see clearly that the
+fate of the Russians was finally decided, he descended to the earth,
+and, after complimenting the commander and officers of the Federation
+troops on the splendid effectiveness of their force, and their
+admirable discipline and coolness, he gave orders for a two hours'
+rest and then a march on the Russian headquarters at Muswell Hill
+with every available man. The Tsar and his Staff were to be taken
+alive at all hazards; every other Russian who did not wear the
+International ribbon was to be shot down without mercy.
+
+These orders given, the _Ithuriel_ mounted into the air again, and
+disappeared in the direction of London. She passed over the now
+shattered and silent entrenchments of the Russians at a speed which
+made it possible to remain on deck without discomfort or danger, and
+at an elevation of two thousand feet. Natas was below in the saloon,
+alone with his own thoughts, the thoughts of twenty years of waiting
+and working and gradual approach to the hour of vengeance which was
+now so near. Andrew Smith was steering in the wheel-house, Lieutenant
+Marston was taking his watch below, after being on deck nearly the
+whole of the previous night, and Arnold and Natasha, wrapped in their
+warm furs, were pacing up and down the deck engaged in conversation
+which had not altogether to do with war.
+
+The sun had risen before the _Ithuriel_ passed over London, and
+through the clear, cold air they could see with their field-glasses
+signs of carnage and destruction which made Natasha's soul sicken
+within her to gaze upon them, and even shook Arnold's now hardened
+nerves. All the main thoroughfares leading into London from the north
+and south were choked with heaps of dead bodies in Russian, French,
+and Italian uniforms, in the midst of which those who still survived
+were being forced forward by the pressure of those behind. Every
+house that remained standing was spouting flames upon them from its
+windows; and where the streets opened into squares and wider streets
+there were barricades manned with British and Federation troops, and
+from their summits and loopholes the quick-firing guns were raining
+an incessant hail of shot and shell upon the struggling masses pent
+up in the streets.
+
+A horrible chorus of the rattle of small arms, the harsh, grinding
+roar of the machine guns, the hurrahs of the defenders, and the cries
+of rage and agony from the baffled and decimated assailants, rose
+unceasingly to their ears as they passed over the last battlefield of
+the Western nations, where the Anglo-Saxon, the Russ, and the Gaul
+were locked in the death struggle.
+
+"There is some awful work going on down there," said Arnold, as they
+headed away towards the south, where, from behind the Surrey hills,
+soon came the sound of some tremendous conflict. "For the present we
+must leave them to fight it out. They don't seem to have had such
+easy work of it to the south as we have had to the north; but I
+didn't expect they would, for they have probably detached a very much
+larger force of French and Italians to attack the Army of the South
+than the Russian lot we had to deal with."
+
+"Is all this frightful slaughter really necessary?" asked Natasha,
+slipping her arm through his, and looking up at him with eyes which
+for the first time were moistened by the tears of pity for her
+enemies.
+
+"Necessary or not," replied Arnold, "it is the Master's orders, and I
+have only to obey them. This is the day of vengeance for which he has
+waited so long, and you can hardly expect him to show much mercy. It
+lies between him and Tremayne. For my part I will stay my hand only
+when I am ordered to do so.
+
+"Still, if any one can influence Natas to mercy, you can. Nothing can
+now stop the slaughter on the north, I'm afraid, for the Russians are
+caught in a hopeless trap. The Londoners are enraged beyond control,
+and if the men spared them I believe the women would tear them to
+pieces. But there are two or three millions of lives or so to be
+saved at the south, and perhaps there is still time to do it. It
+would be a task worthy of the Angel of the Revolution; why should you
+not try it?"
+
+"I will do so," said Natasha, and without another word she turned
+away and walked quickly towards the entrance to the saloon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+ARMAGEDDON.
+
+
+On the southern side of London the struggle between the
+Franco-Italian armies and the troops of the Federation had been
+raging all night with unabated fury along a curved line extending
+from Bexley to Richmond.
+
+The railways communicating with the ports of the south and east had,
+for their own purposes, been left intact by the commanders of the
+League; and so sudden and utterly unexpected had been the invasion of
+the force from America, and the simultaneous uprising of the British
+Section of the Brotherhood, that they had fallen into the hands of
+the Federationists almost without a struggle. This had enabled the
+invaders and their allies to concentrate themselves rapidly along the
+line of action which had been carefully predetermined upon.
+
+Landing almost simultaneously at Southampton, Portsmouth, Shoreham,
+Newhaven, Hastings, Folkestone, Dover, Deal, Ramsgate, and Margate,
+they had been joined everywhere by their comrades of the British
+Section, whose first action, on receiving the signal from the sky,
+had been to seize the railways and shoot down, without warning or
+mercy, every soldier of the League who opposed them.
+
+What had happened at Harwich had at the same time and in the same
+fashion happened at Dover and Chatham. The troops in occupation had
+been caught and crushed at a blow between overwhelming forces in
+front and rear. Added to this, the International was immensely
+stronger in France and Italy than in Russia, and therefore the
+defections from the ranks of the League had been far greater than
+they had been in the north.
+
+Tens of thousands had donned the red ribbon as the Signal flashed
+over their encampments, and when the moment came to repel the assault
+of the mysterious grey legions that had sprung from no one knew
+where, the bewildered French and Italian officers found their
+regiments automatically splitting up into squads of tens and
+companies of hundreds, obeying other orders, and joining in the
+slaughter of their former comrades with the most perfect _sang
+froid_. By daybreak on the 6th the various divisions of the
+Federationists were well on their way to the French and Italian
+positions to the south of London. The utmost precautions had been
+taken to prevent any news reaching headquarters, and these, as has
+been seen, were almost entirely successful.
+
+The three army corps sent southward by General le Gallifet met with a
+ruinous disaster long before they came face to face with the enemy.
+Ten of the fleet of thirty war-balloons which had been sent to
+co-operate with them, had been manned and commanded by men of the
+International. They were of the newest type and the swiftest in the
+fleet, and their crews were armed with the strangest weapons that had
+yet been used in the war. These were bows and arrows, a curious
+anachronism amidst the elaborate machinery of destruction evolved by
+the science of the twentieth century, but none the less effective on
+that account. The arrows, instead of being headed in the usual way,
+carried on the end of the shaft two little glass tubes full of
+liquid, bound together, and tipped with fulminate.
+
+When the fleet had been in the air about an hour these ten aerostats
+had so distributed themselves that each of them, with a little
+manoeuvring, could get within bowshot of two others. They also rose a
+little higher than the rest. The flutter of a white handkerchief was
+the signal agreed upon, and when this was given by the man in command
+of the ten, each of them suddenly put on speed, and ran up close to
+her nearest neighbour. A flight of arrows was discharged at the
+gas-holder, and then she headed away for the next nearest, and
+discharged a flight at her.
+
+Considering the apparent insignificance of the means employed, the
+effects were absolutely miraculous. The explosion of the fulminate on
+striking either the hard cordage of the net or one of the steel ribs
+used to give the gas-holder rigidity, broke the two tubes full of
+liquid. Then came another far more violent explosion, which tore
+great rents in the envelope. The imprisoned gas rushed out in
+torrents, and the crippled balloons began to sink, at first slowly,
+and then more and more rapidly, till the cars, weighted with crews,
+machinery, and explosives, struck the earth with a crash, and
+exploded, like so many huge shells, amidst the dense columns of the
+advancing army corps. In fifteen minutes each of the ten captured
+aerostats had sent two others to the earth, and then, completely
+masters of the position, those in charge of them began their assault
+on the helpless masses below them. This was kept up until the
+Federation troops appeared. Then they retired to the rear of the
+French and Italian columns, and devoted themselves to burning their
+stores and blowing up their ammunition trains with fire-shell.
+
+Assailed thus in front and rear, and demoralised by the defection of
+the thousands who, as soon as the battle became general, showed the
+red ribbon and echoed the fierce battle-cry of the Federation, the
+splendid force sent out by General le Gallifet was practically
+annihilated by midnight, and by daybreak the Federationists, after
+fifteen hours of almost continuous fighting, had stormed all the
+outer positions held by the French and Italians to the south of
+London, the batteries of which had already been destroyed by the
+air-ships.
+
+Thus, when the _Ithuriel_ passed over London on the morning of the
+7th the position of affairs was as follows: The two armies which had
+been detached by the Tsar and General le Gallifet to stop the advance
+of the Federationists had been destroyed almost to a man. Of the two
+fleets of war-balloons there remained twenty-two aerostats in the
+hands of the Terrorists, while the twenty-five sent by the Tsar
+against the air-ships had retired at nightfall to the depot at
+Muswell Hill to replenish their stock of fuel and explosives. Their
+ammunition-tenders, slow and unwieldy machines, adapted only for
+carrying large cargoes of shells, had been rammed and destroyed with
+ease by the air-ships during the running, or rather flying, fight of
+the previous afternoon.
+
+At sunset on the 6th the whole available forces of the League which
+could be spared from the defence of the positions, numbering more
+than three million men, had descended to the assault on London at
+nearly fifty different points.
+
+No human words could convey any adequate conception of that night of
+carnage and terror. The assailants were allowed to advance far into
+the mighty maze of streets and byways with so little resistance, that
+they began to think that the great city would fall an easy prey to
+them after all. But as they approached the main arteries of central
+London they came suddenly upon barricades so skilfully disposed that
+it was impossible to advance without storming them, and from which,
+as they approached them, burst out tempests of rifle and machine
+gunfire, under which the heads of their columns melted away faster
+than they advanced.
+
+Light, quick-firing guns, posted on the roofs of lofty buildings,
+rained death and mutilation upon them. The air-ships, flying hither
+and thither a few hundred feet above the house-tops, like spirits of
+destruction, sent their shells into their crowded masses and wrought
+the most awful havoc of all with their frightful explosives, blowing
+hundreds of men to indistinguishable fragments at every shot, while
+from the windows of every house that was not in ruins came a
+ceaseless hail of missiles from every kind of firearm, from a
+magazine rifle to a shot-gun.
+
+When morning came the Great Eastern Railway and the Thames had been
+cleared and opened, and the hearts of the starving citizens were
+gladdened by the welcome spectacle of train after train pouring in
+laden with provisions from Harwich, and of a fleet of steamers,
+flying the Federation flag, which filled the Thames below London
+Bridge, and was rapidly discharging its cargoes of food at the
+wharves and into lighters.
+
+As fast as the food could be unloaded it was distributed first to the
+troops manning the barricades, and then to the markets and shops,
+whence it was supplied free in the poorer districts, and at the usual
+prices in the richer ones. All that day London feasted and made
+merry, for now the Thames was open there seemed to be no end to the
+food that was being poured into the city which twelve hours before
+had eaten its last scanty provisions. As soon as one vessel was
+discharged another took its place, and opened its hold filled with
+the necessaries and some of the luxuries of life.
+
+The frightful butcheries at the barricades had stopped for the time
+being from sheer exhaustion on both sides. One cannot fight without
+food, and the defenders were half-starved when they began. Rage and
+the longing for revenge had lent them strength for the moment, but
+twelve hours of incessant street fighting, the most wearing of all
+forms of battle, had exhausted them, and they were heartily glad of
+the tacit truce which gave them time to eat and drink.
+
+As for the assailants, as soon as they saw conclusive proof that the
+blockade had been broken and the city victualled, they found
+themselves deserted by the ally on whose aid they had most counted.
+While the grip of famine remained on London they knew that its fall
+was only a matter of time; but now--if food could get in so could
+reinforcements, and they had not the remotest idea as to the number
+of the mysterious forces which had so suddenly sprung into existence
+outside their own lines.
+
+Added to this their losses during the night had been something
+appalling. The streets were choked with their dead, and the houses
+into which they had retired were filled with their wounded. So they,
+too, were glad of a rest, and many spoke openly of returning to their
+lines and abandoning the assault. If they did so it might be possible
+to fight their way to the coast, and escape out of this huge
+death-trap into which they had fallen on the very eve of their
+confidently-anticipated victory.
+
+So, during the whole of the 7th there was little or no hard fighting
+in London, but to the north and south the grey legions of the
+Federation fought their way mile by mile over the field of
+Armageddon, gradually driving in the two halves of the Russian and
+the Franco-Italian armies which had been faced about to oppose their
+progress while the other halves were making their assault on London.
+
+As soon as news reached the Tsar that the blockade of the river had
+been broken, he had ordered twelve of his remaining war-balloons to
+destroy the ships that were swarming below London Bridge. Their fuel
+and cargoes of explosives had been renewed, and they rose into the
+air to execute the Autocrat's command just as Natasha had taken leave
+of Arnold on her errand of mercy. He fathomed their design at once,
+swung the _Ithuriel_ rapidly round to the northward, and said to his
+lieutenant, who had just come on deck--
+
+"Mr. Marston, those fellows mean mischief. Put a three-minute time
+fuze on a couple of No. 3 fire-shell, and load the bow guns."
+
+The order was at once executed. He trained one of the guns himself,
+giving it an elevation sufficient to throw the shell over the rising
+balloons. As the sixtieth second of the first minute passed, he
+released the projectile. It soared away through the air, and burst
+with a terrific explosion about fifty feet over the ascending
+aerostats.
+
+The rain of fire spread out far and wide, and showered down upon the
+gas-holders. Then came a concussion that shook the air like a
+thunder-clap as the escaping gas mixed with the air, took fire, and
+exploded. Seven of the twelve aerostats instantly collapsed and
+plunged back again to the earth, spending the collective force of
+their explosives on the slopes of Muswell Hill. Meanwhile the second
+gun had been loaded and fired with the same effect on the remaining
+five.
+
+Arnold then ran the _Ithuriel_ up to within a mile of Muswell Hill,
+and found the remaining thirteen war-balloons in the act of making
+off to the northward.
+
+"Two more time-shells, quick!" he cried. "They are off to take part
+in the battle to the north, and must be stopped at once. Look lively,
+or they'll see us and rise out of range!"
+
+Almost before the words were out of his mouth one of the guns was
+ready. A moment later the messenger of destruction was speeding on
+its way, and they saw it explode fairly in the midst of the squadron.
+The second followed before the glare of the first explosion had
+passed, and this was the last shot fired in the aërial warfare
+between the air-ships and the war-balloons.
+
+[Illustration: "The rain of fire spread out far and wide."
+
+_See page 344._]
+
+The effects of these two shots were most extraordinary. The
+accurately-timed shells burst, not over, but amidst the aerostats,
+enveloping their cars in a momentary mist of fire. The intense heat
+evolved must have suffocated their crews instantaneously. Even if it
+had not done so their fate would have been scarcely less sudden or
+terrible, for the fire falling in the cars exploded their own shells
+even before it burst their gas-envelopes. With a roar and a shock as
+though heaven and earth were coming together, a vast dazzling mass of
+flame blazed out, darkening the daylight by contrast, and when it
+vanished again there was not a fragment of the thirteen aerostats to
+be seen.
+
+"So ends the Tsar's brief empire of the air!" said Arnold, as the
+smoke of the explosion drifted away. "And twenty-four hours more
+should see the end of his earthly Empire as well."
+
+"I hope so," said Natasha's voice at his elbow. "This awful
+destruction is sickening me. I knew war was horrible, but this is
+more like the work of fiends than of men. There is something
+monstrous, something superhumanly impious, in blasting your
+fellow-creatures with irresistible lightnings like this, as though
+you were a god instead of a man. Will you not be glad when it is
+over, Richard?"
+
+"Glad beyond all expression," replied her lover, the angry light of
+battle instantly dying out of his eyes as he looked upon her sweetly
+pitiful face. "But tell me, what success has my angel of mercy had in
+pleading for the lives of her enemies?" he continued, slipping his
+arm through hers, and leading her aft.
+
+"I don't know yet, but my father told me to ask you to go to him as
+soon as you could leave the deck. Go now, and, Richard, remember what
+I said to you when you offered me the empire of the world as we were
+going to Aeria. No one has such influence with the Master as you
+have, for you have given him the victory and delivered his enemies
+into his hands. For my sake, and for Humanity's, let your voice be
+for mercy and peace--surely we have shed blood enough now!"
+
+"It shall, angel mine! For your sweet sake I would spare even
+Alexander Romanoff himself and all his Staff."
+
+"You will never be asked to do that," said Natasha quietly, as Arnold
+disappeared down the companion-way.
+
+It was nearly an hour before he came on deck again, and by this time
+the _Ithuriel_, constantly moving to and fro over London, so that any
+change in the course of events could be at once reported to Natas,
+had shifted her position to the southward, and was hanging in the air
+over Sydenham Hill, the headquarters of General le Gallifet, whence
+could be plainly heard the roar of the tide of battle as it rolled
+ever northward over the hills of Surrey.
+
+An air-ship came speeding up from the southward as he reached the
+deck. He signalled to it to come alongside. It proved to be the
+_Mercury_ taking a message from Tremayne, who was personally
+commanding the Army of the South in the _Ariel_, to the air-ships
+operating with the Army of the North.
+
+"What is the message?" asked Arnold.
+
+"To engage and destroy the remaining Russian war-balloons, and then
+come south at once," replied the captain of the _Mercury_. "I am
+sorry to say both the _Lucifer_ and the _Azrael_ have been disabled
+by chance shots striking their propellers. The _Lucifer_ was so badly
+injured that she fell to the earth, and blew up with a perfectly
+awful explosion; but the _Azrael_ can still use her fan-wheels and
+stern propeller, though her air-planes are badly broken and twisted."
+
+Arnold frowned at the bad news, but took no further notice of it
+beyond saying--
+
+"That is unfortunate; but, I suppose, some casualties were inevitable
+under the circumstances." Then he added: "I have already destroyed
+all that were left of the Tsar's war-balloons, but you can take the
+other part of the message. Where is the _Ariel_ to be found?"
+
+The captain of the _Mercury_ gave him the necessary directions, and
+the two air-ships parted. Within an hour a council of war, consisting
+of Natas, Arnold, and Tremayne, was being held in the saloon of the
+_Ithuriel_, on the issue of which the lives of more than two millions
+of men depended.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+VICTORY.
+
+
+It was a little after three o'clock in the afternoon when Natas,
+Tremayne, and Arnold ended their deliberations in the saloon of the
+_Ithuriel_. At the same hour a council of war was being held by
+Generals le Gallifet and Cosensz at the Crystal Palace Hotel,
+Sydenham, where the two commanders had taken up their quarters.
+
+Since daybreak matters had assumed a very serious, if not desperate
+aspect for the troops of the League to the south of London.
+Communication had entirely ceased with the Tsar since the night
+before, and this could only mean that his Majesty had lost the
+command of the air, through the destruction or disablement of his
+fleet of aerostats. News from the force which had descended upon
+London told only of a fearful expenditure of life that had not
+purchased the slightest advantage.
+
+The blockade had been broken on the east, and, therefore, all hope of
+reducing the city by famine was at an end. Their own war-balloons had
+been either captured or destroyed, thousands of their men had
+deserted to the enemy, and multitudes more had been slain. Every
+position was dominated by the captured aerostats and the air-ships of
+the Terrorists. Even the building in which the council was being held
+might be shattered to fragments at any moment by a discharge of their
+irresistible artillery.
+
+Finally, it was practically certain that within the next few hours
+their headquarters must be surrounded, and then their only choice
+would lie between unconditional surrender and swift and inevitable
+destruction by an aërial bombardment. Manifestly the time had come to
+make terms if possible, and purchase their own safety and that of
+their remaining troops. Both the generals and every member of their
+respective staffs saw clearly that victory was now a physical
+impossibility, and so the immediate issue of the council was that
+orders were given to hoist the white flag over the tricolour and the
+Italian standard on the summits of the two towers of the Crystal
+Palace, and on the flagstaffs over the headquarters.
+
+These were at once seen by a squadron of air-ships coming from the
+north in obedience to Tremayne's summons, and within half an hour the
+same squadron was seen returning from the south headed by the
+flagship, also flying, to the satisfaction of the two generals, the
+signal of truce. The air-ships stopped over Sydenham and ranged
+themselves in a circle with their guns pointing down upon the
+headquarters, and the _Ariel_, with Tremayne on board, descended to
+within twenty feet of the ground in front of the hotel.
+
+As she did so an officer wearing the uniform of a French General of
+Division came forward, saluted, and said that he had a message for
+the Commander-in-Chief of the Federation forces. Tremayne returned
+the salute, and said briefly--
+
+"I am here. What is the message?"
+
+"I am commissioned by General Gallifet, Commander-in-Chief of the
+Southern Division, to request on his behalf the honour of an
+audience. He awaits you with General Cosensz in the hotel," replied
+the Frenchman, gazing in undisguised admiration at the wonderful
+craft which he now for the first time saw at close quarters.
+
+"With pleasure. I will be with you in a moment," said Tremayne, and
+as he spoke the _Ariel_ settled gently down to the earth, and the
+gangway steps dropped from her bow.
+
+As he entered the room in which the two generals were awaiting him,
+surrounded by their brilliantly-uniformed staffs, he presented a
+strange contrast to the men whose lives he held in the hollow of his
+hand. He was dressed in a dark tweed suit, with Norfolk jacket and
+knickerbockers, met by long shooting boots, just as though he was
+fresh from the moors, instead of from the battlefield on which the
+fate of the world was being decided. General le Gallifet advanced to
+meet him with a puzzled look of half-recognition on his face, which
+was at once banished by Tremayne holding out his hand without the
+slightest ceremony, and saying--
+
+"Ah, I see you recognise me, General!"
+
+"I do, my Lord Alanmere, and, you will permit me to add, with the
+most profound astonishment," replied the General, taking the
+proffered hand with a hearty grasp. "May I venture to hope that with
+an old acquaintance our negotiations may prove all the easier?"
+
+Tremayne bowed and said--
+
+"Rest assured, General, that they shall be as easy as my instructions
+will permit me to make them."
+
+"Your instructions! But I thought"--
+
+"That I was in supreme command. So I am in a sense, but I am the
+lieutenant of Natas for all that, and in a case like this his word is
+law. But come, what terms do you propose?"
+
+"That truce shall be proclaimed for twenty-four hours; that the
+commanders of the forces of the League shall meet this mysterious
+Natas, yourself, and the King of England, and arrange terms by which
+the armies of France, Russia, and Italy shall be permitted to
+evacuate the country with the honours of war."
+
+"Then, General, I may as well tell you at once that those terms are
+impossible," replied the Chief of the Federation quietly, but with a
+note of inflexible determination in his voice. "In the first place,
+'the honours of war' is a phrase which already belongs to the past.
+We see no honour in war, and if we can have our way this shall be the
+last war that shall ever be waged on earth.
+
+"Indeed, I may tell you that we began this war as one of absolute
+extermination. Had it not been for the intercession of Natasha, the
+daughter of Natas, you would not even have been given the opportunity
+of making terms of peace, or even of unconditional surrender. Our
+orders were simply to slay, and spare not, as long as a man remained
+in arms on British soil. You are, of course, aware that we have taken
+no prisoners"--
+
+"But, my lord, this is not war, it is murder on the most colossal
+scale!" exclaimed the General, utterly unable to control the
+agitation that these terrible words evoked, not only in his own
+breast, but in that of every man who heard them.
+
+"To us war and murder are synonymous terms, differing only as
+wholesale and retail," replied Tremayne drily; "for the mere names we
+care nothing. This world-war is none of our seeking; but if war can
+be cured by nothing but war, then we will wage it to the point of
+extermination. Now here are my terms. All the troops of the League on
+this side of the river Thames, on laying down their arms, shall be
+permitted to return to their homes, not as soldiers, but as peaceful
+citizens of the world, to go about their natural business as men who
+have sworn never to draw the sword again save in defence of their own
+homes."
+
+"And his Majesty the Tsar?"
+
+"You cannot make terms for the Tsar, General, and let me beg of you
+not to attempt to do so. No power under heaven can save him and his
+advisers from the fate that awaits them."
+
+"And if we refuse your terms, the alternative is what?"
+
+"Annihilation to the last man!"
+
+A dead silence followed these fearful words so calmly and yet so
+inflexibly spoken. General le Gallifet and the Italian
+Commander-in-Chief looked at one another and at the officers standing
+about them. A murmur of horror and indignation passed from lip to
+lip. Then Tremayne spoke again quickly but impressively--
+
+"Gentlemen, don't think that I am saying what I cannot do. We are
+inflexibly determined to stamp the curse of war out here and now, if
+it cost millions of lives to do so. Your forces are surrounded, your
+aerostats are captured or destroyed. It is no use mincing matters at
+a moment like this. It is life or death with you. If you do not
+believe me, General le Gallifet, come with me and take a flight round
+London in my air-ship yonder, and your own eyes shall see how
+hopeless all further struggle is. I pledge my word of honour as an
+English gentleman that you shall return in safety. Will you come?"
+
+"I will," said the French commander. "Gentlemen, you will await my
+return"; and with a bow to his companions, he followed the Chief out
+of the room, and embarked on the air-ship without further ado.
+
+[Illustration: "Do you understand now why you could not make terms
+for Russia?"
+
+_See page 351._]
+
+The _Ariel_ at once rose into the air. Tremayne reported to Natas
+what had been done, and then took the General into the deck saloon,
+and gave orders to proceed at full speed to Richmond, which was
+reached in what seemed to the Frenchman an inconceivably short space
+of time. Then the _Ariel_ swung round to the eastward, and at half
+speed traversed the whole line of battle over hill and vale, at an
+elevation of eight hundred feet, from Richmond to Shooter's Hill.
+
+What General le Gallifet saw more than convinced him that Tremayne
+had spoken without exaggeration when he said that annihilation was
+the only alternative to evacuation on his terms. The grey legions of
+the League seemed innumerable. Their long lines lapped round the
+broken squadrons of the League, mowing them down with incessant
+hailstorms of magazine fire, and overhead the air-ships and aerostats
+were hurling shells on them which made great dark gaps in their
+formations wherever they attempted anything like order. Every
+position of importance was either occupied or surrounded by the
+Federationists. There was no way open save towards London, and that
+way, as the General knew only too well, lay destruction.
+
+To the east of Shooter's Hill the air-ship swerved round to the
+northward. The Thames was alive with steamers flying the red flag,
+and carrying food and men into London. To the north of the river the
+battle had completely ceased as far as Muswell Hill.
+
+There the Black Eagle of Russia still floated from the roof of the
+Palace, and a furious battle was raging round the slopes of the hill.
+But the Russians were already surrounded, and manifestly outnumbered
+five to one, while six aerostats were circling to and fro, doing
+their work of death upon them with fearful effectiveness.
+
+"You see, General, that the aerostats do not destroy the Palace and
+bury the Tsar in its ruins, nor do I stop and do the same, as I could
+do in a few minutes. Do you understand now why you could not make
+terms for Russia?"
+
+"What your designs are Heaven and yourselves only know," replied the
+General, with quivering lips. "But I see that all is hopelessly lost.
+For God's sake let this carnage stop! It is not war, it is butchery,
+and we have deserved this retribution for employing those infernal
+contrivances in the first place. I always said it was not fair
+fighting. It is murder to drop death on defenceless men from the
+clouds. We will accept your terms. Let us get back to the south and
+save the lives of what remain of our brave fellows. If this is
+scientific warfare, I, for one, will fight no more!"
+
+"Well spoken, General!" said Tremayne, laying his hand upon his
+shoulder. "Those words of yours have saved two millions of human
+lives, and by this time to-morrow war will have ceased, I hope for
+ever, among the nations of the West."
+
+The _Ariel_ now swerved southward again, crossed London at full
+speed, and within half an hour General le Gallifet was once more
+standing in front of the Crystal Palace Hotel. As it was now getting
+dusk the searchlights of the air-ships were turned on, and they swept
+along the southern line of battle flashing the signal, "Victory!
+Cease firing!" to the triumphant hosts of the Federation, while at
+the same time the French and Italian commanders set the field
+telegraph to work and despatched messengers into London with the news
+of the terms of peace. By nightfall all fighting south of the Thames
+had ceased, and victors and vanquished were fraternising as though
+they had never struck a blow at each other, for war is a matter of
+diplomacy and Court intrigue, and not of personal animosity. The
+peoples of the world would be good enough friends if their rulers and
+politicians would let them.
+
+Meanwhile the battle raged with unabated fury round the headquarters
+of the Tsar. Here despotism was making its last stand, and making it
+bravely, in spite of the tremendous odds against it. But as twilight
+deepened into night the numbers of the assailants of the last of the
+Russian positions seemed to multiply miraculously.
+
+A never-ceasing flood of grey-clad soldiery surged up from the south,
+overflowed the barricades to the north, and swept the last of the
+Russians out of the streets like so much chaff. All the hundred
+streams converged upon Muswell Hill, and joined the ranks of the
+attacking force, and so the night fell upon the last struggle of the
+world-war. Even the Tsar himself now saw that the gigantic game was
+virtually over, and that the stake of world-empire had been played
+for--and lost.
+
+[Illustration: "A vision which no one who saw it forgot to the day of
+his death."
+
+_See page 353._]
+
+A powerful field searchlight had been fixed on the roof of the
+Palace, and, as it flashed hither and thither round the area of the
+battle, he saw fresh hosts of the British and Federation soldiers
+pouring in upon the scene of action, while his own men were being
+mown down by thousands under the concentrated fire of millions of
+rifles, and his regiments torn to fragments by the incessant storm of
+explosives from the sky.
+
+Hour after hour the savage fight went on, and the grey and red lines
+fought their way up and up the slopes, drawing the ring of flame and
+steel closer and closer round the summit of the hill on which the
+Autocrat of the North stood waiting for the hour of his fate to
+strike.
+
+The last line of the defenders of the position was reached at length.
+For an hour it held firm in spite of the fearful odds. Then it
+wavered and bent, and swayed to and fro in a last agony of
+desperation. The encircling lines seemed to surge backwards for a
+space. Then came a wild chorus of hurrahs, a swift forward rush of
+levelled bayonets, the clash of steel upon steel--and then butchery,
+vengeful and pitiless.
+
+The red tide of slaughter surged up to the very walls of the Palace.
+Only a few yards separated the foremost ranks of the victorious
+assailants from the little group of officers, in the midst of which
+towered the majestic figure of the White Tsar--an emperor without an
+empire, a leader without an army. He strode forward towards the line
+of bayonets fringing the crest of the hill, drew his sword, snapped
+the blade as a man would break a dry stick, and threw the two pieces
+to the ground, saying in English as he did so--
+
+"It is enough, I surrender!"
+
+Then he turned on his heel, and with bowed head walked back again to
+his Staff.
+
+Almost at the same moment a blaze of white light appeared in the sky,
+a hundred feet above the heads of the vast throng that encircled the
+Palace. Millions of eyes were turned up at once, and beheld a vision
+which no one who saw it forgot to the day of his death.
+
+The ten air-ships of the Terrorist fleet were ranged in two curves on
+either side of the _Ithuriel_, which floated about twenty feet below
+them, her silvery hull bathed in a flood of light from their electric
+lamps. In her bow, robed in glistening white fur, stood Natasha,
+transfigured in the full blaze of the concentrated searchlights. A
+silence of wonder and expectation fell upon the millions at her feet,
+and in the midst of it she began to sing the Hymn of Freedom. It was
+like the voice of an angel singing in the night of peace after
+strife.
+
+Men of every nation in Europe listened to her entranced, as she
+changed from language to language; and when at last the triumphant
+strains of the Song of the Revolution came floating down from her
+lips through the still night air, an irresistible impulse ran through
+the listening millions, and with one accord they took up the refrain
+in all the languages of Europe, and a mighty flood of exultant song
+rolled up in wave after wave from earth to heaven,--a song at once of
+victory and thanksgiving, for the last battle of the world-war had
+been lost and won, and the valour and genius of Anglo-Saxondom had
+triumphed over the last of the despotisms of Europe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+THE JUDGMENT OF NATAS.
+
+
+The myriad-voiced chorus of the Song of the Revolution ended in a
+mighty shout of jubilant hurrahs, in the midst of which the _Ariel_
+dropped lightly to the earth, and Tremayne, dressed now in the grey
+uniform of the Federation, with a small red rosette on the left
+breast of his tunic, descended from her deck to the ground with a
+drawn sword in his hand.
+
+He was at once recognised by several of the leaders, and as the
+words, "The Chief, the Chief," ran from lip to lip, those in the
+front ranks brought their rifles to the present, while the captains
+saluted with their swords. The British regulars and volunteers
+followed suit as if by instinct, and the chorus of cheers broke out
+again. Tremayne acknowledged the salute, and raised his hand to
+command silence. A hush at once fell upon the assembled multitude,
+and in the deep silence of anticipation which followed, he said in
+clear, ringing tones--
+
+"Soldiers of the Federation and the Empire! that which I hope will be
+the last battle of the Western nations has been fought and won. The
+Anglo-Saxon race has rallied to the defence of its motherland, and in
+the blood of its invaders has wiped out the stain of conquest. It has
+met the conquerors of Europe in arms, and on the field of battle it
+has vindicated its right to the empire of the world.
+
+"Henceforth the destinies of the human race are in its keeping, and
+it will worthily discharge the responsibility. It may yet be
+necessary for you to fight other battles with other races; but the
+victory that has attended you here will wait upon your arms
+elsewhere, and then the curse and the shame of war will be removed
+from the earth, let us hope for ever. European despotism has fought
+its last battle and lost, and those who have appealed to the sword
+shall be judged by the sword."
+
+As he said this, he pointed with his weapon towards the Tsar and his
+Staff, and continued, with an added sternness in his voice--
+
+"In the Master's name, take those men prisoners! Their fate will be
+decided to-morrow. Forward a company of the First Division; your
+lives will answer for theirs!"
+
+As the Chief ended his brief address to the victorious troops ten
+men, armed with revolver and sword, stepped forward, each followed by
+ten others armed with rifle and fixed bayonet, and immediately formed
+in a hollow square round the Tsar and his Staff. This summary
+proceeding proved too much for the outraged dignity of the fallen
+Autocrat, and he stepped forward and cried out passionately--
+
+"What is this? Is not my surrender enough? Have we not fought with
+civilised enemies, that we are to be treated like felons in the hour
+of defeat?"
+
+Tremayne raised his sword and cried sharply, "To the ready!" and
+instantly the prisoners were encircled by a hedge of levelled
+bayonets and rifle-barrels charged with death. Then he went on, in
+stern commanding tones--
+
+"Silence there! We do not recognise what you call the usages of
+civilised warfare. You are criminals against humanity, assassins by
+wholesale, and as such you shall be treated."
+
+There was nothing for it but to submit to the indignity, and within a
+few minutes the Tsar and those who with him had essayed the
+enslavement of the world were lodged in separate rooms in the
+building under a strong guard to await the fateful issue of the
+morrow.
+
+The rest of the night was occupied in digging huge trenches for the
+burial of the almost innumerable dead, a task which, gigantic as it
+was, was made light by the work of hundreds of thousands of willing
+hands. Those of the invaders who had fallen in London itself were
+taken down the Thames on the ebb tide in fleets of lighters, towed by
+steamers, and were buried at sea. Happily it was midwinter, and the
+temperature remained some degrees below freezing point, and so the
+great city was saved from what in summer would infallibly have
+brought pestilence in the track of war.
+
+At twelve o'clock on the following day the vast interior of St.
+Paul's Cathedral was thronged with the anxious spectators of the last
+scene in the tremendous tragedy which had commenced with the
+destruction of Kronstadt by the _Ariel_, and which had culminated in
+the triumph of Anglo-Saxondom over the leagued despotism and
+militarism of Europe.
+
+At a long table draped with red cloth, and placed under the dome in
+front of the chancel steps, sat Natas, with Tremayne and Natasha on
+his right hand, and Arnold and Alexis Mazanoff on his left. Radna,
+Anna Ornovski, and the other members of the Inner Circle of the
+Terrorists, including the President, Nicholas Roburoff, who had been
+pardoned and restored to his office at the intercession of Natasha,
+occupied the other seats, and behind them stood a throng of the
+leaders of the Federation forces.
+
+Neither the King of England nor any of his Ministers or military
+officers were present, as they had no voice in the proceedings which
+were about to take place. It had been decided, at a consultation with
+them earlier in the day, that it would be better that they should be
+absent.
+
+That which was to be done was unparalleled in the history of the
+world, and outside the recognised laws of nations; and so their
+prejudices were respected, and they were spared what they might have
+looked upon as an outrage on international policy, and the ancient
+but mistaken traditions of so-called civilised warfare.
+
+In front of the table two double lines of Federation soldiers, with
+rifles and fixed bayonets, kept a broad clear passage down to the
+western doors of the Cathedral. The murmur of thousands of voices
+suddenly hushed as the Cathedral clock struck the first stroke of
+twelve. It was the knell of an empire and a despotism. At the last
+stroke Natas raised his hand and said--
+
+"Bring up the prisoners!"
+
+There was a quick rustling sound, mingled with the clink of steel, as
+the two grey lines stiffened up to attention. Twelve commanders of
+divisions marched with drawn swords down to the end of the nave, a
+few rapid orders were given, and then they returned heading two
+double files of Federation guards, between which, handcuffed like
+common felons, walked the once mighty Tsar and the ministers of his
+now departed tyranny.
+
+The footsteps of the soldiers and their captives rang clearly upon
+the stones in the ominous breathless silence which greeted their
+appearance. The fallen Autocrat and his servants walked with downcast
+heads, like men in a dream, for to them it was a dream, this sudden
+and incomprehensible catastrophe which had overwhelmed them in the
+very hour of victory and on the threshold of the conquest of the
+world. Three days ago they had believed themselves conquerors, with
+the world at their feet; now they were being marched, guarded and in
+shackles, to a tribunal which acknowledged no law but its own, and
+from whose decision there was no appeal. Truly it was a dream, such a
+dream of disaster and calamity as no earthly despot had ever dreamt
+before.
+
+Four paces from the table they were halted, the Tsar in the centre,
+facing his unknown judge, and his servants on either side of him. He
+recognised Natasha, Anna Ornovski, Arnold, and Tremayne, but the
+recognition only added to his bewilderment.
+
+There was a slight flush on the face of Natas, and an angry gleam in
+his dark magnetic eyes, as he watched his captives approach; but when
+he spoke his tones were calm and passionless, the tones of the
+conqueror and the judge, rather than of the deeply injured man and a
+personal enemy. As the prisoners were halted in front of the table,
+and the rifle-butts of the guards rang sharply on the stone pavement,
+so deep a hush fell upon the vast throng in the Cathedral, that men
+seemed to hold their breath rather than break it until the Master of
+the Terror began to speak.
+
+"Alexander Romanoff, late Tsar of the Russias, and now prisoner of
+the Executive of the Brotherhood of Freedom, otherwise known to you
+as the Terrorists--you have been brought here with your advisers and
+the ministers of your tyranny that your crimes may be recounted in
+the presence of this congregation, and to receive sentence of such
+punishment as it is possible for human justice to mete out to you"--
+
+[Illustration: "Two bayonets crossed in front of him with a sharp
+clash."
+
+_See page 359._]
+
+"I deny both your justice and your right to judge. It is you who are
+the criminals, conspirators, and enemies of Society. I am a crowned
+King, and above all earthly laws"--
+
+Before he could say any more two bayonets crossed in front of him
+with a sharp clash, and he was instantly thrust back into his place.
+
+"Silence!" said Natas, in a tone of such stern command that even he
+instinctively obeyed. "As for our justice, let that be decided
+between you and me when we stand before a more awful tribunal than
+this. My right to judge even a crowned king who has no longer a
+crown, rests, as your own authority and that of all earthly rulers
+has ever done, upon the power to enforce my sentence, and I can and
+will enforce it upon you, you heir of a usurping murderess, whose
+throne was founded in blood and supported by the bayonets of her
+hired assassins. You have appealed to the arbitration of battle, and
+it has decided against you; you must therefore abide by its decision.
+
+"You have waged a war of merciless conquest at the bidding of
+insatiable ambition. You have posed as the peace-keeper of Europe
+until the train of war was laid, as you and your allies thought, in
+secret, and then you let loose the forces of havoc upon your
+fellow-men without ruth or scruple. Your path of victory has been
+traced in blood and flames from one end of Europe to the other; you
+have sacrificed the lives of millions, and the happiness of millions
+more, to a dream of world-wide empire, which, if realised, would have
+been a universal despotism.
+
+"The blood of the uncounted slain cries out from earth to heaven
+against you for vengeance. The days are past when those who made war
+upon their kind could claim the indulgence of their conquerors. You
+have been conquered by those who hold that the crime of aggressive
+war cannot be atoned for by the transfer of territory or the payment
+of money.
+
+"If this were your only crime we would have blood for blood, and life
+for life, as far as yours could pay the penalty. But there is more
+than this to be laid to our charge, and the swift and easy punishment
+of death would be too light an atonement for Justice to accept.
+
+"Since you ascended your throne you have been as the visible shape of
+God in the eyes of a hundred million subjects. Your hands have held
+the power of life and death, of freedom and slavery, of happiness and
+misery. How have you used it, you who have arrogated to yourself the
+attributes of a vicegerent of God on earth? As the power is, so too
+is the responsibility, and it will not avail you now to shelter
+yourself from it behind the false traditions of diplomacy and
+statecraft.
+
+"Your subjects have starved, while you and yours have feasted. You
+have lavished millions in vain display upon your palaces, while they
+have died in their hovels for lack of bread; and when men have asked
+you for freedom and justice, you have given them the knout, the
+chain, and the prison.
+
+"You have parted the wife from her husband"--
+
+Here for the moment the voice of Natas trembled with irrepressible
+passion, which, before he could proceed, broke from his heaving
+breast in a deep sob that thrilled the vast assembly like an electric
+shock, and made men clench their hands and grit their teeth, and
+wrung an answering sob from the breast of many a woman who knew but
+too well the meaning of those simple yet terrible words. Then Natas
+recovered his outward composure and went on; but now there was an
+angrier gleam in his eyes, and a fiercer ring in his voice.
+
+"You have parted the wife from her husband, the maid from her lover,
+the child from its parents. You have made desolate countless homes
+that once were happy, and broken hearts that had no thought of evil
+towards you--and you have done all this, and more, to maintain as
+vile a despotism as ever insulted the justice of man, or mocked at
+the mercy of God.
+
+"In the inscrutable workings of Eternal Justice it has come to pass
+that your sentence shall be uttered by the lips of one of your
+victims. For no offence known to the laws of earth or Heaven my flesh
+has been galled by your chains and torn by your whips. I have toiled
+to win your ill-gotten wealth in your mines, and by the hands of your
+brutal servants the iron has entered into my soul. Yet I am but one
+of thousands whose undeserved agony cries out against you in this
+hour of judgment.
+
+"Can you give us back what you have taken from us--the years of life
+and health and happiness, our wives and our children, our lovers and
+our kindred? You have ravished, but you cannot restore. You have
+smitten, but you cannot heal. You have killed, but you cannot make
+alive again. If you had ten thousand lives they could not atone,
+though each were dragged out to the bitter end in the misery that you
+have meted out to others.
+
+"But so far as you and yours can pay the debt it shall be paid to the
+uttermost farthing. Every pang that you have inflicted you shall
+endure. You shall drag your chains over Siberian snows, and when you
+faint by the wayside the lash shall revive you, as in the hands of
+your brutal Cossacks it has goaded on your fainting victims. You
+shall sweat in the mine and shiver in the cell, and your wives and
+your children shall look upon your misery and be helpless to help
+you, even as have been the fond ones who have followed your victims
+to exile and death.
+
+"They have seen your crimes without protest, and shared in your
+wantonness. They have toyed with the gold and jewels which they knew
+were bought with the price of misery and death, and so it is just
+that they should see your sufferings and share in your doom.
+
+"To the mines for life! And when the last summons comes to you and
+me, may Eternal Justice judge between us, and in its equal scales
+weigh your crimes against your punishment! Begone! for you have
+looked your last on freedom. You are no longer men; you are outcasts
+from the pale of the brotherhood of the humanity you have outraged!
+
+"Alexis Mazanoff, you will hold yourself responsible for the lives of
+the prisoners, and the execution of their sentence. You will see them
+in safe keeping for the present, and on the thirtieth day from now
+you will set out for Siberia."
+
+The sentence of Natas, the most terrible one which human lips could
+have uttered under the circumstances, was received with a breathless
+silence of awe and horror. Then Mazanoff rose from his seat, drew his
+sword, and saluted. As he passed round the end of the table the
+guards closed up round the prisoners, who were staring about them in
+stupefied bewilderment at the incredible horror of the fate which in
+a moment had hurled them from the highest pinnacle of earthly power
+and splendour down to the degradation and misery of the most wretched
+of their own Siberian convicts. No time was given for protest or
+appeal, for Mazanoff instantly gave the word "Forward!" and,
+surrounded by a hedge of bayonets, the doomed men were marched
+rapidly down between the two grey lines.
+
+As they reached the bottom of the nave the great central doors swung
+open, and through them came a mighty roar of execration from the
+multitude outside as they appeared on the top of the Cathedral steps.
+
+From St. Paul's Churchyard, down through Ludgate Hill and up the Old
+Bailey to the black frowning walls of Newgate, they were led through
+triple lines of Federation soldiers amidst a storm of angry cries
+from the crowd on either side,--cries which changed to a wild
+outburst of savage, pitiless exultation as the news of their dreadful
+sentence spread rapidly from lip to lip. They had shed blood like
+water, and had known no pity in the hour of their brief triumph, and
+so none was shown for them in the hour of their fall and retribution.
+
+The hour following their disappearance from the Cathedral was spent
+in a brief and simple service of thanksgiving for the victory which
+had wiped the stain of foreign invasion from the soil of Britain in
+the blood of the invader, and given the control of the destinies of
+the Western world finally into the hands of the dominant race of
+earth.
+
+The service began with a short but eloquent address from Natas, in
+which he pointed out the consequences of the victory and the
+tremendous responsibilities to the generations of men in the present
+and the future which it entailed upon the victors. He concluded with
+the following words--
+
+"My own part in this world-revolution is played out. For more than
+twenty years I have lived solely for the attainment of one object,
+the removal of the blot of Russian tyranny upon European
+civilisation, and the necessary punishment of those who were guilty
+of the unspeakable crime of maintaining it at such a fearful expense
+of human life and suffering.
+
+"That object has now been accomplished; the soldiers of freedom have
+met the hirelings of despotism on the field of the world's
+Armageddon, and the God of Battles has decided between them. Our
+motives may have been mistaken by those who only saw the bare outward
+appearance without knowing their inward intention, and our ends have
+naturally been misjudged by those who fancied that their
+accomplishment meant their own ruin.
+
+"Yet, as the events have proved, and will prove in the ages to come,
+we have been but as intelligent instruments in the hands of that
+eternal wisdom and justice which, though it may seem to sleep for a
+season, and permit the evildoer to pursue his wickedness for a space,
+never closes the eye of watchfulness or sheathes the sword of
+judgment. The empire of the earth has been given into the hands of
+the Anglo-Saxon race, and therefore it is fitting that the supreme
+control of affairs should rest in the hands of one of Anglo-Saxon
+blood and lineage.
+
+"For that reason I now surrender the power which I have so far
+exercised as the Master of the Brotherhood of Freedom into the hands
+of Alan Tremayne, known in Britain as Earl of Alanmere and Baron
+Tremayne, and from this moment the Brotherhood of Freedom ceases to
+exist as such, for its ends are attained, and the objects for which
+it was founded have been accomplished.
+
+"With the confidence born of intimate knowledge, I give this power
+into his keeping, and those who have shared his counsels and executed
+his commands in the past will in the future assist him as the Supreme
+Council, which will form the ultimate tribunal to which the disputes
+of nations will henceforth be submitted, instead of to the barbarous
+and bloody arbitration of battle.
+
+"No such power has ever been delivered into the hands of a single
+body of men before; but those who will hold it have been well tried,
+and they may be trusted to wield it without pride and without
+selfishness, the twin curses that have hitherto afflicted the divided
+nations of the earth, because, with the fate of humanity in their
+hands and the wealth of earth at their disposal, it will be
+impossible to tempt them with bribes, either of riches or of power,
+from the plain course of duty which will lie before them."
+
+As Natas finished speaking, he signed with his hand to Tremayne, who
+rose in his place and briefly addressed the assembly--
+
+"I and those who will share it with me accept alike the power and the
+responsibility--not of choice, but rather because we are convinced
+that the interests of humanity demand that we should do so. Those
+interests have too long been the sport of kings and their courtiers,
+and of those who have seen in selfish profit and aggrandisement the
+only ends of life worth living for.
+
+"Under the pretences of furthering civilisation and progress, and
+maintaining what they have been pleased to call law and order, they
+have perpetrated countless crimes of oppression, cruelty, and
+extortion, and we are determined that this shall have an end.
+
+"Henceforth, so far as we can insure it, the world shall be ruled,
+not by the selfishness of individuals, or the ambitions of nations,
+but in accordance with the everlasting and immutable principles of
+truth and justice, which have hitherto been burlesqued alike by
+despots on their thrones and by political partisans in the senates of
+so-called democratic countries.
+
+"To-morrow, at mid-day in this place, the chief rulers of Europe will
+meet us, and our intentions will be further explained. And now before
+we separate to go about the rest of the business of the day let us,
+as is fitting, give due thanks to Him who has given us the victory."
+
+He ceased speaking, but remained standing; the same instant the organ
+of the Cathedral pealed out the opening notes of the familiar
+Normanton Chant, and all those at the table, saving Natas, rose to
+their feet. Then Natasha's voice soared up clear and strong above the
+organ notes, singing the first line of the old well-known chant--
+
+  The strain upraise of joy and praise.
+
+And as she ceased the swell of the organ rolled out, and a mighty
+chorus of hallelujahs burst by one consent from the lips of the vast
+congregation, filling the huge Cathedral, and flowing out from its
+now wide-open doors until it was caught up and echoed by the
+thousands who thronged the churchyard and the streets leading into
+it.
+
+As this died away Radna sang the second line, and so the Psalm of
+Praise was sung through, as it were in strophe and anti-strophe,
+interspersed with the jubilant hallelujahs of the multitude who were
+celebrating the greatest victory that had ever been won on earth.
+
+That night the inhabitants of the delivered city gave themselves up
+to such revelry and rejoicing as had never been seen or heard in
+London since its foundation. The streets and squares blazed with
+lights and resounded with the songs and cheerings of a people
+delivered from an impending catastrophe which had bidden fair to
+overwhelm it in ruin, and bring upon it calamities which would have
+been felt for generations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+THE ORDERING OF EUROPE.
+
+
+While these events had been in progress three squadrons of air-ships
+had been speeding to St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Rome. Three vessels
+had been despatched to each city, and the instructions of those in
+command of the squadrons were to bring the German Emperor, the
+Emperor of Austria, and the King of Italy to London.
+
+The news of the defeat of the League had preceded them by telegraph,
+and all three monarchs willingly obeyed the summons which they
+carried to attend a Conference for the ordering of affairs of Europe.
+
+The German Emperor was at once released from his captivity, although
+only under a threat of the destruction of the city by the air-ships,
+for the Grand Duke Vladimir, who ruled at St. Petersburg as deputy of
+the Tsar, had first refused to believe the astounding story of the
+defeat of his brother and the destruction of his army. The terrible
+achievements of the air-ships were, however, too well and too
+certainly known to permit of resistance by force, and so the Kaiser
+was released, and made his first aërial voyage from St. Petersburg to
+London, arriving there at ten o'clock on the evening of the 8th, in
+the midst of the jubilations of the rejoicing city.
+
+The King of England had sent a despatch to the Emperor of Austria
+inviting him to the Conference, and General Cosensz had sent a
+similar one to the King of Italy, and so there had been no difficulty
+about their coming. At mid-day on the 9th the Conference was opened
+in St. Paul's, which was the only public building left intact in
+London capable of containing the vast audience that was present, an
+audience composed of men of every race and language in Europe.
+
+Natas was absent, and Tremayne occupied his seat in the centre of the
+table; the other members of the Inner Circle, now composing the
+Supreme Council of the Federation, were present, with the exception
+of Natasha, Radna, and Anna Ornovski, and the other seats at the
+table were occupied by the monarchs to whom the purposes of the
+Conference had been explained earlier in the day. France was
+represented in the person of General le Gallifet.
+
+The body of the Cathedral was filled to overflowing, with the
+exception of an open space kept round the table by the Federation
+guards.
+
+The proceedings commenced with a brief but impressive religious
+service conducted by the Primate of England, who ended it with a
+short but earnest appeal, delivered from the altar steps, to those
+composing the Conference, calling upon them to conduct their
+deliberations with justice and moderation, and reminding them of the
+millions who were waiting in other parts of Europe for the blessings
+of peace and prosperity which it was now in their power to confer
+upon them. As the Archbishop concluded the prayer for the blessing of
+Heaven upon their deliberation, with which he ended his address,
+Tremayne, after a few moments of silence, rose in his place and,
+speaking in clear deliberate tones, began as follows:--
+
+"Your Majesties have been called together to hear the statement of
+the practical issues of the conflict which has been decided between
+the armies of the Federation of the Anglo-Saxon peoples and those of
+the late Franco-Slavonian League.
+
+"Into the motives which led myself and those who have acted with me
+to take the part which we have done in this tremendous struggle,
+there is now no need for me to enter. It is rather with results than
+with motives that we have to deal, and those results may be very
+briefly stated.
+
+"We have demonstrated on the field of battle that we hold in our
+hands means of destruction against which it is absolutely impossible
+for any army fortress or fleet to compete with the slightest hope of
+victory; and more than this, we are in command of the only organised
+army and fleet now on land or sea. We have been compelled by the
+necessities of the case to use our powers unsparingly up to a certain
+point. That we have not used them beyond that point, as we might have
+done, to enslave the world, is the best proof that I can give of the
+honesty of our purposes with regard to the future.
+
+"But it must never be forgotten that these powers remain with us, and
+can be evoked afresh should necessity ever arise.
+
+"It is not our purpose to enter upon a war of conquest, or upon a
+series of internal revolutions in the different countries of Europe,
+the issue of which might be the subversion of all order, and the
+necessity for universal conquest on our part in order to restore it.
+
+"With two exceptions the internal affairs of all the nations of
+Europe, saving only Russia, which for the present we shall govern
+directly, will be left undisturbed. The present tenure of land will
+be abolished, and the only rights to the possession of it that will
+be recognised will be occupation and cultivation. Experience has
+shown that the holding of land for mere purposes of luxury or
+speculative profit leads to untold injustices to the general
+population of a country. The land on which cities and towns are built
+will henceforth belong to the municipalities, and the rents of the
+buildings will be paid in lieu of taxation.
+
+"The other exception is even more important than this. We have waged
+war in order that it may be waged no more, and we are determined that
+it shall now cease for ever. The peoples of the various nations have
+no interest in warfare. It has been nothing but an affliction and a
+curse to them, and we are convinced that if one generation grows up
+without drawing the sword, it will never be drawn again as long as
+men remain upon the earth. All existing fortifications will therefore
+be at once destroyed, standing armies will be disbanded, and all the
+warships in the world, which cannot be used for peaceful purposes,
+will be sent to the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean.
+
+"For the maintenance of peace and order each nation will maintain a
+body of police, in which all citizens between the ages of twenty and
+forty will serve in rotation, and this police will be under the
+control, first of the Sovereign and Parliament of the country, and
+ultimately of an International Board, which will sit once a year in
+each of the capitals of Europe in turn, and from whose decision there
+will be no appeal.
+
+"The possession of weapons of warfare, save by the members of this
+force, will be forbidden under penalty of death, as we shall
+presuppose that no man can possess such weapons save with intent to
+kill, and all killing, save execution for murder, will henceforth be
+treated as murder. Declaration of war by one country upon another
+will be held to be a national crime, and, should such an event ever
+occur, the forces of the Anglo-Saxon Federation will be at once armed
+by authority of the Supreme Council, and the guilty nation will be
+crushed and its territories will be divided among its neighbours.
+
+"Such are the broad outlines of the course which we intend to pursue,
+and all I have now to do is to commend them to your earnest
+consideration in the name of those over whom you are the constituted
+rulers."
+
+As the President of the Federation sat down the German Emperor rose
+and said in a tone which showed that he had heard the speech with but
+little satisfaction--
+
+"From what we have heard it would seem that the Federation of the
+Anglo-Saxon peoples considers itself as having conquered the world,
+and as being, therefore, in a position to dictate terms to all the
+peoples of the earth. Am I correct in this supposition?"
+
+Tremayne bowed in silence, and he continued--
+
+"But this amounts to the destruction of the liberties of all peoples
+who are not of the Anglo-Saxon race. It seems impossible to me to
+believe that free-born men who have won their liberty upon the
+battlefield will ever consent to submit to a despotism such as this.
+What if they refuse to do so?"
+
+Tremayne was on his feet in an instant. He turned half round and
+faced the Kaiser, with a frown on his brow and an ominous gleam in
+his eyes--
+
+"Your Majesty of Germany may call it a despotism if you choose, but
+remember that it is a despotism of peace and not of war, and that it
+affects only those who would be peace-breakers and drawers of the
+sword upon their fellow-creatures. I regret that you have made it
+necessary for me to remind you that we have conquered your
+conquerors, and that the despotism from which we have delivered the
+nations of Europe would infallibly have been ten thousand times worse
+than that which you are pleased to miscall by the name.
+
+"You deplore the loss of the right and the power to draw the sword
+one upon another. Well, now, take that right back again for the last
+time! Say here, and now, that you will not acknowledge the supremacy
+of the Council of the Federation, and take the consequences!
+
+"Our soldiers are still in the field, our aërial fleet is still in
+the air, and our sea-navy is under steam. But, remember, if you
+appeal to the sword it shall be with you as it was with Alexander
+Romanoff and the Russian force which invaded England. We have
+annihilated the army to a man, and exiled the Autocrat for life.
+Choose now, peace or war, and let those who would choose war with you
+take their stand beside you, and we will fight another Armageddon!"
+
+The pregnant and pitiless words brought the Kaiser to his senses in
+an instant. He remembered that his army was destroyed, his strongest
+fortresses dismantled, his treasury empty, and the manhood of his
+country decimated. He turned white to the lips and sank back into his
+chair, covered his face with his hands, and sobbed aloud. And so
+ended the last and only protest made by the spirit of militarism
+against the new despotism of peace.
+
+One by one the monarchs now rose in their places, bowed to the
+inevitable, and gave their formal adherence to the new order of
+things. General le Gallifet came last. When he had affixed his
+signature to the written undertaking of allegiance which they had all
+signed, he said, speaking in French--
+
+"I was born and bred a soldier, and my life has been passed either in
+warfare or the study of it. I have now drawn the sword for the last
+time, save to defend France from invasion. I have seen enough of
+modern war, or, as I should rather call it, murder by machinery, for
+such it only is now. They spoke truly who prophesied that the
+solution of the problem of aërial navigation would make war
+impossible. It has made it impossible, because it has made it too
+unspeakably horrible for humanity to tolerate it.
+
+"In token of the honesty of my belief I ask now that France and
+Germany shall bury their long blood-feud on their last battlefield,
+and in the persons of his German Majesty and myself shake hands in
+the presence of this company as a pledge of national forgiveness and
+perpetual peace."
+
+As he ceased speaking, he turned and held out his hand to the Kaiser.
+All eyes were turned on William II, to see how he would receive this
+appeal. For a moment he hesitated, then his manhood and chivalry
+conquered his pride and national prejudice, and amidst the cheers of
+the great assembly, he grasped the outstretched hand of his
+hereditary enemy, saying in a voice broken by emotion--
+
+"So be it. Since the sword is broken for ever, let us forget that we
+have been enemies, and remember only that we are neighbours."
+
+This ended the public portion of the Conference. From St. Paul's
+those who had composed it went to Buckingham Palace, in the grounds
+of which the aërial fleet was reposing on the lawns under a strong
+guard of Federation soldiers. Here they embarked, and were borne
+swiftly through the air to Windsor Castle, where they dined together
+as friends and guests of the King of England, and after dinner
+discussed far on into the night the details of the new European
+Constitution which was to be drawn up and formally ratified within
+the next few days.
+
+Shortly after noon on the following day the _Ithuriel_, with Natas,
+Natasha, Arnold, and Tremayne on board, rose into the air from the
+grounds of Buckingham Palace and headed away to the northward. The
+control of affairs was left for the time being to a committee of the
+members of what had once been the Inner Circle of the Terrorists, and
+which was now the Supreme Council of the Federation.
+
+This was under the joint presidency of Alexis Mazanoff and Nicholas
+Roburoff, who was exerting his great and well-proved administrative
+abilities to the utmost in order to atone for the fault which had led
+to the desertion of the _Lucifer_, and to amply justify the
+intercession of Natasha which had made it possible for him to be
+present at the last triumph of the Federation and the accomplishment
+of the long and patient work of the Brotherhood. There was an immense
+amount of work to be got through in the interval between the
+pronouncement of the judgment of Natas on the Tsar and his Ministers
+and the execution of the sentence. After twenty-four hours in Newgate
+they were transferred to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, and there, under a
+guard of Federation soldiers, who never left them for a moment day or
+night, they awaited the hour of their departure to Siberia.
+
+Communication with all parts of the Continent and America was rapidly
+restored. The garrisons of the League were withdrawn from the
+conquered cities, gave up their arms at the depots of their
+respective regiments, and returned to their homes. The French and
+Italian troops round London were disarmed and taken to France in the
+Federation fleet of transports. Meanwhile three air-ships were placed
+temporarily at the disposal of the Emperor of Austria, the Kaiser,
+and the King of Italy, to convey them to their capitals, and furnish
+them with the means of speedy transit about their dominions, and to
+and from London during the drawing up of the new European
+Constitution.
+
+A fleet of four air-ships and fifteen aerostats was also despatched
+to the Russian capital, and compelled the immediate surrender of the
+members of the Imperial family and the Ministers of the Government,
+and the instant disarmament of all troops on Russian soil, under pain
+of immediate destruction of St. Petersburg and Moscow, and invasion
+and conquest of the country by the Federation armies. The Council of
+State and the Ruling Senate were then dissolved, and the Executive
+passed automatically into the hands of the controllers of the
+Federation. Resistance was, of course, out of the question, and as
+soon as it was once known for certain that the Tsar had been taken
+prisoner and his army annihilated, no one thought seriously of it, as
+it would have been utterly impossible to have defended even Russia
+against the overwhelming forces of the Federation and the British
+Empire, assisted by the two aërial fleets.
+
+The _Ithuriel_, after a flight of a little more than an hour, stopped
+and descended to the earth on the broad, sloping, and now
+snow-covered lawn in front of Alanmere Castle. Lord Marazion and his
+daughter, who, as it is almost needless to say, had been kept well
+informed of the course of events since the Federation forces landed
+in England, had also been warned by telegraph of the coming of their
+aërial visitors, and before the _Ithuriel_ had touched the earth, the
+new mistress of Alanmere had descended the steps of the terrace that
+ran the whole length of the Castle front to welcome its lord and hers
+back to his own again.
+
+Then there were greetings of lovers and friends, well known to each
+other by public report and familiar description, yet never seen in
+the flesh till now, and of others long parted by distance and by
+misconception of aims and motives. But however pleasing it might be
+to dwell at length upon the details of such a meeting, and its
+delightful contrast to the horrors of unsparing war and merciless
+destruction, there is now no space to do so, for the original limits
+of this history of the near future have already been reached and
+overpassed, and it is time to make ready for the curtain to descend
+upon the last scenes of the world-drama of the Year of Wonders--1904.
+
+Tremayne was the first to alight, and he was followed by Natasha and
+Arnold at a respectful distance, which they kept until the first
+greeting between the two long and strangely-parted lovers was over.
+When at length Lady Muriel got out of the arms of her future lord,
+she at once ran to Natasha with both her hands outstretched, a very
+picture of grace and health and blushing loveliness.
+
+She was Natasha's other self, saving only for the incomparable
+brilliance of colouring and contrast which the daughter of Natas
+derived from her union of Eastern and Western blood. Yet no fairer
+type of purely English beauty than Muriel Penarth could have been
+found between the Border and the Land's End, and what she lacked of
+Natasha's half Oriental brilliance and fire she atoned for by an
+added measure of that indescribable blend of dignity and gentleness
+which makes the English gentlewoman perhaps the most truly lovable of
+all women on earth.
+
+"I could not have believed that the world held two such lovely
+women," said Arnold to Tremayne, as the two girls met and embraced.
+"How marvellously alike they are, too! They might be sisters. Surely
+they must be some relation."
+
+"Yes, I am sure they are," replied Tremayne; "such a resemblance
+cannot be accidental. I remember in that queer double life of mine,
+when I was your unconscious rival, I used to interchange them until
+they almost seemed to be the same identity to me. There is some
+little mystery behind the likeness which we shall have cleared up
+before very long now. Natas told me to take Lord Marazion to him in
+the saloon, and said he would not enter the Castle till he had spoken
+with him alone. There he is at the door! You go and make Muriel's
+acquaintance, and I will take him on board at once."
+
+So saying, Tremayne ran up the terrace steps, shook hands heartily
+with the old nobleman, and then came down with him towards the
+air-ship. As they met Lady Muriel coming up with Arnold on one side
+of her and Natasha on the other, Lord Marazion stopped suddenly with
+an exclamation of wonder. He took his arm out of Tremayne's, strode
+rapidly to Natasha, and, before his daughter could say a word of
+introduction, put his hands on her shoulders, and looked into her
+lovely upturned face through a sudden mist of tears that rose
+unbidden to his eyes.
+
+"It is a miracle!" he said, in a low voice that trembled with
+emotion. "If you are the daughter of Natas, there is no need to tell
+me who he is, for you are Sylvia Penarth's daughter too. Is not that
+so, Sylvia di Murska--for I know you bear your mother's name?"
+
+"Yes, I bear her name--and my father's. He is waiting for you in the
+air-ship, and he has much to say to you. You will bring him back to
+the Castle with you, will you not?"
+
+Natasha spoke with a seriousness that had more weight than her words,
+but Lord Marazion understood her meaning. He stooped down and kissed
+her on the brow, saying--
+
+"Yes, yes; the past is the past. I will go to him, and you shall see
+us come back together."
+
+"And so we are cousins!" exclaimed Lady Muriel, slipping her arm
+round Natasha's waist as she spoke. "I was sure we must be some
+relation to each other; for, though I am not so beautiful"--
+
+"Don't talk nonsense, or I shall call you 'Your Ladyship' for the
+rest of the day. Yes, of course we are alike, since our mothers were
+twin-sisters, and the very image of each other, according to their
+portraits."
+
+While the girls were talking of their new-found relationship, Arnold
+had dropped behind to wait for Tremayne, who, after he had taken Lord
+Marazion into the saloon of the _Ithuriel_, had left him with Natas
+and returned to the Castle alone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+THE STORY OF THE MASTER.
+
+
+That evening, when the lamps were lit and the curtains drawn in the
+library at Alanmere, in the same room in which Tremayne had seen the
+Vision of Armageddon, Natas told the story of Israel di Murska, the
+Jewish Hungarian merchant, and of Sylvia Penarth, the beautiful
+English wife whom he had loved better than his own faith and people,
+and how she had been taken from him to suffer a fate which had now
+been avenged as no human wrongs had ever been before.
+
+"Twenty-five years ago," he began, gazing dreamily into the great
+fire of pine-logs, round the hearth of which he and his listeners
+were sitting, "I, who am now an almost helpless, half-mutilated
+cripple, was a strong, active man, in the early vigour of manhood,
+rich, respected, happy, and prosperous even beyond the average of
+earthly good fortune.
+
+"I was a merchant in London, and I had inherited a large fortune from
+my father, which I had more than doubled by successful trading. I was
+married to an English wife, a woman whose grace and beauty are
+faithfully reflected in her daughter"--
+
+As Natas said this, the fierce light that had begun to shine in his
+eyes softened, and the hard ring left his voice, and for a little
+space he spoke in gentler tones, until sterner memories came and
+hardened them again.
+
+"I will not deny that I bought her with my gold and fair promises of
+a life of ease and luxury. But that is done every day in the world in
+which I then lived, and I only did as my Christian neighbours about
+me did. Yet I loved my beautiful Christian wife very dearly,--more
+dearly even than my people and my ancient faith,--or I should not
+have married her.
+
+"When Natasha was two years old the black pall of desolation fell
+suddenly on our lives, and blasted our great happiness with a misery
+so utter and complete that we, who were wont to count ourselves among
+the fortunate ones of the earth, were cast down so low that the
+beggar at our doors might have looked down upon us.
+
+"It was through no fault of mine or hers, nor through any
+circumstance over which either of us had any control, that we fell
+from our serene estate. On the contrary, it was through a work of
+pure mercy, intended for the relief of those of our people who were
+groaning under the pitiless despotism of Russian officialism and
+superstition, that I fell, as so many thousands of my race have
+fallen, into that abyss of nameless misery and degradation that
+Russian hands have dug for the innocent in the ghastly solitudes of
+Siberia, and, without knowing it, dragged my sweet and loving wife
+into it after me.
+
+"It came about in this wise.
+
+"I had a large business connection in Russia, and at a time when all
+Europe was ringing with the story of the persecution of the Russian
+Jews, I, at the earnest request of a committee of the leading Jews in
+London, undertook a mission to St. Petersburg, to bring their
+sufferings, if possible, under the direct notice of the Tsar, and to
+obtain his consent to a scheme for the payment of a general
+indemnity, subscribed to by all the wealthy Jews of the world, which
+should secure them against persecution and official tyranny until
+they could be gradually and completely removed from Russia.
+
+"I, of course, found myself thwarted at every turn by the heartless
+and corrupt officialism that stands between the Russian people and
+the man whom they still regard as the vicegerent of God upon earth.
+
+"Upon one pretext and another I was kept from the presence of the
+Tsar for weeks, until he left his dominions on a visit to Denmark.
+
+"Meanwhile I travelled about, and used my eyes as well as the
+officials would permit me, to see whether the state of things was
+really as bad as the accounts that had reached England had made it
+out to be.
+
+"I saw enough to convince me that no human words could describe the
+awful sufferings of the sons and daughters of Israel in that hateful
+land of bondage.
+
+"Neither their lives nor their honour, their homes nor their
+property, were safe from the malice and the lust and the rapacity of
+the brutal ministers of Russian officialdom.
+
+"I conversed with families from which fathers and mothers, sons and
+daughters had been spirited away, either never to return, or to come
+back years afterwards broken in health, ruined and dishonoured, to
+the poor wrecks of the homes that had once been peaceful, pure, and
+happy.
+
+"I saw every injury, insult, and degradation heaped upon them that
+patient and long-suffering humanity could bear, until my soul
+sickened within me, and my spirit rose in revolt against the hateful
+and inhuman tyranny that treated my people like vermin and wild
+beasts, for no offence save a difference in race and creed.
+
+"At last the shame and horror of it all got the better of my
+prudence, and the righteous rage that burned within me spoke out
+through my pen and my lips.
+
+"I wrote faithful accounts of all I had seen to the committee in
+England. They never reached their destination, for I was already a
+marked man, and my letters were stopped and opened by the police.
+
+"At last I one day attended a court of law, and heard one of those
+travesties of justice which the Russian officials call a trial for
+conspiracy.
+
+"There was not one tittle of anything that would have been called
+evidence, or that would not have been discredited and laughed out of
+court in any other country in Europe; yet two of the five prisoners,
+a man and a woman, were sentenced to death, and the other three, two
+young students and a girl who was to have been the bride of one of
+them in a few weeks' time, were doomed to five years in the mines of
+Kara, and after that, if they survived it, to ten years' exile in
+Sakhalin.
+
+"So awful and so hideous did the appalling injustice seem to me,
+accustomed as I was to the open fairness of the English criminal
+courts, that, overcome with rage and horror, I rose to my feet as the
+judge pronounced the frightful sentence, and poured forth a flood of
+passionate denunciations and wild appeals to the justice of humanity
+to revoke the doom of the innocent.
+
+"Of course I was hustled out of the court and flung into the street
+by the police attendants, and I groped my way back to my hotel with
+eyes blinded with tears of rage and sorrow.
+
+"That afternoon I was requested by the proprietor of the hotel to
+leave before nightfall. I expostulated in vain. He simply told me
+that he dared not have in his house a man who had brought himself
+into collision with the police, and that I must find other lodgings
+at once. This, however, I found to be no easy matter. Wherever I went
+I was met with cold looks, and was refused admittance.
+
+"Lower and lower sank my heart within me at each refusal, and the
+terrible conviction forced itself upon me that I was a marked man
+amidst all-powerful and unscrupulous enemies whom no Russian dare
+offend. I was a Jew and an outcast, and there was nothing left for me
+but to seek for refuge such as I could get among my own persecuted
+people.
+
+"Far on into the night I found one, a modest lodging, in which I
+hoped I could remain for a day or two while waiting for my passport,
+and making the necessary preparations to return to England and shake
+the mire of Russia off my feet for ever. It would have been a
+thousand times better for me and my dear ones, and for those whose
+sympathy and kindness involved them in my ruin, if, instead of going
+to that ill-fated house, I had flung myself into the dark waters of
+the Neva, and so ended my sorrows ere they had well begun.
+
+"I applied for my passport the next day, and was informed that it
+would not be ready for at least three days. The delay was, of course,
+purposely created, and before the time had expired a police visit was
+paid to the house in which I was lodging, and papers written in
+cypher were found within the lining of one of my hats.
+
+"I was arrested, and a guard was placed over the house. Without any
+further ceremony I was thrown into a cell in the fortress of Peter
+and Paul to await the translation of the cypher. Three days later I
+was taken before the chief of police, and accused of having in my
+possession papers proving that I was an emissary from the Nihilist
+headquarters in London.
+
+"I was told that my conduct had been so suspicious and of late so
+disorderly, that I had been closely watched during my stay in St.
+Petersburg, with the result that conclusive evidence of treason had
+been found against me.
+
+"As I was known to be wealthy, and to have powerful friends in
+England, the formality of a trial was dispensed with, and after
+eating my heart out for a month in my cell in the fortress, I was
+transferred to Moscow to join the next convict train for Siberia.
+Arrived there, I for the first time learned my sentence--ten years in
+the mines, and then ten in Sakhalin.
+
+"Thus was I doomed by the trick of some police spy to pass what bade
+fair to be the remainder of a life that had been so bright and full
+of fair promise in hopeless exile, torment, and degradation--and all
+because I protested against injustice and made myself obnoxious to
+the Russian police.
+
+"As the chain-gang that I was attached to left Moscow, I found to my
+intense grief that the good Jew and his wife who had given me shelter
+were also members of it. They had been convicted of 'harbouring a
+political conspirator,' and sentenced to five years' hard labour, and
+then exile for life, as 'politicals,' which, as you no doubt know,
+meant that, if they survived the first part of their sentence, they
+would be allowed to settle in an allotted part of Southern Siberia,
+free in everything but permission to leave the country.
+
+"Were I to talk till this time to-morrow I could not properly
+describe to you all the horrors of that awful journey along the Great
+Siberian road, from the Pillar of Farewells that marks the boundary
+between Europe and Asia across the frightful snowy wastes to Kara.
+
+"The hideous story has been told again and again without avail to the
+Christian nations of Europe, and they have permitted that awful crime
+against humanity to be committed year after year without even a
+protest, in obedience to the miserable principles that bade them to
+place policy before religion and the etiquette of nations before the
+everlasting laws of God.
+
+"After two years of heartbreaking toil at the mines my health utterly
+broke down. One day I fell fainting under the lash of the brutal
+overseer, and as I lay on the ground he ran at me and kicked me twice
+with his heavy iron-shod boots, once on the hip, breaking the bone,
+and once on the lower part of the spine, crushing the spinal cord,
+and paralysing my lower limbs for ever.
+
+"As this did not rouse me from my fainting-fit, the heartless fiend
+snatched a torch from the wall of the mine-gallery and thrust the
+burning end in my long thick beard, setting it on fire and scorching
+my flesh horribly, as you can see. I was carried out of the mine and
+taken to the convict hospital, where I lay for weeks between life and
+death, and only lived instead of died because of the quenchless
+spirit that was within me crying out for vengeance on my tormentors.
+
+"When I came back to consciousness, the first thing I learnt was that
+I was free to return to England on condition that I did not stop on
+my way through Russia.
+
+"My friends, urged on by the tireless energy of my wife's anxious
+love, had at last found out what had befallen me, and proceedings had
+been instituted to establish the innocence that had been betrayed by
+a common and too well-known device used by the Russian police to
+secure the conviction and removal of those who have become obnoxious
+to the bureaucracy.
+
+"Whether my friends would ever have accomplished this of themselves
+is doubtful, but suddenly the evidence of a pope of the Orthodox
+Church, to whom the spy who had put the forged letters in my hat had
+confessed the crime on his deathbed, placed the matter in such a
+strong clear light that not even the officialism of Russia could
+cloud it over. The case got to the ears of the Tsar, and an order was
+telegraphed to the Governor of Kara to release me and send me back to
+St. Petersburg on the conditions I have named.
+
+"Think of the mockery of such a pardon as that! By the unlawful
+brutality of an official, who was not even reprimanded for what he
+had done, I was maimed, crippled, and disfigured for life, and now I
+was free to return to the land I had left on an errand of mercy,
+which tyranny and corruption had wilfully misconstrued into a mission
+of crime, and punished with the ruin of a once happy and useful life.
+That was bad enough, but worse was to come before the cup of my
+miseries should be full."
+
+Natas was silent for a moment, and as he gazed into the fire the
+spasm of a great agony passed over his face, and two great tears
+welled up in his eyes and overflowed and ran down his cheeks on to
+his breast.
+
+"On receiving the order the governor telegraphed back that I was sick
+almost to death, and not able to bear the fatigue of the long,
+toilsome journey, and asked for further orders. As soon as this news
+reached my devoted wife she at once set out, in spite of all the
+entreaties of her friends and advisers, to cross the wastes of
+Siberia, and take her place at my bedside.
+
+"It was winter time, and from Ekaterinenburg, where the rail ended in
+those days, the journey would have to be performed by sledge. She,
+therefore, took with her only one servant and a courier, that she
+might travel as rapidly as possible.
+
+"She reached Tiumen, and there all trace was lost of her and her
+attendants. She vanished into that great white wilderness of ice and
+snow as utterly as though the grave had closed upon her. I knew
+nothing of her journey until I reached St. Petersburg many months
+afterwards.
+
+"All that money could do was done to trace her, but all to no avail.
+The only official news that ever came back out of that dark world of
+death and misery was that she had started from one of the
+post-stations a few hours before a great snow-storm had come on, that
+she had never reached the next station--and after that all was
+mystery.
+
+"Five years passed. I had returned to find my little daughter well
+and blooming into youthful beauty, and my affairs prospering in
+skilful and honest hands. I was richer in wealth than I had ever
+been, and in happiness poorer than a beggar, while the shadow of that
+awful uncertainty hung over me.
+
+"I could not believe the official story, for the search along the
+Siberian road had been too complete not to have revealed evidences of
+the catastrophe of which it told when the snows melted, and none such
+were ever found.
+
+"At length one night, just as I was going to bed, I was told that a
+man who would not give his name insisted on seeing me on business
+that he would tell no one but myself. All that he would say was that
+he came from Russia. That was enough. I ordered him to be admitted.
+
+"He was a stranger, ragged and careworn, and his face was stamped
+with the look of sullen, unspeakable misery that men's faces only
+wear in one part of the world.
+
+"'You are from Siberia,' I said, stretching out my hand to him.
+'Welcome, fellow-sufferer! Have you news for me?'
+
+"'Yes, I am from Siberia,' he replied, taking my hand; 'an escaped
+Nihilist convict from the mines. I have been four years getting from
+Kara to London, else you should have had my news sooner. I fear it is
+sad enough, but what else could you expect from the Russian
+prison-land? Here it is.'
+
+"As he spoke, he gave me an envelope, soiled and stained with long
+travel, and my heart stood still as I recognised in the blurred
+address the handwriting of my long-lost wife.
+
+"With trembling fingers I opened it, and through my tears I read a
+letter that my dear one had written to me on her deathbed four years
+before.
+
+"It has lain next my heart ever since, and every word is burnt into
+my brain, to stand there against the day of vengeance. But I have
+never told their full tale of shame and woe to mortal ears, nor ever
+can.
+
+"Let it suffice to say that my wife was beautiful with a beauty that
+is rare among the daughters of men; that a woman's honour is held as
+cheaply in the wildernesses of Siberia as is the life of a man who is
+a convict.
+
+"The official story of her death was false--false as are all the ten
+thousand other lies that have come out of that abode of oppression
+and misery, and she whom I mourned would have been well-favoured of
+heaven if she had died in the snowdrifts, as they said she did,
+rather than in the shame and misery to which her brutal destroyer
+brought her.
+
+"He was an official of high rank, and he had had the power to cover
+his crime from the knowledge of his superiors in St. Petersburg.
+
+"If it was ever known, it was hushed up for fear of the trouble that
+it would have brought to his masters; but two years later he visited
+Paris, and was found one morning in bed with a dagger in his black
+heart, and across his face the mark that told that he had died by
+order of the Nihilist Executive.
+
+"When I read those awful tidings from the grave, sorrow became
+quenchless rage, and despair was swallowed up in revenge. I joined
+the Brotherhood, and thenceforth placed a great portion of my wealth
+at their disposal. I rose in their councils till I commanded their
+whole organisation. No brain was so subtle as mine in planning
+schemes of revenge upon the oppressor, or of relief for the victims
+of his tyranny.
+
+"In a word, I became the brain of the Brotherhood which men used to
+call Nihilists, and then I organised another Society behind and above
+this which the world has known as the Terror, and which the great
+ones of the earth have for years dreaded as the most potent force
+that ever was arrayed against the enemies of humanity. Of this force
+I have been the controlling brain and the directing will. It was my
+creature, and it has obeyed me blindly; but ever since that fatal day
+in the mine at Kara I have been physically helpless, and therefore
+obliged to trust to others the execution of the plans that I
+conceived.
+
+"It was for this reason that I had need of you, Alan Tremayne, and
+this is why I chose you after I had watched you for years unseen as
+you grew from youth to manhood, the embodiment of all that has made
+the Anglo-Saxon the dominant factor in the development of present-day
+humanity.
+
+"I have employed a power which, as I firmly believe, was given to me
+when eternal justice made me the instrument of its vengeance upon a
+generation that had forgotten alike its God and its brother, to bend
+your will unconsciously to mine, and to compel you to do my bidding.
+How far I was justified in that let the result show.
+
+"It was once my intention to have bound you still closer to the
+Brotherhood by giving Natasha to you in marriage while you were yet
+under the spell of my will; but the Master of Destiny willed it
+otherwise, and I was saved from doing a great wrong, for the
+intention to do which I have done my best to atone."
+
+He paused for a moment and looked across the fireplace at Arnold and
+Natasha, who were sitting together on a big, low lounge that had been
+drawn up to the fire. Natasha raised her eyes for a moment and then
+dropped them. She knew what was coming, and a bright red flush rose
+up from her white throat to the roots of her dusky, lustrous hair.
+
+"Richard Arnold, in the first communication I ever had with you, I
+told you that if you used the powers you held in your hand well and
+wisely, you should, in the fulness of time, attain to your heart's
+desire. You have proved your faith and obedience in the hour of
+trial, and your strength and discretion in the day of battle. Now it
+is yours to ask and to have."
+
+For all answer Arnold put out his hand and took hold of Natasha's,
+and said quietly but clearly--
+
+"Give me this!"
+
+"So be it!" said Natas. "What you have worthily won you will worthily
+wear. May your days be long and peaceful in the world to which you
+have given peace!"
+
+And so it came to pass that three days later, in the little private
+chapel of Alanmere Castle, the two men who held the destinies of the
+world in their hands, took to wife the two fairest women who ever
+gave their loveliness to be the crown of strength and the reward of
+loyal love.
+
+For a week the Lord of Alanmere kept open house and royal state, as
+his ancestors had done five hundred years before him. The
+conventional absurdity of the honeymoon was ignored, as such brides
+and bridegrooms might have been expected to ignore it. Arnold and
+Natasha took possession of a splendid suite of rooms in the eastern
+wing of the Castle, and the two new-wedded couples passed the first
+days of their new happiness under one roof without the slightest
+constraint; for the Castle was vast enough for solitude when they
+desired it, and yet the solitude was not isolation or self-centred
+seclusion.
+
+Tremayne's private wire kept them hourly informed of what was going
+on in London, and when necessary the _Ithuriel_ was ready to traverse
+the space between Alanmere and the capital in an hour, as it did more
+than once to the great delight and wonderment of Tremayne's bride, to
+whom the marvellous vessel seemed a miracle of something more than
+merely human skill and genius.
+
+So the days passed swiftly and happily until the Christmas bells of
+1904 rang out over the length and breadth of Christendom, for the
+first time proclaiming in very truth and fact, so far as the Western
+world was concerned, "Peace on earth, Goodwill to Man."
+
+[Illustration: "Into the vast, white, silent wilderness, out of which
+none save the guards were destined ever to emerge again."
+
+_See page 385._]
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+On the 8th of January a swift warship, attended by two dynamite
+cruisers, left Portsmouth, bound for Odessa. She had on board the
+last of the Tsars of Russia, and those of his generals and Ministers
+who had been taken prisoners with him on Muswell Hill. A thousand
+feet overhead floated the _Ariel_, under the command of Alexis
+Mazanoff.
+
+From Odessa the prisoners were taken by train to Moscow. There, in
+the Central Convict Depot, they met their families and the officials
+whose share in their crimes made it necessary to bring them under the
+sentence pronounced by Natas. They were chained together in squads,
+Tsar and prince, noble and official, exactly as their own countless
+victims had been in the past, and so they were taken with their wives
+and children by train to Ekaterinenburg.
+
+Although the railway extended as far as Tomsk, Mazanoff made them
+disembark here, and marched them by the Great Siberian road to the
+Pillar of Farewells on the Asiatic frontier. There, as so many
+thousands of heart-broken, despairing men and women had done before
+them, they looked their last on Russian soil.
+
+From here they were marched on to the first Siberian _etapé_, one of
+a long series of foul and pestilential prisons which were to be the
+only halting-places on their long and awful journey. The next
+morning, as soon as the chill grey light of the winter's dawn broke
+over the snow-covered plains, the men were formed up in line, with
+the sleighs carrying the women and children in the rear. When all was
+ready Mazanoff gave the word: "Forward!" the whips of the Cossacks
+cracked, and the mournful procession moved slowly onward into the
+vast, white, silent wilderness, out of which none save the guards
+were destined ever to emerge again.
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE.
+
+"AND ON EARTH PEACE!"
+
+
+The winter and summer of 1905 passed in unbroken tranquillity all
+over Europe and the English-speaking world. The nations, at last
+utterly sickened of bloodshed by the brief but awful experience of
+the last six months of 1904, earnestly and gladly accepted the new
+order of things. From first to last of the war the slaughter had
+averaged more than a million of fighting men a month, and fully five
+millions of non-combatants, men, women, and children, had fallen
+victims to famine and disease, or had been killed during the
+wholesale destruction of fortified towns by the war-balloons of the
+League. At the lowest calculation the invasion of England had cost
+four million lives.
+
+It was an awful butcher's bill, and when the peoples of Europe awoke
+from the delirium of war to look back upon the frightful carnival of
+death and destruction, and realise that all this desolation and ruin
+had come to pass in little more than seven months, so deep a horror
+of war and all its abominations possessed them that they hailed with
+delight the safeguards provided against it by the new European
+Constitution which was made public at the end of March.
+
+It was a singularly short and simple document considering the immense
+changes which it introduced. It contained only five clauses. Of these
+the first proclaimed the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon Federation in
+all matters of international policy, and set forth the penalties to
+be incurred by any State that made war upon another.
+
+The second constituted an International Board of Arbitration and
+Control, composed of all the Sovereigns of Europe and their Prime
+Ministers for the time being, with the new President of the United
+States, the Governor-General of Canada, and the President of the now
+federated Australasian Colonies. This Board was to meet in sections
+every year in the various capitals of Europe, and collectively every
+five years in London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, and New York in
+rotation. There was no appeal from its decision save to the Supreme
+Council of the Federation, and this appeal could only be made with
+the consent of the President of that Council, given after the facts
+of the matter in dispute had been laid before him in writing.
+
+The third clause dealt with the rearrangement of the European
+frontiers. The Rhine from Karlsruhe to Basle was made the political
+as well as the natural boundary between France and Germany. The
+ancient kingdom of Poland was restored, with the frontiers it had
+possessed before the First Partition in 1773, and a descendant of
+Kosciusko, elected by the votes of the adult citizens of the
+reconstituted kingdom, was placed upon the throne. Turkey in Europe
+ceased to exist as a political power. Constantinople was garrisoned
+by British and Federation troops, and the country was administered
+for the time being by a Provisional Government under the presidency
+of Lord Cromer, who was responsible only to the Supreme Council. The
+other States were left undisturbed.
+
+The fourth and fifth clauses dealt with land, property, and law. All
+tenures of land existing before the war were cancelled at a stroke,
+and the soil of each country was declared to be the sole and
+inalienable property of the State. No occupiers were disturbed who
+were turning the land to profitable account, or who were making use
+of a reasonable area as a residential estate; but the great
+landowners in the country and the ground landlords in the towns
+ceased to exist as such, and all private incomes derived from the
+rent of land were declared illegal and so forfeited.
+
+All incomes unearned by productive work of hand or brain were
+subjected to a progressive tax, which reached fifty per cent. when
+the income amounted to £10,000 a year. It is almost needless to say
+that these clauses raised a tremendous outcry among the limited
+classes they affected; but the only reply made to it by the President
+of the Supreme Council was "that honestly earned incomes paid no tax,
+and that the idle and useless classes ought to be thankful to be
+permitted to exist at any price. The alternative of the tax would be
+compulsory labour paid for at its actual value by the State." Without
+one exception the grumblers preferred to pay the tax.
+
+All rents, revised according to the actual value of the produce or
+property, were to be paid direct to the State. As long as he paid
+this rent-tax no man could be disturbed in the possession of his
+holding. If he did not pay it the non-payment was to be held as
+presumptive evidence that he was not making a proper use of it, and
+he was to receive a year's notice to quit; but if at the end of that
+time he had amended his ways the notice was to be revoked.
+
+In all countries the Civil and Criminal Codes of Law were to be
+amalgamated and simplified by a committee of judges appointed
+directly by the Parliament with the assent of the Sovereign. The
+fifth clause of the Constitution plainly stated that no man was to be
+expected to obey a law that he could not understand, and that the
+Supreme Council would uphold no law which was so complicated that it
+needed a legal expert to explain it.
+
+It is almost needless to say that this clause swept away at a blow
+that pernicious class of hired advocates who had for ages grown rich
+on the weakness and the dishonesty of their fellow-men. In after
+years it was found that the abolition of the professional lawyer had
+furthered the cause of peace and progress quite as efficiently as the
+prohibition of standing armies had done.
+
+On the conclusion of the war the aërial fleet was increased to
+twenty-five vessels exclusive of the flagship. The number of
+war-balloons was raised to fifty, and three millions of Federation
+soldiers were held ready for active service until the conclusion of
+the war in the East between the Moslems and Buddhists. By November
+the Moslems were victors all along the line, and during the last week
+of that month the last battle between Christian and Moslem was fought
+on the Southern shore of the Bosphorus.
+
+All communications with the Asiatic and African shores of the
+Mediterranean were cut as soon as it became certain that Sultan
+Mohammed Reshad, at the head of a million and a half of victorious
+Moslems, and supported by Prince Abbas of Egypt at the head of seven
+hundred thousand more, was marching to the reconquest of Turkey. The
+most elaborate precautions were taken to prevent any detailed
+information as to the true state of things in Europe reaching the
+Sultan, as Tremayne and Arnold had come to the conclusion that it
+would be better, if he persisted in courting inevitable defeat, that
+it should fall upon him with crushing force and stupefying
+suddenness, so that he might be the more inclined to listen to reason
+afterwards.
+
+The Mediterranean was patrolled from end to end by air-ships and
+dynamite cruisers, and aërial scouts marked every movement of the
+victorious Sultan until it became absolutely certain that his
+objective point was Scutari. Meanwhile, two millions of men had been
+concentrated between Galata and Constantinople, while another million
+occupied the northern shore of the Dardanelles. An immense force of
+warships and dynamite cruisers swarmed between Gallipoli and the
+Golden Horn. Twenty air-ships and forty-five war-balloons lay outside
+Constantinople, ready to take the air at a moment's notice.
+
+The conqueror of Northern Africa and Southern Asia had only a very
+general idea as to what had really happened in Europe. His march of
+conquest had not been interrupted by any European expedition. The
+Moslems of India had exterminated the British garrisons, and there
+had been no attempt at retaliation or vengeance, as there had been in
+the days of the Mutiny. England, he knew, had been invaded, but
+according to the reports which had reached him, none of the invaders
+had ever got out of the island alive, and then the English had come
+out and conquered Europe. Of the wonderful doings of the aërial
+fleets only the vaguest rumours had come to his ears, and these had
+been so exaggerated and distorted, that he had but a very confused
+idea of the real state of affairs.
+
+The Moslem forces were permitted to advance without the slightest
+molestation to Scutari and Lamsaki, and on the evening of the 28th of
+November the Sultan took up his quarters in Scutari. That night he
+received a letter from the President of the Federation, setting forth
+succinctly, and yet very clearly, what had actually taken place in
+Europe, and calling upon him to give his allegiance to the Supreme
+Council, as the other sovereigns had done, and to accept the
+overlordship of Northern Africa and Southern Asia in exchange for
+Turkey in Europe. The letter concluded by saying that the immediate
+result of refusal to accept these terms would be the destruction of
+the Moslem armies on the following day. Before midnight, Tremayne
+received the Sultan's reply. It ran thus--
+
+    In the name of the Most Merciful God.
+
+      From MOHAMMED RESHAD, Commander of the Faithful, to ALAN
+      TREMAYNE, Leader of the English.
+
+    I have come to retake the throne of my fathers, and I am not to
+    be turned back by vain and boastful threats. What I have won with
+    the sword I will keep with the sword, and I will own allegiance
+    to none save God and His holy Prophet who have given me the
+    victory. Give me back Stamboul and my ancient dominions, and we
+    will divide the world between us. If not we must fight. Let the
+    reply to this come before daybreak.
+
+      MOHAMMED.
+
+
+No reply came back; but during the night the dynamite cruisers were
+drawn up within half a mile of the Asiatic shore with their guns
+pointing southward over Scutari, while other warships patrolled the
+coast to detect and frustrate any attempt to transport guns or troops
+across the narrow strip of water. With the first glimmer of light,
+the two aërial fleets took the air, the war-balloons in a long line
+over the van of the Moslem army, and the air-ships spread out in a
+semicircle to the southward. The hour of prayer was allowed to pass
+in peace, and then the work of death began. The war-balloons moved
+slowly forward in a straight line at an elevation of four thousand
+feet, sweeping the Moslem host from van to rear with a ceaseless hail
+of melinite and cyanogen bombs. Great projectiles soared silently up
+from the water to the north, and where they fell buildings were torn
+to fragments, great holes were blasted into the earth, and every
+human being within the radius of the explosion was blown to pieces,
+or hurled stunned to the ground. But more mysterious and terrible
+than all were the effects of the assault delivered by the air-ships,
+which divided into squadrons and swept hither and thither in wide
+curves, with the sunlight shining on their silvery hulls and their
+long slender guns, smokeless and flameless, hurling the most awful
+missiles of all far and wide, over a scene of butchery and horror
+that beggared all description.
+
+In vain the gallant Moslems looked for enemies in the flesh to
+confront them. None appeared save a few sentinels across the
+Bosphorus. And still the work of slaughter went on, pitiless and
+passionless as the earthquake or the thunderstorm. Millions of shots
+were fired into the air without result, and by the time the rain of
+death had been falling without intermission for two hours, an
+irresistible panic fell upon the Moslem soldiery. They had never met
+enemies like these before, and, brave as lions and yet simple as
+children, they looked upon them as something more than human, and
+with one accord they flung away their weapons and raised their hands
+in supplication to the sky. Instantly the aërial bombardment ceased,
+and within an hour East and West had shaken hands, Sultan Mohammed
+had accepted the terms of the Federation, and the long warfare of
+Cross and Crescent had ceased, as men hoped, for ever.
+
+Then the proclamation was issued disbanding the armies of Britain and
+the Federation and the forces of the Sultan. The warships steamed
+away westward on their last voyage to the South Atlantic, beneath
+whose waves they were soon to sink with all their guns and armaments
+for ever. The war-balloons were to be kept for purposes of
+transportation of heavy articles to Aeria, while the fleet of
+air-ships was to remain the sole effective fighting force in the
+world.
+
+While these events were taking place in Europe, those who had been
+banished as outcasts from the society of civilised men by the
+terrible justice of Natas had been plodding their weary way, in the
+tracks of the thousands they had themselves sent to a living grave,
+along the Great Siberian Road to the hideous wilderness, in the midst
+of which lie the mines of Kara. From the Pillar of Farewells to
+Tiumen, from thence to Tomsk,--where they met the first of the
+released political exiles returning in a joyous band to their beloved
+Russia,--and thence to Irkutsk, and then over the ice of Lake Baikal,
+and through the awful frozen desert of the Trans-Baikal Provinces,
+they had been driven like cattle until the remnant that had survived
+the horrors of the awful journey reached the desolate valley of the
+Kara and were finally halted at the Lower Diggings.
+
+Of nearly three hundred strong and well-fed men who had said good-bye
+to liberty at the Pillar of Farewells, only a hundred and twenty
+pallid and emaciated wretches stood shivering in their rags and
+chains when the muster was called on the morning after their arrival
+at Kara. Mazanoff and his escort had carried out their part of the
+sentence of Natas to the letter. The arctic blasts from the Tundras,
+the forced march, the chain and the scourge had done their work, and
+more than half the exile-convicts had found in nameless graves along
+the road respite from the long horrors of the fate which awaited the
+survivors.
+
+The first name called in the last muster was Alexander Romanoff.
+"Here," came in a deep hollow tone from the gaunt and ragged wreck of
+the giant who twelve months before had been the stateliest figure in
+the brilliant galaxy of European Royalty.
+
+"Your sentence is hard labour in the mines for"--The last word was
+never spoken, for ere it was uttered the tall and still erect form of
+the dethroned Autocrat suddenly shrank together, lurched forward, and
+fell with a choking gasp and a clash of chains upon the hard-trampled
+snow. A stream of blood rushed from his white, half-open lips, and
+when they went to raise him he was dead.
+
+If ever son of woman died of a broken heart it was Alexander
+Romanoff, last of the tyrants of Russia. Never had the avenging hand
+of Nemesis, though long-delayed, fallen with more precise and
+terrible justice. On the very spot on which thousands of his subjects
+and fellow-creatures, innocent of all crime save a desire for
+progress, had worn out their lives in torturing toil to provide the
+gold that had gilded his luxury, he fell as the Idol fell of old in
+the temple of Dagon.
+
+He had seen the blasting of his highest hopes in the hour of their
+apparent fruition. He had beheld the destruction of his army and the
+ruin of his dynasty. He had seen kindred and friends and faithful
+servants sink under the nameless horrors of a fate he could do
+nothing to alleviate, and with the knowledge that nothing but death
+could release them from it, and now at the last moment death had
+snatched from him even the poor consolation of sharing the sufferings
+of those nearest and dearest to him on earth.
+
+This happened on the 1st of December 1905, at nine o'clock in the
+morning. At the same hour Arnold leapt the _Ithuriel_ over the Ridge,
+passed down the valley of Aeria like a flash of silver light, and
+dropped to earth on the shores of the lake. In the same grove of
+palms which had witnessed their despairing betrothal he found Natasha
+swinging in a hammock, with a black-eyed six-weeks'-old baby nestling
+in her bosom, and her own loveliness softened and etherealised by the
+sacred grace of motherhood.
+
+"Welcome, my lord!" she said, with a bright flush of pleasure and the
+sweetest smile even he had ever seen transfiguring her beauty, as she
+stretched out her hand in welcome at his approach. "Does the King
+come in peace?"
+
+"Yes, Angel mine! the empire that you asked for is yours. There is
+not a regiment of men under arms in all the civilised world. The last
+battle has been fought and won, and so there is peace on earth at
+last!"
+
+  THE END
+
+  MORRISON AND GIBB PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now Ready, Third Edition.
+
+_308 pages, demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s._,
+
+THE CAPTAIN OF THE MARY ROSE.
+
+_A TALE OF TO-MORROW._
+
+By W. LAIRD CLOWES,
+
+U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE.
+
+With 60 Illustrations by the Chevalier de Martino and Fred. T. Jane.
+
+_A most graphic and enthralling description of the next Naval War
+between France and Great Britain._
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+THE FOLLOWING ARE A FEW PRESS OPINIONS.
+
+"Deserves something more than a mere passing notice."--_The Times._
+
+"Full of exciting situations.... Has manifold attractions for all
+sorts of readers."--_Army and Navy Gazette._
+
+"The most notable book of the season."--_The Standard._
+
+"A clever book. Mr. Clowes is pre-eminent for literary touch and
+practical knowledge of naval affairs."--_Daily Chronicle._
+
+"Mr. W. Laird Clowes' exciting story."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+"We read 'The Captain of the Mary Rose' at a sitting."--_The Pall
+Mall Gazette._
+
+"Written with no little spirit and imagination.... A stirring romance
+of the future."--_Manchester Guardian._
+
+"Is of a realistic and exciting character.... Designed to show what
+the naval warfare of the future may be."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+"One of the most interesting volumes of the year."--_Liverpool
+Journal of Commerce._
+
+"It is well told and magnificently illustrated."--_United Service
+Magazine._
+
+"Full of absorbing interest."--_Engineer's Gazette._
+
+"Is intensely realistic, so much so that after commencing the story
+every one will be anxious to read to the end."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+"The book is splendidly illustrated."--_Northern Whig._
+
+TOWER PUBLISHING CO. LIMITED,
+
+91 MINORIES, LONDON, E.C.;
+
+_And all Booksellers throughout the Kingdom_.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Angel of the Revolution, by George Griffith
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Angel of the Revolution, by George Griffith
+
+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: The Angel of the Revolution
+       A Tale of the Coming Terror
+
+Author: George Griffith
+
+Illustrator: Fred T. Jane
+
+Release Date: February 18, 2010 [EBook #31324]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Michael Roe and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<div class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/cover-spine.jpg" alt="cover spine" width="136" height="640" /><img src="images/cover-front.jpg" alt="cover front" width="448" height="640" />
+</div>
+<h1>
+THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION<br />
+</h1>
+<p class="titlelast">
+MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.<br />
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="NATASHA" width="420" height="640" />
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>Drawn by Edwin S. Hope.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+NATASHA
+</p>
+<h1>
+THE ANGEL<br />
+OF THE<br />
+REVOLUTION<br />
+</h1>
+<p class="h1a">
+A Tale of the Coming Terror<br />
+</p>
+<p class="titlecenter">
+BY<br />
+GEORGE GRIFFITH<br />
+</p>
+<p class="titlecenter">
+<i>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY FRED. T. JANE</i><br />
+</p>
+<p class="titlecenter">
+FIFTH EDITION<br />
+</p>
+<p class="titlecenter">
+LONDON<br />
+TOWER PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED<br />
+91 <span class="smcap">Minories</span>, E.C.<br />
+1894<br />
+</p>
+<p class="titlelast">
+<i>Copyrighted Abroad</i>]    [<i>All Foreign Rights Reserved</i><br />
+</p>
+<p class="titlelast">
+TO<br />
+CYRIL ARTHUR PEARSON<br />
+TO WHOSE SUGGESTION<br />
+THE WRITING OF THIS STORY<br />
+WAS PRIMARILY DUE<br />
+THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED<br />
+BY<br />
+THE AUTHOR<br />
+</p>
+<h2>
+CONTENTS.
+</h2>
+<p class="nowrap">
+CHAP.<span class="rmn">PAGE</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter1">I. AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR</a>, <span class="rmn">1</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter2">II. AT WAR WITH SOCIETY</a>, <span class="rmn">8</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter3">III. A FRIENDLY CHAT</a>, <span class="rmn">16</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter4">IV. THE HOUSE ON CLAPHAM COMMON</a>, <span class="rmn">23</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter5">V. THE INNER CIRCLE</a>, <span class="rmn">30</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter6">VI. NEW FRIENDS</a>, <span class="rmn">37</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter7">VII. THE DAUGHTER OF NATAS</a>, <span class="rmn">46</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter8">VIII. LEARNING THE PART</a>, <span class="rmn">54</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter9">IX. THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS</a>, <span class="rmn">63</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter10">X. THE &quot;ARIEL,&quot;</a> <span class="rmn">70</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter11">XI. FIRST BLOOD</a>, <span class="rmn">78</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter12">XII. IN THE MASTER'S NAME</a>, <span class="rmn">85</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter13">XIII. FOR LIFE OR DEATH</a>, <span class="rmn">91</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter14">XIV. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT</a>, <span class="rmn">98</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter15">XV. A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY</a>, <span class="rmn">103</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter16">XVI. A WOOING IN MID-AIR</a>, <span class="rmn">110</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter17">XVII. AERIA FELIX</a>, <span class="rmn">119</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter18">XVIII. A NAVY OF THE FUTURE</a>, <span class="rmn">127</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter19">XIX. THE EVE OF BATTLE</a>, <span class="rmn">135</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter20">XX. BETWEEN TWO LIVES</a>, <span class="rmn">141</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter21">XXI. JUST IN TIME</a>, <span class="rmn">153</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter22">XXII. ARMED NEUTRALITY</a>, <span class="rmn">162</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter23">XXIII. A BATTLE IN THE NIGHT</a>, <span class="rmn">169</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter24">XXIV. THE NEW WARFARE</a>, <span class="rmn">179</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter25">XXV. THE HERALDS OF DISASTER</a>, <span class="rmn">188</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter26">XXVI. AN INTERLUDE</a>, <span class="rmn">193</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter27">XXVII. ON THE TRACK OF TREASON</a>, <span class="rmn">201</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter28">XXVIII. A SKIRMISH IN THE CLOUDS</a>, <span class="rmn">208</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter29">XXIX. AN EMBASSY FROM THE SKY</a>, <span class="rmn">216</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter30">XXX. AT CLOSE QUARTERS</a>, <span class="rmn">225</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter31">XXXI. A RUSSIAN RAID</a>, <span class="rmn">233</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter32">XXXII. THE END OF THE CHASE</a>, <span class="rmn">241</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter33">XXXIII. THE BREAKING OF THE CHARM</a>, <span class="rmn">247</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter34">XXXIV. THE PATH OF CONQUEST</a>, <span class="rmn">251</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter35">XXXV. FROM CHAOS TO ARCADIE</a>, <span class="rmn">258</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter36">XXXVI. LOVE AND DUTY</a>, <span class="rmn">267</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter37">XXXVII. THE CAPTURE OF A CONTINENT</a>, <span class="rmn">276</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter38">XXXVIII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END</a>, <span class="rmn">289</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter39">XXXIX. THE BATTLE OF DOVER</a>, <span class="rmn">295</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter40">XL. BELEAGUERED LONDON</a>, <span class="rmn">301</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter41">XLI. AN ENVOY OF DELIVERANCE</a>, <span class="rmn">308</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter42">XLII. THE EVE OF ARMAGEDDON</a>, <span class="rmn">315</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter43">XLIII. THE OLD LION AT BAY</a>, <span class="rmn">323</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter44">XLIV. THE TURN OF THE BATTLE-TIDE</a>, <span class="rmn">331</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter45">XLV. ARMAGEDDON</a>, <span class="rmn">339</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter46">XLVI. VICTORY</a>, <span class="rmn">347</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter47">XLVII. THE JUDGMENT OF NATAS</a>, <span class="rmn">355</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter48">XLVIII. THE ORDERING OF EUROPE</a>, <span class="rmn">366</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter49">XLIX. THE STORY OF THE MASTER</a>, <span class="rmn">375</span><br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<a href="#chapter50">EPILOGUE.&mdash;&quot;AND ON EARTH PEACE!&quot;</a> <span class="rmn">386</span><br />
+<a name="page1"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 1]</span>
+</p>
+<h1>
+THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION.
+</h1>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter1"></a>
+CHAPTER I.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<span style="float: left;">&quot;</span><img src="images/dc-p001.png" alt="V" width="116" height="131" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">Victory! It flies! I am master of the Powers
+of the Air at last!&quot;</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+They were strange words to be uttered, as
+they were, by a pale, haggard, half-starved
+looking young fellow in a dingy, comfortless
+room on the top floor of a South London
+tenement-house; and yet there was a triumphant ring in his
+voice, and a clear, bright flush on his thin cheeks that spoke at
+least for his own absolute belief in their truth.
+</p>
+<p>
+Let us see how far he was justified in that belief.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+To begin at the beginning, Richard Arnold was one of those
+men whom the world is wont to call dreamers and enthusiasts
+before they succeed, and heaven-born geniuses and benefactors
+of humanity afterwards.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was twenty-six, and for nearly six years past he had
+devoted himself, soul and body, to a single idea&mdash;to the so far
+unsolved problem of a&euml;rial navigation.
+</p>
+<p>
+This idea had haunted him ever since he had been able to
+think logically at all&mdash;first dimly at school, and then more
+clearly at college, where he had carried everything before him
+in mathematics and natural science, until it had at last become
+a ruling passion that crowded everything else out of his life,
+<a name="page2"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 2]</span>
+and made him, commercially speaking, that most useless of
+social units&mdash;a one-idea'd man, whose idea could not be put
+into working form.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was an orphan, with hardly a blood relation in the world.
+He had started with plenty of friends, mostly made at college,
+who thought he had a brilliant future before him, and therefore
+looked upon him as a man whom it might be useful to know.
+</p>
+<p>
+But as time went on, and no results came, these dropped off,
+and he got to be looked upon as an amiable lunatic, who was
+wasting his great talents and what money he had on impracticable
+fancies, when he might have been earning a handsome
+income if he had stuck to the beaten track, and gone in for
+practical work.
+</p>
+<p>
+The distinctions that he had won at college, and the
+reputation he had gained as a wonderfully clever chemist and
+mechanician, had led to several offers of excellent positions
+in great engineering firms; but to the surprise and disgust of
+his friends he had declined them all. No one knew why, for
+he had kept his secret with the almost passionate jealousy of
+the true enthusiast, and so his refusals were put down to sheer
+foolishness, and he became numbered with the geniuses who
+are failures because they are not practical.
+</p>
+<p>
+When he came of age he had inherited a couple of thousand
+pounds, which had been left in trust to him by his father.
+Had it not been for that two thousand pounds he would have
+been forced to employ his knowledge and his talents conventionally,
+and would probably have made a fortune. But it was
+just enough to relieve him from the necessity of earning his
+living for the time being, and to make it possible for him to
+devote himself entirely to the realisation of his life-dream&mdash;at
+any rate until the money was gone.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of course he yielded to the temptation&mdash;nay, he never gave
+the other course a moment's thought. Two thousand pounds
+would last him for years; and no one could have persuaded
+him that with complete leisure, freedom from all other concerns,
+and money for the necessary experiments, he would not
+have succeeded long before his capital was exhausted.
+</p>
+<p>
+So he put the money into a bank whence he could draw it
+out as he chose, and withdrew himself from the world to work
+out the ideal of his life.
+<a name="page3"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 3]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Year after year passed, and still success did not come. He
+found practice very different from theory, and in a hundred
+details he met with difficulties he had never seen on paper.
+Meanwhile his money melted away in costly experiments
+which only raised hopes that ended in bitter disappointment.
+His wonderful machine was a miracle of ingenuity, and was
+mechanically perfect in every detail save one&mdash;it would do
+no practical work.
+</p>
+<p>
+Like every other inventor who had grappled with the
+problem, he had found himself constantly faced with that fatal
+ratio of weight to power. No engine that he could devise
+would do more than lift itself and the machine. Again and
+again he had made a toy that would fly, as others had done
+before him, but a machine that would navigate the air as a
+steamer or an electric vessel navigated the waters, carrying
+cargo and passengers, was still an impossibility while that
+terrible problem of weight and power remained unsolved.
+</p>
+<p>
+In order to eke out his money to the uttermost, he had
+clothed and lodged himself meanly, and had denied himself
+everything but the barest necessaries of life.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus he had prolonged the struggle for over five years of
+toil and privation and hope deferred, and now, when his last
+sovereign had been changed and nearly spent, success&mdash;real,
+tangible, practical success&mdash;had come to him, and the discovery
+that was to be to the twentieth century what the steam-engine
+had been to the nineteenth was accomplished.
+</p>
+<p>
+He had discovered the true motive power at last.
+</p>
+<p>
+Two liquefied gases&mdash;which, when united, exploded spontaneously&mdash;were
+admitted by a clockwork escapement in
+minute quantities into the cylinders of his engine, and worked
+the pistons by the expansive force of the gases generated by
+the explosion. There was no weight but the engine itself and
+the cylinders containing the liquefied gases. Furnaces, boilers,
+condensers, accumulators, dynamos&mdash;all the ponderous apparatus
+of steam and electricity&mdash;were done away with, and he
+had a power at command greater than either of them.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no doubt about it. The moment that his trembling
+fingers set the escapement mechanism in motion, the
+model that embodied the thought and labour of years rose into
+the air as gracefully as a bird on the wing, and sailed round
+<a name="page4"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 4]</span>
+and round in obedience to its rudder, straining hard at the
+string which prevented it from striking the ceiling. It was
+weighted in strict proportion to the load that the full-sized
+air-ship would have to carry. To increase this was merely a
+matter of increasing the power of the engine and the size of
+the floats and fans.
+</p>
+<p>
+The room was a large one, for the house had been built for a
+better fate than letting in tenements, and it ran from back to
+front with a window at each end. Out of doors there was a
+strong breeze blowing, and as soon as Arnold was sure that his
+ship was able to hold its own in still air, he threw both the
+windows open and let the wind blow straight through the
+room. Then he drew the air-ship down, straightened the
+rudder, and set it against the breeze.
+</p>
+<p>
+In almost agonised suspense he watched it rise from the
+floor, float motionless for a moment, and then slowly forge
+ahead in the teeth of the wind, gathering speed as it went.
+It was then that he had uttered that triumphant cry of
+&quot;Victory!&quot; All the long years of privation and hope deferred
+vanished in that one supreme moment of innocent and bloodless
+conquest, and he saw himself master of a kingdom as wide
+as the world itself.
+</p>
+<p>
+He let the model fly the length of the room before he
+stopped the clockwork and cut off the motive power, allowing
+it to sink gently to the floor. Then came the reaction. He
+looked steadfastly at his handiwork for several moments in
+silence, and then he turned and threw himself on to a shabby
+little bed that stood in one corner of the room and burst into
+a flood of tears.
+</p>
+<p>
+Triumph had come, but had it not come too late? He knew
+the boundless possibilities of his invention&mdash;but they had still
+to be realised. To do this would cost thousands of pounds,
+and he had just one half-crown and a few coppers. Even
+these were not really his own, for he was already a week
+behind with his rent, and another payment fell due the next
+day. That would be twelve shillings in all, and if it was not
+paid he would be turned into the street.
+</p>
+<p>
+As he raised himself from the bed he looked despairingly
+round the bare, shabby room. No; there was nothing there
+that he could pawn or sell. Everything saleable had gone
+<a name="page5"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 5]</span>
+already to keep up the struggle of hope against despair. The
+bed and wash-stand, the plain deal table, and the one chair
+that comprised the furniture of the room were not his. A
+little carpenter's bench, a few worn tools and odds and ends of
+scientific apparatus, and a dozen well-used books&mdash;these were
+all that he possessed in the world now, save the clothes on his
+back, and a plain painted sea-chest in which he was wont to
+lock up his precious model when he had to go out.
+</p>
+<p>
+His model! No, he could not sell that. At best it would
+fetch but the price of an ingenious toy, and without the secret
+of the two gases it was useless. But was not that worth
+something? Yes, if he did not starve to death before he could
+persuade any one that there was money in it. Besides, the
+chest and its priceless contents would be seized for the rent
+next day, and then&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;God help me! What <i>am</i> I to do?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The words broke from him like a cry of physical pain, and
+ended in a sob, and for all answer there was the silence of the
+room and the inarticulate murmur of the streets below coming
+up through the open windows.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was weak with hunger and sick with excitement,
+for he had lived for days on bread and cheese, and that
+day he had eaten nothing since the crust that had served him
+for breakfast. His nerves, too, were shattered by the intense
+strain of his final trial and triumph, and his head was getting
+light.
+</p>
+<p>
+With a desperate effort he recovered himself, and the
+heroic resolution that had sustained him through his long
+struggle came to his aid again. He got up and poured
+some water from the ewer into a cracked cup and drank it.
+It refreshed him for the moment, and he poured the rest
+of the water over his head. That steadied his nerves and
+cleared his brain. He took up the model from the floor, laid
+it tenderly and lovingly in its usual resting-place in the
+chest. Then he locked the chest and sat down upon it to
+think the situation over.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ten minutes later he rose to his feet and said aloud&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It's no use. I can't think on an empty stomach. I'll go
+out and have one more good meal if it's the last I ever have in
+the world, and then perhaps some ideas will come.&quot;
+<a name="page6"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 6]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying, he took down his hat, buttoned his shabby
+velveteen coat to conceal his lack of a waistcoat, and went out,
+locking the door behind him as he went.
+</p>
+<p>
+Five minutes' walk brought him to the Blackfriars Road,
+and then he turned towards the river and crossed the bridge
+just as the motley stream of city workers was crossing it in
+the opposite direction on their homeward journey.
+</p>
+<p>
+At Ludgate Circus he went into an eating-house and fared
+sumptuously on a plate of beef, some bread and butter, and a
+pint mug of coffee. As he was eating a paper-boy came in
+and laid an <i>Echo</i> on the table at which he was sitting. He
+took it up mechanically, and ran his eye carelessly over the
+columns. He was in no humour to be interested by the tattle
+of an evening paper, but in a paragraph under the heading of
+Foreign News a once familiar name caught his eye, and he
+read the paragraph through. It ran as follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<span class="smcap">Railway Outrage in Russia.</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+When the Berlin-Petersburg express stopped last night at Kovno, the first
+stop after passing the Russian frontier, a shocking discovery was made in the
+smoking compartment of the palace car which has been on the train for the
+last few months. Colonel Dornovitch, of the Imperial Police, who is understood
+to have been on his return journey from a secret mission to Paris, was
+found stabbed to the heart and quite dead. In the centre of the forehead were
+two short straight cuts in the form of a <span class="sanserif">T</span> reaching to the bone. Not long ago
+Colonel Dornovitch was instrumental in unearthing a formidable Nihilist conspiracy,
+in connection with which over fifty men and women of various social
+ranks were exiled for life to Siberia. The whole affair is wrapped in the
+deepest mystery, the only clue in the hands of the police being the fact that
+the cross cut on the forehead of the victim indicates that the crime is the work,
+not of the Nihilists proper, but of that unknown and mysterious society usually
+alluded to as the Terrorists, not one of whom has ever been seen save in his
+crimes. How the assassin managed to enter and leave the car unperceived
+while the train was going at full speed is an apparently insoluble riddle.
+Saving the victim and the attendants, the only passengers in the car who had
+not retired to rest were another officer in the Russian service and Lord Alanmere,
+who was travelling to St. Petersburg to resume, after leave of absence, the
+duties of the Secretaryship to the British Embassy, to which he was appointed
+some two years ago.
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+&quot;Why, that must be the Lord Alanmere who was at Trinity
+in my time, or rather Viscount Tremayne, as he was then,&quot;
+mused Arnold, as he laid the paper down. &quot;We were very
+good friends in those days. I wonder if he'd know me now,
+and lend me a ten-pound note to get me out of the infernal fix
+<a name="page7"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 7]</span>
+I'm in? I believe he would, for he was one of the few really
+good-hearted men I have so far met with.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If he were in London I really think I should take courage
+from my desperation, and put my case before him and ask his
+help. However, he's not in London, and so it's no use wishing.
+Well, I feel more of a man for that shillingsworth of food and
+drink, and I'll go and wind up my dissipation with a pipe and
+a quiet think on the Embankment.&quot;
+<a name="page8"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 8]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter2"></a>
+CHAPTER II.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+AT WAR WITH SOCIETY.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p008.png" alt="W" width="118" height="131" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+When Richard Arnold reached the Embankment
+dusk had deepened into night, so far, at least,
+as nature was concerned. But in London in
+the beginning of the twentieth century there
+was but little night to speak of, save in the
+sense of a division of time. The date of the
+paper which contained the account of the tragedy on the Russian
+railway was September 3rd, 1903, and within the last ten years
+enormous progress had been made in electric lighting.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+The ebb and flow in the Thames had at last been turned to
+account, and worked huge turbines which perpetually stored
+up electric power that was used not only for lighting, but
+for cooking in hotels and private houses, and for driving
+machinery. At all the great centres of traffic huge electric
+suns cast their rays far and wide along the streets, supplementing
+the light of the lesser lamps with which they were
+lined on each side.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Embankment from Westminster to Blackfriars was
+bathed in a flood of soft white light from hundreds of great
+lamps running along both sides, and from the centre of each
+bridge a million candle-power sun cast rays upon the water
+that were continued in one unbroken stream of light from
+Chelsea to the Tower.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the north side of the river the scene was one of brilliant
+and splendid opulence, that contrasted strongly with the half-lighted
+gloom of the murky wilderness of South London, dark
+and forbidding in its irredeemable ugliness.
+</p>
+<p>
+From Blackfriars Arnold walked briskly towards Westminster,
+<a name="page9"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 9]</span>
+bitterly contrasting as he went the lavish display of
+wealth around him with the sordid and seemingly hopeless
+poverty of his own desperate condition.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was the maker and possessor of a far greater marvel
+than anything that helped to make up this splendid scene, and
+yet the ragged tramps who were remorselessly moved on from
+one seat to another by the policemen as soon as they had
+settled themselves down for a rest and a doze, were hardly
+poorer than he was.
+</p>
+<p>
+For nearly four hours he paced backwards and forwards,
+every now and then stopping to lean on the parapet, and once
+or twice to sit down, until the chill autumn wind pierced his
+scanty clothing, and compelled him to resume his walk in order
+to get warm again.
+</p>
+<p>
+All the time he turned his miserable situation over and over
+again in his mind without avail. There seemed no way out of
+it; no way of obtaining the few pounds that would save him
+from homeless beggary and his splendid invention from being lost
+to him and the world, certainly for years, and perhaps for ever.
+</p>
+<p>
+And then, as hour after hour went by, and still no cheering
+thought came, the misery of the present pressed closer and
+closer upon him. He dare not go home, for that would be to
+bring the inevitable disaster of the morrow nearer, and, besides,
+it was home no longer till the rent was paid. He had two
+shillings, and he owed at least twelve. He was also the maker
+of a machine for which the Tsar of Russia had made a standing
+offer of a million sterling. That million might have been
+his if he had possessed the money necessary to bring his invention
+under the notice of the great Autocrat.
+</p>
+<p>
+That was the position he had turned over and over in his
+mind until its horrible contradictions maddened him. With a
+little money, riches and fame were his; without it he was a
+beggar in sight of starvation.
+</p>
+<p>
+And yet he doubted whether, even in his present dire
+extremity, he could, had he had the chance, sell what might
+be made the most terrific engine of destruction ever thought
+of to the head and front of a despotism that he looked upon as
+the worst earthly enemy of mankind.
+</p>
+<p>
+For the twentieth time he had paused in his weary walk to
+and fro to lean on the parapet close by Cleopatra's Needle.
+<a name="page10"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 10]</span>
+The Embankment was almost deserted now, save by the tramps
+and a few isolated wanderers like himself. For several minutes
+he looked out over the brightly glittering waters below him,
+wondering listlessly how long it would take him to drown if
+he dropped over, and whether he would be rescued before he
+was dead, and brought back to life, and prosecuted the next
+day for daring to try and leave the world save in the conventional
+and orthodox fashion.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then his mind wandered back to the Tsar and his million,
+and he pictured to himself the awful part that a fleet of air-ships
+such as his would play in the general European war that
+people said could not now be put off for many months longer.
+As he thought of this the vision grew in distinctness, and he
+saw them hovering over armies and cities and fortresses, and
+raining irresistible death and destruction down upon them.
+The prospect appalled him, and he shuddered as he thought
+that it was now really within the possibility of realisation;
+and then his ideas began to translate themselves involuntarily
+into words which he spoke aloud, completely oblivious for the
+time being of his surroundings.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No, I think I would rather destroy it, and then take my
+secret with me out of the world, than put such an awful power
+of destruction and slaughter into the hands of the Tsar, or, for
+the matter of that, any other of the rulers of the earth. Their
+subjects can butcher each other quite efficiently enough as it is.
+The next war will be the most frightful carnival of destruction
+that the world has ever seen; but what would it be like if I
+were to give one of the nations of Europe the power of raining
+death and desolation on its enemies from the skies! No, no!
+Such a power, if used at all, should only be used against and
+not for the despotisms that afflict the earth with the curse of
+war!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Then why not use it so, my friend, if you possess it, and
+would see mankind freed from its tyrants?&quot; said a quiet voice
+at his elbow.
+</p>
+<p>
+The sound instantly scattered his vision to the winds, and
+he turned round with a startled exclamation to see who had
+spoken. As he did so, a whiff of smoke from a very good
+cigar drifted past his nostrils, and the voice said again in the
+same quiet, even tones&mdash;
+<a name="page11"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 11]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You must forgive me for my bad manners in listening to
+what you were saying, and also for breaking in upon your
+reverie. My excuse must be the great interest that your
+words had for me. Your opinions would appear to be exactly
+my own, too, and perhaps you will accept that as another
+excuse for my rudeness.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+It was the first really kindly, friendly voice that Richard
+Arnold had heard for many a long day, and the words were so
+well chosen and so politely uttered that it was impossible to
+feel any resentment, so he simply said in answer&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There was no rudeness, sir; and, besides, why should a
+gentleman like you apologise for speaking to a&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Another gentleman,&quot; quickly interrupted his new acquaintance.
+&quot;Because I transgressed the laws of politeness in doing
+so, and an apology was due. Your speech tells me that we are
+socially equals. Intellectually you look my superior. The rest
+is a difference only of money, and that any smart swindler can
+bury himself in nowadays if he chooses. But come, if you have
+no objection to make my better acquaintance, I have a great
+desire to make yours. If you will pardon my saying so, you
+are evidently not an ordinary man, or else, something tells me,
+you would be rich. Have a smoke and let us talk, since we
+apparently have a subject in common. Which way are you
+going?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Nowhere&mdash;and therefore anywhere,&quot; replied Arnold, with a
+laugh that had but little merriment in it. &quot;I have reached a
+point from which all roads are one to me.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That being the case I propose that you shall take the one
+that leads to my chambers in Savoy Mansions yonder. We
+shall find a bit of supper ready, I expect, and then I shall ask
+you to talk. Come along!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no more mistaking the genuine kindness and sincerity
+of the invitation than the delicacy with which it was
+given. To have refused would not only have been churlish,
+but it would have been for a drowning man to knock aside a
+kindly hand held out to help him; so Arnold accepted, and
+the two new strangely met and strangely assorted friends
+walked away together in the direction of the Savoy.
+</p>
+<p>
+The suite of rooms occupied by Arnold's new acquaintance
+was the beau ideal of a wealthy bachelor's abode. Small, compact,
+<a name="page12"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 12]</span>
+cosy, and richly furnished, yet in the best of taste withal,
+the rooms looked like an indoor paradise to him after the bare
+squalor of the one room that had been his own home for over
+two years.
+</p>
+<p>
+His host took him first into a dainty little bath-room to
+wash his hands, and by the time he had performed his scanty
+toilet supper was already on the table in the sitting-room.
+Nothing melts reserve like a good well-cooked meal washed
+down by appropriate liquids, and before supper was half over
+Arnold and his host were chatting together as easily as though
+they stood on perfectly equal terms and had known each other
+for years. His new friend seemed purposely to keep the conversation
+to general subjects until the meal was over and his
+pattern man-servant had removed the cloth and left them
+together with the wine and cigars on the table.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as he had closed the door behind him his host
+motioned Arnold to an easy-chair on one side of the fireplace,
+threw himself into another on the other side, and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now, my friend, plant yourself, as they say across the
+water, help yourself to what there is as the spirit moves you,
+and talk&mdash;the more about yourself the better. But stop. I
+forgot that we do not even know each other's name yet. Let
+me introduce myself first.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;My name is Maurice Colston; I am a bachelor, as you see.
+For the rest, in practice I am an idler, a dilettante, and a good
+deal else that is pleasant and utterly useless. In theory, let
+me tell you, I am a Socialist, or something of the sort, with
+a lively conviction as to the injustice and absurdity of the
+social and economic conditions which enable me to have
+such a good time on earth without having done anything
+to deserve it beyond having managed to be born the son of
+my father.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He stopped and looked at his guest through the wreaths
+of his cigar smoke as much as to say: &quot;And now who
+are you?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold took the silent hint, and opened his mouth and his
+heart at the same time. Quite apart from the good turn he
+had done him, there was a genial frankness about his unconventional
+host that chimed in so well with his own nature that
+he cast all reserve aside, and told plainly and simply the story
+<a name="page13"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 13]</span>
+of his life and its master passion, his dreams and hopes and
+failures, and his final triumph in the hour when triumph itself
+was defeat.
+</p>
+<p>
+His host heard him through without a word, but towards the
+end of his story his face betrayed an interest, or rather an
+expectant anxiety, to hear what was coming next that no mere
+friendly concern of the moment for one less fortunate than
+himself could adequately account for. At length, when Arnold
+had completed his story with a brief but graphic description of
+the last successful trial of his model, he leant forward in his
+chair, and, fixing his dark, steady eyes on his guest's face, said
+in a voice from which every trace of his former good-humoured
+levity had vanished&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;A strange story, and truer, I think, than the one I told you.
+Now tell me on your honour as a gentleman: Were you really
+in earnest when I heard you say on the embankment that
+you would rather smash up your model and take the secret
+with you into the next world, than sell your discovery to the
+Tsar for the million that he has offered for such an air-ship
+as yours?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Absolutely in earnest,&quot; was the reply. &quot;I have seen
+enough of the seamy side of this much-boasted civilisation of
+ours to know that it is the most awful mockery that man ever
+insulted his Maker with. It is based on fraud, and sustained
+by force&mdash;force that ruthlessly crushes all who do not bow the
+knee to Mammon. I am the enemy of a society that does not
+permit a man to be honest and live, unless he has money and
+can defy it. I have just two shillings in the world, and I
+would rather throw them into the Thames and myself after
+them than take that million from the Tsar in exchange for an
+engine of destruction that would make him master of the
+world.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Those are brave words,&quot; said Colston, with a smile. &quot;Forgive
+me for saying so, but I wonder whether you would repeat
+them if I told you that I am a servant of his Majesty the
+Tsar, and that you shall have that million for your model and
+your secret the moment that you convince me that what you
+have told me is true.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Before he had finished speaking Arnold had risen to his feet.
+He heard him out, and then he said, slowly and steadily&mdash;
+<a name="page14"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 14]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I should not take the trouble to repeat them; I should
+only tell you that I am sorry that I have eaten salt with a
+man who could take advantage of my poverty to insult me.
+Good night.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He was moving towards the door when Colston jumped up
+from his chair, strode round the table, and got in front of him.
+Then he put his two hands on his shoulders, and, looking
+straight into his eyes, said in a tone that vibrated with
+emotion&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Thank God, I have found an honest man at last! Go and
+sit down again, my friend, my comrade, as I hope you soon
+will be. Forgive me for the foolishness that I spoke! I am
+no servant of the Tsar. He and all like him have no more
+devoted enemy on earth than I am. Look! I will soon prove
+it to you.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he said the last words, Colston let go Arnold's shoulders,
+flung off his coat and waistcoat, slipped his braces off his
+shoulders, and pulled his shirt up to his neck. Then he turned
+his bare back to his guest, and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is the sign-manual of Russian tyranny&mdash;the mark of
+the knout!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold shrank back with a cry of horror at the sight. From
+waist to neck Colston's back was a mass of hideous scars and
+wheals, crossing each other and rising up into purple lumps,
+with livid blue and grey spaces between them. As he stood,
+there was not an inch of naturally-coloured skin to be seen. It
+was like the back of a man who had been flayed alive, and then
+flogged with a cat-o'-nine-tails.
+</p>
+<p>
+Before Arnold had overcome his horror his host had re-adjusted
+his clothing. Then he turned to him and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That was my reward for telling the governor of a petty
+Russian town that he was a brute-beast for flogging a poor
+decrepit old Jewess to death. Do you believe me now when I
+say that I am no servant or friend of the Tsar?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, I do,&quot; replied Arnold, holding out his hand, &quot;you were
+right to try me, and I was wrong to be so hasty. It is a failing
+of mine that has done me plenty of harm before now. I think
+I know now what you are without your telling me. Give me a
+piece of paper and you shall have my address, so that you can
+come to-morrow and see the model&mdash;only I warn you that you
+<a name="page15"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 15]</span>
+will have to pay my rent to keep my landlord's hands off it.
+And then I must be off, for I see it's past twelve.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You are not going out again to-night, my friend, while I
+have a sofa and plenty of rugs at your disposal,&quot; said his host.
+&quot;You will sleep here, and in the morning we will go together
+and see this marvel of yours. Meanwhile sit down and make
+yourself at home with another cigar. We have only just
+begun to know each other&mdash;we two enemies of Society!&quot;
+<a name="page16"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 16]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter3"></a>
+CHAPTER III.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+A FRIENDLY CHAT.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p016.png" alt="S" width="118" height="132" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+Soon after eight the next morning Colston came
+into the sitting-room where Arnold had slept
+on the sofa, and dreamt dreams of war and
+world-revolts and battles fought in mid-air
+between a&euml;rial navies built on the plan of his
+own model. When Colston came in he was
+just awake enough to be wondering whether the events of the
+previous night were a reality or part of his dreams&mdash;a doubt
+that was speedily set at rest by his host drawing back the
+curtains and pulling up the blinds.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+The moment his eyes were properly open he saw that he was
+anywhere but in his own shabby room in Southwark, and the
+rest was made clear by Colston saying&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Well, comrade Arnold, Lord High Admiral of the Air,
+how have you slept? I hope you found the sofa big and
+soft enough, and that the last cigar has left no evil effects
+behind it.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Eh? Oh, good morning! I don't know whether it was the
+whisky or the cigars, or what it was; but do you know I
+have been dreaming all sorts of absurd things about battles
+in the air and dropping explosives on fortresses and turning
+them into small volcanoes. When you came in just now I
+hadn't the remotest idea where I was. It's time to get up,
+I suppose?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, it's after eight a good bit. I've had my tub, so the
+bath-room is at your service. Meanwhile, Burrows will be laying
+the table for breakfast. When you have finished your tub,
+come into my dressing-room, and let me rig you out. We are
+<a name="page17"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 17]</span>
+about of a size, and I think I shall be able to meet your most
+fastidious taste. In fact, I could rig you out as anything&mdash;from
+a tramp to an officer of the Guards.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It wouldn't take much change to accomplish the former,
+I'm afraid. But, really, I couldn't think of trespassing so far
+on your hospitality as to take your very clothes from you.
+I'm deep enough in your debt already.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Don't talk nonsense, Richard Arnold. The tone in which
+those last words were said shows me that you have not duly
+laid to heart what I said last night. There is no such thing as
+private property in the Brotherhood, of which I hope, by this
+time to-morrow, you will be an initiate.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What I have here is mine only for the purposes of the
+Cause, wherefore it is as much yours as mine, for to-day we are
+going on the Brotherhood's business. Why, then, should you
+have any scruples about wearing the Brotherhood's clothes?
+Now clear out and get tubbed, and wash some of those absurd
+ideas out of your head.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Well, as you put it that way, I don't mind, only remember
+that I don't necessarily put on the principles of the Brotherhood
+with its clothes.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying, Arnold got up from the sofa, stretched himself,
+and went off to make his toilet.
+</p>
+<p>
+When he sat down to breakfast with his host half an hour
+later, very few who had seen him on the Embankment the night
+before would have recognised him as the same man. The tailor,
+after all, does a good deal to make the man, externally at least,
+and the change of clothes in Arnold's case had transformed him
+from a superior looking tramp into an aristocratic and decidedly
+good-looking man, in the prime of his youth, saving only for
+the thinness and pallor of his face, and a perceptible stoop in
+the shoulders.
+</p>
+<p>
+During breakfast they chatted about their plans for the day,
+and then drifted into generalities, chiefly of a political nature.
+</p>
+<p>
+The better Arnold came to know Maurice Colston the more
+remarkable his character appeared to him; and it was his
+growing wonder at the contradictions that it exhibited that
+made him say towards the end of the meal&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I must say you're a queer sort of conspirator, Colston.
+My idea of Nihilists and members of revolutionary societies has
+<a name="page18"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 18]</span>
+always taken the form of silent, stealthy, cautious beings, with
+a lively distrust and hatred of the whole human race outside
+their own circles. And yet here are you, an active member
+of the most terrible secret society in existence, pledged to
+the destruction of nearly every institution on earth, and
+carrying your life in your hand, opening your heart like a
+schoolboy to a man you have literally not known for twenty-four
+hours.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Suppose you had made a mistake in me. What would
+there be to prevent me telling the police who you are,
+and having you locked up with a view to extradition to
+Russia?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In the first place,&quot; replied Colston quietly, &quot;you would not
+do so, because I am not mistaken in you, and because, in your
+heart, whether you fully know it or not, you believe as I do
+about the destruction that is about to fall upon Society.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In the second place, if you did betray my confidence, I
+should be able to bring such an overwhelming array of the
+most respectable evidence to show that I was nothing like what
+I really am, that you would be laughed at for a madman; and,
+in the third place, there would be an inquest on you within
+twenty-four hours after you had told your story. Do you
+remember the death of Inspector Ainsworth, of the Criminal
+Investigation Department, about six months ago?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, of course I do. Hermit and all as I was, I could
+hardly help hearing about that, considering what a noise it
+made. But I thought that was cleared up. Didn't one of that
+gang of garotters that was broken up in South London a couple
+of months later confess to strangling him in the statement that
+he made before he was executed?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, and his widow is now getting ten shillings a week for
+life on account of that confession. Birkett no more killed
+Ainsworth than you did; but he had killed two or three others,
+and so the confession didn't do him very much harm.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No; Ainsworth met his death in quite another way. He
+accepted from the Russian secret police bureau in London a
+bribe of £250 down and the promise of another £250 if he
+succeeded in manufacturing enough evidence against a member
+of our Outer Circle to get him extradited to Russia on a
+trumped-up charge of murder.
+<a name="page19"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 19]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The Inner Circle learnt of this from one of our spies in the
+Russian London police, and&mdash;&mdash;, well, Ainsworth was found
+dead with the mark of the Terror upon his forehead before he
+had time to put his treachery into action. He was executed
+by two of the Brotherhood, who are members of the Metropolitan
+police force, and who were afterwards complimented by
+the magistrate for the intelligent efforts they had made in
+bringing the murderers to justice.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston told the dark story in the most careless of tones
+between the puffs of his after-breakfast cigarette. Arnold
+stifled his horror as well as he was able, but he could not help
+saying, when his host had done&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;This Brotherhood of yours is well named the Terror; but
+was not that rather a murder than an execution?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;By no means,&quot; replied Colston, a trifle coldly. &quot;Society
+hangs or beheads a man who kills another. Ainsworth knew
+as well as we did that if the man he tried to betray by
+false evidence had once set foot in Russia, the torments of
+a hundred deaths would have been his before he had been
+allowed to die.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;He betrayed his office and his faith to his English masters
+in order to commit this vile crime, and so he was killed as a
+murderous and treacherous reptile that was not fit to live. We
+of the Terror are not lawyers, and so we make no distinctions
+between deliberate plotting for money to kill and the act of
+killing itself. Our law is closer akin to justice than the hair-splitting
+fraud that is tolerated by Society.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Either from emotional or logical reasons Arnold made no
+reply to this reasoning, and, seeing he remained silent, Colston
+resumed his ordinary nonchalant, good-humoured tone, and
+went on&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;But come, that will be horrors enough for to-day. We
+have other business in hand, and we may as well get to it
+at once. About this wonderful invention of yours. Of course
+I believe all you have told me about it, but you must remember
+that I am only an agent, and that I am inexorably bound
+by certain rules, in accordance with which I must act.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now, to be perfectly plain with you, and in order that we
+may thoroughly understand each other before either of us
+commits himself to anything, I must tell you that I want to
+<a name="page20"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 20]</span>
+see this model flying ship of yours in order to be able to report
+on it to-night to the Executive of the Inner Circle, to whom I
+shall also want to introduce you. If you will not allow me to
+do that say so at once, and, for the present at least, our negotiations
+must come to a sudden stop.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Go on,&quot; said Arnold quietly; &quot;so far I consent. For the
+rest I would rather hear you to the end.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very well. Then if the Executive approve of the invention,
+you will be asked to join the Inner Circle at once, and to
+devote yourself body and soul to the Society and the accomplishment
+of the objects that will be explained to you. If
+you refuse there will be an end of the matter, and you
+will simply be asked to give your word of honour to reveal
+nothing that you have seen or heard, and then allowed to
+depart in peace.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If, on the other hand, you consent, in consideration of the
+immense importance of your secret&mdash;which there is no need to
+disguise from you&mdash;to the Brotherhood, the usual condition of
+passing through the Outer Circle will be dispensed with, and
+you will be trusted as absolutely as we shall expect you to
+trust us.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Whatever funds you then require to manufacture an air-ship
+on the plan of your model will be placed at your disposal,
+and a suitable place will be selected for the works that you
+will have to build. When the ship is ready to take the air
+you will, of course, be appointed to the command of her, and
+you will pick your crew from among the workmen who will
+act under your orders in the building of the vessel.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;They will all be members of the Outer Circle, who will
+not understand your orders, but simply obey them blindly,
+even to the death. One member of the Inner Circle will act
+as your second in command, and he will be as perfectly trusted
+as you will be, so that in unforeseen emergencies you will be
+able to consult with him with perfect confidence. Now I think
+I have told you all. What do you say?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold was silent for a few minutes, too busy for speech
+with the rush of thoughts that had crowded through his brain
+as Colston was speaking. Then he looked up at his host and
+said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;May I make conditions?&quot;
+<a name="page21"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 21]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You may state them,&quot; replied he, with a smile, &quot;but, of
+course, I don't undertake to accept them without consultation
+with my&mdash;I mean with the Executive.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Of course not,&quot; said Arnold. &quot;Well, the conditions that I
+should feel myself obliged to make with your Executive would
+be, briefly speaking, these: I would not reveal to any one the
+composition of the gases from which I derive my motive force.
+I should manufacture them myself in given quantities, and
+keep them always under my own charge.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;At the first attempt to break faith with me in this respect
+I would blow the air-ship and all her crew, including myself,
+into such fragments as it would be difficult to find one of them.
+I have and wish for no life apart from my invention, and I
+would not survive it.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Good!&quot; interrupted Colston. &quot;There spoke the true
+enthusiast. Go on.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Secondly, I would use the machine only in open warfare&mdash;when
+the Brotherhood is fighting openly for the attainment of
+a definite end. Once the appeal to force has been made I will
+employ a force such as no nation on earth can use without me,
+and I will use it as unsparingly as the armies and fleets
+engaged will employ their own engines of destruction on one
+another. But I will be no party to the destruction of defenceless
+towns and people who are not in arms against us. If I am
+ordered to do that I tell you candidly that I will not do it. I
+will blow the air-ship itself up first.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The conditions are somewhat stringent, although the sentiments
+are excellent,&quot; replied Colston; &quot;still, of myself I can
+neither accept nor reject them. That will be for the Executive
+to do. For my own part I think that you will be able to
+arrive at a basis of agreement on them. And now I think we
+have said all we can say for the present, and so if you are
+ready we'll be off and satisfy my longing to see the invention
+that is to make us the arbiters of war&mdash;when war comes, which
+I fancy will not be long now.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Something in the tone in which these last words were
+spoken struck Arnold with a kind of cold chill, and he shivered
+slightly as he said in answer to Colston&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I am ready when you are, and no less anxious than you to
+set eyes on my model. I hope to goodness it is all safe! Do
+<a name="page22"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 22]</span>
+you know, when I am away from it I feel just like a woman
+away from her first baby.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+A few minutes later two of the most dangerous enemies of
+Society alive were walking quietly along the Embankment
+towards Blackfriars, smoking their cigars and chatting as conventionally
+as though there were no such things on earth as
+tyranny and oppression, and their necessarily ever-present
+enemies conspiracy and brooding revolution.
+<a name="page23"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 23]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter4"></a>
+CHAPTER IV.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE HOUSE ON CLAPHAM COMMON.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p023.png" alt="T" width="118" height="133" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+Twenty minutes' walk took Arnold and Colston
+to the door of the tenement-house in which the
+former had lived since his fast-dwindling store
+of money had convinced him of the necessity
+of bringing his expenses down to the lowest
+possible limit if he wished to keep up the
+struggle with fate very much longer.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+As they mounted the dirty, evil-smelling staircase, Colston
+said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Phew! Verily you are a hero of science if you have
+brought yourself to live in a hole like this for a couple of
+years rather than give up your dream, and grow fat on the
+loaves and fishes of conventionality.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;This is a palace compared with some of the rookeries about
+here,&quot; replied Arnold, with a laugh. &quot;The march of progress
+seems to have left this half of London behind as hopeless.
+Ten years ago there were a good many thousands of highly
+respectable mediocrities living on this side of the river, but
+now I am told that the glory has departed from the very best
+of its localities, and given them up to various degrees of squalor.
+Vice, poverty, and misery seem to gravitate naturally southward
+in London. I don't know why, but they do. Well, here
+is the door of my humble den.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke he put the key in the lock, and opened the
+door, bidding his companion enter as he did so.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold's anxiety was soon relieved by finding the precious
+model untouched in its resting-place, and it was at once
+brought out. Colston was delighted beyond his powers of
+<a name="page24"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 24]</span>
+expression with the marvellous ingenuity with which the
+miracle of mechanical skill was contrived and put together;
+and when Arnold, after showing and explaining to him all the
+various parts of the mechanism and the external structure, at
+length set the engine working, and the air-ship rose gracefully
+from the floor and began to sail round the room in the wide
+circle to which it was confined by its mooring-line, he stared at
+it for several minutes in wondering silence, following it round
+and round with his eyes, and then he said in a voice from
+which he vainly strove to banish the signs of the emotion that
+possessed him&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It is the last miracle of science! With a few such ships
+as that one could conquer the world in a month!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, that would not be a very difficult task, seeing that
+neither an army nor a fleet could exist for twelve hours with
+two or three of them hovering above it,&quot; replied Arnold.
+</p>
+<p>
+The trial over, Arnold set to work and took the model partly
+to pieces for packing up; and while he was putting it away in
+the old sea-chest, Colston counted out ten sovereigns and laid
+them on the table. Hearing the clink of the gold, Arnold
+looked up and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What is that for? A sovereign will be quite enough to get
+me out of my present scrape, and then if we come to any
+terms to-night it will be time enough to talk about payment.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The Brotherhood does not do business in that way,&quot; was
+the reply. &quot;At present your only connection with it is a
+commercial one, and ten pounds is a very moderate fee for the
+privilege of inspecting such an invention as this. Anyhow,
+that is what I am ordered to hand over to you in payment for
+your trouble now and to-night, so you must accept it as it is
+given&mdash;as a matter of business.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very well,&quot; said Arnold, closing and locking the chest as
+he spoke, &quot;if you think it worth ten pounds, the money will
+not come amiss to me. Now, if you will remain and guard the
+household gods for a minute, I will go and pay my rent and
+get a cab.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Half an hour later his few but priceless possessions were
+loaded on a four-wheeler and Arnold had bidden farewell for
+ever to the dingy room in which he had passed so many hours
+of toil and dreaming, suffering and disappointment. Before
+<a name="page25"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 25]</span>
+lunch time they were safely bestowed in a couple of rooms
+which Colston had engaged for him in the same building in
+which his own rooms were.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the afternoon, among other purchases, a more convenient
+case was bought for the model, and in this it was packed with
+the plans and papers which explained its construction, ready
+for the evening journey.
+</p>
+<p>
+The two friends dined together at six in Colston's rooms,
+and at seven sharp his servant announced that the cab was at
+the door. Within ten minutes they were bowling along the
+Embankment towards Westminster Bridge in a luxuriously
+appointed hansom of the newest type, with the precious case
+lying across their knees.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;This is a comfortable cab,&quot; said Arnold, when they had
+gone a hundred yards or so. &quot;By the way, how does the man
+know where to go? I didn't hear you give him any directions.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;None were necessary,&quot; was the reply. &quot;This cab, like a
+good many others in London, belongs to the Brotherhood, and
+the man who is driving is one of the Outer Circle. Our Jehus
+are the most useful spies that we have. Many is the secret of
+the enemy that we have learnt from, and many is the secret
+police agent who has been driven to his rendezvous by a
+Terrorist who has heard every word that has been spoken on
+the journey.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;How on earth is that managed?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Every one of the cabs is fitted with a telephonic arrangement
+communicating with the roof. The driver has only to
+button the wire of the transmitter up inside his coat so that
+the transmitter itself lies near to his ear, and he can hear even
+a whisper inside the cab.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The man who is driving us, for instance, has a sort of
+retainer from the Russian Embassy to be on hand at certain
+hours on certain nights in the week. Our cabs are all better
+horsed, better appointed, and better driven than any others
+in London, and, consequently, they are favourites, especially
+among the young attachés, and are nearly always employed by
+them on their secret missions or love affairs, which, by the
+way, are very often the same thing. Our own Jehu has a job
+on to-night, from which we expect some results that will
+mystify the enemy not a little. We got our first suspicions of
+<a name="page26"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 26]</span>
+Ainsworth from a few incautious words that he spoke in one of
+our cabs.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It's a splendid system, I should think, for discovering the
+movements of your enemies,&quot; said Arnold, not without an
+uncomfortable reflection on the fact that he was himself now
+completely in the power of this terrible organisation, which had
+keen eyes and ready hands in every capital of the civilised
+world. &quot;But how do you guard against treachery? It is well
+known that all the Governments of Europe are spending money
+like water to unearth this mystery of the Terror. Surely all
+your men cannot be incorruptible.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Practically they are so. The very mystery which
+enshrouds all our actions makes them so. We have had a
+few traitors, of course; but as none of them has ever survived
+his treachery by twenty-four hours, a bribe has lost its attraction
+for the rest.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+In such conversation as this the time was passed, while the
+cab crossed the river and made its way rapidly and easily along
+Kennington Road and Clapham Road to Clapham Common.
+At length it turned into the drive of one of those solid abodes of
+pretentious respectability which front the Common, and pulled
+up before a big stucco portico.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Here we are!&quot; exclaimed Colston, as the doors of the cab
+automatically opened. He got out first, and Arnold handed
+the case to him, and then followed him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Without a word the driver turned his horse into the road
+again and drove off towards town, and as they ascended the
+steps the front door opened, and they went in, Colston saying
+as they did so&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Is Mr. Smith at home?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, sir; you are expected, I believe. Will you step into
+the drawing-room?&quot; replied the clean-shaven and immaculately
+respectable man-servant, in evening dress, who had opened the
+door for them.
+</p>
+<p>
+They were shown into a handsomely furnished room lit with
+electric light. As soon as the footman had closed the door
+behind him, Colston said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Well, now, here you are in the conspirators' den, in the
+very headquarters of those Terrorists for whom Europe is being
+ransacked constantly without the slightest success. I have
+<a name="page27"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 27]</span>
+often wondered what the rigid respectability of Clapham
+Common would think if it knew the true character of this
+harmless-looking house. I hardly think an earthquake in
+Clapham Road would produce much more sensation than such
+a discovery would.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And now,&quot; he continued, his tone becoming suddenly much
+more serious, &quot;in a few minutes you will be in the presence of
+the Inner Circle of the Terrorists, that is to say, of those who
+practically hold the fate of Europe in their hands. You know
+pretty clearly what they want with you. If you have thought
+better of the business that we have discussed you are still at
+perfect liberty to retire from it, on giving your word of honour
+not to disclose anything that I have said to you.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I have not the slightest intention of doing anything of the
+sort,&quot; replied Arnold. &quot;You know the conditions on which I
+came here. I shall put them before your Council, and if they
+are accepted your Brotherhood will, within their limits, have no
+more faithful adherent than I. If not, the business will simply
+come to an end as far as I am concerned, and your secret will
+be as safe with me as though I had taken the oath of membership.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Well said!&quot; replied Colston, &quot;and just what I expected
+you to say. Now listen to me for a minute. Whatever you
+may see or hear for the next few minutes say nothing till you
+are asked to speak. I will say all that is necessary at first.
+Ask no questions, but trust to anything that may seem strange
+being explained in due course&mdash;as it will be. A single indiscretion
+on your part might raise suspicions which would be as
+dangerous as they would be unfounded. When you are asked
+to speak do so without the slightest fear, and speak your mind
+as openly as you have done to me.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You need have no fear for me,&quot; replied Arnold. &quot;I think
+I am sensible enough to be prudent, and I am quite sure that
+I am desperate enough to be fearless. Little worse can happen
+to me than the fate that I was contemplating last night.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he ceased speaking there was a knock at the door. It
+opened and the footman reappeared, saying in the most
+commonplace fashion&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Mr. Smith will be happy to see you now, gentlemen. Will
+you kindly walk this way?&quot;
+<a name="page28"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 28]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+They followed him out into the hall, and then, somewhat to
+Arnold's surprise, down the stairs at the back, which apparently
+led to the basement of the house.
+</p>
+<p>
+The footman preceded them to the basement floor and
+halted before a door in a little passage that looked like the
+entrance to a coal cellar. On this he knocked in peculiar
+fashion with the knuckles of one hand, while with the other he
+pressed the button of an electric bell concealed under the paper
+on the wall. The bell sounded faintly as though some distance
+off, and as it rang the footman said abruptly to Colston&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Das Wort ist Freiheit.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold knew German enough to know that this meant
+&quot;The word is 'Freedom,'&quot; but why it should have been spoken
+in a foreign language mystified him not a little.
+</p>
+<p>
+While he was thinking about this the door opened, as if by a
+released spring, and he saw before him a long, narrow passage,
+lit by four electric arcs, and closed at the other end by a door,
+guarded by a sentry armed with a magazine rifle.
+</p>
+<p>
+He followed Colston down the passage, and when within a
+dozen feet of the sentry, he brought his rifle to the &quot;ready,&quot;
+and the following strange dialogue ensued between him and
+Colston&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Quien va?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Zwei Freunde der Bruderschaft.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Por la libertad?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Für Freiheit über alles!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Pass, friends.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The rifle grounded as the words were spoken, and the sentry
+stepped back to the wall of the passage.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the same moment another bell rang beyond the door, and
+then the door itself opened as the other had done.
+</p>
+<p>
+They passed through, and it closed instantly behind them,
+leaving them in total darkness.
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston caught Arnold by the arm, and drew him towards
+him, saying as he did so&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What do you think of our system of passwords?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Pretty hard to get through unless one knew them, I should
+think. Why the different languages?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;To make assurance doubly sure every member of the Inner
+Circle must be conversant with four European languages. On
+<a name="page29"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 29]</span>
+these the changes are rung, and even I did not know what the
+two languages were to be to-night before I entered the house,
+and if I had asked for 'Mr. Brown' instead of 'Mr. Smith,' we
+should never have got beyond the drawing-room.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;When the footman told me in German that the word was
+'Freedom,' I knew that I should have to answer the challenge
+of the sentry in German. I did not know that he would
+challenge in Spanish, and if I had not understood him, or had
+replied in any other language but German, he would have shot
+us both down without saying another word, and no one would
+ever have known what had become of us. You will be exempt
+from this condition, because you will always come with me.
+I am, in fact, responsible for you.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;H'm, there doesn't seem much chance of any one getting
+through on false pretences,&quot; replied Arnold, with an irrepressible
+shudder. &quot;Has any one ever tried?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, once. The two gentlemen whose disappearance made
+the famous 'Clapham Mystery' of about twelve months ago.
+They were two of the smartest detectives in the French service,
+and the only two men who ever guessed the true nature of this
+house. They are buried under the floor on which you are
+standing at this moment.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The words were spoken with a cruel inflexible coldness,
+which struck Arnold like a blast of frozen air. He shivered,
+and was about to reply when Colston caught him by the arm
+again, and said hurriedly&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;H'st! We are going in. Remember what I said, and don't
+speak again till some one asks you to do so.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke a door opened in the wall of the dark chamber
+in which they had been standing for the last few minutes, and
+a flood of soft light flowed in upon their dazzled eyes. At the
+same moment a man's voice said from the room beyond in
+Russian&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Who stands there?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Maurice Colston and the Master of the Air,&quot; replied Colston
+in the same language.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You are welcome,&quot; was the reply, and then Colston, taking
+Arnold by the arm, led him into the room.
+<a name="page30"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 30]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter5"></a>
+CHAPTER V.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE INNER CIRCLE.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p030.png" alt="" width="120" height="136" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+As soon as Arnold's eyes got accustomed to the
+light, he saw that he was in a large, lofty room
+with panelled walls adorned with a number of
+fine paintings. As he looked at these his gaze
+was fascinated by them, even more than by the
+strange company which was assembled round
+the long table that occupied the middle of the room.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Though they were all manifestly the products of the highest
+form of art, their subjects were dreary and repulsive beyond
+description. There was a horrible realism about them
+which reminded him irresistibly of the awful collection of
+pictorial horrors in the Musée Wiertz, in Brussels&mdash;those works
+of the brilliant but unhappy genius who was driven into insanity
+by the sheer exuberance of his own morbid imagination.
+</p>
+<p>
+Here was a long line of men and women in chains staggering
+across a wilderness of snow that melted away into the horizon
+without a break. Beside them rode Cossacks armed with long
+whips that they used on men and women alike when their
+fainting limbs gave way beneath them, and they were like to
+fall by the wayside to seek the welcome rest that only death
+could give them.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a picture of a woman naked to the waist, and tied
+up to a triangle in a prison yard, being flogged by a soldier with
+willow wands, while a group of officers stood by, apparently
+greatly interested in the performance. Another painting showed
+a poor wretch being knouted to death in the market-place of a
+Russian town, and yet another showed a young and beautiful
+woman in a prison cell with her face distorted by the horrible
+<a name="page31"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 31]</span>
+leer of madness, and her little white hands clawing nervously
+at her long dishevelled hair.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold stood for several minutes fascinated by the hideous
+realism of the pictures, and burning with rage and shame at the
+thought that they were all too terribly true to life, when he
+was startled out of his reverie by the same voice that had
+called them from the dark room saying to him in English&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Well, Richard Arnold, what do you think of our little
+picture gallery? The paintings are good in themselves, but it
+may make them more interesting to you if you know that they
+are all faithful reproductions of scenes that have really taken
+place within the limits of the so-called civilised and Christian
+world. There are some here in this room now who have
+suffered the torments depicted on those canvases, and who
+could tell of worse horrors than even they portray. We should
+like to know what you think of our paintings?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold glanced towards the table in search of Colston, but
+he had vanished. Around the long table sat fourteen masked
+and shrouded forms that were absolutely indistinguishable
+one from the other. He could not even tell whether they
+were men or women, so closely were their forms and faces
+concealed. Seeing that he was left to his own discretion,
+he laid the case containing the model, which he had so
+far kept under his arm, down on the floor, and, facing the
+strange assembly, said as steadily as he could&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;My own reading tells me that they are only too true to
+the dreadful reality. I think that the civilised and Christian
+Society which permits such crimes to be committed against
+humanity, when it has the power to stop them by force of
+arms, is neither truly civilised nor truly Christian.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And would <i>you</i> stop them if you could?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, if it cost the lives of millions to do it! They would
+be better spent than the thirty million lives that were lost last
+century over a few bits of territory.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is true, and augurs well for our future agreement.
+Be kind enough to come to the table and take a seat.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The masked man who spoke was sitting in the chair at
+the foot of the table, and as he said this one of those sitting
+at the side got up and motioned to Arnold to take his place.
+As soon as he had done so the speaker continued&mdash;
+<a name="page32"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 32]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We are glad to see that your sentiments are so far in
+accord with our own, for that fact will make our negotiations
+all the easier.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As you are aware, you are now in the Inner Circle of the
+Terrorists. Yonder empty chair at the head of the table is
+that of our Chief, who, though not with us in person, is ever
+present as a guiding influence in our councils. We act as he
+directs, and it was from him that we received news of you
+and your marvellous invention. It is also by his direction
+that you have been invited here to-night with an object that
+you are already aware of.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I see from your face that you are about to ask how this
+can be, seeing that you have never confided your secret to
+any one until last night. It will be useless to ask me, for I
+myself do not know. We who sit here simply execute the
+Master's will. We ask no questions, and therefore we can
+answer none concerning him.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I have none to ask,&quot; said Arnold, seeing that the speaker
+paused as though expecting him to say something. &quot;I came
+at the invitation of one of your Brotherhood to lay certain
+terms before you, for you to accept or reject as seems good to
+you. How you got to know of me and my invention is, after
+all, a matter of indifference to me. With your perfect system
+of espionage you might well find out more secret things than
+that.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Quite so,&quot; was the reply. &quot;And the question that we
+have to settle with you is how far you will consent to assist
+the work of the Brotherhood with this invention of yours,
+and on what conditions you will do so.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I must first know as exactly as possible what the work
+of the Brotherhood is.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Under the circumstances there is no objection to your
+knowing that. In the first place, that which is known to
+the outside world as the Terror is an international secret
+society underlying and directing the operations of the various
+bodies known as Nihilists, Anarchists, Socialists&mdash;in fact, all
+those organisations which have for their object the reform
+or destruction, by peaceful or violent means, of Society as it
+is at present constituted.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Its influence reaches beyond these into the various trade
+<a name="page33"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 33]</span>
+unions and political clubs, the moving spirits of which are all
+members of our Outer Circle. On the other side of Society
+we have agents and adherents in all the Courts of Europe,
+all the diplomatic bodies, and all the parliamentary assemblies
+throughout the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We believe that Society as at present constituted is
+hopeless for any good thing. All kinds of nameless brutalities
+are practised without reproof in the names of law and order,
+and commercial economics. On one side human life is a
+splendid fabric of cloth of gold embroidered with priceless
+gems, and on the other it is a mass of filthy, festering rags,
+swarming with vermin.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We think that such a Society&mdash;a Society which permits
+considerably more than the half of humanity to be sunk in
+poverty and misery while a very small portion of it fools
+away its life in perfectly ridiculous luxury&mdash;does not deserve
+to exist, and ought to be destroyed.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We also know that sooner or later it will destroy itself,
+as every similar Society has done before it. For nearly forty
+years there has now been almost perfect peace in Europe.
+At the same time, over twenty millions of men are standing
+ready to take the field in a week.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;War&mdash;universal war that will shake the world to its
+foundations&mdash;is only a matter of a little more delay and a
+few diplomatic hitches. Russia and England are within
+rifleshot of each other in Afghanistan, and France and Germany
+are flinging defiances at each other across the Rhine.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Some one must soon fire the shot that will set the world
+in a blaze, and meanwhile the toilers of the earth are weary
+of these dreadful military and naval burdens, and would care
+very little if the inevitable happened to-morrow.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It is in the power of the Terrorists to delay or precipitate
+that war to a certain extent. Hitherto all our efforts have
+been devoted to the preservation of peace, and many of the
+so-called outrages which have taken place in different parts
+of Europe, and especially in Russia, during the last few years,
+have been accomplished simply for the purpose of forcing the
+attention of the administrations to internal affairs for the
+time, and so putting off what would have led to a declaration
+of war.
+<a name="page34"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 34]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;This policy has not been dictated by any hope of avoiding
+war altogether, for that would have been sheer insanity.
+We have simply delayed war as long as possible, because we
+have not felt that we have been strong enough to turn the tide
+of battle at the right moment in favour of the oppressed ones
+of the earth and against their oppressors.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;But this invention of yours puts a completely different
+aspect on the European situation. Armed with such a
+tremendous engine of destruction as a navigable air-ship must
+necessarily be, when used in conjunction with the explosives
+already at our disposal, we could make war impossible to our
+enemies by bringing into the field a force with which no army
+or fleet could contend without the certainty of destruction.
+By these means we should ultimately compel peace and enforce
+a general disarmament on land and sea.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The vast majority of those who make the wealth of the
+world are sick of seeing that wealth wasted in the destruction
+of human life, and the ruin of peaceful industries. As soon,
+therefore, as we are in a position to dictate terms under such
+tremendous penalties, all the innumerable organisations with
+which we are in touch all over the world will rise in arms and
+enforce them at all costs.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Of course, it goes without saying that the powers that are
+now enthroned in the high places of the world will fight
+bitterly and desperately to retain the rule that they have held
+for so long, but in the end we shall be victorious, and then on
+the ruins of this civilisation a new and a better shall arise.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is a rough, brief outline of the policy of the Brotherhood,
+which we are going to ask you to-night to join. Of
+course, in the eyes of the world we are only a set of fiends,
+whose sole object is the destruction of Society, and the
+inauguration of a state of universal anarchy. That, however,
+has no concern for us. What is called popular opinion is
+merely manufactured by the Press according to order, and
+does not count in serious concerns. What I have described to
+you are the true objects of the Brotherhood; and now it
+remains for you to say, yes or no, whether you will devote
+yourself and your invention to carrying them out or not.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+For two or three minutes after the masked spokesman of
+the Inner Circle had ceased speaking, there was absolute
+<a name="page35"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 35]</span>
+silence in the room. The calmly spoken words which deliberately
+sketched out the ruin of a civilisation and the establishment
+of a new order of things made a deep impression on
+Arnold's mind. He saw clearly that he was standing at the
+parting of the ways, and facing the most tremendous crisis
+that could occur in the life of a human being.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was only natural that he should look back, as he did, to
+the life from which a single step would now part him for ever,
+without the possibility of going back. He knew that if he
+once put his hands to the plough, and looked back, death,
+swift and inevitable, would be the penalty of his wavering.
+This, however, he had already weighed and decided.
+</p>
+<p>
+Most of what he had heard had found an echo in his own
+convictions. Moreover, the life that he had left had no charms
+for him, while to be one of the chief factors in a world-revolution
+was a destiny worthy both of himself and his invention.
+So the fatal resolution was taken, and he spoke the words that
+bound him for ever to the Brotherhood.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As I have already told Mr. Colston,&quot; he began by saying,
+&quot;I will join and faithfully serve the Brotherhood if the conditions
+that I feel compelled to make are granted&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We know them already,&quot; interrupted the spokesman, &quot;and
+they are freely granted. Indeed, you can hardly fail to see
+that we are trusting you to a far greater extent than it is
+possible for us to make you trust us, unless you choose to do
+so. The air-ship once built and afloat under your command,
+the game of war would to a great extent be in your own hands.
+True, you would not survive treachery very long; but, on the
+other hand, if it became necessary to kill you, the air-ship
+would be useless, that is, if you took your secret of the motive
+power with you into the next world.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As I undoubtedly should,&quot; added Arnold quietly.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We have no doubt that you would,&quot; was the equally quiet
+rejoinder. &quot;And now I will read to you the oath of membership
+that you will be required to sign. Even when you have
+heard it, if you feel any hesitation in subscribing to it, there
+will still be time to withdraw, for we tolerate no unwilling or
+half-hearted recruits.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold bowed his acquiescence, and the spokesman took a
+piece of paper from the table and read aloud&mdash;
+<a name="page36"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 36]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;<i>I, Richard Arnold, sign this paper in the full knowledge that
+in doing so I devote myself absolutely for the rest of my life to
+the service of the Brotherhood of Freedom, known to the world as
+the Terrorists. As long as I live its ends shall be my ends, and
+no human considerations shall weigh with me where those ends
+are concerned. I will take life without mercy, and yield my own
+without hesitation at its bidding. I will break all other laws to
+obey those which it obeys, and if I disobey these I shall expect
+death as the just penalty of my perjury.</i>&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he finished reading the oath, he handed the paper to
+Arnold, saying as he did so&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There are no theatrical formalities to be gone through.
+Simply sign the paper and give it back to me, or else tear it
+up and go in peace.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold read it through slowly, and then glanced round the
+table. He saw the eyes of the silent figures sitting about him
+shining at him through the holes in their masks. He laid the
+paper down on the table in front of him, dipped a pen in an
+inkstand that stood near, and signed the oath in a firm, unfaltering
+hand. Then&mdash;committed for ever, for good or evil,
+to the new life that he had adopted&mdash;he gave the paper back
+again.
+</p>
+<p>
+The President took it and read it, and then passed it to the
+mask on his right hand. It went from one to the other round
+the table, each one reading it before passing it on, until it got
+back to the President. When it reached him he rose from his
+seat, and, going to the fireplace, dropped it into the flames, and
+watched it until it was consumed to ashes. Then, crossing the
+room to where Arnold was sitting, he removed his mask with
+one hand, and held the other out to him in greeting, saying as
+he did so&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Welcome to the Brotherhood! Thrice welcome! for your
+coming has brought the day of redemption nearer!&quot;
+<a name="page37"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 37]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter6"></a>
+CHAPTER VI.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+NEW FRIENDS.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p037.png" alt="" width="119" height="136" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+As Arnold returned the greeting of the President,
+all the other members of the Circle rose from
+their seats and took off their masks and the
+black shapeless cloaks which had so far completely
+covered them from head to foot.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Then, one after the other, they came forward
+and were formally introduced to him by the President. Nine of
+the fourteen were men, and five were women of ages varying from
+middle age almost to girlhood. The men were apparently all
+between twenty-five and thirty-five, and included some half-dozen
+nationalities among them.
+</p>
+<p>
+All, both men and women, evidently belonged to the educated,
+or rather to the cultured class. Their speech, which seemed to
+change with perfect ease from one language to another in the
+course of their somewhat polyglot converse, was the easy flowing
+speech of men and women accustomed to the best society,
+not only in the social but the intellectual sense of the word.
+</p>
+<p>
+All were keen, alert, and swift of thought, and on the face
+of each one there was the dignifying expression of a deep and
+settled purpose which at once differentiated them in Arnold's
+eyes from the ordinary idle or merely money-making citizens
+of the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+As each one came and shook hands with the new member of
+the Brotherhood, he or she had some pleasant word of welcome
+and greeting for him; and so well were the words chosen, and so
+manifestly sincerely were they spoken, that by the time he had
+shaken hands all round Arnold felt as much at home among
+them as though he were in the midst of a circle of old friends.
+<a name="page38"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 38]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Among the women there were two who had attracted his
+attention and roused his interest far more than any of the
+other members of the Circle. One of these was a tall and
+beautifully-shaped woman, whose face and figure were those of
+a woman in the early twenties, but whose long, thick hair was
+as white as though the snows of seventy winters had drifted
+over it. As he returned her warm, firm hand-clasp, and looked
+upon her dark, resolute, and yet perfectly womanly features,
+the young engineer gave a slight start of recognition. She
+noticed this at once and said, with a smile and a quick flash
+from her splendid grey eyes&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Ah! I see you recognise me. No, I am not ashamed of my
+portrait. I am proud of the wounds that I have received in
+the war with tyranny, so you need not fear to confess your
+recognition.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+It was true that Arnold had recognised her. She was the
+original of the central figure of the painting which depicted
+the woman being flogged by the Russian soldiers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold flushed hotly at the words with the sudden passionate
+anger that they roused within him, and replied in a low, steady
+voice&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Those who would sanction such a crime as that are not fit
+to live. I will not leave one stone of that prison standing upon
+another. It is a blot on the face of the earth, and I will wipe
+it out utterly!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There are thousands of blots as black as that on earth, and
+I think you will find nobler game than an obscure Russian
+provincial prison. Russia has cities and palaces and fortresses
+that will make far grander ruins than that&mdash;ruins that will be
+worthy monuments of fallen despotism,&quot; replied the girl, who
+had been introduced by the President as Radna Michaelis.
+&quot;But here is some one else waiting to make your acquaintance.
+This is Natasha. She has no other name among us, but you
+will soon learn why she needs none.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Natasha was the other woman who had so keenly roused
+Arnold's interest. Woman, however, she hardly was, for she
+was seemingly still in her teens, and certainly could not have
+been more than twenty.
+</p>
+<p>
+He had mixed but little with women, and during the past
+few years not at all, and therefore the marvellous beauty of the
+<a name="page39"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 39]</span>
+girl who came forward as Radna spoke seemed almost unearthly
+to him, and confused his senses for the moment as some potent
+drug might have done. He took her outstretched hand in
+awkward silence, and for an instant so far forgot himself as to
+gaze blankly at her in speechless admiration.
+</p>
+<p>
+She could not help noticing it, for she was a woman, and for
+the same reason she saw that it was so absolutely honest and
+involuntary that it was impossible for any woman to take
+offence at it. A quick bright flush swept up her lovely face
+as his hand closed upon hers, her darkly-fringed lids fell for an
+instant over the most wonderful pair of sapphire-blue eyes that
+Arnold had ever even dreamed of, and when she raised them
+again the flush had gone, and she said in a sweet, frank voice&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I am the daughter of Natas, and he has desired me to bid
+you welcome in his name, and I hope you will let me do so in
+my own as well. We are all dying to see this wonderful
+invention of yours. I suppose you are going to satisfy our
+feminine curiosity, are you not?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The daughter of Natas! This lovely girl, in the first sweet
+flush of her pure and innocent womanhood, the daughter of the
+unknown and mysterious being whose ill-omened name caused
+a shudder if it was only whispered in the homes of the rich
+and powerful; the name with which the death-sentences of the
+Terrorists were invariably signed, and which had come to be
+an infallible guarantee that they would be carried out to the
+letter.
+</p>
+<p>
+No death-warrants of the most powerful sovereigns of
+Europe were more certain harbingers of inevitable doom than
+were those which bore this dreaded name. Whether he were
+high or low, the man who received one of them made ready
+for his end. He knew not where or when the fatal blow
+would be struck. He only knew that the invisible hand of the
+Terror would strike him as surely in the uttermost ends of the
+earth as it would in the palace or the fortress. Never once
+had it missed its aim, and never once had the slightest clue
+been obtained to the identity of the hand that held the knife
+or pistol.
+</p>
+<p>
+Some such thoughts as these flashed one after another
+through Arnold's brain as he stood talking with Natasha. He
+saw at once why she had only that one name. It was
+<a name="page40"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 40]</span>
+enough, and it was not long before he learnt that it was the
+symbol of an authority in the Circle that admitted of no
+question.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was the envoy of him whose word was law, absolute and
+irrevocable, to every member of the Brotherhood; to disobey
+whom was death; and to obey whom had, so far at least, meant
+swift and invariable success, even where it seemed least to be
+hoped for.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of course, Natasha's almost girlish question about the air-ship
+was really a command, which would have been none the
+less binding had she only had her own beauty to enforce it.
+As she spoke the President and Colston&mdash;who had only lost
+himself for the time behind a mask and cloak&mdash;came up to
+Arnold and asked him if he was prepared to give an exhibition
+of the powers of his model, and to explain its working and
+construction to the Circle at once.
+</p>
+<p>
+He replied that everything was perfectly ready for the trial,
+and that he would set the model working for them in a few
+minutes. The President then told him that the exhibition
+should take place in another room, where there would be much
+more space than where they were, and bade him bring the box
+and follow him.
+</p>
+<p>
+A door was now opened in the wall of the room remote from
+that by which he and Colston had entered, and through this
+the whole party went down a short passage, and through
+another door at the end which opened into a very large apartment,
+which, from the fact of its being windowless, Arnold
+rightly judged to be underground, like the Council-chamber that
+they had just left.
+</p>
+<p>
+A single glance was enough to show him the chief purpose
+to which the chamber was devoted. The wall at one end was
+covered with arm-racks containing all the newest and most
+perfect makes of rifles and pistols; while at the other end,
+about twenty paces distant, were three electric signalling
+targets, graded, as was afterwards explained to him, to one,
+three, and five hundred yards range.
+</p>
+<p>
+In a word, the chamber was an underground range for rifle
+and pistol practice, in which a volley could have been fired
+without a sound being heard ten yards away. It was here
+that the accuracy of the various weapons invented from
+<a name="page41"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 41]</span>
+time to time was tested; and here, too, every member of
+the Circle, man and woman, practised with rifle and pistol
+until an infallible aim was acquired. A register of scores
+was kept, and at the head of it stood the name of Radna
+Michaelis.
+</p>
+<p>
+A long table ran across the end at which the arm-racks
+were, and on this Arnold laid the case containing the model,
+he standing on one side of the table, and the members of the
+Circle on the other, watching his movements with a curiosity
+that they took no trouble to disguise.
+</p>
+<p>
+He opened the case, feeling something like a scientific
+demonstrator, with an advanced and critical class before him.
+In a moment the man disappeared, and the mechanician and
+the enthusiast took his place. As each part was taken out
+and laid upon the table, he briefly explained its use; and then,
+last of all, came the hull of the air-ship.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was three feet long and six inches broad in its midships
+diameter. It was made in two longitudinal sections of polished
+aluminium, which shone like burnished silver. It would have
+been cigar-shaped but for the fact that the forward end was
+drawn out into a long sharp ram, the point of which was on
+a level with the floor of the hull amidships as it lay upon the
+table. Two deep bilge-plates, running nearly the whole length
+of the hull, kept it in an upright position and prevented the
+blades of the propellers from touching the table. For about
+half its whole length the upper part of the hull was flattened
+and formed a deck from which rose three short strong masts,
+each of which carried a wheel of thin metal whose spokes were
+six inclined fans something like the blades of a screw.
+</p>
+<p>
+A little lower than this deck there projected on each side a
+broad, oblong, slightly curved sheet of metal, very thin, but
+strengthened by means of wire braces, till it was as rigid as a
+plate of solid steel, although it only weighed a few ounces.
+These air-planes worked on an axis amidships, and could be
+inclined either way through an angle of thirty degrees. At
+the pointed stern there revolved a powerful four-bladed
+propeller, and from each quarter, inclined slightly outwards
+from the middle line of the vessel, projected a somewhat
+smaller screw working underneath the after end of the air-planes.
+<a name="page42"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 42]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+The hull contained four small double-cylinder engines, one
+of which actuated the stern-propeller, and the other three the
+fan-wheels and side-propellers. There were, of course, no
+furnaces, boilers, or condensers. Two slender pipes ran into
+each cylinder from suitably placed gas reservoirs, or power-cylinders,
+as the engineer called them, and that was all.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold deftly and rapidly put the parts together, continuing
+his running description as he did so, and in a few minutes the
+beautiful miracle of ingenuity stood complete before the wondering
+eyes of the Circle, and a murmur of admiration ran from
+lip to lip, bringing a flush of pleasure to the cheek of its creator.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There,&quot; said he, as he put the finishing touches to the
+apparatus, &quot;you see that she is a combination of two principles&mdash;those
+of the Aëronef and the Aëroplane. The first reached
+its highest development in Jules Verne's imaginary &quot;Clipper
+of the Clouds,&quot; and the second in Hiram Maxim's Aëroplane.
+Of course, Jules Verne's Aëronef was merely an idea, and one
+that could never be realised while Robur's mysterious source of
+electrical energy remained unknown&mdash;as it still does.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Maxim's Aëroplane is, as you all know, also an unrealised
+ideal so far as any practical use is concerned. He has succeeded
+in making it fly, but only under the most favourable
+conditions, and practically without cargo. Its two fatal defects
+have been shown by experience to be the comparatively overwhelming
+weight of the engine and the fuel that he has to
+carry to develop sufficient power to rise from the ground and
+progress against the wind, and the inability of the machine to
+ascend perpendicularly to any required height.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Without the power to do this no air-ship can be of any use
+save under very limited conditions. You cannot carry a railway
+about with you, or a station to get a start from every time
+you want to rise, and you cannot always choose a nice level
+plain in which to come down. Even if you could the Aëroplane
+would not rise again without its rails and carriage. For purposes
+of warfare, then, it may be dismissed as totally useless.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In this machine, as you see, I have combined the two
+principles. These helices on the masts will lift the dead
+weight of the ship perpendicularly without the slightest help
+from the side-planes, which are used to regulate the vessel's
+flight when afloat. I will set the engines that work them in
+<a name="page43"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 43]</span>
+motion independently of the others which move the propellers,
+and then you will see what I mean.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke, he set one part of the mechanism working.
+Those watching saw the three helices begin to spin round, the
+centre one revolving in an opposite direction to the other two,
+with a soft whirring sound that gradually rose to a high-pitched
+note.
+</p>
+<p>
+When they attained their full speed they looked like solid
+wheels, and then the air-ship rose, at first slowly, and then
+more and more swiftly, straight up from the table, until it
+strained hard at the piece of cord which prevented it from
+reaching the roof.
+</p>
+<p>
+A universal chorus of &quot;bravas&quot; greeted it as it rose, and
+every eye became fixed on it as it hung motionless in the
+air, sustained by its whirling helices. After letting it remain
+aloft for a few minutes Arnold pulled it down again, saying as
+he did so&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That, I think, proves that the machine can rise from any
+position where the upward road is open, and without the
+slightest assistance of any apparatus. Now it shall take a
+voyage round the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You see it is steered by this rudder-fan under the stern
+propeller. In the real ship it will be worked by a wheel, like
+the rudder of a sea-going vessel; but in the model it is done
+by this lever, so that I can control it by a couple of strings
+from the ground.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He went round to the other side of the table while he was
+speaking, and adjusted the steering gear, stopping the engines
+meanwhile. Then he put the model down on the floor, set all
+four engines to work, and stood behind with the guiding-strings
+in his hands. The spectators heard a louder and
+somewhat shriller whirring noise than before, and the beautiful
+fabric, with its shining, silvery hull and side-planes, rose
+slantingly from the ground and darted forward down the room,
+keeping Arnold at a quick run with the rudder-strings tightly
+strained.
+</p>
+<p>
+Like an obedient steed, it instantly obeyed the slightest pull
+upon either of them, and twice made the circuit of the room
+before its creator pulled it down and stopped the machinery.
+</p>
+<p>
+The experiment was a perfect and undeniable success in
+<a name="page44"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 44]</span>
+every respect, and not one of those who saw it had the
+slightest doubt as to Arnold's air-ship having at last solved
+the problem of a&euml;rial navigation, and made the Brotherhood
+lords of a realm as wide as the atmospheric ocean that
+encircles the globe.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as the model was once more resting on the table,
+the President came forward and, grasping the engineer by
+both hands, said in a voice from which he made but little
+effort to banish the emotion that he felt&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Bravo, brother! Henceforth you shall be known to the
+Brotherhood as the Master of the Air, for truly you have been
+the first among the sons of men to fairly conquer it. Come,
+let us go back and talk, for there is much to be said about
+this, and we cannot begin too soon to make arrangements for
+building the first of our a&euml;rial fleet. You can leave your
+model where it is in perfect safety, for no one ever enters this
+room save ourselves.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying the President led the way to the Council-chamber,
+and there, after the <i>Ariel</i>&mdash;as it had already been decided to
+name the first air-ship&mdash;had been christened in anticipation in
+twenty-year old champagne, the Circle settled down at once to
+business, and for a good three hours discussed the engineer's estimate
+and plans for building the first vessel of the a&euml;rial fleet.
+</p>
+<p>
+At length all the practical details were settled, and the
+President rose in token of the end of the conference. As he
+did so he said somewhat abruptly to Arnold&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;So far so good. Now there is nothing more to be done
+but to lay those plans before the Chief and get his authority
+for withdrawing out of the treasury sufficient money to
+commence operations. I presume you could reproduce them
+from memory if necessary&mdash;at any rate, in sufficient outline to
+make them perfectly intelligible?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Certainly,&quot; was the reply. &quot;I could reproduce them in
+<i>fac simile</i> without the slightest difficulty. Why do you ask?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Because the Chief is in Russia, and you must go to him
+and place them before him from memory. They are far too
+precious to be trusted to any keeping, however trustworthy.
+There are such things as railway accidents, and other forms of
+sudden death, to say nothing of the Russian customs, false
+arrests, personal searches, and imprisonments on mere suspicion.
+<a name="page45"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 45]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We can risk none of these, and so there is nothing for it
+but your going to Petersburg and verbally explaining them
+to the Chief. You can be ready in three days, I suppose?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, in two, if you like,&quot; replied Arnold, not a little taken
+aback at the unexpected suddenness of what he knew at once
+to be the first order that was to test his obedience to the
+Brotherhood. &quot;But as I am absolutely ignorant of Russia and
+the Russians, I suppose you will make such arrangements as
+will prevent my making any innocent but possibly awkward
+mistakes.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Oh yes,&quot; replied the President, with a smile, &quot;all arrangements
+have been made already, and I expect you will find
+them anything but unpleasant. Natasha goes to Petersburg
+in company with another lady member of the Circle whom you
+have not yet seen.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You will go with them, and they will explain everything
+to you <i>en route</i>, if they have no opportunity of doing so before
+you start. Now let us go upstairs and have some supper. I
+am famished, and I suppose every one else is too.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold simply bowed in answer to the President; but one
+pair of eyes at least in the room caught the quick, faint flush
+that rose in his cheek as he was told in whose company he was
+to travel. As for himself, if the journey had been to Siberia
+instead of Russia, he would have felt nothing but pleasure at
+the prospect after that.
+</p>
+<p>
+They left the Council-chamber by the passage and the
+ante-room, the sentry standing to attention as they passed
+him, each giving the word in turn, till the President came last
+and closed the doors behind him. Then the sentry brought
+up the rear and extinguished the lights as he left the passage.
+</p>
+<p>
+Fifteen minutes later there sat down to supper, in the
+solidly comfortable dining-room of the upper house, a party
+of ladies and gentlemen who chatted through the meal as
+merrily and innocently as though there were no such things
+as tyranny or suffering in the world, and whom not the
+most acute observer would have taken for the most dangerous
+and desperately earnest body of conspirators that ever plotted
+the destruction, not of an empire, but of a civilisation and a
+social order that it had taken twenty centuries to build up.
+<a name="page46"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 46]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter7"></a>
+CHAPTER VII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE DAUGHTER OF NATAS.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p046.png" alt="" width="118" height="132" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+Supper was over about eleven, and then the
+party adjourned to the drawing-room, where for
+an hour or so Arnold sat and listened to such
+music and singing as he had never heard in his
+life before. The songs seemed to be in every
+language in Europe, and he did not understand
+anything like half of them, so far, at least, as the words were
+concerned.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+They were, however, so far removed from the average
+drawing-room medley of twaddle and rattle that the music
+interpreted the words into its own universal language, and
+made them almost superfluous.
+</p>
+<p>
+For the most part they were sad and passionate, and once
+or twice, especially when Radna Michaelis was singing, Arnold
+saw tears well up into the eyes of the women, and the brows
+of the men contract and their hands clench with sudden
+passion at the recollection of some terrible scene or story that
+was recalled by the song.
+</p>
+<p>
+At last, close on midnight, the President rose from his seat
+and asked Natasha to sing the &quot;Hymn of Freedom.&quot; She
+acknowledged the request with an inclination of her head, and
+then as Radna sat down to the piano, and she took her place beside
+it, all the rest rose to their feet like worshippers in a church.
+</p>
+<p>
+The prelude was rather longer than usual, and as Radna
+played it Arnold heard running through it, as it were, echoes
+of all the patriotic songs of Europe from &quot;Scots Wha Hae&quot;
+and &quot;The Shan van Voght&quot; to the forbidden Polish National
+Hymn and the Swiss Republican song, which is known in
+<a name="page47"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 47]</span>
+England as &quot;God Save the Queen.&quot; The prelude ended with
+a few bars of the &quot;Marseillaise,&quot; and then Natasha began.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a marvellous performance. As the air changed from
+nation to nation the singer changed the language, and at the
+end of each verse the others took up the strain in perfect
+harmony, till it sounded like a chorus of the nations in
+miniature, each language coming in its turn until the last
+verse was reached.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then there was silence for a moment, and then the opening
+chords of the &quot;Marseillaise&quot; rang out from the piano, slow
+and stately at first, and then quickening like the tread of an
+army going into battle.
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly Natasha's voice soared up, as it were, out of the
+music, and a moment later the Song of the Revolution rolled
+forth in a flood of triumphant melody, above which Natasha's
+pure contralto thrilled sweet and strong, till to Arnold's
+intoxicated senses it seemed like the voice of some angel
+singing from the sky in the ears of men, and it was not until
+the hymn had been ended for some moments that he was
+recalled to earth by the President saying to him&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Some day, perhaps, you will be floating in the clouds, and
+you will hear that hymn rising from the throats of millions
+gathered together from the ends of the earth, and when you
+hear that you will know that our work is done, and that there
+is peace on earth at last.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I hope so,&quot; replied the engineer quietly, &quot;and, what is
+more, I believe that some day I shall hear it.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I believe so too,&quot; suddenly interrupted Radna, turning
+round on her seat at the piano, &quot;but there will be many a
+battle-song sung to the accompaniment of battle-music before
+that happens. I wish&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That all Russia were a haystack, and that you were beside
+it with a lighted torch,&quot; said Natasha, half in jest and half
+in earnest.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, truly!&quot; replied Radna, turning round and dashing
+fiercely into the &quot;Marseillaise&quot; again.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I have no doubt of it. But, come, it is after midnight,
+and we have to get back to Cheyne Walk. The princess will
+think we have been arrested or something equally dreadful.
+Ah, Mr. Colston, we have a couple of seats to spare in the
+<a name="page48"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 48]</span>
+brougham. Will you and our Admiral of the Air condescend
+to accept a lift as far as Chelsea?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The condescension is in the offer, Natasha,&quot; replied Colston,
+flushing with pleasure and glancing towards Radna the while.
+Radna answered with an almost imperceptible sign of consent,
+and Colston went on: &quot;If it were in an utterly opposite
+direction&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You would not be asked to come, sir. So don't try to
+pay compliments at the expense of common sense,&quot; laughed
+Natasha before he could finish. &quot;If you do you shall sit
+beside me instead of Radna all the way.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a general smile at this retort, for Colston's
+avowed devotion to Radna and the terrible circumstances out
+of which it had sprung was one of the romances of the Circle.
+</p>
+<p>
+As for Arnold, he could scarcely believe his ears when he
+heard that he was to ride from Clapham Common to Chelsea
+sitting beside this radiantly beautiful girl, behind whose
+innocence and gaiety there lay the shadow of her mysterious
+and terrible parentage.
+</p>
+<p>
+Lovely and gentle as she seemed, he knew even now how
+awful a power she held in the slender little hand whose
+nervous clasp he could still feel upon his own, and this
+knowledge seemed to raise an invisible yet impassable barrier
+between him and the possibility of looking upon her as under
+other circumstances it would have been natural for a man to
+look upon so fair a woman.
+</p>
+<p>
+Natasha's brougham was so far an improvement on those of
+the present day that it had two equally comfortable seats, and
+on these the four were cosily seated a few minutes after the
+party broke up. To Arnold, and, doubtless, to Colston also, the
+miles flew past at an unheard-of speed; but for all that, long
+before the carriage stopped at the house in Cheyne Walk, he
+had come to the conviction that, for good or evil, he was now
+bound to the Brotherhood by far stronger ties than any social
+or political opinions could have formed.
+</p>
+<p>
+After they had said good-night at the door, and received an
+invitation to lunch for the next day to talk over the journey to
+Russia, he and Colston decided to walk to the Savoy, for it was
+a clear moonlit night, and each had a good deal to say to the
+other, which could be better and more safely said in the open
+<a name="page49"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 49]</span>
+air than in a cab. So they lit their cigars, buttoned up their
+coats, and started off eastward along the Embankment to
+Vauxhall.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Well, my friend, tell me how you have enjoyed your
+evening, and what you think of the company,&quot; said Colston,
+by way of opening the conversation.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Until supper I had a very pleasant time of it. I enjoyed
+the business part of the proceedings intensely, as any other
+mechanical enthusiast would have done, I suppose. But I
+frankly confess that after that my mind is in a state of complete
+chaos, in the midst of which only one figure stands out
+at all distinctly.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And that figure is?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Natasha. Tell me&mdash;who is she?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I know no more as to her true identity than you do, or else
+I would answer you with pleasure.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What! Do you mean to say&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I mean to say just what I have said. Not only do I not
+know who she is, but I do not believe that more than two or
+three members of the Circle, at the outside, know any more
+than I do. Those are, probably, Nicholas Roburoff, the
+President of the Executive, and his wife, and Radna Michaelis.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Then, if Radna knows, how comes it that you do not know?
+You must forgive me if I am presuming on a too short acquaintance;
+but it certainly struck me to-night that you had very
+few secrets from each other.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There is no presumption about it, my dear fellow,&quot; replied
+Colston, with a laugh. &quot;It is no secret that Radna and I are
+lovers, and that she will be my wife when I have earned her.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now you have raised my curiosity again,&quot; interrupted
+Arnold, in an inquiring tone.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And will very soon satisfy it. You saw that horrible
+picture in the Council-chamber? Yes. Well, I will tell you
+the whole story of that some day when we have more time;
+but for the present it will be enough for me to tell you that I
+have sworn not to ask Radna to come with me to the altar
+while a single person who was concerned in that nameless
+crime remains alive.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There were five persons responsible for it to begin with&mdash;the
+governor of the prison, the prefect of police for the district, a
+<a name="page50"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 50]</span>
+spy, who informed against her, and the two soldiers who
+executed the infernal sentence. It happened nearly three
+years ago, and there are two of them alive still&mdash;the governor
+and the prefect of police.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Of course the Brotherhood would have removed them long
+ago had it decided to do so; but I got the circumstances laid
+before Natas, by the help of Natasha, and received permission
+to execute the sentences myself. So far I have killed three
+with my own hand, and the other two have not much longer
+to live.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The governor has been transferred to Siberia, and will
+probably be the last that I shall reach. The prefect is now in
+command of the Russian secret police in London, and unless
+an accident happens he will never leave England.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston spoke in a cold, passionless, merciless tone, just as
+a lawyer might speak of a criminal condemned to die by the
+ordinary process of the law, and as Arnold heard him he
+shuddered. But at the same time the picture in the Council-chamber
+came up before his mental vision, and he was forced
+to confess that men who could so far forget their manhood as
+to lash a helpless woman up to a triangle and flog her till her
+flesh was cut to ribbons, were no longer men but wild beasts,
+whose very existence was a crime. So he merely said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;They were justly slain. Now tell me more about Natasha.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There is very little more that I can tell you, I'm afraid.
+All I know is that the Brotherhood of the Terror is the conception
+and creation of a single man, and that that man is Natas,
+the father of Natasha, as she is known to us. His orders come
+to us either directly in writing through Natasha, or indirectly
+through him you have heard spoken of as the Chief.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Oh, then the Chief is not Natas?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No, we have all of us seen him. In fact, when he is in
+London he always presides at the Circle meetings. You would
+hardly believe it, but he is an English nobleman, and Secretary
+to the English Embassy at Petersburg.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Then he is Lord Alanmere, and an old college friend of
+mine!&quot; exclaimed Arnold. &quot;I saw his name in the paper the night
+before last. It was mentioned in the account of the murder&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We don't call those murders, my friend,&quot; drily interrupted
+Colston; &quot;we call them what they really are&mdash;executions.&quot;
+<a name="page51"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 51]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I beg your pardon; I was using the phraseology of the
+newspaper. What was his crime?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I don't know. But the fact that the Chief was there when
+he died is quite enough for me. Well, as I was saying, the
+Chief, as we call him, is the visible and supreme head of the
+Brotherhood so far as we are concerned. We know that Natas
+exists, and that he and the Chief admit no one save Natasha to
+their councils.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;They control the treasury absolutely, and apart from the
+contributions of those of the members who can afford to make
+them, they appear to provide the whole of the funds. Of
+course, Lord Alanmere, as you know, is enormously wealthy,
+and probably Natas is also rich. At any rate, there is never
+any want of money where the work of the Brotherhood is
+concerned.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The estimates are given to Natasha when the Chief is not
+present, and at the next meeting she brings the money in
+English gold and notes, or in foreign currency as may be
+required, and that is all we know about the finances.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Perhaps I ought to tell you that there is also a very considerable
+mystery about the Chief himself. When he presides
+at the Council meetings he displays a perfectly marvellous
+knowledge of both the members and the working of the
+Brotherhood.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It would seem that nothing, however trifling, is hidden from
+him; and yet when any of us happen to meet him, as we often
+do, in Society, he treats us all as the most perfect strangers,
+unless we have been regularly introduced to him as ordinary
+acquaintances. Even then he seems utterly ignorant of his
+connection with the Brotherhood.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The first time I met him outside the Circle was at a ball at
+the Russian Embassy. I went and spoke to him, giving the
+sign of the Inner Circle as I did so. To my utter amazement,
+he stared at me without a sign of recognition, and calmly
+informed me, in the usual way, that I had the advantage of
+him.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Of course I apologised, and he accepted the apology with
+perfect good humour, but as an utter stranger would have done.
+A little later Natasha came in with the Princess Ornovski,
+whom you are going to Russia with, and who is there one of
+<a name="page52"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 52]</span>
+the most trusted agents of the Petersburg police. I told
+her what had happened.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;She looked at me for a moment rather curiously with those
+wonderful eyes of hers; then she laughed softly, and said,
+'Come, I will set that at rest by introducing you; but mind,
+not a word about politics or those horrible secret societies, as
+you value my good opinion.'
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I understood from this that there was something behind
+which could not be explained there, where every other one you
+danced with might be a spy, and I was introduced to his Lordship,
+and we became very good friends in the ordinary social
+way; but I failed to gather the slightest hint from his conversation
+that he even knew of the existence of the Brotherhood.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;When we left I drove home with Natasha and the Princess
+to supper, and on the way Natasha told me that his Lordship
+found it necessary to lead two entirely distinct lives, and that
+he adhered so rigidly to this rule that he never broke it even
+with her. Since then I have been most careful to respect what,
+after all, is a very wise, if not an absolutely necessary, precaution
+on his part.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And, now,&quot; said Arnold, speaking in a tone that betrayed
+not a little hesitation and embarrassment, &quot;if you can do
+so, answer me one more question, and do so as shortly and
+directly as you can. Is Natasha in love with, or betrothed to,
+any member of the Brotherhood as far as you know?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston stopped and looked at him with a laugh in his eyes.
+Then he put his hand on his shoulder and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As I thought, and feared! You have not escaped the
+common lot of all heart-whole men upon whom those terrible
+eyes of hers have looked. The Angel of the Revolution, as we
+call her among ourselves, is peerless among the daughters of
+men. What more natural, then, that all the sons of men
+should fall speedy victims to her fatal charms? So far as I
+know, every man who has ever seen her is more or less in
+love with her&mdash;and mostly more!
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As for the rest, I am as much in the dark as you are, save
+for the fact that I know, on the authority of Radna, that she
+is not betrothed to any one, and, so far as <i>she</i> knows, still in the
+blissful state of maiden fancy-freedom.&quot;
+<a name="page53"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 53]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Thank God for that!&quot; said Arnold, with an audible sigh of
+relief. Then he went on in somewhat hurried confusion, &quot;But
+there, of course, you think me a presumptuous ass, and so I
+am; wherefore&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There is no need for you to talk nonsense, my dear fellow.
+There never can be presumption in an honest man's love, no
+matter how exalted the object of it may be. Besides, are you
+not now the central hope of the Revolution, and is not yours
+the hand that shall hurl destruction on its enemies?
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As for Natasha, peerless and all as she is, has not the poet
+of the ages said of just such as her&mdash;
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd;<br />
+She is a woman: therefore to be won?<br />
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And who, too, has a better chance of winning her than you
+will have when you are commanding the a&euml;rial fleet of the
+Brotherhood, and, like a very Jove, hurling your destroying
+bolts from the clouds, and deciding the hazard of war when the
+nations of Europe are locked in the death-struggle? Why,
+you see such a prospect makes even me poetical.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Seriously, though, you must not consider the distance
+between you too great. Remember that you are a very different
+person now to what you were a couple of days ago. Without
+any offence, I may say that you were then nameless, while now
+you have the chance of making a name that will go down to
+all time as that of the solver of the greatest problem of this or
+any other age.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Added to this, remember that Natasha, after all, is a
+woman, and, more than that, a woman devoted heart and soul
+to a great cause, in which great deeds are soon to be done.
+Great deeds are still the shortest way to a woman's heart, and
+that is the way you must take if you are to hope for success.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I will!&quot; simply replied Arnold, and the tone in which the
+two words were said convinced Colston that he meant all that
+they implied to its fullest extent.
+<a name="page54"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 54]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter8"></a>
+CHAPTER VIII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+LEARNING THE PART.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p054.png" alt="I" width="119" height="132" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+It was nearly eleven the next morning by the time
+Arnold and Colston had finished breakfast.
+This was mostly due to the fact that Arnold
+had passed an almost entirely sleepless night,
+and had only begun to doze off towards morning.
+The events of the previous evening kept on
+repeating themselves in various sequences time after time, until
+his brain reeled in the whirl of emotions that they gave rise to.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Although of a strongly mathematical and even mechanical
+turn of mind, the young engineer was also an enthusiast, and
+therefore there was a strong colouring of romance in his nature
+which lifted him far above the level upon which his mere
+intellect was accustomed to work.
+</p>
+<p>
+Where intellect alone was concerned&mdash;as, for instance, in
+the working out of a problem in engineering or mechanics&mdash;he
+was cool, calculating, and absolutely unemotional. His
+highly-disciplined mind was capable of banishing every other
+subject from consideration save the one which claimed the
+attention of the hour, and of incorporating itself wholly with
+the work in hand until it was finished.
+</p>
+<p>
+These qualities would have been quite sufficient to assure
+his success in life on conventional lines. They would have
+made him rich, and perhaps famous, but they would never
+have made him a great inventor; for no one can do anything
+really great who is not a dreamer as well as a worker.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was because he was a dreamer that he had sacrificed
+everything to the working out of his ideal, and risked his life
+on the chance of success, and it was for just the same reason
+<a name="page55"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 55]</span>
+that the tremendous purposes of the Brotherhood had been
+able to fire his imagination with luridly brilliant dreams of a
+gigantic world-tragedy in which he, armed with almost supernatural
+powers, should play the central part.
+</p>
+<p>
+This of itself would have been enough to make all other
+considerations of trivial moment in his eyes, and to bind him
+irrevocably to the Brotherhood. He saw, it is true, that a
+frightful amount of slaughter and suffering would be the price
+either of success or failure in so terrific a struggle; but he also
+knew that that struggle was inevitable in some form or other,
+and whether he took a part in it or not.
+</p>
+<p>
+But since the last sun had set a new element had come into
+his life, and was working in line with both his imagination
+and his ambition. So far he had lived his life without any
+other human love than what was bound up with his recollections
+of his home and his boyhood. As a man he had
+never loved any human being. Science had been his only
+mistress, and had claimed his undivided devotion, engrossing
+his mind and intellect completely, but leaving his heart free.
+</p>
+<p>
+And now, as it were in an instant, a new mistress had come
+forward out of the unknown. She had put her hand upon
+his heart, and, though no words of human speech had passed
+between them, save the merest commonplaces, her soul had
+said to his, &quot;This is mine. I have called it into life, and for
+me it shall live until the end.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He had heard this as plainly as though it had been said to
+him with the lips of flesh, and he had acquiesced in the
+imperious claim with a glad submission which had yet to be
+tinged with the hope that it might some day become a mastery.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus, as the silent, sleepless hours went by, did he review
+over and over again the position in which he found himself
+on the threshold of his strange new life, until at last physical
+exhaustion brought sleep to his eyes if not to his brain, and
+he found himself flying over the hills and vales of dreamland
+in his air-ship, with the roar of battle and the smoke of ruined
+towns far beneath him, and Natasha at his side, sharing with
+him the dominion of the air that his genius had won.
+</p>
+<p>
+At length Colston came in to tell him that the breakfast
+was spoiling, and that it was high time to get up if they
+intended to be in time for their appointment at Chelsea. This
+<a name="page56"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 56]</span>
+brought him out of bed with effective suddenness, and he made
+a hasty toilet for breakfast, leaving more important preparations
+until afterwards.
+</p>
+<p>
+During the meal their conversation naturally turned chiefly
+on the visit that they were to pay, and Colston took the
+opportunity of explaining one or two things that it was
+necessary for him to know with regard to the new acquaintance
+that he was about to make at Chelsea.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;So far as the outside world is concerned,&quot; said he, &quot;Natasha
+is the niece of the Princess Ornovski. She is the daughter
+of a sister of hers, who married an English gentleman, named
+Darrel, who was drowned with his wife about twelve years
+ago, when the <i>Albania</i> was wrecked off the coast of Portugal.
+The Princess had a sister, who was drowned with her husband
+in the <i>Albania</i>, and she left a daughter about Natasha's then
+age, but who died of consumption shortly after in Nice.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Under these circumstances, it was, of course, perfectly
+easy for the Princess to adopt Natasha, and introduce her
+into Society as her niece as soon as she reached the age of
+coming out.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;This has been of immense service to the Brotherhood, as
+the Princess is, as I told you, one of the most implicitly
+trusted allies of the Petersburg police. She is received
+at the Russian Court, and is therefore able to take Natasha
+into the best Russian Society, where her extraordinary beauty
+naturally enables her to break as many hearts as she likes,
+and to learn secrets which are of the greatest importance to
+the Brotherhood.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Her Society name is Fedora Darrel, and it will scarcely be
+necessary to tell you that outside our own Circle no such
+being as Natasha has any existence.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I perfectly understand,&quot; replied Arnold. &quot;The name
+shall never pass my lips save in privacy, and indeed it is
+hardly likely that it will ever do so even then, for your
+habit of calling each other by your Christian names is too
+foreign to my British insularity.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It is a Russian habit, as you, of course, know, and added
+to that, we are, so far as the Cause is concerned, all brothers
+and sisters together, and so it comes natural to us. Anyhow,
+you will have to use it with Natasha, for in the Circle she has
+<a name="page57"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 57]</span>
+no other name, and to call her Miss Darrel there would be to
+produce something like an earthquake.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Oh, in that case, I daresay I shall be able to avoid the
+calamity, though there will seem to be a presumption about it
+that will not make me very comfortable at first.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Too much like addressing one's sweetheart, eh?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+This brought the conversation to a sudden stop, for Arnold's
+only reply to it was a quick flush, and a lapse into silence that
+was a good deal more eloquent than any verbal reply could
+have been. Colston noticed it with a smile, and got up and
+lit a pipe.
+</p>
+<p>
+For the first time for a good few years Arnold took considerable
+pains with his toilet that morning. A new fit-out had
+just been delivered by a tailor who had promised the things
+within twenty-four hours, and had kept his word. The consequences
+were that he was able to array himself in perfect
+morning costume, from his hat to his boots, and that was what
+it had not been his to do since he left college.
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston had recommended him in his easy friendly way to
+pay scrupulous attention to externals in the part that he would
+henceforth have to play before the world. He fully saw the
+wisdom of this advice, for he knew that, however well a part
+may be played, if it is not dressed to perfection, some sharp
+eyes will see that it is a part and not a reality.
+</p>
+<p>
+The playing of his part was to begin that day, and he
+recognised that at least one of the purposes of his visit to
+Natasha was the determining of what that part was to be.
+He thus looked forward with no little curiosity to the events
+of the afternoon, quite apart from the supreme interest that
+centred in his hostess.
+</p>
+<p>
+They started out nearly a couple of hours before they were
+due at Cheyne Walk, as they had several orders to give with
+regard to Arnold's outfit for the journey that was before him;
+and this done, they reached the house about a quarter of an
+hour before lunch time.
+</p>
+<p>
+They were received in the most delightful of sitting-rooms
+by a very handsome, aristocratic-looking woman, who might
+have been anywhere between forty and fifty. She shook
+hands very cordially with Arnold, saying as she did so&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Welcome, Richard Arnold! The friends of the Cause are
+<a name="page58"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 58]</span>
+mine, and I have heard much about you already from Natasha,
+so that I already seem to know you. I am very sorry that I
+was not able to be at the Circle last night to see what you had
+to show. Natasha tells me that it is quite a miracle of genius.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;She is too generous in her praise,&quot; replied Arnold, speaking
+as quietly as he could in spite of the delight that the words
+gave him. &quot;It is no miracle, but only the logical result of
+thought and work. Still, I hope that it will be found to
+realise its promise when the time of trial comes.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Of that I have no doubt, from all that I hear,&quot; said the
+Princess. &quot;Before long I shall hope to see it for myself. Ah,
+here is Natasha. Come, I must introduce you afresh, for you
+do not know her yet as the world knows her.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold heard the door open behind him as the Princess
+spoke, and, turning round, saw Natasha coming towards him
+with her hand outstretched and a smile of welcome on her
+beautiful face. Before their hands met the Princess moved
+quietly between them and said, half in jest and half in
+earnest&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Fedora, permit me to present to you Mr. Richard Arnold,
+who is to accompany us to Russia to inspect the war-balloon
+offered to our Little Father the Tsar. Mr. Arnold, my niece,
+Fedora Darrel. There, now you know each other.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Arnold,&quot;
+said Natasha, with mock gravity as they shook hands. &quot;I
+have heard much already of your skill in connection with a&euml;rial
+navigation, and I have no doubt but that your advice will be
+of the greatest service to his Majesty.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is as it may be,&quot; answered Arnold, at once entering
+into the somewhat grim humour of the situation. &quot;But if it
+is possible I should like to hear something a little definite as
+to this mission with which I have been, I fear, undeservingly
+honoured. I have been very greatly interested in the problem
+of a&euml;rial navigation for some years past, but I must confess
+that this is the first I have heard of these particular war-balloons.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It is for the purpose of enlightening you on that subject
+that this little party has been arranged,&quot; said the Princess,
+turning for the moment away from Colston, with whom she
+was talking earnestly in a low tone. &quot;Ha! There goes the
+<a name="page59"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 59]</span>
+lunch-bell. Mr. Colston, your arm. Fedora, will you show
+Mr. Arnold the way?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold opened the door for the Princess to go out, and then
+followed with Natasha on his arm. As they went out, she
+said in a low tone to him&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I think, if you don't mind, you had better begin at once to
+call me Miss Darrel, so as to get into the way of it. A slip
+might be serious, you know.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Your wishes are my laws, Miss Darrel,&quot; replied he, the
+name slipping as easily off his tongue as if he had known
+her by it for months. It may have been only fancy on
+his part, he thought he felt just the lightest imaginable
+pressure on his arm as he spoke. At any rate, he was
+vain enough or audacious enough to take the impression for
+a reality, and walked the rest of the way to the dining-room
+on air.
+</p>
+<p>
+The meal was dainty and perfectly served, but there were no
+servants present, for obvious reasons, and so they waited on
+themselves. Colston sat opposite the Princess and carved the
+partridges, while Arnold was <i>vis-à-vis</i> to Natasha, a fact which
+had a perceptible effect upon his appetite.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now,&quot; said the Princess, as soon as every one was helped,
+&quot;I will enlighten you, Mr. Arnold, as to your mission to
+Russia. One part of the business, I presume, you are already
+familiar with?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold bowed his assent, and she went on&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Then the other is easily explained. Interested as you are
+in the question, I suppose there is no need to tell you that
+for several years past the Tsar has had an offer open to all the
+world of a million sterling for a vessel that will float in the
+air, and be capable of being directed in its course as a ship at
+sea can be directed.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, I am well aware of the fact. Pray proceed.&quot; As he
+said this Arnold glanced across the table at Natasha, and
+a swift smile and a flash from her suddenly unveiled eyes
+told him that she, too, was thinking of how the world's history
+might have been altered had the Tsar's million been paid for
+his invention. Then the Princess went on&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Well, through a friend at the Russian Embassy, I have
+learnt that a French engineer has, as he says, perfected a
+<a name="page60"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 60]</span>
+balloon constructed on a new principle, which he claims will
+meet the conditions of the Tsar's offer.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;My friend also told me that his Majesty had decided to
+take an entirely disinterested opinion with regard to this
+invention, and asked me if I could recommend any English
+engineer who had made a study of a&euml;rial navigation, and who
+would be willing to go to Russia, superintend the trials of the
+war-balloon, and report as to their success or otherwise.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;This happened a few days ago only, and as I had happened
+to read an article that you will remember you wrote about
+six months ago in the <i>Nineteenth</i>, or, as it is now called, the
+<i>Twentieth Century</i>, I thought of your name, and said I would
+try to find some one. Two days later I got news from the
+Circle of your invention&mdash;never mind how; you will learn
+that later on&mdash;and called at the Embassy to say I had found
+some one whose judgment could be absolutely relied upon.
+Now, wasn't that kind of me, to give you such a testimonial
+as that to his Omnipotence the Tsar of All the Russias?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Once more Arnold bowed his acknowledgments&mdash;this time
+somewhat ironically, and Natasha interrupted the narrative by
+saying with a spice of malice in her voice&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No doubt the Little Father will duly recognise your
+kindness, Princess, when he gets quite to the bottom of the
+matter.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I hope he will,&quot; replied the Princess, &quot;but that is a matter
+of the future&mdash;and of considerable doubt as well.&quot; Then,
+turning to Arnold again, she continued&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You will now, of course, see the immense advantage there
+appeared to be in getting you to examine these war-balloons.
+They are evidently the only possible rivals to your own invention
+in the field, and therefore it is of the utmost importance
+that you should know their strength or their weakness, as the
+case may be.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Well, that is all I have to say, so far. It has been decided
+that you shall go, if you are willing, with us to Petersburg
+the day after to-morrow to see the balloon, and make your
+report. All your expenses will be paid on the most liberal
+scale, for the Tsar is no niggard in spending either his own or
+other people's money, and you will have a handsome fee into
+the bargain for your trouble.&quot;
+<a name="page61"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 61]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;So far as the work is concerned, of course, I undertake it
+willingly,&quot; said Arnold, as the Princess stopped speaking.
+&quot;But it hardly seems to me to be right that I should take
+even the Tsar's money under such circumstances. To tell
+you the truth, it looks to me rather uncomfortably like false
+pretences.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Again Natasha's eyes flashed approval across the table, but
+nevertheless she said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You seem to forget, my friend, that we are at war with
+the Tsar, and all's fair in&mdash;in love and war. Besides, if you
+have any scruples about keeping the fee for your professional
+services&mdash;which, after all, you will render as honestly as though
+it were the merest matter of business&mdash;you can put it into
+the treasury, and so ease your conscience. Remember, too,&quot; she
+went on more seriously, &quot;how the enormous wealth of this
+same Tsar has swollen by the confiscation of fortunes whose
+possessors had committed no other crime than becoming
+obnoxious to the corrupt bureaucracy.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I will take the fee if I fairly earn it, Miss Darrel,&quot; replied
+Arnold, returning the glance as he spoke, &quot;and it shall be my
+first contribution to the treasury of the Brotherhood.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Spoken like a sensible man,&quot; chimed in the Princess.
+&quot;After all, it is no worse than spoiling the Egyptians, and you
+have scriptural authority for that. However, you can do as
+you like with his Majesty's money when you get it. The
+main fact is that you have the opportunity of going to earn
+it, and that Colonel Martinov is coming here to tea this afternoon
+to bring our passports, specially authorising us to travel
+without customs examination or any kind of questioning to
+any part of the Tsar's dominions, and that, I can assure you,
+is a very exceptional honour indeed.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Who did you say? Martinov? Is that the Colonel
+Martinov who is the director of the secret police here?&quot; asked
+Colston hurriedly.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes,&quot; replied the Princess, &quot;the same. Why do you
+ask?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Because,&quot; said Colston quietly, &quot;he received the sentence
+of death nearly a month ago, and to-morrow night he will be
+executed, unless there is some accident. It was he who stood
+with the governor of Brovno in the prison-yard and watched
+<a name="page62"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 62]</span>
+Radna Michaelis flogged by the soldiers. I received news
+this morning that the arrangements are complete, and that the
+sentence will be carried out to-morrow night.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, that is so,&quot; added Natasha, as Colston ceased speaking.
+&quot;Everything is settled. It is therefore well that he should
+do something useful before he meets his fate.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;How curious that it should just happen so!&quot; said the
+Princess calmly, as she rose from the table and moved towards
+the door followed by Natasha.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as the ladies had left the room, Colston and Arnold
+lit their cigarettes and chatted while they smoked over their
+last glass of claret. Arnold would have liked to have asked
+more about the coming tragedy, but something in Colston's
+manner restrained him; and so the conversation remained on
+the subject of the Russian journey until they returned to the
+sitting-room.
+<a name="page63"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 63]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter9"></a>
+CHAPTER IX.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p063.png" alt="O" width="113" height="131" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+On the 6th of March 1904, just six months after
+Arnold's journey to Russia, a special meeting of
+the Inner Circle of the Terrorists took place in
+the Council-chamber, at the house on Clapham
+Common.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Although it was only attended by twelve
+persons all told, and those men and women whose names were
+unknown outside the circle of their own Society and the records
+of the Russian police, it was the most momentous conference
+that had taken place in the history of the world since the
+council of war that Abdurrhaman the Moslem had held with
+his chieftains eleven hundred and seventy-two years before,
+and, by taking their advice, spared the remnants of Christendom
+from the sword of Islam.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the fate of the world hung in the balance of a council
+of war, and the supremacy of the Cross or the Crescent depended,
+humanly speaking, upon the decision of a dozen
+warriors. Now the fate of the civilisation that was made
+possible by that decision, lay at the mercy of a handful of
+outlaws and exiles who had laboriously brought to perfection
+the secret schemes of a single man.
+</p>
+<p>
+The work of the Terrorists was finally complete. Under the
+whole fabric of Society lay the mines which a single spark
+would now explode, and above this slumbering volcano the
+earth was trembling with the tread of millions of armed men,
+divided into huge hostile camps, and only waiting until
+Diplomacy had finished its work in the dark, and gave the
+long-awaited signal of inevitable and universal war.
+<a name="page64"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 64]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+To-night that spark was to be shaken from the torch of
+Revolution, and to-morrow the first of the mines would
+explode. After that, if the course to be determined on by
+the Terrorist Council failed to arrive at the results which it
+was designed to reach, the armies of Europe would fight their
+way through the greatest war that the world had ever seen,
+the Fates would once more decide in favour of the strongest
+battalions, the fittest would triumph, and a new era of military
+despotism would begin&mdash;perhaps neither much better nor much
+worse than the one it would succeed.
+</p>
+<p>
+If, on the other hand, the plans of the Terrorists were
+successfully worked out to their logical conclusion, it would
+not be war only, but utter destruction that Society would have
+to face. And then with dissolution would come anarchy.
+The thrones of the world would be overthrown, the fabric of
+Society would be dissolved, commerce would come to an end,
+the structure that it had taken twenty centuries of the discipline
+of war and the patient toil of peace to build up, would
+crumble into ruins in a few short months, and then&mdash;well, after
+that no man could tell what would befall the remains of the
+human race that had survived the deluge. The means of
+destruction were at hand, and they would be used without
+mercy, but for the rest no man could speak.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Nicholas Roburoff, the President of the Executive,
+rose in his place at eight o'clock to explain the business in
+hand, every member present saw at a glance, by the gravity of
+his demeanour, that the communication that he had to make
+was of no ordinary nature, but even they were not prepared
+for the catastrophe that he announced in the first sentence
+that he uttered.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Friends,&quot; he said, in a voice that was rendered deeply
+impressive by the emotion that he vainly tried to conceal, &quot;it
+is my mournful duty to tell you that she whom any one of us
+would willingly shed our blood to serve or save from the
+slightest evil, our beautiful and beloved Angel of the Revolution,
+as we so fondly call her, Natasha, the daughter of the
+Master, has, in the performance of her duty to the Cause, fallen
+into the hands of Russia.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Save for a low, murmuring groan that ran round the table,
+the news was received in silence. It was too terrible, too
+<a name="page65"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 65]</span>
+hideous in the awful meaning that its few words conveyed, for
+any exclamations of grief, or any outburst of anger, to express
+the emotions that it raised.
+</p>
+<p>
+Not one of those who heard it but had good reason to know
+what it meant for a revolutionist to fall into the hands of
+Russia. For a man it meant the last extremity of human
+misery that flesh and blood could bear, but for a young and
+beautiful woman it was a fate that no words could describe&mdash;a
+doom that could only be thought of in silence and despair;
+and so the friends of Natasha were silent, though they did not
+yet despair. Roburoff bowed his head in acknowledgment of
+the inarticulate but eloquent endorsement of his words, and
+went on&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You already know the outcome of Richard Arnold's visit to
+Russia; how he was present at the trial of the Tsar's war-balloon,
+and was compelled to pronounce it such a complete success, that
+the Autocrat at once gave orders for the construction of a fleet
+of fifty aërostats of the same pattern; and how, thanks to the
+warning conveyed by Anna Ornovski, he was able to prevent
+his special passport being stolen by a police agent, and so
+to foil the designs of the chief of the Third Section to stop
+him taking the secret of the construction of the war-balloon
+out of Russia. You also know that he brought back the
+Chief's authority to build an air-ship after the model which
+was exhibited to us here, and that since his return he has been
+prosecuting that work on Drumcraig Island, one of the possessions
+of the Chief in the Outer Hebrides, which he placed at
+his disposal for the purpose.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You know, also, that Natasha and Anna Ornovski went to
+Russia partly to discover the terms of the secret treaty that
+we believed to exist between France and Russia, and partly to
+warn, and, if possible, remove from Russian soil a large number
+of our most valuable allies, whose names had been revealed to
+the Minister of the Interior, chiefly through the agency of the
+spy Martinov, who was executed in this room six months ago.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The first part of the task was achieved, not without
+difficulty, but with complete success, and of that more anon.
+The second part was almost finished when Natasha and Anna
+Ornovski were surprised in the house of Alexei Kassatkin, a
+member of the Moscow Nihilist Circle, in the Bolshoi
+<a name="page66"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 66]</span>
+Dmitrietka. He had been betrayed by one of his own
+servants, and a police visit was the result.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Added to this there is reason to believe that she had, quite
+apart from this, become acquainted with enough official secrets
+to make her removal desirable in high quarters. I need not
+tell you that that is the usual way in which the Tsar rewards
+those of his secret servants who get to know too much.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The fact of her being found in the house of a betrayed
+Nihilist was taken as sufficient proof of sympathy or complicity,
+and she was arrested. Natasha, as Fedora Darrel,
+claimed to be a British subject, and, as such, to be allowed
+to go free in virtue of the Tsar's safe conduct, which she
+exhibited. Instead of that she was taken before the chief
+of the Moscow police, rudely interrogated, and then brutally
+searched. Unhappily, in the bosom of her dress was found
+a piece of paper bearing some of the new police cypher. That
+was enough. That night they were thrown into prison, and
+three days later taken to the convict depot under sentence of
+exile by administrative process to Sakhalin for life.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You know what that means for a beautiful woman like
+Natasha. She will not go to Sakhalin. They do not bury beauty
+like hers in such an abode of desolation as that. If she cannot
+be rescued, she will only have two alternatives before her. She
+will become the slave and plaything of some brutal governor or
+commandant at one of the stations, or else she will kill herself.
+Of course, of these two she would choose the latter&mdash;if she
+could and when she could. Should she be driven to that last
+resort of despair, she shall be avenged as woman never yet was
+avenged; but rescue must, if possible, come before revenge.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The information that we have received from the Moscow
+agent tells us that the convict train to which Natasha and
+Anna Ornovski are attached left the depot nearly a fortnight
+ago; they were to be taken by train in the usual way to
+Nizhni Novgorod, thence by barge on the Volga and Kama to
+Perm, and on by rail to Tiumen, the forwarding station for the
+east. Until they reach Tiumen they will be safe from anything
+worse than what the Russians are pleased to call
+'discipline,' but once they disappear into the wilderness of
+Siberia they will be lost to the world, and far from all law but
+the will of their official slave-drivers.
+<a name="page67"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 67]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It has, therefore, been decided that the rescue shall be
+attempted before the chain-gang leaves Tiumen, if it can be
+reached in time. As nearly as we can calculate, the march
+will begin on the morning of Friday the 9th, that is to say, in
+three nights and one day from now. Happily we possess the
+means of making the rescue, if it can be accomplished by
+human means. I have received a report from Richard Arnold
+saying that the <i>Ariel</i> is complete, and that she has made a
+perfectly satisfactory trial trip to the clouds. The <i>Ariel</i> is the
+only vehicle in existence that could possibly reach the frontier
+of Siberia in the given time, and it is fitting that her first duty
+should be the rescue of the Angel of the Revolution from the
+clutches of the Tyrant of the North.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Alexis Mazanoff, it is the will of the Master that you shall
+take these instructions to Richard Arnold and accompany him
+on the voyage in order to show him what course to steer, and
+assist him in every way possible. You will find the Chief's
+yacht at Port Patrick ready to convey you to Drumcraig
+Island. When you have heard what is further necessary for
+you to hear, you will take the midnight express from Euston.
+Have you any preparations to make?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No,&quot; replied Mazanoff, or Colston, to call him by a name
+more familiar to the reader. &quot;I can start in half an hour if
+necessary, and on such an errand you may, of course, depend
+on me not to lose much time. I presume there are full
+instructions here?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, both for the rescue and for your conduct afterwards,
+whether you are successful or unsuccessful,&quot; said the President.
+Then turning to the others he continued&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You may now rest assured that all that can be done to
+rescue Natasha will be done, and we must therefore turn to
+other matters. I said a short time ago that the conditions
+of the secret treaty between France and Russia had been
+discovered by the two brave women who are now suffering
+for their devotion to the cause of the Revolution. A full copy
+of them is in the hands of the Chief, who arrives in London
+to-day, and will at once lay the documents before Mr. Balfour,
+the Premier.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It is extremely hostile to England, and amounts, in fact, to
+a compact on the part of France to declare war and seize the
+<a name="page68"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 68]</span>
+Suez Canal, as soon as the first shot is fired between Great
+Britain and Russia. In return for this, Russia is to invade
+Germany and Austria, destroy the eastern frontier fortresses
+with her fleet of war-balloons, and then cross over and do the
+same on the Rhine, while France at last throws herself upon
+her ancient foe.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Meanwhile, the French fleet is to concentrate in the
+Mediterranean as quietly and rapidly as possible, before war
+actually breaks out, so as to be able to hold the British and
+Italians in check, and shut the Suez Canal, while Russia, who
+is pushing her troops forward to the Hindu Kush, gets ready
+for a dash at the passes, and a rush upon Cashmere, before
+Britain can get sufficient men out to India by the Cape to give
+her very much trouble.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As there also exists a secret compact between Britain and
+the Triple Alliance, binding all four powers to declare war the
+moment one is threatened, the disclosure of this treaty must
+infallibly lead to war in a few weeks. In addition to this,
+measures have been taken to detach Italy from the Triple
+Alliance at the last moment, if possible. Success in this
+respect is, however, somewhat uncertain.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;To make assurance doubly sure, the Chief informs me that
+he has ordered Ivan Brassoff, who is in command of a large
+reconnoitring party on the Afghan side of the Hindu Kush,
+to provoke reprisals from a similar party of Indian troops who
+have been told off to watch their movements. Captain Brassoff
+is one of us, and can be depended upon to obey at all costs.
+He will do this in a fortnight from now, and therefore we may
+feel confident that Great Britain and Russia will be at war
+within a month.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;With the first outbreak of war our work for the present
+ceases, so far as active interference goes. We shall therefore
+withdraw from the scene of action until the arrival of the
+supreme moment when the nations of Europe shall be locked
+in the death-struggle, and the fate of the world will rest in our
+hands. The will of the Master now is that all the members of
+the Brotherhood shall at once wind up their businesses, and
+turn all of their possessions that are not portable and useful
+into money.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;A large steamer has been purchased and manned with
+<a name="page69"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 69]</span>
+members of the Outer Circle who are sailors by profession.
+She is now being loaded at Liverpool with all the machinery
+and materials necessary for the construction of twelve air-ships
+like the <i>Ariel</i>. This steamer, when ready for sea, will sail,
+ostensibly, for Rio de Janeiro with a cargo of machinery, but
+in reality for Drumcraig, where she will embark the workmen
+who will be left there by the <i>Ariel</i> with all the working plant
+on the island, and from there she will proceed to a lonely
+island off the West Coast of Africa, between Cape Blanco and
+Cape Verde, where new works will be set up and the fleet of
+air-ships put together as rapidly as possible.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The position of this island is in the instructions which
+Alexis Mazanoff takes to Drumcraig to-night, and the <i>Ariel</i>
+will rendezvous there when the work that is in hand for her is
+done. The members of the Brotherhood will, of course, go in
+the steamer as passengers for Rio, so that no suspicions may
+be aroused, and every one must be ready to embark in ten days
+from now.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is all I have to say at present in the name of the
+Master. And now, Alexis Mazanoff, it is time you set out.
+We shall remain here and discuss every detail fully so that
+nothing may be overlooked. You will find that everything
+has been provided for in the instructions you have, so go, and
+may the Master of Destiny be with you!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke he held out his hand, which the young man
+grasped heartily, saying&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Farewell! I will obey to the death, and if success can be
+earned we will earn it. If not, you shall hear of the <i>Ariel's</i>
+work in Russia before the week is out.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He then took leave of the other members of the Council,
+coming last to Radna. As their hands clasped she said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I wish I could come with you, but that is impossible. But
+bring Natasha back to us safe and sound, and there is nothing
+that you can ask of me that I will not say 'yes' to. Go, and
+God speed your good work. Farewell!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+For all answer he took her in his arms before them all.
+Their lips met in one long silent kiss, and a moment later he
+had gone to strike the first blow in the coming world-war, and
+to bring the beginning of sorrows on the Tyrant of the North.
+<a name="page70"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 70]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter10"></a>
+CHAPTER X.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE &quot;ARIEL.&quot;
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p070.png" alt="O" width="117" height="132" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+On the sixth stroke of twelve that night the Scotch
+express drew out of Euston Station. At half-past
+nine the next morning, the <i>Lurline</i>, Lord
+Alanmere's yacht, steamed out of Port Patrick
+Harbour, and at one o'clock precisely she dropped
+her anchor in the little inlet that served for
+a harbour at Drumcraig.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Colston had the quarter-boat lowered and pulled ashore
+without a moment's delay, and as his foot touched the shore
+Arnold grasped his hand, and, after the first words of welcome,
+asked for the latest news of Natasha.
+</p>
+<p>
+Without immediately answering, Colston put his arm through
+his, drew him away from the men who were standing about,
+and told him as briefly and gently as he could the terrible news
+of the calamity that had befallen the Brotherhood, and the
+errand upon which he had come.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold received the blow as a brave man should&mdash;in silence.
+His now bronzed face turned pale, his brows contracted, and
+his teeth clenched till Colston could hear them gritting upon
+each other. Then a great wave of agony swept over his soul
+as a picture too horrible for contemplation rose before his eyes,
+and after that came calm, the calm of rapid thought and
+desperate resolve.
+</p>
+<p>
+He remembered the words that Natasha had used in a letter
+that she had given him when she took leave of him in Russia.
+&quot;We shall trust to you to rescue us, and, if that is no longer
+possible, to avenge us.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Yes, and now the time had come to justify that trust and
+<a name="page71"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 71]</span>
+prove his own devotion. It should be proved to the letter, and
+if there was cause for vengeance, the proof should be written
+in blood and flame over all the wide dominions of the Tsar.
+Grief might come after, when there was time for it; but this
+was the hour of action, and a strange savage joy seemed to
+come with the knowledge that the safety of the woman he
+loved now depended mainly upon his own skill and daring.
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston respected his silence, and waited until he spoke.
+When he did he was astonished at the difference that those
+few minutes had made in the young engineer. The dreamer
+and the enthusiast had become the man of action, prompt,
+stern, and decided. Colston had never before heard from his
+lips the voice in which he at length said to him&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Where is this place? How far is it as the crow flies from
+here?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;At a rough guess I should say about two thousand two
+hundred miles, almost due east, and rather less than two
+hundred miles on the other side of the Ourals.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Good! That will be twenty hours' flight for us, or less if
+this south-west wind holds good.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What!&quot; exclaimed Colston. &quot;Twenty hours, did you say?
+You must surely be making some mistake. Don't you mean forty
+hours? Think of the enormous distance. Why, even then we
+should have to travel over sixty miles an hour through the air.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;My dear fellow, I don't make mistakes where figures are
+concerned. The paradox of a&euml;rial navigation is 'the greater
+the speed the less the resistance.'
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In virtue of that paradox I am able to tell you that the
+speed of the <i>Ariel</i> in moderate weather is a hundred and
+twenty miles an hour, and a hundred and twenty into two
+thousand two hundred goes eighteen times and one-third. This
+is Wednesday, and we have to be on the Asiatic frontier at
+daybreak on Friday. We shall start at dusk to-night, and you
+shall see to-morrow's sun set over the Ourals.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That means from the eastern side of the range!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Of course. There will be no harm in being a few hours
+too soon. In case we may have a long cruise, I must have
+additional stores, and power-cylinders put on board. Come,
+you have not seen the <i>Ariel</i> yet.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I have made several improvements on the model, as I
+<a name="page72"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 72]</span>
+expected to do when I came to the actual building of the ship,
+and, what is more important than that, I have immensely
+increased the motive power and economised space and weight
+at the same time. In fact, I don't despair now of two hundred
+miles an hour before very long. Come!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The engineer and the enthusiast had now come to the fore
+again, and the man and the lover had receded, put back,
+as it were, until the time for love, or perchance for sorrow,
+had come.
+</p>
+<p>
+He put his arm through Colston's, and led him up a hill-path
+and through a little gorge which opened into a deep
+valley, completely screened on all sides by heather-clad hills.
+Sprinkled about the bottom of this valley were a few wooden
+dwelling-houses and workshops, and in the centre was a
+huge shed, or rather an enclosure now, for its roof had been
+taken off.
+</p>
+<p>
+In this lay, like a ship in a graving-dock, a long, narrow,
+grey-painted vessel almost exactly like a sea-going ship, save
+for the fact that she had no funnel, and that her three masts,
+instead of yards, each carried a horizontal fan-wheel, while
+from each of her sides projected, level with the deck, a plane
+twice the width of the deck and nearly as long as the vessel
+herself.
+</p>
+<p>
+They entered the enclosure and walked round the hull.
+This was seventy feet long and twelve wide amidships, and
+save for size it was the exact counterpart of the model already
+described.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as he had taken Colston round the hull, and roughly
+explained its principal features, reserving more detailed
+description and the inspection of the interior for the voyage,
+he gave the necessary orders for preparing for a lengthy journey,
+and the two went on board the <i>Lurline</i> to dinner, which Colston
+had deferred in order to eat it in Arnold's company.
+</p>
+<p>
+After dinner they carefully discussed the situation in order
+that every possible accident might be foreseen, argued the pros
+and cons of the venture in all their bearings, and even went so
+far as to plan the vengeance they would take should, by any
+chance, the rescue fail or come too late.
+</p>
+<p>
+The instructions, signed by Natas himself, were very precise
+on certain essential points, and in their broad outlines, but,
+<a name="page73"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 73]</span>
+like all wisely planned instructions to such men as these,
+they left ample margin for individual initiative in case of
+emergency.
+</p>
+<p>
+Some of the stores of the <i>Lurline</i> had to be transferred to
+the <i>Ariel</i>, and these were taken ashore after dinner, and at the
+same time Colston made his first inspection of the interior of
+the air-ship, under the guidance of her creator. What struck
+him most at first sight was the apparent inadequacy of the
+machinery to the attainment of the tremendous speed at which
+Arnold had promised they should travel.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were four somewhat insignificant-looking engines in all.
+Of these, one drove the stern propeller, one the side propellers,
+and two the fan-wheels on the masts. He learnt as soon as
+the voyage began, that, by a very simple switch arrangement,
+the power of the whole four engines could be concentrated on
+the propellers; for, once in the air, the lifting wheels were
+dispensed with and lowered on deck, and the ship was entirely
+sustained by the pressure of the air under her planes.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was not an ounce of superfluous wood or metal about
+the beautifully constructed craft, but for all that she was
+complete in every detail, and the accommodation she had for
+crew and passengers was perfectly comfortable, and in some
+respects cosy in the extreme. Forward there was a spacious
+cabin with berths for six men, and aft there were separate
+cabins for six people, and a central saloon for common use.
+</p>
+<p>
+On deck there were three structures, a sort of little conning
+tower forward, a wheel-house aft, and a deck saloon amidships.
+All these were, of course, so constructed as to offer the least
+possible resistance to the wind, or rather the current created
+by the vessel herself when flying through the air at a speed
+greater than that of the hurricane itself.
+</p>
+<p>
+All were closely windowed with toughened glass, for it is
+hardly necessary to say that, but for such a protection, every one
+who appeared above the level of the deck would be almost
+instantly suffocated, if not whirled overboard, by the rush of
+air when the ship was going at full speed. Her armament
+consisted of four long, slender cannon, two pointing over the
+bows, and two over the stem.
+</p>
+<p>
+The crew that Arnold had chosen for the voyage consisted,
+curiously enough, of men belonging to the four nationalities
+<a name="page74"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 74]</span>
+which would be principally concerned in the Titanic struggle
+which a few weeks would now see raging over Europe. Their
+names were Andrew Smith, Englishman, and coxswain; Ivan
+Petrovitch, Russian; Franz Meyer, German; and Jean Guichard,
+Frenchman. Diverse as they were, there never were
+four better workers, or four better friends.
+</p>
+<p>
+They had no country but the world, and no law save those
+which governed their Brotherhood. They conversed in assorted
+but perfectly intelligible English, for the very simple reason
+that Mr. Andrew Smith consistently refused to attempt even
+the rudiments of any other tongue.
+</p>
+<p>
+While the stores were being put on board, Arnold made a
+careful examination of every part of the machinery, and then
+of the whole vessel, in order to assure himself that everything
+was in perfect order. This done, he gave his final instructions
+to those of the little community who were left behind to await
+the arrival of the steamer, and as the sun sank behind the
+western ridges of the island, he went on board the <i>Ariel</i> with
+Colston, took his place at the wheel, and ordered the fan-wheels
+to be set in motion.
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston was standing by the open door of the wheel-house
+as Arnold communicated his order to the engine-room by
+pressing an electric button, one of four in a little square of
+mahogany in front of the wheel.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no vibration or grinding, as would have been the
+case in starting a steamer, but only a soft whirring, humming
+sound, that rose several degrees in pitch as the engines gained
+speed, and the fan-wheels revolved faster and faster until they
+sang in the air, and the <i>Ariel</i> rose without a jar or a tremor from
+the ground, slowly at first, and then more and more swiftly,
+until Colston saw the ground sinking rapidly beneath him, and
+the island growing smaller and smaller, until it looked like a
+little patch on the dark grey water of the sea.
+</p>
+<p>
+Away to the north and west he could see the innumerable
+islands of the Hebrides, while to the east the huge mountainous
+mass of the mainland of Scotland loomed dark upon the
+horizon.
+</p>
+<p>
+When the barometer marked eight hundred feet above the
+sea-level, the <i>Ariel</i> passed through a stratum of light clouds,
+and on the upper side of this the sun was still shining, shooting
+<a name="page75"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 75]</span>
+his almost level rays across it as though over some illimitable
+sea of white fleecy billows, whose crests were tipped with rosy,
+golden light.
+</p>
+<p>
+Above the surface of this fairy sea rose north-eastward the
+black mass of Ben More on the Island of Mull, and to the
+southward, the lesser peaks of Jura and Islay.
+</p>
+<p>
+While he was still wrapped in admiration of the strange
+beauty of this, to him, marvellous scene, the <i>Ariel</i> had risen to
+a thousand feet, still almost in a vertical line from the island.
+Arnold now pressed another button, and the stern propeller
+began to revolve swiftly and noiselessly, and Colston saw the
+waves of the cloud-sea begin to slip behind, although so smooth
+was the working of the machinery, and the motion of the air-ship,
+that, but for this, he could hardly have guessed that he
+was in motion.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold now turned a few spokes of the wheel, and headed
+the <i>Ariel</i> due east by the compass. Then he touched a third
+button. The side propellers began to turn swiftly on their
+axes, and, at the same time the speed of the fan-wheels slackened,
+and gradually stopped.
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston now began to feel the air rushing by him in a stream
+so rapid and strong, that he had to take hold of the side of the
+wheel-house doorway to steady himself.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I think you had better come inside and shut the door,&quot; said
+Arnold. &quot;We are getting up speed now, and in a few minutes
+you won't be able to hold yourself there. You'll be able to see
+just as well inside.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston did as he was bidden, and as soon as he was safely
+inside Arnold pulled a lever beside the wheel, and slightly
+inclined the planes from forward aft. At the same time the
+fan-wheels began to slide down the masts until they rested
+upon the deck.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now, you shall see her fly,&quot; said Arnold, taking a speaking-tube
+from the wall and whistling thrice into it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston felt a slight tremor in the deck beneath his feet,
+and then a lifting movement. He staggered a little, and said
+to Arnold&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What's that? Are we going higher still?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes,&quot; replied the engineer. &quot;She is feeling the air-planes
+now under the increased speed. I am going up to fifteen
+<a name="page76"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 76]</span>
+hundred feet, so that we shall only have the highest peaks to
+steer clear of in crossing Scotland. Now, use your eyes, and
+you will see something worth looking at.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The upper part of the wheel-house was constructed almost
+entirely of glass, and so Colston could see just as well as if he
+had been on deck outside. He did use his eyes. In fact, for
+some time to come, all his other senses seemed to be merged
+in that of sight, for the scene was one of such rare and
+marvellous beauty, and the sensations that it called up were of
+so completely novel a nature, that, for the time being, he felt
+as though he had been suddenly transported into fairyland.
+</p>
+<p>
+The cloud-sea now lay about seven hundred feet beneath
+them. The sun had sunk quite below the horizon, even at
+that elevation; but his absence was more than made up for by
+the nearly full moon, which had risen to the southward, as
+though to greet the conqueror of the air, and was spreading a
+flood of silvery radiance over the snowy plain beneath, through
+the great gaps in which they could see the darker sheen of the
+moving sea-waves.
+</p>
+<p>
+Their course lay almost exactly along the fifty-sixth
+parallel of latitude, and took them across Argyle, Dumbarton,
+and Stirlingshire to the head of the Firth of Forth. As they
+approached the mainland, Colston saw one or two peaks rise
+up out of the clouds, and soon they were sweeping along in
+the midst of a score or so of these. To the left Ben Lomond
+towered into the clear sky above his attendant peaks, and to
+the right the lower summits of the Campsie Fells soon rose a
+few miles ahead.
+</p>
+<p>
+The rapidity with which these mountain-tops rose up on
+either side, and were left behind, proved to Colston that the
+<i>Ariel</i> must be travelling at a tremendous speed, and yet, but
+for a very slight quivering of the deck, there was no motion
+perceptible, so smoothly did the air-ship glide through the
+elastic medium in which she floated.
+</p>
+<p>
+So engrossed was he with the unearthly beauty of the new
+world into which he had risen, that for nearly two hours he
+stood without speaking a word. Arnold, wrapped in his own
+thoughts, maintained a like silence, and so they sped on amidst
+a stillness that was only broken by the soft whirring of the
+propellers, and the singing of the wind past the masts and stays.
+<a name="page77"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 77]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+At length a faint sound like the dashing of breakers on a
+rocky coast roused Colston from his reverie, and he turned to
+Arnold and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What is that? Not the sea, surely!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, those are the waves of the Firth of Forth breaking on
+the shores of Fife.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What! Do you mean to tell me that we have crossed
+Scotland already? Why, we have not been an hour on the
+way yet!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Oh yes, we have,&quot; replied the engineer. &quot;We have been
+nearly two. You have been so busy looking about you that
+you have not noticed how the time has passed. We have
+travelled a little over two hundred and forty miles. We are
+over the German Ocean now, and as there will be no more hills
+until we reach the Ourals we can go down a little.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke he moved the lever beside him about an inch,
+and instantly the clouds seemed to rise up toward them as the
+<i>Ariel</i> swept downwards in her flight. A hundred feet above
+them Arnold touched the lever again, and the air-ship at once
+resumed her horizontal course.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he put her head a little more to the northward, and
+called down the speaking tube for Andrew Smith to come and
+relieve him. A minute later Smith's head appeared at the top
+of the companion-ladder which led from the saloon to the
+wheel-house, and Arnold gave him the wheel and the course,
+saying at the same time to Colston&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now, come down and have something to eat, and then we
+will have a smoke and a chat and go to bed. There is nothing
+more to be seen until the morning, and then I will show you
+Petersburg as it looks from the clouds.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If you told me you would show me the Ourals themselves,
+I should believe you after what I have seen,&quot; replied Colston,
+as together they descended the companion-way from the wheel-house
+to the saloon.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Ah, I'm afraid that would be too much even for the <i>Ariel</i>
+to accomplish in the time,&quot; said Arnold. &quot;Still, I think I can
+guarantee that you shall cross Europe in such time as no man
+ever crossed it before.&quot;
+<a name="page78"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 78]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter11"></a>
+CHAPTER XI.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+FIRST BLOOD.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p078.png" alt="A" width="120" height="137" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+After supper the two friends ascended to the deck
+saloon for a smoke, and to continue their discussion
+of the tremendous events in which they
+were so soon to be taking part. They found
+the <i>Ariel</i> flying through a cloudless sky over the
+German Ocean, whose white-crested billows,
+silvered by the moonlight, were travelling towards the north-east
+under the influence of the south-west breeze from which
+the engineer had promised himself assistance when they started.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+&quot;We seem to be going at a most frightful speed,&quot; said
+Colston, looking down at the water. &quot;There's a strong south-west
+breeze blowing, and yet those white horses seem to be
+travelling quite the other way.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes,&quot; replied Arnold, looking down. &quot;This wind will be
+travelling about twenty miles an hour, and that means that we
+are making nearly a hundred and fifty. The German Ocean
+here is five hundred miles across, and we shall cross it at
+this rate in about three hours and a half, and if the wind
+holds over the land we shall sight Petersburg soon after sunrise.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The sun will rise to-morrow morning a few minutes after
+five by Greenwich time, which is about two hours behind
+Petersburg time. Altogether we shall make, I expect, from two
+to two and a half hours' gain on time.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The two men talked until a few minutes after ten, and then
+went to bed. Colston, who had been travelling all the previous
+night, began to feel drowsy in spite of the excitement of the
+novel voyage, and almost as soon as he lay down in his berth
+<a name="page79"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 79]</span>
+dropped off into a sound, dreamless sleep, and knew nothing
+more until Arnold knocked at his door and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If you want to see the sun rise, you had better get up.
+Coffee will be ready in a quarter of an hour.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston pulled back the slide which covered the large oblong
+pane of toughened glass which was let into the side of his
+cabin and looked out. There was just light enough in the
+grey dawn to enable him to see that the <i>Ariel</i> was passing over a
+sea dotted in the distance with an immense number of islands.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The Baltic,&quot; he said to himself as he jumped out of bed.
+&quot;This is travelling with a vengeance! Why, we must have
+travelled a good deal over a thousand miles during the night.
+I suppose those islands will be off the coast of Finland. If so,
+we are not far from Petersburg, as the <i>Ariel</i> seems to count
+distance.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The most magnificent spectacle that Colston had ever seen in
+his life, or, for the matter of that, ever dreamed of, was the one
+that he saw from the conning-tower of the <i>Ariel</i> while the sun
+was rising over the vast plain of mingled land and water which
+stretched away to the eastward until it melted away into the
+haze of early morning.
+</p>
+<p>
+The sky was perfectly clear and cloudless, save for a few
+light clouds that hung about the eastern horizon, and were
+blazing gold and red in the light of the newly-risen sun. The
+air-ship was flying at an elevation of about two thousand
+feet, which appeared to be her normal height for ordinary
+travelling. There was land upon both sides of them, but in
+front opened a wide bay, the northern shores of which were
+still fringed with ice and snow.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is the Gulf of Finland,&quot; said Arnold. &quot;The winter
+must have been very late this year, and that probably means that
+we shall find the eastern side of the Ourals still snow-bound.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;So much the better,&quot; replied Colston. &quot;They will have a
+much better chance of escape if there is good travelling for a
+sleigh.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes,&quot; replied Arnold, his brows contracting as he spoke.
+&quot;Do you know, if it were not for the Master's explicit orders,
+I should be inclined to smash up the station at Ekaterinburg
+a few hours beforehand, and then demand the release of the
+whole convict train, under penalty of laying the town in ruins.&quot;
+<a name="page80"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 80]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston shook his head, saying&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No, no, my friend, we must have a little more diplomacy
+than that. Your thirst for the life of the enemy will, no
+doubt, be fully gratified later on. Besides, you must remember
+that you would probably blow some hundreds of perfectly
+innocent people to pieces, and very possibly a good many
+friends of the Cause among them.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;True,&quot; replied Arnold; &quot;I didn't think of that; but I'll
+tell you what we can do, if you like, without transgressing our
+instructions or hurting any one except the soldiers of the Tsar,
+who, of course, are paid to slaughter and be slaughtered, and so
+don't count.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What is that?&quot; asked Colston.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We shall be passing over Kronstadt in a little over an
+hour, and we might take the opportunity of showing his
+Majesty the Tsar what the <i>Ariel</i> can do with the strongest
+fortress in Europe. How would you like to fire the first shot
+in the war of the Revolution?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston was silent for a few moments, and then he looked
+up and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There is not the slightest reason why we should not take a
+shot at Kronstadt, if only to give the Russians a foretaste of
+favours to come. Still, I won't fire the first shot on any
+account, simply because that honour belongs to you. I'll fire
+the second with pleasure.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very good,&quot; replied Arnold. &quot;We'll have two shots apiece,
+one each as we approach the fortress, and one each as we leave
+it. Now come and take a preparatory lesson in the new
+gunnery.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+They went down into the chief saloon, and there Arnold
+showed Colston a model of the new weapon with which the
+<i>Ariel</i> was armed, and thoroughly explained the working of it.
+After this they went to the wheel-house, where Arnold inclined
+the planes at a sharper angle, and sent the <i>Ariel</i> flying up into
+the sky, until the barometer showed an elevation of three
+thousand feet.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he signalled to the engine-room, the fan-wheels rose
+from the deck, as if by their own volition, and, as soon as they
+reached their places, began to spin round faster and faster,
+until Colston could again hear the high-pitched singing
+<a name="page81"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 81]</span>
+sound that he had heard as the <i>Ariel</i> rose from Drumcraig
+Island.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the same time the speed of the vessel rapidly decreased;
+the side propellers ceased working, and the stern-screw
+revolved more and more slowly, until the speed came down to
+about thirty miles an hour.
+</p>
+<p>
+By this time the great fortress of Kronstadt could be distinctly
+seen lying upon its island, like some huge watch-dog
+crouched at the entrance to his master's house, guarding the
+way to St. Petersburg.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now,&quot; said Arnold, &quot;we can go outside without any fear of
+being blown off into space.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+They went out and walked forward to the bow. Arrived
+there they found two of the men, each with a curious-looking
+shell in his arms. The projectiles were about two feet long
+and six inches in diameter, and were, as Arnold told Colston,
+constructed of <i>papier-maché</i>. There were three blades projecting
+from the outside, and running spirally from the point to
+the butt. These fitted into grooves in the inside of the cannon,
+which were really huge air-guns twenty feet long, including
+the air-chamber at the breech.
+</p>
+<p>
+The projectiles were placed in position, the breeches of the
+guns closed, and a minute later the air-chambers were filled
+with air at a pressure of two hundred atmospheres, pumped
+from the forward engines through pipes leading up to the guns
+for the purpose.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now,&quot; said Arnold, &quot;we're ready! Meanwhile you two
+can go and load the two after guns.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The men saluted and retired, and Arnold continued&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Just take a look down with your glasses and see if they
+see us. I expect they do by this time.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston put his field-glass to his eyes, and looked down at
+the fortress, which was now only six or seven miles ahead.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes,&quot; he said, &quot;at any rate I can see a lot of little figures
+running about on the roof of one of the ramparts, which I
+suppose are soldiers. What's the range of your gun? I should
+say the fortress is about six miles off now.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We can hit it from here, if you like,&quot; replied Arnold, &quot;and
+if we were a thousand feet higher I could send a shell into
+Petersburg. See! there is the City of Palaces. Away yonder
+<a name="page82"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 82]</span>
+in the distance you can just see the sun shining on the houses.
+We could see it quite plainly if it wasn't for the haze that
+seems to be lying over the Neva.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+While he was speaking, Arnold trained the gun according to
+a scale on a curved steel rod which passed through a screw
+socket in the breech of the piece.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now,&quot; he said. &quot;Watch!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He pressed a button on the top of the breech. There was a
+sharp but not very loud sound as the compressed air was
+released; something rushed out of the muzzle of the gun, and
+a few seconds later, Colston could see the missile boring its
+way through the air, and pursuing a slanting but perfectly
+direct path for the centre of the fortress.
+</p>
+<p>
+A second later it struck. He could see a bright greenish
+flash as it smote the steel roof of the central fort. Then the
+fort seemed to crumble up and dissolve into fragments, and a
+few moments later a dull report floated up into the sky
+mingled, as he thought, with screams of human agony.
+</p>
+<p>
+For a moment he stared in silence through the glasses, then
+he turned to Arnold and said in a voice that trembled with
+violent emotion&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Good God, that is awful! The whole of the centre citadel
+is gone as though it had been swept off the face of the earth.
+I can hardly see even the ruins of it. Surely that's murder
+rather than war!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No more murder than the use of torpedoes in naval warfare,
+as far as I can see,&quot; replied Arnold coolly. &quot;Remember,
+too,&quot; he continued in a sterner tone, &quot;that fortress belongs to
+the power that flogged Radna and has captured Natasha.
+Come, let's see what execution you can do.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He crossed the deck and set the other gun by its scale,
+saying as he did so&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Put your finger on the button and press when I tell you.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston did as he was bid, and as his finger touched the
+little knob his hand was as firm as though he had been making
+a shot at billiards.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He pressed the button down hard. There was the same
+sharp sound, and a second messenger of destruction sped on its
+way towards the doomed fortress.
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p082a.jpg" alt="Good God, that is awful." width="640" height="430" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;Good God, that is awful.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page82">page 82</a>.</i>
+<a name="page83"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 83]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+They saw it strike, and then came the flash, and after that
+a huge cloud of dust mingled with flying objects that might
+have been blocks of masonry, guns, or human bodies, rose into
+the air, and then fell back again to the earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There goes one of the angles of the fortification into the
+sea,&quot; said Arnold, as he saw the effects of the shot. &quot;Kronstadt
+won't be much good when the war breaks out, it strikes
+me. I suppose they'll be replying soon with a few rifle shots.
+We'd better quicken up a bit.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He went aft to the wheel-house, followed by Colston, and
+signalled for the three propellers to work at their utmost
+speed. The order was instantly obeyed; the fan-wheels ceased
+revolving, and under the impetus of her propellers the <i>Ariel</i>
+leapt forwards and upwards like an eagle on its upward swoop,
+rose five hundred feet in the air, and then swept over Kronstadt
+at a speed of more than a hundred miles an hour.
+</p>
+<p>
+As they passed over they saw a series of flashes rise from
+one of the untouched portions of the fortress, but no bullets
+came anywhere near them. In fact, they must have passed
+through the air two or three miles astern of the flying <i>Ariel</i>.
+No soldier who ever carried a rifle could have sent a bullet
+within a thousand yards of an object seventy feet long
+travelling over a hundred miles an hour at a height of nearly
+four thousand feet, and so the Russians wasted their
+ammunition.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as they had passed over the fortress, Arnold
+signalled for the propellers to stop, and the fan-wheels to
+revolve again at half speed. The air-ship stopped within three
+miles, and remained suspended in air over the opening mouth
+of the Neva. Then the two after guns were trained upon the
+fortress, and Colston and Arnold fired them together.
+</p>
+<p>
+The two shells struck at the same moment, one in each of
+two angles of the ramparts. Their impact was followed by a
+tremendous explosion, far greater than could be accounted for
+by the shells themselves.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There goes one, if not two, of his powder magazines.
+Look! half the fortress is a wreck. I wonder which fired the
+lucky shot.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The man who a year before had been an inoffensive student
+of mechanics and an enthusiast dreaming of an unsolved
+<a name="page84"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 84]</span>
+problem, spoke of the frightful destruction of life and the
+havoc that he had caused by just pressing a button with his
+finger, as coolly and quietly as a veteran officer of artillery
+might have spoken of shelling a fort.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were two reasons for this almost miraculous change.
+One was to be found in the bitter hatred of Russian tyranny
+which he had imbibed during the last six months, and the
+other was the fact that the woman for whom he would have
+himself died a thousand deaths if necessary, was a captive in
+Russian chains, being led at that moment to slavery and
+degradation.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as they had seen the effects of the last two shots,
+Arnold said with a grim, half-smile on his lips&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I think it will be better if we don't show ourselves too
+plainly to Petersburg. It will take some time for the news of
+the destruction of Kronstadt to reach the city, and, of course,
+there will be the wildest rumours as to the agency by which it
+was done, so we may as well leave them to argue the matter
+out among themselves.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He signalled again to the engine-room, and with the united
+aid of her planes and fan-wheels the <i>Ariel</i> mounted up and up
+into the sky, driven only by the stern-propeller and with the
+force of the other engines concentrated on the lifting wheels,
+until a height of five thousand feet was reached.
+</p>
+<p>
+At that height she would have looked, if she could have
+been seen at all, nothing more than a little grey spot against
+the blue of the sky, and as they heard afterwards she passed
+over St. Petersburg without being noticed.
+</p>
+<p>
+From St. Petersburg to Tiumen, as the crow flies, the distance
+is 1150 English miles, and nine hours after she had passed
+over the Capital of the North, the <i>Ariel</i> had winged her way
+over the Ourals and the still snow-clad forests of the eastern
+slopes, past the tear-washed Pillar of Farewells, and had come
+to a rest after her voyage of two thousand two hundred miles,
+including the delay at Kronstadt, in twenty hours almost to
+the minute, as her captain had predicted.
+<a name="page85"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 85]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter12"></a>
+CHAPTER XII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+IN THE MASTER'S NAME.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p085.png" alt="T" width="119" height="133" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+The <i>Ariel</i>, in order to avoid being seen from the
+town, had made a wide circuit to the northward
+at a considerable elevation, and as soon as a
+suitable spot had been sought out by means of
+the field-glasses, she dropped suddenly and
+swiftly from the clouds into the depths of the
+dense forest through which the Tobolsk road runs from Tiumen
+to the banks of the Tobol.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+From Tiumen to the Tobol is about twenty-five miles by
+road. The railway, which was then finished as far as Tomsk,
+ran to Tobolsk by a more northerly and direct route than the
+road, but convicts were still marched on foot along the great
+post road after the gangs had been divided at Tiumen according
+to their destinations.
+</p>
+<p>
+The spot which had been selected for the resting-place of the
+<i>Ariel</i> was a little glade formed by the bend of a frozen stream
+about five miles east of the town, and at a safe distance from
+the road.
+</p>
+<p>
+Painted a light whitish-grey all over, she would have been
+invisible even from a short distance as she lay amid the snow-laden
+trees, and Arnold gave strict orders that all the window-slides
+were to be kept closed, and no light shown on any
+account.
+</p>
+<p>
+Every precaution possible was taken to obviate a discovery
+which should seriously endanger the success of the rescue, but,
+nevertheless, the fan-wheels were kept aloft, and everything
+was in readiness to rise into the air at a moment's notice
+should any emergency require them to do so.
+<a name="page86"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 86]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a little after three o'clock on the Thursday afternoon
+when the <i>Ariel</i> settled down in her resting-place, and half an
+hour later Colston and Ivan Petrovitch appeared on deck
+completely disguised, the former as a Russian fur trader, and
+the latter as his servant.
+</p>
+<p>
+All the arrangements for the rescue had been once more
+gone over in every detail, and just before he swung himself
+over the side Colston shook hands for the last time with
+Arnold, saying as he did so&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Well, good-bye again, old fellow! Ivan shall come back
+and bring you the news, if necessary; but if he doesn't come,
+don't be uneasy, but possess your soul in patience till you hear
+the whistle from the road in the morning. I expect the train
+will get in sometime during the night, and in that case we
+shall have everything ready to make the attempt soon after
+daybreak, if not before.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If we can get as far as this without being pursued we shall
+come right on board. If not we must trust to our horses and
+our pistols to keep the Cossacks at a distance till you can
+help us. In any case, rest assured that once clear of Tiumen, we
+shall never be taken alive. Those are the Master's orders, and
+I will shoot Natasha myself before she goes back to captivity.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, do so,&quot; replied Arnold. His lips quivered as he
+spoke, but there was no tremor in the hand with which he
+gripped Colston's in farewell. &quot;She will prefer death to
+slavery, and I shall prefer it for her. But if you have to do it
+you will at least have the consolation of knowing that within
+twelve hours of your death the Tsar shall be lying buried
+beneath the ruins of the Peterhof Palace. I will have his life
+for hers if only I live to take it.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I will tell her,&quot; said Colston simply, &quot;and if die she must,
+she will die content.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying, he descended the little rope-ladder, followed by
+Ivan, and in a few moments the two were lost in the deep
+shadow of the trees, while Arnold went down into the saloon
+to await with what patience he might the moment that would
+decide the fate of the daughter of Natas and the man who had
+gone, as he would so gladly have done, to risk his life to restore
+her to liberty.
+</p>
+<p>
+Rather more than half an hour's tramp through the forest
+<a name="page87"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 87]</span>
+brought Colston and Ivan out on the road at a point a little
+less than five miles from Tiumen.
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston was provided with passports and permits to travel
+for himself and Ivan. These, of course, were forged on genuine
+forms which the Terrorists had no difficulty in obtaining
+through their agents in high places, who were as implicitly
+trusted as the Princess Ornovski had been but a few months
+before.
+</p>
+<p>
+So skilfully were they executed, however, that it would have
+been a very keen official eye that had discovered anything
+wrong with them. They described him as &quot;Stepan Bakuinin,
+fur merchant of Nizhni Novgorod, travelling in pursuit of his
+business, with his servant, Peter Petrovitch, also of Nizhni
+Novgorod.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Instead of going straight into the town by the main road
+they made a considerable detour and entered it by a lane that
+led them through a collection of miserable huts occupied by
+the poorest class of Siberian mujiks, half peasants, half townsfolk,
+who cultivate their patches of ground during the brief
+spring and summer, and struggle through the long dreary
+winter as best they can on their scanty savings and what work
+they can get to do from the Government or their richer
+neighbours.
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston had never been in Tiumen before, but Ivan had,
+for ten years before he had voluntarily accompanied his
+father, who had been condemned to five years' forced labour
+on the new railway works from Tiumen to Tobolsk, for
+giving a political fugitive shelter in his house. He had
+died of hard labour and hard usage, and that was one reason
+why Ivan was a member of the Outer Circle of the Terrorists.
+</p>
+<p>
+He led his master through the squalid suburb to the
+business part of the town, which had considerably developed
+since the through line to Tobolsk and Tomsk had been
+constructed, and at length they stopped before a comfortable-looking
+house in the street that ends at the railway station.
+</p>
+<p>
+They knocked, gave their names, and were at once admitted.
+The servant who opened the door to them led them to a room
+in which they found a man of about fifty in the uniform of a
+sub-commissioner of police. As Colston held out his hand to
+him he said&mdash;
+<a name="page88"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 88]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In the Master's name!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The official took his hand, and, bending over it, replied in a
+low tone&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I am his servant. What is his will?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That Anna Ornovski and Fedora Darrel, the English girl
+who was taken with her, be released as soon as may be,&quot; replied
+Colston. &quot;Is the train from Ekaterinburg in yet?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Not yet. The snow is still deep between here and the
+mountains. The winter has been very severe and long. We
+have almost starved in Tiumen in spite of the railway. There
+has been a telegram from Ekaterinburg to say that the train
+descended the mountain safely, and one from Kannishlov to
+say that we expect it soon after ten to-night.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Good! That is sooner than we expected in London. We
+thought it would not reach here till to-morrow morning.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In London! What do you mean? You cannot have come
+from London, for there has been no train for two days.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Nevertheless I have come from London. I left England
+yesterday evening.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yesterday evening! But, with all submission, that is impossible.
+If there were a railway the whole distance it could
+not be done.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;To the Master there is nothing impossible. Look! I
+received that the evening I left London.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke, Colston held out an envelope. The Russian
+examined it closely. It bore the Ludgate Hill post-mark,
+which was dated &quot;March 7.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston's host bent over it with almost superstitious
+reverence, and handed it back, saying humbly&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Forgive my doubts, Nobleness! It is a miracle! I ask no
+more. The Tsar himself could not have done it. The Master
+is all powerful, and I am proud to be his servant, even to the
+death.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Although the twentieth century had dawned, the Siberian
+Russians were still inclined to look even upon the railway as a
+miracle. This man, although he occupied a post of very considerable
+responsibility and authority under the Russian
+Government, was only a member of the Outer Circle of the
+Terrorists, as most of the officials were, and therefore he knew
+nothing of the existence of the <i>Ariel</i>, and Colston purposely
+<a name="page89"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 89]</span>
+mystified him with the apparent miracle of his presence in
+Tiumen after so short an absence from London, in order to
+command his more complete obedience in the momentous work
+that was on hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+He allowed the official a few moments to absorb the full
+wonder of the seeming marvel, and then he replied&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, we are all his servants <i>to the death</i>. At least I know
+of none who have even thought of treason to him and lived to
+put their thoughts into action. But tell me, are all the arrangements
+complete as far as you can make them? Much depends
+upon how you carry them out, you know, to say nothing of
+the two thousand roubles that I shall hand to you as soon as
+the two ladies are delivered into my charge.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;All is arranged, Nobleness,&quot; replied the official, bowing
+involuntarily at the mention of the money. &quot;Such of the
+prisoners, that is to say the politicals, who can afford to pay
+for the privilege, may, by the new regulations, be lodged in
+the houses of approved persons during their sojourn in Tiumen,
+if it be only for a night, and so escape the common prison.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We knew at the police bureau of the arrest of the Princess
+Ornovski some days ago, and I have obtained permission from
+the chief of police to lodge her Highness and her companion
+in misfortune&mdash;if they are prepared to pay what I shall ask.
+It has come to be looked upon as a sort of perquisite of diligent
+officials, and as I have been very diligent here I had no
+difficulty in getting the permission&mdash;which I shall have to pay
+for in due course.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Just so! Nothing for nothing in Russian official circles.
+Very good. Now listen. If this escape is successfully accomplished
+you will be degraded and probably punished into
+the bargain for letting the prisoners slip through your fingers.
+But that must not happen if it can be prevented.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now this has been foreseen, as everything is with the
+Master; and his orders are that you shall take this passport&mdash;which
+you will find in perfect order, save for the fact
+that the date has been slightly altered&mdash;from me as soon as
+I have got the ladies safely in the troika out on the Tobolsk
+road, put off the livery of the Tsar, disguise yourself as effectually
+as may be, and take the first train back to Perm and
+Nizhni Novgorod as Stepan Bakuinin, fur merchant.
+<a name="page90"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 90]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The servant you can leave behind on any excuse. From
+Novgorod you can travel <i>viâ</i> Moscow to Königsberg, and, if
+you will take my advice, you will get out of Russia as soon as
+the Fates will let you.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It shall be done, Nobleness. But how will the disappearance
+of Dmitri Soudeikin, sub-commissioner of police, be
+accounted for?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That also has been provided for. Before you go you will
+pin this with a dagger to your sitting-room table.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The official took the little piece of paper which Colston held
+out to him as he spoke. It read thus&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+Dmitri Soudeikin, sub-commissioner of police at Tiumen, has been removed
+for over-zeal in the service of the Tsar.
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<span class="smcap">Natas</span>.<br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+Soudeikin bowed almost to the ground as the dreaded name
+of the Master of the Terror met his eyes, and then he said, as
+he handed the paper back&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It is so! The Master sees all, and cares for the least of
+his servants. My life shall be forfeited if the ladies are not
+released as I have said.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It probably will be,&quot; returned Colston drily. &quot;None of us
+expect to get out of this business alive if it does not succeed.
+Now that is all I have to say for the present. It is for you to
+bring the ladies here as your prisoners, to see us out of the
+town before daybreak, and to have the troika in readiness for
+us on the Tobolsk road. Then see to yourself and I will be
+responsible for the rest.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As it still wanted more than two hours to the expected
+arrival of the train, Soudeikin had the samovar, or tea-urn,
+brought in, and Colston and Ivan made a hearty meal after
+their five-mile walk through the snow. Then they and their
+host lit their pipes, and smoked and chatted until a distant
+whistle warned Soudeikin that the train was at last approaching
+the station, and that it was time for him to be on duty to
+receive his convict-lodgers.
+<a name="page91"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 91]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter13"></a>
+CHAPTER XIII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+FOR LIFE OR DEATH.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p091.png" alt="N" width="115" height="131" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+No time had ever seemed so long to Colston as did
+the hour and a half which passed after the
+departure of Soudeikin until his return. He
+would have given anything to have accompanied
+him to the station, but it would have
+been so very unwise to have incurred the risk
+of being questioned, and perhaps obliged to show the passport
+that Soudeikin was to use, that he controlled his impatience
+as best he could, and let events take their course.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+At length, when he had looked at his watch for the fiftieth
+time, and found that it indicated nearly half-past eleven, there
+was a heavy knock at the door. As it opened, Colston heard
+a rattle of arms and a clinking of chains. Then there was a
+sound of gruff guttural voices in the entrance-hall, and the
+next moment the door of the room was thrown open, and
+Soudeikin walked in, followed by a young man in the uniform
+of a lieutenant of the line, and after them came two soldiers,
+to one of whom was handcuffed the Princess Ornovski, and to
+the other Natasha.
+</p>
+<p>
+Shocked as he was at the pitiable change that had taken
+place in the appearance of the two prisoners since he had last
+seen them in freedom, Colston was far too well trained in the
+school of conspiracy to let the slightest sign of surprise or
+recognition escape him.
+</p>
+<p>
+He and Ivan rose as the party entered, greeted Soudeikin
+and saluted the officer, hardly glancing at the two pale,
+haggard women in their rough grey shapeless gowns and
+hoods as they stood beside the men to whom they were chained.
+<a name="page92"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 92]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+As the officer returned Colston's salute he turned to
+Soudeikin and said civilly enough&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I did not know you had another guest. I hope we shall
+not overcrowd you.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;By no means,&quot; replied the commissioner, waving his hand
+toward Colston as he spoke. &quot;This is only my nephew, Ernst
+Vronski, who is staying with me for a day or two on his way
+through to Nizhni Novgorod with his furs, and that is his
+servant, Ivan Arkavitch. You need not be uneasy. I have
+plenty of rooms, as I live almost alone, and I have set apart
+one for the prisoners which I think will satisfy you in every
+way. Would it please you to come and see it?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, we will go now and get them put in safety for the
+night, if you will lead the way.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As the party left the room Colston caught one swift glance
+from Natasha which told him that she understood his presence
+in the house fully, and he felt that, despite her miserable
+position, he had an ally in her who could be depended upon.
+</p>
+<p>
+The officer carefully examined the room which had been
+provided for the two prisoners, tried the heavy shutters with
+which the windows were closed, and took from Soudeikin the
+keys of the padlocks to the bars which ran across them. He
+then directed the prisoners to be released from their handcuffs
+and locked them in the room, stationing one of the soldiers at
+the door and sending the other to patrol the back of the house
+from which the two windows of the room looked out.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the end of two hours the sentries were to change places,
+and in two hours more they were to be relieved by a detachment
+from the night patrol. This arrangement had been
+foreseen by Soudeikin, and it had been settled that the
+rescue was to be attempted as soon as the guard had been
+changed.
+</p>
+<p>
+This would give the prisoners time to get a brief but much
+needed rest after their long and miserable journey from Perm,
+penned up like sheep in iron-barred cattle trucks, and it would
+leave the drowsiest part of the night, from four o'clock to
+sunrise, for the hazardous work in hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is a pretty girl you have there, captain,&quot; said Colston,
+as the officer returned to the sitting-room. &quot;Is she for the
+mines or Sakhalin?&quot;
+<a name="page93"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 93]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;For Sakhalin by sentence, but as a matter of fact for
+neither, as far as I can see.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You mean that the Little Father will pardon her or give
+her a lighter sentence, I suppose.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The officer grinned meaningly as he replied&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;<i>Nu vot!</i> That is hardly likely. What I mean is that
+Captain Kharkov, who is in command of the convict train from
+here, has had instructions to convey her as comfortably as
+possible, and with no more fatigue than is necessary, to Tchit,
+in the Trans-Baikal, and that he is also charged with a letter
+from the Governor of Perm to the Governor of Tchit.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You know these gentlemen like to do each other a good
+turn when they can, and so, putting two and two together, I
+should say that his Excellency of Perm has concluded that our
+pretty prisoner will serve to beguile the dulness of that Godforsaken
+hole in which his Excellency of Tchit is probably dying
+of <i>ennui</i>. She will be more comfortable there than at Sakhalin,
+and it is a lucky thing for her that she has found favour in his
+Excellency's eyes.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston could have shot the fellow where he sat leering
+across the table; but though his blood was at boiling point, he
+controlled himself sufficiently to make a reply after the same
+fashion, and soon after took his leave and retired for the night.
+</p>
+<p>
+At four o'clock the guard was changed. The new officer,
+after taking the keys, unlocked the door of the room in which
+Natasha and the Princess were confined, and roused them up
+to satisfy himself that they were still in safe keeping. It was
+a brutal formality, but perfectly characteristic of Siberian
+officialism.
+</p>
+<p>
+The man who had been on guard so far joined the patrol
+and returned to the barracks, while the new officer made himself
+comfortable with a bottle of brandy, with which Soudeikin
+had obligingly provided him, in the sitting-room. It was a
+bitterly cold night, and he drank a couple of glasses of it in
+quick succession. Ten minutes after he had swallowed the
+second he rolled backwards on the couch on which he was
+sitting and went fast asleep. A few moments later he had
+ceased to breathe.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the door opened softly and Soudeikin and Colston
+slipped into the room. The former shook him by the shoulder.
+<a name="page94"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 94]</span>
+His eyes remained half closed, his head lolled loosely from
+side to side, and his arms hung heavily downwards.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;He's gone,&quot; whispered Soudeikin; and, without another
+word, they set to work to strip the uniform off the lifeless
+body. Then Colston dressed himself in it and gave his own
+clothes to Soudeikin.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as the change was effected, Colston took the keys
+and went to the door at which the sentry was keeping guard.
+The man was already half asleep, and blinked at him with
+drowsy eyes as he challenged him. For all answer the
+Terrorist levelled his pistol at his head and fired. There was
+a sharp crack that could hardly have been heard on the other
+side of the wall, and the man tumbled down with a bullet
+through his brain.
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston stepped over the corpse, unlocked the door, and
+found Natasha and the Princess already dressed in male attire
+as two peasant boys, with sheepskin coats and shapkas, and
+wide trousers tucked into their half boots. These disguises
+had been provided beforehand by Soudeikin, and hidden in
+the bed in which they were to sleep.
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston grasped their hands in silence, and the three left
+the room. In the passage they found Ivan and Soudeikin,
+the former dressed in the uniform of the soldier who had been
+on guard outside the house, and whose half-stripped corpse
+was now lying buried in the snow.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Ready?&quot; whispered Soudeikin.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Have you finished in there?&quot; asked Colston, jerking his
+thumb towards the sitting-room.
+</p>
+<p>
+Soudeikin nodded in reply, and the five left the house by the
+back door.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was then after half-past four. Fortunately it was a
+dark cloudy morning, and the streets of the town were utterly
+deserted. By ones and twos they stole through the by-streets
+and lanes without meeting a soul, until Soudeikin at length
+stopped at a house on the eastern edge of the town about a
+mile from the Tobolsk road.
+</p>
+<p>
+He tapped at one of the windows. The door was softly
+opened by an invisible hand, and they entered and passed
+through a dark passage and out into a stable-yard behind the
+house. Under a shed they found a troika, or three-horse
+<a name="page95"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 95]</span>
+sleigh, with the horses ready harnessed, in charge of a man
+dressed as a mujik.
+</p>
+<p>
+They got in without a word, all but Soudeikin, who went
+to the horses' heads, while the other man went and opened
+the gates of the yard. The bells had been removed from the
+harness, and the horses' feet made no sound as Soudeikin led
+them out through the gate. Ivan took the reins, and Colston
+held out his hand from the sleigh. There was a roll of notes
+in it, and as he gave it to Soudeikin he whispered&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Farewell! If we succeed, the Master shall know how
+well you have done your part.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Soudeikin took the money with a salute and a whispered
+farewell, and Ivan trotted his horses quietly down the lane
+and swung round into the road at the end of it.
+</p>
+<p>
+So far all had gone well, but the supreme moment of peril
+had yet to come. A mile away down the road was the guard-house
+on the Tobolsk road leading out of the town, and this
+had to be passed before there was even a chance of safety.
+</p>
+<p>
+As there was no hope of getting the sleigh past unobserved,
+Colston had determined to trust to a rush when the moment
+came. He had given Natasha and the Princess a magazine
+pistol apiece, and held a brace in his own hands; so among
+them they had a hundred shots.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ivan kept his horses at an easy trot till they were within
+a hundred yards of the guard-house. Then, at a sign from
+Colston, he suddenly lashed them into a gallop, and the sleigh
+dashed forward at a headlong speed, swept round the curve
+past the guard-house, hurling one of the sentries on guard to
+the earth, and away out on to the Tobolsk road.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next instant the notes of a bugle rang out clear and
+shrill just as another sounded from the other end of the
+town. Colston at once guessed what had happened. The
+inspector of the patrols, in going his rounds, had called at
+Soudeikin's house to see if all was right, and had discovered
+the tragedy that had taken place. He looked back and saw
+a body of Cossacks galloping down the main street towards
+the guard-house, waving their lanterns and brandishing their
+spears above their heads.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Whip up, Ivan, they will be on us in a couple of minutes!&quot;
+he cried and Ivan swung his long whip out over his horses'
+<a name="page96"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 96]</span>
+ears, and shouted at them till they put their heads down and
+tore over the smooth snow in gallant style.
+</p>
+<p>
+By the time the race for life or death really began they had
+a good mile start, and as they had only four more to go Ivan
+did not spare his cattle, but plied whip and voice with a will
+till the trees whirled past in a continuous dark line, and the
+sleigh seemed to fly over the snow almost without touching it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Still the Cossacks gained on them yard by yard, till at the
+end of the fourth mile they were less than three hundred
+yards behind. Then Colston leant over the back of the sleigh,
+and taking the best aim he could, sent half a dozen shots
+among them. He saw a couple of the flying figures reel and
+fall, but their comrades galloped heedlessly over them, yelling
+wildly at the tops of their voices, and every moment lessening
+the distance between themselves and the sleigh.
+</p>
+<p>
+Colston fired a dozen more shots into them, and had the
+satisfaction of seeing three or four of them roll into the snow.
+At the same time he put a whistle to his lips, and blew a long
+shrill call that sounded high and clear above the hoarse yells
+of the Cossacks.
+</p>
+<p>
+Their pursuers were now within a hundred yards of them,
+and Natasha, speaking for the first time since the race had
+begun, said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I think I can do something now.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As she spoke she leaned out of the sleigh sideways, and
+began firing rapidly at the Cossacks. Shot after shot told
+either upon man or beast, for the daughter of Natas was one
+of the best shots in the Brotherhood; but before she had fired a
+dozen times a bright gleam of white light shot downwards over
+the trees, apparently from the clouds, full in the faces of their
+pursuers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Involuntarily they reined up like one man, and their yells
+of fury changed in an instant into a general cry of terror. The
+Cossacks are as brave as any soldiers on earth, and they can
+fight any mortal foe like the fiends that they are, but here was
+an enemy they had never seen before, a strange, white, ghostly-looking
+thing that floated in the clouds and glared at them
+with a great blazing, blinding eye, dazzling them and making
+their horses plunge and rear like things possessed.
+</p>
+<p>
+They were not long left in doubt as to the intentions of their
+<a name="page97"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 97]</span>
+new enemy. Something came rushing through the air and
+struck the ground almost at the feet of their first rank. Then
+there was a flash of green light, a stunning report, and men and
+horses were rent into fragments and hurled into the air like
+dead leaves before a hurricane.
+</p>
+<p>
+Only three or four who had turned tail at once were left
+alive; and these, without daring to look behind them, drove
+their spurs into their horses' flanks and galloped back to
+Tiumen, half mad with terror, to tell how a demon had come
+down from the skies, annihilated their comrades, and carried
+the fugitives away into the clouds upon its back.
+</p>
+<p>
+When they reached the town it was a scene of the utmost
+panic. Soldiers were galloping and running hither and thither,
+bugles were sounding, and the whole population were turning
+out into the snow-covered streets. On every lip there were
+only two words&mdash;&quot;Natas!&quot; &quot;The Terrorists!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The death sentence on Soudeikin, the sub-commissioner of
+police, had been found pinned with a dagger to the table in the
+room in which lay the body of the lieutenant, with the bloody
+<span class="sanserif">T</span> on his forehead. Soudeikin had vanished utterly, leaving
+only his uniform behind him; so had the two prisoners for
+whom he had made himself responsible, and at the door of their
+room lay the corpse of the sentry with a bullet-hole clean
+through his head from front to back, while in the snow under
+one of the windows of the room lay the body of the other
+sentry, stabbed through the heart.
+</p>
+<p>
+From the very midst of one of the strongholds of Russian
+tyranny in Siberia, two important prisoners and a police official
+had been spirited away as though by magic, and now upon the
+top of all the wonder and dismay came the fugitive Cossacks
+with their wild tale about the air-demon that had swooped
+down and destroyed their troop at a single blow. To crown
+all, half an hour later three horses, mad with fear, came
+galloping up the Tobolsk road, dragging behind them an empty
+sleigh, to one of the seats of which was pinned a scrap of paper
+on which was written&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The daughter of Natas sends greeting to the Governor of
+Tiumen, and thanks him for his hospitality.&quot;
+<a name="page98"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 98]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter14"></a>
+CHAPTER XIV.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p098.png" alt="O" width="116" height="132" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+On the morning of Tuesday, the 9th of March
+1904, the <i>Times</i> published the following telegram
+at the head of its Foreign Intelligence:&mdash;
+</p>
+</div>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<span class="smcap">Astounding Occurrence in Russia</span>.<br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<i>Destruction of Kronstadt by an unknown Air-Ship.</i><br />
+(<i>From our own Correspondent.</i>)<br />
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+St. Petersburg, <i>March 8th</i>, 4 <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>
+Between six and seven this morning, the fortress of Kronstadt was partially
+destroyed by an unknown air-ship, which was first sighted approaching from the
+westward at a tremendous speed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Four shots in all were fired upon the fortress, and produced the most appalling
+destruction. There was no smoke or flame visible from the guns of the air-ship,
+and the explosives with which the missiles were charged must have been far
+more powerful than anything hitherto used in warfare, as in the focus of the
+explosion masses of iron and steel and solid masonry were instantly reduced to
+powder.
+</p>
+<p>
+Two shots were fired as the strange vessel approached, and two as she left the
+fortress. The two latter exploded over one of the powder magazines, dissolved
+the steel roof to dust, and ignited the whole contents of the magazine, blowing
+that portion of the fortification bodily into the sea. At least half the garrison
+has disappeared, most of the unfortunate men having been practically annihilated
+by the terrific force of the explosions.
+</p>
+<p>
+The air-ship was not of the navigable balloon type, and is described by the
+survivors as looking more like a flying torpedo-boat than anything else. She
+flew no flag, and there is no clue to her origin.
+</p>
+<p>
+After destroying the fortress, she ascended several thousand feet, and continued
+her eastward course at such a prodigious speed, that in less than five minutes
+she was lost to sight.
+</p>
+<p>
+The excitement in St. Petersburg almost reaches the point of panic. All
+efforts to keep the news of the disaster secret have completely failed, and I have
+therefore received permission to send this telegram, which has been revised by
+the Censorship, and may therefore be accepted as authentic.
+<a name="page99"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 99]</span>
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+Within an hour of the appearance of this telegram, which
+appeared only in the <i>Times</i>, the Russian Censorship having
+refused to allow any more to be despatched, the astounding
+news was flying over the wires to every corner of the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Times</i> had a lengthy and very able article on the subject,
+which, although by no means alarmist in tone, told the world,
+in grave and weighty sentences, that there could now be no
+doubt but that the problem of a&euml;rial navigation had been
+completely solved, and that therefore mankind stood confronted
+by a power that was practically irresistible, and which changed
+the whole aspect of warfare by land and sea.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the face of this power, the fortresses, armies, and fleets of
+the world were useless and helpless. The destruction of
+Kronstadt had proved that to demonstration. From a height
+of several thousand feet, and a distance of nearly seven miles,
+the unknown air-vessel had practically destroyed, with four
+shots from her mysterious, smokeless, and flameless guns, the
+strongest fortress in Europe. If it could do that, and there
+was not the slightest doubt but that it had done so, it could
+destroy armies wholesale without a chance of reprisals, sink
+fleets, and lay cities in ruins, at the leisure of those who
+commanded it.
+</p>
+<p>
+And here arose the supreme question of the hour&mdash;a question
+beside which all other questions of national or international
+policy sank instantly into insignificance&mdash;Who were those who
+held this new and appalling power in their hands? It was
+hardly to be believed that they were representatives of any
+regularly-constituted national Power, for, although the air was
+full of rumours of war, there was at present unbroken peace all
+over the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+Even in the hands of a recognised Power, the possession of
+such a frightful engine of destruction could not be viewed by
+the rest of the world with anything but the gravest apprehension,
+for that Power, however insignificant otherwise, would
+now be in a position to terrorise any other nation, or league of
+nations, however great. Manifestly those who had built the
+one air-vessel that had been seen, and had given such conclusive
+proof of her terrible powers, could construct a fleet if
+they chose to do so, and then the world would be at their
+mercy.
+<a name="page100"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 100]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+If, however, as seemed only too probable, the machine was
+in the hands of a few irresponsible individuals, or, still worse,
+in those of such enemies of humanity as the Nihilists, or that
+yet more mysterious and terrible society who were popularly
+known as the Terrorists, then indeed the outlook was serious
+beyond forecast or description. At any moment the forces of
+destruction and anarchy might be let loose upon the world, in
+such fashion that little less than the collapse of the whole
+fabric of Society might be expected as the result.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+The above necessarily brief and imperfect digest gives only
+the headings of an article which filled nearly two columns of
+the <i>Times</i>, and it is needless to say that such an article in the
+leading columns of the most serious and respectable newspaper
+in the world produced an intense impression wherever it
+was read.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of course the telegram was instantly copied by the evening
+papers, which ran out special editions for the sole purpose of
+reproducing it, with their own comments upon it, which, after
+all, were not much more original than the telegram. Meanwhile
+the <i>Berliner Tageblatt</i>, the <i>Newe Freie Presse</i>, the
+<i>Kölnische Zeitung</i>, and the <i>Journal des Débats</i> had received
+later and somewhat similar telegrams, and had given their
+respective views of the catastrophe to the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+By noon all the capitals of Europe were in a fever of
+expectation and apprehension. The cables had carried the
+news to America and India; and when the evening of the
+same day brought the telegraphic account of the extraordinary
+occurrence at Tiumen in the grey dusk of the early morning,
+proving almost conclusively that the rescue had been effected
+by the same agency that had destroyed Kronstadt, and that,
+worse than all, the air-vessel was at the command of Natas,
+the unknown Chief of the mysterious Terrorists, excitement
+rose almost to frenzy, and everywhere the wildest rumours
+were accepted as truth.
+</p>
+<p>
+In a word, the &quot;psychological moment&quot; had come all over
+Europe, the moment in which all men were thinking of the
+same thing, discussing the same event, and dreading the same
+results. To have found a parallel state of affairs, it would have
+been necessary to go back more than a hundred years, to the
+<a name="page101"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 101]</span>
+hour when the head of Louis XVI. fell into the basket of the
+guillotine, and the monarchies of Europe sprang to arms to
+avenge his death.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile other and not less momentous events had,
+unknown to the newspapers or the public, been taking place
+in three very different parts of the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the evening of Saturday, the 6th, Lord Alanmere had
+called upon Mr. Balfour in Downing Street, and laid the
+duplicates of the secret treaty between France and Russia, and
+copies of all the memoranda appertaining to it, before him,
+and had convinced him of their authenticity. At the same
+time he showed him plans of the war-balloons, of which a
+fleet of fifty would within a few days be at the command of
+the Tsar.
+</p>
+<p>
+The result of this interview was a meeting of a Cabinet
+Council, and the immediate despatch of secret orders to
+mobilise the fleet and the army, to put every available ship
+into commission, and to double the strength of the Mediterranean
+Squadron at once. That evening three Queen's
+messengers left Charing Cross by the night mail, one for
+Berlin, one for Vienna, and one for Rome, each of them
+bearing a copy of the secret treaty.
+</p>
+<p>
+On Monday morning a Council of Ministers was held at
+the Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg, presided over by the
+Tsar, and convened to discuss the destruction of Kronstadt.
+</p>
+<p>
+At this Council it was announced that the fleet of war-balloons
+would be ready to take the air in a week's time from
+then, and that the concentration of troops on the Afghan
+frontier was as complete as it could be without provoking
+immediate hostilities with Britain. In fact, so close were the
+Cossacks and the Indian troops to each other, both on the
+Pamirs and on the western slopes of the Hindu Kush, that a
+collision might be expected at any moment.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Council of the Tsar decided to let matters take their
+course in the East, and to make all arrangements with France
+to simultaneously attack the Triple Alliance as soon as the
+war-balloons had been satisfactorily tested.
+</p>
+<p>
+Soon after daybreak on Wednesday, the 10th, an affair of
+outposts took place near the northern end of the Sir Ulang
+Pass of the Hindu Kush, between two considerable bodies of
+<a name="page102"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 102]</span>
+Cossacks and Ghoorkhas, in which, after a stubborn fight, the
+Russians gave way before the magazine fire of the Indian
+troops, and fled, leaving nearly a fourth of their number on
+the field.
+</p>
+<p>
+The news of this encounter reached London on Wednesday
+night, and was published in the papers on Thursday morning,
+together with the intelligence that the fight had been watched
+from a height of nearly three thousand feet by a small party of
+men and women in an air-ship, evidently a vessel of war, from
+the fact that she carried four long guns. She took no part in
+the fight, and as soon as it was over went off to the south-west
+at a speed which carried her out of sight in a few minutes.
+<a name="page103"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 103]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter15"></a>
+CHAPTER XV.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p103.png" alt="W" width="118" height="131" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+While all Europe was thrilling with the apprehension
+of approaching war, and the excitement
+caused by the appearance of the strange air-ship
+and the news of its terrible exploits at Kronstadt
+and Tiumen, the <i>Ariel</i> herself was quietly
+pursuing her way in mid-air south-westerly
+from the scene of the skirmish outside the Sir Ulang Pass.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+She was bound for a region in the midst of Africa, which,
+even in the first decade of the twentieth century, was still
+unknown to the geographer and untrodden by the explorer.
+</p>
+<p>
+Fenced in by huge and precipitous mountains, round whose
+bases lay vast forests and impenetrable swamps and jungles,
+from whose deadly areas the boldest pioneers had turned
+aside as being too hopelessly inhospitable to repay the cost and
+toil of exploration, it had remained undiscovered and unknown
+save by two men, who had reached it by the only path by
+which it was accessible&mdash;through the air and over the mountains
+which shut it in on every side from the external world.
+</p>
+<p>
+These two adventurous travellers were a wealthy and
+eccentric Englishman, named Louis Holt, and Thomas Jackson,
+his devoted retainer, and these two had taken it into their
+heads&mdash;or rather Louis Holt had taken it into his head&mdash;to
+achieve in fact the feat which Jules Verne had so graphically
+described in fiction, and to cross Africa in a balloon.
+</p>
+<p>
+They had set out from Zanzibar towards the end of the
+last year of the nineteenth century, and, with the exception
+of one or two vague reports from the interior, nothing more
+had been heard of them until, nearly a year later, a collapsed
+<a name="page104"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 104]</span>
+miniature balloon had been picked up in the Gulf of Guinea
+by the captain of a trading steamer, who had found in the
+little car attached to it a hermetically sealed meat-tin, which
+contained a manuscript, the contents of which will become
+apparent in due course.
+</p>
+<p>
+The captain of the steamer was a practical and somewhat
+stupid man, who read the manuscript with considerable
+scepticism, and then put it away, having come to the conclusion
+that it was no business of his, and that there was no
+money in it anyhow. He thought nothing more of it until
+he got back to Liverpool, and then he gave it to a friend of
+his, who was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and
+who duly laid it before that body.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was published in the <i>Transactions</i>, and there was some
+talk of sending out an expedition under the command of an
+eminent explorer to rescue Louis Holt and his servant; but
+when that personage was approached on the subject, it was
+found that the glory would not be at all commensurate with
+the expense and risk, and so, after being the usual nine days'
+wonder, and being duly elaborated by several able editors in
+the daily and weekly press, the strange adventures of Louis
+Holt had been dismissed, as of doubtful authenticity, into
+the limbo of exhausted sensations.
+</p>
+<p>
+One man, however, had laid the story to heart somewhat
+more seriously, and that was Richard Arnold, who, on reading
+it, had formed the resolve that, if ever his dream of a&euml;rial
+navigation were realised, the first use he would make of his
+air-ship would be to discover and rescue the lonely travellers
+who were isolated from the rest of the world in the strange,
+inaccessible region of which the manuscript had given a brief
+but graphic and fascinating account. He was now carrying
+out that resolve, and at the same time working out a portion
+of a plan that was not his own, and which he had been very
+far from foreseeing when he made the resolution.
+</p>
+<p>
+Louis Holt's original MS. had been purchased by the
+President of the Inner Circle, and the <i>Ariel</i> was now, in fact,
+on a voyage of exploration, the object of which was the
+discovery of this unknown region, with a view to making it
+the seat of a settlement from which the members of the
+Executive could watch in security and peace the course of
+<a name="page105"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 105]</span>
+the tremendous struggle which would, ere long, be shaking
+the world to its foundations.
+</p>
+<p>
+In such a citadel as this, fenced in by a series of vast
+natural obstacles, impassable to all who did not possess the
+means of a&euml;rial locomotion, they would be secure from molestation,
+though all the armies of Europe sought to attack them;
+and the <i>Ariel</i> could, if necessary, traverse in twenty-five hours
+the three thousand odd miles which separated it from the
+centre of Europe.
+</p>
+<p>
+After the rescue of Natasha and the Princess on the
+Tobolsk road, the <i>Ariel</i>, in obedience to the orders of the
+Council, had shaped her course southward to the western
+slopes of the Hindu Kush, in order to be present at the
+prearranged attack of the Cossacks on the British reconnoitring
+force.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold's orders were simply to wait for the engagement,
+and only to watch it, unless the British were attacked in
+overwhelming numbers. In that case he was to have dispersed
+the Russian force, as the plan of the Terrorists did
+not allow of any advantage being gained by the soldiers of
+the Tsar in that part of the world just then.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the British had defeated them unaided, the <i>Ariel</i> had
+taken no part in the affair, and, after vanishing from the
+sight of the astonished combatants, had proceeded upon her
+voyage of discovery.
+</p>
+<p>
+As a good month would have to elapse before she could
+keep her rendezvous with the steamer that was to bring
+out the materials for the construction of the new air-ships
+from England, there was plenty of time to make the voyage
+in a leisurely and comfortable fashion. As soon, therefore,
+as he was out of sight of the skirmishers, he had reduced the
+speed of the <i>Ariel</i> to about forty miles an hour, using only
+the stern-propeller driven by one engine, and supporting the
+ship on the air-planes and two fan-wheels.
+</p>
+<p>
+At this speed he would traverse the three thousand odd
+miles which lay between the Hindu Kush and &quot;Aeria&quot;&mdash;as
+Louis Holt had somewhat fancifully named the region that
+could be reached only through the air&mdash;in a little over seventy-five
+hours, or rather more than three days.
+</p>
+<p>
+Those three days were the happiest that his life had so far
+<a name="page106"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 106]</span>
+contained. The complete success of his invention, and the
+absolute fulfilment of his promises to the Brotherhood, had
+made him a power in the world, and a power which, as he
+honestly believed, would be used for the highest good of mankind
+when the time came to finally confront and confound the
+warring forces of rival despotisms.
+</p>
+<p>
+But far more than this in his eyes was the fact that he had
+been able to use the unique power which his invention had
+placed in his hands, to rescue the woman that he loved so
+dearly from a fate which, even now that it was past, he could
+not bring himself to contemplate.
+</p>
+<p>
+When she had first greeted him in the Council-chamber of
+the Inner Circle, the distance that had separated her from him
+had seemed immeasurable, and she&mdash;the daughter of Natas
+and the idol of the most powerful society in the world&mdash;might
+well have looked down upon him&mdash;the nameless dreamer of
+an unrealised dream, and a pauper, who would not have known
+where to have looked for his next meal, had the Brotherhood
+not had faith in him and his invention.
+</p>
+<p>
+But now all that was changed. The dream had become the
+reality, and the creation of his genius was bearing her with
+him swiftly and smoothly through a calm atmosphere, and
+under a cloudless sky, over sea and land, with more ease than
+a bird wings its flight through space. He had accomplished
+the greatest triumph in the history of human discovery. He
+had revolutionised the world, and ere long he would make war
+impossible. Surely this entitled him to approach even her on
+terms of equality, and to win her for his own if he could.
+</p>
+<p>
+Natasha saw this too as clearly as he did&mdash;more clearly,
+perhaps; for, while he only arrived at the conclusion by a
+process of reasoning, she reached it intuitively at a single step.
+She knew that he loved her, that he had loved her from the
+moment that their hands had first met in greeting, and, peerless
+as she was among women, she was still a woman, and the
+homage of such a man as this was sweet to her, albeit it was
+still unspoken.
+</p>
+<p>
+She knew, too, that the hopes of the Revolution, which, before
+all things human, claimed her whole-souled devotion, now
+depended mainly upon him, and the use that he might make of
+the power that lay in his hands, and this of itself was no light
+<a name="page107"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 107]</span>
+bond between them, though not necessarily having anything
+to do with affection.
+</p>
+<p>
+So far she was heart-whole, and though many had attempted
+the task, no man had yet made her pulses beat a stroke faster for
+his sake. Ever since she had been old enough to know what
+tyranny meant, she had been trained to hate it, and prepared
+to work against it, and, if necessary, to sacrifice herself body
+and soul to destroy it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus hatred rather than love had been the creed of her life
+and the mainspring of her actions, and, save her father and
+her one friend Radna, she stood aloof from mankind and its
+loves and friendships, rather the beautiful incarnation of an
+abstract principle than a woman, to whom love and motherhood
+were the highest aims of existence.
+</p>
+<p>
+More than this, she was the daughter of a Jew, and therefore
+held herself absolutely at her father's disposal as far as marriage
+was concerned, and if he had given her in wedlock even to a
+Russian official, telling her that the Cause demanded the sacrifice,
+she would have obeyed, though her heart had broken in the
+same hour.
+</p>
+<p>
+Although he had never hinted directly at such a thing, the
+conviction had been growing upon her for the last two or three
+years that Natas really intended her to marry Tremayne, and
+so, in the case of his own death, form a bond that should hold
+him to the Brotherhood when the chain of his own control was
+snapped. Though she instinctively shrank from such a union
+of mere policy, she would enter it without hesitation at her
+father's bidding, and for the sake of the Cause to which her life
+was devoted.
+</p>
+<p>
+How great such a sacrifice would be, should it ever be asked
+of her, no one but herself could ever know, for she was perfectly
+well aware that in Tremayne's strange double life there
+were two loves, one of which, and that not the real and natural
+one, was hers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Had she felt that she had the disposal of herself in her own
+hands, she would not, perhaps, have waited with such painful
+apprehension the avowal which hour after hour, now that they
+were brought into such close and constant relationships on board
+this little vessel high in mid-air, she saw trembling on the lips
+of her rescuer.
+<a name="page108"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 108]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold's life of hard, honest work, and his constant habit of
+facing truth in its most uncompromising forms, had made
+dissimulation almost impossible to him; and added to that,
+situated as he was, there was no necessity for it. Colston
+knew of his love, and the Princess had guessed it long ago.
+Did Natasha know his open secret? Of that he hardly dared
+to be sure, though something told him that the inevitable
+moment of knowledge was near at hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+For the first twenty-four hours of the voyage he had seen
+very little of either her or the Princess, as they had mostly
+remained in their cabins, enjoying a complete rest after the
+terrible fatigue and suffering they had gone through since
+their capture in Moscow, but on the Thursday morning they
+had had breakfast in the saloon with him and Colston, and had
+afterwards spent a portion of the morning on deck, deeply
+interested in watching the fight between the British and
+Russians. Thanks to Radna's foresight, they had each found
+a trunk full of suitable clothing on board the <i>Ariel</i>. These
+had been taken to Drumcraig by Colston, and placed in the
+cabins intended for their use, and so they were able to discard
+the uncouth but useful costumes in which they had made
+their escape.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the afternoon Arnold had had to perform the pleasant
+task of showing them over the <i>Ariel</i>, explaining the working
+of the machinery, and putting the wonderful vessel through
+various evolutions to show what she was capable of doing.
+</p>
+<p>
+He rushed her at full speed through the air, took flying leaps
+over outlying spurs of mountain ranges that lay in their path,
+swooped down into valleys, and flew over level plains fifty
+yards from the ground, like an albatross over the surface of a
+smooth tropic sea. Then he soared up from the earth again,
+until the horizon widened out to vast extent, and they could
+see the mighty buttresses of &quot;the Roof of the World&quot; stretching
+out below them in an endless succession of ranges as far as the
+eye could reach.
+</p>
+<p>
+Neither Natasha nor the Princess could find words to at all
+adequately express all that they saw and learnt during that
+day of wonders, and all night Natasha could hardly sleep for
+waking dreams of universal empire, and a world at peace
+equitably ruled by a power that had no need of aggression,
+<a name="page109"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 109]</span>
+because all the realms of earth and air belonged to those who
+wielded it.
+</p>
+<p>
+When at last she did go to sleep, it was to dream again,
+and this time of herself, the Angel of the Revolution, sharing
+the a&euml;rial throne of the world-empire with the man who had
+made revolutions impossible by striking the sword from the
+hand of the tyrants of earth for ever.
+<a name="page110"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 110]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter16"></a>
+CHAPTER XVI.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+A WOOING IN MID AIR.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p110.png" alt="A" width="121" height="137" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+After breakfast on the Friday morning,
+Natasha and Arnold were standing in the
+bows of the <i>Ariel</i>, admiring the magnificent
+panorama that lay stretched out five thousand
+feet below them.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+The air-ship had by this time covered a little
+over 2000 miles of her voyage, and was now speeding smoothly
+and swiftly along over the south-western shore of the Red Sea,
+a few miles southward of the sixteenth parallel of latitude.
+Eastward the bright blue waves of the sea were flashing behind
+them in the cloudless morning sun; the high mountains of the
+African coast rose to right and left and in front of them; and
+through the breaks in the chain they could see the huge masses
+of Abyssinia to the southward, and the vast plains that stretched
+away westward across the Blue and White Niles, away to the
+confines of the Libyan Desert.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What a glorious world!&quot; exclaimed Natasha, after gazing
+for many silent minutes with entranced eyes over the limitless
+landscape. &quot;And to think that, after all, all this is but a little
+corner of it!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It is yours, Natasha, if you will have it,&quot; replied Arnold
+quietly, yet with a note in his voice that warned her that the
+moment which she had expected and yet dreaded, had already
+come. There was no use in avoiding the inevitable for a time.
+It would be better if they understood each other at once; and
+so she looked round at him with eyebrows elevated in well-simulated
+surprise, and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Mine! What do you mean, my friend?&quot;
+<a name="page111"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 111]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+There was an almost imperceptible emphasis on the last
+word that brought the blood to Arnold's cheek, and he answered,
+with a ring in his voice that gave unmistakable evidence of the
+effort that he was making to restrain the passion that inspired
+his words&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I mean just what I say. All the kingdoms of the world,
+and the glory of them, from pole to pole, and from east to west,
+shall be yours, and shall obey your lightest wish. I have
+conquered the air, and therefore the earth and sea. In two
+months from now I shall have an a&euml;rial navy afloat that will
+command the world, and I&mdash;is it not needless to tell you,
+Natasha, why I glory in the possession of that power? Surely
+you must know that it is because I love you more than all that
+a subject world can give me, and because it makes it possible
+for me, if not to win you, at least not to be unworthy to attempt
+the task?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a distinctly unconventional declaration&mdash;such a one,
+indeed, as no woman had ever heard since Alexander the
+Great had whispered in the ears of Lais his dreams of universal
+empire, but there was a straightforward earnestness about it
+which convinced her beyond question that it came from no
+ordinary man, but from one who saw the task before him clearly,
+and had made up his mind to achieve it.
+</p>
+<p>
+For a moment her heart beat faster than it had ever yet
+done at the bidding of a man's voice, and there was a bright
+flush on her cheeks, and a softer light in her eyes, as she replied
+in a more serious tone than Arnold had ever heard her use&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;My friend, you have forgotten something. You and I are
+not a man and a woman in the relationship that exists between
+us. We are two factors in a work such as has never been
+undertaken since the world began; two units in a mighty
+problem whose solution is the happiness or the ruin of the
+whole human race. It is not for us to speak of individual love
+while these tremendous issues hang undecided in the balance.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;One does not speak of love in the heat of war, and you
+and I and those who are with us are at war with the powers
+of the earth, and higher things than the happiness of individuals
+are at stake. You know my training has been one of
+hate and not of love, and till the hate is quenched I must not
+know what love is.
+<a name="page112"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 112]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Remember your oath&mdash;the oath which I have taken as
+well as you&mdash;'<i>As long as I live those ends shall be my ends, and
+no human considerations shall weigh with me where those ends
+are concerned.</i>' Is not this love of which you speak a human
+consideration that might clash with the purposes of the
+Brotherhood whose ends you and I have solemnly sworn to
+hold supreme above all earthly things?
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;My father has told me that when love takes possession
+of a human soul, reason abdicates her throne, and great aims
+become impossible. No, no; that great power which you
+hold in your hands was not given you just to win the love of
+a woman, and I tell you frankly that you will never win mine
+with it.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;More than this, if I saw you using it for such an end, I
+would take care that you did not use it for long. No man ever
+had such an awful responsibility laid upon him as the possession
+of this power lays upon you. It is yours to make or mar
+the future of the human race, of which I am but a unit. It is
+not the power that will ever win either my respect or my love,
+but the wisdom and the justice with which it may be used.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Ah! I see you distrust me. You think that because I
+have the power to be a despot, that therefore I may forget
+my oath and become one. I forgive you for the thought,
+unworthy of you as it is, and also, I hope, of me. No,
+Natasha; I am no skilled hand at love-making, for I have
+never wooed any mistress but one before to-day, and she is
+won only by plain honesty and hard service; just what I
+will devote to the winning of you, whether you are to be won
+or not&mdash;but I must have expressed myself clumsily indeed
+for you to have even thought of treason to the Cause.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You are no more devoted adherent of it than I am. You
+have suffered in one way and I in another from the falsehood
+and rottenness of present-day Society, but you do not hate it
+more utterly than I do, and you would not go to greater
+lengths than I would to destroy it. Yours is a hatred of
+emotion, and mine is a hatred of reason. I have proved that,
+as Society is constituted, it is the worst and not the best
+qualities of humanity that win wealth and power, and such
+respect as the vulgar of all classes can give. But it is not such
+power as this that I would lay at your feet, when I ask you to
+<a name="page113"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 113]</span>
+share the world-empire with me. It is an empire of peace and
+not of war that I shall offer to you.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Then,&quot; said Natasha, taking a step towards him, and laying
+her hand on his arm as she spoke, &quot;when you have made war
+impossible to the rivalry of nations and races, and have proclaimed
+peace on earth, then I will give myself to you, body
+and soul, to do with as you please, to kill or to keep alive, for
+then truly you will have done that which all the generations
+of men before you have failed to do, and it will be yours to ask
+and to have.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As she spoke these last words Natasha bowed her proudly-carried
+head as though in submission to the dictum that her
+own lips had pronounced; and Arnold, laying his hand on hers
+and holding it for a moment unresisting in his own, said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I accept the condition, and as you have said so shall it be.
+You shall hear no more words of love from my lips until the
+day that peace shall be proclaimed on earth and war shall be
+no more; and when that day comes, as it shall do, I will hold
+you to your words, and I will claim you and take you, body
+and soul, as you have said, though I break every other human
+tie save man's love for woman to possess you.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Natasha looked him full in the eyes as he spoke these last
+words. She had never heard such words before, and by their
+very strength and audacity they compelled her respect and
+even her submission. Her heart was still untamed and
+unconquered, and no man was its lord, yet her eyes sank
+before the steady gaze of his, and in a low sweet voice she
+answered&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;So be it! There never was a true woman yet who did
+not love to meet her master. When that day comes I shall
+have met my master, and I will do his bidding. Till then
+we are friends and comrades in a common Cause to which
+both our lives are devoted. Is it not better that it should
+be so?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, I am content. I would not take the prize before I
+have won it. Only answer me one question frankly, and then
+I have done till I may speak again.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What is that.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Have I a rival&mdash;not among men, for of that I am careless&mdash;but
+in your own heart?&quot;
+<a name="page114"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 114]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No, none. I am heart-whole and heart-free. Win me if
+you can. It is a fair challenge, and I will abide by the result,
+be it what it may.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is all I ask for. If I do not win you, may Heaven
+do so to me that I shall have no want of the love of woman
+for ever!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying, he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it, in
+token of the compact that was made between them. Then,
+intuitively divining that she wished to be alone, he turned
+away without another word, and walked to the after end of
+the vessel.
+</p>
+<p>
+Natasha remained where she was for a good half-hour,
+leaning on the rail that surrounded the deck, and gazing out
+dreamily over the splendid and ever-changing scene that lay
+spread out beneath her. Truly it was a glorious world, as
+she had said, even now, cursed as it was with war and the
+hateful atrocities of human selfishness, and the sordid ambition
+of its despots.
+</p>
+<p>
+What would it be like in the day when the sword should
+lie rusting on the forgotten battle-field, and the cannon's
+mouth be choked with the desert dust for ever? What was
+now a hell of warring passions would then be a paradise of
+peaceful industry, and he who had the power, if any man
+had, to turn that hell into the paradise that it might be, had
+just told her that he loved her, and would create that paradise
+for her sake.
+</p>
+<p>
+Could he do it? Was not this marvellous creation of his
+genius, that was bearing her in mid-air over land and sea, as
+woman had never travelled before, a sufficient earnest of his
+power? Truly it was. And to be won by such a man was
+no mean destiny, even for her, the daughter of Natas, and
+the peerless Angel of the Revolution.
+</p>
+<p>
+Situated as they were, it would of course have been impossible,
+even if it had been in any way desirable, for Arnold
+and Natasha to have kept their compact secret from their
+fellow-travellers, who were at the same time their most
+intimate friends.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was not, however, the remotest reason for attempting
+to do so. Although with regard to the rest of the world the
+members of the Brotherhood were necessarily obliged to live
+<a name="page115"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 115]</span>
+lives of constant dissimulation, among themselves they had
+no secrets from each other.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus, for instance, it was perfectly well known that
+Tremayne, during those periods of his double life in which
+he acted as Chief of the Inner Circle, regarded the daughter
+of Natas with feelings much warmer than those of friendship
+or brotherhood in a common cause, and until Arnold and his
+wonderful creation appeared on the scene, he was looked upon
+as the man who, if any man could, would some day win the
+heart of their idolised Angel.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of the other love that was the passion of his other life, no
+one save Natasha, and perhaps Natas himself, knew anything;
+and even if they had known, they would not have considered
+it possible for any other woman to have held a man's heart
+against the peerless charms of Natasha. In fact they would
+have looked upon such rivalry as mere presumption that it
+was not at all necessary for their incomparable young Queen
+of the Terror to take into serious account.
+</p>
+<p>
+In Arnold, however, they saw a worthy rival even to the
+Chief himself, for there was a sort of halo of romance, even in
+their eyes, about this serious, quiet-spoken young genius, who
+had come suddenly forth from the unknown obscurity of his
+past life to arm the Brotherhood with a power which revolutionised
+their tactics and virtually placed the world at their
+mercy. In a few months he had become alike their hero and
+their supreme hope, so far as all active operations went; and now
+that with his own hand he had snatched Natasha from a fate
+of unutterable misery, and so signally punished her persecutors,
+it seemed to be only in the fitness of things that he should
+love her, win her for his own, if won she was to be by any man.
+</p>
+<p>
+This, at any rate, was the line of thought which led the
+Princess and Colston each to express their unqualified satisfaction
+with the state of affairs arrived at in the compact that had
+been made between Natasha and Arnold&mdash;&quot;armed neutrality,&quot;
+as the former smilingly described to the Princess while she
+was telling her of the strange wooing of her now avowed lover.
+Natasha was no woman to be wooed and won in the ordinary
+way, and it was fitting that she should be the guerdon of such
+an achievement as no man had ever undertaken before, since
+the world began.
+<a name="page116"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 116]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+The voyage across Africa progressed pleasantly and almost
+uneventfully for the thirty-six hours after the crossing of the
+Red Sea. After passing over the mountains of the coast, the
+<i>Ariel</i> had travelled at a uniform height of about 3000 feet over
+a magnificent country of hill and valley, forest and prairie,
+occasionally being obliged to rise another thousand feet or so
+to cross some of the ridges of mountain chains which rose into
+peaks and mountain knots, some of which touched the snow-line.
+</p>
+<p>
+Several times the air-ship was sighted by the people of the
+various countries over which she passed, and crowds swarmed
+out of the villages and towns, gesticulating wildly, and firing
+guns and beating drums to scare the flying demon away.
+</p>
+<p>
+Once or twice they heard bullets singing through the air,
+but of these they took little heed, beyond quickening the speed
+of the air-ship for the time, knowing that there was not a
+chance in a hundred thousand of the <i>Ariel</i> being hit, and that
+even if she were the bullet would glance harmlessly off her
+smooth hull of hardened aluminium.
+</p>
+<p>
+Once only they descended in a delightful little valley among
+the mountains, which appeared to be totally uninhabited, and
+here they renewed their store of fresh water, and laid in one
+of fruit, as well as taking advantage of the opportunity to
+stretch their legs on <i>terra firma</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was on the Saturday morning; and when they again
+rose into the air to continue their voyage, they saw that they
+had crossed the great mountain mass that divides the Sahara
+from the little-known regions of Equatorial Africa, and that
+in front of them to the south-west lay, as far as the eye could
+reach, a boundless expanse of dense forest and jungle and
+swamp, a gloomy and forbidding-looking region which it would
+be well-nigh impossible to traverse on foot.
+</p>
+<p>
+Early in the afternoon the four voyagers were gathered in
+the deck-saloon, closely examining a somewhat rudely-drawn
+chart that was spread out on the table. It was the map that
+formed part of the manuscript which had been found in the car
+of Louis Holt's miniature balloon, and sketched out his route
+from Zanzibar to Aeria, and the country lying round so far as
+he had been able to observe it.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;This gives us, after all, very little idea of the distance we
+<a name="page117"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 117]</span>
+have yet to go,&quot; said Arnold; &quot;for though Holt has got his
+latitude presumably right, we have very little clue to his
+longitude, for he says himself that his watch was stopped in
+a thunder-storm, and that in the same storm he lost all count
+of the distance he had travelled. Added to that, he admits
+that he was blown about for twelve days in one direction and
+another, so that all we really know is that somewhere across
+this fearful wilderness beneath us we shall find Aeria, but
+where is still a problem.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What is your own idea?&quot; asked Colston.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Not a very clear one, I must confess. At this elevation
+we can see about sixty miles as the atmosphere is now, and
+as far as we can see to the south-west there is nothing but the
+same kind of country that we have under us. We have
+travelled rather more than 2700 miles since we left the Hindu
+Kush, and according to my reckoning Aeria lies somewhere
+between 3000 and 3200 miles south-west of where we started
+from on Thursday morning. That means that we are within
+between three and five hundred miles of Aeria, unless, indeed,
+our calculations are wholly at fault, and at that rate, as we
+only have about four and a half hours' daylight left, we shall
+not get there to-day at our present speed.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Couldn't we go a bit faster?&quot; put in Natasha. &quot;You
+know I and the Princess are dying to see this mysterious
+unknown country that only two other people have ever seen.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You have but to say so, Natasha, and it is already done,&quot;
+replied Arnold, signalling at the same moment to the engine-room
+by means of a similar arrangement of electric buttons
+to that which was in the wheel-house. &quot;Only you must remember
+that you must not go out on deck now, or you will
+be blown away like a feather into space.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+While he was speaking the three propellers had begun to
+revolve at full speed, and the <i>Ariel</i> darted forward with a
+velocity that caused the mountains she had just crossed to
+sink rapidly on the horizon.
+</p>
+<p>
+All the afternoon the <i>Ariel</i> flew at full speed over the seemingly
+interminable wilderness of swamp and jungle, until, when
+the equatorial sun was within a few degrees of the horizon, one
+of the crew, who had been stationed in the conning tower at
+the bows, signalled to call the attention of the man in the
+<a name="page118"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 118]</span>
+wheel-house. Arnold, who was in the after-saloon at the time,
+heard the signal, and hurried forward to the look-out. He
+gave one quick glance ahead, signalled &quot;half-speed&quot; to the
+engine-room, and then went aft again to the saloon, and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Aeria is in sight!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Immediately everyone hastened to the deck saloon, from the
+windows of which could be seen a huge mass of mountains
+looming dark and distinct against the crimsoning western sky.
+</p>
+<p>
+It rose like some vast precipitous island out of the sea of
+forest that lay about its base; and above the mighty rock-walls
+that seemed to rise sheer from the surrounding plain at least
+a dozen peaks towered into the sky, two of their summits
+covered with eternal snow, and shining like points of rosy fire
+in the almost level rays of the sun.
+</p>
+<p>
+As nearly as Arnold could judge in the deceptive state of
+the atmosphere, they were still between thirty and forty miles
+from it, and as it would not be safe to approach its lofty cliffs
+at a high rate of speed in the half light that would so soon
+merge into darkness, he said to his companions&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We shall have to find a resting-place up among the cliffs
+on this side to-night, for we have lost the moon, and unless it
+were absolutely necessary to cross the mountains in the dark,
+I should not care to do so with the ladies on board. Besides,
+there is no hurry now that we are here, and we shall get a
+much finer first impression of our new kingdom if we cross at
+sunrise. What do you think?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+All agreed that this would be the best plan, and so the <i>Ariel</i>
+ran up to within a mile of the rocks, and then the forward
+engine was connected with the dynamo, and the searchlight,
+which had so disconcerted the Cossacks on the Tobolsk road,
+was turned on to the cliffs, which they carefully explored, until
+they found a little plateau covered with luxuriant vegetation
+and well watered, about two thousand feet above the plain
+below.
+</p>
+<p>
+Here it was decided to come to a halt for the night, and
+to reserve the exploration of Aeria for the morning, and so the
+fan-wheels were sent aloft, and the <i>Ariel</i>, after hovering for a
+few minutes over the verdant little plain seeking for a suitable
+spot to alight in, sank gently to the earth after her flight of
+more than three thousand miles.
+<a name="page119"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 119]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter17"></a>
+CHAPTER XVII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+AERIA FELIX.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p119.png" alt="E" width="119" height="136" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+Every one on board the <i>Ariel</i> was astir the
+next morning as soon as the first rays of dawn
+were shooting across the vast plain that
+stretched away to the eastward, and by the
+time it was fairly daylight breakfast was over
+and all were anxiously speculating as to what
+they would find on the other side of the tremendous cliffs, on
+an eyrie in which they had found a resting-place for the night.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+As soon as all was ready for a start, Arnold said to Natasha,
+who was standing alone with him on the after part of the deck&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If you would like to steer the <i>Ariel</i> into your new kingdom,
+I shall be delighted to give you the lesson in steering that I
+promised you yesterday.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Natasha saw the inner meaning of the offer at a glance, and
+replied with a smile that made his blood tingle&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That would be altogether too great a responsibility for a
+beginner. I might run on to some of these fearful rocks. But
+if you will take the helm when the dangerous part comes, I
+will learn all I can by watching you.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As long as you are with me in the wheel-house for the
+next hour or so,&quot; said Arnold, with almost boyish frankness,
+&quot;I shall be content. I need scarcely tell you why I want to
+be alone with you when we first sight this new home of our
+future empire.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I have half a mind not to come after that very injudicious
+speech. Still, if only for the sake of its delightful innocence,
+I will forgive you this time. You really must practise the
+worldly art of dissimulation a little, or I shall have to get the
+Princess to play chaperon.&quot;
+<a name="page120"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 120]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Natasha spoke these words in a bantering tone, and with a
+flush on her lovely cheeks, that forced Arnold to cut short the
+conversation for the moment, by giving an order to Andrew
+Smith, who at that instant put his head out of the wheel-house
+door to say&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;All ready, sir!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very well,&quot; replied Arnold. &quot;I will take the wheel, and
+do you tell every one to keep under cover.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Smith saluted, and disappeared, and then Natasha and
+Arnold went into the wheel-house, while Colston and the
+Princess took their places in the deck-saloon, the two men off
+duty going into the conning tower forward.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Why every one under cover, Captain Arnold?&quot; asked
+Natasha, as soon as the two were ensconced in the wheel-house
+and the door shut.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Because I am going to put the <i>Ariel</i> through her paces,
+and enter Aeria in style,&quot; replied he, signalling for the fan-wheels
+to revolve. &quot;The fact is that, so far as I can see, these
+mountains are too high for us to rise over them by means of
+the lifting-wheels, which are only calculated to carry the ship
+to a height of about five thousand feet. After that the air gets
+too rarefied for them to get a solid grip. Now, these mountains
+look to me more like seven thousand feet high.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Then how will you get over them?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I shall first take a cruise and see if I can find a negotiable
+gap, and then leap it.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What! Leap seven thousand feet?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No; you forget that we shall be over five thousand up when
+we take the jump, and I have no doubt that we shall find a
+place where a thousand feet or so more will take us over. That
+we shall rise easily with the planes and propellers, and you
+will see such a leap as man never made in the world before.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+While he was speaking the <i>Ariel</i> had risen from the ground,
+and was hanging a few hundred feet above the little plateau.
+He gave the signal for the wheels to be lowered, and the
+propellers to set to work at half-speed. Then he pulled the
+lever which moved the air-planes, and the vessel sped away
+forwards and upwards at about sixty miles an hour.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold headed her away from the mountains until he had
+got an offing of a couple of miles, and then he swung her round
+<a name="page121"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 121]</span>
+and skirted the cliffs, rising ever higher and higher, and keeping
+a sharp look-out for a depression among the ridges that still
+towered nearly three thousand feet above them.
+</p>
+<p>
+When he had explored some twenty miles of the mountain
+wall, Arnold suddenly pointed towards it, and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There is a place that I think will do. Look yonder, between
+those two high peaks away to the southward. That ridge is
+not more than six thousand feet from the earth, and the <i>Ariel</i>
+can leap that as easily as an Irish hunter would take a five-barred
+gate.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It looks dreadfully high from here,&quot; said Natasha, in spite
+of herself turning a shade paler at the idea of taking a six
+thousand foot ridge at a flying leap. She had splendid nerves,
+but this was her first a&euml;rial voyage, and it was also the first
+time that she had ever been brought so closely face to face with
+the awful grandeur of Nature in her own secret and solitary
+places.
+</p>
+<p>
+She would have faced a levelled rifle without flinching, but
+as she looked at that frowning mass of rocks towering up into
+the sky, and then down into the fearful depths below, where
+huge trees looked like tiny shrubs, and vast forests like black
+patches of heather on the earth, her heart stood still in her
+breast when she thought of the frightful fate that would overwhelm
+the <i>Ariel</i> and her crew should she fail to rise high
+enough to clear the ridge, or if anything went wrong with her
+machinery at the critical moment.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Are you sure you can do it?&quot; she asked almost involuntarily.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Perfectly sure,&quot; replied Arnold quietly, &quot;otherwise I should
+not attempt it with you on board. The <i>Ariel</i> contains enough
+explosives to reduce her and us to dust and ashes, and if we hit
+that ridge going over, she would go off like a dynamite shell.
+No, I know what she can do, and you need not have the
+slightest fear!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I am not exactly afraid, but it <i>looks</i> a fearful thing to
+attempt.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If there were any danger I should tell you&mdash;with my usual
+lack of dissimulation. But really there is none, and all you
+have to do is to hold tight when I tell you, and keep your eyes
+open for the first glimpse of Aeria.&quot;
+<a name="page122"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 122]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+By this time the <i>Ariel</i> was more than ten miles away from
+the mountains. Arnold, having now got offing enough, swung
+her round again, headed her straight for the ridge between the
+two peaks, and signalled &quot;full speed&quot; to the engine-room.
+</p>
+<p>
+In an instant the propellers redoubled their revolutions, and
+the <i>Ariel</i> gathered way until the wind sang and screamed past
+her masts and stays. She covered eight miles in less than four
+minutes, and it seemed to Natasha as though the rock-wall
+were rushing towards them at an appalling speed, still frowning
+down a thousand feet above them. For the instant she was all
+eyes. She could neither open her lips nor move a limb for
+sheer, irresistible, physical terror. Then she heard Arnold say
+sharply&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now, hold on tight!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The nearest thing to her was his own arm, the hand of which
+grasped one of the spokes of the steering wheel. Instinctively
+she passed her own arm under it, and then clasped it with both
+her hands. As she did so she felt the muscles tighten and
+harden. Then with his other hand he pulled the lever back to
+the full, and inclined the planes to their utmost.
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly, as though some Titan had overthrown it, the huge
+black wall of rock in front seemed to sink down into the earth,
+the horizon widened out beyond it, and the <i>Ariel</i> soared upwards
+and swept over it nearly a thousand feet to the good.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Ah!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The exclamation was forced from her white lips by an
+impulse that Natasha had no power to resist. All the pride of
+her nature was conquered and humbled for the moment by the
+marvel that she had seen, and by the something, greater and
+stranger than all, that she saw in the man beside her who had
+worked this miracle with a single touch of his hand. A moment
+later she had recovered her self-possession. She unclasped her
+hands from his arm, and as the colour came back to her cheeks
+she said, as he thought, more sweetly than she had ever spoken
+to him before&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;My friend, you have glorious nerves where physical danger
+is concerned, and now I freely forgive you for fainting in the
+Council-chamber when Martinov was executed. But don't try
+mine again like that if you can help it. For the moment I
+thought that the end of all things had come. Oh, look! What
+<a name="page123"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 123]</span>
+a paradise! Truly this is a lovely kingdom that you have
+brought me to!&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p122b.jpg" alt="The Ariel sank down after the leap across the ridge." width="640" height="442" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;The <i>Ariel</i> sank down after the leap across the ridge.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page123">page 123</a>.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And one that you and I will yet reign over together,&quot;
+replied Arnold quietly, as he moved the lever again and allowed
+the <i>Ariel</i> to sink smoothly down the other side of the ridge
+over which she had taken her tremendous leap.
+</p>
+<p>
+When she had called it a paradise, Natasha had used almost
+the only word that would fitly describe the scene that opened
+out before them as the <i>Ariel</i> sank down after her leap across
+the ridge. The interior of the mountain mass took the form of
+an oval valley, as nearly as they could guess about fifty miles
+long by perhaps thirty wide. All round it the mountains seemed
+to rise unbroken by a single gap or chasm to between three and
+four thousand feet above the lowest part of the valley, and
+above this again the peaks rose high into the sky, two of them
+to the snow-line, which in this latitude was over 15,000 feet
+above the sea.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of the two peaks which reached to this altitude, one was
+at either end of a line drawn through the greater length of
+the valley, that is to say, from north to south. At least ten
+other peaks all round the walls of the valley rose to heights
+varying from eight to twelve thousand feet.
+</p>
+<p>
+The centre of the valley was occupied by an irregularly
+shaped lake, plentifully dotted with islands about its shores,
+but quite clear of them in the middle. In its greatest length
+it would be about twelve miles long, while its breadth varied
+from five miles to a few hundred yards. Its sloping shores
+were covered with the most luxuriant vegetation, which
+reached upwards almost unbroken, but changing in character
+with the altitude, until there was a regular series of transitions,
+from the palms and bananas on the shores of the lake, to the
+sparse and scanty pines and firs that clung to the upper slopes
+of the mountains.
+</p>
+<p>
+The lake received about a score of streams, many of which
+began as waterfalls far up the mountains, while two of them
+at least had their origin in the eternal snows of the northern
+and southern peaks. So far as they could see from the
+air-ship, the lake had no outlet, and they were therefore
+obliged to conclude that its surplus waters escaped by some
+subterranean channel, probably to reappear again as a river
+<a name="page124"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 124]</span>
+welling from the earth, it might be, hundreds of miles
+away.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of inhabitants there were absolutely no traces to be seen,
+from the direction in which the <i>Ariel</i> was approaching.
+Animals and birds there seemed to be in plenty, but of man
+no trace was visible, until in her flight along the valley the
+<i>Ariel</i> opened up one of the many smaller valleys formed by
+the ribs of the encircling mountains.
+</p>
+<p>
+There, close by a clump of magnificent tree-ferns, and
+nestling under a precipitous ridge, covered from base to
+summit with dark-green foliage and brilliantly-coloured
+flowers, was a well-built log-hut surrounded by an ample
+verandah, also almost smothered in flowers, and surmounted
+by a flagstaff from which fluttered the tattered remains of a
+Union-Jack.
+</p>
+<p>
+In a little clearing to one side of the hut, a man, who might
+very well have passed for a modern edition of Robinson
+Crusoe, so far as his attire was concerned, was busily skinning
+an antelope which hung from a pole suspended from two
+trees. His back was turned towards them, and so swift and
+silent had been their approach that he did not hear the soft
+whirring of the propellers until they were within some three
+hundred yards of him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, just as he looked round to see whence the sound
+came, Andrew Smith, who was standing in the bows near
+the conning tower, put his hands to his mouth and roared
+out a regular sailor's hail&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Thomas Jackson, ahoy!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The man straightened himself up, stared open-mouthed for
+a moment at the strange apparition, and then, with a yell
+either of terror or astonishment, bolted into the house as hard
+as he could run.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as he was able to speak for laughing at the queer
+incident, Arnold sent the fan-wheels aloft and lowered the
+<i>Ariel</i> to within about twenty feet of the ground over a level
+patch of sward, across which meandered a little stream on its
+way to the lake. While she was hanging motionless over
+this, the man who had fled into the house reappeared, almost
+dragging another man, somewhat similarly attired, after him,
+and pointing excitedly towards the <i>Ariel</i>.
+<a name="page125"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 125]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+The second comer, if he felt any astonishment at the
+apparition that had invaded his solitude, certainly betrayed
+none. On the contrary, he walked deliberately from the hut
+to the bit of sward over which the <i>Ariel</i> hung motionless, and,
+seeing two ladies leaning on the rail that ran round the deck,
+he doffed his goatskin cap with a well-bred gesture, and said,
+in a voice that betrayed not the slightest symptom of surprise&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! Good morning,
+and welcome to Aeria! I see that the problem of a&euml;rial
+navigation has been solved; I always said it would be in the
+first ten years of the twentieth century, though I often got
+laughed at by the wiseacres who know nothing until they see
+a thing before their noses. May I ask whether that little
+message that I sent to the outside world some years ago has
+procured me the pleasure of this visit?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, Mr. Holt. Your little balloon was picked up about
+three years ago in the Gulf of Guinea, and, after various
+adventures and much discussion, has led to our present
+voyage.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I am delighted to hear it. I suppose there were plenty
+of noodles who put it down to a practical joke or something
+of that sort? What's become of Stanley? Why didn't he
+come out and rescue me, as he did Emin? Not glory enough,
+I suppose? It would bother him, too, to get over these
+mountains, unless he flew over. By the way, has he got an
+air-ship?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No,&quot; replied Arnold, with a laugh. &quot;This is the only one
+in existence, and she has not been a week afloat. But if you'll
+allow us, we'll come down and get generally acquainted, and
+after that we can explain things at our leisure.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Quite so, quite so; do so by all means. Most happy, I'm
+sure. Ah! beautiful model. Comes down as easily as a
+bird. Capital mechanism. What's your motive-power? Gas,
+electricity&mdash;no, not steam, no funnels! Humph! Very
+ingenious. Always said it would be done some day. Build
+flying navies next, and be fighting in the clouds. Then there'll
+be general smash. Serve 'em right. Fools to fight. Why
+can't they live in peace?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+While Louis Holt was running along in this style, jerking
+his words out in little short snappy sentences, and fussing
+<a name="page126"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 126]</span>
+about round the air-ship, she had sunk gently to the earth,
+and her passengers had disembarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold for the time being took no notice of the questions
+with regard to the motive-power, but introduced first himself,
+then the ladies, and then Colston, to Louis Holt, who may be
+described here, as elsewhere, as a little, bronzed, grizzled man,
+anywhere between fifty-five and seventy, with a lean, wiry,
+active body, a good square head, an ugly but kindly face, and
+keen, twinkling little grey eyes, that looked straight into those
+of any one he might be addressing.
+</p>
+<p>
+The introductions over, he was invited on board the <i>Ariel</i>,
+and a few minutes later, in the deck-saloon, he was chattering
+away thirteen to the dozen, and drinking with unspeakable
+gusto the first glass of champagne he had tasted for nearly
+five years.
+<a name="page127"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 127]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter18"></a>
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+A NAVY OF THE FUTURE.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p127.png" alt="A" width="118" height="137" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+Arnold's instructions from the Council had been
+to remain in Aeria, and make a thorough exploration
+of the wonderful region described in
+Louis Holt's manuscript, until the time came
+for him to meet the <i>Avondale</i>, the steamer
+which was to bring out the materials for constructing
+the Terrorists' a&euml;rial navy.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Louis Holt and his faithful retainer, during the three years
+and a half that they had been shut up in it from the rest of
+the world, had made themselves so fully acquainted with its
+geography that very little of its surface was represented by
+blanks on the map which the former had spent several months
+in constructing, and so no better or more willing guides could
+have been placed at their service than they were.
+</p>
+<p>
+Holt was an enthusiastic naturalist, and he descanted at great
+length on the strangeness of the flora and fauna that it had
+been his privilege to discover and classify in this isolated and
+hitherto unvisited region. It appeared that neither its animals
+nor its plants were quite like those of the rest of the continent,
+but seemed rather to belong to an anterior geological age.
+</p>
+<p>
+From this fact he had come to the conclusion that at some
+very remote period, while the greater portion of Northern Africa
+was yet submerged by the waters of that ocean of which what
+is now the Sahara was probably the deepest part, Aeria was
+one of the many islands that had risen above its surface; and
+that, as the land rose and the waters subsided, its peculiar
+shape had prevented the forms of life which it contained from
+migrating or becoming modified in the struggle for existence
+<a name="page128"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 128]</span>
+with other forms, just as the flora and fauna of Australia have
+been shut off from those of the rest of the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were no traces of human inhabitants to be found; but
+there were apparently two or three families of anthropoid apes,
+that seemed, so far as Holt had been able to judge&mdash;for they
+were extremely shy and cunning, and therefore difficult of
+approach&mdash;to be several degrees nearer to man, both in structure
+and intelligence, than any other members of the Simian family
+that had been discovered in other parts of the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+As may well be imagined, a month passed rapidly and
+pleasantly away, what with exploring excursions by land and
+air, in the latter of which by no means the least diverting
+element was the keen and quaintly-expressed delight of Louis
+Holt at the new method of travel. Two or three times Arnold
+had, for his satisfaction, sent the <i>Ariel</i> flying over the ridge
+across which she had entered Aeria, but he had always been
+content with a glimpse of the outside world, and was always
+glad to get back again to the &quot;happy valley,&quot; as he invariably
+called his isolated paradise.
+</p>
+<p>
+The brief sojourn in this delightful land had brought back
+all the roses to Natasha's lovely cheeks, and had completely
+restored both her and the Princess to the perfect health that
+they had lost during their short but terrible experience of
+Russian convict life; but towards the end of the month they
+both began to get restless and anxious to get away to the
+rendezvous with the steamer that was bringing their friends
+and comrades out from England.
+</p>
+<p>
+So it came about that an hour or so after sunrise on Friday,
+the 20th of May, the company of the <i>Ariel</i> bade farewell for a
+time to Louis Holt and his companion, leaving with them a
+good supply of the creature comforts of civilisation which alone
+were lacking in Aeria, rose into the air, and disappeared over
+the ridge to the north-west.
+</p>
+<p>
+They had rather more than 2500 miles of plain and mountain
+and desert to cross, before they reached the sea-coast on which
+they expected to meet the steamer, and Arnold regulated the
+speed of the <i>Ariel</i> so that they would reach it about daybreak
+on the following morning.
+</p>
+<p>
+The voyage was quite uneventful, and the course that they
+pursued led them westward through the Zegzeb and Nyti
+<a name="page129"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 129]</span>
+countries, then north-westward along the valley of the Niger,
+and then westward across the desert to the desolate sandy
+shores of the Western Sahara, which they crossed at sunrise on
+the Sunday morning, in the latitude of the island which was to
+form their rendezvous with the steamer.
+</p>
+<p>
+They sighted the island about an hour later, but there was
+no sign of any vessel for fifty miles round it. The ocean
+appeared totally deserted, as, indeed, it usually is, for there is
+no trade with this barren and savage coast, and ships going
+to and from the southward portions of the continent give its
+treacherous sandbanks as wide a berth as possible. This, in
+fact, was the principal reason why this rocky islet, some sixty
+miles from the coast, had been chosen by the Terrorists for
+their temporary dockyard.
+</p>
+<p>
+According to their calculations, the steamer would not be due
+for another twenty-four hours at the least, and at that moment
+would be about three hundred miles to the northward. The
+<i>Ariel</i> was therefore headed in that direction, at a hundred
+miles an hour, with a view to meeting her and convoying her
+for the rest of her voyage, and obviating such a disaster as
+Natasha's apprehensions pointed to.
+</p>
+<p>
+The air-ship was kept at a height of two thousand feet above
+the water, and a man was stationed in the forward conning
+tower to keep a bright look-out ahead. For more than three
+hours she sped on her way without interruption, and then, a
+few minutes before twelve, the man in the conning tower
+signalled to the wheel-house&mdash;&quot;Steamer in sight.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The signal was at once transmitted to the saloon, where
+Arnold was sitting with the rest of the party; he immediately
+signalled &quot;half-speed&quot; in reply to it, and went to the conning
+tower to see the steamer for himself.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was then about twelve miles to the northward. At the
+speed at which the <i>Ariel</i> was travelling a very few minutes
+sufficed to bring her within view of the ocean voyagers. A
+red flag flying from the stern of the air-ship was answered by
+a similar one from the mainmast of the steamer. The <i>Ariel's</i>
+engines were at once slowed down, the fan-wheels went aloft,
+and she sank gently down to within twenty feet of the water,
+and swung round the steamer's stern.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as they were within hailing distance, those on board
+<a name="page130"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 130]</span>
+the air-ship recognised Nicholas Roburoff and his wife, Radna
+Michaelis, and several other members of the Inner Circle,
+standing on the bridge of the steamer. Handkerchiefs were
+waved, and cries of welcome and greeting passed and re-passed
+from the air to the sea, until Arnold raised his hand for silence,
+and, hailing Roburoff, said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Are you all well on board?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, all well,&quot; was the reply, &quot;though we have had rather
+a risky time of it, for war was generally declared a fortnight
+ago, and we have had to run the blockade for a good part of
+the way. That is why we are a little before our time. Can
+you come nearer? We have some letters for you.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes,&quot; replied Arnold. &quot;I'll come alongside. You go
+ahead, I'll do the rest.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying, he ran the <i>Ariel</i> up close to the quarter of the
+<i>Avondale</i> as easily as though she had been lying at anchor
+instead of going twenty miles an hour through the water, and
+went forward and shook hands with Roburoff over the rail,
+taking a packet of letters from him at the same time. Meanwhile
+Colston, who had grasped the situation at a glance, had
+swung himself on to the steamer's deck, and was already
+engaged in an animated conversation with Radna.
+</p>
+<p>
+The first advantage that Arnold took of the leisure that was
+now at his disposal, was to read the letter directed to himself
+that was among those for Natasha, the Princess, and Colston,
+which had been brought out by the <i>Avondale</i>. He recognised
+the writing as Tremayne's, and when he opened the envelope
+he found that it contained a somewhat lengthy letter from
+him, and an enclosure in an unfamiliar hand, which consisted
+of only a few lines, and was signed &quot;Natas.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He started as his eye fell on the terrible name, which now
+meant so much to him, and he naturally read the note to
+which it was appended first. There was neither date nor
+formal address, and it ran as follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+You have done well, and fulfilled your promises as a true man should. For
+the personal service that you have rendered to me I will not thank you in
+words, for the time may come when I shall be able to do so in deeds. What
+you have done for the Cause was your duty, and for that I know that you
+desire no thanks. You have proved that you hold in your hands such power
+as no single man ever wielded before. Use it well, and in the ages to come men
+shall remember your name with blessings, and you, if the Master of Destiny
+permits, shall attain to your heart's desire.
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<span class="smcap">Natas</span>.<br />
+<a name="page131"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 131]</span>
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+Arnold laid the little slip of paper down almost reverently,
+for, few as the words were, they were those of a man who was
+not only Natas, the Master of the Terror, but also the father of
+the woman whose love, in spite of his oath, was the object to
+the attainment of which he held all things else as secondary,
+and who therefore had the power to crown his life-work with
+the supreme blessing without which it would be worthless,
+however glorious, for he knew full well that, though he might
+win Natasha's heart, she herself could never be his unless
+Natas gave her to him.
+</p>
+<p>
+The other letter was from Tremayne, dated more than a
+fortnight previously, and gave him a brief <i>résumé</i> of the course
+of events in Europe since his voyage of exploration had begun.
+It also urged him to push on the construction of the a&euml;rial
+navy as fast as possible, as there was now no telling where or
+how soon its presence might be required to determine the issue
+of the world-war, the first skirmishes of which had already
+taken place in Eastern Europe. Natas and the Chief were
+both in London, making the final arrangements for the direction
+of the various diplomatic and military agents of the Brotherhood
+throughout Europe. From London they were to go to
+Alanmere, where they would remain until all arrangements
+were completed. As soon as the fleet was built and the crews
+and commanders of the air-ships had thoroughly learned their
+duties, the flagship was to go to Plymouth, where the <i>Lurline</i>
+would be lying. The news of her arrival would be telegraphed to
+Alanmere, and Natas and Tremayne would at once come south
+and put to sea in her. The air-ship was to wait for them at a
+point two hundred miles due south-west of the Land's End,
+and pick them up. The yacht was then to be sunk, and the
+Executive of the Terrorists would for the time being vanish
+from the sight of men.
+</p>
+<p>
+It is unnecessary to say that Arnold carried out the plans
+laid down in this letter in every detail, and with the utmost
+possible expedition. The <i>Avondale</i> arrived the next day at the
+island which had been chosen as a dockyard, and the ship-building
+was at once commenced.
+</p>
+<p>
+All the material for constructing the air-ships had been
+brought out completely finished as far as each individual part
+was concerned, and so there was nothing to do but to put them
+<a name="page132"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 132]</span>
+together. The crew and passengers of the steamer included
+the members of the Executive of the Inner Circle, and sixty
+picked members of the Outer Circle, chiefly mechanics and
+sailors, destined to be first the builders and then the crews of
+the new vessels.
+</p>
+<p>
+These, under Arnold's direction, worked almost day and
+night at the task before them. Three of the air-ships were
+put together at a time, twenty men working at each, and
+within a month from the time that the <i>Avondale</i> discharged
+her cargo, the twelve new vessels were ready to take the air.
+</p>
+<p>
+They were all built on the same plan as the <i>Ariel</i>, and
+eleven of them were practically identical with her as regards
+size and speed; but the twelfth, the flagship of the a&euml;rial fleet,
+had been designed by Arnold on a more ambitious scale.
+</p>
+<p>
+This vessel was larger and much more powerful than any of
+the others. She was a hundred feet long, with a beam of fifteen
+feet amidships. On her five masts she carried five fan-wheels,
+capable of raising her vertically to a height of ten thousand
+feet without the assistance of her air-planes, and her three
+propellers, each worked by duplex engines, were able to drive
+her through the air at a speed of two hundred miles an hour
+in a calm atmosphere.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was armed with two pneumatic guns forward and two
+aft, each twenty-five feet long and with a range of twelve miles
+at an altitude of four thousand feet; and in addition to these
+she carried two shorter ones on each broadside, with a range of
+six miles at the same elevation. She also carried a sufficient
+supply of power-cylinders to give her an effective range of
+operations of twenty thousand miles without replenishing them.
+</p>
+<p>
+In addition to the building materials and the necessary tools
+and appliances for putting them together, the cargo of the <i>Avondale</i>
+had included an ample supply of stores of all kinds, not the
+least important part of which consisted of a quantity of power-cylinders
+sufficient to provide the whole fleet three times over.
+</p>
+<p>
+The necessary chemicals and apparatus for charging them
+were also on board, and the last use that Arnold made of the
+engines of the steamer, which he had disconnected from the
+propeller and turned to all kinds of uses during the building
+operations, was to connect them with his storage pumps and
+charge every available cylinder to its utmost capacity.
+<a name="page133"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 133]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+At length, when everything that could be carried in the air-ships
+had been taken out of the steamer, she was towed out
+into deep water, and then a shot from one of the flagship's
+broadside guns sent her to the bottom of the sea, so severing
+the last link which had connected the now isolated band of
+revolutionists with the world on which they were ere long to
+declare war.
+</p>
+<p>
+The naming of the fleet was by common consent left to
+Natasha, and her half-oriental genius naturally led her to
+appropriately name the air-ships after the winged angels and
+air-spirits of Moslem and other Eastern mythologies. The flagship
+she named the <i>Ithuriel</i>, after the angel who was sent to
+seek out and confound the Powers of Darkness in that terrific
+conflict between the upper and nether worlds, which was a
+fitting antetype to the colossal struggle which was now to be
+waged for the empire of the earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold's first task, as soon as the fleet finally took the air,
+was to put the captains and crews of the vessels through a
+thorough drilling in management and evolution. A regular
+code of signals had been arranged, by means of which orders
+as to formation, speed, altitude, and direction could be at once
+transmitted from the flagship. During the day flags were
+used, and at night flashes from electric reflectors.
+</p>
+<p>
+The scene of these evolutions was practically the course
+taken by the <i>Ariel</i> from Aeria to the island; and as the
+captains and lieutenants of the different vessels were all men
+of high intelligence, and carefully selected for the work, and as
+the mechanism of the air-ships was extremely simple, the
+whole fleet was well in hand by the time the mountain mass
+of Aeria was sighted a week after leaving the island.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold in the <i>Ithuriel</i> led the way to a narrow defile on the
+south-western side, which had been discovered during his first
+visit, and which admitted of entrance to the valley at an
+elevation of about 3000 feet. Through this the fleet passed
+in single file soon after sunrise one lovely morning in the
+middle of June, and within an hour the thirteen vessels had
+come to rest on the shores of the lake.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then for the first time, probably, since the beginning of the
+world, the beautiful valley became the scene of a busy activity,
+in the midst of which the lean wiry figure of Louis Holt seemed
+<a name="page134"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 134]</span>
+to be here, there, and everywhere at once, doing the honours of
+Aeria as though it were a private estate to which the Terrorists
+had come by his special invitation.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was more than ever delighted with the air-ships, and
+especially with the splendid proportions of the <i>Ithuriel</i>, and
+the brilliant lustre of her polished hull, which had been left
+unpainted, and shone as though her plates had been of
+burnished silver. Altogether he was well pleased with this
+invasion of a solitude which, in spite of its great beauty and
+his professed contempt for the world in general, had for the
+last few months been getting a good deal more tedious than he
+would have cared to admit.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the absence of Natas and the Chief, the command of the
+new colony devolved, in accordance with the latter's directions,
+upon Nicholas Roburoff, who was a man of great administrative
+powers, and who set to work without an hour's delay to set his
+new kingdom in order, marking out sites for houses and gardens,
+and preparing materials for building them and the factories for
+which the water-power of the valley was to be utilised.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold, as admiral of the fleet, had transferred the command
+of the <i>Ariel</i> to Colston, but he retained him as his
+lieutenant in the <i>Ithuriel</i> for the next voyage, partly because
+he wanted to have him with him on what might prove to be a
+momentous expedition, and partly because Natasha, who was
+naturally anxious to rejoin her father as soon as possible,
+wished to have Radna for a companion in place of the Princess,
+who had elected to remain in the valley. As another separation
+of the lovers, who, according to the laws of the Brotherhood,
+now only waited for the formal consent of Natas to their
+marriage, was not to be thought of, this arrangement gave
+everybody the most perfect satisfaction.
+</p>
+<p>
+Three days sufficed to get everything into working order in
+the new colony, and on the morning of the fourth the <i>Ithuriel</i>,
+having on board the original crew of the <i>Ariel</i>, reinforced by
+two engineers and a couple of sailors, rose into the air amidst
+the cheers of the assembled colonists, crossed the northern
+ridge, and vanished like a silver arrow into space.
+<a name="page135"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 135]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter19"></a>
+CHAPTER XIX.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE EVE OF BATTLE.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p135.png" alt="I" width="117" height="132" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+It will now be necessary to go back about six
+weeks from the day that the <i>Ithuriel</i> started
+on her northward voyage, and to lay before the
+reader a brief outline of the events which had
+transpired in Europe subsequently to the date
+of Tremayne's letter to Arnold.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+On the evening of that day he went down to the House of
+Lords, to make his speech in favour of the Italian Loan. He
+had previously spoken some half dozen times since he had
+taken his seat, and, young as he was, had always commanded
+a respectful hearing by his sound common sense and his
+intimate knowledge of foreign policy, but none of his brother
+peers had been prepared for the magnificent speech that he
+had made on this momentous night.
+</p>
+<p>
+He had never given his allegiance to any of the political
+parties of the day, but he was one of the foremost advocates
+of what was then known as the Imperial policy, and which
+had grown up out of what is known in the present day as
+Imperial Federation. To this he subordinated everything else,
+and held as his highest, and indeed almost his only political
+ideal, the consolidation of Britain and her colonies into an
+empire commercially and politically intact and apart from the
+rest of the world, self-governing in all its parts as regards
+local affairs, but governed as a whole by a representative
+Imperial Parliament, sitting in London, and composed of
+delegates from all portions of the empire.
+</p>
+<p>
+This ideal&mdash;which, it is scarcely necessary to say, was still
+considered as &quot;beyond the range of practical politics&quot;&mdash;formed
+<a name="page136"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 136]</span>
+the keynote of such a speech as had never before been heard
+in the British House of Lords. He commenced by giving a
+rapid but minute survey of foreign policy, which astounded the
+most experienced of his hearers. Not only was it absolutely
+accurate as far as they could follow it, but it displayed an
+intimate knowledge of involutions of policy at which British
+diplomacy had only guessed.
+</p>
+<p>
+More than this, members of the Government and the Privy
+Council saw, to their amazement, that the speaker knew the
+inmost secrets of their own policy even better than they did
+themselves. How he had become possessed of them was a
+mystery, and all that they could do was to sit and listen in
+silent wonder.
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew a graphic word-picture of the nations of the earth
+standing full-armed on the threshold of such a war as the
+world had never seen before,&mdash;a veritable Armageddon, which
+would shake the fabric of society to its foundations, even
+if it did not dissolve it finally in the blood of countless
+battlefields.
+</p>
+<p>
+He estimated with marvellous accuracy the exact amount of
+force which each combatant would be able to put on to the
+field, and summed up the appalling mass of potential destruction
+that was ready to burst upon the world at a moment's notice.
+He showed the position of Italy, and proved to demonstration
+that if the loan were not immediately granted, it would be
+necessary either for Britain to seize her fleet, as she did that
+of Denmark a century before&mdash;an act which the Italians would
+themselves resist at all hazards&mdash;or else to finance her through
+the war, as she had financed Germany during the Napoleonic
+struggle.
+</p>
+<p>
+To grant the loan would be to save the Italian fleet and
+army for the Triple Alliance; to refuse it would be to detach
+Italy from the Alliance, and to drive her into the arms of their
+foes, for not only could she not stand alone amidst the shock
+of the contending Powers, but without an immediate supply of
+ready money she would not be able to keep the sea for a month.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus, he said in conclusion, the fate of Europe, and perhaps
+of the world, lay for the time being in their Lordships' hands.
+The Double Alliance was already numerically stronger than
+the Triple, and, moreover, they had at their command a new
+<a name="page137"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 137]</span>
+means of destruction, for the dreadful effectiveness of which he
+could vouch from personal experience.
+</p>
+<p>
+The trials of the Russian war-balloons had been secret, it
+was true, but he had nevertheless witnessed them, no matter
+how, and he knew what they could accomplish. It was true
+that there were in existence even more formidable engines
+than these, but they belonged to no nation, and were in the
+hands of those whose hands were against every man's, and
+whose designs were still wrapped in the deepest mystery.
+</p>
+<p>
+He therefore besought his hearers not to trust too implicitly
+to that hitherto unconquerable valour and resource which had
+so far rendered Britain impregnable to her enemies. These
+were not the days of personal valour. They were the days of
+warfare by machinery, of wholesale destruction by means
+which men had never before been called upon to face, and
+which annihilated from a distance before mere valour had time
+to strike its blow.
+</p>
+<p>
+If ever the Fates were on the side of the biggest battalions,
+they were now, and, so far as human foresight could predict the
+issue of the colossal struggle, the greatest and the most perfectly
+equipped armaments would infallibly insure the ultimate victory,
+quite apart from considerations of personal heroism and devotion.
+</p>
+<p>
+No such speech had been heard in either House since
+Edmund Burke had fulminated against the miserable policy
+which severed America from Britain, and split the Anglo-Saxon
+race in two; but now, as then, personal feeling and class
+prejudice proved too strong for eloquence and logic.
+</p>
+<p>
+Italy was the most intensely Radical State in Europe, and
+she was bankrupt to boot; and, added to this, there was a very
+strong party in the Upper House which believed that Britain
+needed no such ally, that with Germany and Austria at her
+side she could fight the world, in spite of the Tsar's new-fangled
+balloons, which would probably prove failures in actual war
+as similar inventions had done before, and even if her allies
+succumbed, had she not stood alone before, and could she not
+do it again if necessary?
+</p>
+<p>
+She would fulfil her engagement with the Triple Alliance,
+and declare war the moment that one of the Powers was
+attacked, but she would not pour British gold in millions into
+the bottomless gulf of Italian bankruptcy.
+<a name="page138"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 138]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Such were the main points in the speech of the Duke of
+Argyle, who followed Lord Alanmere, and spoke just before
+the division. When the figures were announced, it was found
+that the Loan Guarantee Bill had been negatived by a majority
+of seven votes.
+</p>
+<p>
+The excitement in London that night was tremendous. The
+two Houses of Parliament had come into direct collision on a
+question which the Premier had plainly stated to be of vital
+importance, and a deadlock seemed inevitable. The evening
+papers brought out special editions giving Tremayne's speech
+<i>verbatim</i>, and the next morning the whole press of the country
+was talking of nothing else.
+</p>
+<p>
+The &quot;leading journals,&quot; according to their party bias, discussed
+it pro and con, and rent each other in a furious war of
+words, the prelude to the sterner struggle that was to come.
+</p>
+<p>
+Unhappily the parties in Parliament were very evenly
+balanced, and a very strong section of the Radical Opposition
+was, as it always had been, bitterly opposed to the arrangement
+with the Triple Alliance, which every one suspected and
+no one admitted until Tremayne astounded the Lords by
+reciting its conditions in the course of his speech.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was the avowed object of this section of the Opposition to
+stand out of the war at any price till the last minute, and not
+to fight at all if it could possibly be avoided. The immediate
+consequence was that, when the Government on the following
+day asked for an urgency vote of ten millions for the mobilisation
+of the Volunteers and the Naval Reserve, the Opposition,
+led by Mr. John Morley, mustered to its last man, and defeated
+the motion by a majority of eleven.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next day a Cabinet Council was held, and in the afternoon
+Mr. Balfour rose in a densely-crowded House, and, after
+a dignified allusion to the adverse vote of the previous day,
+told the House that in view of the grave crisis which was now
+inevitable in European affairs, a crisis in which the fate, not
+only of Britain, but of the whole Western world, would probably
+be involved, the Ministry felt it impossible to remain in office
+without the hearty and unequivocal support of both Houses&mdash;a
+support which the two adverse votes in Lords and Commons
+had made it hopeless to look for as those Houses were at
+present constituted.
+<a name="page139"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 139]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+He had therefore to inform the House that, after consultation
+with his colleagues, he had decided to place the resignations
+of the Ministry in the hands of his Majesty,<a name="ref_1_1"></a><a href="#footnote_1_1" class="fnref">[1]</a> and appeal
+to the country on the plain issue of Intervention or Non-intervention.
+Under the circumstances, there was nothing else to
+be done. The deplorable crisis which immediately followed
+was the logical consequence of the inherently vicious system
+of party government.
+</p>
+<p>
+While the fate of the world was practically trembling in the
+balance, Europe, armed to the teeth in readiness for the Titanic
+struggle that a few weeks would now see shaking the world,
+was amused by the spectacle of what was really the most
+powerful nation on earth losing its head amidst the excitement
+of a general election, and frittering away on the petty issues
+of party strife the energies that should have been devoted with
+single-hearted unanimity to preparation for the conflict whose
+issue would involve its very existence.
+</p>
+<p>
+For a month the nations held their hand, why, no one
+exactly knew, except, perhaps, two men who were now in
+daily consultation in a country house in Yorkshire. It may
+have been that the final preparations were not yet complete,
+or that the combatants were taking a brief breathing-space
+before entering the arena, or that Europe was waiting to see
+the decision of Britain at the ballot-boxes, or possibly the
+French fleet of war-balloons was not quite ready to take the
+air,&mdash;any of these reasons might have been sufficient to explain
+the strange calm before the storm; but meanwhile the British
+nation was busy listening to the conflicting eloquence of
+partisan orators from a thousand platforms throughout the
+land, and trying to make up its mind whether it should return
+a Conservative or a Radical Ministry to power.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the end, Mr. Balfour came back with a solid hundred
+majority behind him, and at once set to work to, if possible,
+make up for lost time. The moment of Fate had, however,
+gone by for ever. During the precious days that had been
+<a name="page140"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 140]</span>
+fooled away in party strife, French gold and Russian diplomacy
+had done their work.
+</p>
+<p>
+The day after the Conservative Ministry returned to power,
+France declared war, and Russia, who had been nominally at
+war with Britain for over a month, suddenly took the offensive,
+and poured her Asiatic troops into the passes of the Hindu
+Kush. Two days later, the defection of Italy from the Triple
+Alliance told Europe how accurately Tremayne had gauged the
+situation in his now historic speech, and how the month of
+strange quietude had been spent by the controllers of the
+Double Alliance.
+</p>
+<p>
+The spell was broken at last. After forty years of peace,
+Europe plunged into the abyss of war; and from one end of
+the Continent to the other nothing was heard but the tramp of
+vast armies as they marshalled themselves along the threatened
+frontiers, and concentrated at the points of attack and defence.
+</p>
+<p>
+On all the lines of ocean traffic, steamers were hurrying
+homeward or to neutral ports, in the hope of reaching a place
+of safety before hostilities actually broke out. Great liners
+were racing across the Atlantic either to Britain or America
+with their precious freights, while those flying the French flag
+on the westward voyage prepared to run the gauntlet of the
+British cruisers as best they might.
+</p>
+<p>
+All along the routes to India and the East the same thing
+was happening, and not a day passed but saw desperate races
+between fleet ocean greyhounds and hostile cruisers, which, as
+a rule, terminated in favour of the former, thanks to the
+superiority of private enterprise over Government contract-work
+in turning out ships and engines.
+</p>
+<p>
+In Britain the excitement was indescribable. The result of
+the general election had cast the final die in favour of
+immediate war in concert with the Triple Alliance. The
+defection of Italy had thoroughly awakened the popular mind
+to the extreme gravity of the situation, and the declaration of
+war by France had raised the blood of the nation to fever heat.
+The magic of battle had instantly quelled all party differences
+so far as the bulk of the people was concerned, and no one
+talked of anything but the war and its immediate issues. Men
+forgot that they belonged to parties, and only remembered that
+they were citizens of the same nation.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#ref_1_1">1</a>: At the period in which the action of the narrative takes place, her Majesty
+Queen Victoria had abdicated in favour of the present Prince of Wales, and was
+living in comparative retirement at Balmoral, retaining Osborne as an alternative
+residence.
+<a name="page141"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 141]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter20"></a>
+CHAPTER XX.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+BETWEEN TWO LIVES.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p141.png" alt="S" width="117" height="131" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+Six weeks after he had made his speech in the
+House of Lords, Tremayne was sitting in his
+oak-panelled library at Alanmere, in deep and
+earnest converse with a man who was sitting in
+an invalid chair by a window looking out upon
+the lawn. The face of this man exhibited a
+contrast so striking and at the same time terrible, that the most
+careless glance cast upon it would have revealed the fact that
+it was the face of a man of extraordinary character, and that
+the story of some strange fate was indelibly stamped upon it.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+The upper part of it, as far down as the mouth, was cast in a
+mould of the highest and most intellectual manly beauty. The
+forehead was high and broad and smooth, the eyebrows dark and
+firm but finely arched, the nose somewhat prominently aquiline,
+but well shaped, and with delicate, sensitive nostrils. The
+eyes were deep-set, large and soft, and dark as the sky of a moonless
+night, yet shining in the firelight with a strange magnetic
+glint that seemed to fasten Tremayne's gaze and hold it at will.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the lower portion of the face was as repulsive as the
+upper part was attractive. The mouth was the mouth of a
+wild beast, and the lips and cheeks and chin were seared and
+seamed as though with fire, and what looked like the remains
+of a moustache and beard stood in black ragged patches about
+the heavy unsightly jaws.
+</p>
+<p>
+When the thick, shapeless lips parted, they did so in a
+hideous grin, which made visible long, sharp white teeth, more
+like those of a wolf than those of a human being.
+</p>
+<p>
+His body, too, exhibited no less strange a contrast than his
+<a name="page142"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 142]</span>
+face did. To the hips it was that of a man of well-knit,
+muscular frame, not massive, but strong and well-proportioned.
+The arms were long and muscular, and the hands white and
+small, but firm, well-shaped, and nervous.
+</p>
+<p>
+But from his hips downwards, this strange being was a dwarf
+and a cripple. His hips were narrow and shrunken, one of his
+legs was some inches shorter than the other, and both were
+twisted and distorted, and hung helplessly down from the chair
+as he sat.
+</p>
+<p>
+Such was Natas, the Master of the Terror, and the man
+whose wrongs, whatever they might have been, had caused him
+to devote his life to a work of colossal vengeance, and his
+incomparable powers to the overthrow of a whole civilisation.
+</p>
+<p>
+The tremendous task to which he had addressed himself with
+all the force of his mighty nature for twenty years, was now
+at length approaching completion. The mine that he had so
+patiently laid, year after year, beneath the foundations of Society,
+was complete in every detail, the first spark had been applied,
+and the first rumbling of the explosion was already sounding
+in the ears of men, though they little knew how much it
+imported. The work of the master-intellect was almost done.
+The long days and nights of plotting and planning were over,
+and the hour for action had arrived at last.
+</p>
+<p>
+For him there was little more to do, and the time was very
+near when he could retire from the strife, and watch in peace
+and confidence the reaping of the harvest of ruin and desolation
+that his hands had sown. Henceforth, the central figure in the
+world-revolution must be the young English engineer, whose
+genius had brought him forth out of his obscurity to take
+command of the subjugated powers of the air, and to arbitrate
+the destinies of the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was why he was sitting here, in the long twilight of the
+June evening, talking so earnestly with the man who, under
+the spell of his mysterious power and master-will, had been his
+second self in completing the work that he had designed, and
+had thought and spoken and acted as he had inspired him against
+all the traditions of his race and station, in that strange double
+life that he had lived, in each portion of which he had been
+unconscious of all that he had been and had done in the other.
+The time had now come to draw aside the veil which had so
+<a name="page143"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 143]</span>
+far divided these two lives from each other, to show him each
+as it was in very truth, and to leave him free to deliberately
+choose between them.
+</p>
+<p>
+Natas had been speaking without any interruption from
+Tremayne for nearly an hour, drawing the parallel of the two
+lives before him with absolute fidelity, neither omitting nor
+justifying anything, and his wondering hearer had listened to
+him in silence, unable to speak for the crowding emotions
+which were swarming through his brain. At length Natas
+concluded by saying&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And now, Alan Tremayne, I have shown you faithfully
+the two paths which you have trodden since first I had need
+of you. So far you have been as clay in the hands of the
+potter. Now the spell is removed, and you are free to choose
+which of them you will follow to the end,&mdash;that of the English
+gentleman of fortune and high position, whose country is on
+the brink of a war that will tax her vast resources to the
+utmost, and may end in her ruin; or that of the visible and
+controlling head of the only organisation which can at the
+supreme moment be the arbiter of peace or war, order or
+anarchy, and which alone, if any earthly power can, will evolve
+order out of chaos, and bring peace on earth at last.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As Natas ceased, Tremayne passed his hand slowly over his
+eyes and brows, as though to clear away the mists which
+obscured his mental vision. Then he rose from his chair, and
+paced the floor with quick, uneven strides for several minutes.
+At length he replied, speaking as one might who was just
+waking from some evil dream&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You have made a conspirator and a murderer of me. How
+is it possible that, knowing this, I can again become what I
+was before your infernal influence was cast about me?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What you have done at my command is nothing to you,
+and leaves no stain upon your honour, if you choose to put it
+so, for it was not your will that was working within you, but
+mine. As for the killing of Dornovitch, it was necessary, and
+you were the only instrument by which it could have been
+accomplished before irretrievable harm had been done.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;He alone of the outside world possessed the secret of the
+Terror. A woman of the Outer Circle in Paris had allowed
+her love for him to overcome her duty to the Brotherhood,
+<a name="page144"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 144]</span>
+and had betrayed what she could, in order, as she vainly
+thought, to shield him from its vengeance for the executive
+murders of the year before. He too had on him the draft of
+the secret treaty, the possession of which has enabled us to
+control the drift of European politics at the most crucial
+time.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Had he escaped, not only would hundreds of lives have
+been sacrificed on suspicion to Russian official vengeance, but
+Russia and France would now be masters of the British line
+of communication to the East, for it would not have been
+possible for Mr. Balfour to have been forewarned, and therefore
+forearmed, in time to double the Mediterranean Squadron as he
+has done. Surely one Russian's life is not too great a price to
+pay for all that.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I do not care for the man's life, for he was an enemy, and
+even then plotting the ruin of my own country in the dark.
+It is not the killing, but the manner of it. England does not
+fight her battles with the assassin's knife, and his blood is on
+my hands&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;On your hands, perhaps, but not on your soul. It is on
+mine, and I will answer for it when we stand face to face at
+the Bar where all secrets are laid bare. The man deserved
+death, for he was plotting the death of thousands. What
+matter then how or by whose hands he died?
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It is time the world had done with these miserable
+sophistries, and these spurious distinctions between murder
+by wholesale and by retail, and it soon will have done with
+them. I, by your hand, killed Dornovitch in his sleep. That
+was murder, says the legal casuist. You read this morning in
+the <i>Times</i> how one of the Russian war-balloons went the night
+before last and hung in the darkness over a sleeping town on
+the Austrian frontier, and dropped dynamite shells upon it,
+killing and maiming hundreds who had no personal quarrel
+with Russia. That is war, and therefore lawful!
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Nonsense, my friend, nonsense! There is no difference.
+All violence is crime, if you will, but it is a question of degree
+only. The world is mad on this subject of war. It considers
+the horrible thing honourable, and gives its highest distinctions
+to those who shed blood most skilfully on the battlefield, and
+the triumphs that are won by superior force or cunning are
+<a name="page145"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 145]</span>
+called glorious, and those who achieve them the nations fall
+down and worship.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The nations must be taught wisdom, for war has had
+victims enough. But men are still foolish, and to cure them
+a terrible lesson will be necessary. But that lesson shall be
+taught, even though the whole earth be turned into a battlefield,
+and all the dwellings of men into charnel-houses, in order
+to teach it to them.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In other words, Society is to be dissolved in order that
+anarchy and lawlessness may take its place. Society may not
+be perfect,&mdash;nay, I will grant that its sins are many and grievous,
+that it has forgotten its duty both to God and man in its
+worship of Mammon and its slavery to externals,&mdash;but you who
+have plotted its destruction, have you anything better to put
+in its place? You can destroy, perhaps, but can you build
+up?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The jungle must be cleared and the swamp drained before
+the habitations of men can be built in their place. It has
+been mine to destroy, and I will pursue the work of destruction
+to the end, as I have sworn to do by that Name which a Jew
+holds too sacred for speech. I believe myself to be the
+instrument of vengeance upon this generation, even as Joshua
+was upon Canaan, and as Khalid the Sword of God was upon
+Byzantium in the days of her corruption. You may hold this
+for an old man's fancy if you will, but it shall surely come to
+pass in the fulness of time, which is now at hand; and then,
+where I have destroyed, may you, if you will, build up again!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What do you mean? You are speaking in parables.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Which shall soon be made plain. You read in your
+newspaper this morning of a mysterious movement that is
+taking place throughout the Buddhist peoples of the East.
+They believe that Buddha has returned to earth, reincarnated,
+to lead them to the conquest of the world. Now, as you
+know, every fourth man, woman, and child in the whole
+human race is a Buddhist, and the meaning of this movement
+is that that mighty mass of humanity, pent up and stagnant
+for centuries, is about to burst its bounds and overflow the
+earth in a flood of desolation and destruction.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The nations of the West know nothing of this, and are
+unsheathing the sword to destroy each other. Like a house
+<a name="page146"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 146]</span>
+divided against itself, their power shall be brought to confusion,
+and their empire be made as a wilderness. And over the
+starving and war-smitten lands of Europe these Eastern
+swarms shall sweep, innumerable as the locusts, resistless as
+the pestilence, and what fire and sword have spared they
+shall devour, and nothing shall be left of all the glory of
+Christendom but its name and the memory of its fall!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Natas spoke his frightful prophecy like one entranced, and
+when he had finished he let his head fall forward for a
+moment on his breast, as though he were exhausted. Then
+he raised it again, and went on in a calmer voice&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There is but one power under heaven that can stand
+between the Western world and this destruction, and that
+is the race to which you belong. It is the conquering race
+of earth, and the choicest fruit of all the ages until now. It
+is nearly two hundred million strong, and it is united by the
+ties of kindred blood and speech the wide world over.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;But it is also divided by petty jealousies, and mean
+commercial interests. But for these the world might be an
+Anglo-Saxon planet. Would it not be a glorious task for
+you, who are the flower of this splendid race, so to unite it
+that it should stand as a solid barrier of invincible manhood
+before which this impending flood of yellow barbarism should
+dash itself to pieces like the cloud-waves against the granite
+summits of the eternal hills?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;A glorious task, truly!&quot; exclaimed Tremayne, once more
+springing from his chair and beginning to pace the room again;
+&quot;but the man is not yet born who could accomplish it.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There are fifty men on earth at this moment who can
+accomplish it, and of them the two chief are Englishmen,&mdash;yourself
+and this Richard Arnold, whose genius has given the
+Terrorists the command of the air.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Come, Alan Tremayne! here is a destiny such as no
+man ever had before revealed to him. It is not for a man
+of your nation and lineage to shrink from it. You have
+reproached me for using you to unworthy ends, as you thought
+them, and with pulling down where I am not able to build
+up again. Obey me still, this time of your own free will and
+with your eyes open, and, as I have pulled down by your hand,
+so by it will I build up again, if the Master of Destiny shall
+<a name="page147"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 147]</span>
+permit me; and if not, then shall you achieve the task without
+me. Now give me your ears, for the words that I have to
+say are weighty ones.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No human power can stop the war that has now begun,
+nor can any curtail it until it has run its appointed course.
+But we have at our command a power which, if skilfully
+applied at the right moment, will turn the tide of conflict in
+favour of Britain, and if at that moment the Mother of
+Nations can gather her children about her in obedience to
+the call of common kindred, all shall be well, and the world
+shall be hers.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;But before that is made possible she must pass through
+the fire, and be purged of that corruption which is even now
+poisoning her blood and clouding her eyes in the presence of
+her enemies. The overweening lust of gold must be burnt
+out of her soul in the fiery crucible of war, and she must
+learn to hold honour once more higher than wealth, and rich
+and poor and gentle and simple must be as one family, and
+not as master and servant.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;East and west, north and south, wherever the English
+tongue is spoken, men must clasp hands and forget all other
+things save that they are brothers of blood and speech, and
+that the world is theirs if they choose to take it. This is a
+work that cannot be done by any nation, but only by a whole
+race, which with millions of hands and a single heart devotes
+itself to achieve success or perish.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Brave words, brave words!&quot; cried Tremayne, pausing in
+his walk in front of the chair in which Natas sat; &quot;and if
+you could make me believe them true, I would follow you
+blindly to the end, no matter what the path might be. But
+I cannot believe them. I cannot think that you or I and a
+few followers, even aided by Arnold and his a&euml;rial fleet, could
+accomplish such a stupendous task as that. It is too great.
+It is superhuman! And yet it would be glorious even to fail
+worthily in such a task, even to fall fighting in such a
+Titanic conflict!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He paused, and stood silent and irresolute, as though
+appalled by the prospect with which he was confronted here
+at the parting of the ways. He glanced at the extraordinary
+being sitting near him, and saw his deep, dark eyes fixed upon
+<a name="page148"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 148]</span>
+him, as though they were reading his very soul within him.
+Then he took a step towards the cripple's chair, took his right
+hand in his, and said slowly and steadily and solemnly&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It is a worthy destiny! I will essay it for good or evil, for
+life or death. I am with you to the end!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As Tremayne spoke the fatal words which once more bound
+him, and this time for life and of his own free will, to Natas
+the Jew, this cripple who, chained to his chair, yet aspired to
+the throne of a world, he fancied he saw his shapeless lips move
+in a smile, and into his eyes there came a proud look of mingled
+joy and triumph as he returned the handclasp, and said in a
+softer, kinder voice than Tremayne had ever heard him use
+before&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Well spoken! Those words were worthy of you and of your
+race! As your faith is, so shall your reward be. Now wheel
+my chair to yonder window that looks out towards the east, and
+you shall look past the shadows into the day which is beyond.
+So! that will do. Now get another chair and sit beside me.
+Fix your eyes on that bright star that shows above the trees, and
+do not speak, but think only of that star and its brightness.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne did as he was bidden in silence, and when he was
+seated Natas swept his hands gently downwards over his open
+eyes again and again, till the lids grew heavy and fell, shutting
+out the brightness of the star, and the dim beauty of the landscape
+which lay sleeping in the twilight and the June night.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then suddenly it seemed as though they opened again of
+their own accord, and were endowed with an infinite power of
+vision. The trees and lawns of the home park of Alanmere
+and the dark rolling hills of heather beyond were gone, and in
+their place lay stretched out a continent which he saw as
+though from some enormous height, with its plains and lowlands
+and rivers, vast steppes and snowclad hills, forests and tablelands,
+huge mountain masses rearing lonely peaks of everlasting
+ice to a sunlight that had no heat; and then beyond these again
+more plains and forests, that stretched away southward until
+they merged in the all-surrounding sea.
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p148b.jpg" alt="You have seen the Field of Armageddon." width="480" height="640" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;You have seen the Field of Armageddon.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page149">page 149</a>.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he seemed to be carried forward towards the scene
+until he could distinguish the smallest objects upon the earth,
+and he saw, swarming southward and westward, vast hordes of
+men, that divided into long streams, and poured through
+<a name="page149"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 149]</span>
+mountain passes and defiles, and spread themselves again over
+fertile lands, like locusts over green fields of young corn. And
+wherever those hordes swept forward, a long line of fire and
+smoke went in front of them, and where they had passed the
+earth was a blackened wilderness.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, too, from the coasts and islands vast fleets of war-ships
+put out, pouring their clouds of smoke to the sky, and making
+swiftly for the southward and westward, where from other
+coasts and islands other vessels put out to meet them, and,
+meeting them, were lost with them under great clouds of grey
+smoke, through which flashed incessantly long livid tongues of
+flame.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, like a panorama rolled away from him, the mighty
+picture receded and new lands came into view, familiar lands
+which he had traversed often. They too were black and
+wasted with the tempest of war from east to west, but nevertheless
+those swarming streams came on, countless and undiminished,
+up out of the south and east, while on the western
+verge vast armies and fleets battled desperately with each other
+on sea and land, as though they heeded not those locust swarms
+of dusky millions coming ever nearer and nearer.
+</p>
+<p>
+Once more the scene rolled backwards, and he saw a mighty
+city closely beleaguered by two vast hosts of men, who slowly
+pushed their batteries forward until they planted them on all
+the surrounding heights, and poured a hail of shot and shell
+upon the swarming, helpless millions that were crowded within
+the impassable ring of fire and smoke. Above the devoted
+city swam in mid-air strange shapes like monstrous birds of
+prey, and beneath where they floated the earth seemed ever
+and anon to open and belch forth smoke and flame into which
+the crumbling houses fell and burnt in heaps of shapeless ruins.
+Then&mdash;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+He felt a cool hand laid almost caressingly on his brow, and
+the voice of Natas said beside him&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is enough. You have seen the Field of Armageddon,
+and when the day of battle comes you shall be there and play
+the part allotted to you from the beginning. Do you believe?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes,&quot; replied Tremayne, rising wearily from his chair, &quot;I
+believe; and as the task is, so may Heaven make my strength
+in the stress of battle!&quot;
+<a name="page150"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 150]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Amen!&quot; said Natas very solemnly.
+</p>
+<p>
+That night the young Lord of Alanmere went sleepless to
+bed, and lay awake till dawn, revolving over and over again in
+his mind the marvellous things that he had seen and heard,
+and the tremendous task to which he had now irrevocably
+committed himself for good or evil. In all these waking dreams
+there was ever present before his mental vision the face of a
+woman whose beauty was like and yet unlike that of the
+daughter of Natas. It lacked the brilliance and subtle charm
+which in Natasha so wondrously blended the dusky beauty of
+the daughters of the South with the fairer loveliness of the
+daughters of the North; but it atoned for this by that softer
+grace and sweetness which is the highest charm of purely
+English beauty.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was the face of the woman whom, in that portion of his
+strange double life which had been free from the mysterious
+influence of Natas, he had loved with well-assured hope that
+she would one day rule his house and broad domains with him.
+She was now Lady Muriel Penarth, the daughter of Lord
+Marazion, a Cornish nobleman, whose estates abutted on those
+which belonged to Lord Alanmere as Baron Tremayne, of
+Tremayne, in the county of Cornwall, as the <i>Peerage</i> had it.
+Noble alike by lineage and nature, no fairer mistress could
+have been found for the lands of Tremayne and Alanmere, but&mdash;what
+seas of blood and flame now lay between him and the
+realisation of his love-ideal!
+</p>
+<p>
+He must forsake his own, and become a revolutionary and
+an outcast from Society. He must draw the sword upon the
+world and his own race, and, armed with the most awful means
+of destruction that the wit of man had ever devised, he must
+fight his way through universal war to that peace which alone
+he could ask her to share with him. Still much could be done
+before he took the final step of severance which might be
+perpetual, and he would lose no time in doing it.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as it was fairly light, he rose and took a long, rapid
+walk over the home park, and when he returned to breakfast
+at nine he had resolved to execute forthwith a deed of gift,
+transferring the whole of his vast property, which was unentailed
+and therefore entirely at his own disposal, to the
+woman who was to have shared it with him in a few months
+<a name="page151"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 151]</span>
+as his wife. If the Fates were kind, he would come back from
+the world-war and reclaim both the lands and their mistress,
+and if not he would have the satisfaction of knowing that his
+broad acres at least had a worthy mistress.
+</p>
+<p>
+At breakfast he met Natas again, and during the meal one
+of his footmen entered, bringing the letters that had come by
+the morning post.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were several letters for each of them, those for Natas
+being addressed to &quot;Herr F. Niemand,&quot; and for some time they
+were both employed in looking through their correspondence.
+Suddenly Natas looked up, and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;When do you expect to hear that Arnold is off the south
+coast?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Almost any day now; in fact, within the week, if everything
+has gone right. Here is a letter from Johnston to say
+that the <i>Lurline</i> has arrived at Plymouth, and that a bright
+look-out is being kept for him. He will telegraph here and
+to the club in London as soon as the air-ship is sighted.
+Twenty-four hours will then see us on board the <i>Ariel</i>, or
+whichever of the ships he comes in.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I hope the news will come soon, for Michael Roburoff, the
+President's brother, who has been in command of the American
+Section, cables to say that he sails from New York the day
+after to-morrow with detailed accounts. That means that he
+will come with full reports of what the Section has done and
+will be ready to do when the time comes, and also what the
+enemy are doing.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;He sails in the <i>Aurania</i>, and as the Atlantic routes are
+swarming with war-ships and torpedo-boats, she will probably
+have to run the gauntlet, and it is of the last importance that
+Michael and his reports reach us safely. It will therefore
+be necessary for the air-ship to meet the <i>Aurania</i> as soon as
+possible on her passage, and take him off her before any harm
+happens to him. If he and his reports fell into the hands of
+the enemy, there is no telling what might happen.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As nearly as I can calculate,&quot; said Tremayne, &quot;the air-ship
+should be sighted in three days from now, perhaps in two. It
+will take the <i>Aurania</i> over four days to cross the Atlantic,
+and so we ought to be able to meet her somewhere in mid-ocean
+if she is able to get so far without being overhauled.
+<a name="page152"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 152]</span>
+Unfortunately she is known to be a British ship and subsidised
+by the British Government, so there will be very little chance
+of her getting through under the American flag. Still she's
+about the fastest steamer afloat, and will take a lot of catching.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And if the worst comes and she falls into the hands of
+the enemy, we must fight our first naval battle and retake her,
+even if we have to sink a few cruisers to do so,&quot; added Natas;
+&quot;for, come what may, Michael must not be captured.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Arnold will almost certainly come in his flagship, and if
+she is what he promised, she should be more than a match for
+a whole fleet, so I don't think there is much to fear unless the
+<i>Aurania</i> gets sunk before we reach her,&quot; said Tremayne.
+</p>
+<p>
+Natas and his host devoted the rest of the forenoon to their
+correspondence, and to making the final arrangements for
+leaving Alanmere. Tremayne wrote full instructions to his
+lawyers for the drawing up of the deed, and directed them to
+have it ready for his signature by two o'clock on the following
+day. After lunch he rode over to Knaresborough himself with
+the post-bag, telegraphed an abstract of his instructions in
+advance, and ordered his private saloon carriage to be attached
+to the up express which passed through at eight the next
+morning.
+<a name="page153"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 153]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter21"></a>
+CHAPTER XXI.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+JUST IN TIME.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p153.png" alt="A" width="117" height="136" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+As the train drew up in King's Cross station at
+twelve the next day, almost the first words
+that Tremayne heard were&mdash;
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+&quot;Special <i>Pall Mall</i>, sir! Appearance of the
+mysterious air-ship over Plymouth this morning!
+Great battle in Austria yesterday, defeat of
+the Austrians&mdash;awful slaughter with war-balloons! Special!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The boy was selling the papers as fast as he could hand
+them out to the eager passengers. Tremayne secured one,
+shut the door of the saloon again, and, turning to the middle
+page, read aloud to Natas&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We have just received a telegram from our Plymouth
+correspondent, to say that soon after daybreak this morning
+torpedo-boat No. 157 steamed into the Sound, bringing the
+news that she had sighted a large five-masted air-ship about
+ten miles from the coast, when in company with the cruiser
+<i>Ariadne</i>, whose commander had despatched her with the news.
+Hardly had the report been received when the air-ship herself
+passed over Mount Edgcumbe and came towards the town.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The news spread like wildfire, and in a few minutes the
+streets were filled with crowds of people, who had thrown on
+a few clothes and rushed out to get a look at the strange
+visitant. At first it was thought that an attack on the
+arsenal was intended by the mysterious vessel, and the
+excitement had risen almost to the pitch of panic, when it
+was observed that she was flying a plain white flag, and that
+her intentions were apparently peaceful.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Panic then gave place to curiosity. The air-ship crossed
+the town at an elevation of about 3000 feet, described a
+<a name="page154"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 154]</span>
+complete circle round it in the space of a few minutes, and
+then suddenly shot up into the air and vanished to the south-westward
+at an inconceivable speed. The vessel is described
+as being about a hundred feet long, and was apparently armed
+with eight guns. Her hull was of white polished metal,
+probably aluminium, and shone like silver in the sunlight.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The wildest rumours are current as to the object of her
+visit, but of course no credence can be attached to any of
+them. The vessel is plainly of the same type as that which
+destroyed Kronstadt two months ago, but larger and more
+powerful. The inference is that she is one of a fleet in the
+hands of the Terrorists, and the profoundest uncertainty and
+anxiety prevail throughout naval and military circles everywhere
+as to the use that they may make of these appalling
+means of destruction should they take any share in the war.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Humph!&quot; said Tremayne, as he finished reading. &quot;Johnston's
+telegram must have crossed us on the way, but I shall
+find one at the club. Well, we have no time to lose, for we
+ought to start for Plymouth this evening. Your men will take
+you straight to the Great Western Hotel, and I will hurry my
+business through as fast as possible, and meet you there in
+time to catch the 6.30. At this rate we shall meet the
+<i>Aurania</i> soon after she leaves New York.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Within the next six hours Tremayne transferred the whole
+of his vast property in a single instrument to his promised
+wife, thus making her the richest woman in England; handed
+the precious deeds to her astonished father; obtained his
+promise to take his wife and daughter to Alanmere at the end
+of the London season, and to remain there with her until he
+returned to reclaim her and his estates together; and said
+good-bye to Lady Muriel herself in an interview which was a
+good deal longer than that which he had with his bewildered
+and somewhat scandalised lawyers, who had never before been
+forced to rush any transaction through at such an indecent
+speed. Had Lord Alanmere not been the best client in the
+kingdom, they might have rebelled against such an outrage on
+the law's time-honoured delays; but he was not a man to be
+trifled with, and so the work was done and an unbeatable
+record in legal despatch accomplished, albeit very unwillingly,
+by the men of law.
+<a name="page155"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 155]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+By midnight the <i>Lurline</i>, ostensibly bound for Queenstown,
+had cleared the Sound, and, with the Eddystone Light on her
+port bow, headed away at full-speed to the westward. She
+was about the fastest yacht afloat, and at a pinch could be
+driven a good twenty-seven miles an hour through the water.
+As both Natas and Tremayne were anxious to join the air-ship
+as soon as possible, every ounce of steam that her boilers
+would stand was put on, and she slipped along in splendid
+style through the long, dark seas that came rolling smoothly
+up Channel from the westward.
+</p>
+<p>
+In an hour and a half after passing the Eddystone she sighted
+the Lizard Light, and by the time she had brought it well
+abeam the first interruption of her voyage occurred. A huge,
+dark mass loomed suddenly up out of the darkness of the
+moonless night, then a blinding, dazzling ray of light shot
+across the water from the searchlight of a battleship that was
+patrolling the coast, attended by a couple of cruisers and four
+torpedo-boats. One of these last came flying towards the yacht
+down the white path of the beam of light, and Tremayne,
+seeing that he would have to give an account of himself,
+stopped his engines and waited for the torpedo-boat to come
+within hail.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Steamer ahoy! Who are you? and where are you going
+to at that speed?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;This is the <i>Lurline</i>, the Earl of Alanmere's yacht, from
+Plymouth to Queenstown. We're only going at our usual
+speed.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Oh, if it's the <i>Lurline</i>, you needn't say that,&quot; answered the
+officer who had hailed from the torpedo-boat, with a laugh.
+&quot;Is Lord Alanmere on board?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, here I am,&quot; said Tremayne, replying instead of his
+sailing-master. &quot;Is that you, Selwyn? I thought I recognised
+your voice.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, it's I, or rather all that's left of me after two months
+in this buck-jumping little brute of a craft. She bobs twice in
+the same hole every time, and if it's a fairly deep hole she just
+dives right through and out on the other side; and there are
+such a lot of Frenchmen about that we get no rest day or
+night on this patrolling business.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very sorry for you, old man; but if you will seek glory in
+<a name="page156"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 156]</span>
+a torpedo-boat, I don't see that you can expect anything else.
+Will you come on board and have a drink?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No, thanks. Very sorry, but I can't stop. By the way,
+have you heard of that air-ship that was over this way this
+morning? I wonder what the deuce it really is, and what it's
+up to?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I've heard of it; it was in the London papers this morning.
+Have you seen any more of it?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Oh yes; the thing was cruising about in mid-air all this
+morning, taking stock of us and the Frenchmen too, I suppose.
+She vanished during the afternoon. Where to, I don't know.
+It's awfully humiliating, you know, to be obliged to crawl
+about here on the water, at twenty-five knots at the utmost,
+while that fellow is flying a hundred miles an hour or so
+through the clouds without turning a hair, or I ought to say
+without as much as a puff of smoke. He seems to move of his
+own mere volition. I wonder what on earth he is.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Not much on earth apparently, but something very considerable
+in the air, where I hope he'll stop out of sight until
+I get to Queenstown; and as I want to get there pretty early
+in the morning, perhaps you'll excuse me saying good-night
+and getting along, if you won't come on board.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No, very sorry I can't. Good-night, and keep well in to the
+coast till you have to cross to Ireland. Good-bye?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Good-bye!&quot; shouted Tremayne in reply, as the torpedo-boat
+swung round and headed back to the battleship, and he
+gave the order to go ahead again at full-speed.
+</p>
+<p>
+In another hour they were off the Land's End, and from
+there they headed out due south-west into the Atlantic. They
+had hardly made another hundred miles before it began to grow
+light, and then it became necessary to keep a bright look-out
+for the air-ship, for according to what they had heard from the
+commander of the torpedo-boat she might be sighted at any
+moment as soon as it was light enough to see her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Another hour passed, but there was still no sign of the air-ship.
+This of course was to be expected, for they had still
+another seventy-five miles or so to go before the rendezvous
+was reached.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Steamer to the south'ard!&quot; sang out the man on the forecastle,
+just as Tremayne came on deck after an attempt at a
+<a name="page157"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 157]</span>
+brief nap. He picked up his glass, and took a good look at
+the thin cloud of smoke away on the southern horizon.
+</p>
+<p>
+From what he could see it was a large steamer, and was
+coming up very fast, almost at right angles to the course of the
+<i>Lurline</i>. Fifteen minutes later he was able to see that the
+stranger was a warship, and that she was heading for Queenstown.
+She was therefore either a British ship attached to
+the Irish Squadron, or else she was an enemy with designs on
+the liners bound for Liverpool.
+</p>
+<p>
+In either case it was most undesirable that the yacht should
+be overhauled again. Any mishap to her, even a lengthy
+delay, might have the most serious consequences. A single
+unlucky shell exploding in her engine-room would disable her,
+and perhaps change the future history of the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne therefore altered her course a little more to the
+northward, thus increasing the distance between her and the
+stranger, and at the same time ordered the engineer to keep up
+the utmost head of steam, and get the last possible yard out of
+her.
+</p>
+<p>
+The alteration in her course appeared to be instantly
+detected by the warship, for she at once swerved off more to
+the westward, and brought herself dead astern of the <i>Lurline</i>.
+She was now near enough for Tremayne to see that she was a
+large cruiser, and attended by a brace of torpedo-boats, which
+were running along one under each of her quarters, like a
+couple of dogs following a hunter.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was now no doubt but that, whatever her nationality,
+she was bent on overhauling the yacht, if possible, and the
+dense volumes of smoke that were pouring out of her funnels
+told Tremayne that she was stoking up vigorously for the
+chase.
+</p>
+<p>
+By this time she was about seven miles away, and the
+<i>Lurline</i>, her twin screws beating the water at their utmost
+speed, and every plate in her trembling under the vibration of
+her engines, rushed through the water faster than she had ever
+done since the day she was launched. As far as could be seen,
+she was holding her own well in what had now become a dead-on
+stern chase.
+</p>
+<p>
+Still the stranger showed no flag, and though Tremayne
+could hardly believe that a hostile cruiser and a couple of
+<a name="page158"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 158]</span>
+torpedo-boats would venture so near to the ground occupied
+by the British battle-ships, the fact that she showed no colours
+looked at the best suspicious. Determined to settle the
+question, if possible, one way or the other, he ran up the ensign
+of the Royal Yacht Squadron.
+</p>
+<p>
+This brought no reply from the cruiser, but a column of
+bluish-white smoke shot up a moment later from the funnels
+of one of the torpedo-boats, telling that she had put on the
+forced draught, and, like a greyhound slipped from the leash,
+she began to draw away from the big ship, plunging through
+the long rollers, and half-burying herself in the foam that she
+threw up from her bows.
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne knew that there were some of these viperish little
+craft in the French navy that could be driven thirty miles an
+hour through the water, and if this was one of them, capture
+was only a matter of time, unless the air-ship sighted them
+and came to the rescue.
+</p>
+<p>
+Happily, although there was a considerable swell on, the
+water was smooth and free from short waves, and this was to
+the advantage of the <i>Lurline</i>; for she went along &quot;as dry as a
+bone,&quot; while the torpedo-boat, lying much lower in the water,
+rammed her nose into every roller, and so lost a certain amount
+of way. The yacht was making a good twenty-eight miles an
+hour under the heroic efforts of the engineers; and at this rate
+it would be nearly two hours before she was overhauled, provided
+that the torpedo-boat was not able to use the gun that she
+carried forward of her funnels with any dangerous effect.
+</p>
+<p>
+There could now be no doubt as to the hostility of the
+pursuers. Had they been British, they would have answered
+the flag flying at the peak of the yacht.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Steamer coming down from the nor'ard, sir!&quot; suddenly
+sang out a man whom Tremayne had just stationed in the fore
+cross-trees to look out for the air-ship that was now so
+anxiously expected.
+</p>
+<p>
+A dense volume of smoke was seen rising in the direction
+indicated, and a few minutes later a second big steamer came
+into view, bearing down directly on the yacht, and so approaching
+the torpedo-boat almost stem on. There was no doubt
+about her nationality. A glance through the glass showed
+Tremayne the white ensign floating above the horizontal
+<a name="page159"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 159]</span>
+stream of smoke that stretched behind her. She was a British
+cruiser, no doubt a scout of the Irish Squadron, and had sighted
+the smoke of the yacht and her pursuers, and had come to
+investigate.
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne breathed more freely now, for he knew that his
+flag would procure the assistance of the new-comer in case it
+was wanted, as indeed it very soon was.
+</p>
+<p>
+Hardly had the British cruiser come well in sight than a
+puff of smoke rose from the deck of the other warship, and
+a shell came whistling through the air, and burst within a
+hundred yards of the <i>Lurline</i>. Twenty-four hours ago
+Tremayne had been one of the richest men in England, and
+just now he would have willingly given all that he had
+possessed to be twenty-five miles further to the south-westward
+than he was.
+</p>
+<p>
+Another shell from the Frenchman passed clear over the
+<i>Lurline</i>, and plunged into the water and burst, throwing a
+cloud of spray high into the air. Then came one from the
+torpedo-boat, but she was still too far off for her light gun to
+do any damage, and the projectile fell spent into the sea nearly
+five hundred yards short.
+</p>
+<p>
+Immediately after this came a third shell from the French
+cruiser, and this, by an unlucky chance, struck the forecastle
+of the yacht, burst, and tore away several feet of the bulwarks,
+and, worse than all, killed four of her crew instantly.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;First blood!&quot; said Tremayne to himself through his
+clenched teeth. &quot;That shall be an unlucky shot for you, my
+friend, if we reach the air-ship before you sink us.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile the two cruisers, each approaching the other at
+a speed of more than twenty miles an hour, had got within
+shot. A puff of smoke spurted out from the side of the latest
+comer. The well-aimed projectile passed fifty yards astern of
+the <i>Lurline</i>, and struck the advancing torpedo-boat square on
+the bow.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next instant it was plainly apparent that there was
+nothing more to be feared from her. The solid shot had
+passed clean through her two sides. Her nose went down
+and her stern came up. Then bang went another gun from
+the British cruiser. This time the messenger of death was a
+shell. It struck the inclined deck amidships, there was a flash
+<a name="page160"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 160]</span>
+of flame, a cloud of steam rose up from her bursting boilers,
+and then she broke in two and vanished beneath the smooth-rolling
+waves.
+</p>
+<p>
+Two minutes later the duel began in deadly earnest. The
+tricolor ran up to the masthead of the French cruiser, and
+jets of mingled smoke and flame spurted one after the other
+from her sides, and shells began bursting in quick succession
+round the rapidly-advancing Englishman. Evidently the
+Frenchman, with his remaining torpedo-boat, thought himself
+a good match for the British cruiser, for he showed no disposition
+to shirk the combat, despite the fact that he was so near
+to the cruising ground of a powerful squadron.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the two cruisers approached each other, the fire from
+their heavy guns was supplemented by that of their light
+quick-firing armament, until each of them became a floating
+volcano, vomiting continuous jets of smoke and flame, and
+hurling showers of shot and shell across the rapidly-lessening
+space between them.
+</p>
+<p>
+The din of the hideous concert became little short of
+appalling, even to the most hardened nerves. The continuous
+deep booming of the heavy guns, as they belched forth their
+three-hundred-pound projectiles, mingled with the sharp ringing
+reports of the thirty and forty pound quick-firers, and the
+horrible grinding rattle of the machine guns in the tops that
+sounded clearly above all, and every few seconds came the
+scream and the bang of bursting shells, and the dull, crashing
+sound of rending and breaking steel, as the terrible missiles of
+death and destruction found their destined mark.
+</p>
+<p>
+Happily the <i>Lurline</i> was out of the line of fire, or she would
+have been torn to fragments and sent to the bottom in a few
+seconds. She continued on her course at her utmost speed,
+and the French cruiser was, of course, too busy to pay any
+further attention to her. Not so the remaining torpedo-boat,
+however, which, leaving the two big ships to fight out their
+duel for the present, was pursuing the yacht at the utmost
+speed of her forced draught.
+</p>
+<p>
+Capture or destruction soon only became a matter of a few
+minutes. Tremayne, determined to hold on till he was sunk
+or sighted the air-ship, kept his flag flying and his engines
+working to the last ounce that the quivering boilers would
+<a name="page161"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 161]</span>
+stand, and the Frenchman, seeing that he was determined to
+escape if he could, opened fire on him with his twenty-pounder.
+</p>
+<p>
+Owing to the high speed of the two vessels, and the rolling
+of the torpedo-boat, not much execution was done at first; but,
+as the distance diminished, shell after shell crashed through
+the bulwarks of the <i>Lurline</i>, ripping them longitudinally,
+and tearing up the deck-planks with their jagged fragments.
+The wheel-house and the funnel escaped by a miracle, and the
+yacht being end on to her pursuer, the engines and boilers
+were comparatively safe.
+</p>
+<p>
+One boat had also escaped, and that was hanging ready to
+be lowered at a moment's notice.
+</p>
+<p>
+At last a shell struck the funnel, burst, and shattered it to
+fragments. Almost at the same moment the man in the fore-cross-trees,
+who had stuck to his post in defiance of the
+cannonade, sang out with a triumphant shout&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The air-ship! The air-ship!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Hardly had the words left his lips when a shell from the
+torpedo-boat struck the <i>Lurline</i> under the quarter, and ripped
+one of her plates out like a sheet of paper. The next instant
+the engineer rushed up on deck, crying&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The bottom's out of her! She'll go down in five minutes!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne, who was the only man on deck save the look-out,
+ran out of the wheel-house, dived into the cabin, and a
+moment later reappeared with Natas in his arms, and followed
+by his two attendants. Then, without the loss of a second,
+but in perfect order, the quarter-boat was manned and lowered,
+and pulled clear of the ill-fated <i>Lurline</i> just as she pitched
+backwards into the sea and went down with a run, stern foremost.
+</p>
+<p>
+The air-ship, coming up at a tremendous speed, swooped
+suddenly down from a height of two thousand feet, and
+slowed up within a thousand yards of the torpedo-boat. A
+projectile rushed through the air and landed on the deck of
+the Frenchman. There was a flash of greenish flame, a cloud
+of mingled smoke and steam, and when this had drifted away
+there was not a vestige of the torpedo-boat to be seen. Then
+a few fragments of iron splashed into the water here and
+there, and that was all that betokened her fate.
+<a name="page162"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 162]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter22"></a>
+CHAPTER XXII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+ARMED NEUTRALITY.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p162.png" alt="H" width="120" height="136" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+Hardly had the <i>Lurline</i> disappeared than the
+air-ship was lying alongside the boat, floating
+on the water as easily and lightly as a seagull,
+and Natas and his two attendants, Tremayne,
+and the three men who had been saved from
+the yacht, were at once taken on board.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+It would be useless to interrupt the progress of the narrative
+to describe the welcoming greetings which passed
+between the rescued party and the crew of the <i>Ithuriel</i>,
+or the amazement of Arnold and his companions when
+Natasha threw her arms round the neck of the almost helpless
+cripple, who was rifted over the rail by Tremayne and his
+two attendants, kissed him on the brow, and said so that
+all could hear her&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We were in time! Thank God we were in time, my
+father!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Her father! This paralytic creature, who could not move
+a yard without the assistance of some one else&mdash;this was
+Natas, the father of Natasha, and the Master of the Terror,
+the man who had planned the ruin of a civilisation, and for
+all they knew might aspire to the empire of the world!
+</p>
+<p>
+It was marvellous, inconceivable, but there was no time
+to think about it now, for the two cruisers were still blazing
+away at each other, and Tremayne had determined to punish
+the Frenchman for his discourtesy in not answering his flag,
+and his inhumanity in firing on an unarmed vessel which
+was well known as a private pleasure-yacht all round the
+western and southern shores of Europe.
+<a name="page163"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 163]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as Natas had been conveyed into the saloon,
+Tremayne, after returning Arnold's hearty handclasp, said
+to him&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That rascally Frenchman chased and fired on us, and then
+sent his torpedo-boat after us, without the slightest provocation.
+I purposely hoisted the Yacht Squadron flag to show that
+we were non-combatants, and still he sank us. I suppose
+he took the <i>Lurline</i> for a fast despatch boat, but still he
+ought to have had the sense and the politeness to let her
+alone when he saw she was a yacht, so I want you to teach
+him better manners.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Certainly,&quot; replies Arnold. &quot;I'll sink him for you in five
+seconds as soon as we get aloft again.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I don't want you to do that if you can help it. She has
+five or six hundred men on board, who are only doing as they
+are told, and we have not declared war on the world yet.
+Can't you disable her, and force her to surrender to the British
+cruiser that came to our rescue? You know we must have
+been sunk or captured half an hour ago if she had not turned
+up so opportunely, in spite of your so happily coming fifty
+miles this side of the rendezvous. I should like to return
+the compliment by delivering his enemy into his hand.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I quite see what you mean, but I'm afraid I can't
+guarantee success. You see, our artillery is intended for
+destruction, and not for disablement. Still I'll have a try
+with pleasure. I'll see if I can't disable his screws, only you
+mustn't blame me if he goes to the bottom by accident.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Certainly not, you most capable destroyer of life and
+property,&quot; laughed Tremayne. &quot;Only let him off as lightly
+as you can. Ah, Natasha! Good morning again! I suppose
+Natas has taken no harm from the unceremonious way in
+which I had to almost throw him on board the boat. Aërial
+voyaging seems to agree with you, you&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Must not talk nonsense, my Lord of Alanmere, especially
+when there is sterner work in hand,&quot; interrupted Natasha,
+with a laugh. &quot;What are you going to do with those two
+cruisers that are battering each other to pieces down there?
+Sink them both, or leave them to fight it out?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Neither, with your permission, fair lady. The British
+cruiser saved us by coming on the scene at the right moment,
+<a name="page164"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 164]</span>
+and as the Frenchman fired upon us without due cause, I
+want Captain Arnold to disable her in some way and hand
+her over a prisoner to our rescuer.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Ah, that would be better, of course. One good turn
+deserves another. What are you going to do, Captain
+Arnold?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Drop a small shell under his stern and disable his propellers,
+if I can do so without sinking him, which I am afraid
+is rather doubtful,&quot; replied Arnold.
+</p>
+<p>
+While they were talking, the <i>Ithuriel</i> had risen a thousand
+feet or so from the water, and had advanced to within about
+half a mile of the two cruisers, which were now man&oelig;uvring
+round each other at a distance of about a thousand yards,
+blazing away without cessation, and waiting for some lucky
+shot to partially disable one or the other, and so give an
+opportunity for boarding, or ramming.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the old days, when France and Britain had last grappled
+in the struggle for the mastery of the sea, the two ships
+would have been laid alongside each other long before this.
+But that was not to be thought of while those terrible
+machine guns were able to rain their hail of death down
+from the tops, and the quick-firing cannon were hurling
+their thirty shots a minute across the intervening space of
+water.
+</p>
+<p>
+The French cruiser had so far taken no notice of the sudden
+annihilation of her second torpedo-boat by the air-ship, but
+as soon as the latter made her way astern of her she seemed
+to scent mischief, and turned one of her three-barrelled
+Nordenfeldts on to her. The shots soon came singing about
+the <i>Ithuriel</i> in somewhat unpleasant proximity, and Arnold
+said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Monsieur seems to take us for a natural enemy, and if he
+wants fight he shall have it. If I don't disable him with this
+shot I'll sink him with the next.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying he trained one of the broadside guns on the stern
+of the French cruiser, and at the right moment pressed the
+button. The shell bored its way through the air and down
+into the water until it struck and exploded against the submerged
+rudder.
+</p>
+<p>
+A huge column of foam rose up under the cruiser's stern;
+<a name="page165"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 165]</span>
+half lifted out of the water, she plunged forward with a mighty
+lurch, burying her forecastle in the green water, and then she
+righted and lay helpless upon the sea, deprived of the power
+of motion and steering, and with the useless steam roaring in
+great clouds from her pipes. A moment later she began to
+settle by the stern, showing that her after plates had been
+badly injured, if not torn away by the explosion.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile the <i>Ithuriel</i> had shot away out of range until
+the two cruisers looked like little toy-ships spitting fire at
+each other, and Arnold said to Tremayne, who was with him
+in the wheel-house&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I think that has settled her, as far as any more real
+fighting is concerned. Look! She can't stand that sort of
+thing very long.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed Tremayne the glasses as he spoke. The French
+cruiser was lying motionless upon the water, with her after
+compartments full, and very much down by the stern. She
+was still blazing away gamely with all her available guns, but
+it was obvious at a glance that she was now no match for her
+antagonist, who had taken full advantage of the help rendered
+by her unknown ally, and was pouring a perfect hail of shot
+and shell point-blank into her half-disabled adversary, battering
+her deck-works into ruins, and piercing her hull again and
+again.
+</p>
+<p>
+At length, when the splendid fabric had been reduced to
+little better than a floating wreck by the terrible cannonade,
+the fire from the British cruiser stopped, and the signal &quot;Will
+you surrender?&quot; flew from her masthead.
+</p>
+<p>
+A few moments later the tricolor, for the first time in the
+war, dipped to the White Ensign, and the naval duel was over.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now we will leave them to talk it over,&quot; said Tremayne,
+shutting the glasses. &quot;I should like to hear what they have
+to say about us, I must confess, but there is something more
+important to be done, and the sooner we are on the other side
+of the Atlantic the better. The <i>Aurania</i> started from New
+York this morning. How soon can you get across?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In about sixteen hours if we had to go all the way,&quot; replied
+Arnold. &quot;It is, say, three thousand miles from here to New
+York, and the <i>Ithuriel</i> can fly two hundred miles an hour if
+necessary. But the <i>Aurania</i>, if she starts in good time, will
+<a name="page166"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 166]</span>
+make between four and five hundred miles during the day, and
+so we ought to meet her soon after sundown this evening if
+we are lucky.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As Arnold ceased speaking, the report of a single gun came
+up from the water, and a string of signal flags floated out from
+the masthead of the British cruiser.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Hullo!&quot; said Tremayne, once more turning the glasses on
+the two vessels, &quot;that was a blank cartridge, and as far as I
+can make out that signal reads, 'We want to speak you.' And
+look: there goes a white flag to the fore. His intentions are
+evidently peaceful. What do you say, shall we go down?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I see no objection to it. It will only make a difference of
+half an hour or so, and perhaps we may learn something worth
+knowing from the captain about the naval force afloat in the
+Atlantic. I think it would be worth while. We have no need
+for concealment now; and besides, all Europe is talking about
+us, so there can be no harm in showing ourselves a bit more
+closely.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very well, then, we will go down and hear what he has to
+say,&quot; replied Tremayne. &quot;But I don't think it would be well
+for me to show myself just now, and so I will go below.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold at once signalled the necessary order from the
+conning tower to the engine-room. The fan-wheels revolved
+more slowly, and the <i>Ithuriel</i> sank swiftly downwards towards
+the two cruisers, now lying side by side.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as she came to a standstill within speaking distance
+of the British man-of-war, discipline was for the moment forgotten
+on board of both victor and vanquished, under the
+influence of the intense excitement and curiosity aroused by
+seeing the mysterious and much-talked-of air-ship at such
+close quarters.
+</p>
+<p>
+The French and British captains were both standing on
+the quarter-deck eagerly scanning the strange craft through
+their glasses till she came near enough to dispense with them,
+and every man and officer on board the two cruisers who was
+able to be on deck, crowded to points of 'vantage, and stared at
+her with all their eyes. The whole company of the <i>Ithuriel</i>,
+with the exception of Natas, Tremayne, and those whose duties
+kept them in the engine-room, were also on deck, and Arnold
+stood close by the wheel-house and the after gun, ready to
+<a name="page167"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 167]</span>
+give any orders that might be necessary in case the conversation
+took an unfriendly turn.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;May I ask the name of that wonderful craft, and to what
+I am indebted for the assistance you have given me?&quot; hailed
+the British captain.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Certainly. This is the Terrorist air-ship <i>Ithuriel</i>, and we
+disabled the French cruiser because her captain had the bad
+manners to fire upon and sink an unarmed yacht that had no
+quarrel with him. But for that we should have left you to
+fight it out.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The Terrorists, are you? If I had known that, I confess I
+should not have asked to speak you, and I tell you candidly
+that I am sorry you did not leave us to fight it out, as you say.
+As I cannot look upon you as an ally or a friend, I can only
+regret the advantage you have given me over an honourable
+foe.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+There was an emphasis on the word &quot;honourable&quot; which
+brought a flush to Arnold's cheek, as he replied&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What I did to the French cruiser I should have done
+whether you had been on the scene or not. We are as much
+your foes as we are those of France, that is to say, we are totally
+indifferent to both of you. As for <i>honourable</i> foes, I may say
+that I only disabled the French cruiser because I thought she
+had acted both unfairly and dishonourably. But we are wasting
+time. Did you merely wish to speak to us in order to find
+out who we were?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, that was my first object, I confess. I also wished to
+know whether this is the same air-ship which crossed the
+Mediterranean yesterday, and if not, how many of these
+vessels there are in existence, and what you mean to do with
+them?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Before I answer, may I ask how you know that an air-ship
+crossed the Mediterranean yesterday?&quot; asked Arnold,
+thoroughly mystified by this astounding piece of news.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We had it by telegraph at Queenstown during the night.
+She was going northward, when observed, by Larnaka&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Oh yes, that was one of our despatch boats,&quot; replied Arnold,
+forcing himself to speak with a calmness that he by no means
+felt. &quot;I'm afraid my orders will hardly allow me to answer
+your other questions very fully, but I may tell you that we
+<a name="page168"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 168]</span>
+have a fleet of air-ships at our command, all constructed in
+England under the noses of your intelligent authorities, and
+that we mean to use them as it seems best to us, should we at
+any time consider it worth our while to interfere in the game
+that the European Powers are playing with each other. Meanwhile
+we keep a position of armed neutrality. When we think
+the war has gone far enough we shall probably stop it when a
+good opportunity offers.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+This was too much for a British sailor to listen to quietly
+on his own quarter-deck, whoever said it, and so the captain
+of the <i>Andromeda</i> forgot his prudence for the moment, and
+said somewhat hotly&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Confound it, sir! you talk as if you were omnipotent and
+arbiters of peace and war. Don't go too far with your insolence,
+or I shall haul that flag of truce down and give you five
+minutes to get out of range of my guns or take your chance&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+For all answer there came a contemptuous laugh from the
+deck of the <i>Ithuriel</i>, the rapid ringing of an electric bell, and
+the disappearance of her company under cover. Then with one
+mighty leap she rose two thousand feet into the air, and before
+the astounded and disgusted captain of H.M. cruiser <i>Andromeda</i>
+very well knew what had become of her, she was a mere speck
+of light in the sky, speeding away at two hundred miles an
+hour to the westward.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as she was fairly on her course, Arnold gave up the
+wheel to one of the crew, and went into the saloon to discuss
+with Tremayne and Natas the all-important scrap of news that
+had fallen from the lips of the captain of the British cruiser.
+What was the other air-ship that had been seen crossing the
+Mediterranean?
+</p>
+<p>
+Surely it must be one of the Terrorist fleet, for there were
+no others in existence. And yet strict orders had been given
+that none of the fleet were to take the air until the <i>Ithuriel</i>
+returned. Was it possible that there were traitors, even in
+Aeria, and that the air-ship seen from Larnaka was a deserter
+going northward to the enemy, the worst enemy of all, the
+Russians?
+<a name="page169"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 169]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter23"></a>
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+A BATTLE IN THE NIGHT.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p169.png" alt="A" width="122" height="138" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+At half-past five on the morning of the 23rd of
+June, the Cunard liner <i>Aurania</i> left New York
+for Queenstown and Liverpool. She was the
+largest and swiftest passenger steamer afloat,
+and on her maiden voyage she had lowered the
+Atlantic record by no less than twelve hours;
+that is to say, she had performed the journey from Sandy Hook
+to Queenstown in four days and a half exactly. Her measurement
+was forty-five thousand tons, and her twin screws, driven
+by quadruple engines, developing sixty thousand horse-power,
+forced her through the water at the unparalleled speed of
+thirty knots, or thirty-four and a half statute miles an hour.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Since the outbreak of the war it had been found necessary
+to take all but the most powerful vessels off the Atlantic route,
+for, as had long been foreseen, the enemies of the Anglo-German
+Alliance were making the most determined efforts to
+cripple the Transatlantic trade of Britain and Germany, and
+swift, heavily-armed French and Italian cruisers, attended by
+torpedo-boats and gun-boats, and supported by battle-ships and
+depôt vessels for coaling purposes, were swarming along the
+great ocean highway.
+</p>
+<p>
+These, of course, had to be opposed by an equal or greater
+force of British warships. In fact, the burden of keeping the
+Atlantic route open fell entirely on Britain, for the German
+and Austrian fleets had all the work they were capable of
+doing nearer home in the Baltic and Mediterranean.
+</p>
+<p>
+The terrible mistake that had been made by the House of
+Lords in negativing the Italian Loan had already become
+<a name="page170"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 170]</span>
+disastrously apparent, for though the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance
+was putting forth every effort, its available ships were only just
+sufficient to keep the home waters clear and the ocean routes
+practically open, even for the fastest steamers.
+</p>
+<p>
+The task, therefore, which lay before the <i>Aurania</i> when she
+cleared American waters was little less than running the
+gauntlet for nearly three thousand miles. The French cruiser
+which had been captured by the <i>Andromeda</i>, thanks to the
+assistance of the <i>Ithuriel</i>, had left Brest with the express
+purpose of helping to intercept the great Cunarder, for she had
+crossed the Atlantic five times already without a scratch since
+the war had begun, showing a very clean pair of heels to everything
+that had attempted to overhaul her, and now on her sixth
+passage a grand effort was to be made to capture or cripple the
+famous ocean greyhound.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was by far her most important voyage in more senses
+than one. In the first place, her incomparable speed and good
+luck had made her out of sight the prime favourite with those
+passengers who were obliged to cross the Atlantic, war or no
+war, and for the same reasons she also carried more mails and
+specie than any other liner, and this voyage she had an
+enormously valuable consignment of both on board. As for
+passengers, every available foot of space was taken for months
+in advance.
+</p>
+<p>
+Enterprising agents on both sides of the water had bought
+up every berth from stem to stern, and had put them up to
+auction, realising fabulous prices, which had little chance of
+being abated, even when her sister ship the <i>Sidonia</i>, the construction
+of which was being pushed forward on the Clyde with
+all possible speed, was ready to take the water.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the chief importance of this particular passage lay,
+though barely half a dozen persons were aware of it, in the
+fact that among her passengers was Michael Roburoff, chief of
+the American Section of the Terrorists, who was bringing to
+the Council his report of the work of the Brotherhood in the
+United States, together with the information which he had
+collected, by means of an army of spies, as to the true intentions
+of the American Government with regard to the war.
+</p>
+<p>
+These, so far as the rest of the world was concerned, were
+a profound secret, and he was the only man outside the
+<a name="page171"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 171]</span>
+President's Cabinet and the Tsar's Privy Council who had
+accurate information with regard to them. The <i>Aurania</i> was
+therefore not only carrying mails, treasure, and passengers,
+but, in the person of Michael Roburoff, she was carrying
+secrets on the revelation of which the whole issue of the war
+and the destiny of the world might turn.
+</p>
+<p>
+America was the one great Power not involved in the tremendous
+struggle that was being waged. The most astute
+diplomatist in Europe had no idea what her real policy was,
+but every one knew that the side on which she threw the
+weight of her boundless wealth and vast resources must
+infallibly win in the long run.
+</p>
+<p>
+The plan that had been adopted by Britain for keeping the
+Atlantic route open was briefly as follows:&mdash;All along the
+3000 miles of the steamer track a battleship was stationed at
+the end of every day's run, that is to say, at intervals of about
+500 miles, and patrolled within a radius of 100 miles. Each
+of these was attended by two heavily-armed cruisers and four
+torpedo-boats, while between these points swifter cruisers were
+constantly running to and fro convoying the liners.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus, when the <i>Aurania</i> left New York, she was picked up
+on the limit of the American water by two cruisers, which
+would keep pace with her as well as they could until she
+reached the first battleship. As she passed the ironclad these
+two would leave her, and the next two would take up the
+running, and so on until she reached the range of operations of
+the Irish Squadron.
+</p>
+<p>
+No other Power in the world could have maintained such a
+system of ocean police, but Britain was putting forth the whole
+of her mighty naval strength, and so she spared neither ships
+nor money to keep open the American and Canadian routes,
+for on them nearly half her food-supply depended, as well as
+her chief line of communication with the far East.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the other hand, her enemies were making desperate
+efforts to break the chain of steel that was thus stretched
+across the hemisphere, for they well knew that, this once
+broken, the first real triumph of the war would have been
+won.
+</p>
+<p>
+Five hundred miles out from New York the <i>Aurania</i> was
+joined by the <i>Oceana</i>, the largest vessel on the Canadian Pacific
+<a name="page172"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 172]</span>
+line from Halifax to Liverpool. So far no enemy had been
+seen. The two great liners reached the first battleship
+together, and were joined by the second pair of cruisers. Before
+sunset the Cunarder had drawn ahead of her companions, and
+by nightfall was racing away alone over the water with every
+light carefully concealed, and keeping an eager look-out for
+friend or foe.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no moon, and the sky was so heavily overcast
+with clouds, that, under any other circumstances, it would
+have been the height of rashness to go rushing through the
+darkness at such a headlong speed. But the captain of the
+<i>Aurania</i> was aware of the state of the road, and he knew that
+in speed and secrecy lay his only chances of getting his magnificent
+vessel through in safety.
+</p>
+<p>
+Soon after ten o'clock lights were sighted dead ahead. The
+course was slightly altered, and the great liner swept past one
+of the North German Lloyd boats in company with a cruiser.
+The private signal was made and answered, and in half an hour
+she was again alone amidst the darkness.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was nearly eleven o'clock, when Michael Roburoff, who
+was standing under the lee of one of the ventilators amidships,
+smoking a last pipe before turning in, saw a figure muffled in a
+huge grey ulster creeping into the deeper shadows under the
+bridge. It was so dark that he could only just make out the
+outline of the figure, but he could see enough to rouse his ever
+ready suspicions in the furtive movements that the man was
+making.
+</p>
+<p>
+He stole out on the starboard, that is the southward, rail of
+the spar-deck, and Michael, straining his eyes to the utmost,
+saw him take a round flat object from under his coat, and then
+look round stealthily to see if he was observed. As he did so
+Michael whipped a pistol out of his pocket, levelled it at the
+man, and said in a low, distinct tone&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Put that back, or I'll shoot!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+For all answer the man raised his arm to throw the object
+overboard. Michael, taking the best aim he could in the darkness,
+fired. The bullet struck the elbow of the raised arm, the
+man lurched forward with a low cry of rage and pain, grasped
+the object with his other hand, and, as he fell to the deck, flung
+it into the sea.
+<a name="page173"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 173]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Scarcely had it touched the water when it burst into flame,
+and an intensely bright blaze of bluish-white light shot up,
+shattering the darkness, and illuminating the great ship from
+the waterline to the trucks of her masts. Instantly the deck
+of the liner was a scene of wild excitement. In a moment the
+man whom Roburoff had wounded was secured in the act
+of trying to throw himself overboard. Michael himself was
+rapidly questioned by the captain, who was immediately on
+the spot.
+</p>
+<p>
+He told his story in a dozen words, and explained that he
+had fired to disable the man and prevent the fire-signal falling
+into the sea. There was no doubt about the guilt of the traitor,
+for he himself cut the captain's interrogation short by saying
+defiantly, in broken English that at once betrayed him as a
+Frenchman&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yees, I do it! I give signal to ze fleet down there. If I
+succeeded, I got half million francs. I fail, so shoot! C'est la
+fortune de la guerre! Voilà, look! They come!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As the spy said this he pointed to the south-eastern horizon.
+A brief bright flash of white light went up through the night
+and vanished. It was the answering signal from the French
+or Italian cruisers, which were making all speed up from the
+south-east to head off the <i>Aurania</i> before she reached the next
+station and gained the protection of the British battleship.
+</p>
+<p>
+The spy's words were only too true. He had gone to
+America for the sole purpose of returning in the <i>Aurania</i>
+and giving the signal at this particular point on the passage.
+Within ten miles were four of the fleetest French and Italian
+cruisers, six torpedo-boats, and two battleships, which, by
+keeping well to the southward during the day, and then
+putting on all steam as soon as night fell, had managed to head
+off the ocean greyhound at last.
+</p>
+<p>
+Two cruisers and a battleship with two torpedo-boats were
+coming up from the south-east; one cruiser, the other battleship,
+and two torpedo-boats were bearing down from the south-west,
+and the remaining cruiser and brace of torpedo-boats had
+managed to slip through the British line and gain a position to
+the northward.
+</p>
+<p>
+This large force had not been brought up without good
+reason. The <i>Aurania</i> was the biggest prize afloat, and well
+<a name="page174"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 174]</span>
+worth fighting for, if it came to blows, as it very probably
+would do; added to which there was a very good chance of
+one or two other liners falling victims to a well-planned and
+successful raid.
+</p>
+<p>
+The French spy was at once sent below and put into safe
+keeping, and the signal to &quot;stoke up&quot; was sent to the engine-rooms.
+The firemen responded with a will, extra hands were
+put on in the stokeholes, and the furnaces taxed to their utmost
+capacity. The boilers palpitated under the tremendous head
+of steam, the engines throbbed and groaned like labouring
+giants, and the great ship, trembling like some live animal
+under the lash, rushed faster and faster over the long dark
+rollers under the impulse of her whirling screws.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no longer any need for concealment even if it
+had been possible. Speed and speed only afforded the sole
+chance of escape. Of course the captain of the <i>Aurania</i> had
+no idea of the strength or disposition of the force that had
+undertaken his capture. Had he known the true state of the
+case, his anxiety would have been a good deal greater than it
+was. He fully believed that he could outsteam the vessels to
+the south-east, and, once past these, he knew that he would be
+in touch with the British ships at the next station before any
+harm could come to him. He therefore headed a little more to
+the northward, and trusted with perfect confidence to his heels.
+</p>
+<p>
+Michael Roburoff was the hero of the moment, and the captain
+cordially thanked him for his prompt attempt to frustrate the
+atrocious act of the spy which deliberately endangered the
+liberty and perhaps the lives of more than a thousand non-combatants.
+Michael, however, cut his thanks short by taking
+him aside and asking him what he thought of the position of
+affairs. He spoke so seriously that the captain thought
+he was frightened, and by way of reassuring him replied
+cheerily&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Don't have any fear for the <i>Aurania</i>, Mr. Roburoff. That's
+only a cruiser, or perhaps a couple, down there, and the enemy
+haven't a ship that I can't give a good five knots and a beating
+to. We shall sight the British ships soon after daybreak, and
+by that time those fellows will be fifty miles behind us.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I have as much confidence in the <i>Aurania's</i> speed as you
+have, Captain Frazer,&quot; replied Michael, &quot;but I'm afraid you
+<a name="page175"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 175]</span>
+are underrating the enemy's strength. Do you know that
+within the last few days it has been almost doubled, and that
+a determined effort is to be made, not only to catch or sink the
+<i>Aurania</i>, but also to break the British line of posts, and cut
+the line of American and Canadian communication altogether?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No, sir,&quot; replied the captain, looking sharply at Michael.
+&quot;I don't know anything of the sort, neither do the commanders
+of the British warships on this side. If your information is
+correct, I should like to know how you came by it. You are a
+Russian by name&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;But not a subject of the Tsar,&quot; quickly interrupted Michael.
+&quot;I am an American citizen, and I have come by this information
+not as the friend of Russia, as you seem to suspect, but as
+her enemy, or rather as the enemy of her ruler. How I got it
+is my business. It is enough for you to know that it is correct,
+and that you are in far greater danger than you think you are.
+The signal given by that French spy was evidently part of
+a prearranged plan, and for all you know you may even now
+be surrounded, or steaming straight into a trap that has been
+laid for you. If I may advise, I would earnestly counsel you
+to double on your course and make every effort to rejoin the
+other liner and the cruisers we have passed.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Nonsense, sir, nonsense!&quot; answered the captain testily.
+&quot;Our watch-dogs are far too wide awake to be caught napping
+like that. You have been deceived by one of the rumours that
+are filling the air just now. You can go to your berth and
+sleep in peace, and to-morrow you shall be half-way across
+the Atlantic without an enemy's ship in sight.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Captain Frazer,&quot; said Michael very seriously, &quot;with your
+leave I shall not go to my berth; and what is more, I can tell
+you that very few of us will get much sleep to-night, and that
+if you do not back I hardly think you will be flying the British
+flag to-morrow. Ha! look there&mdash;and there!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Michael seized the captain's arm suddenly, and pointed
+rapidly to the south-east and north-east. Two thin rays of
+light flashed up into the sky one after the other. Then came
+a third from the south-west, and then darkness again. At the
+same instant came the hails from the look-outs announcing
+the lights.
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain Frazer was wrong, and he saw that he was at a
+<a name="page176"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 176]</span>
+glance. The flash in the north-east could not be from a friend,
+for it was a plain answer to the known enemy in the south-east,
+and so too in all probability was the third. If so, the
+<i>Aurania</i> was almost surrounded.
+</p>
+<p>
+The captain wasted no words in confessing his error, but ran
+up on to the bridge to rectify it as far as he could at once.
+The helm was put hard over, the port screw was reversed, and
+the steamer swung round in a wide sweep, and was soon
+speeding back westward over her own tracks. An hour's
+run brought her in sight of the lights of the <i>North German</i>
+and her escort. She slowed as she passed them, and told the
+news. Then she sped on again at full-speed to meet the
+<i>Oceana</i> and the two cruisers, which were about fifty miles
+behind.
+</p>
+<p>
+By one <span class="allsmcap">A.M.</span> the three cruisers and the three liners had joined
+forces, and were steaming westward at twenty knots an hour,
+the liners in single file led by a cruiser, and having one on each
+beam. Soon the flashes on the horizon grew more frequent,
+always drawing closer together.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then those in the westward dropped from the perpendicular
+to the horizontal, and swept the water as though seeking something.
+It was not long before the darting rays of one of the
+searchlights fell across the track of the British flotilla.
+Instantly from all three points converging flashes were concentrated
+upon it, revealing the outline of every ship with the
+most perfect distinctness.
+</p>
+<p>
+The last hope of running through the hostile fleet unperceived
+had now vanished. There was nothing for it but to go
+ahead full-speed, and trust to the chances of a running fight to
+get clear. With a view of finding out the strength of the
+enemy, the British cruisers now turned their searchlights on
+and swept the horizon.
+</p>
+<p>
+A very few moments sufficed to show that an overwhelming
+force was closing in on them from three sides. They were
+completely caught in a trap, from which there was no escape
+save by running the gauntlet. Whichever way they headed
+they would have to pass through the converging fire of the
+enemy.
+</p>
+<p>
+The weakest point, so far as they could see, was the one
+cruiser and two torpedo-boats to the northward, and so towards
+<a name="page177"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 177]</span>
+them they headed. At the speed at which they were travelling
+it needed but a few minutes to bring them within range,
+and the British commanders rightly decided to concentrate
+their fire for the present on the single cruiser and her two
+attendants, in the hope of sinking them before the others
+could get into action.
+</p>
+<p>
+At three thousand yards the heavy guns came into play, and a
+storm of shell was hurled upon the advancing foe, who lost no
+time in replying in the same terms. As the vessels approached
+each other the shooting became closer and terribly effective.
+</p>
+<p>
+The searchlights of the British cruisers were kept full
+ahead, and every attempt of the torpedo-boats to get round on
+the flank was foiled by a hail of shot from the quick-firing
+guns. Within fifteen minutes of opening fire one of these was
+sunk and the other disabled. The French cruiser, too, suffered
+fearfully from the tempest of shot and shell that was rained
+upon her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Had the British got within range of her half an hour sooner
+the plan would have been completely foiled. As it was, her
+fate was sealed, but it was too late. The three British warships
+rushed at her together, vomiting flame and smoke and iron
+across the rapidly-decreasing distance, until within five hundred
+yards of her. Then the fire from the two on either flank
+suddenly stopped.
+</p>
+<p>
+The centre one, still blazing away, put on her forced draught,
+swerved sharply round, and then darted in on her with the
+ram. There was a terrific shock, a heavy, grinding crunch,
+and then the mighty mass of the charging vessel, hurled at
+nearly thirty miles an hour upon her victim, bored and ground
+her resistless way into her side.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then she suddenly reversed her engines and backed out.
+In less than thirty seconds it was all over. The Frenchman,
+almost cut in half by the frightful blow, reeled once, and once
+only, and then went down like a stone.
+</p>
+<p>
+But by this time the other two divisions of the enemy were
+within range, and through the roar of the lighter artillery now
+came the deep, sullen boom of the big guns on the battleships,
+and the great thousand-pound projectiles began to scream
+through the air and fling the water up into mountains of foam
+where they pitched.
+<a name="page178"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 178]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Where one of them struck, death and destruction would
+follow as surely as though it were a thunderbolt from Heaven.
+The three liners scattered and steamed away to the northward
+as fast as their propellers would drive them. But what was
+their utmost speed to that of the projectiles cleaving through
+the air at more than two thousand feet a second?
+</p>
+<p>
+See! one at length strikes the German liner square amidships,
+and bursts. There is a horrible explosion. The searchlight
+thrown on her shows a cloud of steam and smoke and
+flame rising up from her riven decks. Where her funnels
+were is a huge ragged black hole. This is visible for an
+instant, then her back breaks, and in two halves she follows
+the French cruiser to the bottom of the Atlantic.
+</p>
+<p>
+The sinking of the German liner was the signal for the
+appearance of a new actor on the scene, and the commencement
+of a work of destruction more appalling than anything
+that human warfare had so far known.
+</p>
+<p>
+Michael Roburoff, standing on the spar-deck of the flying
+<i>Aurania</i>, suddenly saw a bright stream of light shoot down
+from the clouds, and flash hither and thither, till it hovered
+over the advancing French and Italian squadron. For the
+moment the combat ceased, so astounded were the combatants
+on both sides at this mysterious apparition.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, without the slightest warning, with no flash or roar
+of guns, there came a series of frightful explosions among the
+ships of the pursuers. They followed each other so quickly
+that the darkness behind the electric lights seemed lit with a
+continuous blaze of livid green flame for three or four minutes.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then there was darkness and silence. Black darkness and
+absolute silence. The searchlights were extinguished, and
+the roar of the artillery was still. The British waited in dazed
+silence for it to begin again, but it never did. The whole of
+the pursuing squadron had been annihilated.
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p178a.jpg" alt="This mysterious apparition." width="640" height="437" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;This mysterious apparition.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page178">page 178</a>.</i>
+<a name="page179"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 179]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter24"></a>
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE NEW WARFARE.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p179.png" alt="I" width="116" height="133" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+It will now be necessary, in order to insure the
+continuity of the narrative, to lay before the
+reader a brief sketch of the course of events
+in Europe from the actual commencement of
+hostilities on a general scale between the two
+immense forces which may be most conveniently
+designated as the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance and the
+Franco-Slavonian League.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+In order that these two terms may be fully understood, it
+will be well to explain their general constitution. When the
+two forces, into which the declaration of war ultimately
+divided the nations of Europe, faced each other for the
+struggle which was to decide the mastery of the Western
+world, the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance consisted primarily of
+Britain, Germany, and Austria, and, ranged under its banner,
+whether from choice or necessity, stood Holland, Belgium, and
+Denmark in the north-west, with Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey
+in the south-west.
+</p>
+<p>
+Egypt was strongly garrisoned for the land defence of the
+Suez Canal and the high road to the East by British, Indian,
+and Turkish troops. British and Belgian troops held Antwerp
+and the fortresses of the Belgian Quadrilateral in force.
+</p>
+<p>
+A powerful combined fleet of British, Danish, and Dutch
+war vessels of all classes held the approaches by the Sound
+and Kattegat to the Baltic Sea, and co-operated in touch with
+the German fleet; the Dutch and the German having, at any
+rate for the time being, and under the pressure of irresistible
+circumstances, laid aside their hereditary national hatred,
+<a name="page180"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 180]</span>
+and consented to act as allies under suitable guarantees to
+Holland.
+</p>
+<p>
+The co-operation of Denmark had been secured, in spite of
+the family connections existing between the Danish and the
+Russian Courts, and the rancour still remaining from the old
+Schleswig-Holstein quarrel, by very much the same means
+that had been taken in the historic days of the Battle of the
+Baltic. It is true that matters had not gone so far as they
+went when Nelson disobeyed orders by putting his telescope
+to his blind eye, and engaged the Danish fleet in spite of the
+signals; but a demonstration of such overwhelming force
+had been made by sea and land on the part of Britain and
+Germany, that the House of Dagmar had bowed to the inevitable,
+and ranged itself on the side of the Anglo-Teutonic
+Alliance.
+</p>
+<p>
+Marshalled against this imposing array of naval and military
+force stood the Franco-Slavonian League, consisting primarily
+of France, Russia, and Italy, supported&mdash;whether by consent
+or necessity&mdash;by Spain, Portugal, and Servia. The co-operation
+of Spain had been purchased by the promise of Gibraltar at
+the conclusion of the war, and that of Portugal by the guarantee
+of a largely increased sphere of influence on the West Coast of
+Africa, plus the Belgian States of the Congo.
+</p>
+<p>
+Roumania and Switzerland remained neutral, the former to
+be a battlefield for the neighbouring Powers, and the latter
+for the present safe behind her ramparts of everlasting snow
+and ice. Scandinavia also remained neutral, the sport of the
+rival diplomacies of East and West, but not counted of sufficient
+importance to materially influence the colossal struggle one
+way or the other.
+</p>
+<p>
+In round numbers the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance had seven
+millions of men on the war footing, including, of course, the
+Indian and Colonial forces of the British Empire, while in
+case of necessity urgent levies were expected to produce
+between two and three millions more. Opposed to these, the
+Franco-Slavonian League had about ten millions under arms,
+with nearly three millions in reserve.
+</p>
+<p>
+As regards naval strength, the Alliance was able to pit
+rather more than a thousand warships of all classes, and about
+the same number of torpedo-boats, against nearly nine hundred
+<a name="page181"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 181]</span>
+warships and about seven hundred torpedo-boats at the disposal
+of the League.
+</p>
+<p>
+In addition to this latter armament, it is very necessary to
+name a fleet of a hundred war-balloons of the type mentioned
+in an earlier chapter, fifty of which belonged to Russia and
+fifty to France. No other European Power possessed any
+engine of destruction that was capable of being efficiently
+matched against the invention of M. Riboult, who was now
+occupying the position of Director of the a&euml;rial fleet in the
+service of the League.
+</p>
+<p>
+It would be both a tedious repetition of sickening descriptions
+of scenes of bloodshed and a useless waste of space, to
+enumerate in detail all the series of conflicts by sea and land
+which resulted from the collision of the tremendous forces
+which were thus arrayed against each other in a conflict that
+was destined to be unparalleled in the history of the human
+race.
+</p>
+<p>
+To do so would be to occupy pages filled with more or less
+technical descriptions of strategic movements, marches, and
+countermarches, skirmishes, reconnaissances, and battles, which
+followed each other with such unparalleled rapidity that the
+combined efforts of the war correspondents of the European
+press proved entirely inadequate to keep pace with them in
+the form of anything like a continuous narrative.
+</p>
+<p>
+It will therefore be necessary to ask the reader to remain
+content with such brief summary as has been given, supplemented
+with the following extracts from a very lengthy <i>résumé</i>
+of the leading events of the war up to date, which were
+published in a special War Supplement issued by the <i>Daily
+Telegraph</i> on the morning of Tuesday the 28th of June 1904:&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Although little more than a period of six weeks has elapsed
+since the actual outbreak of hostilities which marked the
+commencement of what, be its issue what it may, must
+indubitably prove the most colossal struggle in the history of
+human warfare, changes have already occurred which must
+infallibly mark their effect upon the future destiny of the
+world. Almost as soon as the first shot was fired the nations
+of Europe, as if by instinct or under the influence of some
+power higher than that of international diplomacy, automatically
+marshalled themselves into the two most mighty
+<a name="page182"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 182]</span>
+hosts that have ever trod the field of battle since man first
+fought with man.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Not less than twenty millions of men are at this moment
+facing each other under arms throughout the area of the war.
+These are almost equally divided; for, although what is now
+known as the Franco-Slavonian League has some three
+millions of men more on land, it may be safely stated that
+the preponderance of naval strength possessed by the Anglo-Teutonic
+Alliance fully counterbalances this advantage.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There is, however, another most important element which
+has now for the first time been introduced into warfare, and
+which, although it is most unhappily arrayed amongst the
+forces opposed to our own country and her gallant allies, it
+would be both idle and most imprudent to ignore. We refer,
+of course, to the two fleets of war-balloons, or, as it would be
+more correct to call them, navigable aerostats, possessed by
+France and Russia.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;So tremendous has been the influence which these terrible
+inventions have exercised upon the course of the war, that we
+are not transgressing the bounds of sober truth when we say
+that they have utterly disconcerted and brought to nought the
+highest strategy and the most skilfully devised plans of the
+brilliant array of masters of the military art whose presence
+adorns the ranks and enlightens the councils of the Alliance.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Since the day when the Russians crossed the German
+and Austrian frontiers, and the troops of France and Italy
+simultaneously flung themselves across the western frontiers
+of Germany and through the passes of the Tyrol, their progress,
+unparalleled in rapidity even by the marvellous marches
+of Napoleon, has been marked, not by what we have hitherto
+been accustomed to call battles, but rather by a series of
+colossal butcheries.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In every case of any moment the method of procedure on
+the part of the attacking forces has been the same, and, with
+the deepest regret we confess it, it has been marked with the
+same unvarying success. Whenever a large army has been
+set in motion upon a predetermined point of attack, whether
+a fortress, an entrenched camp, or a strongly occupied position
+in the field, a squadron of aerostats has winged its way through
+the air under cover of the darkness of night, and silently and
+<a name="page183"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 183]</span>
+unperceived has marked the disposition of forces, the approximate
+strength of the army or the position to be attacked, and,
+as far as they were observable, the points upon which the
+attack could be most favourably delivered. Then they have
+returned with their priceless information, and, according to it,
+the assailants have been able, in every case so far, to make
+their assault where least expected, and to make it, moreover,
+upon an already partially demoralised force.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;From the detailed descriptions which we have already
+published of battles and sieges, or rather of the storming of
+great fortresses, it will be remembered that every assault on
+the part of the troops of the League has been preceded by a
+preliminary and irresistible attack from the clouds.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The aerostats have stationed themselves at great elevations
+over the ramparts of fortresses and the bivouacs of
+armies, and have rained down a hail of dynamite, melinite,
+fire-shells and cyanogen poison-grenades, which have at once
+put guns out of action, blown up magazines, rendered
+fortifications untenable, and rent masses of infantry and
+squadrons of cavalry into demoralised fragments, before they
+had the time or the opportunity to strike a blow in reply.
+Then upon these silenced batteries, these wrecked fortifications,
+and these demoralised brigades, there has been
+poured a storm of artillery fire from the untouched enemy,
+advancing in perfect order, and inspired with high-spirited
+confidence, which has been irresistibly opposed to the demoralisation
+of their enemies.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Is it any wonder, or any disgrace, to the defeated, that
+under such novel and appalling conditions the orderly and
+disciplined onslaughts of the legions of the League have in
+almost every case been completely successful? The sober
+truth is that the invention and employment of these devastating
+appliances have completely altered the face of the field of
+battle and the conditions of modern warfare. It is not in human
+valour, no matter how heroic or self-devoted it may be, to
+oppose itself with anything like confidence to an enemy which
+strikes from the skies, and cannot be struck in return.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It was thus that the battles of Alexandrovo, Kalisz, and
+Czernowicz were won in the early stages of the war upon the
+Austro-German frontier. So, too, in the Rhine Provinces, were
+<a name="page184"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 184]</span>
+the battles of Treves, Mulhausen, and Freiburg turned by the
+aid of the French aerostats from battles into butcheries. It
+was under the assault of these irresistible engines that the
+great fortresses of Königsberg, Thorn, Breslau, Strasburg, and
+Metz, to say nothing of many minor, but strongly fortified,
+places, were first reduced to a state of impotence for defence,
+and then battered into ruins by the siege-guns of the assailants.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;All these terrible events, forming a series of catastrophes
+unparalleled in the annals of war, are still fresh in the minds
+of our readers, for they have followed one upon the other with
+almost stupefying rapidity, and it is yet hardly six weeks since
+the Cossacks and Uhlans were engaged in their first skirmish
+near Gnesen.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;This is an amazingly brief space of time for the fate of
+empires to be decided, and yet we are forced, with the utmost
+sorrow and reluctance, to admit that what were two months
+ago the magnificently disciplined and equipped armies of
+Germany and Austria, are now completely shattered and broken
+up into fragmentary and isolated army corps, decimated as to
+numbers and demoralised as to discipline, gathered in and
+about such strong places as are left to them, and awaiting
+only with the courage of desperation the moment, we fear the
+inevitable moment, when they shall be finally crushed between
+the rapidly converging hosts of the victorious League.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Within the next few days, Berlin, Hanover, Prague,
+Munich, and Vienna must be invested, and may possibly be
+destroyed or compelled to ignominious and unconditional
+surrender by the irresistible forces that will be arrayed against
+them.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Meanwhile, with still deeper regret, we are forced to confess
+that those operations in the Low Countries and the east
+of Europe and Asia Minor in which our own gallant troops
+have been engaged in conjunction with their several allies,
+have been, if not equally disastrous, at least void of any
+tangible success.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Erzeroum, Trebizond, and Scutari have fallen; the passes of
+the Balkans have been forced, although at immense cost to the
+enemy; Belgrade has been stormed; Adrianople is invested,
+and Constantinople is therefore most seriously threatened.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;By heroic efforts the French attack upon the Quadrilateral
+<a name="page185"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 185]</span>
+has been rolled back at a fearful expense of human life.
+Antwerp is still untouched, and the command of the Baltic is
+still ours. In our own waters, as well as in the Atlantic and
+the Mediterranean, we have won victories which prove that
+Great Britain is still the unconquered, and we trust unconquerable,
+mistress of the seas. We have kept the Dardanelles
+open, and the Suez Canal is still inviolate.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Two combined attacks, delivered by the allied French and
+Italian squadrons on Malta and Gibraltar, have been repulsed
+by Admiral Beresford with heavy loss to the enemy, thanks
+to the timely warning delivered to Mr. Balfour by the Earl of
+Alanmere&mdash;upon whose mysterious disappearance we comment
+in another column&mdash;and the Prime Minister's prompt and
+statesmanlike action in doubling the strength of the Mediterranean
+fleet before the outbreak of hostilities.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Thanks to the tireless activity and splendid handling of
+the Channel fleet, the North Sea Division, and the Irish
+Squadron, the enemy's flag has been practically swept from
+the home waters, and the shores of our beloved country are as
+inviolate as they have been for more than seven centuries.
+These brilliant achievements go far to compensate us as an
+individual nation for the disasters which have befallen our
+allies on the Continent, and, in addition, we have the satisfaction
+of knowing that, so far, the most complete success has
+attended our arms in the East, and that the repeated and
+determined assaults of our Russian foes have been triumphantly
+hurled back from the impregnable bulwarks of our
+Indian Empire.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It has been pointed out, and it would be vain to ignore
+the fact, that not only have all our victories been won in the
+absence of the a&euml;rial fleets of the League; but that we, in
+common with our allies, have been worsted in each of the
+happily few cases in which even one of these terrible aerostats
+has delivered its assaults upon us. Against this, however, we
+take leave to set our belief that these machines do not yet
+inspire sufficient confidence in their possessors to warrant
+them in undertaking operations above the sea, or at any considerable
+distance from their bases of man&oelig;uvring. It is true
+that we are entirely ignorant of the essentials of their construction;
+but the fact that no attempt has yet been made to
+<a name="page186"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 186]</span>
+send them into action over blue water inspires us with the
+hope and belief that their effective range of operations is
+confined to the land....
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It would be superfluous to say that the British Empire is
+now involved in a struggle in comparison with which all our
+former wars sink into absolute insignificance, a struggle which
+will tax its immense resources to the very utmost. Nothing,
+however, has yet occurred to warrant the belief that those
+resources will not prove equal to the strain, or that the greatest
+empire on earth will not emerge from this combat of the
+giants with her ancient glory enhanced by new and hitherto
+unequalled triumphs.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Certainly at no period in our history have we been so
+splendidly prepared to face our enemies both at home and
+abroad. All arms of the Services are in the highest state of
+efficiency, and the Government dockyards and arsenals, as
+well as private firms, are working day and night to still further
+strengthen them, and provide ample supplies of munitions of
+war. The hearts of all the nations united under our flag are
+beating as that of one man, and from the highest to the lowest
+ranks of Society all are inspired by a spirit of whole-souled
+patriotism which, if necessary, will make any sacrifice to preserve
+the flag untarnished, and the honour of Britain without
+a spot.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;At the head of affairs stands the man who of all others
+has proved himself to be the most fitted to direct the destinies
+of the empire in this tremendous crisis of her history. Party
+feeling for the time being has almost entirely disappeared,
+save amongst the few scattered bands of isolated Revolutionaries
+and malcontents, and Mr. Balfour possesses the
+absolute confidence of his Majesty on the one hand, and the
+undivided support of an impregnable majority in both Houses
+of Parliament on the other. He is admirably seconded by
+such lieutenants as Lord Randolph Churchill, Sir Joseph
+Chamberlain, and Sir George J. Goschen on his own side of
+the House, and by the Earls of Rosebery and Morley, Lord
+Brassey, and Sir Charles Dilke in what, previous to the outbreak
+of the war, was the opposing political camp, but which
+is now a party as loyal as that of the Government to the best
+interests of the Empire, and fully determined to give the
+<a name="page187"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 187]</span>
+utmost possible moral support consistent with fair and
+impartial criticism.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The disastrous mistake which was made by a very small
+majority of the Upper House in rejecting the Government
+guarantee for the ill-fated Italian loan is now, of course, past
+repair; for Italy, as events have proved, exasperated by what
+her spokesmen termed her selfish betrayal by Britain, has
+passionately thrown herself into the arms of the League, and
+the Alliance has now no more bitter enemy than she is. It
+is, however, only justice to those who defeated the loan to
+add that they have now clearly seen and frankly owned their
+grievous mistake, and rallied as one man to the support of the
+Government.&quot;
+<a name="page188"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 188]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter25"></a>
+CHAPTER XXV.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE HERALDS OF DISASTER.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p188.png" alt="A" width="121" height="138" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+Another column in the same issue contained
+an account of the &quot;Mysterious Disappearance
+of Lord Alanmere&quot; and the doings of the
+<i>Ithuriel</i> in the Atlantic. The account concluded
+as follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+&quot;As the enemy's squadron came up in chase
+it was annihilated without warning and with appalling suddenness
+by the air-ship, which must have crossed the Atlantic in
+something like sixteen hours. After this fearful achievement
+it descended to the <i>Aurania</i>, took off a saloon passenger named
+Michael Roburoff, evidently, from his reception, a Terrorist
+himself, and then vanished through the clouds. For the
+present, and until we have fuller information, we attempt no
+detailed analysis of these astounding events. We merely
+content ourselves with saying in the most solemn words that
+we can use, that, awful and disastrous as is the war that is
+now raging throughout the greatest part of the old world,
+it is our firm belief that, behind the smoke-clouds of battle,
+and beneath the surface of visible events, there is working a
+secret power, possibly greater than any which has yet been
+called into action, and which at an unexpected moment may
+suddenly put forth its strength, upheave the foundations of
+Society, and bury existing institutions in the ruins of
+Civilisation.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;One fact is quite manifest, and that is, that although the
+League possesses a weapon of fearful efficiency for destruction
+in their fleet of aerostats, the Terrorists, controlled by no law
+<a name="page189"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 189]</span>
+save their own, and hampered by no traditions or limitations
+of civilised warfare, are in command of another fleet of unknown
+strength, the air-ships of which are apparently as superior to
+the aerostats of the League as a modern battleship would be
+to a three-decker of the time of Nelson.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The power represented by such a fleet as this is absolutely
+inconceivable. The aerostats are large, clumsy, and comparatively
+slow. They do not carry guns, and can only
+drop their projectiles vertically downwards. Moreover, their
+sphere of operations has so far been entirely confined to the
+land.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very different, however, would seem to be the powers of
+the Terrorist air-ships. They have proved conclusively that
+they are swift almost beyond imagination. They have crossed
+oceans and continents in a few hours; they can ascend to
+enormous heights, and they carry artillery of unknown design
+and tremendous range, whose projectiles excel in destructiveness
+the very lightnings of heaven itself.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In the presence of such an awful and mysterious power as
+this even the quarrels of nations seem to shrink into unimportance,
+and almost to pettiness. Where and when it may
+strike, no man knows save those who wield it, and therefore
+there is nothing for the peoples of the earth, however mighty
+they may be, to do but to await the blow in humiliating
+impotence, but still with a humble trust in that Higher Power
+which alone can save it from accomplishing the destruction of
+Society and the enslavement of the human race.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+It may well be imagined with what interest, and it may
+fairly be added with what intense anxiety, these words were
+read by hundreds of thousands of people throughout the
+British Islands. Even the news from the Seat of War began
+to pall in interest before such tidings as these, invested as they
+were with the irresistible if terrible charm of the unknown
+and the mysterious.
+</p>
+<p>
+By noon it was almost impossible to get any one in London
+or any of the large towns to talk of anything but the disappearance
+of Lord Alanmere, the Terrorists, and their marvellous
+a&euml;rial fleet. But it goes without saying that nowhere did the
+news produce greater distress or more utter bewilderment than
+it did among the occupants of Alanmere Castle, and especially
+<a name="page190"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 190]</span>
+in the breast of her who had been so quickly and so strangely
+installed as its new owner and mistress.
+</p>
+<p>
+Everywhere the wildest rumours passed from lip to lip,
+growing in sensation and absurdity as they went. A report,
+telegraphed by an anonymous idiot from Liverpool, to the
+effect that six air-ships had appeared over the Mersey, and
+demanded a ransom of £10,000,000 from the town, was eagerly
+seized on by the cheaper evening papers, which rushed out
+edition after edition on the strength of it, until the <i>St. James's
+Gazette</i> put an end to the excitement by publishing a telegram
+from the Mayor of Liverpool denouncing the report as an
+insane and criminal hoax.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next edition of the <i>St. James's</i>, however, contained a
+telegram from Hiorring, in Denmark, <i>viâ</i> Newcastle, which
+was of almost, if not quite, as startling and disquieting a
+nature, and which, moreover, contained a very considerable
+measure of truth. The telegram ran as follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<span class="smcap">Naval Disaster in the Baltic.</span>
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<i>The Sound forced by a Russian Squadron, assisted by a Terrorist Air-Ship.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+(<i>From our own Correspondent.</i>)
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+Hiorring, <i>June 28th</i>, 8 <span class="allsmcap">A.M.</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+With the deepest regret I have to record the first naval disaster to the
+British arms during the present war. As soon as it became dark last night
+heavy firing was heard from Copenhagen to the southward, and before long the
+sound deepened into an almost continuous roar of light and heavy guns.
+</p>
+<p>
+Our naval force in the Baltic was so strong that it was deemed incredible
+that the Russian fleet, which we have held imprisoned here since the commencement
+of hostilities, should dream even of making an attempt to escape. The
+cannonade, however, was the beginning of such an attempt, and it is useless
+disguising the fact that it has been completely successful. That this would
+have been the case, or, indeed, that the attempt would ever have been made
+by the Russian fleet alone, cannot be for a moment credited. But, incredible
+as it seems, it is nevertheless true that it was assisted, and that in a practically
+irresistible fashion, by one of those air-ships which have hitherto been believed
+to belong exclusively to the Terrorists, that is to say, to the deadliest enemies
+that Russia possesses.
+</p>
+<p>
+As nearly as is known the Russian fleet consisted of twelve battleships,
+twenty-five armoured and unarmoured cruisers, and about forty torpedo-boats.
+These came charging ahead at full speed into the entrance to the Sound in spite
+of the overwhelming force of the Allied fleets, supported by the fortresses of
+Copenhagen and Elsinore. The attack was so sudden and so completely unexpected,
+that it must be confessed the defenders were to a certain extent taken
+<a name="page191"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 191]</span>
+unawares. The Russians came on in the form of an elongated wedge, their
+most powerful vessels being at the apex and external sides.
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p190b.jpg" alt="On the water the results of the air-ships's attack were destructive almost beyond description." width="640" height="408" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;On the water the results of the air-ship's attack were destructive almost beyond description.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page191">page 191</a>.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+The firing was furious and sustained from beginning to end of the rush, but
+the damage inflicted by the cannonade of the Russian fleet and the torpedo-boats,
+which every now and then darted out from between the warships as
+opportunity offered to employ their silent and deadly weapons, was as nothing
+in comparison with the frightful havoc achieved by the air-ship.
+</p>
+<p>
+This extraordinary craft hovered over the attacking force, darting hither
+and thither with bewildering rapidity, and raining down shells charged with an
+unknown explosive of fearful power among the crowded ships of the great force
+which was blocking the Sound. Half a dozen of these shells were fired upon
+the seaward fortifications of Copenhagen in passing, and produced a perfectly
+paralysing effect.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the water the results of the air-ship's attack were destructive almost
+beyond description, particularly when she stationed herself over the Allied fleet
+and began firing her four guns right and left, ahead and astern. Every time a
+shell struck either a battleship or a cruiser, the terrific explosion which resulted
+either sank the ship in a few minutes, or so far disabled it that it fell an easy
+prey to the guns and rams of the Russians. As for the torpedo-boats which
+were struck, they were simply scattered over the water in indistinguishable
+fragments.
+</p>
+<p>
+Under these conditions maintenance of formation and effective fighting were
+practically impossible, and the huge iron wedge of the Russian squadron was
+driven almost without a check through the demoralised ranks of the Allied
+fleet. The Gut of Elsinore was reached in a little more than three hours after
+the first sounds of the cannonade were heard. Shortly before this the air-ship
+had stationed itself about a thousand feet above the water, and a mile from the
+fortifications.
+</p>
+<p>
+From this position it commenced a brief, rapid cannonade from its smokeless
+and flameless guns, the effects of which on the fortress are said to have been
+indescribably awful. Great blocks of steel-sheathed masonry were dislodged
+from the ramparts and hurled bodily into the sea, carrying with them guns
+and men to irretrievable destruction. In less than half an hour the once
+impregnable fortress of Elsinore was little better than a heap of ruins. The last
+shell blew up the central magazine; the tremendous explosion was heard for
+miles along the coast, and proved to be the closing act of the briefest but most
+deadly great naval action in the history of war.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Russian fleet steamed triumphantly past the silenced Cerberus of the
+Sound with flashing searchlights, blazing rockets, and jubilant salvos of blank
+cartridge in honour of their really brilliant victory.
+</p>
+<p>
+The losses of the Allied fleet, so far as they are at present known, are distressingly
+heavy. We have lost the battleships <i>Neptune</i>, <i>Hotspur</i>, <i>Anson</i>,
+<i>Superb</i>, <i>Black Prince</i>, and <i>Rodney</i>, the armoured cruisers <i>Narcissus</i>, <i>Beatrice</i>,
+and <i>Mersey</i>, the unarmoured cruisers <i>Arethusa</i>, <i>Barossa</i>, <i>Clyde</i>, <i>Lais</i>, <i>Seagull</i>,
+<i>Grasshopper</i>, and <i>Nautilus</i>, and not less than nineteen torpedo-boats of the first
+and second classes.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Germans and Danes have lost the battleships <i>Kaiser Wilhelm</i>,
+<i>Friedrich der Grosse</i>, <i>Dantzig</i>, <i>Viborg</i>, and <i>Funen</i>, five German and three
+Danish cruisers, and about a dozen torpedo-boats.
+</p>
+<p>
+Under whatever circumstances the Russians have obtained the assistance of
+the air-ship, which rendered them services that have proved so disastrous to the
+Allies, there can be no doubt but that her arrival on the scene puts a completely
+different aspect on the face of affairs at sea.
+<a name="page192"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 192]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+I have written this telegram on board first-class torpedo-boat, No. 87, which
+followed the Russian fleet from the Sound round the Skawe. They passed
+through the Kattegat in two columns of line ahead, with the air-ship apparently
+resting after her flight on board one of the largest steamers. We could see her
+quite distinctly by the glare of the rockets and the electric light. She is a
+small three-masted vessel almost exactly resembling the one which partially
+destroyed Kronstadt in the middle of March.
+</p>
+<p>
+After rounding the Skawe, the Russian fleet steamed away westward into
+the German Ocean, and we put in here to send off our despatches. This
+telegram has, of course, been officially revised, and my information, as far as it
+goes, can therefore be relied upon.
+<a name="page193"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 193]</span>
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter26"></a>
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+AN INTERLUDE.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p193.png" alt="A" width="120" height="138" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+At noon on the 26th, as the tropical sun was pouring
+down its vertical rays upon the lovely valley
+of Aeria, the <i>Ithuriel</i> crossed the Ridge which
+divided it from the outer world, and came to
+rest on the level stretch of sward on the northern
+shore of the lake.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Before she touched the earth Arnold glanced rapidly round
+and discovered his a&euml;rial fleet resting under a series of large
+palm-thatched sheds which had already been erected to protect
+them from the burning sun, and the rare but violent tropical
+rain-storms. He counted them. There were only eleven, and
+therefore the evil tidings that they had heard from the captain
+of the <i>Andromeda</i> was true.
+</p>
+<p>
+Even before greetings were exchanged with the colonists
+Natas ordered Nicholas Roburoff to be summoned on board
+alone. He received him in the lower saloon, on either side of
+which, as he went in, he found a member of the crew armed
+with a magazine rifle and fixed bayonet.
+</p>
+<p>
+Seated at the cabin table were Natas, Tremayne, and Arnold.
+The President was received in cold and ominous silence, not
+even a glance of recognition was vouchsafed to him. He stood
+at the other end of the table with bowed head, a prisoner before
+his judges. Natas looked at him for some moments in dead
+silence, and there was a dark gleam of anger in his eyes which
+made Arnold tremble for the man whose life hung upon a word
+of a judge from whose sentence there could be no appeal.
+</p>
+<p>
+At length Natas spoke; his voice was hard and even; there
+were no modulations in it that displayed the slightest feeling,
+<a name="page194"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 194]</span>
+whether of anger or any other emotion. It was like the voice
+of an impassive machine speaking the very words of Fate
+itself.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You know why we have returned, and why you have been
+sent for?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, Master.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Roburoff's voice was low and respectful, but there was no
+quaver of fear in it.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You were left here in command of the settlement and in
+charge of the fleet. You were ordered to permit no vessel
+to leave the valley till the flagship returned. One of them
+was seen crossing the Mediterranean in a northerly direction
+three days ago. Either you are a traitor, or that vessel is in
+the hands of traitors. Explain.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Nicholas Roburoff remained silent for a few moments. His
+breast heaved once or twice convulsively, as though he were
+striving hard to repress some violent emotion. Then he drew
+himself up like a soldier coming to attention, and, looking
+straight in front of him, told his story briefly and calmly,
+though he knew that, according to the laws of the Order, its
+sequel might, and probably would, be his own death.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The night of the day on which the flagship left the valley
+was visited by a violent storm, which raged for about four
+hours without cessation. We had no proper shelter but the
+air-ships, and so I distributed the company among them.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;When nearly all had been provided for, there was one
+vessel left unoccupied, and four of the unmarried men had not
+been accommodated. They therefore took their places in the
+spare vessel. They were Peter Tamboff, Amos Vornjeh, Ivan
+Tscheszco, and Paul Oreloff, all Russians.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We closed the hatches of the vessels, and remained inside
+till the storm ceased. When we were able to open the hatches
+again, it was pitch dark&mdash;so dark that it was impossible to see
+even a yard from one's face. Suspecting no evil, we retired to
+rest again till sunrise. When day dawned it was found that
+the vessel in which the four men I have named had taken
+shelter had disappeared.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I at once ordered three vessels to rise and pass through
+the defile. On the outside we separated and made the entire
+circuit of Aeria, rising as high as the fan-wheels would take
+<a name="page195"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 195]</span>
+us, and examining the horizon in all directions for the missing
+vessel.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We failed to discover her, and were forced to the conclusion
+that the deserters had taken her away early in the night at
+full speed, and would, therefore, be far beyond the possibility
+of capture, as we possessed no faster vessel than the missing
+one. So we returned. That is all.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Go to the forward cabin and remain there till you're sent
+for,&quot; said Natas.
+</p>
+<p>
+The President instantly turned and walked mechanically
+through the door that was opened for him by one of the
+sentinels. The other went in front of him, the second behind,
+closing the door as he left the saloon.
+</p>
+<p>
+A brief discussion took place between Natas and his two
+lieutenants, and within a quarter of an hour Nicholas Roburoff
+was again standing at the end of the table to hear the decision
+of his judges. Without any preamble it was delivered by
+Natas in these words&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We have heard your story, and believe it. You have been
+guilty of a serious mistake, for these four men were all ordinary
+members of the Outer Circle, who had only been brought here
+on account of their mechanical skill to occupy subordinate
+positions. You therefore committed a grave error, amounting
+almost to a breach of the rule which states that no members of
+the Outer Circle shall be entrusted with any charge, or work,
+save under the supervision of a member of the Inner Circle
+responsible for them.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Had such a breach been even technically committed your
+life would have been forfeited, and you would have been
+executed for breach of trust. We have considered the circumstances,
+and find you guilty of indiscretion and want of
+forethought.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You will cease from now to be President of the Inner
+Circle. Your place will be taken for the time by Alan
+Tremayne as Chief of the Executive. You will cease also to
+share the Councils of the Order for a space of twelve months,
+during which time you will be incapable of any responsible
+charge or authority. Your restoration will, of course, depend
+upon your behaviour. I have said.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he finished speaking Natas waved his hand towards the
+<a name="page196"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 196]</span>
+door. It was opened, the sentries stepped aside, and Nicholas
+Roburoff walked out in silence, with bowed head and a heart
+heavy with shame. The penalty was really the most severe
+that could be inflicted on him, for he found himself suddenly
+deprived both of authority and the confidence of his chiefs at
+the very hour when the work of the Brotherhood was culminating
+to its fruition.
+</p>
+<p>
+Yet, heavy as the punishment seemed in comparison with
+the fault, it was justified by the necessities of the case.
+Without the strictest safeguards, not only against treachery or
+disobedience, but even mere carelessness, it would have been
+impossible to have carried on the tremendous work which the
+Brotherhood had silently and secretly accomplished, and which
+was soon to produce results as momentous as they would be
+unexpected. No one knew this better than the late President
+himself, who frankly acknowledged the justice and the
+necessity of his punishment, and prepared to devote himself
+heart and soul to regaining his lost credit in the eyes of the
+Master.
+</p>
+<p>
+No sooner was the sentence pronounced than the matter
+was instantly dismissed and never alluded to again, so far as
+Roburoff was concerned, by any one. No one presumed even to
+comment upon a word or deed of the Master. The disgraced
+President fell naturally, and apparently without observation,
+into his humbler sphere of duties, and the members of the
+colony treated him with exactly the same friendliness and
+fraternity as they had done before. Natas had decided, and
+there was nothing more for any one to say or do in the matter.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold, as soon as he had exchanged greetings with the
+Princess, now known simply as Anna Ornovski, and his other
+friends and acquaintances in the colony, not, of course, forgetting
+Louis Holt, at once shut himself up in his laboratory by
+the turbine, and for the next four hours remained invisible,
+preparing a large supply of his motor gases, and pumping them
+into the exhausted cylinders of the <i>Ithuriel</i>, and all the others
+that were available, by means of his hydraulic machinery.
+</p>
+<p>
+Soon after four he had finished his task, and come out to
+take his part in a ceremony of a very different character to
+that at which he had been obliged to assist earlier in the day.
+This was the fulfilment of the promise which Radna Michaelis
+<a name="page197"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 197]</span>
+had made to Colston in the Council-chamber of the house
+on Clapham Common on the evening of his departure on
+the expedition which had so brilliantly proved the powers of
+the <i>Ariel</i>, and brought such confusion on the enemies of the
+Brotherhood.
+</p>
+<p>
+Almost the first words that Colston had said to Radna
+when he boarded the <i>Avondale</i> were&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Natasha is yonder, safe and sound, and you are mine at
+last!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+And she had replied very quietly, yet with a thrill in her
+voice that told her lover how gladly she accepted her own
+condition&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What you have fairly won is yours to take when you will
+have it. Besides, you cannot do justice on Kastovitch now,
+for it has already been done. We had news before we left
+England that he had been shot through the heart by the
+brother of a girl whom he treated worse than he treated
+me.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+But, as has been stated before, the laws of the Brotherhood
+did not permit of the marriage of any of its members without
+the direct sanction of Natas, and therefore it had been
+necessary to wait until now.
+</p>
+<p>
+As Radna and Colston were two of the most trusted and
+prominent members of the Inner Circle, it was fitting that
+their wedding should be honoured by the presence of the
+Master in person. An added solemnity was also given to it
+by the fact that, in all human probability, it was the first
+time since the world began that the mighty hills which looked
+down upon Aeria had witnessed the plighting of the troth of
+a man and a woman.
+</p>
+<p>
+Like all other formal acts of the Brotherhood, the ceremony
+was simple in the extreme; but, in this case at least, it was
+none the less impressive on that account. In a lovely glade,
+through which a crystal stream ran laughing on its way to
+the lake, Natas sat under the shade of a spreading tree-fern.
+In front of him was a small table covered with a white cloth,
+on which lay a roll of parchment and a copy of the Hebrew
+Scriptures.
+</p>
+<p>
+At this table, facing Natas, stood the betrothed pair with
+their witnesses, Natasha for Radna, and Arnold for Colston,
+<a name="page198"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 198]</span>
+or Alexis Mazanoff, to give him his true name, which must,
+of course, be used on such an occasion. In a wide semicircle
+some four yards off stood all the members of the little
+community, Louis Holt and his faithful servitor not excepted.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the midst of a silence broken only by the whispering of
+the warm, scented wind in the tree-tops, the Master of the
+Terror spoke in a kindly yet solemn tone&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Alexis Mazanoff and Radna Michaelis, you stand here
+before Heaven, and in the presence of your comrades, to take
+each other for wedded wife and husband, till death shall part
+the hands that now are joined!
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Your mutual vows have long ago been pledged, and what
+you are about to do is good earnest of their fulfilment. But
+above the duty that you owe to each other stands your duty
+to that great Cause to which you have already irrevocably
+devoted your lives. You have already sworn that as long as
+you shall live its ends shall be your ends, and that no human
+considerations shall weigh with you where those ends are
+concerned. Do you take each other for husband and wife
+subject to that condition and all that it implies?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We do!&quot; replied the lovers with one voice, and then
+Natas went on&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Then by the laws of our Order, the only laws that we
+are permitted to obey, I pronounce you man and wife before
+Heaven and this company. Be faithful to each other and the
+Cause in the days to come as you have been in the days that
+are past, and if it shall please the Master of Destiny that you
+shall be blessed with children, see to it that you train them
+up in the love of truth, freedom, and justice, and in the hatred
+of tyranny and wrong.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;May the blessings of life be yours as you shall deserve
+them, and when the appointed hour shall come, may you be
+found ready to pass from the mystery of the things that are
+into the deeper mystery of the things that are to be!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying, the Master raised his hands as though in
+blessing, and as Alexis and Radna bent their heads the slanting
+sunrays fell upon the thickly coiled white hair of the
+new-made wife, crowning her shapely head like a diadem
+of silver.
+</p>
+<p>
+All that remained to do now was to sign the Marriage Roll
+<a name="page199"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 199]</span>
+of the Brotherhood, and when they had done this the entry
+stood as follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+&quot;Married on the tenth day of the Month Tamuz, in the
+Year of the World five thousand six hundred and sixty-four,
+in the presence of me, Natas, and those of the Brotherhood
+now resident in the Colony of Aeria:&mdash;
+</p>
+<table>
+<tr><td></td><td>{<span class="smcap">Alexis Mazanoff</span>,</td></tr>
+<tr><td></td><td>{<span class="smcap">Radna Michaelis Mazanoff</span>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Witnesses</td><td>{<span class="smcap">Richard Arnold</span>,</td></tr>
+<tr><td></td><td>{<span class="smcap">Natasha</span>.</td></tr>
+</table>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+As Natasha laid down the pen after signing she looked up
+quickly, as though moved by some sudden impulse, her eyes
+met Arnold's, and an instant later the happy flush on Radna's
+cheek was rivalled by that which rose to her own. Her lips
+half parted in a smile, and then she turned suddenly away to
+be the first to offer her congratulations to the newly-wedded
+wife, while Arnold, his heart beating as it had never done
+since the model of the <i>Ariel</i> first rose from the floor of his
+room in the Southwark tenement-house, grasped Mazanoff
+by the hand and said simply&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;God bless you both, old man!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The whole ceremony had not taken more than fifteen
+minutes from beginning to end. After Arnold came Tremayne
+with his good wishes, and then Anna Ornovski and the rest
+of the friends and comrades of the newly-wedded lovers.
+</p>
+<p>
+One usually conspicuous feature in similar ceremonies was
+entirely wanting. There were no wedding presents. For
+this there was a very sufficient reason. All the property of
+the members of the Inner Circle, saving only articles of
+personal necessity, were held in common. Articles of mere
+convenience or luxury were looked upon with indifference, if
+not with absolute contempt, and so no one had anything to
+give.
+</p>
+<p>
+After all, this was not a very serious matter for a company
+of men and women who held in their hands the power of
+levying indemnities to any amount upon the wealth-centres
+of the world under pain of immediate destruction.
+</p>
+<p>
+That evening the supper of the colonists took the shape of
+<a name="page200"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 200]</span>
+a sylvan marriage feast, eaten in the open air under the palms
+and tree ferns, as the sun was sinking down behind the western
+peaks of Aeria, and the full moon was rising over those to the
+eastward.
+</p>
+<p>
+The whole earth might have been searched in vain for a
+happier company of men and women than that which sat down
+to the marriage feast of Radna Michaelis and Alexis Mazanoff
+in the virgin groves of Aeria. For the time being the world-war
+and all its horrors were forgotten, and they allowed their
+thoughts to turn without restraint to the promise of the days
+when the work of the Brotherhood should be accomplished,
+and there should be peace on earth at last.
+</p>
+<p>
+It had been decided that three of the air-ships would be
+sufficient for the chase and capture or destruction, as the case
+might be, of the deserters. These were the <i>Ithuriel</i>, under the
+command of Arnold; the <i>Ariel</i>, commanded by Mazanoff, who,
+of course, did not sail alone; and the <i>Orion</i>, in charge of
+Tremayne, who had already mastered the details of a&euml;rial
+navigation under Arnold's tuition.
+</p>
+<p>
+To the unspeakable satisfaction of the latter, Natas had
+signified his intention of accompanying him in the <i>Ithuriel</i>.
+As Natasha utterly refused to be parted so soon from her
+father again, one of his attendants was dispensed with and she
+took his place. This fact had, of course, something to do with
+the Admiral's satisfaction with the arrangement.
+</p>
+<p>
+By nine o'clock the moon was high in the heavens. At that
+hour the fan-wheels of the little squadron rose from the decks,
+and at a signal from Arnold began to revolve. The three
+vessels ascended quietly into the air amidst the cheers and
+farewells of the colonists, and in single file passed slowly down
+the beautiful valley bathed in the brilliant moonlight. One
+by one they disappeared through the defile that led to the outer
+world, and, once clear of the mountains, the <i>Ithuriel</i>, with one
+of her consorts on either side, headed away due north at the
+speed of a hundred miles an hour.
+<a name="page201"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 201]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter27"></a>
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+ON THE TRACK OF TREASON.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p201.png" alt="T" width="119" height="133" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+The <i>Ithuriel</i> and her consorts crossed the northern
+coast of Africa soon after daybreak on the 27th,
+in the longitude of Alexandria, at an elevation
+of nearly 4000 feet. From thence they pursued
+almost the same course as that steered by the
+deserters, as Natas had rightly judged that
+they would first make for Russia, probably St. Petersburg, and
+there hand the air-ship over to the representatives of the Tsar.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+There was, of course, another alternative, and that was the
+supposition that they had stolen the <i>Lucifer</i>&mdash;the &quot;fallen
+Angel,&quot; as Natasha had now re-named her&mdash;for purposes of
+piracy and private revenge; but that was negatived by the fact
+that Tamboff knew that he only had a certain supply of motive
+power which he could not renew, and which, once exhausted,
+left his air-ship as useless as a steamer without coal. His only
+reasonable course, therefore, would be to sell the vessel to the
+Tsar, and leave his Majesty's chemists to discover and renew
+the motive power if they could.
+</p>
+<p>
+These conclusions once arrived at, it was an easy matter for
+the keen and subtle intellect of Natas to deduce from them
+almost the exact sequence of events that had actually taken
+place. The <i>Lucifer</i> had a sufficient supply of power-cylinders
+and shells for present use, and these would doubtless be
+employed at once by the Tsar, who would trust to his chemists
+and engineers to discover the nature of the agents employed.
+</p>
+<p>
+For this purpose it would be absolutely necessary for him to
+give them one or two of the shells, and at least two of the
+spare power-cylinders as subjects for their experiments.
+<a name="page202"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 202]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Now Natas knew that if there was one man in Russia who
+could discover the composition of the explosives, that man was
+Professor Volnow of the Imperial Arsenal Laboratory, and
+therefore the shells and cylinders would be sent to him at the
+Arsenal for examination. The whereabouts of the deserters
+for the present mattered nothing in comparison with the
+possible discovery of the secret on which the whole power of
+the Terrorists depended.
+</p>
+<p>
+That once revealed, the sole empire of the air was theirs no
+longer. The Tsar, with millions of money at his command,
+could very soon build an a&euml;rial fleet, not only equal, but,
+numerically at least, vastly superior to their own, and this
+would practically give him the command of the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+Natas therefore came to the conclusion that no measures
+could be too extreme to be justified by such a danger as this,
+and so, after a consultation with the commanders of the three
+vessels, it was decided to, if necessary, destroy the Arsenal at
+St. Petersburg, on the strength of the reasoning that had led
+to the logical conclusion that within its precincts the priceless
+secret either might be or had already been discovered.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the crow flies, St. Petersburg is thirty degrees of latitude,
+or eighteen hundred geographical miles, north of Alexandria,
+and this distance the <i>Ithuriel</i> and her consorts, flying at a
+speed of a hundred and twenty miles an hour, traversed in
+fifteen hours, reaching the Russian capital a few minutes after
+seven on the evening of the 27th.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rome of the North, basking in the soft evening sunlight
+of the incomparable Russian summer, lay vast and white and
+beautiful on the islands formed by the Neva and its ten tributaries;
+its innumerable palaces, churches, and theatres, and
+long straight streets of stately houses, its parks and gardens,
+and its green shady suburbs, making up a picture which forced
+an exclamation of wonder from Arnold's lips as the air-ships
+slowed down and he left the conning-tower of the <i>Ithuriel</i> to
+admire the magnificent view from the bows. They passed
+over the city at a height of four thousand feet, and so were
+quite near enough to see and enjoy the excitement and consternation
+which their sudden appearance instantly caused
+among the inhabitants. The streets and squares filled in an
+inconceivably short space of time with crowds of people, who
+<a name="page203"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 203]</span>
+ran about like tiny ants upon the ground, gesticulating and
+pointing upwards, evidently in terror lest the fate of Kronstadt
+was about to fall upon St. Petersburg.
+</p>
+<p>
+The experimental department of the Arsenal had within the
+last two or three years been rebuilt on a large space of waste
+ground outside the northern suburbs, and to this the three air-ships
+directed their course after passing over the city. It was a
+massive three-storey building, built in the form of a quadrangle.
+The three air-ships stopped within a mile of it at an elevation
+of two thousand feet. It had been decided that, before proceeding
+to extremities, which, after all, might still leave them
+in doubt as to whether or not they had really destroyed all
+means of analysing the explosives, they should make an effort
+to discover whether Professor Volnow had received them for
+experiment, and, if so, what success he had had.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mazanoff had undertaken this delicate and dangerous task,
+and so, as soon as the <i>Ithuriel</i> and the <i>Orion</i> came to a standstill,
+and hung motionless in the air, with all their guns ready
+trained on different parts of the building, the <i>Ariel</i> sank
+suddenly and swiftly down, and stopped within forty feet of
+the heads of a crowd of soldiers and mechanics, who had rushed
+pell-mell out of the building, under the impression that it was
+about to be destroyed.
+</p>
+<p>
+The bold man&oelig;uvre of the <i>Ariel</i> took officers and men completely
+by surprise. So intense was the terror in which these
+mysterious air-ships were held, and so absolute was the belief
+that they were armed with perfectly irresistible means of
+destruction, that the sight of one of them at such close quarters
+paralysed all thought and action for the time being. The first
+shock over, the majority of the crowd took to their heels and
+fled incontinently. Of the remainder a few of the bolder
+spirits handled their rifles and looked inquiringly at their
+officers. Mazanoff saw this, and at once raised his hand
+towards the sky and shouted&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Ground arms! If a shot is fired the Arsenal will be
+destroyed as Kronstadt was, and then we shall attack Petersburg.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The threat was sufficient. A grey-haired officer in undress
+uniform glanced up at the <i>Ithuriel</i> and her consort, and then
+at the guns of the <i>Ariel</i>, all four of which had been swung
+<a name="page204"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 204]</span>
+round and brought to bear on the side of the building near
+which she had descended. He was no coward, but he saw that
+Mazanoff had the power to do what he said, and that even if
+this one air-ship were captured or destroyed, the other two
+would take a frightful vengeance. He thought of Kronstadt,
+and decided to parley. The rifle butts had come to the ground
+before Mazanoff had done speaking.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Order arms, and keep silence!&quot; said the officer, and then
+he advanced alone from the crowd and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Who are you, and what is your errand?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Alexis Mazanoff, late prisoner of the Tsar, and now commander
+of the Terrorist air-ship <i>Ariel</i>. I have not come to
+destroy you unless you force me to do so, but to ask certain
+questions, and demand the giving up of certain property
+delivered into your hands by deserters and traitors.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What are your questions?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;First, is Professor Volnow in the building?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;He is.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Then I must ask you to send for him at once.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+It went sorely against the grain of the servant of the Tsar
+to acquiesce in the demand of an outlaw, but there was nothing
+else for it. The outlaw could blow him and all his subordinates
+into space with a pressure of his finger; and so he sent an
+orderly with a request for the presence of the professor. Meanwhile
+Mazanoff continued&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;An air-ship similar to this arrived here three days ago, I
+believe?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The officer bit his lips with rage at his helpless position,
+and bowed affirmatively.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And certain articles were taken out of her for examination
+here&mdash;two gas cylinders and a projectile, I believe?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Again the officer bowed, wondering how on earth the
+Terrorist could have come by such accurate information.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And the air-ship has been sent on to the seat of war, while
+the Professor is trying to discover the composition of the gases
+and the explosive used in the shell?&quot; went on Mazanoff, risking
+a last shot at the truth.
+</p>
+<p>
+The officer did not bow this time. Giving way at last to
+his rising fury, he stamped on the ground and almost
+screamed&mdash;
+<a name="page205"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 205]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Great God! you insolent scoundrel! Why do you ask me
+questions when you know the answers as well as I do, and
+better? Yes, we have got one of your diabolical ships of the
+air, and we will build a fleet like it and hunt you from the
+world!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;All in good time, my dear sir,&quot; replied Mazanoff ironically.
+&quot;When you have found a place in which to build them that
+we cannot blow off the face of the earth before you get one
+finished. Meanwhile, let me beg of you to keep your temper,
+and to remember that there is a lady present. That girl
+standing yonder by the gun was once stripped and flogged by
+Russians calling themselves men and soldiers. Her fingers are
+itching to make the movement that would annihilate you and
+every one standing near you, so pray try keep your temper; for
+if we fire a shot the air-ships up yonder will at once open fire,
+and not stop while there is a stone of that building left upon
+another. Ah! here comes the Professor.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke the man of science advanced, looking wonderingly
+at the air-ship. Mazanoff made a sign to the old officer
+to keep silence, and continued in the same polite tone that he
+had used all along&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Good evening, Professor! I have come to ask you whether
+you have yet made any experiments on the contents of the
+shell and the two cylinders that were given to you for
+examination?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I must first ask for your authority to put such an inquiry
+to me on a confidential subject,&quot; replied the Professor stiffly.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;On the authority given me by the power to enforce an
+answer, sir,&quot; returned the Terrorist quietly. &quot;I know that
+Professor Volnow will not lie to me, even at the order of the
+Tsar, and when I tell you that your refusal to reply will cost
+the lives of every one here, and possibly involve the destruction
+of Petersburg itself, I feel sure that, as a mere matter of
+humanity, you will comply with my request.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Sir, the orders of my master are absolute secrecy on this
+subject, and I will obey them to the death. I have analysed
+the contents of one of the cylinders, but what they are I will
+tell to no one save by the direct command of his Majesty.
+That is all I have done.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Then in that case, Professor, I must ask you to surrender
+<a name="page206"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 206]</span>
+yourself prisoner of war, and to come on board this vessel at
+once.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As Mazanoff said this the <i>Ariel</i> dropped to within ten feet
+of the ground, and a rope-ladder fell over the side.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Come, Professor, there is no time to be lost. I shall give
+the order to fire in one minute from now.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He took out his watch, and began to count the seconds.
+Ten, twenty, thirty passed and the Professor stood irresolute.
+Two of the <i>Ariel's</i> guns pointed at the gables of the Arsenal,
+and two swept the crowded space in front.
+</p>
+<p>
+Konstantin Volnow knew enough to see clearly the frightful
+slaughter and destruction that twenty seconds more would
+bring if he refused to give himself up. As Mazanoff counted
+&quot;forty&quot; he threw up his hands with a gesture of despair, and
+cried&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Stop! I will come. The Tsar has as good servants as I
+am! Colonel, tell his Majesty that I gave myself up to save
+the lives of better men.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the Professor mounted the ladder amidst a murmur of
+relief and applause from the crowd, and, gaining the deck of
+the <i>Ariel</i>, bowed coldly to Mazanoff and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I am your prisoner, sir!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The captain of the <i>Ariel</i> bowed in reply, and stamped thrice
+on the deck. The fan-wheels whirled round, and the air-ship
+rapidly ascended, at the same time moving diagonally across
+the quadrangle of the Arsenal.
+</p>
+<p>
+Scarcely had she reached the other side when there was a
+tremendous explosion in the north-eastern angle of the building.
+A sheet of flame shot up through the roof, the walls split
+asunder, and masses of stone, wood, and iron went flying in all
+directions, leaving only a fiercely burning mass of ruins where
+the gable had been.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Professor turned ashy pale, staggered backwards with
+both his hands clasped to his head, and gasped out brokenly as
+he stared at the conflagration&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;God have mercy on me! My laboratory! My assistant&mdash;I
+told him&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What did you tell him, Professor?&quot; said Mazanoff sternly,
+grasping him suddenly by the arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I told him not to open the other cylinder.&quot;
+<a name="page207"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 207]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And he has done so, and paid for his disobedience with his
+life,&quot; said Mazanoff calmly. &quot;Console yourself, my dear sir!
+He has only saved me the trouble of destroying your laboratory.
+I serve a sterner and more powerful master than yours.
+He ordered me to make your experiments impossible if it cost
+a thousand lives to do so, and I would have done it if necessary.
+Rest content with the knowledge that you have saved, not only
+the rest of the Arsenal, but also Petersburg, by your surrender;
+for sooner than that secret had been revealed, we
+should have laid the city in ruins to slay the man who had
+discovered it.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The prisoner of the Terrorists made no reply, but turned
+away in silence to watch the rapidly receding building, in the
+angle of which the flames were still raging furiously. A few
+minutes later the <i>Ariel</i> had rejoined her consorts. Her captain
+at once went on board the flagship to make his report and
+deliver up his prisoner to Natas, who looked sharply at him
+and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Professor, will you give me your word of honour to attempt
+no communication with the earth while it may be found necessary
+to detain you? If not, I shall be compelled to keep you
+in strict confinement till it is beyond your power to do so.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Sir, I give you my word that I will not do so,&quot; said the
+Professor, who had now somewhat regained his composure.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very well,&quot; replied Natas. &quot;Then on that condition you
+will be made free of the vessel, and we will make you as
+comfortable as we can. Captain Arnold, full speed to the
+south-westward, if you please.&quot;
+<a name="page208"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 208]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter28"></a>
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+A SKIRMISH IN THE CLOUDS.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p208.png" alt="A" width="122" height="139" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+A few minutes after two on the following morning,
+that is to say on the 28th, the electric
+signal leading from the conning-tower of the
+<i>Ithuriel</i> to the wall of Arnold's cabin, just above
+his berth, sounded. As it was only permitted
+to be used on occasions of urgency, he knew
+that his presence was immediately required forward for some
+good reason, and so he turned out at once, threw a dressing-gown
+over his sleeping suit, and within three minutes was
+standing in the conning-tower beside Andrew Smith, whose
+watch it then happened to be.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+&quot;Well, Smith, what's the matter?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Fleet of war-balloons coming up from the south'ard, sir.
+You can just see 'em, sir, coming on in line under that long
+bank of cloud.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The captain of the <i>Ithuriel</i> took the night-glasses, and looked
+eagerly in the direction pointed out by his keen-eyed coxswain.
+As soon as he picked them up he had no difficulty in making
+out twelve small dark spots in line at regular intervals sharply
+defined against a band of light that lay between the earth and
+a long dark bank of clouds.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a division of the Tsar's a&euml;rial fleet, returning from
+some work of death and destruction in the south to rejoin the
+main force before Berlin. Arnold's course was decided on in
+an instant. He saw a chance of turning the tables on his
+Majesty in a fashion that he would find as unpleasant as it
+would be unexpected. He turned to his coxswain and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;How is the wind, Smith?&quot;
+<a name="page209"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 209]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Nor'-nor'-west, with perhaps half a point more north in
+it, sir. About a ten-knot breeze&mdash;at least that's the drift that
+Mr. Marston's allowing for.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, that's near enough. Then those fellows, if they are
+going full speed, are coming up at about twenty miles an hour,
+or not quite that. They're nearly twenty miles off, as nearly
+as I can judge in this light. What do you make it?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That's about it, sir; rather less than more, if anything, to
+my mind.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very well, then. Now signal to stop, and send up the
+fan-wheels; and tell the <i>Ariel</i> and the <i>Orion</i> to close up and
+speak.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Ay, ay, sir,&quot; said the coxswain, as he saluted and disappeared.
+Arnold at once went back to his cabin and dressed, telling his
+second officer, Frank Marston, a young Englishman, whom he
+had chosen to take Mazanoff's place, to do the same as quietly
+as possible, as he did not wish to awaken any of his three
+passengers just at present.
+</p>
+<p>
+By the time he got on deck the three air-ships had slowed
+down considerably, and the two consorts of the <i>Ithuriel</i> were
+within easy speaking distance. Mazanoff and Tremayne were
+both on deck, and to them he explained his plans as follows&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There are a dozen of the Tsar's war-balloons coming up
+yonder to the southward, and I am going to head them off and
+capture the lot if I can. If we can do that, we can make what
+terms we like for the surrender of the <i>Lucifer</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You two take your ships and get to windward of them as
+fast as you can. Keep a little higher than they are, but not
+much. On no account let one of them get above you. If they
+try to descend, give each one that does so a No. 1 shell, and
+blow her up. If one tries to pass you, ram her in the upper
+part of the gas-holder, and let her down with a smash.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I am going up above them to prevent any of them from
+rising too far. They can outfly us in that one direction, so I
+shall blow any that attempt it into little pieces. If you have
+to fire on any of them, don't use more than No. 1; you'll find
+that more than enough.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Keep an eye on me for signals, and remember that the
+whole fleet must be destroyed rather than one allowed to
+escape. I want to give the Tsar a nice little surprise. He
+<a name="page210"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 210]</span>
+seems to be getting a good deal too cock-sure about these old
+gas-bags of his, and it's time to give him a lesson in real a&euml;rial
+warfare.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+There was not a great newspaper in the world that would
+not have given a very long price to have had the privilege of
+putting a special correspondent on the deck of the <i>Ithuriel</i>
+for the two hours which followed the giving of Arnold's
+directions to his brother commanders of the little squadron.
+The journal which could have published an exclusive account
+of the first a&euml;rial skirmish in the history of the world would
+have scored a triumph which would have left its competitors
+a long way behind in the struggle to be &quot;up to date.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as Arnold had given his orders, the three air-ships
+at once separated. The <i>Ariel</i> and the <i>Orion</i> shot away to the
+southward on only a slightly upward course, while the <i>Ithuriel</i>
+soared up beyond the stratum of clouds which lay in thin
+broken masses rather more than four thousand feet above the
+earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was still rather more than an hour before sunrise, and, as
+the moon had gone down, and the clouds intercepted most of
+the starlight, it was just &quot;the darkest hour before the dawn,&quot;
+and therefore the most favourable for the carrying out of the
+plan that Arnold had in view.
+</p>
+<p>
+Shortly after half-past two he knocked at Natasha's cabin-door,
+and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If you would like to see an a&euml;rial battle, get up and come
+into the conning-tower at once. We have overtaken a squadron
+of Russian war-balloons, and we are going either to capture or
+destroy them.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Glorious!&quot; exclaimed Natasha, wide awake in an instant
+at such startling news. &quot;I'll be with you in five minutes.
+Tell my father, and please don't begin till I come.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I shouldn't think of opening the ball without your ladyship's
+presence,&quot; laughed Arnold in reply, and then he went
+and called Natas and his attendant and the Professor before
+going to the conning-tower, where in a very few minutes he
+was joined by Natasha. The first words she said were&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I have told Ivan to send us some coffee as soon as he has
+attended to my father. You see how thoughtful I am for your
+creature comforts. Now, where are the war-balloons?&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p210b.jpg" alt="Come now, and fire the first shot in the warfare of the future." width="460" height="640" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;Come now, and fire the first shot in the warfare of the future.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page211">page 211</a>.</i>
+<a name="page211"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 211]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;On the other side of those clouds. There, look down
+through that big rift, and you will see one of them.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Why, what a height we must be from the earth! The
+balloon looks like a little toy thing, but it must be a great
+clumsy contrivance for all that.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The barometer gives five thousand three hundred feet.
+You will soon see why I have come up so high. The balloons
+can rise to fifteen or twenty thousand feet, if they wish to,
+and in that way they could easily escape us; therefore, if one
+of them attempts to rise through those clouds, I shall send him
+back to earth in little bits.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And what are the other two air-ships doing?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;They are below the clouds, heading the balloons off from
+the Russian camp, which is about fifty miles to the north-westward.
+Ha! look, there go the searchlights!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke, two long converging beams of light darted
+across a broad space of sky that was free from cloud. They
+came from the <i>Ariel</i> and the <i>Orion</i>, which thus suddenly
+revealed themselves to the astonished and disgusted Russians,
+one at each end of their long line, and only a little more than
+half a mile ahead of it.
+</p>
+<p>
+The searchlights flashed to and fro along the line, plainly
+showing the great masses of the aerostats' gas-holders, with
+their long slender cars beneath them. A blue light was burnt
+on the largest of the war-balloons, and at once the whole
+flotilla began to ascend towards the clouds, followed by the
+two air-ships.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Here they come!&quot; said Arnold, as he saw them rising
+through a cloud-rift. &quot;Come out and watch what happens
+to the first one that shows herself.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He went out on deck, followed by Natasha, and took his
+place by one of the broadside guns. At the same time he
+gave the order for the <i>Ithuriel's</i> searchlight to be turned on,
+and to sweep the cloud-field below her. Presently a black
+rounded object appeared rising through the clouds like a whale
+coming to the surface of the sea.
+</p>
+<p>
+He trained the gun on to it as it came distinctly into view,
+and said to Natasha&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Come, now, and fire the first shot in the warfare of the future.
+Put your finger on the button, and press when I tell you.&quot;
+<a name="page212"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 212]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Natasha did as he told her, and at the word &quot;Fire!&quot; pressed
+the little ivory button down. The shell struck the upper
+envelope of the balloon, passed through, and exploded. A
+broad sheet of flame shot up, brilliantly illuminating the sea
+of cloud for an instant, and all was darkness again. A few
+seconds later there came another blaze, and the report of a
+much greater explosion from below the clouds.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What was that?&quot; asked Natasha.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That was the car full of explosives striking the earth and
+going off promiscuously,&quot; replied Arnold. &quot;There isn't as much
+of that aerostat left as would make a pocket-handkerchief or a
+walking-stick.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And the crew?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Never knew what happened to them. In the new warfare
+people will not be merely killed, they will be annihilated.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Horrible!&quot; exclaimed Natasha, with a shudder. &quot;I think
+you may do the rest of the shooting. The effects of that shot
+will last me for some time. Look, there's another of them
+coming up!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The words were hardly out of her mouth before Arnold
+had crossed to the other side of the deck and sped another
+missile on its errand of destruction with almost exactly
+the same result as before. This second shot, as it was afterwards
+found, threw the Russian squadron into complete
+panic.
+</p>
+<p>
+The terrific suddenness with which the two aerostats had
+been destroyed convinced those in command of the others that
+there was a large force of air-ships above the clouds ready to
+destroy them one by one as they ascended. Arnold waited
+for a few minutes, and then, seeing that no others cared to
+risk the fate that had overwhelmed the first two that had
+sought to cross the cloud-zone, sank rapidly through it, and
+then stopped again.
+</p>
+<p>
+He found himself about six hundred feet above the rest of
+the squadron. The <i>Ithuriel</i> coming thus suddenly into view,
+her eight guns pointing in all directions, and her searchlight
+flashing hither and thither as though seeking new victims,
+completed the demoralisation of the Russians. For all they
+knew there were still more air-ships above the clouds. Even
+this one could not be passed while those mysterious guns of
+<a name="page213"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 213]</span>
+unknown range and infallible aim were sweeping the sky, ready
+to hurl their silent lightnings in every direction.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ascend they dare not. To descend was to be destroyed in
+detail as they lay helpless upon the earth. There was only
+one chance of escape, and that was to scatter. The commander
+of the squadron at once signalled for this to be done, and the
+aerostats headed away to all points of the compass. But here
+they had reckoned without the incomparable speed of their
+assailants.
+</p>
+<p>
+Before they had moved a hundred yards from their common
+centre the <i>Ariel</i> and the <i>Orion</i> headed away in different
+directions, and in an inconceivably short space of time had
+described a complete circle round them, and then another and
+another, narrowing each circle that they made. One of the
+aerostats, watching its opportunity, put on full speed and tried
+to get outside the narrowing zone. She had almost succeeded,
+when the <i>Orion</i> swerved outwards and dashed at her with
+the ram.
+</p>
+<p>
+In ten seconds she was overtaken. The keen steel prow of
+the air-ship, driven at more than a hundred miles an hour,
+ripped her gas-holder from end to end as if it had been tissue
+paper. It collapsed like broken bubble, and the wreck, with
+its five occupants and its load of explosives, dropped like a stone
+to the earth, three thousand feet below, exploding like one
+huge shell as it struck.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was the last blow struck in the first a&euml;rial battle in the
+history of warfare. The Russians had no stomach for this
+kind of fighting. It was all very well to sail over armies and
+fortresses on the earth and drop shells upon them without
+danger of retaliation; but this was an entirely different matter.
+</p>
+<p>
+Three of the aerostats had been destroyed in little more
+than as many minutes, so utterly destroyed that not a vestige
+of them remained, and the whole squadron had not been able
+to strike a blow in self-defence. They carried no guns, not
+even small arms, for they had no use for them in the work
+that they had to do. There were only two alternatives before
+them&mdash;surrender or piecemeal destruction.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as she had destroyed the third aerostat, the <i>Orion</i>
+swerved round again, and began flying round the squadron as
+before in an opposite direction to the <i>Ariel</i>. None of the
+<a name="page214"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 214]</span>
+aerostats made an attempt to break the strange blockage again.
+As the circles narrowed they crowded closer and closer
+together, like a flock of sheep surrounded by wolves.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile the <i>Ithuriel</i>, floating above the centre of the
+disordered squadron, descended slowly until she hung a
+hundred feet above the highest of them. Then Arnold with
+his searchlight flashed a signal to the <i>Ariel</i> which at once
+slowed down, the <i>Orion</i> continuing on her circular course as
+before.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as the <i>Ariel</i> was going slowly enough for him to
+make himself heard, Mazanoff shouted through a speaking-trumpet&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Will you surrender, or fight it out?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;<i>Nu vot</i>! how can we fight with those devil-ships of yours?
+What is your pleasure?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The answering hail came from one of the aerostats in the
+centre of the squadron. Mazanoff at once replied&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Unconditional surrender for the present, under guarantee
+of safety to every one who surrenders. Who are you?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Colonel Alexei Alexandrovitch, in command of the
+squadron. I surrender on those terms. Who are you?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The captain of the Terrorist air-ship <i>Ariel</i>. Be good
+enough to come out here, Colonel Alexei Alexandrovitch.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+One of the aerostats moved out of the midst of the Russian
+squadron and made its way towards the <i>Ariel</i>. As she
+approached Mazanoff swung his bow round and brought it
+level with the car of the aerostat, at the same time training
+one of his guns full on it. Then, with his arm resting on the
+breach of the gun, he said,&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Come on board, Colonel, and bid your balloon follow me.
+No nonsense, mind, or I'll blow you into eternity and all your
+squadron after you.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The Russian did as he was bidden, and the <i>Ariel</i>, followed
+by the aerostat, ascended to the <i>Ithuriel</i>, while the <i>Orion</i> kept
+up her patrol round the captive war-balloons.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Colonel Alexandrovitch, in command of the Tsar's a&euml;rial
+squadron, surrenders unconditionally, save for guarantee of
+personal safety to himself and his men,&quot; reported Mazanoff, as
+he came within earshot of the flagship.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very good,&quot; replied Arnold from the deck of the <i>Ithuriel</i>.
+<a name="page215"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 215]</span>
+&quot;You will keep Colonel Alexandrovitch as hostage for the good
+behaviour of the rest, and shoot him the moment one of the
+balloons attempts to escape. After that destroy the rest
+without mercy. They will form in line close together. The
+<i>Ariel</i> and the <i>Orion</i> will convoy them on either flank, and you
+will follow me until you have the signal to stop. On the first
+suspicion of any attempt to escape you will know what to do.
+You have both handled your ships splendidly.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Mazanoff saluted formally, more for the sake of effect than
+anything else, and descended again to carry out his orders.
+The captured flotilla was formed in line, the balloons being
+closed up until there was only a couple of yards or so between
+any of them and her next neighbour, with the <i>Orion</i> and the
+<i>Ariel</i> to right and left, each with two guns trained on them,
+and the <i>Ithuriel</i> flying a couple of hundred feet above them.
+In this order captors and captured made their way at twenty
+miles an hour to the north-west towards the headquarters
+of the Tsar.
+<a name="page216"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 216]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter29"></a>
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+AN EMBASSY FROM THE SKY.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p216.png" alt="B" width="121" height="137" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+By the time the captured war-balloons had been
+formed in order, and the voyage fairly commenced,
+the eastern sky was bright with the
+foreglow of the coming dawn, and, as the
+flotilla was only floating between eight and
+nine hundred feet above the earth, it was not
+long before the light was sufficiently strong to render the
+landscape completely visible.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Far and wide it was a scene of desolation and destruction,
+of wasted, blackened fields trampled into wildernesses by the
+tread of countless feet, of forests of trees broken, scorched,
+and splintered by the iron hail of artillery, and of towns and
+villages, reduced to heaps of ruins, still smouldering with the
+fires that had destroyed them.
+</p>
+<p>
+No more eloquent object-lesson in the horrors of what is
+called civilised warfare could well have been found than the
+scene which was visible from the decks of the air-ships. The
+promised fruits of a whole year of patient industry had been
+withered in a few hours under the storm-blast of war; homes
+which but a few days before had sheltered stalwart, well-fed
+peasants and citizens, were now mere heaps of blackened brick
+and stone and smoking thatches.
+</p>
+<p>
+Streets which had been the thoroughfares of peaceful
+industrious folk, who had no quarrel with the Powers of the
+earth, or with any of their kind, were now strewn with corpses
+and encumbered with ruins, and the few survivors, more
+miserable than those who had died, were crawling, haggard
+and starving, amidst the wrecks of their vanished prosperity,
+<a name="page217"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 217]</span>
+seeking for some scanty morsels of food to prolong life if only
+for a few more days of misery and nights of sleepless anxiety.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the sun rose and shed its midsummer splendour, as if
+in sublime mockery, over the scene of suffering and desolation,
+hideous features of the landscape were brought into stronger
+and more horrifying relief; the scorched and trampled fields
+were seen to be strewn with unburied corpses of men and
+horses, and ploughed up with cannon shot and torn into great
+irregular gashes by shells that had buried themselves in the
+earth and then exploded.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was evident that some frightful tragedy must have taken
+place in this region not many hours before the air-ships had
+arrived upon the scene. And this, in fact, had been the case.
+Barely three days previously the advance guard of the Russian
+army of the North had been met and stubbornly but
+unsuccessfully opposed by the remnants of the German army
+of the East, which, driven back from the frontier, was retreating
+in good order to join the main force which had concentrated
+about Berlin, under the command of the Emperor, there to
+fight out the supreme struggle, on the issue of which depended
+the existence of that German Empire which fifty years before
+had been so triumphantly built up by the master-geniuses of
+the last generation.
+</p>
+<p>
+After a flight of a little over two hours the flotilla came in
+sight of the Russian army lying between Cüstrin on the right
+and Frankfort-on-Spree on the left. The distance between
+these two towns is nearly twelve English miles, and yet the
+wings of the vast host under the command of the Tsar spread
+for a couple of miles on either side to north and south of each
+of them.
+</p>
+<p>
+In spite of the colossal iniquity which it concealed, the
+spectacle was one of indescribable grandeur. Almost as far
+as the eye could reach the beams of the early morning sun
+were gleaming upon innumerable white tents, and flashing
+over a sea of glittering metal, of bare bayonets and sword
+scabbards, of spear points and helmets, of gold-laced uniforms
+and the polished accoutrements of countless batteries of field
+artillery.
+</p>
+<p>
+Far away to the westward the stately city of Berlin could
+be seen lying upon its intersecting waters, and encircled by its
+<a name="page218"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 218]</span>
+fortifications bristling with guns, and in advance of it were
+the long serried lines of its defenders gathered to do desperate
+battle for home and fatherland.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as the Russian army was fairly in sight the <i>Ithuriel</i>
+shot ahead, sank to the level of the flotilla, and then stopped
+until she was overtaken by the <i>Orion</i>. Tremayne was on
+deck, and Arnold as soon as he came alongside said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You must stop here for the present. I want the aerostat
+commanded by Colonel Alexandrovitch to come with me;
+meanwhile you and the <i>Ariel</i> will rise with the rest of the
+balloons to a height of four thousand feet; you will keep strict
+guard over the balloons, and permit no movement to be made
+until my return. We are going to bring his Majesty the Tsar
+to book, or else make things pretty lively for him if he won't
+listen to reason.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very well,&quot; replied Tremayne. &quot;I will do as you say, and
+await developments with considerable interest. If there is
+going to be a fight, I hope you're not going to leave us out in
+the cold.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Oh no,&quot; replied Arnold. &quot;You needn't be afraid of that.
+If his Majesty won't come to terms, you will smash up the war-balloons
+and then come and join us in the general bombardment.
+I see, by the way, that there are ten or a dozen more
+of these unwieldy monsters with the Russian force moored
+to the ground yonder on the outskirts of Cüstrin. It will
+be a little amusement for us if we have to come to blows
+to knock them to pieces before we smash up the Tsar's headquarters.
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying, Arnold increased the speed of the <i>Ithuriel</i>, swept
+round in front of the line, and communicated the same instructions
+to the captain of the <i>Ariel</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+A few minutes later the <i>Ariel</i> and the <i>Orion</i> began to
+rise with their charges to the higher regions of the air,
+leaving the <i>Ithuriel</i> and the one aerostat to carry out the
+plan which had been arranged by Natas and Arnold an hour
+previously.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the speed of the aerostat was only about twenty miles an
+hour against the wind, a rope was passed from the stern of the
+<i>Ithuriel</i> to the cordage connecting the car with the gas-holder,
+and so the aerostat was taken in tow by the air-ship, and
+<a name="page219"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 219]</span>
+dragged through the air at a speed of about forty miles an
+hour, as a wind-bound sailing vessel might have been towed by
+a steamer.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the journey the elevation was increased to more than
+four thousand feet,&mdash;an elevation at which both the <i>Ithuriel</i>
+and her captive, and especially the former, presented practically
+impossible marks for the Russian riflemen. Almost immediately
+over Cüstrin they came to a standstill, and then Colonel
+Alexandrovitch and Professor Volnow were summoned by
+Natas into the deck saloon.
+</p>
+<p>
+He explained to them the mission which he desired them to
+undertake, that is to say, the conveyance of a letter from himself
+to the Tsar offering terms for the surrender of the <i>Lucifer</i>.
+They accepted the mission; and in order that they might fully
+understand the gravity of it, Natas read them the letter, which
+ran as follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<span class="smcap">Alexander Romanoff</span>,&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+Three days ago one of my fleet of air-ships, named the <i>Lucifer</i>, was
+delivered into your hands by traitors and deserters, whose lives are forfeit in
+virtue of the oaths which they took of their own free will. I have already
+taken measures to render abortive the analysis which you ordered to be performed
+in the chemical department of your Arsenal at St. Petersburg, and I have
+now come to make terms, if possible, for the restoration of the air-ship. Those
+terms are as follows&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+An hour before daybreak this morning I captured nine of your war-balloons, after
+destroying three others which attempted to escape. I have no desire to take any
+present part in the war which you are now carrying on with the Anglo-Teutonic
+Alliance, and if you will tell me where the <i>Lucifer</i> is now to be found, and will
+despatch orders both by land and through Professor Volnow, who brings this
+letter to you, and will return with your answer, for her to be given up to me
+forthwith with everything she has on board, and will surrender with her the
+four traitors who delivered her into your hands, I will restore the nine war-balloons
+to you intact, and when I have recovered the <i>Lucifer</i> I will take no
+further part in the war unless either you or your opponents proceed to unjustifiable
+extremities.
+</p>
+<p>
+If you reject these terms, or if I do not receive an answer to this letter
+within two hours of the time that the bearer of it descends in the aerostat, I
+shall give orders for the immediate destruction of the war-balloons now in my
+hands, and I shall then proceed to destroy Cüstrin and the other aerostats
+which are moored near the town. That done I shall, for the time being, devote
+the force at my disposal to the defence of Berlin, and do my utmost to bring
+about the defeat and dispersal of the army which will then no longer be commanded
+by yourself.
+</p>
+<p>
+In case you may doubt what I say as to the capture of the fleet of war-balloons,
+Professor Volnow will be accompanied by Colonel Alexei Alexandrovitch,
+late in command of the squadron, and now my prisoner of war.
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<span class="smcap">Natas</span>.<br />
+</p>
+<p>
+<a name="page220"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 220]</span>
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+The ambassadors were at once transferred to the aerostat,
+and with a white flag hoisted on the after stays of the balloon she
+began to sink rapidly towards the earth, and at the same time
+Natas gave orders for the <i>Ithuriel</i> to ascend to a height of eight
+thousand feet in order to frustrate any attempts that might be
+made, whether with or without the orders of the Tsar, to injure
+her by means of a volley from the earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+Even from that elevation, those on board the <i>Ithuriel</i> were
+able with the aid of their field-glasses to see with perfect ease
+the commotion which the appearance of the air-ship with the
+captured aerostat had produced in the Russian camp. The
+whole of the vast host, numbering more than four millions
+of men, turned out into the open to watch their a&euml;rial
+visitors, and everywhere throughout the whole extent of the
+huge camp the plainest signs of the utmost excitement were
+visible.
+</p>
+<p>
+In less than half an hour they saw the aerostat touch the
+earth near to a large building, above which floated the imperial
+standard of Russia. An hour had been allowed for the interview
+and for the Tsar to give his decision, and half an hour for
+the aerostat to return and meet the air-ship.
+</p>
+<p>
+In all the history of the world there had probably never
+been an hour so pregnant with tremendous consequences, not
+only to Europe, but to the whole civilised world, as that was;
+and though apparently a perfect calm reigned throughout the
+air-ship, the issue of the embassy was awaited with the most
+intense anxiety.
+</p>
+<p>
+Another half hour passed, and hardly a word was spoken on
+the deck of the <i>Ithuriel</i>, hanging there in mid-air over the
+mighty Russian host, and in range of the field-glasses of the
+outposts of the German army of Berlin lying some ten or twelve
+miles away to the westward.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was the calm before the threatening storm,&mdash;a storm which
+in less than an hour might break in a hail of death and
+destruction from the sky, and turn the fields of earth into a
+volcano of shot and flame. Certainly the fate of an empire,
+and perhaps of Europe, or indeed the world, hung in the
+balance over that field of possible carnage.
+</p>
+<p>
+If the Russians regained their war-balloons and were left to
+themselves, nothing that the heroic Germans could do would
+<a name="page221"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 221]</span>
+be likely to save Berlin from the fate that had overwhelmed
+Strassburg and Metz, Breslau and Thorn.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the other hand, should the aerostat not return in time
+with a satisfactory answer, the victorious career of the Tsar
+would be cut short by such a bolt from the skies as had wrecked
+his fortress at Kronstadt,&mdash;a blow which he could neither guard
+against nor return, for it would come from an unassailable
+vantage point, a little vessel a hundred feet long floating in the
+air six thousand feet from the earth, and looking a mere bright
+speck amidst the sunlight. She formed a mark that the most
+skilful rifle-shot in his army could not hit once in a thousand
+shots, and against whose hull of hardened aluminium, bullets,
+even if they struck, would simply splash and scatter, like
+raindrops on a rock.
+</p>
+<p>
+The remaining minutes of the last half hour were slipping
+away one by one, and still no sign came from the earth. The
+aerostat remained moored near the building surmounted by
+the Russian standard, and the white flag, which, according to
+arrangement, had been hauled down to be re-hoisted if the
+answer of the Tsar was favourable, was still invisible. When
+only ten minutes of the allotted time were left, Arnold, moving
+his glass from his eyes, and looking at his watch, said to Natas&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Ten minutes more; shall I prepare?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes,&quot; said Natas. &quot;And let the first gun be fired with
+the first second of the eleventh minute. Destroy the aerostats
+first and then the batteries of artillery. After that send a
+shell into Frankfort, if you have a gun that will carry the
+distance, so that they may see our range of operations; but
+spare the Tsar's headquarters for the present.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very good,&quot; replied Arnold. Then, turning to his lieutenant,
+he said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You have the guns loaded with No. 3, I presume, Mr.
+Marston, and the projectile stands are filled, I see. Very
+good. Now descend to six thousand feet and go a mile to the
+westward. Train one broadside gun on that patch of ground
+where you see those balloons, another to strike in the midst
+of those field-guns yonder by the ammunition-waggons, and
+train the starboard after-gun to throw a shell into Frankfort.
+The distance is a little over twelve miles, so give sufficient
+elevation.&quot;
+<a name="page222"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 222]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+By the time these orders had been executed, swiftly as the
+necessary evolution had been performed, only four minutes of
+the allotted time were left. Arnold took his stand by the
+broadside gun trained on the aerostats, and, with one hand on
+the breech of the gun and the other holding his watch, he
+waited for the appointed moment. Natasha stood by him with
+her eyes fastened to the eye-pieces of the glasses watching for
+the white flag in breathless suspense.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;One minute more!&quot; said Arnold.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Stop, there it goes!&quot; cried Natasha as the words left his
+lips. &quot;His Majesty has yielded to circumstances!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold took the glasses from her, and through them saw a tiny
+white speck shining against the black surface of the gas-holder
+of the balloon. He handed the glasses back to her, saying&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We must not be too sure of that. His message may be
+one of defiance.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;True,&quot; said Natasha. &quot;We shall see.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Ten minutes later the aerostat was released from her moorings
+and rose swiftly and vertically into the air. As soon as
+it reached her own altitude the <i>Ithuriel</i> shot forward to meet
+it, and stopped within a couple of hundred yards, a gun ready
+trained upon the car in case of treachery. In the car stood
+Professor Volnow and Colonel Alexandrovitch. The former
+held something white in his hand, and across the intervening
+space came the reassuring hail: &quot;All well!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+In five minutes he was standing on the deck of the <i>Ithuriel</i>
+presenting a folded paper to Natas. He was pale to the lips,
+and his whole body trembled with violent emotion. As he
+handed him the paper, he said to Natas in a low, husky voice
+that was barely recognisable as his&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Here is the answer of the Tsar. Whether you are man or
+fiend, I know not, but his Majesty has yielded and accepted
+your terms. May I never again witness such anger as was his
+when I presented your letter. It was not till the last moment
+that he yielded to my entreaties and those of his staff, and
+ordered the white flag to be hoisted.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes,&quot; replied Natas. &quot;He tempted his fate to the last
+moment. The guns were already trained upon Cüstrin, and
+thirty seconds more would have seen his headquarters in
+ruins. He did wisely, if he acted tardily.&quot;
+<a name="page223"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 223]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying, Natas broke the imperial seal. On a sheet of
+paper bearing the imperial arms were scrawled three or four
+lines in the Autocrat's own handwriting&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+I accept your main terms. The air-ship has joined the Baltic fleet. She
+will be delivered to you with all on board. The four men are my subjects, and
+I feel bound to protect them; they will therefore not be delivered up. Do as
+you like.
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<span class="smcap">Alexander.</span><br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+&quot;A Royal answer, though it comes from a despot,&quot; said
+Natas as he refolded the paper. &quot;I will waive that point,
+and let him protect the traitors, if he can. Colonel
+Alexandrovitch,&quot; he continued, turning to the Russian, who
+had also boarded the air-ship, &quot;you are free. You may return
+to your war-balloon, and accompany us to give the order for
+the release of your squadron.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Free!&quot; suddenly screamed the Russian, his face livid and
+distorted with passion. &quot;Free, yes, but disgraced! Ruined
+for life, and degraded to the ranks! I want no freedom from
+you. I will not even have my life at your hands, but I will
+have yours, and rid the earth of you if I die a thousand
+deaths!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke he wrenched his sword from its scabbard,
+thrust the Professor aside, and rushed at Natas with the
+uplifted blade. Before it had time to descend a stream of
+pale flame flashed over the back of the Master's chair,
+accompanied by a long, sharp rattle, and the Russian's body
+dropped instantly to the deck riddled by a hail of bullets.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I saw murder in that man's eyes when he began to speak,&quot;
+said Natasha, putting back into her pocket the magazine pistol
+that she had used with such terrible effect.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I saw it too, daughter,&quot; quietly replied Natas. &quot;But you
+need not have been afraid; the blow would never have
+reached me, for I would have paralysed him before he could
+have made the stroke.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Impossible! No man could have done it!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The exclamation burst involuntarily from the lips of
+Professor Volnow, who had stood by, an amazed and horrified
+spectator of the rapidly enacted tragedy.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Professor,&quot; said Natas, in quick, stern tones, &quot;I am not
+accustomed to say what is not true, nor yet to be contradicted
+<a name="page224"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 224]</span>
+by any one in human shape. Stand there till I tell you to
+move.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke these last words Natas made a swift, sweeping
+downward movement with one of his hands, and fixed his
+eyes upon those of the Professor. In an instant Volnow's
+muscles stiffened into immovable rigidity, and he stood rooted
+to the deck powerless to move so much as a finger.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Captain Arnold,&quot; continued Natas, as though nothing had
+happened. &quot;We will rejoin our consorts, please, and release
+the aerostats in accordance with the terms. This man's body
+will be returned in one of them to his master, and the
+Professor here will write an account of his death in order that
+it may not be believed that we have murdered him. Konstantin
+Volnow, go into the saloon and write that letter, and bring it
+to me when it is done.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Like an automaton the Professor turned and walked
+mechanically into the deck-saloon. Meanwhile the <i>Ithuriel</i>
+started on her way towards the captive squadron. Before she
+reached it Volnow returned with a sheet of paper in his hand
+filled with fresh writing, and signed with his name.
+</p>
+<p>
+Natas took it from him, read it, and then fixing his eyes on
+his again, said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That will do. I give you back your will. Now, do you
+believe?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The Professor's body was suddenly shaken with such a
+violent trembling that he almost fell to the deck. Then he
+recovered himself with a violent effort, and cried through his
+chattering teeth&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Believe! How can I help it? Whoever and whatever
+you are, you are well named the Master of the Terror.&quot;
+<a name="page225"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 225]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter30"></a>
+CHAPTER XXX.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+AT CLOSE QUARTERS.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p225.png" alt="A" width="122" height="138" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+As soon as the captive war-balloons had been
+released, the <i>Ithuriel</i> and her consorts, without
+any further delay or concern for the issue of
+the decisive battle which would probably prove
+to be the death-struggle of the German Empire,
+headed away to the northward at the utmost
+speed of the two smaller vessels. Their objective point was
+Copenhagen, and the distance rather more than two hundred
+and sixty miles in a straight line.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+This was covered in under two hours and a half, and by
+noon they had reached the Danish capital. In crossing the
+water from Stralsund they had sighted several war-vessels, all
+flying British, German, or Danish colours, and all making a
+northerly course like themselves. They had not attempted to
+speak to any of these, because, as they were all apparently
+bound for the same point, and, as the speed of the air-ships
+was more than five times as great as that of the swiftest
+cruiser, to do so would have been a waste of time, when every
+moment might be of the utmost consequence.
+</p>
+<p>
+Off Copenhagen the a&euml;rial travellers saw the first signs of
+the terrible night's work, with the details of which the
+reader has already been made acquainted. Wrecked fortifications,
+cruisers and battleships bearing every mark of a heavy
+engagement, some with their top-works battered into ruins,
+their military masts gone, and their guns dismounted; some
+down by the head, and some by the stern, and others evidently
+run ashore to save them from sinking; and the harbour
+crowded with others in little better condition&mdash;everywhere
+<a name="page226"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 226]</span>
+there were eloquent proofs of the disaster which had overtaken
+the Allied fleets on the previous night.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There seems to have been some rough work going on down
+there within the last few hours,&quot; said Arnold to Natas as they
+came in sight of this scene of destruction. &quot;The Russians
+could not have done this alone, for when the war began they
+were shut up in the Baltic by an overwhelming force, of which
+these seem to be the remains. And those forts yonder were
+never destroyed by anything but our shells.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes,&quot; replied Natas. &quot;It is easy to see what has happened.
+The <i>Lucifer</i> was sent here to help the Russian fleet to break
+the blockade, and it looks as though it had been done very
+effectually. We are just a few hours too late, I fear.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That one victory will have an immense effect on the course
+of the war, for it is almost certain that the Russians will make
+for the Atlantic round the north of the Shetland Islands, and
+co-operate with the French and Italian squadrons along the
+British line of communication with the West. That once cut,
+food will go up to famine prices in Britain, and the end will
+not be far off.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Natas spoke without the slightest apparent personal interest
+in the subject; but his words brought a flush to Arnold's
+cheeks, and make him suddenly clench his hands and knit his
+brows. After all he was an Englishman, and though he owed
+England nothing but the accident of his birth, the knowledge
+that one of his own ships should be the means of bringing this
+disaster upon her made him forget for the moment the gulf
+that he had placed between himself and his native land, and
+long to go to her rescue. But it was only a passing emotion.
+He remembered that his country was now elsewhere, and that
+all his hopes were now alien to Britain and her fortunes.
+</p>
+<p>
+If Natas noticed the effect of his words he made no sign
+that he did, and he went on in the same even tone as before&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We must overtake the fleet, and either recapture the
+<i>Lucifer</i> or destroy her before she does any more mischief in
+Russian hands. The first thing to do is to find out what has
+happened, and what course they have taken. Hoist the Union
+Jack over a flag of truce on all three ships, and signal to
+Mazanoff to come alongside. We had better stop here till we
+get the news.&quot;
+<a name="page227"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 227]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+The Master's orders were at once executed, and as soon as the
+<i>Ariel</i> was floating beside the flagship he said to her captain&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Go down and speak that cruiser lying at anchor off the
+harbour, and learn all you can of what has happened. Tell
+them freely how it happened that the <i>Lucifer</i> assisted the
+Russian, if it turns out that she did so. Say that we have no
+hostility to Britain at present, but rather the reverse, and that
+our only purpose just now is to retake the air-ship and prevent
+her doing any more damage. If you can get any newspapers,
+do so.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I understand fully,&quot; replied Mazanoff, and a minute later
+his vessel was sinking rapidly down towards the cruiser.
+</p>
+<p>
+His reception was evidently friendly, for those on board the
+<i>Ithuriel</i> saw that he ran the <i>Ariel</i> close alongside the man-of-war,
+after the first hails had been exchanged, and conversed
+for some time with a group of officers across the rails of the
+two vessels. Then a large roll of newspapers was passed from
+the cruiser to the air-ship, salutes were exchanged, and the
+<i>Ariel</i> rose gracefully into the air to rejoin her consorts, followed
+by the envious glances of the crews of the battered warships.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mazanoff presented his report, the facts of which were
+substantially those given in the <i>St. James's Gazette</i> telegram,
+and added that the British officers had confessed to him that
+the damage done was so great, both to the fleet and the shore
+fortifications, that the Sound was now practically as open as
+the Atlantic, and that it would be two or three weeks before
+even half the Allied force would be able to take the sea in
+fighting trim.
+</p>
+<p>
+They added that there was not the slightest need to conceal
+their condition, as the Russians, who had steamed in triumph
+past their shattered ships and silenced forts, knew it just as
+well as they did. As regards the Russian fleet, it had been
+followed past the Skawe, and had headed out westward.
+</p>
+<p>
+In their opinion it would consider itself strong enough, with
+the aid of the air-ship, to sweep the North Sea, and would
+probably attempt to force the Straits of Dover, as it has done
+the Sound, and effect a junction with the French squadrons at
+Brest and Cherbourg. This done, a combined attack might
+possibly be made upon Portsmouth, or the destruction of the
+Channel fleet attempted. The effects of the air-ship's shells
+<a name="page228"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 228]</span>
+upon both forts and ships had been so appalling that the
+Russians would no doubt think themselves strong enough for
+anything as long as they had possession of her.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;They were extremely polite,&quot; said Mazanoff, as he concluded
+his story. &quot;They asked me to go ashore and interview the
+Admiral, who, they told me, would guarantee any amount of
+money on behalf of the British Government if we would only
+co-operate with their fleets for even a month. They said
+Britain would gladly pay a hundred thousand a month for the
+hire of each ship and her crew; and they looked quite puzzled
+when I refused point-blank, and said that a million a month
+would not do it.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;They evidently take us for a new sort of pirates, corsairs
+of the air, or something of that kind; for when I said that a
+few odd millions were no good to people who could levy blackmail
+on the whole earth if they chose, they stared at me and
+asked me what we did want if we didn't want money. The
+idea that we could have any higher aims never seemed to have
+entered their heads, and, of course, I didn't enlighten them.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Quite right,&quot; said Natas, with a quiet laugh. &quot;They will
+learn our aims quite soon enough. And now we must overtake
+the Russian fleet as soon as possible. You say they passed the
+Skawe soon after five this morning. That gives them nearly
+six hours' start, and if they are steaming twenty miles an hour,
+as I daresay they are, they will now be some hundred and
+twenty miles west of the Skawe. Captain Arnold, if we cut
+straight across Zeeland and Jutland, about what distance ought
+we to travel before we meet them?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold glanced at the chart which lay spread out on the
+table of the saloon in which they were sitting, and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I should say a course of about two hundred miles due
+north-west from here ought to take us within sight of them,
+unless they are making for the Atlantic, and keep very close to
+the Swedish coast. In that case I should say two hundred and
+fifty in the same direction.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very well, then, let us take that course and make all the
+speed we can,&quot; said Natas; and within ten minutes the three
+vessels were speeding away to the north-westward at a hundred
+and twenty miles an hour over the verdant lowlands of the
+Danish peninsula.
+<a name="page229"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 229]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Ithuriel</i> kept above five miles ahead of the others, and
+when the journey had lasted about an hour and three-quarters,
+the man who had been stationed in the conning-tower signalled,
+&quot;Fleet in sight&quot; to the saloon. The air-ships were then
+travelling at an elevation of 3000 feet. A good ten miles to
+the northward could be seen the Russian fleet steering to the
+westward, and, judging by the dense clouds of smoke that were
+pouring out of the funnels of the vessels, making all the speed
+they could.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold, who had gone forward to the conning-tower as soon
+as the signal sounded, at once returned to the saloon and made
+his formal report to Natas.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The Russian fleet is in sight, heading to the westward,
+and therefore evidently meaning to reach the Atlantic by the
+north of the Shetlands. There are twelve large battleships,
+about twenty-five cruisers of different sizes, eight of them very
+large, and a small swarm of torpedo-boats being towed by the
+larger vessels, I suppose to save their coal. I see no signs of the
+<i>Lucifer</i> at present, but from what we have learnt she will be on
+the deck of one of the large cruisers. What are your orders?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Recover the air-ship if you can,&quot; replied Natas. &quot;Send
+Mazanoff with Professor Volnow to convey the Tsar's letter to
+the Admiral, and demand the surrender of the <i>Lucifer</i>. If he
+refuses, let the <i>Ariel</i> return at once, and we will decide what to
+do. I leave the details with you with the most perfect
+confidence.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold bowed in silence and retired, catching, as he turned
+to leave the saloon, a glance from Natasha which, it must be
+confessed, meant more to him than even the command of the
+Master. From the expression of his face as he went to the
+wheel-house to take charge of the ship, it was evident that it
+would go hard with the Russian fleet if the Admiral refused
+to recognise the order of the Tsar.
+</p>
+<p>
+When he got to the wheel-house the <i>Ithuriel</i> was almost
+over the fleet. He signalled &quot;stop&quot; to the engine-room.
+Immediately the propellers slowed and then ceased their rapid
+revolutions, and at the same time the fan-wheels went aloft
+and began to revolve. This was a prearranged signal to the
+others to do the same, and by the time they had overtaken the
+flagship they also came to a standstill. As soon as they were
+<a name="page230"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 230]</span>
+within speaking distance Arnold hailed the <i>Orion</i> and the
+<i>Ariel</i> to come alongside.
+</p>
+<p>
+After communicating to Tremayne and Mazanoff the orders
+of Natas, he said to the latter&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You will take Professor Volnow to present the Tsar's
+letter to the Admiral in command of the fleet. Fly the
+Russian flag over a flag of truce, and if he acknowledges it say
+that if the <i>Lucifer</i> is given up we shall allow the fleet to go on
+its way unmolested and without asking any question.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The cruiser that has her on board must separate from the
+rest of the fleet and allow two of your men to take possession
+of her and bring her up here. The lives of the four traitors
+are safe for the present if the air-ship is given up quietly.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And if they will not recognise the authority of the Tsar's
+letter, and refuse to give the air-ship up, what then?&quot; asked
+Mazanoff.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In that case haul down the Russian flag, and get aloft as
+quickly as you can. You can leave the rest to us,&quot; said
+Arnold. &quot;Meanwhile, Tremayne, will you go down to two
+thousand feet or so, and keep your eye on that big cruiser a
+bit ahead of the rest of the fleet. I fancy I can make out the
+<i>Lucifer</i> on her deck. Train a couple of guns on her, and don't
+let the air-ship rise without orders. I shall stop up here for
+the present, and be ready to make things lively for the
+Admiral if he refuses to obey his master's orders.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Ariel</i> took the Professor on board, and hoisted the
+Russian colours over the flag of truce, and began to sink down
+towards the fleet. As she descended, the Admiral in command
+of the squadron, already not a little puzzled by the appearance
+of the three air-ships, was still more mystified by seeing the
+Russian ensign flying from her flagstaff.
+</p>
+<p>
+Was this only a ruse of the Terrorists, or were they flying
+the Russian flag for a legitimate reason? As he knew from
+the experience of the previous night that the air-ships, if their
+intentions were hostile, could destroy his fleet in detail without
+troubling to parley with him, he concluded that there was a
+good reason for the flag of truce, and so he ordered one to be
+flown from his own masthead in answer to it.
+</p>
+<p>
+The white flag at once enabled Mazanoff to single out the
+huge battleship on which it was flying as the Admiral's flagship.
+<a name="page231"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 231]</span>
+The fleet was proceeding in four columns of line abreast.
+First two long lines of cruisers, each with one or two torpedo
+boats in tow, and with scouts thrown out on each wing, and
+then two lines of battleships, in the centre of the first of
+which was the flagship.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a somewhat risky matter for the <i>Ariel</i> to descend thus
+right in the middle of the whole fleet, but Mazanoff had his
+orders, and they had to be obeyed, and so down he went, running
+his bow up to within a hundred feet of the hurricane deck, on
+which stood the Admiral surrounded by several of his officers.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I have a message for the Admiral of the fleet,&quot; he shouted,
+as soon as he came within hail.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Who are you, and from whom is your message?&quot; came the
+reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Konstantin Volnow, of the Imperial Arsenal at Petersburg,
+brings the message from the Tsar in writing.'
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;His Majesty's messenger is welcome. Come alongside.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Ariel</i> ran ahead until her prow touched the rail of the
+hurricane deck, and the Professor advanced with the Tsar's
+letter in his hand, and gave it to the Admiral, saying&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You are acquainted with me, Admiral Prabylov. Though
+I bear it unwillingly, I can vouch for the letter being authentic.
+I saw his Majesty write it, and he gave it into my hands.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Then how do you come to be an unwilling bearer of it?&quot;
+asked the Admiral, scowling and gnawing his moustache as he
+read the unwelcome letter. &quot;What are these terms, and with
+whom were they made?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Pardon me, Admiral,&quot; interrupted Mazanoff, &quot;that is not
+the question. I presume you recognise his Majesty's signature,
+and see that he desires the air-ship to be given up.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;His Majesty's signature can be forged, just as Nihilists'
+passports can be, Mr. Terrorist, for that's what I presume you
+are, and&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Admiral, I solemnly assure you that that letter is genuine,
+and that it is really his Majesty's wish that the air-ship should
+be given up,&quot; the Professor broke in before Mazanoff had time
+to reply. &quot;It is to be given in exchange for nine war-balloons
+which these air-ships captured before daybreak this morning.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;How do you come to be the bearer of it, sir? Please
+answer me that first.&quot;
+<a name="page232"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 232]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I am a prisoner of war. I surrendered to save the Arsenal
+and perhaps Petersburg from destruction under circumstances
+which I cannot now explain&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Thank you, sir, that is quite enough! A pretty story,
+truly! And you ask me to believe this, and to give up that
+priceless air-ship on such grounds as these&mdash;a story that would
+hardly deceive a child? You captured nine of the Tsar's war-balloons
+this morning, had an interview with his Majesty, got
+this letter from him at Cüstrin&mdash;more than five hundred miles
+away, and bring it here, and it is barely two in the afternoon!
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No, gentlemen, I am too old a sailor to be taken in by a
+yarn like that. I believe this letter to be a forgery, and I
+will not give the air-ship up on its authority.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is your last word, is it?&quot; asked Mazanoff, white with
+passion, but still forcing himself to speak coolly.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is my last word, sir, save to tell you that if you do
+not haul that flag you are masquerading under down at once
+I will fire upon you,&quot; shouted the Admiral, tearing the Tsar's
+letter into fragments as he spoke.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If I haul that flag down it will be the signal for the air-ships
+up yonder to open fire upon you, so your blood be on
+your own heads!&quot; said Mazanoff, stamping thrice on the deck
+as he spoke. The propellers of the <i>Ariel</i> whirled round in a
+reverse direction, and she sprang swiftly back from the battleship,
+at the same time rising rapidly in the air.
+</p>
+<p>
+Before she had cleared a hundred yards, and before the flag
+of truce was hauled down, there was a sharp, grinding report
+from one of the tops of the man-of-war, and a hail of bullets
+from a machine gun swept across the deck. Mazanoff heard a
+splintering of wood and glass, and a deep groan beside him. He
+looked round and saw the Professor clasp his hand to a great
+red wound in his breast, and fall in a heap on the deck.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was the event of an instant. The next he had trained
+one of the bow-guns downwards on the centre of the deck of the
+Russian flagship and sent the projectile to its mark. Then
+quick as thought he sprang over and discharged the other gun
+almost at random. He saw the dazzling green flash of the
+explosions, then came a shaking of the atmosphere, and a
+roar as of a hundred thunder-claps in his ears, and he dropped
+senseless to the deck beside the corpse of the Professor.
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p232a.jpg" alt="There was a sharp, grinding report from one of the tops of the man-of-war." width="495" height="640" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;There was a sharp, grinding report from one of the tops of the man-of-war.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page232">page 232</a>.</i>
+<a name="page233"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 233]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter31"></a>
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+A RUSSIAN RAID.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p233.png" alt="M" width="117" height="131" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+Mazanoff came to himself about ten minutes
+later, lying on one of the seats in the after
+saloon, and all that he saw when he first
+opened his eyes was the white anxious face
+of Radna bending over him.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+&quot;What is the matter? What has happened?
+Where am I?&quot; he asked, as soon as his tongue obeyed his
+will. His voice, although broken and unsteady, was almost
+as strong as usual, and Radna's face immediately brightened
+as she heard it. A smile soon chased away her anxious look,
+and she said cheerily&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Ah, come! you're not killed after all. You are still on
+board the <i>Ariel</i>, and what has happened is this as far as I can
+see. In your hurry to return the shot from the Russian
+flagship you fired your guns at too close range, and the shock
+of the explosion stunned you. In fact, we thought for the
+moment you had blown the <i>Ariel</i> up too, for she shook so
+that we all fell down; then her engines stopped, and she
+almost fell into the water before they could be started
+again.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Is she all right now? Where's the Russian fleet, and
+what happened to the flagship? I must get on deck,&quot;
+exclaimed Mazanoff, sitting up on the seat. As he did so he
+put his hand to his head and said: &quot;I feel a bit shaky still.
+What's that&mdash;brandy you've got there? Get me some champagne,
+and put the brandy into it. I shall be all right when
+I've had a good drink. Now I think of it, I wonder that
+explosion didn't blow us to bits. You haven't told me what
+<a name="page234"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 234]</span>
+became of the flagship,&quot; he continued, as Radna came back
+with a small bottle of champagne and uncorked it.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Well, the flagship is at the bottom of the German Ocean.
+When Petroff told me that you had fallen dead, as he said,
+on deck, I ran up in defiance of your orders and saw the
+battleship just going down. The shells had blown the middle
+of her right out, and a cloud of steam and smoke and fire was
+rising out of a great ragged space where the funnels had been.
+Before I got you down here she broke right in two and went
+down.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That serves that blackguard Prabylov right for saying we
+forged the Tsar's letter, and firing on a flag of truce. Poor
+Volnow's dead, I suppose?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Oh yes,&quot; replied Radna sadly. &quot;He was shot almost to
+pieces by the volley from the machine gun. The deck saloon
+is riddled with bullets, and the decks badly torn up, but
+fortunately the hull and propellers are almost uninjured.
+But come, drink this, then you can go up and see for yourself.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying she handed him a tumbler of champagne well
+dashed with brandy. He drank it down at a gulp, like the
+Russian that he was, and said as he put the glass down&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That's better. I feel a new man. Now give me a kiss,
+<i>batiushka</i>, and I'll be off.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+When he reached the deck he found the <i>Ariel</i> ascending
+towards the <i>Ithuriel</i>, and about a mile astern of the Russian
+fleet, the vessels of which were blazing away into the air with
+their machine guns, in the hope of &quot;bringing him down on
+the wing,&quot; as he afterwards put it. He could hear the
+bullets singing along underneath him; but the <i>Ariel</i> was rising
+so fast, and going at such a speed through the air, that the
+moment the Russians got the range they lost it again, and so
+merely wasted their ammunition.
+</p>
+<p>
+Neither the <i>Ithuriel</i> nor the <i>Orion</i> seemed to have taken
+any part in the battle so far, or to have done anything to
+avenge the attack made upon the <i>Ariel</i>. Mazanoff wondered
+not a little at this, as both Arnold and Tremayne must have
+seen the fate of the Russian flagship. As soon as he got
+within speaking distance of the <i>Ithuriel</i>, he sang out to Arnold,
+who was on the deck&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I got in rather a tight place down there. That scoundrel
+<a name="page235"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 235]</span>
+fired upon us with the flag of truce flying, and when I gave
+him a couple of shells in return I thought the end of the
+world was come.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You fired at too close range, my friend. Those shells are
+sudden death to anything within a hundred yards of them.
+Are you all well on board? You've been knocked about a
+bit, I see.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No; poor Volnow's dead. He was killed standing close
+beside me, and I wasn't touched, though the explosion of the
+shell knocked the senses out of me completely. However, the
+machinery's all right, and I don't think the hull is hurt to
+speak of. But what are you doing? I should have thought
+you'd have blown half the fleet out of the water by this
+time.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No. We saw that you had amply avenged yourself, and
+the Master's orders were not to do anything till you returned.
+You'd better come on board and consult with him.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Mazanoff did so, and when he had told his story to Natas,
+the latter mystified him not a little by replying&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I am glad that none of you are injured, though, of course,
+I'm sorry that I sent Volnow to his death; but that is the
+fortune of war. If one of us fell into his master's hands his
+fate would be worse than that. You avenged the outrage
+promptly and effectively.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I have decided not to injure the Russian fleet more than I
+can help. It has work to do which must not be interfered
+with. My only object is to recover the <i>Lucifer</i>, if possible, and
+so we shall follow the fleet for the present across the North Sea
+on our way to the rendezvous with the other vessels from Aeria
+which are to meet us on Rockall Island, and wait our opportunity.
+Should the opportunity not come before then, we must proceed
+to extremities, and destroy her and the cruiser that has her
+on board.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And do you think we shall get such an opportunity?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I don't know,&quot; replied Natas. &quot;But it is possible. I don't
+think it likely that the fleet will have coal enough for a long
+cruise in the Atlantic, and therefore it is possible that they
+will make a descent on Aberdeen, which they are quite strong
+enough to capture if they like, and coal up there. In that
+case it is extremely probable that they will make use of the
+<a name="page236"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 236]</span>
+air-ship to terrorise the town into surrender, and as soon as
+she takes the air we must make a dash for her, and either take
+her or blow her to pieces.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold expressed his entire agreement with this idea, and,
+as the event proved, it was entirely correct. Instead of steering
+nor'-nor'-west, as they would have done had they intended
+to go round the Shetland Islands, or north-west, had they
+chosen the course between the Orkneys and the Shetlands,
+the Russian vessels kept a due westerly course during the rest
+of the day, and this course could only take them to the Scotch
+coast near Aberdeen.
+</p>
+<p>
+The distance from where they were was a little under five
+hundred miles, and at their present rate of steaming they
+would reach Aberdeen about four o'clock on the following
+afternoon. The air-ships followed them at a height of four
+thousand feet during the rest of the day and until shortly
+before dawn on the following morning.
+</p>
+<p>
+They then put on speed, took a wide sweep to the northward,
+and returned southward over Banffshire, and passing
+Aberdeen to the west, found a secluded resting-place on the
+northern spur of the Kincardineshire Hills, about five miles to
+the southward of the Granite City.
+</p>
+<p>
+Here the repairs which were needed by the <i>Ariel</i> were at
+once taken in hand by her own crew and that of the <i>Ithuriel</i>,
+while the <i>Orion</i> was sent out to sea again to keep a sharp look-out
+for the Russian fleet, which she would sight long before she
+herself became visible, and then to watch the movements of
+the Russians from as great a distance as possible until it was
+time to make the counter-attack.
+</p>
+<p>
+As Aberdeen was then one of the coaling depots for the
+North Sea Squadron, it was defended by two battleships, the
+<i>Ascalon</i> and the <i>Menelaus</i>, three powerful coast-defence vessels,
+the <i>Thunderer</i>, the <i>Cyclops</i>, and the <i>Pluto</i>, six cruisers, and
+twelve torpedo-boats. The shore defences consisted of a fort
+on the north bank at the mouth of the Dee, mounting ten
+heavy guns, and the Girdleness fort, mounting twenty-four
+9-inch twenty-five ton guns, in connection with which was a
+station for working navigable torpedoes of the Brennan type,
+which had been considerably improved during the last ten
+years.
+<a name="page237"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 237]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Shortly after two o'clock on the afternoon of the 30th the
+<i>Orion</i> returned to her consorts with the news that the Russian
+fleet was forty miles off the land, heading straight for Aberdeen,
+and that there were no other warships in sight as far as
+could be seen to the southward. From this fact it was concluded
+that the Russians had escaped the notice of the North
+Sea Squadron, and so would only have the force defending
+Aberdeen to reckon with.
+</p>
+<p>
+Even had they not possessed the air-ship, this force was so
+far inferior to their own that there would be little chance of
+successfully defending the town against them. They had
+eleven battleships, twenty-five cruisers, eight of which were
+very large and heavily armed, and forty torpedo-boats, to pit
+against the little British force and the two forts.
+</p>
+<p>
+But given the assistance of the <i>Lucifer</i>, and the town practically
+lay at their mercy. They evidently feared no serious
+opposition in their raid, for, without even waiting for nightfall,
+they came on at full speed, darkening the sky with their
+smoke, the battleships in the centre, a dozen cruisers on either
+side of them, and one large cruiser about a mile ahead of their
+centre.
+</p>
+<p>
+When the captain of the <i>Ascalon</i>, who was in command of
+the port, saw the overwhelming force of the hostile fleet, he at
+once came to the conclusion that it would be madness for him
+to attempt to put to sea with his eleven ships and six torpedo-boats.
+The utmost that he could do was to remain inshore
+and assist the forts to keep the Russians at bay, if possible,
+until the assistance, which had already been telegraphed for to
+Dundee and the Firth of Forth, where the bulk of the North
+Sea Squadron was then stationed, could come to his aid.
+</p>
+<p>
+Five miles off the land the Russian fleet stopped, and the
+<i>Lucifer</i> rose from the deck of the big cruiser and stationed
+herself about a mile to seaward of the mouth of the river at an
+elevation of three thousand feet. Then a torpedo-boat flying a
+flag of truce shot out from the Russian line and ran to within
+a mile of the shore.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Commodore of the port sent out one of his torpedo-boats
+to meet her, and this craft brought back a summons to
+surrender the port for twelve hours, and permit six of the
+Russian cruisers to fill up with coal. The alternative would
+<a name="page238"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 238]</span>
+be bombardment of the town by the fleet and the air-ship,
+which alone, as the Russians said, held the fort and the ships
+at its mercy.
+</p>
+<p>
+To this demand the British Commodore sent back a flat
+refusal, and defiance to the Russian Commander to do his
+worst.
+</p>
+<p>
+Where the <i>Ithuriel</i> and her consorts were lying the hills
+between them and the sea completely screened them from the
+observation of those on board the <i>Lucifer</i>. Arnold and Tremayne
+had climbed to the top of a hill above their ships, and
+watched the movements of the Russians through their glasses.
+As soon as they saw the <i>Lucifer</i> rise into the air they returned
+to the <i>Ithuriel</i> to form their plans for their share in the
+conflict that they saw impending.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I'm afraid we can't do much until it gets a good deal
+darker than it is now,&quot; said Arnold, in reply to a question
+from Natas as to his view of the situation. &quot;If we take the
+air now the <i>Lucifer</i> will see us; and we must remember that
+she is armed with the same weapons as we have, and a shot
+from one of her guns would settle any of us that it struck.
+Even if we hit her first we should destroy her, and we could
+have done that easily yesterday.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It has felt very like thunder all day, and I see there are
+some very black-looking clouds rolling up there over the hills
+to the south-west. My advice is to wait for those. I'm afraid
+we can't do anything to save the town under the circumstances,
+but in this state of the atmosphere a heavy bombardment is
+practically certain to bring on a severe thunderstorm, and to
+fetch those clouds up at the double quick.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I don't for a moment think that the British will surrender,
+big and all as the Russian force is, and as they have never
+seen the effects of our shells they won't fear the <i>Lucifer</i> much
+until she commences operations, and then it will be too late.
+Listen! They've begun. There goes the first gun!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+A deep, dull boom came rolling up the hills from the sea
+as he spoke, and was almost immediately followed by a rapid
+series of similar reports, which quickly deepened into a continuous
+roar. Every one who could be spared from the air-ship
+at once ran up to the top of the hill to watch the progress of
+the fight. The Russian fleet had advanced to within three
+<a name="page239"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 239]</span>
+miles of the land, and had opened a furious cannonade on the
+British ships and the forts, which were manfully replying to
+it with every available gun.
+</p>
+<p>
+By the time the watchers on the hill had focussed their
+glasses on the scene, the <i>Lucifer</i> discharged her first shell on
+the fort on Girdleness. They saw the blaze of the explosion
+gleam through the smoke that already hung thick over the
+low building. Another and another followed in quick succession,
+and the firing from the fort ceased. The smoke drifted
+slowly away, and disclosed a heap of shapeless ruins.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is horrible work, isn't it?&quot; said Arnold to Tremayne
+through his clenched teeth. &quot;Anywhere but on British
+ground would not be so bad, but the sight of that makes my
+blood boil. I would give my ears to take our ships into the
+air, and smash up that Russian fleet as we did the French
+Squadron in the Atlantic.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There spoke the true Briton, Captain Arnold,&quot; said
+Natasha, who was standing beside him under a clump of
+trees. &quot;Yes, I can quite understand how you feel watching
+a scene like that, for country is country after all. Even my
+half-English blood is pretty near boiling point; and though I
+wouldn't give my ears, I would give a good deal to go with you
+and do as you say.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;But you may rest assured that the Master's way is the
+best, and will prove the shortest road to the universal peace
+which can only come through universal war. Courage, my
+friend, and patience! There will be a heavy reckoning to
+pay for this sort of thing one day, and that before very long.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Ha!&quot; exclaimed Tremayne. &quot;There goes the other fort.
+I suppose it will be the turn of the ships next. What a
+frightful scene! Twenty minutes ago it was as peaceful as
+these hills, and look at it now.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The second fort had been destroyed as rapidly as the first,
+and the cessation of the fire of both had made a very perceptible
+difference in the cannonade, though the great guns
+of the Russian fleet still roared continuously and poured a
+hurricane of shot and shell into the mouth of the river across
+which the British ships were drawn, keeping up the unequal
+conflict like so many bull-dogs at bay.
+</p>
+<p>
+Over them and the river hung a dense pall of bluish-white
+<a name="page240"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 240]</span>
+smoke, through which the <i>Lucifer</i> sent projectile after projectile
+in the attempt to sink the British ironclads. As those on
+board her could only judge by the flash of the guns, the aim
+was very imperfect, and several projectiles were wasted, falling
+into the sea and exploding there, throwing up mountains of
+water, but not doing any further damage. At length a
+brilliant green flash shot up through the smoke clouds over
+the river mouth.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;He's hit one of the ships at last!&quot; exclaimed Tremayne,
+as he saw the flash. &quot;It'll soon be all up with poor old
+Aberdeen.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I don't think so,&quot; exclaimed Arnold. &quot;At any rate the
+<i>Lucifer</i> won't do much more harm. There comes the storm
+at last! Back to the ships all of you at once, it's time to go
+aloft!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke a brilliant flash of lightning split the inky
+clouds which had now risen high over the western hills, and
+a deep roll of thunder came echoing up the valleys as if in
+answer to the roar of the cannonade on the sea. The moment
+every one was on board, Arnold gave the signal to ascend. As
+soon as the fan-wheels had raised them a hundred feet from
+the ground he gave the signal for full speed ahead, and the
+three air-ships swept upwards to the west as though to meet
+the coming storm.
+<a name="page241"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 241]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter32"></a>
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE END OF THE CHASE.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p241.png" alt="T" width="118" height="132" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+The flight of the <i>Ithuriel</i> and her consorts was so
+graduated, that as they rose to the level of the
+storm-cloud they missed it and passed diagonally
+beyond it at a sufficient distance to avoid
+disturbing the electrical balance between it
+and the earth. The object of doing so was not
+so much to escape a discharge of electricity, since all the vital
+parts of the machinery and the power-cylinders were carefully
+insulated, but rather in order not to provoke a lightning flash
+which might have revealed their rapid passage to the occupants
+of the <i>Lucifer</i>.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+As it was, they swept upwards and westward at such a
+speed that they had gained the cover of the thunder-cloud,
+and placed a considerable area of it between themselves and
+the town, long before the storm broke over Aberdeen, and so
+they were provided with ample shelter under, or rather over,
+which they were to make their attack on the <i>Lucifer</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+They waited until the clouds coming up from the westward
+joined those which had begun to gather thick and black and
+threatening over the Russian fleet soon after the tremendous
+cannonade had begun. The shock of the meeting of the two
+cloud-squadrons formed a fitting counterpart to the drama of
+death and destruction that was being played on land and sea.
+</p>
+<p>
+The brilliant sunshine of the midsummer afternoon was
+suddenly obscured by a darkness born of smoke and cloud
+like that of a midwinter night. The smoke of the cannonade
+rose heavily and mingled with the clouds, and the atmospheric
+concussions produced by the discharge of hundreds of heavy
+<a name="page242"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 242]</span>
+guns, brought down the rain in torrents. Almost continuous
+streams of lightning flashed from cloud to cloud, and from
+heaven to earth, eclipsing the spouting fire of the guns, while
+to the roar of the bombardment was added an almost unbroken
+roll of thunder.
+</p>
+<p>
+Above all this hideous turmoil of human and elemental
+strife, the three air-ships floated for awhile in a serene and
+sunlit atmosphere. But this was only for a time. Arnold had
+taken the position and altitude of the <i>Lucifer</i> very carefully
+by means of his sextant and compass before he rose into the
+air, and as soon as his preparations were complete he made
+another observation of the angle of the sun's elevation, allowing,
+of course, for his own, and placed his three ships as nearly
+perpendicular as he could over the <i>Lucifer</i>, floating on the
+under side of the storm-cloud.
+</p>
+<p>
+His preparations had been simple in the extreme. Four
+light strong grappling-irons hung downwards from the <i>Ithuriel</i>,
+two at the bow and two at the stern, by thin steel-wire rope;
+two similar ones hung from the starboard side of the <i>Orion</i>,
+which was on his left hand, and two from the port side of
+the <i>Ariel</i>, which was on his right hand. As they gained the
+desired position, a man was stationed at each of the ropes, with
+instructions how to act when the word was given. Then the
+fan-wheels were slowed down, and the three vessels sank
+swiftly through the cloud.
+</p>
+<p>
+Through the mist and darkness underneath they saw the
+white shape of the <i>Lucifer</i> almost immediately below them, so
+accurately had the position been determined. They sank a
+hundred feet farther, and then Arnold shouted&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now is your time. Cast!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Instantly the eight grappling-irons dropped and swung
+towards the <i>Lucifer</i>, hooking themselves in the stays of her
+masts and the railing that ran completely round her deck.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now, up again, and ahead!&quot; shouted Arnold once more,
+and the fan-wheels of the three ships revolved at their utmost
+speed; the air-planes had already been inclined to the full, the
+nine propellers whirled round, and the recaptured <i>Lucifer</i> was
+dragged forward and upwards through the mist and darkness
+of the thunder-cloud into the bright sunshine above.
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p242a.jpg" alt="Now is your time, cast!" width="640" height="417" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;Now is your time, cast!&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page242">page 242</a>.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+So suddenly had the strange man&oelig;uvre been executed that
+<a name="page243"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 243]</span>
+those on board her had not time to grasp what had really
+happened to them before they found themselves captured and
+utterly helpless. As she hung below her three captors it was
+impossible to bring one of the <i>Lucifer's</i> guns to bear upon
+them, while four guns, two from the <i>Ariel</i> and two from the
+<i>Orion</i>, grinned down upon her ready to blow her into fragments
+at the least sign of resistance.
+</p>
+<p>
+Added to this, a dozen magazine rifles covered her deck,
+threatening sudden death to the six bewildered men who were
+still staring helplessly about them in wonderment at the strange
+thing that had happened to them.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Who are the Russian officers in command of that air-ship?&quot;
+hailed Mazanoff from the <i>Ariel</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+Two men in Russian uniform raised their hands in reply,
+and Mazanoff hailed again&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Which will you have&mdash;surrender or death? If you
+surrender your lives are safe, and we will put you on to the
+land as soon as possible; if not you will be shot.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We surrender!&quot; exclaimed one of the officers, drawing his
+sword and dropping it on the deck. The other followed suit,
+and Mazanoff continued&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very good. Remain where you are. The first man that
+moves will be shot down.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Almost before the last words had left his lips half a dozen
+men had slid down the wire ropes and landed on the deck of
+the <i>Lucifer</i>. The moment their feet had touched the deck each
+whipped a magazine pistol out of his belt and covered his
+man.
+</p>
+<p>
+Within a couple of minutes the captives were all disarmed;
+indeed, most of them had thrown their weapons down on the
+first summons. The arms were tossed overboard, and all but
+the two Russian officers were rapidly bound hand and foot.
+Then three of the six men descended to the engine-room, and
+one went to the wheel-house. In another minute the fan-wheels
+of the <i>Lucifer</i> began to spin round faster, and quickly
+raised her to the level of the other three ships, and so the
+recapture of the deserter was completed.
+</p>
+<p>
+The two officers were at once summoned on board the
+<i>Ithuriel</i> and shut up under guard in separate cabins. The
+rest of the crew of the <i>Lucifer</i> was found to consist of the
+<a name="page244"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 244]</span>
+four traitors who had carried her away, and two Russian
+engineers who had been put on board to assist in the working
+of the vessel.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as these had been replaced by a crew drafted from
+the <i>Ithuriel</i> and her consorts under the command of Lieutenant
+Marston, Arnold gave the order to go ahead at fifty miles an
+hour to the northward, and the four air-ships immediately sped
+away in that direction, leaving Aberdeen to its fate, and
+within a little over an hour the sounds of both storm and
+battle had died away in silence behind them.
+</p>
+<p>
+When they were fairly under way Natas ordered the four
+deserters to be brought before him in the after saloon of the
+flagship. He sat at one end of the table, and they were placed
+in a line in front of him at the other, each with a guard
+behind him, and the muzzle of a pistol at his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Peter Tamboff, Amos Vornjeh, Ivan Tscheszco, and Paul
+Oreloff! you have broken your oaths, betrayed your companions,
+deserted the Cause to which you devoted your lives,
+and placed in the hands of the Russian tyrant the means of
+destruction which has enabled him to break the blockade of
+the Baltic, and so perhaps to change the whole course of the
+war which he is now waging, as you well know, with the
+object of conquering Europe and enslaving its peoples.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Already the lives of thousands of better men than you
+have been lost through this vile treason of yours, the vilest of
+all treason, for it was committed for love of money. By the
+laws of the Brotherhood your lives are forfeit, and if you had
+a hundred lives each they would be forfeited again by the
+calamities that your treason has brought, and will bring, upon
+the world. You will die in half an hour. If you have any
+preparations to make for the next world, make them. I have
+done with you. Go!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Half an hour later the four deserters were taken up on to
+the deck of the <i>Ithuriel</i>. The signal was given to stop the
+flotilla, which was then flying three thousand feet above the
+waters of the Moray Firth. As soon as they came to a standstill
+their crews were summoned on deck. The three smaller
+vessels floated around the <i>Ithuriel</i> at a distance of about fifty
+yards from her. The traitors, bound hand and foot, were
+stood up facing the rail of the flagship, and four of her crew
+<a name="page245"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 245]</span>
+were stationed opposite to them on the other side of the deck
+with loaded rifles.
+</p>
+<p>
+They were allowed one last look upon sun and sky, and
+then their eyes were bandaged. As soon as this was done
+Arnold raised his hand; the four rifles came up to the ready;
+a stream of flame shot from the muzzles, and the bodies of the
+four traitors lurched forward over the rail and disappeared
+into the abyss beneath.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now, gentlemen,&quot; said Arnold in French, turning to the
+two Russian officers who had been spectators of the scene,
+&quot;that is how we punish traitors. Your own lives are spared
+because we do not murder prisoners of war. You will, I hope,
+in due time return to your master, and you will tell him why
+we have been obliged to retake the air-ship which he surrendered
+to us by force, and therefore why we destroyed his
+flagship in the North Sea. If Admiral Prabylov had obeyed
+his orders, the <i>Lucifer</i> would have been surrendered to us
+quietly, and there would have been for the present no further
+trouble.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Tell him also from me, as Admiral of the Terrorist fleet,
+that, so far as matters have now gone, we shall take no further
+part in the war; but that the moment he brings his war-balloons
+across the waters which separate Britain from Europe,
+the last hour of his empire will have struck.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If he neglects this warning with which I now entrust you,
+I will bring a force against him before which he shall be as
+helpless as the armies of the Alliance have so far been before
+him and his war-balloons; and, more than this, tell him that
+if I conquer I will not spare. I will hold him and his advisers
+strictly to account for all that may happen after that moment.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There will be no treaties with conquered enemies in the
+hour of our victory. We will have blood for blood, and life
+for life. Remember that, and bear the message to him faithfully.
+For the present you will be prisoners on parole; but I
+warn you that you will be watched night and day, and at the
+first suspicion of treachery you will be shot, and cast into the
+air as those traitors were just now.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You will remain on board this ship. The two engineers
+will be placed one on board of each of two of our consorts.
+In twenty-four hours or so you will be landed on Spanish soil
+<a name="page246"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 246]</span>
+and left to your own devices. Meanwhile we shall make you
+as comfortable as the circumstances permit.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The two Russian officers bowed their acknowledgments, and
+Arnold gave the signal for the flotilla to proceed.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was then about seven o'clock in the evening. Flying at
+the rate of a hundred miles an hour, the squadron crossed the
+mouth of the Moray Firth trending to the westward until
+they passed over Thurso, and then took a westerly course to
+Rockall Island, four hundred miles to the west. Here they
+met the two other air-ships which had been despatched from
+Aeria with extra power-cylinders and munitions of war in case
+they had been needed for a prolonged campaign.
+</p>
+<p>
+The cylinders, which had been exhausted on board the
+<i>Ithuriel</i> and her three consorts, were replaced, and then the
+whole squadron rose into the air from one of the peaks of
+Rockall Island and winged its way southward to the north-western
+coast of Spain. They made the Spanish land near
+Corunna shortly before eight on the following evening, and
+here the four Russian prisoners were released on the sea-shore
+and provided with money to take them as far as Valladolid,
+whence they would be able to communicate with the French
+military authorities at Toulouse.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Terrorist Squadron then rose once more into the air,
+ascended to a height of two thousand feet, skirted the Portuguese
+coast, and then took a south-easterly course over
+Morocco through one of the passes of the Atlas Mountains,
+and so across the desert of Sahara and the wilds of Central
+Africa to Aeria.
+<a name="page247"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 247]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter33"></a>
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE BREAKING OF THE CHARM.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p247.png" alt="T" width="121" height="136" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+The first news of the Russian attack on Aberdeen
+was received in London soon after five o'clock
+on the afternoon of the 30th, and produced an
+effect which it is quite beyond the power of
+language to describe. The first telegram containing
+the bare announcement of the fact fell
+like a bolt from the blue on the great Metropolis. It ran as
+follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+</div>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+Aberdeen, 4.30 <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>
+A large fleet, supposed to be the Russian fleet which broke the blockade of
+the Baltic on the morning of the 28th, has appeared off the town. About forty
+large vessels can be made out. Our defences are quite inadequate to cope with
+such an immense force, but we shall do our best till help comes.
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+After that the wires were kept hot with messages until well
+into the night. The newspapers rushed out edition after
+edition to keep pace with them, and in all the office windows
+of the various journals copies of the telegrams were posted up
+as soon as they arrived.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the messages multiplied in number they brought worse
+and worse tidings, until excitement grew to frenzy and frenzy
+degenerated into panic. The thousand tongues of rumour
+wagged faster and faster as each hour went by. The raid upon
+a single town was magnified into a general invasion of the
+whole country.
+</p>
+<p>
+Very few people slept in London that night, and the streets
+were alive with anxious crowds till daybreak, waiting for the
+confidently-expected news of the landing of the Russian troops,
+in spite of the fact that the avowed and real object of the raid
+<a name="page248"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 248]</span>
+had been made public early in the evening. The following are
+the most important of the telegrams which were received, and
+will suffice to inform the reader of the course of events after
+the departure of the four air-ships from the scene of action&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+5 <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>
+A message has been received from the Commander of the Russian fleet
+demanding the surrender of the town for twelve hours to allow six of his ships
+to fill up with coal. The captain of the <i>Ascalon</i>, in command of the port, has
+refused this demand, and declares that he will fight while he has a ship that
+will float or a gun that can be fired. The Russians are accompanied by the
+air-ship which assisted them to break the blockade of the Sound. She is now
+floating over the town. The utmost terror prevails among the inhabitants,
+and crowds are flying into the country to escape the bombardment. Aid has
+been telegraphed for to Edinburgh and Dundee; but if the North Sea Squadron
+is still in the Firth of Forth, it cannot get here under nearly twelve hours'
+steaming.
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+5.30 <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>
+The bombardment has commenced, and fearful damage has been done
+already. With three or four shells the air-ship has blown up and utterly
+destroyed the fort on Girdleness, which mounted twenty-four heavy guns. But
+for the ships, this leaves the town almost unprotected. News has just come
+from the North Shore that the batteries there have met with the same fate.
+The Russians are pouring a perfect storm of shot and shell into the mouth of
+the river where our ships are lying, but the town has so far been spared.
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+5.45 <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>
+We have just received news from Edinburgh that the North Sea Squadron
+left at daybreak this morning under orders to proceed to the mouth of the Elbe
+to assist in protecting Hamburg from an anticipated attack by the same fleet
+which has attacked us. There is now no hope that the town can be successfully
+defended, and the Provost has called a towns-meeting to consider the advisability
+of surrender, though it is feared that the Russians may now make larger
+demands. The whole country side is in a state of the utmost panic.
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+7 <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>
+The towns-meeting empowered the Provost to call upon Captain Marchmont,
+of the <i>Ascalon</i>, to make terms with the Russians in order to save the town
+from destruction. He refused point blank, although one of the coast-defence
+ships, the <i>Thunderer</i>, has been disabled by shells from the air-ship, and all his
+other vessels have been terribly knocked about by the incessant cannonade from
+the fleet, which has now advanced to within two miles of the shore, having
+nothing more to fear from the land batteries. A terrific thunderstorm is raging,
+and no words can describe the horror of the scene. The air-ship ceased firing
+nearly an hour ago.
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+10 <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>
+Five of our eleven ships&mdash;two battleships and three cruisers&mdash;have been
+sunk; the rest are little better than mere wrecks, and seven torpedo-boats have
+been destroyed in attempting to torpedo some of the enemy's ships. Heavy
+firing has been heard to the southward, and we have learnt from Dundee that
+four battleships and six cruisers have been sent to our relief. A portion of
+<a name="page249"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 249]</span>
+the Russian fleet has been detached to meet them. We cannot hope anything
+from them. Captain Marchmont has now only four ships capable of fighting,
+but refuses to strike his flag. The storm has ceased, and a strong land breeze
+has blown the clouds and smoke to seaward. The air-ship has disappeared.
+Six large Russian ironclads are heading at full speed towards the mouth of the
+river&mdash;
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+The telegram broke off short here, and no more news was
+received from Aberdeen for several hours. Of this there was
+only one possible explanation. The town was in the hands of
+the Russians, and they had cut the wires. The long charm
+was broken, and the Isle Inviolate was inviolate no more. The
+next telegram from the North came from Findon, and was
+published in London just before ten o'clock on the following
+morning. It ran thus&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+Findon, N.B., 9.15.<br />
+</p>
+<p>
+About ten o'clock last night the attack on Aberdeen ended in a rush of six
+ironclads into the river mouth. They charged down upon the four half-crippled
+British ships that were left, and in less than five minutes rammed and
+sank them. The Russians then demanded the unconditional surrender of the
+town, under pain of bombardment and destruction. There was no other course
+but to yield, and until eight o'clock this morning the town has been in the
+hands of the enemy.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Russians at once landed a large force of sailors and marines, cut the
+telegraph wires and the railway lines, and fired without warning upon every
+one who attempted to leave the town. The stores of coal and ammunition were
+seized, and six large cruisers were taking in coal all night. The banks were
+also entered, and the specie taken possession of, as indemnity for the town. At
+eight o'clock the cruisers and battleships steamed out of the river without
+doing further damage. The squadron from the Tay was compelled to retire
+by the overwhelming force that the Russians brought to bear upon it after
+Aberdeen surrendered.
+</p>
+<p>
+Half an hour ago the Russian fleet was lost sight of proceeding at full speed
+to the north-eastward. Our loss has been terribly heavy. The fort and
+batteries have been destroyed, all the ships have been sunk or disabled, and
+of the whole defending force scarcely three hundred men remain. Captain
+Marchmont went down on the <i>Ascalon</i> with his flag flying, and fighting to
+the last moment.
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+While the excitement caused by the news of the raid upon
+Aberdeen was at its height, that is to say, on the morning of
+the 2nd of July, intelligence was received in London of a
+tremendous disaster to the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance. It was
+nothing less, in short, than the fall of Berlin, the collapse of
+the German Empire, and the surrender of the Kaiser and
+the Crown Prince to the Tsar. After nearly sixty hours of
+almost continuous fighting, during which the fortifications had
+been wrecked by the war-balloons, the German ammunition-trains
+<a name="page250"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 250]</span>
+burnt and blown up by the fire-shells rained from the
+air, and the heroic defenders of the city disorganised by the
+a&euml;rial bombardment of melinite shells and cyanogen poison-bombs,
+and crushed by an overwhelming force of not less than
+four million assailants. So fell like a house of cards the stately
+fabric built up by the genius of Bismarck and Moltke; and so,
+after bearing his part gallantly in the death-struggle of his
+empire, had the grandson of the conqueror of Sedan yielded up
+his sword to the victorious Autocrat of the Russias.
+</p>
+<p>
+The terrible news fell upon London like the premonitory
+echo of an approaching storm. The path of the triumphant
+Muscovites was now completely open to the forts of the
+Belgian Quadrilateral, under the walls of which they would
+form a junction, which nothing could now prevent, with the
+beleaguering forces of France. Would the Belgian strongholds
+be able to resist any more effectually than the fortifications of
+Berlin had done the assaults of the terrible war-balloons of
+the Tsar?
+<a name="page251"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 251]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter34"></a>
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE PATH OF CONQUEST.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p251.png" alt="T" width="120" height="136" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+This narrative does not in any sense pretend to
+be a detailed history of the war, but only of such
+phases of it as more immediately concern the
+working out of those deep-laid and marvellously-contrived
+plans designed by their author
+to culminate in nothing less than the collapse
+of the existing fabric of Society, and the upheaval of the whole
+basis of civilisation.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+It will therefore be impossible to follow the troops of the
+Alliance and the League through the different campaigns
+which were being simultaneously carried out in different parts
+of Europe. The most that can be done will be to present an
+outline of the leading events which, operating throughout a
+period of nearly three months, prepared the way for the final
+catastrophe in which the tremendous issues of the world-war
+were summed up.
+</p>
+<p>
+The fall of Berlin was the first decisive blow that had been
+struck during the war. Under it the federation of kingdoms
+and states which had formed the German Empire fell asunder
+almost instantly, and the whole fabric collapsed like a broken
+bubble. The shock was felt throughout the length and breadth
+of Europe, and it was immediately seen that nothing but a
+miracle could save the whole of Central Europe from falling
+into the hands of the League.
+</p>
+<p>
+Its immediate results were the surrender of Magdeburg,
+Brunswick, Hanover, and Bremen. Hamburg, strongly garrisoned
+by British and German troops, supported by a powerful
+squadron in the Elbe, and defended by immense fortifications
+<a name="page252"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 252]</span>
+on the landward side, alone returned a flat defiance to the
+summons of the Tsar. The road to the westward, therefore,
+lay entirely open to his victorious troops. As for Hamburg, it
+was left for the present under the observation of a corps of
+reconnaissance to be dealt with when its time came.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Berlin fell the position of affairs in Europe may be
+briefly described as follows:&mdash;The French army had taken the
+field nearly five millions strong, and this immense force had
+been divided into an Army of the North and an Army of the
+East. The former, consisting of about two millions of men,
+had been devoted to the attack on the British and German
+forces holding an almost impregnable position behind the
+chain of huge fortresses known at present as the Belgian
+Quadrilateral.
+</p>
+<p>
+This Army of the North, doubtless acting in accordance
+with the preconceived schemes of operations arranged by the
+leaders of the League, had so far contented itself with a series
+of harassing attacks upon different points of the Allied position,
+and had made no forward movement in force. The Army of
+the East, numbering nearly three million men, and divided
+into fifteen army corps, had crossed the German frontier
+immediately on the outbreak of the war, and at the same
+moment that the Russian Armies of the North and South had
+crossed the eastern Austro-German frontier, and the Italian
+army had forced the passes of the Tyrol.
+</p>
+<p>
+The whole of the French fleet of war-balloons had been
+attached to the Army of the East with the intention, which
+had been realised beyond the most sanguine expectations, of
+overrunning and subjugating Central Europe in the shortest
+possible space of time. It had swept like a destroying tempest
+through the Rhine Provinces, leaving nothing in its track
+but the ruins of towns and fortresses, and wide wastes of
+devastated fields and vineyards.
+</p>
+<p>
+Before the walls of Munich it had effected a junction with
+the Italian army, consisting of ten army corps, numbering
+two million men. The ancient capital of Bavaria fell in three
+days under the assault of the a&euml;rial fleet and the overwhelming
+numbers of the attacking force. Then the Franco-Italian
+armies advanced down the valley of the Danube and invested
+Vienna, which, in spite of the heroic efforts of what had been
+<a name="page253"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 253]</span>
+left of the Austrian army after the disastrous conflicts on the
+Eastern frontier, was stormed and sacked after three days and
+nights of almost continuous fighting, and the most appalling
+scenes of bloodshed and destruction, four days after the
+surrender of the German Emperor to the Tsar had announced
+the collapse of what had once been the Triple Alliance.
+</p>
+<p>
+From Vienna the Franco-Italian armies continued their
+way down the valley of the Danube, and at Budapest was
+joined by the northern division of the Russian Army of the
+South, and from there the mighty flood of destruction rolled
+south-eastward until it overflowed the Balkan peninsula,
+sweeping everything before it as it went, until it joined the
+force investing Constantinople.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Turkish army, which had retreated before it, had concentrated
+upon Gallipoli, where, in conjunction with the allied
+British and Turkish Squadrons holding the Dardanelles, it prepared
+to advance to the relief of Constantinople.
+</p>
+<p>
+The final attack upon the Turkish capital had been purposely
+delayed until the arrival of the French war-balloons, and as
+soon as these appeared upon the scene the work of destruction
+instantly recommenced. After four days of bombardment by
+sea and land, and from the air, and a rapid series of what can
+only be described as wholesale butcheries, the ancient capital
+of the Sultan shared the fate of Berlin and Vienna, and after
+four centuries and a half the Turkish dominion in Europe died
+in its first stronghold.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile one of the wings of the Franco-Italian army had
+made a descent upon Gallipoli, and after forty-eight hours'
+incessant fighting had compelled the remnant of the Turkish
+army, which it thus cut off from Constantinople, to take
+refuge on the Turkish and British men-of-war under the
+protection of the guns of the fleet. In view of the overwhelming
+numbers of the enemy, and the terrible effectiveness of
+the war-balloons, it was decided that any attempt to retake
+Constantinople, or even to continue to hold the Dardanelles,
+could only result in further disaster.
+</p>
+<p>
+The forts of the Dardanelles were therefore evacuated
+and blown up, and the British and Turkish fleet, with the
+remains of the Turkish army on board, steamed southward to
+Alexandria to join forces with the British Squadron that was
+<a name="page254"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 254]</span>
+holding the northern approaches to the Suez Canal. There
+the Turkish troops were landed, and the Allied fleets prepared
+for the naval battle which the release of the Russian Black
+Sea Squadron, through the opening of the Dardanelles, was
+considered to have rendered inevitable.
+</p>
+<p>
+Five days later was fought a second battle of the Nile, a
+battle compared with which the former conflict, momentous as
+it had been, would have seemed but child's play. On the
+one side Admiral Beresford, in command of the Mediterranean
+Squadron, had collected every available ship and torpedo-boat
+to do battle for the defence of the all-important Suez Canal,
+and opposed to him was an immense armament formed by the
+junction of the Russian Black Sea Squadron with the Franco-Italian
+fleet, or rather those portions of it which had survived
+the attacks, or eluded the vigilance of the British Admiral.
+</p>
+<p>
+The battle, fought almost on the ancient battle-ground of
+Nelson and Collingwood, was incomparably the greatest sea-fight
+in the history of war.
+</p>
+<p>
+The fleet under Admiral Beresford's command consisted of
+fifty-five battleships of the first and second class, forty-six
+armoured and seventy-two unarmoured cruisers, fifty-four
+gunboats, and two hundred and seventy torpedo-boats; while
+the Franco-Italian Allied fleets mustered between them
+forty-six battleships, seventy-five armoured and sixty-three
+unarmoured cruisers, forty gunboats, and two hundred and
+fifty torpedo-boats.
+</p>
+<p>
+The battle began soon after sundown on the 24th of August,
+and raged continuously for over sixty hours. The whole issue
+of the fight was the question of the command of the Mediterranean,
+and the British line of communication with India and
+the East <i>viâ</i> the Suez Canal.
+</p>
+<p>
+The prize was well worthy of the tremendous struggle that
+the two contending forces waged for it; and from the two
+Admirals in command to the boys employed on the most
+insignificant duties about the ships, every one of the combatants
+seemed equally impressed with the magnitude of the momentous
+issues at stake.
+</p>
+<p>
+To the League, victory meant a deadly blow inflicted upon
+the only enemy now seriously to be reckoned with. It meant
+the severing of the British Empire into two portions, and the
+<a name="page255"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 255]</span>
+cutting of the one remaining channel of supply upon which
+the heart of the Empire now depended for its nutrition. To
+destroy Admiral Beresford's fleet would be to achieve as great
+a triumph on the sea as the armies of the League had achieved
+on land by the taking of Berlin, Vienna, and Constantinople.
+On the other hand, the defeat of the Franco-Italian fleets meant
+complete command of the Mediterranean, and the ability to
+destroy in detail all the important sea-board fortresses and
+arsenals of the League that were situated on its shores.
+</p>
+<p>
+It meant the keeping open of the Suez Canal, the maintenance
+of communication with India and Australia by the
+shortest route, and, what was by no means the least important
+consideration, the vindication of British prestige in Egypt, the
+Soudan, and India. It was with these enormous gains and
+losses before their eyes that the two forces engaged and fought
+as perhaps men had never fought with each other in the world
+before. Everything that science and experience could suggest
+was done by the leaders of both sides. Human life was counted
+as nothing in the balance, and deeds of the most reckless
+heroism were performed in countless instances as the mighty
+struggle progressed.
+</p>
+<p>
+With such inflexible determination was the battle waged
+on either side, and so appalling was the destruction accomplished
+by the weapons brought into play, that by sunrise
+on the morning of the 27th, more than half the opposing
+fleets had been destroyed, and of the remainder the majority
+were so crippled that a continuance of the fight had become a
+matter of physical impossibility.
+</p>
+<p>
+What advantage remained appeared to be on the side of the
+remains of the Franco-Italian fleet; but this was speedily
+negatived an hour after sunrise by the appearance of a fresh
+British Squadron, consisting of the five battleships, fifteen
+cruisers, and a large flotilla of gunboats and torpedo-boats
+which had passed through the Canal during the night from
+Aden and Suakim, and appeared on the scene just in time to
+turn the tide of battle decisively in favour of the British
+Admiral.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as this new force got into action it went to work
+with terrible effectiveness, and in three hours there was not
+a single vessel that was still flying the French or Italian flag.
+<a name="page256"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 256]</span>
+The victory had, it is true, been bought at a tremendous price,
+but it was complete and decisive, and at the moment that
+the last of the ships of the League struck her flag, Admiral
+Beresford stood in the same glorious position as Sir George
+Rodney had done a hundred and twenty-two years before,
+when he saved the British Empire in the ever-memorable
+victory of the 12th of April 1782.
+</p>
+<p>
+The triumph in the Mediterranean was, however, only a
+set-off to a disaster which had occurred more than five weeks
+previously in the Atlantic. The Russian fleet, which had
+broken the blockade of the Sound, with the assistance of the
+<i>Lucifer</i>, had, after coaling at Aberdeen, made its way into the
+Atlantic, and there, in conjunction with the Franco-Italian
+fleets operating along the Atlantic steamer route, had, after a
+series of desperate engagements, succeeded in breaking up the
+line of British communication with America and Canada.
+</p>
+<p>
+This result had been achieved mainly in consequence of
+the contrast between the necessary methods of attack and
+defence. On the one hand, Britain had been compelled to
+maintain an extended line of ocean defence more than three
+thousand miles in length, and her ships had further been
+hampered by the absolute necessity of attending, first, to the
+protection of the Atlantic liners, and, secondly, to warding off
+isolated attacks which were directed upon different parts of
+the line by squadrons which could not be attacked in turn
+without breaking the line of convoy which it was all-essential
+to preserve intact.
+</p>
+<p>
+For two or three weeks there had been a series of running
+fights; but at length the ocean chain had broken under the
+perpetual strain, and a repulse inflicted on the Irish Squadron
+by a superior force of French, Italian, and Spanish warships
+had settled the question of the command of the Atlantic in
+favour of the League. The immediate result of this was that
+food supplies from the West practically stopped.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now and then a fleet Atlantic greyhound ran the blockade
+and brought her priceless cargo into a British port; but as the
+weeks went by these occurrences became fewer and further
+between, till the time news was received in London of the
+investment of the fortresses of the Quadrilateral by the
+innumerable hosts of the League, brought together by the
+<a name="page257"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 257]</span>
+junction of the French and Russian Armies of the North and
+the conquerors of Vienna and Constantinople, who had returned
+on their tracks after garrisoning their conquests in the East.
+</p>
+<p>
+Food in Britain, already at war prices, now began to rise
+still further, and soon touched famine prices. Wheat, which
+in the last decade of the nineteenth century had averaged
+about £9 a ton, rose to over £31 a ton, its price two years
+before the Battle of Waterloo. Other imported food-stuffs, of
+course, rose in proportion with the staple commodity, and the
+people of Britain saw, at first dimly, then more and more
+clearly, the real issue that had been involved in the depopulation
+of the rural districts to swell the populations of the
+towns, and the consequent lapse of enormous areas of land
+either into pasturage or unused wilderness.
+</p>
+<p>
+In other words, Britain began to see approaching her doors
+an enemy before whose assault all human strength is impotent
+and all valour unavailing. Like Imperial Rome, she had
+depended for her food supply upon external sources, and
+now these sources were one by one being cut off.
+</p>
+<p>
+The loss of the command of the Atlantic, the breaking of
+the Baltic blockade, and the consequent closing of all the
+continental ports save Hamburg, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and
+Antwerp, had left her entirely dependent upon her own
+miserably insufficient internal resources and the Mediterranean
+route to India and the East.
+</p>
+<p>
+More than this, too, only Hamburg, Antwerp, and the
+fortresses of the Quadrilateral now stood between her and actual
+invasion,&mdash;that supreme calamity which, until the raid upon
+Aberdeen, had been for centuries believed to be impossible.
+</p>
+<p>
+Once let the League triumph in the Netherlands, as it had
+done in Central and South-Eastern Europe, and its legions
+would descend like an avalanche upon the shores of England,
+and the Lion of the Seas would find himself driven to bay in
+the stronghold which he had held inviolate for nearly a
+thousand years.
+<a name="page258"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 258]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter35"></a>
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+FROM CHAOS TO ARCADIE.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p258.png" alt="D" width="120" height="137" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+During the three months of incessant strife and
+carnage which deluged the plains and valleys
+of Europe with blood after the fall of Berlin,
+the Terrorists took no part whatever in the
+war. At long intervals an air-ship was seen
+from the earth flying at full speed through the
+upper regions of the atmosphere, now over Europe, now over
+America, and now over Australia or the Cape of Good Hope;
+but if they held any communication with the earth they did
+so secretly, and only paid the briefest of visits, the objects of
+which could only be guessed at.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+When one was sighted the fact was mentioned in the newspapers,
+and vague speculations were indulged in; but there was
+soon little room left for these in the public attention, especially
+in Britain, for as the news of disaster after disaster came
+pouring in, and the hosts of the League drew nearer and nearer
+to the western shores of Europe, all eyes were turned more and
+more anxiously across &quot;the silver streak&quot; which now alone
+separated the peaceful hills and valleys of England and Scotland
+from the destroying war-storm which had so swiftly
+desolated the fields of Europe, and all hearts were heavy with
+apprehension of coming sorrows.
+</p>
+<p>
+The rapidity of their movements had naturally led to the
+supposition that several of the air-ships had taken the air for
+some unknown purpose, but in reality there were only two of
+them afloat during nearly the whole of the three mouths.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of these, one was the <i>Orion</i>, on board of which Tremayne
+was visiting the various centres of the Brotherhood throughout
+<a name="page259"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 259]</span>
+the English-speaking world, making everything ready for the
+carrying out at the proper time of the great project to which
+he had devoted himself since the memorable night at Alanmere,
+when he had seen the vision of the world's Armageddon. The
+other was under the command of Michael Roburoff, who was
+busy in America and Canada perfecting the preparations for
+checkmating the designs of the American Ring, which were
+described in a former chapter.
+</p>
+<p>
+The remainder of the members of the Inner Circle and those
+of the Outer Circle, living in Aeria, were quietly pursuing the
+most peaceful avocations, building houses and water-mills,
+clearing fields and laying out gardens, fishing in the lake and
+streams, and hunting in the forests as though they had never
+heard of the horrors of war, and had no part or share in the
+Titanic strife whose final issue they would soon have to go
+forth and decide.
+</p>
+<p>
+One of the hardest workers in the colony was the Admiral
+of the a&euml;rial fleet. Morning after morning he shut himself up
+in his laboratory for three or four hours experimenting with
+explosives of various kinds, and especially on a new form of
+fire-shell which he had invented, and which he was now busy
+perfecting in preparation for the next, and, as he hoped, final
+conflict that he would have to wage with the forces of despotism
+and barbarism.
+</p>
+<p>
+The afternoons he spent supervising the erection of the mills,
+and the construction of new machinery, and in exploring the
+mountain sides in search of mineral wealth, of which he was
+delighted to find abundant promise that was afterwards realised
+beyond his expectations.
+</p>
+<p>
+On these exploring expeditions he was frequently accompanied
+by Natasha and Radna and her husband. Sometimes
+Arnold would be enticed away from his chemicals, and his
+designs on the lives of his enemies, and after breakfasting soon
+after sunrise would go off for a long day's ramble to some
+unknown part of their wonderful domain, in which, like children
+in a fairyland, they were always discovering some new
+wonders and beauties. And, indeed, no children could have
+been happier or freer from care than they were during this
+delightful interval in the tragedy in which they were so soon
+to play such conspicuous parts.
+<a name="page260"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 260]</span>
+The two wedded lovers, with the dark past put far behind
+them for ever, found perfect happiness in each other's society,
+and so left, it is almost needless to add, Arnold and Natasha
+pretty much to their own devices. Indeed, Natasha had more
+than once declared that she would have to get the Princess to
+join the party, as Radna had proved herself a hopeless failure
+as a chaperone.
+</p>
+<p>
+Every one in the valley by this time looked upon Arnold and
+Natasha as lovers, though their rank in the Brotherhood was
+so high that no one ventured to speak of them as betrothed
+save by implication. How Natas regarded them was known
+only to himself. He, of course, saw their intimacy, and since
+he said nothing he doubtless looked upon it with approval; but
+whether he regarded it as an intimacy of friends or of lovers,
+remained a mystery even to Natasha herself, for he never by
+any chance made an allusion to it.
+</p>
+<p>
+As for Arnold, he had scrupulously observed the compact
+tacitly made between them on the first and only occasion that
+he had ever spoken words of love to her. They were the best
+of friends, the closest companions, and their intercourse with
+each other was absolutely frank and unrestrained, just as it
+would have been between two close friends of the same sex;
+but they understood each other perfectly, and by no word or
+deed did either cross the line that divides friendship from
+love.
+</p>
+<p>
+She trusted him absolutely in all things, and he took this
+trust as a sacred pledge between them that until his part of
+their compact had been performed, love was a forbidden subject,
+not even to be approached.
+</p>
+<p>
+So perfectly did Natasha play her part that though he spent
+hours and hours alone with her on their exploring expeditions,
+and in rowing and sailing on the lake, and though he spent
+many another hour in solitude, weighing her every word and
+action, he was utterly unable to truthfully congratulate himself
+on having made the slightest progress towards gaining that love
+without which, even if he held her to the compact in the day
+of victory, victory itself would be robbed of its crowning glory
+and dearest prize.
+</p>
+<p>
+To a weaker man it would have been an impossible situation,
+this constant and familiar companionship with a girl whose
+<a name="page261"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 261]</span>
+wonderful beauty dazzled his eyes and fired his blood as he
+looked upon it, and whose winning charm of manner and grace
+of speech and action seemed to glorify her beauty until she
+seemed a being almost beyond the reach of merely human love&mdash;rather
+one of those daughters of men whom the sons of God
+looked upon in the early days of the world, and found so fair
+that they forsook heaven itself to woo them.
+</p>
+<p>
+Trained and disciplined as he had been in the sternest of all
+schools, and strengthened as he was by the knowledge of the
+compact that existed between them, there were moments when
+his self-control was very sorely tried, moments when her hand
+would be clasped in his, or rested on his shoulder as he helped
+her across a stream or down some steep hillside, or when in
+the midst of some animated discussion she would stop short
+and face him, and suddenly confound his logic with a flash
+from her eyes and a smile on her lips that literally forced him
+to put forth a muscular effort to prevent himself from catching
+her in his arms and risking everything for just one kiss, one
+taste of the forbidden fruit within his reach, and yet parted
+from him by a sea of blood and flame that still lay between
+the world and that empire of peace which he had promised to
+win for her sweet sake.
+</p>
+<p>
+Once, and once only, she had tried him almost too far.
+They had been discussing the possibility of ruling the world
+without the ultimate appeal to force, when the nations, weary
+at length of war, should have consented to disarm, and she,
+carried away by her own eloquent pleading for the ultimate
+triumph of peace and goodwill on earth, had laid her hand
+upon his arm, and was looking up at him with her lovely face
+aglow with the sweetest expression even he had ever seen
+upon it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Their eyes met, and there was a sudden silence between
+them. The eloquent words died upon her lips, and a deep
+flush rose to her cheeks and then faded instantly away,
+leaving her pale and with a look almost of terror in her eyes.
+He took a quick step backwards, and, turning away as though
+he feared to look any longer upon her beauty, said in a low
+tone that trembled with the strength of his repressed passion&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Natasha, for God's sake remember that I am only made of
+flesh and blood!&quot;
+<a name="page262"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 262]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+In a moment she was by his side again, this time with her
+eyes downcast and her proud little head bent as though in
+acknowledgment of his reproof. Then she looked up again,
+and held out her hand and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Forgive me; I have done wrong! Let us be friends
+again!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a gentle emphasis on the word &quot;friends&quot; that
+was irresistible. He took her hand in silence, and after a
+pressure that was almost imperceptibly returned, let it go
+again, and they walked on together; but there was very little
+more said between them that evening.
+</p>
+<p>
+This had happened one afternoon towards the middle of
+September, and two days later their delightful companionship
+came suddenly to an end, and the bond that existed between
+them was severed in a moment without warning, as a nerve
+thrilling with pleasure might be cut by an unexpected blow
+with a knife.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the 16th of September the <i>Orion</i> returned from Australia.
+She touched the earth shortly after mid-day, and before sunset
+the <i>Azrael</i>, the vessel in which Michael Roburoff had gone to
+America, also returned, but without her commander. Her
+lieutenant, however, brought a despatch from him, which he
+delivered at once to Natas, who, immediately on reading it,
+sent for Tremayne.
+</p>
+<p>
+It evidently contained matters of great importance, for
+they remained alone together discussing it for over an hour.
+At the end of that time Tremayne left the Master's house
+and went to look for Arnold. He found him just helping
+Natasha out of a skiff at a little landing-stage that had been
+built out into the lake for boating purposes. As soon as
+greetings had been exchanged, he said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Natasha, I have just left your father. He asked me, if I
+saw you, to tell you that he wishes to speak to you at once.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Certainly,&quot; said Natasha. &quot;I hope you have not brought
+bad news home from your travels. You are looking very
+serious about something,&quot; and without waiting for an answer,
+she was gone to obey her father's summons. As soon as she
+was out of earshot Tremayne put his arm through Arnold's,
+and, drawing him away towards a secluded portion of the shore
+of the lake, said&mdash;
+<a name="page263"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 263]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Arnold, old man, I have some very serious news for you.
+You must prepare yourself for the severest strain that, I
+believe, could be put on your loyalty and your honour.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What is it? For Heaven's sake don't tell me that it has
+to do with Natasha!&quot; exclaimed Arnold, stopping short and
+facing round, white to the lips with the sudden fear that
+possessed him. &quot;You know&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, I know everything,&quot; replied Tremayne, speaking
+almost as gently as a woman would have done, &quot;and I am
+sorry to say that it has to do with her. I know what your
+hopes have been with regard to her, and no man on earth
+could have wished to see those hopes fulfilled more earnestly
+than I have done, but&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What do you mean, Tremayne? Speak out, and let me
+know the worst. If you tell me that I am to give her up, I
+tell you that I am&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;'That I am an English gentleman, and that I will break
+my heart rather than my oath'&mdash;that is what you will tell
+me when I tell you that you must not only give up your hopes
+of winning Natasha, but that it is the Master's orders that you
+shall have the <i>Ithuriel</i> ready to sail at midnight to take her to
+America to Michael Roburoff, who has written to Natas to ask
+her for his wife.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold heard him out in dazed, stupefied silence. It
+seemed too monstrous, too horrible, to be true. The sudden
+blow had stunned him. He tried to speak, but the words
+would not come. Tremayne, still standing with his arm
+through his, felt his whole body trembling, as though stricken
+with some sudden palsy. He led him on again, saying in a
+sterner tone than before&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Come, come! Play the man, and remember that the
+work nearest to your hand is war, and not love. Remember
+the tremendous issues that are gathering to their fulfilment,
+and the part that you have to play in working them out.
+This is not a question of the happiness or the hopes of one
+man or woman, but of millions, of the whole human race.
+You, and you alone, hold in your hands the power to make
+the defeat of the League certain.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And I will use it, have no fear of that!&quot; replied Arnold,
+stopping again and passing his hand over his eyes like a man
+<a name="page264"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 264]</span>
+waking from an evil dream. &quot;What I have sworn to do
+I will do; I am not going back from my oath. I will obey
+to the end, for she will do the same, and what would she
+think of me if I failed! Leave me alone for a bit now, old
+man. I must fight this thing out with myself, but the
+<i>Ithuriel</i> shall be ready to start at twelve.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne saw that he was himself again, and that it was
+better that he should do as he said; so with a word of farewell
+he turned away and left him alone with his thoughts. Half-way
+back to the settlement he met Natasha coming down
+towards the lake. She was deadly pale, but she walked with
+a firm step, and carried her head as proudly erect as ever. As
+they met she stopped him and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Where is he?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne's first thought was to try and persuade her to
+go back and leave Arnold to himself, but a look at Natasha's
+white set face and burning eyes warned him that she was not
+in a mood to take advice, and so he told her, and without
+another word she went on swiftly down the path that led to
+the lake.
+</p>
+<p>
+The brief twilight of the tropics had passed before he
+reached a grove of palms on the western shore of the lake,
+towards which he had bent his steps when he left Tremayne.
+He walked with loose, aimless strides, now quickly and now
+slowly, and now stopping to watch the brightening moon
+shining upon the water.
+</p>
+<p>
+He caught himself thinking what a lovely night it would
+be to take Natasha for a row, and then his mind sprang back
+with a jerk to the remembrance of the horrible journey that
+he was to begin at midnight&mdash;to take Natasha to another
+man, and leave her with him as his wife.
+</p>
+<p>
+No, it could not be true. It was impossible that he should
+have fought and triumphed as he had done, and all for this.
+To give up the one woman he had ever loved in all his life,
+the woman he had snatched from slavery and degradation
+when not another man on earth could have done it.
+</p>
+<p>
+What had this Roburoff done that she should be given to
+him for the mere asking? Why had he not come in person
+like a man to woo and win her if he could, and then he would
+have stood aside and bowed to her choice. But this curt
+<a name="page265"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 265]</span>
+order to take her away to him as though she were some piece
+of merchandise&mdash;no, if such things were possible, better that
+he had never&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Richard!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He felt a light touch on his arm, and turned round sharply.
+Natasha was standing beside him. He had been so engrossed
+by his dark thoughts that he had not heard her light step on
+the soft sward, and now he seemed to see her white face and
+great shining eyes looking up at him in the moonlight as
+though there was some mist floating between him and her.
+Suddenly the mist seemed to vanish. He saw tears under
+the long dark lashes, and the sweet red lips parted in a faint
+smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+Lose her he might to-morrow, but for this one moment she
+was his and no other man's, let those who would say nay.
+That instant she was clasped helpless and unresisting in his
+arms, and her lips were giving his back kiss for kiss. Wreck
+and chaos might come now for all he cared. She loved him,
+and had given herself to him, if only for that one moonlit
+hour.
+</p>
+<p>
+After that he could plunge into the battle again, and slay
+and spare not&mdash;yes, and he would slay without mercy. He
+would hurl his lightnings from the skies, and where they
+struck there should be death. If not love and life, then hate
+and death&mdash;it was not his choice. Let those who had chosen
+see to that; but for the present love and life were his, why
+should he not live? Then the mad, sweet delirium passed,
+and saner thoughts came. He released her suddenly, almost
+brusquely, and said with a harsh ring in his voice&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Why did you come? Have you forgotten what so nearly
+happened the day before yesterday?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No, I have not forgotten it. I have remembered it, and
+that is why I came to tell you&mdash;what you know now.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Her face was rosy enough now, and she looked him straight
+in the eyes as she spoke, proud to confess the mastery that he
+had won.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now listen,&quot; she went on, speaking in a low, quick, passionate
+tone. &quot;The will of the Master must be done. There is
+no appeal from that, either for you or me. He can dispose
+of me as he chooses, and I shall obey, as I warned you I
+<a name="page266"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 266]</span>
+should when you first told me that you would win me if
+you could.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Well, you have won me, so far as I can be won. I love
+you, and I have come to tell you so before the shadow falls
+between us. And I have come to tell you that what you have
+won shall belong to no one else. I will obey my father to
+the letter, but the spirit is my affair. Now kiss me again,
+dear, and say good-bye. We have had our glimpse of heaven,
+and this is not the only life.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+For one more brief moment she surrendered herself to him
+again. Their lips met and parted, and in an instant she had
+slipped out of his arms and was gone, leaving him dazed with
+her beauty and her winsomeness.
+<a name="page267"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 267]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter36"></a>
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+LOVE AND DUTY.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p267.png" alt="A" width="122" height="138" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+An hour later he walked back to the settlement,
+looking five years older than he had done a
+couple of hours before, but with his nerves
+steady and with the light of a solemn resolve
+burning in his eyes. He went straight to the
+<i>Ithuriel</i>, and made a minute personal inspection
+of the whole vessel, inside and out. He saw that every
+cylinder was charged, and that there was an ample supply of
+spare ones and ammunition on board, including a number of
+his new fire-shells. Then he went to Lieutenant Marston's
+quarters, and told him to have the crew in their places by
+half-past eleven; and this done, he paid a formal visit to the
+Master to report all ready.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Natas received him as usual, just as though nothing out
+of the common had happened; and if he noticed the change
+that had come over him, he made no sign that he did so.
+When Arnold had made his report, he merely said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very good. You will start at twelve. The Chief has told
+you the nature and purpose of the voyage you are about to
+make, I presume?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He bowed a silent affirmative, and Natas went on&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The Chief and Anna Ornovski will go with you as witnesses
+for Michael Roburoff and Natasha, and the Chief will be provided
+with my sealed orders for your guidance in the immediate
+future. The rendezvous is a house on one of the spurs of
+the Alleghany Mountains. What time will it take to reach
+there?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The distance is about seven thousand miles. That will be
+<a name="page268"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 268]</span>
+from thirty to thirty-five hours' flight according to the wind.
+With a fair wind we shall reach the Alleghanies a little before
+sunrise on the 18th.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Then to make sure of that, if possible, you had better start
+an hour earlier. Natasha is making her preparations, and will
+be on board at eleven.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very well; I will be ready to start then,&quot; replied Arnold,
+speaking as calmly and formally as Natas had done. Then he
+saluted and walked out.
+</p>
+<p>
+When he got into the open air he drew a deep breath. His
+teeth came together with a sharp snap, and his hands clenched.
+So it was true, then, this horrible thing, this sacrilege, this
+ruin, that had fallen upon his life and hers. Natas had spoken
+of giving her to this man as quietly as though it had been the
+most natural proceeding possible, an understood arrangement
+about which there could be no question. Well, he had sworn,
+and he would obey, but there would be a heavy price to pay for
+his obedience.
+</p>
+<p>
+He did not see Natasha again that night. When the
+<i>Ithuriel</i> rose into the air she was in her cabin with the
+Princess, and did not appear during the voyage save at
+meals, when all the others were present, and then she joined
+in the conversation with a composure which showed that,
+externally at least, she had quite regained her habitual self-control.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold spent the greater part of the voyage in the deck-saloon
+with Tremayne, talking over the events of the war, and
+arranging plans of future action. By mutual consent the object
+of their present voyage was not mentioned. As Arnold was
+more than two months and a half behind the news, he found
+not a little relief in hearing from Tremayne of all that had
+taken place since the recapture of the <i>Lucifer</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+The two men, who were now to be the active leaders of the
+Revolution which, as they hoped, was soon to overturn the
+whole fabric of Society, and introduce a new social order of
+things, conversed in this fashion, quietly discussing the terrific
+tragedy in which they were to play the leading parts, and
+arranging all the details of their joint action, until well into
+the night of the 17th.
+</p>
+<p>
+About eleven Tremayne went to his cabin, and Arnold, going
+<a name="page269"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 269]</span>
+to the conning-tower, told the man on the look-out to go below
+until he was called. Then he took his place, and remained
+alone with his thoughts as the <i>Ithuriel</i> sped on her way a
+thousand feet above the deserted waters of the Atlantic, until
+the dark mass of the American Continent loomed up in front
+of him to the westward.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as he sighted land he went aft to the wheel-house,
+and slightly inclined the air-planes, causing the <i>Ithuriel</i> to soar
+upwards until the barometer marked a height of 6000 feet.
+At this elevation he passed over the mouth of the Chesapeake,
+and across Virginia; and a little more than an hour before sunrise
+the <i>Ithuriel</i> sank to the earth on one of the spurs of the
+Alleghanies, in sight of a lonely weather-board house, in one of
+the windows of which three lights were burning in the form of
+a triangle.
+</p>
+<p>
+This building was used ostensibly as a shooting and hunting-box
+by Michael Roburoff and a couple of his friends, and in
+reality as a meeting-place for the Inner Circle or Executive
+Council of the American Section of the Brotherhood. This
+Section was, numerically speaking, the most important of the
+four branches into which the Outer Circle of the Brotherhood
+was divided&mdash;that is to say, the British, Continental, American,
+and Colonial Sections.
+</p>
+<p>
+All told, the Terrorists had rather more than five million
+adherents in America and Canada, of whom more than four
+millions were men in the prime of life, and nearly all of Anglo-Saxon
+blood and English speech. All these men were not only
+armed, but trained in the use of firearms to a high degree of
+skill; their organisation, which had gradually grown up with
+the Brotherhood for twenty years, was known to the world
+only under the guise of the different forms of industrial
+unionism, but behind these there was a perfect system of
+discipline and command which the outer world had never
+even suspected.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Section was divided first into squads of ten under the
+command of an eleventh, who alone knew the leaders of the
+other squads in his neighbourhood. Ten of these squads made
+a company, commanded by one man, who was only known to
+the squad-captains, and who alone knew the captain of the
+regiment, which was composed of ten companies.
+<a name="page270"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 270]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+The next step in the organisation was the brigade, consisting
+of ten regiments, the captains of which alone knew the commander
+of the brigade, while the commanders of the brigades
+were alone acquainted with the members of the Inner Circle
+or Executive Council which managed the affairs of the whole
+Section, and whose Chief was the only man in the Section who
+could hold any communication with the Inner Circle of the
+Brotherhood itself, which, under the immediate command of
+Natas, governed the whole organisation throughout the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+This description will serve for all the Sections, as all were
+modelled upon exactly the same plan. The advantages of such
+an organisation will at once be obvious. In the first place, no
+member of the rank and file could possibly betray more than
+ten of his fellows, including his captain; while his treachery
+could, if necessary, be made known in a few hours to ten
+thousand others, not one of whom he knew, and thus it would
+be impossible for him to escape the invariable death penalty.
+The same is, of course, equally true of the captains and the
+commanders.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the other hand, the system was equally convenient for
+the transmission of orders from headquarters. An order given
+to ten commanders of brigades could, in a single night, be
+transmitted individually to the whole of the Section, and yet
+those in command of the various divisions would not know
+whence the orders came, save as regards their immediate
+superiors.
+</p>
+<p>
+It will be necessary for the reader to bear these few particulars
+in mind in order to understand future developments,
+which, without them, might seem to border on the impossible.
+It is only necessary to add that the full fighting strength of
+the four Sections of the Brotherhood amounted to about twelve
+millions of men, a considerable proportion of whom were serving
+as soldiers in the armies of the League and the Alliance,
+and that in its cosmopolitan aspect it was known to the rank
+and file as the Red International, whose members knew each
+other only by the possession of a little knot of red ribbon tied
+into the button-hole in a peculiar fashion on occasions of
+meetings for instruction or drill.
+</p>
+<p>
+The three lights burning in the form of a triangle in the
+window of the house were a prearranged signal to avoid
+<a name="page271"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 271]</span>
+mistake on the part of those on board the air-ship. When
+they reached the earth, Arnold, acting under the instructions
+of Tremayne, who was his superior on land though his
+voluntary subordinate when afloat, left the <i>Ithuriel</i> and her
+crew in charge of Lieutenant Marston and Andrew Smith,
+the coxswain.
+</p>
+<p>
+The remainder disembarked, and then the air-ship rose from
+the ground and ascended out of sight through a layer of clouds
+that hung some eight hundred feet above the high ground of
+the hills. Lieutenant Marston's orders were to remain out of
+sight for an hour and then return.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold had not seen Natasha for several hours previous to
+the landing, and he noticed with wonder, by no means unmixed
+with something very like anger, that she looked a great deal
+more cheerful than she had done during the voyage. She had
+preserved her composure all through, but the effort of restraint
+had been visible. Now this had vanished, although the
+supreme hour of the sacrifice that her father had commanded
+her to make was actually at hand. When her feet touched
+the earth she looked round with a smile on her lips and a
+flush on her cheeks, and said, in a voice in which there was
+no perceptible trace of anxiety or suffering&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;So this is the place of my bridal, is it? Well, I must say
+that a more cheerful one might have been selected; yet perhaps,
+after all, such a gloomy spot is more suitable to the ceremony.
+Come along; I suppose the bridegroom will be anxiously waiting
+the coming of the bride. I wonder what sort of a reception I
+shall have. Come, my Lord of Alanmere, your arm; and you,
+Captain Arnold, bring the Princess. We have a good deal to
+do before it gets light.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+These were strange words to be uttered by a girl who but a
+few hours before had voluntarily confessed her love for one
+man, and was on the eve of compulsorily giving herself up to
+another one. Had it been any one else but Natasha, Arnold
+could have felt only disgust; but his love made it impossible
+for him to believe her guilty of such unworthy lightness as her
+words bespoke, even on the plain evidence before him, so he
+simply choked back his anger as best he might, and followed
+towards the house, speechless with astonishment at the marvellous
+change that had come over the daughter of Natas.
+<a name="page272"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 272]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne knocked in a peculiar fashion on the window, and
+then repeated the knock on the door, which was opened almost
+immediately.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Who stands there?&quot; asked a voice in French.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Those who bring the expected bride,&quot; replied Tremayne
+in German.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And by whose authority?&quot; This time the question was
+in Spanish.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In the Master's name,&quot; said Tremayne in English.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Enter! you are welcome.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+A second door was now opened inside the house, and through
+it a light shone into the passage. The four visitors entered,
+and, passing through the second door, found themselves in a
+plainly-furnished room, down the centre of which ran a long
+table, flanked by five chairs on each side, in each of which,
+save one, sat a masked and shrouded figure exactly similar to
+those which Arnold had seen when he was first introduced to
+the Council-chamber in the house on Clapham Common. In
+a chair at one end of the table sat another figure similarly
+draped.
+</p>
+<p>
+The door was closed as they entered, and the member of
+the Circle who had let them in returned to his seat. No word
+was spoken until this was done. Then Natasha, leaving her
+three companions by the door, advanced alone to the lower
+end of the table.
+</p>
+<p>
+As she did so, Arnold for the first time noticed that she
+carried her magazine pistol in a sheath at her belt. He and
+Tremayne were, as a matter of course, armed with a brace of
+these weapons, but this was the first time that he had ever
+seen Natasha carry her pistol openly. Wondering greatly what
+this strange sight might mean, he waited with breathless
+anxiety for the drama to begin.
+</p>
+<p>
+As Natasha took her stand at the opposite end of the table,
+the figure in the chair at the top rose and unmasked, displaying
+the pallid countenance of the Chief of the American Section.
+He looked to Arnold anything but a bridegroom awaiting his
+bride, and the ceremony which was to unite him to her for ever.
+His cheeks and lips were bloodless, and his eyes wandered
+restlessly from Natasha to Tremayne and back again. He
+glanced to and fro in silence for several moments, and when
+<a name="page273"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 273]</span>
+he at last found his voice he said, in half-choked, broken
+accents&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What is this? Why am I honoured by the presence of
+the Chief and the Admiral of the Air? I asked only that if
+the Master consented to grant my humble petition in reward
+for my services, the daughter of Natas should come attended
+simply by a sister of the Brotherhood and the messenger that
+I sent.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+They let him finish, although it was with manifest difficulty
+that he stammered to the end of his speech. Arnold, still
+wondering at the strange turn events had taken, saw Tremayne's
+lips tighten and his brows contract in the effort to repress a
+smile. The other masked figures at the table moved restlessly
+in their seats, and glanced from one to another. Seeing this,
+Tremayne stepped quickly forward to Natasha's side, and
+said in a stern, commanding tone&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I am the Chief of the Central Council, and I order every
+one here to keep his seat and remain silent until the daughter
+of Natas has spoken.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The ten masked and hooded heads instantly bowed consent.
+Then Tremayne stepped back again, and Natasha spoke.
+There was a keen, angry light in her eyes, and a bright flush
+upon her cheek, but her voice was smooth and silvery, and in
+strange contrast to the words that she used, almost to the
+end.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Did you think, Michael Roburoff, that the Master of the
+Terror would send his daughter to her bridal so poorly escorted
+as you say? Surely that would have been almost as much
+of a slight as you put upon me when, instead of coming to woo
+me as a true lover should have done, you contented yourself
+with sending a messenger as though you were some Eastern
+potentate despatching an envoy to demand the hand of the
+daughter of a vassal.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It would seem that this sudden love which you do me
+the honour to profess for me has destroyed your manners as
+well as your reason. But since you have assumed so high a
+dignity, it is not seemly that you should stand to hear what I
+have to say; sit down, for it looks as though standing were a
+trouble to you.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Michael Roburoff, who by this time could scarcely support
+<a name="page274"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 274]</span>
+himself on his trembling limbs, sank suddenly back into his
+chair and covered his face with his hands.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is not very lover-like to cover your eyes when the
+bride that you have asked for is standing in front of you; but
+as long as you don't cover your ears as well, I will forgive you
+the slight. Now, listen.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I have come, as you see, and I have brought with me the
+answer of the Master to your request. Until an hour ago I
+did not know what it was myself, for, like the rest of the
+faithful members of the Brotherhood, I obey the word of the
+Master blindly.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You, as it would appear, maddened by what you are
+pleased to call your love for me, have dared to attempt to
+make terms where you swore to obey blindly to the death.
+You have dared to place me, the daughter of Natas, in the
+balance against the allegiance of the American Section on
+the eve of the supreme crisis of its work, thus imperilling the
+results of twenty years of labour.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If you had not been mad you would have foreseen the
+results of such treachery. As it is you must learn them now.
+What I have said has been proved by your own hand, and
+the proof is here in the hand of the Chief. This is the answer
+of Natas to the servant who would have betrayed him in the
+hour of trial.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+She took a folded paper from her belt as she spoke, and,
+unfolding it, read in clear, deliberate tones&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+Michael Roburoff, late chief of the American Section of the Brotherhood.
+When you joined the Order, you took an oath to obey the directions of its chiefs
+to the death, and you acknowledged that death would be the just penalty of
+perjury. My orders to you were to complete the arrangements for bringing the
+American Section into action when you received the signal to do so. Instead
+of doing that, you have sought to bargain with me for the price of its allegiance.
+That is treachery, and the penalty of treachery is death.
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<span class="smcap">Natas.</span><br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+&quot;Those are the words of the Master,&quot; continued Natasha,
+throwing the paper down upon the table with one hand, and
+drawing her pistol with the other. &quot;It rests with the Chief
+to say when and where the sentence of the Master shall be
+carried out.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p274b.jpg" alt="He dropped back into his chair with a bullet in his brain." width="640" height="406" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;He dropped back into his chair with a bullet in his brain.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page275">page 275</a>.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Let it be carried out here, and now,&quot; said Tremayne, &quot;and
+<a name="page275"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 275]</span>
+let him who has anything to say against it speak now, or for
+ever hold his peace.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The ten heads bowed once more in silence, and Natasha
+went on still addressing the trembling wretch who sat huddled
+in the chair in front of her.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You have asked for a bride, Michael Roburoff, and she
+has come to you, and I can promise you that you shall sleep
+soundly in her embrace. Your bride is Death, and I have
+chosen to bring her to you with my own hand, that all here
+may see how the daughter of Natas can avenge an insult to
+her womanhood.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You have been guilty of treachery to the Brotherhood, and
+for that you might have been punished by any hand; but you
+would also have condemned me to the infamy of a loveless
+marriage, and that is an insult that no one shall punish but
+myself. Look up, and, if you can, die like a man.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Roburoff took his hands from his face, and with an inarticulate
+cry started to his feet. The same instant Natasha's
+hand went up, her pistol flashed, and he dropped back again
+into his chair with a bullet in his brain. Then she replaced
+the pistol in her belt, and going up to Arnold held out both
+her hands and said, as he clasped them in his own&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If the Master's reply had been different, that bullet would
+by this time have been in my own heart.&quot;
+<a name="page276"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 276]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter37"></a>
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE CAPTURE OF A CONTINENT.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p276.png" alt="W" width="120" height="133" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+Within an hour after the execution of Michael
+Roburoff the <i>Ithuriel</i> was winging her way
+back to Aeria, and at least two of her company
+were anticipating their return to the valley
+with feelings very different to those with which
+they had contemplated their departure.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+When the last farewells and congratulations had been
+spoken, and the air-ship rose from the earth, Tremayne
+returned to the house to commence forthwith the great task
+which now developed upon him; for in addition to being Chief
+of the Central Executive, he now assumed the direct command
+of the American Section, which, after long consideration, had
+been selected as the nucleus of the Federation of the English-speaking
+peoples of the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+For a fortnight he worked almost night and day, attending
+to every detail with the utmost care, and bringing into play
+all those rare powers of mind which in the first instance had
+led Natas to select him as the visible head of the Executive.
+In this way the chief consequence of the love-madness of
+Roburoff had been to place at the head of affairs in America
+the one man of all others most fitted by descent and ability to
+carry out such a work, and to this fact its complete success
+must in a great measure be attributed.
+</p>
+<p>
+So perfectly were his plans laid and executed, that right up
+to the moment when the signal was given and the plans
+became actions, American society went about its daily business
+without the remotest suspicion that it was living on the slope
+of a slumbering volcano whose fires were so soon to burst forth
+<a name="page277"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 277]</span>
+and finally consume the social fabric which, despite its splendid
+exterior, was inwardly as rotten as were the social fabrics of
+Rome and Byzantium on the eve of their fall.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the 1st of October the cables brought the news of the
+fall of the Quadrilateral, the storming of Hamburg, and the
+retreat of the British forces on Antwerp. Four days later
+came the tidings of a great battle under the walls of Antwerp,
+in which the British and German forces, outnumbered ten to
+one by the innumerable hosts of the League, had suffered a
+decisive defeat, which rendered it imperative for them to fall
+back upon the Allied fleets in the Scheldt, and to leave the
+Netherlands to the mercy of the Tsar and his allies, who were
+thus left undisputed masters of the continent of Europe.
+</p>
+<p>
+This last and crowning victory had been achieved by exactly
+the same means which had accomplished all the other triumphs
+of the campaign, and therefore there will be no need to enter
+into any detailed description of it. Indeed, the fall of the
+Quadrilateral and the defeat of the last army of the Alliance
+round Antwerp would have been accomplished much more
+easily and speedily than it had been but for the fact that the
+weather, which had been fine up to the end of July, had
+suddenly broken, and a succession of violent storms and gales
+from the north and north-west had made it impossible for the
+war-balloons to be brought into action with any degree of
+effectiveness.
+</p>
+<p>
+During the last week of September the storms had ceased,
+and then the work of destruction began. Not even the
+hitherto impregnable fortresses of Tournay, Mons, Namur, and
+Liége had been able to withstand the assault from the air any
+better than the forts of Berlin or the walls of Constantinople.
+A day's bombardment had sufficed to reduce them to ruins,
+and, the chain once broken, the armies of the League swept in
+wave after wave across the plains which they had guarded.
+</p>
+<p>
+The loss of life had been unparalleled even in this the
+greatest of all wars, for the British and Germans had fought
+with a dogged resolution which, but for the vastly superior
+numbers and the irresistible means of destruction employed
+against them, must infallibly have triumphed. As it was,
+it was only when valour had achieved its last sacrifice, and
+further resistance became rather madness than devotion, that
+<a name="page278"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 278]</span>
+the retreat was finally sounded in time to embark the remnants
+of the armies of the Alliance on board the warships. Happily
+at the very hour when this was being done the weather broke
+again, and the ships of the Allied fleets were therefore able to
+make their way to sea through storm and darkness, unmolested
+by the war-balloons.
+</p>
+<p>
+While the American press was teeming with columns of
+description telegraphed at enormous cost from the seat of war,
+and with absolutely misleading articles as to the policy of the
+League and the attitude of studious neutrality that was to be
+observed by the United States Government, the dockyards,
+controlled directly and indirectly by the American Ring, were
+working night and day putting the finishing touches to the
+flotilla of dynamite cruisers and other war-vessels intended to
+carry out the plan revealed by Michael Roburoff on board the
+<i>Ithuriel</i>, after he had been taken off the <i>Aurania</i> in the
+Mid-Atlantic.
+</p>
+<p>
+Briefly described, this was as follows:&mdash;Representative government
+in America had by this time become a complete sham.
+The whole political machinery and internal resources of the
+United States were now virtually at the command of a great
+Ring of capitalists who, through the medium of the huge
+monopolies which they controlled, and the enormous sums of
+money at their command, held the country in the hollow of
+their hand. These men were as totally devoid of all human
+feeling or public sentiment as it was possible for human beings
+to be. They had grown rich in virtue of their contempt of
+every principle of justice and mercy, and they had no other
+object in life than to still further increase their gigantic hoards
+of wealth, and to multiply the enormous powers which they
+already wielded. The then condition of affairs in Europe had
+presented them with such an opportunity as no other combination
+of circumstances could have given them, and ignoring,
+as such wretches would naturally do, all ties of blood and
+kindred speech, they had determined to take advantage of the
+situation to the utmost.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the guise of the United States Government the Ring had
+concluded a secret treaty with the commanders of the League,
+in virtue of which, at a stipulated point in the struggle, America
+was to declare war on Britain, invade Canada by land, and
+<a name="page279"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 279]</span>
+send to sea an immense flotilla of swift dynamite cruisers of
+tremendously destructive power, which had been constructed
+openly in the Government dockyards, ostensibly for coast
+defence, and secretly in private yards belonging to the various
+Corporations composing the Ring.
+</p>
+<p>
+This flotilla was to co-operate with the fleet of the League
+as soon as England had been invaded, and complete the
+blockade of the British ports. Were this once accomplished
+nothing could save Britain from starvation into surrender, and
+the British Empire from disintegration and partition between
+the Ring and the Commanders of the League, who would then
+practically divide the mastery of the world among them.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the night of the 4th of October the five words: &quot;The
+hour and the man,&quot; went flying over the wires from Washington
+throughout the length and breadth of the North American
+Continent. The next morning half the industries of the
+United States were paralysed; all the lines of communication
+by telegraph and rail between the east and west were severed,
+the shore ends of the Atlantic cables were cut, no newspapers
+appeared, and every dockyard on the eastern coast was in the
+hands of the Terrorists.
+</p>
+<p>
+To complete the stupor produced by this swift succession of
+astounding events, when the sun rose an air-ship was seen
+floating high in the air over the ten arsenals of the United
+States&mdash;that is to say, over Portsmouth, Charlestown, Brooklyn,
+League Island, New London, Washington, Norfolk, Pensacola,
+Mare Island, and Port Royal, while two others held Chicago
+and St. Louis, the great railway centres for the west and south,
+at their mercy, and the <i>Ithuriel</i>, with a broad red flag flying
+from her stern, swept like a meteor along the eastern coast
+from Maine to Florida.
+</p>
+<p>
+To attempt to describe the condition of frenzied panic into
+which the inhabitants of the threatened cities, and even the
+whole of the Eastern States were thrown by the events of that
+ever-memorable morning, would be to essay an utterly hopeless
+task. From the millionaire in his palace to the outcasts
+who swarmed in the slums, not a man or a woman kept a cool
+head save those who were in the councils of the Terrorists.
+The blow had fallen with such stupefying suddenness that
+as far as America was concerned the Revolution was practically
+<a name="page280"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 280]</span>
+accomplished before any one very well knew what had
+happened.
+</p>
+<p>
+Out of the midst of an apparently peaceful and industrious
+population five millions of armed men had sprung in a single
+night. Factories and workshops had opened their doors, but
+none entered them; ships lay idle by the wharves, offices
+were deserted, and the great reels of paper hung motionless
+beside the paralysed machines which should have converted
+them into newspapers.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was not a strike, for no mere trade organisation could
+have accomplished such a miracle. It was the force born of
+the accumulation of twenty years of untiring labour striking
+one mighty blow which shattered the commercial fabric of a
+continent in a single instant. Those who had been clerks or
+labourers yesterday, patient, peaceful, and law-abiding, were
+to-day soldiers, armed and disciplined, and obeying with
+automatic regularity the unheard command of some unknown
+chief.
+</p>
+<p>
+This of itself would have been enough to throw the United
+States into a panic; but, worse than all, the presence of the
+air-ships, holding at their mercy the arsenals and the richest
+cities in the Eastern States, proved that tremendous and all as
+it was, this was only a phase of some vast and mysterious
+cataclysm which might as easily involve the whole civilised
+world as it could overwhelm the United States of America.
+</p>
+<p>
+By noon, almost without striking a blow, every dynamite
+cruiser and warship on the eastern coast had been seized and
+manned by the Terrorists. To the dismay of the authorities,
+it was found that more than half the army and navy, officers
+and men alike, had obeyed the mysterious summons that had
+gone throughout the land the night before; and matters
+reached a climax when, as the clocks of Washington were
+striking twelve, the President himself was arrested in the
+White House.
+</p>
+<p>
+All the streets of Washington were in the hands of the
+Terrorists, and at one o'clock Tremayne, after posting guards
+at all the approaches, entered the Senate, and in the name of
+Natas proclaimed the Constitution of the United States null
+and void, and the Government dissolved.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then with a copy of the Constitution in his hand he proceeded
+<a name="page281"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 281]</span>
+to the steps of the Capitol, and, in the presence of a
+vast throng of the armed members of the American Section,
+he proclaimed the Federation of the English-speaking races of
+the world, in virtue of their bonds of kindred blood and speech
+and common interests; and amidst a scene of the wildest
+enthusiasm called upon all who owned those bonds to forget
+the artificial divisions that had separated them into hostile
+nations and communities, and to follow the leadership of the
+Brotherhood to the conquest of the earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then in a few strong and simple phrases he exposed the
+subservience of the Government to the capitalist Ring, and
+described the inhuman compact that it had entered into with
+the arch-enemies of national freedom and personal liberty to
+crush the motherland of the Anglo-Saxon nations, and for the
+sake of sordid gain to rivet the fetters of oppression upon the
+limbs of the race which for a thousand years had stood in the
+forefront of the battle for freedom.
+</p>
+<p>
+As he concluded his appeal, one mighty shout of wrath and
+execration rose up to heaven from a million throats. He
+waited until this died away into silence, then, raising the
+copy of the Constitution above his head, he cried in clear
+ringing tones&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;For a hundred and fifty years this has been boasted as the
+bulwark of liberty, and used as the instrument of social and
+commercial oppression. The Republic of America has been
+governed, not by patriots and statesmen, but by millionaires
+and their hired political puppets. It is therefore a fraud and
+a sham, and deserves no longer to exist!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying, he tore the paper into fragments and cast them
+into the air amidst a storm of cheers and volley after volley of
+musketry. While the enthusiasm was at its height the <i>Ithuriel</i>
+suddenly swept downwards from the sky in full view of the
+mighty assemblage that swarmed round the Capitol. She was
+greeted with a roar of wondering welcome, for her appearance
+was the fulfilment of a promise upon which the success of the
+Revolution in America had largely depended.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was the promise, issued by Tremayne several days
+previously through the commanders of the various divisions
+of the Section, that as soon as the Anglo-Saxon Federation
+was proclaimed and accepted in America, the whole Brotherhood
+<a name="page282"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 282]</span>
+throughout the world would fall into line with it, and
+place its a&euml;rial navy at the disposal of its leaders. Practically
+this was giving the empire of the world in exchange for a
+money-despotism, of which every one save the millionaires and
+their servants had become heartily sick.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were few who in their hearts did not believe the
+Republic to be a colossal fraud, and therefore there were few
+who regretted it.
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Ithuriel</i> passed slowly over the heads of the wondering
+crowd, and came to a standstill alongside the steps on which
+Tremayne was standing. The crowd saw a man on her deck
+shake hands with Tremayne and give him a folded paper.
+Then the air-ship swept gracefully upward again in a spiral
+curve until she hung motionless over the dome of the Capitol.
+</p>
+<p>
+Amidst a silence born of breathless interest to know the
+import of this message from the sky, Tremayne opened the
+paper, glanced at its contents, and handed it to the senior officer
+in command of the brigades, who stood beside him. This man,
+a veteran who had grown grey in the service of the Brotherhood,
+advanced with the open paper in his hand, and read out
+in a loud voice&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+Natas sends greeting to the Brotherhood in America. The work has been
+well done, and the reward of patient labour is at hand. This is to name Alan
+Tremayne, Chief of the Central Executive, first President of the Anglo-Saxon
+Federation throughout the world, and to invest him with the supreme authority
+for the ordering of its affairs. The a&euml;rial navy of the Brotherhood is placed at
+his disposal to co-operate with the armies and fleets of the Federation.
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<span class="smcap">Natas</span>.<br />
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+When the mighty shout of acclamation which greeted the
+reading of this commission had died away, Tremayne stepped
+forward again and spoke the few words that now remained to
+be said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I accept the office and all that it implies. The fate of
+the world lies in our hands, and as we decide it so will the
+future lot of humanity be good or evil. The armies of the
+Franco-Slavonian League are now masters of the continent
+of Europe, and are preparing for the invasion of Britain.
+The first use that I shall make of the authority now vested
+in me will be to summon the Tsar in the name of the Federation
+to sheathe the sword at once, and relinquish his designs
+<a name="page283"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 283]</span>
+on Britain. The moment that one of his soldiers sets foot on
+the sacred soil of our motherland I shall declare war upon
+him, and it shall be a war, not of conquest, but of extermination,
+and we will make an end of tyranny on earth for ever.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now let those who are not on guard-duty go to their
+homes, and remember that they are now citizens of a greater
+realm than the United States, and endowed with more than
+national duties and responsibilities. Let every man's person
+and property be respected, and let the penalty of all violence
+be death. Those who have plotted against the public welfare
+will be dealt with in due course, and yonder air-ship will be
+despatched with our message to the Tsar at sundown. Long
+live the Federation!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Millions of throats took up the cry as the last words left
+his lips until it rolled away from the Capitol in mighty waves
+of sound, flowing along the crowded streets and overrunning
+the utmost confines of the capital.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus, without the loss of a hundred lives, and in a space of
+less than twelve hours, was the Revolution in America accomplished.
+The triumph of the Terrorists was as complete as
+it had been unexpected. Menaced by air and sea and land,
+the great centres of population made no resistance, and, when
+they learnt the true object of the Revolution, wanted to make
+none. No one really believed in the late Government, and
+every one in his soul hated and despised the millionaires.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no bond between them and their fellow-men but
+money, and the moment that was snapped they were looked
+upon in their true nature as criminals and outcasts from the
+pale of humanity. By sundown, when the <i>Ithuriel</i> left for the
+seat of war, the members of the Ring and those of the late
+Government who refused to acknowledge the Federation were
+lodged in prison, and news had been received from Montreal
+that the simultaneous rising of the Canadian Section had been
+completely successful, and that all the railways and arsenals
+and ships of war were in the hands of the Terrorists, so completing
+the capture of the North American continent.
+</p>
+<p>
+The President of the Federation and his faithful subordinates
+went to work, without losing an hour, to reorganise
+as far as was necessary the internal affairs of the continent
+of which they had so suddenly become the undisputed masters.
+<a name="page284"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 284]</span>
+There was some trouble with the British authorities in Canada,
+who, from mistaken motives of duty to the mother country, at
+first refused to recognise the Federation.
+</p>
+<p>
+The consequence of this was that Tremayne went north the
+next day and had an interview with the Governor-General at
+Montreal. At the same time he ordered six air-ships and
+twenty-five dynamite cruisers to blockade the St. Lawrence
+and the eastern ports. The Canadian Pacific Railway and the
+telegraph lines to the west were already in the hands of the
+Terrorists, and a million men were under arms waiting his
+commands.
+</p>
+<p>
+A very brief explanation, therefore, sufficed to show the
+Governor that forcible resistance would not only be the purest
+madness, but that it would also seriously interfere with the
+working of the great scheme of Federation, the object of which
+was, not merely to place Britain in the first place among the
+nations, but to make the Anglo-Saxon race the one dominant
+power in the whole world.
+</p>
+<p>
+To all the Governor's objections on the score of loyalty to
+the British Crown, Tremayne, who heard him to the end without
+interruption, simply replied in a tone that precluded all
+further argument&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The day of states and empires, and therefore of loyalty to
+sovereigns, has gone by. The history of nations is the history
+of intrigue, quarrelling, and bloodshed, and we are determined
+to put a stop to warfare for good and all. We hold in our
+hands the only power that can thwart the designs of the
+League and avert an era of tyranny and retrogression. That
+power we intend to use whether the British Government likes
+it or not.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We shall save Britain, if necessary, in spite of her rulers.
+If they stand in the way, so much the worse for them. They
+will be called upon to resign in favour of the Federation and
+its Executive within the next seven days. If they consent,
+the forces of the League will never cross the Straits of Dover.
+If they refuse we shall allow Britain to taste the results of
+their choice, and then settle the matter in our own way.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The next day the Governor dissolved the Canadian Legislatures
+&quot;under protest,&quot; and retired into private life for the
+present. He felt that it was no time to argue with a man
+<a name="page285"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 285]</span>
+who had millions of men behind him, to say nothing of an
+a&euml;rial fleet which alone could reduce Montreal to ruins in
+twelve hours.
+</p>
+<p>
+After arranging matters in Canada the President returned
+to Washington in the <i>Ariel</i>, which he had taken into his
+personal service for the present, and set about disposing of
+the Ring and those members of the late Government who were
+most deeply implicated in the secret alliance with the leaders
+of the League. When the facts of this scheme were made
+public they raised such a storm of popular indignation, that if
+those responsible for it had been turned loose in the streets of
+Washington they would have been torn to pieces like vermin.
+</p>
+<p>
+As it was, however, they were placed upon their trial before
+a Commission of seven members of the Inner Circle of the
+American Section, presided over by the President. Their
+guilt was speedily proved beyond the shadow of a doubt.
+Documents, memoranda, and telegrams were produced by men
+who had seemed their most trusted servants, but had been in
+reality members of the Brotherhood told off to unearth their
+schemes.
+</p>
+<p>
+Cyphers were translated which showed that they had
+practically sold the resources of the country in advance to
+the Tsar and his allies, and that they were only waiting the
+signal to declare war without warning and without cause upon
+Britain, blockade her ports, and starve her into surrender and
+acceptance of any terms that the victors might choose to
+impose. Last of all, the terms of the bargain between the
+League and the Ring were produced, signed by the late
+President and the Secretary of State, and countersigned by the
+Russian Minister at Washington.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Court sat for three days, and reassembled on the fourth
+to deliver its verdict and sentence. Fifteen members of the
+late Government, including the President, the Vice-President,
+and the Secretary of State, and twenty-four great capitalists
+composing the Ring, were found guilty of giving and receiving
+bribes, directly and indirectly, and of betraying and conspiring
+to betray the confidence of the American people in its elected
+representatives, and also of conspiring to make war without
+due cause on a friendly Power for purely commercial reasons.
+</p>
+<p>
+At eleven o'clock on the morning of the 9th of October the
+<a name="page286"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 286]</span>
+President of the Federation rose in the Senate House, amidst
+breathless silence, to pronounce the sentence of the Court.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;All the accused,&quot; he said, speaking in slow, deliberate
+tones, &quot;have been proved guilty of such treason against their
+own race and the welfare of humanity as no men ever were
+guilty of before in all the disreputable history of state-craft.
+In view of the suffering and misery to millions of individuals,
+and the irreparable injury to the cause of civilisation that
+would have resulted from the success of their schemes, it
+would be impossible for human wit to devise any punishment
+which in itself would be adequate. The sentence of the Court
+is the extreme penalty known to human justice&mdash;Death!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+A shudder passed through the vast assembly as he pronounced
+the ominous word, and the accused, who but a few
+days before had looked upon the world as their footstool,
+gazed with blanched faces and terror-stricken eyes upon each
+other. He paused for a moment, and looked sternly upon
+them. Then he went on&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;But the Federation does not seek a punishment of revenge,
+but of justice; nor shall its first act of government be the
+shedding of blood, however guilty. Therefore, as President I
+override the sentence of death, and instead condemn you, who
+have been proved guilty of this unspeakable crime, to confiscation
+of the wealth that you have acquired so unscrupulously
+and used so mercilessly, and to perpetual banishment with
+your wives and families, who have shared the profits of your
+infamous traffic.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You will be at once conveyed to Kodiak Island, off the
+south coast of Alaska, and landed there. Once every six
+months you will be visited by a steamer, which will supply
+you with the necessaries of life, and the original penalty of
+death will be the immediate punishment of any one of you
+who attempts to return to a world of which you from this
+moment cease to be citizens.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The sentence was carried out without an hour's delay. The
+exiles, with their wives and families, were placed under a strong
+guard in a special train, which conveyed them from Washington
+<i>viâ</i> St. Louis to San Francisco, where they were transferred
+to a steamer which took them to the lonely and desolate island
+in the frozen North which was to be their home for the rest
+<a name="page287"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 287]</span>
+of their lives. They were followed by the execrations of
+a whole people and the regrets of none save the money-worshippers
+who had respected them, not as men, but as
+incarnations of the purchasing power of wealth.
+</p>
+<p>
+The huge fortunes which they had amassed, amounting in
+the aggregate to more than three hundred millions in English
+money, were placed in the public treasury for the immediate
+purposes of the war which the Federation was about to wage
+for the empire of the world. All their real estate property
+was transferred to the various municipalities in which it was
+situated, and their rents devoted to the relief of taxation, while
+the railways and other enterprises which they had controlled
+were declared public property, and placed in the hands of
+boards of management composed of their own officials.
+</p>
+<p>
+Within a week everything was working as smoothly as
+though no Revolution had ever taken place. All officials
+whose honesty there was no reason to suspect were retained in
+their offices, while those who were dismissed were replaced
+without any friction. All the affairs of government were
+conducted upon purely business principles, just as though the
+country had been a huge commercial concern, save for the fact
+that the chief object was efficiency and not profit-making.
+</p>
+<p>
+Money was abundantly plentiful, and the necessaries of life
+were cheaper than they had ever been before. Perhaps the
+principal reason for this happy state of affairs was the fact
+that law and politics had suddenly ceased to be trades at which
+money could be made. People were amazed at the rapidity
+with which public business was transacted.
+</p>
+<p>
+The President and his Council had at one stroke abrogated
+every civil and criminal law known to the old Constitution, and
+proclaimed in their place a simple, comprehensive code which
+was practically identical with the Decalogue. To this a final
+clause was added, stating that those who could not live without
+breaking any of these laws would not be considered as fit to
+live in civilised society, and would therefore be effectively
+removed from the companionship of their fellows.
+</p>
+<p>
+While the internal affairs of the Federation in America were
+being thus set in order, events had been moving rapidly in
+other parts of the world. The Tsar, the King of Italy, and
+General le Gallifet, who was now Dictator of France in all but
+<a name="page288"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 288]</span>
+name, were masters of the continent of Europe. The Anglo-Teutonic
+Alliance was a thing of the past. Germany, Austria,
+and Turkey were completely crushed, and the minor Powers
+had succumbed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Britain, crippled by the terrible cost in ships and men of
+the victory of the Nile, had evacuated the Mediterranean after
+dismantling the fortifications of Gibraltar and Malta, and had
+concentrated the remains of her fleets in the home waters, to
+prepare for the invasion which was now inevitable as soon as
+fair winds and fine weather made it possible for the war-balloons
+of the League to cross the water and co-operate with
+the invading forces.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Tsar, as had been expected, had not even deigned to
+reply to Tremayne's summons to disarm, and so the last
+arrangements for bringing the forces of the Federation into
+action at the proper time were pushed on with the utmost
+speed. The blockade of the American and Canadian coasts
+was rigidly maintained, and no vessels allowed to enter or
+leave any of the ports. All the warships of the League had
+been withdrawn from the Atlantic, and the great ocean highway
+remained unploughed by a single keel.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the 10th of October the <i>Ithuriel</i> had returned from her
+second trip to the West, with the refusal of the British
+Government to recognise the Federation as a duly constituted
+Power, or to have any dealings with its leaders. &quot;Great
+Britain,&quot; the reply concluded, &quot;will stand or fall alone; and
+even in the event of ultimate defeat, the King of England will
+prefer to make terms with the sovereigns opposed to him
+rather than with those whose acts have proved them to be
+beyond the pale of the law of nations.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Ah!&quot; said Tremayne to Arnold, as he read the royal words,
+&quot;the policy which lost the American Colonies for the sake of
+an idea still rules at Westminster, it seems. But I'm not going
+to let the old Lion be strangled in his den for all that.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Natas was right when he said that Britain would have to
+pass through the fire before she would accept the Federation,
+and so I suppose she must, more's the pity. Still, perhaps it
+will be all for the best in the long run. You can't expect to
+root up a thousand-year-old oak as easily as a mushroom that
+only came up the day before yesterday.&quot;
+<a name="page289"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 289]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter38"></a>
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p289.png" alt="I" width="120" height="135" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+It is now time to return to Britain, to the land
+which the course of events had so far appeared
+to single out as the battle-ground upon which
+was to be fought the Armageddon of the
+Western World&mdash;that conflict of the giants,
+the issue of which was to decide whether the
+Anglo-Saxon race was still to remain in the forefront of
+civilisation and progress, or whether it was to fall, crushed
+and broken, beneath the assaults of enemies descending upon
+the motherland of the Anglo-Saxon nations; whether the
+valour and personal devotion, which for a thousand years had
+scarcely known a defeat by flood or field, was still to pursue
+its course of victory, or whether it was to succumb to weight
+of numbers and mechanical discipline, reinforced by means of
+assault and destruction which so far had turned the world-war
+of 1904 into a succession of colossal and unparalleled
+butcheries, such as had never been known before in the
+history of human strife.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+When the Allied fleets, bearing the remains of the British
+and German armies which had been driven out of the Netherlands,
+reached England, and the news of the crowning disaster
+of the war in Europe was published in detail in the newspapers,
+the popular mind seemed suddenly afflicted with a paralysis of
+stupefaction.
+</p>
+<p>
+Men looked back over the long series of triumphs in which
+British valour and British resolution had again and again
+proved themselves invulnerable to the assaults of overwhelming
+numbers. They thought of the glories of the Peninsula, of
+<a name="page290"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 290]</span>
+the unbreakable strength of the thin red line at Waterloo, of
+the magnificent madness of Balaclava, and the invincible
+steadiness and discipline that had made Inkermann a word to be
+remembered with pride as long as the English name endured.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then their thoughts reverted to the immediate past, and
+they heard the shock of colossal armaments, compared with
+which the armies of the past appeared but pigmies in strength.
+They saw empires defended by millions of soldiers crushed in
+a few weeks, and a wave of conquest sweep in one unbroken
+roll from end to end of a continent in less time than it would
+have taken Napoleon or Wellington to have fought a single
+campaign. Huge fortresses, rendered, as men had believed,
+impregnable by the employment of every resource known to
+the most advanced military science, had been reduced to heaps
+of defenceless ruins in a few hours by a bombardment, under
+which their magnificent guns had lain as impotent as though
+they had been the culverins of three hundred years ago.
+</p>
+<p>
+It seemed like some hideous nightmare of the nations,
+in which Europe had gone mad, revelling in superhuman
+bloodshed and destruction,&mdash;a conflict in which more than
+earthly forces had been let loose, accomplishing a carnage so
+immense that the mind could only form a dim and imperfect
+conception of it. And now this red tide of desolation had
+swept up to the western verge of the Continent, and was there
+gathering strength and volume day by day against the hour
+when it should burst and oversweep the narrow strip of water
+which separated the inviolate fields of England from the
+blackened and blood-stained waste that it had left behind it
+from the Russian frontier to the German Ocean.
+</p>
+<p>
+It seemed impossible, and yet it was true. The first line
+of defence, the hitherto invincible fleet, magnificently as it
+had been managed, and heroically as it had been fought, had
+failed in the supreme hour of trial. It had failed, not because
+the sailors of Britain had done their duty less valiantly than
+they had done in the days of Rodney and Nelson, but simply
+because the conditions of naval warfare had been entirely
+changed, because the personal equation had been almost
+eliminated from the problem of battle, and because the new
+warfare of the seas had been waged rather with machinery
+than with men.
+<a name="page291"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 291]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+In all the war not a single battle had been fought at close
+quarters; there had been plenty of instances of brilliant
+man&oelig;uvring, of torpedo-boats running the gauntlet and
+hurling their deadly missiles against the sides of battleships
+and cruisers, and of ships rammed and sunk in a few instants
+by consummately-handled opponents; but the days of boarding
+and cutting out, of night surprises and fire-ships, had gone by
+for ever.
+</p>
+<p>
+The irresistible artillery with which modern science had
+armed the warships of all nations had made these feats
+impossible, and so had placed the valour which achieved them
+out of court. Within the last few weeks scarcely a day had
+passed but had witnessed the return of some mighty ironclad
+or splendid cruiser, which had set out a miracle of offensive
+and defensive strength, little better than a floating ruin,
+wrecked and shattered almost beyond recognition by the awful
+battle-storm through which she had passed.
+</p>
+<p>
+The magnificent armament which had held the Atlantic
+route had come back represented only by a few crippled
+ships almost unfit for any further service. True, they and
+those which never returned had rendered a splendid account
+of themselves before the enemy, but the fact remained&mdash;they
+were not defeated, but they were no longer able to perform the
+Titanic task which had been allotted to them.
+</p>
+<p>
+So, too, with the Mediterranean fleet, which, so far as sea-fighting
+was concerned, had achieved the most splendid
+triumph of the war. It had completely destroyed the enemy
+opposed to it, but the victory had been purchased at such a
+terrible price that, but for the squadron which had come to its
+aid, it would hardly have been able to reach home in safety.
+</p>
+<p>
+In a word, the lesson of the struggle on the sea had been,
+that modern artillery was just as effective whether fired by
+Englishmen, Frenchmen, or Russians; that where a torpedo
+struck a warship was crippled, no matter what the nationality
+or the relative valour of her crew; and that where once the
+ram found its mark the ship that it struck went down, no
+matter what flag she was flying.
+</p>
+<p>
+And then, behind and beyond all that was definitely known
+in England of the results of the war, there were vague rumours
+of calamities and catastrophes in more distant parts of the
+<a name="page292"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 292]</span>
+world, which seemed to promise nothing less than universal
+anarchy, and the submergence of civilisation under some all-devouring
+wave of barbarism.
+</p>
+<p>
+All regular communications with the East had been stopped
+for several weeks; that India was lost, was guessed by intuition
+rather than known as a certainty. Australia was as isolated
+from Britain as though it had been on another planet, and
+now every one of the Atlantic cables had suddenly ceased to
+respond to the stimulus of the electric current. No ships
+came from the East, or West, or South. The British ports
+were choked with fleets of useless merchantmen, to which the
+markets of the world were no longer open.
+</p>
+<p>
+Some few venturesome craft that had set out to explore
+the now silent ocean had never returned, and every warship
+that could be made fit for service was imperatively needed to
+meet the now inevitable attack on the shores of the English
+Channel and the southern portions of the North Sea. Only
+one messenger had arrived from the outside world since the
+remains of Admiral Beresford's fleet had returned from the
+Mediterranean, and she had come, not by land or sea, but
+through the air.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the 6th of October an air-ship had been seen flying at an
+incredible speed across the south of England. She had reached
+London, and touched the ground during the night on Hampstead
+Heath; the next day she had descended again in the same
+place, taken a single man on board, and then vanished into
+space again. What her errand had been is well known to the
+reader; but outside the members of the Cabinet Council no one
+in England, save the King and his Ministers, knew the object of
+her mission.
+</p>
+<p>
+For fifteen days after that event the enemy across the water
+made no sign, although from the coast of Kent round about
+Deal and Dover could be seen fleets of transports and war-vessels
+hurrying along the French coast, and on clear days a
+thousand telescopes turned towards the French shore made
+visible the ominous clusters of moving black spots above the
+land, which betokened the presence of the terrible machines which
+had wrought such havoc on the towns and fortresses of Europe.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was only the calm before the final outburst of the storm.
+The Tsar and his allies were marshalling their hosts for the
+<a name="page293"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 293]</span>
+invasion, and collecting transports and fleets of war-vessels to
+convoy them. For several days strong north-westerly gales
+had made the sea impassable for the war-balloons, as though to
+the very last the winds and waves were conspiring to defend
+their ancient mistress. But this could not last for ever.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sooner or later the winds must sink or change, and then
+these war-hawks of the air would wing their flight across the
+silver streak, and Portsmouth, and Dover, and London would
+be as defenceless beneath their attack as Berlin, Vienna, and
+Hamburg had been. And after them would come the millions
+of the League, descending like a locust swarm upon the fields
+of eastern England; and after that would come the deluge.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the old Lion of the Seas was not skulking in his lair, or
+trembling at the advent of his enemies, however numerous and
+mighty they might be. On sea not a day passed but some daring
+raid was made on the transports passing to and fro in the
+narrow seas, and all the while a running fight was kept up
+with cruisers and battleships that approached too near to the
+still inviolate shore. So surely as they did so the signals
+flashed along the coast; and if they escaped at all from the
+fierce sortie that they provoked, it was with shot-riddled sides
+and battered top-works, sure signs that the Lion still had
+claws, and could strike home with them.
+</p>
+<p>
+On shore, from Land's End to John o' Groats, and from
+Holyhead to the Forelands, everything that could be done was
+being done to prepare for the struggle with the invader. It
+must, however, be confessed that, in comparison with the
+enormous forces of the League, the ranks of the defenders
+were miserably scanty. Forty years of universal military
+service on the Continent had borne their fruits.
+</p>
+<p>
+Soldiers are not made in a few weeks or months; and where
+the League had millions in the field, Britain, even counting the
+remnant of her German allies, that had been brought over
+from Antwerp, could hardly muster hundreds of thousands.
+All told, there were little more than a million men available
+for the defence of the country; and should the landing of the
+invaders be successfully effected, not less than six millions of
+men, trained to the highest efficiency, and flushed with a
+rapid succession of unparalleled victories, would be hurled
+against them.
+<a name="page294"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 294]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+This was the legitimate outcome of the policy to which
+Britain had adhered since first she had maintained a standing
+army, instead of pursuing the ancient policy of making every
+man a soldier, which had won the triumphs of Creçy and
+Agincourt. She had trusted everything to her sea-line of
+defence. Now that was practically broken, and it seemed
+inevitable that her second line, by reason of its miserable
+inadequacy, should fail her in a trial which no one had ever
+dreamt it would have to endure.
+</p>
+<p>
+A very grave aspect was given to the situation by the fact
+that the great mass of the industrial population seemed strangely
+indifferent to the impending catastrophe which was hanging
+over the land. It appeared to be impossible to make them
+believe that an invasion of Britain was really at hand, and
+that the hour had come when every man would be called upon
+to fight for the preservation of his own hearth and home.
+</p>
+<p>
+Vague threats of &quot;eating the Russians alive&quot; if they ever
+did dare to come, were heard on every hand; but beyond this,
+and apart from the regular army and the volunteers, men went
+about their daily avocations very much as usual, grumbling at
+the ever-increasing price of food, and here and there breaking
+out into bread riots wherever it was suspected that some wealthy
+man was trying to corner food for his own commercial benefit,
+but making no serious or combined efforts to prepare for a
+general rising in case the threatened invasion became a fact.
+</p>
+<p>
+Such was the general state of affairs in Britain when, on the
+night of the 27th of October, the north-west gales sank suddenly
+to a calm, and the dawn of the 28th brought the news from
+Dover to London that the war-balloons of the League had
+taken the air, and were crossing the Straits.
+<a name="page295"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 295]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter39"></a>
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE BATTLE OF DOVER.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p295.png" alt="U" width="119" height="133" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+Until the war of 1904, it had been an undisputed
+axiom in naval warfare that a territorial attack
+upon an enemy's coast by a fleet was foredoomed
+to failure unless that enemy's fleet had been
+either crippled beyond effective action, or
+securely blockaded in distant ports. As an
+axiom secondary to this, it was also held that it would be
+impossible for an invading force, although convoyed by a
+powerful fleet, to make good its footing upon any portion of a
+hostile coast defended by forts mounting heavy long-range guns.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+These principles have held good throughout the history of
+naval warfare from the time when Sir Walter Raleigh first laid
+them down in the early portion of his <i>History of the World</i>,
+written after the destruction of the Spanish Armada.
+</p>
+<p>
+But now two elements had been introduced which altered
+the conditions of naval warfare even more radically than one
+of them had changed those of military warfare. Had it not
+been for this the attack upon the shores of England made by
+the commanders of the League would probably either have
+been a failure, or it would have stopped at a demonstration of
+force, as did that of the great Napoleon in 1803.
+</p>
+<p>
+The portion of the Kentish coast selected for the attack was
+that stretching from Folkestone to Deal, and it would perhaps
+have been difficult to find in the whole world any portion of
+sea-coast more strongly defended than this was on the morning
+of October 28, 1904; and yet, as the event proved, the fortresses
+which lined it were as useless and impotent for defence as the
+old Martello towers of a hundred and fifty years before would
+have been.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the war-balloons rose into the air from the heights above
+<a name="page296"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 296]</span>
+Boulogne, good telescopes at Dover enabled their possessors to
+count no less than seventy-five of them. Fifty of these were
+quite newly constructed, and were of a much improved type,
+as they had been built in view of the practical experience
+gained by the first fleet.
+</p>
+<p>
+This a&euml;rial fleet divided into three squadrons; one, numbering
+twenty-five, steered south-westward in the direction of Folkestone,
+twelve shaped their course towards Deal, and the remaining
+thirty-eight steered directly across the Straits to Dover.
+As they approached the English coast they continually rose,
+until by the time they had reached the land, aided by the
+light south-easterly breeze which was then blowing, they floated
+at a height of more than five thousand feet.
+</p>
+<p>
+All this while not a warship or a transport had put to sea.
+The whole fleet of the League lay along the coast of France
+between Calais and Dieppe, under the protection of shore
+batteries so powerful that it would have been madness for
+the British fleet to have assumed the offensive with regard
+to them. With the exception of two squadrons reserved for
+a possible attack upon Portsmouth and Harwich, all that
+remained from the disasters and costly victories of the war of
+the once mighty British naval armament was massed together
+for the defence of that portion of the coast which would evidently
+have to bear the brunt of the attack of the League.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ranged along the coast from Folkestone to Deal was an
+armament consisting of forty-five battleships of the first,
+second, and third classes, supported by fifteen coast-defence
+ironclads, seventy armoured and thirty-two unarmoured cruisers,
+forty gunboats, and a hundred and fifty torpedo-boats.
+</p>
+<p>
+Such was the still magnificent fleet that patrolled the waters
+of the narrow sea,&mdash;a fleet as impotent for the time being as a
+flotilla of Thames steamboats would have been in face of the
+tactics employed against it by the League. Had the enemy's
+fleet but come out into the open, as it would have been compelled
+to do under the old conditions of warfare, to fight its
+way across the narrow strip of water, there is little doubt but
+that the issue of the day would have been very different, and that
+what had been left of it would have been driven back, shattered
+and defeated, to the shelter of the French shore batteries.
+</p>
+<p>
+But, in accordance with the invariable tactics of the League,
+<a name="page297"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 297]</span>
+the first and most deadly assault was delivered from the air.
+The war-balloons stationed themselves above the fortifications
+on land, totally ignoring the presence of the fleet, and a few
+minutes after ten o'clock began to rain their deadly hail of
+explosives down upon them. Fifteen were placed over Dover
+Castle, and five over the fort on the Admiralty Pier, while the
+rest were distributed over the town and the forts on the hills
+above it. In an hour everything was in a state of the most
+horrible confusion. The town was on fire in a hundred places
+from the effects of the fire-shells. The Castle hill seemed as
+if it had been suddenly turned into a volcano; jets of bright
+flame kept leaping up from its summit and sides, followed by
+thunderous explosions and masses of earth and masonry hurled
+into the air, mingled with guns and fragments of human bodies.
+</p>
+<p>
+The end of the Admiralty Pier, with its huge blocks of stone
+wrenched asunder and pulverised by incessant explosions of
+dynamite and emmensite, collapsed and subsided into the sea,
+carrying fort, guns, and magazine with it; and all along the
+height of the Shakespeare cliff the earthworks had been blown
+up and scattered into dust, and a huge portion of the cliff itself
+had been blasted out and hurled down on to the beach.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile the victims of this terrible assault had, in the
+nature of the case, been able to do nothing but keep up a
+vertical fire, in the hope of piercing the gas envelopes of the
+balloons, and so bringing them to the earth. For more than
+an hour this fusilade produced no effect; but at length the concentrated
+fire of several Maxim and Nordenfelt guns, projecting
+a hail of missiles into the sky, brought about a result which was
+even more disastrous to the town than it was to its assailants.
+</p>
+<p>
+Four of the aerostats came within the zone swept by the
+bullets. Riddled through and through, their gas-holders
+collapsed, and their cars plunged downwards from a height
+of more than 5000 feet. A few seconds later four frightful
+explosions burst forth in different parts of the town, for the
+four cargoes exploded simultaneously as they struck the earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+The emmensite and dynamite tore whole streets of houses
+to fragments, and hurled them far and wide into the air, to fall
+back again on other parts of the town, and at the same time
+the fire-shells ignited, and set the ruins blazing like so many
+furnaces. No more shots were fired into the air after that.
+<a name="page298"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 298]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+There was nothing for it but for British valour to bow to
+the inevitable, and evacuate the town and what remained of its
+fortifications; and so with sad and heavy hearts the remnant
+of the brave defenders turned their faces inland, leaving Dover
+to its fate. Meanwhile exactly the same havoc had been
+wrought upon Folkestone and Deal. Hour after hour the
+merciless work continued, until by three o'clock in the afternoon
+there was not a gun left upon the whole range of coast
+that was capable of firing a shot.
+</p>
+<p>
+All this time the ammunition tenders of the a&euml;rial fleet
+had been winging their way to and fro across the Strait
+constantly renewing the shells of the war-balloons.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as it began to grow dusk the naval battle commenced.
+Numerically speaking the attacking force was somewhat
+inferior to that of the defenders, but now the second element,
+which so completely altered the tactics of sea fighting, was
+for the first time in the war brought into play.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the battleships of the League steamed out to engage
+the opponents, who were thirsting to avenge the destruction
+that had been wrought upon the land, a small flotilla of twenty-five
+insignificant-looking little craft, with neither masts nor
+funnels, and looking more like half-submerged elongated turtles
+than anything else, followed in tow close under their quarters.
+Hardly had the furious cannonade broken out into thunder and
+flame along the two opposing lines, than these strange craft
+sank gently and silently beneath the waves. They were
+submarine vessels belonging to the French navy, an improved
+type of the <i>Zédé</i> class, which had been in existence for more
+than ten years.<a name="ref_2_1"></a><a href="#footnote_2_1" class="fnref">[1]</a>
+</p>
+<p>
+These vessels were capable of sinking to a depth of twenty
+feet, and remaining for four hours without returning to the
+surface. They were propelled by twin screws worked by
+electricity at a speed of twenty knots, and were provided with
+an electric searchlight, which enabled them to find the hulls
+of hostile ships in the dark.
+<a name="page299"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 299]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+Each carried three torpedoes, which could be launched from
+a tube forward so as to strike the hull of the doomed ship from
+beneath. As soon as the torpedo was discharged the submarine
+boat spun round on her heel and headed away at full speed in
+an opposite direction out of the area of the explosion.
+</p>
+<p>
+The effects of such terrible and, indeed, irresistible engines
+of naval warfare were soon made manifest upon the ships of
+the British fleet. In the heat of the battle, with every gun in
+action, and raining a hail of shot and shell upon her adversary,
+a great battleship would receive an unseen blow, struck in the
+dark upon her most vulnerable part, a huge column of water
+would rise up from under her side, and a few minutes later the
+splendid fabric would heel over and go down like a floating
+volcano, to be quenched by the waves that closed over her.
+</p>
+<p>
+But as if it were not enough that the defending fleet should
+be attacked from the surface of the water and the depths of
+the sea, the war-balloons, winging their way out from the scene
+of ruin that they had wrought on shore, soon began to take
+their part in the work of death and destruction.
+</p>
+<p>
+Each of them was provided with a mirror set a little in front
+of the bow of the car, at an angle which could be varied according
+to the elevation. A little forward of the centre of the car
+was a tube fixed on a level with the centre of the mirror.
+The ship selected for destruction was brought under the car,
+and the speed of the balloon was regulated so that the ship
+was relatively stationary to it.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as the glare from one of the funnels could be seen
+through the tube reflected in the centre of the mirror, a trap
+was sprung in the floor of the car, and a shell charged with
+dynamite, which, it will be remembered, explodes vertically
+downwards, was released, and, where the calculations were
+accurately made, passed down the funnel and exploded in the
+interior of the vessel, bursting her boilers and reducing her to
+a helpless wreck at a single stroke.
+</p>
+<p>
+Every time this horribly ingenious contrivance was successfully
+brought into play a battleship or a cruiser was either
+sunk or reduced to impotence. In order to make their aim
+the surer, the aerostats descended to within three hundred yards
+of their prey, and where the missile failed to pass through the
+funnel it invariably struck the deck close to it, tearing up the
+<a name="page300"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 300]</span>
+armour sheathing, and wrecking the funnel itself so completely
+that the steaming-power of the vessel was very seriously reduced.
+</p>
+<p>
+All night long the battle raged incessantly along a semicircle
+some twelve miles long, the centre of which was Dover.
+Crowds of anxious watchers on the shore watched the continuous
+flashes of the guns through the darkness, varied ever and
+anon by some tremendous explosion which told the fate of a
+warship that had fired her last shot.
+</p>
+<p>
+All night long the incessant thunder of the battle rolled to
+and fro along the echoing coast, and when morning broke the
+light dawned upon a scene of desolation and destruction on sea
+and shore such as had never been witnessed before in the
+history of warfare. On land were the smoking ruins of houses,
+still smouldering in the remains of the fires which had consumed
+them; forts which twenty-four hours before had grinned
+defiance at the enemy were shapeless heaps of earth and stone,
+and armour-plating torn into great jagged fragments; and on
+sea were a few half-crippled wrecks, the remains of the British
+fleet, with their flags still flying, and such guns as were not
+disabled firing their last rounds at the victorious foe.
+</p>
+<p>
+To the eastward of these about half the fleet of the League,
+in but little better condition, was advancing in now overwhelming
+force upon them, and behind these again a swarm of
+troopships and transports were heading out from the French
+shore. About an hour after dawn the <i>Centurion</i>, the last of
+the British battleships, was struck by one of the submarine
+torpedoes, broke in two, and went down with her flag flying
+and her guns blazing away to the last moment. So ended the
+battle of Dover, the most disastrous sea-fight in the history of
+the world, and the death-struggle of the Mistress of the Seas.
+</p>
+<p>
+The last news of the tremendous tragedy reached the now
+panic-stricken capital half an hour before the receipt of similar
+tidings from Harwich, announcing the destruction of the
+defending fleet and forts, and the capture of the town by
+exactly the same means as those employed against Dover.
+Nothing now lay between London and the invading forces
+but the utterly inadequate army and the lines of fortifications,
+which could not be expected to offer any more effective
+resistance to the assault of the war-balloons than had those
+of the three towns on the Kentish coast.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="footnote_2_1"></a><a href="#ref_2_1">1</a>: <i>The Naval Annual</i> for 1893 mentions two types of submarine boats, the
+<i>Zédé</i> and the <i>Goubet</i>, both belonging to the French navy, which had then been
+tried with success. The same work mentions no such vessels belonging to
+Britain, nor yet any prospect of her possessing one. The effects described here
+as produced by these terrible machines are little, if at all, exaggerated. Granted
+ten years of progress, and they will be reproduced to a certainty.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Author</span>.
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p300a.jpg" alt="The Centurion, the last of the British battleships, was struck by one of the submarine torpedoes." width="640" height="427" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;The <i>Centurion</i>, the last of the British battleships,
+was struck by one of the submarine torpedoes.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page300">page 300</a>.</i>
+<a name="page301"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 301]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter40"></a>
+CHAPTER XL.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+BELEAGUERED LONDON.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p301.png" alt="A" width="119" height="139" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+A month had passed since the battle of Dover.
+It had been a month of incessant fighting, of
+battles by day and night, of heroic defences
+and dearly-bought victories, but still of constant
+triumphs and irresistible progress for
+the ever-increasing legions of the League.
+From sunrise to sunrise the roar of artillery, the rattle of
+musketry, and the clash of steel had never ceased to sound
+to the north and south of London as, over battlefield after
+battlefield, the two hosts which had poured in constant
+streams through Harwich and Dover had fought their way,
+literally mile by mile, towards the capital of the modern
+world.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Day and night the fighting never stopped. As soon as
+two hostile divisions had fought each other to a standstill,
+and from sheer weariness of the flesh the battle died down
+in one part of the huge arena, the flame sprang up in another,
+and raged on with ever renewed fury. Outnumbered four
+and five to one in every engagement, and with the terrible
+war-balloons raining death on them from the clouds, the
+British armies had eclipsed all the triumphs of the long array
+of their former victories by the magnificent devotion that
+they showed in the hour of what seemed to be the death-struggle
+of the Empire.
+</p>
+<p>
+The glories of Inkermann and Balaclava, of Albuera and
+Waterloo, paled before the achievements of the whole-souled
+heroism displayed by the British soldiery standing, as it
+were, with its back to the wall, and fighting, not so much
+<a name="page302"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 302]</span>
+with any hope of victory, for that was soon seen to be a
+physical impossibility, but with the invincible determination
+not to permit the invader to advance on London save over
+the dead bodies of its defenders.
+</p>
+<p>
+Such a gallant defence had never been made before in the
+face of such irresistible odds. When the soldiers of the
+League first set foot on British soil the defending armies of
+the North and South had, with the greatest exertions, been
+brought up to a fighting strength of about twelve hundred
+thousand men. So stubborn had been the heroism with
+which they had disputed the progress of their enemies that
+by the time that the guns of the League were planted on the
+heights that commanded the Metropolis, more than a million
+and a half of men had gone down under the hail of British
+bullets and the rush of British bayonets.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of all the battlefields of this the bloodiest war in the
+history of human strife, none had been so deeply dyed with
+blood as had been the fair and fertile English gardens and
+meadows over which the hosts of the League had fought
+their way to the confines of London. Only the weight of
+overwhelming numbers, reinforced by engines of destruction
+which could strike without the possibility of effective retaliation,
+had made their progress possible.
+</p>
+<p>
+Had they met their heroic foes as they had met them in
+the days of the old warfare, their superiority of numbers
+would have availed them but little. They would have been
+hurled back and driven into the sea, and not a man of them
+all would have left British soil alive had it been but a question
+of military attack and defence.
+</p>
+<p>
+But this was not a war of men. It was a war of machines,
+and those who wielded the most effective machinery for the
+destruction of life won battle after battle as a matter of course,
+just as a man armed with a repeating rifle would overcome
+a better man armed with a bow and arrow.
+</p>
+<p>
+Natas had formed an entirely accurate estimate of the
+policy of the leaders of the League when he told Tremayne,
+in the library at Alanmere, that they would concentrate all
+their efforts on the reduction of London. The rest of the
+kingdom had been for the present entirely ignored.
+</p>
+<p>
+London was the heart of the British Empire and of the
+<a name="page303"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 303]</span>
+English-speaking world, for the matter of that, and therefore
+it had been determined to strike one deadly blow at the
+vital centre of the whole huge organism. That paralysed,
+the rest must fall to pieces of necessity. The fleet was
+destroyed, and every soldier that Britain could put into the
+field had been mustered for the defence of London. Therefore
+the fall of London meant the conquest of Britain.
+</p>
+<p>
+After the battles of Dover and Harwich the invading forces
+advanced upon London in the following order: The Army
+of the South had landed at Deal, Dover, and Folkestone in
+three divisions, and after a series of terrific conflicts had
+fought its way <i>viâ</i> Chatham, Maidstone, and Tunbridge to
+the banks of the Thames, and occupied all the commanding
+positions from Shooter's Hill to Richmond. These three
+forces were composed entirely of French and Italian army
+corps, and numbered from first to last nearly four million
+men.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the north the invading force was almost wholly Russian,
+and was under the command of the Tzar in person, in whom
+the supreme command of the armies of the League had by
+common consent been now vested. A constant service of
+transports, plying day and night between Antwerp and
+Harwich, had placed at his disposal a force about equal to
+that of the Army of the South, although he had lost over
+seven hundred thousand men before he was able to occupy
+the line of heights from Hornsey to Hampstead, with flanking
+positions at Brondesbury and Harlesden to the west, and at
+Tottenham, Stratford, and Barking to the east.
+</p>
+<p>
+By the 29th of November all the railways were in the
+hands of the invaders. A chain of war-balloons between
+Barking and Shooter's Hill closed the Thames. The forts at
+Tilbury had been destroyed by an a&euml;rial bombardment. A
+flotilla of submarine torpedo-vessels had blown up the defences
+of the estuary of the Thames and Medway, and led to the fall
+of Sheerness and Chatham, and had then been docked at
+Sheerness, there being no further present use for them.
+</p>
+<p>
+The other half of the squadron, supported by a few battleships
+and cruisers which had survived the battle of Dover,
+had proceeded to Portsmouth, destroyed the booms and submarine
+defences, while a detachment of aerostats shelled the
+<a name="page304"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 304]</span>
+land defences, and then in a moment of wanton revenge had
+blown up the venerable hulk of the <i>Victory</i>, which had gone
+down at her moorings with her flag still flying as it had done
+a hundred years before at the fight of Trafalgar. After this
+inglorious achievement they had been laid up in dock to wait
+for their next opportunity of destruction, should it ever occur.
+</p>
+<p>
+London was thus cut off from all communication, not only
+with the outside world, but even from the rest of England.
+The remnants of the armies of defence had been gradually
+driven in upon the vast wilderness of bricks and mortar which
+now held more than eight millions of men, women, and
+children, hemmed in by long lines of batteries and entrenched
+camps, from which thousands of guns hurled their projectiles
+far and wide into the crowded masses of the houses, shattering
+them with bursting shells, and laying the whole streets in
+ruins, while overhead the war-balloons slowly circled hither
+and thither, dropping their fire-shells and completing the ruin
+and havoc wrought by the artillery of the siege-trains.
+</p>
+<p>
+Under such circumstances surrender was really only a
+matter of time, and that time had very nearly come. The
+London and North-Western Railway, which had been the last
+to fall into the hands of the invaders, had been closed for over
+a week, and food was running very short. Eight millions of
+people massed together in a space of thirty or forty square
+miles' area can only be fed and kept healthy under the most
+favourable conditions. Hemmed in as London now was, from
+being the best ordered great city in the world, it had degenerated
+with frightful rapidity into a vast abode of plague and
+famine, a mass of human suffering and misery beyond all
+conception or possibility of description.
+</p>
+<p>
+Defence there was now practically none; but still the
+invaders did not leave their vantage ground on the hills, and
+not a soldier of the League had so far set foot in London
+proper. Either the besiegers preferred to starve the great
+city into surrender at discretion, and then extort ruinous terms,
+or else they hesitated to plunge into that tremendous gulf of
+human misery, maddened by hunger and made desperate by
+despair. If they did so hesitate they were wise, for London
+was too vast to be carried by assault or by any series of
+assaults.
+<a name="page305"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 305]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+No army could have lived in its wilderness of streets
+swarming with enemies, who would have fought them from
+house to house and street to street. Once they had entered
+that mighty maze of streets and squares both their artillery
+and their war-balloons would have been useless, for they
+would only have buried friend and foe in common destruction.
+There were plenty of ways into London, but the way out was
+a very different matter.
+</p>
+<p>
+Had a general assault been attempted, not a man would ever
+have got out of London alive. The commanders of the League
+saw this clearly, and so they kept their position on the heights,
+wasted the city with an almost constant bombardment, and,
+while they drew their supplies from the fertile lands in their
+rear, lay on their arms and waited for the inevitable.
+</p>
+<p>
+Within the besieged area martial law prevailed universally.
+Riots were of daily, almost hourly, occurrence, but they were
+repressed with an iron hand, and the rioters were shot down
+in the streets without mercy; for, though siege and famine
+were bad enough, anarchy breaking out amidst that vast
+sweltering mass of human beings would have been a thousand
+times worse, and so the King, who, assisted by the Prime
+Minister and the Cabinet Council, had assumed the control of
+the whole city, had directed that order was to be maintained
+at any price.
+</p>
+<p>
+The remains of the army were quartered in the parks under
+canvas, and billeted in houses throughout the various districts,
+in order to support the police in repressing disorder and
+protecting property. Still, in spite of all that could be done,
+matters were rapidly coming to a terrible pass. In a week, at
+the latest, the horses of the cavalry would be eaten. For a
+fortnight London had almost lived upon horse-flesh. In the
+poorer quarters there was not a dog to be seen, and a sewer rat
+was considered a delicacy.
+</p>
+<p>
+Eight million mouths had made short work of even the
+vast supplies that had been hurriedly poured into the city as
+soon as the invasion had become a certainty, and absolute
+starvation was now a matter of a few days at the outside.
+There were millions of money lying idle, but very soon a
+five-pound note would not buy even a little loaf of bread.
+</p>
+<p>
+But famine was by no means the only horror that afflicted
+<a name="page306"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 306]</span>
+London during those awful days and nights. All round the
+heights the booming of cannon sounded incessantly. Huge
+shells went screaming through the air overhead to fall and
+burst amidst some swarming hive of humanity, scattering
+death and mutilation where they fell; and high up in the air
+the fleet of aerostats perpetually circled, dropping their fire-shells
+and blasting cartridges on the dense masses of houses,
+until a hundred conflagrations were raging at once in different
+parts of the city.
+</p>
+<p>
+No help had come from outside. Indeed none was to be
+expected. There was only one Power in the world that was
+now capable of coping with the forces of the victorious League,
+but its overtures had been rejected, and neither the King nor
+any of his advisers had now the slightest idea as to how those
+who controlled it would now use it. No one knew the real
+strength of the Terrorists, or the Federation which they professed
+to control.
+</p>
+<p>
+All that was known was that, if they choose, they could with
+their a&euml;rial fleet sweep the war-balloons from the air in a few
+moments and destroy the batteries of the besiegers; but they
+had made no sign after the rejection of their President's offer
+to prevent the landing of the forces of the League on condition
+that the British Government accepted the Federation, and
+resigned its powers in favour of its Executive.
+</p>
+<p>
+The refusal of those terms had now cost more than a million
+British lives, and an incalculable amount of human suffering
+and destruction of property. Until the news of the disaster
+of Dover had actually reached London, no one had really
+believed that it was possible for an invading force to land on
+British soil and exist for twenty-four hours. Now the impossible
+had been made possible, and the last crushing blow must
+fall within the next few days. After that who knew what
+might befall?
+</p>
+<p>
+So far as could be seen, Britain lay helpless at the mercy
+of her foes. Her allies had ceased to exist as independent
+Powers, and the Russian and the Gaul were thundering at her
+gates as, fifteen hundred years before, the Goth had thundered
+at the gates of the Eternal City in the last days of the Roman
+Empire.
+</p>
+<p>
+If the terms of the Federation could have been offered again,
+<a name="page307"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 307]</span>
+it is probable that the King of England would have been the
+first man to own his mistake and that of his advisers and
+accept them, for now the choice lay between utter and
+humiliating defeat and the breaking up of the Empire, and the
+recognition of the Federation. After all, the kinship of a race
+was a greater fact in the supreme hour of national disaster
+than the maintenance of a dynasty or the perpetuation of a
+particular form of government.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was not now a question of nation against nation, but of
+race against race. The fierce flood of war had swept away all
+smaller distinctions. It was necessary to rise to the altitude
+of the problem of the Government, not of nations, but of the
+world. Was the genius of the East or of the West to shape
+the future destinies of the human race? That was the mighty
+problem of which the events of the next few weeks were to
+work out the solution, for when the sun set on the Field of
+Armageddon the fate of Humanity would be fixed for centuries
+to come.
+<a name="page308"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 308]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter41"></a>
+CHAPTER XLI.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+AN ENVOY OF DELIVERANCE.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p308.png" alt="F" width="120" height="136" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+From the time that the Tsar had received the
+conditional declaration of war from the
+President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation in
+America to nightfall on the 29th of November,
+when the surrender of the capital of the British
+Empire was considered to be a matter of a few
+days only, the Commander-in-Chief of the forces of the League
+was absolutely in the dark, not only as to the actual intentions
+of the Terrorists, if they had any, but also as to the doings of
+his allies in America.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+According to the stipulations arranged between himself and
+the confidential agent of the American Government, the blockading
+flotilla of dynamite cruisers ought to have sailed from
+America as soon as the cypher message containing the news
+of the battle of Dover reached New York. The message had
+been duly sent <i>viâ</i> Queenstown and New York, and had been
+acknowledged in the usual way, but no definite reply had
+come to it, and a month had elapsed without the appearance
+of the promised squadron. The explanation of this will be
+readily guessed. The American end of the Queenstown cable
+had been reconnected with Washington, but it was under the
+absolute control of Tremayne, who permitted no one to use it
+save himself.
+</p>
+<p>
+Other messages had been sent to which no reply had been
+received, and a swift French cruiser, which had been launched
+at Brest since the battle of Dover, had been dispatched across
+the Atlantic to discover the reason of this strange silence.
+She had gone, but she had never returned. The Atlantic
+<a name="page309"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 309]</span>
+highway appeared to be barred by some invisible force. No
+vessels came from the westward, and those which started from
+the east were never heard of again.
+</p>
+<p>
+His Majesty had treated the summons of the President of
+the Federation with silent contempt, just as such a victorious
+autocrat might have been expected to do. True, he knew the
+terrific power wielded by the Terrorists through their a&euml;rial
+fleet, and he had an uncomfortable conviction, which refused
+to be entirely stifled, that in the days to come he would have
+to reckon with them and it.
+</p>
+<p>
+But that a member of the Terrorist Brotherhood could by
+any possible means have placed himself at the head of any
+body of men sufficiently numerous or well-disciplined to make
+them a force to be seriously reckoned with in military warfare,
+his Majesty had never for a moment believed.
+</p>
+<p>
+And, more than this, however disquieting might be the
+uncertainty due to the ominous silence on the other side of
+the Atlantic, and the non-arrival of the expected fleet, there
+stood the great and significant fact that the army of the League
+had been permitted, without molestation either from the
+Terrorists or the Federation in whose name they had presumed
+to declare war upon him, not only to destroy what remained
+of the British fleet, but to completely invest the very capital
+of Anglo-Saxondom itself.
+</p>
+<p>
+All this had been done; the sacred soil of Britain itself had
+been violated by the invading hosts; the army of defence had
+been slowly, and at a tremendous sacrifice of life on both sides,
+forced back from line after line, and position after position,
+into the city itself; his batteries were raining their hail of
+shot and shell from the heights round London, and his
+aerostats were hurling ruin from the sky upon the crowded
+millions locked up in the beleaguered space; and yet the man
+who had presumed to tell him that the hour in which he set
+foot on British soil would be the last of his Empire, had done
+absolutely nothing to interrupt the march of conquest.
+</p>
+<p>
+From this it will be seen that Alexander Romanoff was at
+least as completely in the dark as to the possible course of the
+events of the near future as was the King of England himself,
+shut up in his capital, and cut off from all communication from
+the rest of the world.
+<a name="page310"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 310]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+On the morning of the 29th of November there was held
+at the Prime Minister's rooms in Downing Street a Cabinet
+Council, presided over by the King in person. After the
+Council had remained for about an hour in earnest consultation,
+a stranger was admitted to the room in which they were
+sitting.
+</p>
+<p>
+The reader would have recognised him in a moment as
+Maurice Colston, otherwise Alexis Mazanoff, for he was dressed
+almost exactly as he had been on that memorable night, just
+thirteen months before, when he made the acquaintance of
+Richard Arnold on the Thames Embankment.
+</p>
+<p>
+Well-dressed, well-fed, and perfectly at ease, he entered the
+Council Chamber without any aggressive assumption, but still
+with the quiet confidence of a man who knows that he is
+practically master of the situation. How he had even got into
+London, beleaguered as it was on every side in such fashion
+that no one could get out of it without being seen and shot
+by the besiegers, was a mystery; but how he could have in his
+possession, as he had, a despatch dated thirty-six hours previously
+in New York was a still deeper mystery; and upon
+neither of these points did he make the slightest attempt to
+enlighten the members of the British Cabinet.
+</p>
+<p>
+All that he said was that he was the bearer of a message
+from the President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation in America,
+and that he was instructed to return that night to New York
+with such answer as the British Government might think fit
+to make to it. It was this message that had been the subject
+of the deliberations of the Council before his admission, and its
+net effect was as follows.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was now practically certain, indeed proved to demonstration,
+that the forces at the command of the British Government
+were not capable of coping with those brought against
+them by the commanders of the League, and that therefore
+Britain, if left to her own resources, must inevitably succumb,
+and submit to such terms as her conquerors might think fit to
+impose upon her. The choice before the British Government
+thus lay between surrender to her foreign enemies, whose
+objects were well known to be dismemberment of the Empire
+and the reduction of Great Britain to the rank of a third-class
+Power,&mdash;to say nothing of the payment of a war indemnity
+<a name="page311"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 311]</span>
+which could not fail to be paralysing,&mdash;and the consent of
+those who controlled the destinies of the mother country to
+accept a Federation of the whole Anglo-Saxon race, to waive
+the merely national idea in favour of the racial one, and to
+permit the Executive Council of the Federation to assume
+those governmental functions which were exercised at present
+by the King and the British Houses of Parliament.
+</p>
+<p>
+In a word, the choice lay between conquest by a league of
+foreign powers and the merging of Britain into the Federation
+of the English-speaking peoples of the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+If the former choice were taken, the only prospect possible
+under the condition of things was a possibly enormous sacrifice
+of human life on the side of both Britain and its enemies, a
+gigantic loss in money, the crippling of British trade and
+commerce, and then a possible, nay probable, social revolution
+to which the message distinctly pointed.
+</p>
+<p>
+If the latter choice were taken, the forces of the Federation
+would be at once brought into the field against those of the
+League, the siege of London would be raised, the power of the
+invaders would be effectually broken for ever, and the stigma
+of conquest finally wiped away.
+</p>
+<p>
+It is only just to record the fact that in this supreme crisis
+of British history the man who most strongly insisted upon
+the acceptance of the terms which he had previously, as he
+now confessed in the most manly and outspoken fashion,
+rejected in ignorance of the true situation of affairs, was the
+man who believed that he would lose a crown by accepting
+them.
+</p>
+<p>
+When the Ambassador of the Federation had been presented
+to the Council, the King rose in his place and handed to him
+with his own hands a sealed letter, saying as he did so&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Mr. Mazanoff, I am still to a great extent in ignorance as
+to the inexplicable combination of events which has made it
+necessary for me to return this affirmative answer to the
+message of which you are the bearer. I am, however, fully
+aware that the Earl of Alanmere, whose name I have seen at
+the foot of this document with the most profound astonishment,
+is in a position to do what he says.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The course of events has been exactly that which he predicted.
+I know, too, that whatever causes may have led him
+<a name="page312"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 312]</span>
+to unite himself to those known as the Terrorists, he is an
+English nobleman, and a man to whom falsehood or bad faith
+is absolutely impossible. In your marvellous a&euml;rial fleet I
+know also that he wields the only power capable of being
+successfully opposed to those terrible machines which had
+wrought such havoc upon the fleets and armies, not only of
+Britain, but of Europe.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;To a certain extent this is a surrender, but I feel that it
+will be better to surrender the destinies of Britain into the
+hands of her own blood and kindred than to the tender mercies
+of her alien enemies. My own personal feelings must weigh
+as nothing in the balance where the fate, not only of this
+country, but perhaps of the whole world, is now poised.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;After all, the first duty of a Constitutional King is not to
+himself and his dynasty, but to his country and his people,
+and therefore I feel that it will be better for me and mine to
+be citizens of a free Federation of the English-speaking peoples,
+and of the nations to which Britain has given birth, than the
+titular sovereign and Royal family of a conquered country,
+holding the mockery of royalty on the sufferance of their
+conquerors.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Tell Lord Alanmere from me that I now accept the terms
+he has offered as President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation,
+first, because at all hazards I would see Britain delivered from
+her enemies; and, secondly, because I have chosen rather to be
+an English gentleman without a crown, than to wear a crown
+which after all would only be gift from my conquerors.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Edward VII. spoke with visible emotion, but with a dignity
+which even Mazanoff, little and all as he respected the name of
+king, felt himself compelled to recognise and respect. He took
+the letter with a bow that was more one of reverence than of
+courtesy, and as he put it into his breast-pocket of his coat he
+said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The President will receive your Majesty's reply with as
+genuine pleasure and satisfaction as I shall give it to him.
+Though I am a Russian without a drop of English blood in my
+veins, I have always looked upon the British race as the real
+bulwark of freedom, and I rejoice that the King of England
+has not permitted either tradition or personal feeling to stand
+in the way of the last triumph of the Anglo-Saxon race.
+<a name="page313"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 313]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As long as the English language is spoken your Majesty's
+name will be held in greater honour for this sacrifice which
+you make to-day, than will that of any other English king for
+the greatest triumph of arms ever achieved in the history of
+your country.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I must now take my leave, for I must be in New York
+to-morrow night. I have your word that I shall not be
+watched or followed after I leave here. Hold the city for six
+days more at all costs, and on the seventh at the latest the
+siege shall be raised and the enemies of Britain destroyed in
+their own entrenchments.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying, the envoy of the Federation bowed once more
+to the King and the astonished members of his Council, and
+was escorted to the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+Once in the street he strode away rapidly through Parliament
+Street and the Strand, then up Drury Lane, until he
+reached the door of a mean-looking house in a squalid court,
+and entering this with a latch-key, disappeared.
+</p>
+<p>
+Three hours later a Russian soldier of the line, wearing an
+almost imperceptible knot of red ribbon in one of the button-holes
+of his tunic, passed through the Russian lines on
+Hampstead Heath unchallenged by the sentries, and made his
+way northward to Northaw Wood, which he reached soon
+after nightfall.
+</p>
+<p>
+Within half an hour the <i>Ithuriel</i> rose from the midst of a
+thick clump of trees like a grey shadow rising into the night,
+and darted southward and upward at such a speed that the
+keenest eyes must soon have lost sight of her from the earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+She passed over the beleaguered city at a height of nearly
+ten thousand feet, and then swept sharply round to the
+eastward. She stopped immediately over the lights of Sheerness,
+and descended to within a thousand feet of the dock, in
+which could be seen the detachment of the French submarine
+vessels lying waiting to be sent on their next errand of
+destruction.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as those on board her had made out the dock
+clearly she ascended a thousand feet and went about half
+a mile to the southward. From that position she poured a
+rapid hail of shells into the dock, which was instantly
+transformed into a cavity vomiting green flame and fragments
+<a name="page314"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 314]</span>
+of iron and human bodies. In five minutes nothing was left
+of the dock or its contents but a churned-up swamp of muddy
+water and shattered stonework.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, her errand so far accomplished, the air-ship sped
+away to the south-westward, and within an hour she had
+destroyed in like fashion the submarine squadron in the
+Government dock at Portsmouth, and was winging her way
+westward to New York with the reply of the King of England
+to the President of the Federation.
+<a name="page315"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 315]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter42"></a>
+CHAPTER XLII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE EVE OF ARMAGEDDON.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p315.png" alt="W" width="119" height="131" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+When the news of the destruction of the two
+divisions of the submarine squadron reached
+the headquarters of the League on the night of
+the 29th, it would have been difficult to say
+whether anger or consternation most prevailed
+among the leaders. A council of war was
+hurriedly summoned to discuss an event which it was impossible
+to look upon as anything less than a calamity.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+The destruction which had been wrought was of itself
+disastrous enough, for it deprived the League of the chief
+means by which it had destroyed the British fleet and kept
+command of the sea. But even more terrible than the actual
+destruction was the unexpected suddenness with which the
+blow had been delivered.
+</p>
+<p>
+For five months, that is to say, from the recapture of the
+<i>Lucifer</i> at Aberdeen, the Tsar and his coadjutors had seen
+nothing of the operations of the Terrorists; and now, without
+a moment's warning, this apparently omnipresent and yet
+almost invisible force had struck once more with irresistible
+effect, and instantly vanished back into the mystery out of
+which it had come.
+</p>
+<p>
+Who could tell when the next blow would fall, or in what
+shape the next assault would be delivered? In the presence
+of such enemies, invisible and unreachable, the commanders
+of the League, to their rage and disgust, felt themselves, on the
+eve of their supreme victory, as impotent as a man armed with
+a sword would have felt in front of a Gatling gun.
+</p>
+<p>
+Consternation naturally led to divided councils. The
+<a name="page316"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 316]</span>
+French and Italian commanders were for an immediate general
+assault on London at all hazards, and the enforcement of
+terms of surrender at the point of the sword. The Tsar, on
+the other hand, insisted on the pursuance of the original policy
+of reduction by starvation, as he rightly considered that, great
+as the attacking force was, it would be practically swamped
+amidst the infuriated millions of the besieged, and that, even
+if the assault were successful, the loss of life would be so
+enormous that the conquest of the rest of Britain&mdash;which in
+such a case would almost certainly rise to a man&mdash;would be
+next door to impossible.
+</p>
+<p>
+He, however, so far yielded as to agree to send a message
+to the King of England to arrange terms of surrender, if
+possible at once, in order to save further bloodshed, and then,
+if these terms were rejected, to prepare for a general assault
+on the seventh day from then.
+</p>
+<p>
+These terms were accepted as a compromise, and the next
+morning the bombardment ceased both from the land batteries
+and the air. At daybreak on the 30th an envoy left the Tsar's
+headquarters in one of the war-balloons, flying a flag of truce,
+and descended in Hyde Park. He was received by the King
+in Council at Buckingham Palace, and, after a lengthy deliberation,
+an answer was returned to the effect that on condition
+the bombardment ceased for the time being, London would be
+surrendered at noon on the 6th of December if no help had by
+that time arrived from the other cities of Britain. These
+terms, after considerable opposition from General le Gallifet
+and General Cosensz, the Italian Commander-in-Chief, were
+adopted and ratified at noon that day, almost at the very
+moment that Alexis Mazanoff was presenting the reply of the
+King of England to the President of the Federation in
+New York.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the relief expedition had been fully decided upon,
+whether the British Government recognised the Federation
+or not, everything was in readiness for an immediate start as
+soon as the <i>Ithuriel</i> brought definite news as to the acceptation
+or rejection of the President's second offer. For the last seven
+weeks the ten dockyards of the east coast of America, and at
+Halifax in Nova Scotia, had been thronged with shipping, and
+swarming with workmen and sailors.
+<a name="page317"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 317]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+All the vessels which had been swept off the Atlantic by the
+war-storm, and which were of sufficient size and speed to take
+part in the expedition, had been collected at these eleven ports.
+Whole fleets of liners of half a dozen different nationalities,
+which had been laid up since the establishment of the blockade,
+were now lying alongside the quays, taking in vast quantities
+of wheat and miscellaneous food-stuffs, which were being poured
+into their holds from the glutted markets of America and
+Canada. Every one of these vessels was fitted up as a troopship,
+and by the time all arrangements were complete, more
+than a thousand vessels, carrying on an average twelve hundred
+men each, were ready to take the sea.
+</p>
+<p>
+In addition to these there was a fleet of warships as yet
+unscathed by shot or shell, consisting of thirty battleships,
+a hundred and ten cruisers, and the flotilla of dynamite cruisers
+which had been constructed by the late Government at the
+expense of the capitalist Ring. There were no less than two
+hundred of these strange but terribly destructive craft, the
+lineal descendants of the <i>Vesuvius</i>, which, as the naval reader
+will remember, was commissioned in 1890.
+</p>
+<p>
+They were double-hulled vessels built on the whale-back
+plan, and the compartments between the inner and outer hull
+could be wholly or partially filled with water. When they
+were entirely filled the hull sank below the surface, leaving
+nothing as a mark to an enemy save a platform standing ten
+feet above the water. This platform, constructed throughout
+of 6-inch nickel-steel, was of oval shape, a hundred feet long
+and thirty broad in its greatest diameter, and carried the heavily
+armoured wheel-house and conning-tower, two funnels, six
+ventilators, and two huge pneumatic guns, each seventy-five
+feet long, working on pivots nearly amidships.
+These weapons, with an air-charge of three hundred atmospheres,
+would throw four hundred pounds of dynamite to a
+distance of three miles with such accuracy that the projectile
+would invariably fall within a space of twenty feet square.
+The guns could be discharged once a minute, and could thus
+hurl 48,000 lbs. of dynamite an hour upon a hostile fleet or
+fortifications.
+</p>
+<p>
+Each cruiser also carried two under-water torpedo tubes
+ahead and two astern. The funnels emitted no smoke, but
+<a name="page318"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 318]</span>
+merely supplied draught to the petroleum furnaces, which
+burned with practically no waste, and developed a head of
+steam which drove the long submerged hulls through the
+water at a rate of thirty-two knots, or more than thirty-six
+miles an hour.
+</p>
+<p>
+Such was the enormous naval armament, manned by nearly
+a hundred thousand men, which hoisted the Federation flag
+at one o'clock on the afternoon of the 30th of November, when
+orders were telegraphed north and south from Washington to
+get ready for sea. Two hours later the vast flotilla of warships
+and transports had cleared American waters, and was
+converging towards a point indicated by the intersection of the
+41st parallel of latitude with the 40th meridian of longitude.
+</p>
+<p>
+At this ocean rendezvous the divisions of the fleet and its
+convoys met and shaped their course for the mouth of the
+English Channel. They proceeded in column of line abreast
+three deep, headed by the dynamite cruisers, after which came
+the other warships which had formed the American Navy,
+and after these again came the troopships and transports
+properly protected by cruisers on their flanks and in their
+rear.
+</p>
+<p>
+The commander of every warship and transport had the
+most minute instructions as to how he was to act on reaching
+British waters, and what these were will become apparent in
+due course. The weather was fairly good for the time of year,
+and, as there was but little danger of collision on the now
+deserted waters of the Atlantic, the whole flotilla kept at full
+speed all the way. As, however, its speed was necessarily
+limited by that of its slowest steamer until the scene of
+action was reached, it was after midnight on the 5th of
+December when its various detachments had reached their
+appointed stations on the English coast.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the entrance of the English Channel and St. George's
+Channel a few scouting cruisers, flying French, Russian, and
+Italian colours, had been run down and sunk by the dynamite
+cruisers. Strict orders had been given by Tremayne to destroy
+everything flying a hostile flag, and not to permit any news
+to be taken to England of the approach of the flotilla. The
+Federation was waging a war, not merely of conquest and
+revenge, but of extermination, and no more mercy was to be
+<a name="page319"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 319]</span>
+shown to its enemies than they had shown in their march of
+victory from one end of Europe to the other.
+</p>
+<p>
+While the Federation fleet had been crossing the Atlantic,
+other events no less important had been taking place in England
+and Scotland. The hitherto apparently inert mass of the population
+had suddenly awakened out of its lethargy. In town
+and country alike men forsook their daily avocations as if by
+one consent. As in America, artisans, pitmen, clerks, and
+tradesmen were suddenly transformed into soldiers, who drilled,
+first in squads of ten, and then in hundreds and thousands, and
+finally in tens of thousands, all uniformed alike in rough grey
+breeches and tunics, with a knot of red ribbon in the button-hole,
+and all armed with rifle, bayonet, and revolver, which
+they seemed to handle with a strange and ominous familiarity.
+</p>
+<p>
+All the railway traffic over the island was stopped, and the
+rolling-stock collected at the great stations along the lines to
+London, and at the same time all the telegraph wires communicating
+with the south and east were cut. As day after
+day passed, signs of an intense but strongly suppressed excitement
+became more and more visible all over the provinces, and
+especially in the great towns and cities.
+</p>
+<p>
+In London very much the same thing had happened.
+Hundreds of thousands of civilians vanished during that
+seven days of anxious waiting for the hour of deliverance,
+and in their place sprang up orderly regiments of grey-clad
+soldiers, who saw the red knot in each other's button-holes,
+and welcomed each other as comrades unknown before.
+</p>
+<p>
+To the surprise of the commanders of the regular army,
+orders had been issued by the King that all possible assistance
+was to be rendered to these strange legions, which had
+thus so suddenly sprang into existence; and the result was
+that when the sun set on the 5th of December, the twenty-first
+day of the total blockade of London, the beleaguered space
+contained over two millions of armed men, hungering both for
+food and vengeance, who, like the five millions of their fellow-countrymen
+outside London, were waiting for a sign from the
+sky to fling themselves upon the entrapped and unsuspecting
+invader.
+</p>
+<p>
+That night countless eyes were upturned throughout the
+length and breadth of Britain to the dun pall of wintry cloud
+<a name="page320"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 320]</span>
+that overspread the land. Yet so far, so perfect was the discipline
+of this gigantic host, not a sign of overt hostile movement
+had been made, and the commanders of the armies of
+the League looked forward with exulting confidence to the
+moment, now only a few hours distant, when the capital of
+the British Empire, cut off from all help, should be surrendered
+into their hands in accordance with the terms agreed upon.
+</p>
+<p>
+When night fell the <i>Ithuriel</i> was floating four thousand feet
+above Aberdeen. Arnold and Natasha, wrapped in warm furs,
+were standing on deck impatiently watching the sun sinking
+down over the sea of clouds which lay between them and the
+earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There it goes at last!&quot; exclaimed Natasha, as the last of
+the level beams shot across the cloud-sea and the rim of the
+pale disc sank below the surface of the vapoury ocean. &quot;The
+time that we have waited and worked for so long has come at
+last. This is the eve of Armageddon! Who would think it,
+floating up here above the clouds and beneath those cold,
+calmly shining stars! And yet the fate of the whole world is
+trembling in the balance, and the doings of the next twenty-four
+hours will settle the destiny of mankind for generations
+to come. The hour of the Revolution has struck at last&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And therefore it is time that the Angel of the Revolution
+should give the last signal with her own hand!&quot; said Arnold,
+seized with a sudden fancy, &quot;Come, you shall start the
+dynamo yourself.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes I will, and, I hope, kindle a flame that shall purge
+the earth of tyranny and oppression for ever. Richard, what
+must my father be thinking of just now down yonder in the
+cabin?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I dare not even guess. To-morrow or the next day will be
+the day of reckoning, and then God help those of whom he
+demands payment, for they will need it. The vials of wrath
+are full, and before long the oppressors of the earth will
+have drained them to the dregs. Come, it is time we went
+down.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+They descended together to the engine-room, and meanwhile
+the air-ship sank through the clouds until the lights of
+Aberdeen lay about a thousand feet below. A lens of red glass
+had been fitted to the searchlight of the <i>Ithuriel</i>, and all that
+<a name="page321"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 321]</span>
+was necessary was to connect the forward engine with the
+dynamo.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold put Natasha's hand on a little lever. As she took
+hold of it she thought with a shudder of the mighty forces of
+destruction which her next movement would let loose. Then
+she thought of all that those nearest and dearest to her had
+suffered at the hands of Russian despotism, and of all the
+nameless horrors of the rule whose death-signal she was about
+to give.
+</p>
+<p>
+As she did so her grip tightened on the lever, and when
+Arnold, having given his orders to the head engineer as to
+speed and course, put his hand on her shoulder and said,
+&quot;Now!&quot; she pulled it back with a sharp, determined motion,
+and the next instant a broad fan of blood-red light shot over
+the <i>Ithuriel's</i> bows.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the same moment the air-ship's propellers began to spin
+round, and then with the flood of red light streaming in front
+of her, she headed southward at full speed towards Edinburgh.
+The signal flashed over the Scottish capital, and then the
+<i>Ithuriel</i> swerved round to the westward.
+</p>
+<p>
+Half an hour later Glasgow saw it, and then away she sped
+southward across the Border to Carlisle; and so through the
+long December night she flew hither and thither, eastward and
+westward, flashing the red battle-signal over field and village
+and town; and wherever it shone armed men sprang up like
+the fruit of the fabled dragon's teeth, companies were mustered
+in streets and squares and fields and marched to railway
+stations; and soon long trains, one after another in endless
+succession, got into motion, all moving towards the south and
+east, all converging upon London.
+</p>
+<p>
+Last of all, after it had made a swift circuit of northern and
+central and western England, the red light swept along the
+south coast, and then swerved northward again till it flashed
+thrice over London, and then it vanished into the darkness of
+the hour before the dawn of Armageddon.
+</p>
+<p>
+Since the ever-memorable night of Thursday the 29th of
+July 1588, three hundred and sixteen years before, when &quot;The
+beacon blazed upon the roof of Edgcumbe's lofty Hall,&quot; and
+the answering fires sprang up &quot;From Eddystone to Berwick
+bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay,&quot; to tell that the Spanish
+<a name="page322"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 322]</span>
+Armada was in sight, there had been no such night in England,
+nor had men ever dreamed that there should be.
+</p>
+<p>
+But great as had been the deeds done by the heroes of the
+sixteenth century with the pigmy means at their command,
+they were but the merest child's play to the awful storm of
+devastation which, in a few hours, was to burst over southern
+England. Then it was England against Spain; now it was
+Anglo-Saxondom against the world; and the conquering race
+of earth, armed with the most terrific powers of destruction
+that human wit had ever devised, was rising in its wrath,
+millions strong, to wipe out the stain of invasion from the
+sacred soil of the motherland of the Anglo-Saxon nations.
+<a name="page323"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 323]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter43"></a>
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE OLD LION AT BAY.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p323.png" alt="T" width="120" height="133" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+The morning of the 6th of December dawned grey
+and cold over London and the hosts that were
+waiting for its surrender. Scarcely any smoke
+rose from the myriad chimneys of the vast city,
+for the coal was almost all burnt, and what
+was left was selling at £12 a ton. Wood was
+so scarce that people were tearing up the woodwork of their
+houses to keep a little fire going.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+So the steel-grey sky remained clear, for towards daybreak
+the clouds had been condensed by a cold north-easter into a
+sharp fall of fine, icy snow, and as the sun gained power it
+shone chilly over the whitened landscape, the innumerable
+roofs of London, and the miles of tents lining the hills to the
+north and south of the Thames valley.
+</p>
+<p>
+The havoc wrought by the bombardment on the public
+buildings of the great city had been terrible. Of the Houses
+of Parliament only a shapeless heap of broken stones remained,
+the Law Courts were in ruins, what had been the Albert Hall
+was now a roofless ring of blackened walls, Nelson's Column
+lay shattered across Trafalgar Square, and the Royal Exchange,
+the Bank of England, and the Mansion House mingled their
+fragments in the heart of the almost deserted city.
+</p>
+<p>
+Only three of the great buildings of London had suffered no
+damage. These were the British Museum, Westminster Abbey,
+and St Paul's, which had been spared in accordance with special
+orders issued by the commanders of the League. The two
+former were spared for the same reason that the Germans
+had spared Strasburg Cathedral in 1870&mdash;because their
+<a name="page324"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 324]</span>
+destruction would have been a loss, not to Britain alone, but
+to the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+The great church of the metropolis had been left untouched
+chiefly because it had been arranged that, on the fall of London,
+the Tsar was to be proclaimed Emperor of Asia under its dome,
+and at the same time General le Gallifet was to assume the
+Dictatorship of France and abolish the Republic, which for
+more than ten years had been the plaything of unprincipled
+financiers, and the laughing-stock of Europe. As the sun rose
+the great golden cross, rising high out of the wilderness of
+houses, shone more and more brightly under the brightening
+sky, and millions of eyes looked upon it from within the city
+and from without with feelings far asunder as triumph and
+defeat.
+</p>
+<p>
+At daybreak the last meal had been eaten by the defenders
+of the city. To supply it almost every animal left in London
+had been sacrificed, and the last drop of liquor was drunk,
+even to the last bottle of wine in the Royal cellars, which the
+King shared with his two commanders-in-chief, Lord Roberts
+and Lord Wolseley, in the presence of the troops on the balcony
+of Buckingham Palace. At nine o'clock the King and Queen
+attended service in St. Paul's, and when they left the Cathedral
+half an hour later the besiegers on the heights were astounded
+to hear the bells of all the steeples left standing in London ring
+out in a triumphant series of peals which rippled away eastward
+and westward from St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey, caught
+up and carried on by steeple after steeple, until from Highgate
+to Dulwich, and from Hammersmith to Canning Town, the
+beleaguered and starving city might have been celebrating some
+great triumph or deliverance.
+</p>
+<p>
+The astonished besiegers could only put the extraordinary
+manifestation down to joy on the part of the citizens at the
+near approaching end of the siege; but before the bells of
+London had been ringing for half an hour this fallacious idea
+was dispelled from their minds in a very stern and summary
+fashion.
+</p>
+<p>
+Since nightfall there had been no communication with the
+secret agents of the League in the various towns of England
+and Scotland. At ten o'clock a small company of Cossacks
+spurred and flogged their jaded horses up the northern slope
+<a name="page325"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 325]</span>
+of Muswell Hill, on which the Tsar had fixed his headquarters.
+Nearly every man was wounded, and the horses were in the
+last stages of exhaustion. Their captain was at once admitted
+to the presence of the Tsar, and, flinging himself on the ground
+before the enraged Autocrat, gasped out the dreadful tidings
+that his little company were the sole survivors of the army of
+occupation that had been left at Harwich, and which, twelve
+hours before, had been thirty thousand strong.
+</p>
+<p>
+A huge fleet of strange-looking vessels, flying a plain blood-red
+flag, had just before four <span class="allsmcap">A.M.</span> forced the approaches to the
+harbour, sunk every transport and warship with guns that were
+fired without flame, or smoke, or report, and whose projectiles
+shattered everything that they struck. Immediately afterwards
+an immense flotilla of transports had steamed in, and, under
+the protection of those terrible guns, had landed a hundred
+thousand men, all dressed in the same plain grey uniform,
+with no facings or ornaments save a knot of red ribbon at the
+button-hole, and armed with magazine rifle and a bayonet and
+a brace of revolvers. All were English by their speech, and
+every man appeared to know exactly what to do with very
+few orders from his officers.
+</p>
+<p>
+This invading force had hunted the Russians out of Harwich
+like rabbits out of a warren, while the ships in the harbour
+had hurled their shells up into the air so that they fell back to
+earth on the retreating army and exploded with frightful effect.
+The general in command had at once telegraphed to London
+for a detachment of war-balloons and reinforcements, but no
+response had been received.
+</p>
+<p>
+After four hours' fighting the Russian army was in full
+retreat, while the attacking force was constantly increasing as
+transport after transport steamed into the harbour and landed
+her men. At Colchester the Russians had been met by another
+vast army which had apparently sprung from the earth, dressed
+and armed exactly as the invading force was. What its
+numbers were there was no possibility of telling.
+</p>
+<p>
+By this time, too, treachery began to show itself in the
+Russian ranks, and whole companies suddenly appeared with
+the red knot of ribbon in their tunics, and instantly turned
+their weapons against their comrades, shooting them down
+without warning or mercy. No quarter had been given to
+<a name="page326"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 326]</span>
+those who did not show the ribbon. Most of them died fighting,
+but those who had thrown away their arms were shot
+down all the same.
+</p>
+<p>
+Whoever commanded this strange army had manifestly
+given orders to take no prisoners, and it was equally certain
+that its movements were directed by the Terrorists, for everywhere
+the battle-cries had been, &quot;In the Master's name!&quot; and
+&quot;Slay, and spare not!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The whole of the army, save the deserters, had been
+destroyed, and the deserters had immediately assumed the
+grey uniforms of those of the Terrorist army who had fallen.
+The Cossack captain and his forty or fifty followers were the
+sole remains of a body of three thousand men who had fought
+their way through the second army. The whole country to
+the north and east seemed alive with the grey soldiery, and
+it was only after a hundred hair-breadth escapes that they had
+managed to reach the protection of the lines round London.
+</p>
+<p>
+Such was the tale of the bringer of bad tidings to the Tsar
+at the moment when he was looking forward to the crowning
+triumph of his reign. Like the good soldier that he was, he
+wasted no time in thinking at a moment when everything
+depended on instant action.
+</p>
+<p>
+He at once despatched a war-balloon to the French and
+Italian headquarters with a note containing the terrible news
+from Harwich, and requesting Generals le Gallifet and Cosensz
+to lose no time in communicating with the eastern and southern
+ports, and in throwing out corps of observation supported by
+war-balloons. Evidently the American Government had played
+the League false at the last moment, and had allied herself
+with Britain.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as he had sent off this message, the Tsar ordered a
+fleet of forty aerostats to proceed to the north-eastward, in
+advance of a force of infantry and cavalry numbering three
+hundred thousand men, and supported by fifty batteries of
+field and machine guns, which he detached to stop the progress
+of the Federation army towards London. Before this force
+was in motion a reply came back from General le Gallifet to
+the effect that all communication with the south and east was
+stopped, and that an aerostat, which had been on scout duty
+during the night, had returned with the news that the whole
+<a name="page327"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 327]</span>
+country appeared to be up in arms from Portsmouth to Dover.
+Corps of observation and a fleet of thirty aerostats had been
+sent out, and three army corps were already on the march to
+the south and east.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile, the hour for the surrender of London was
+drawing very near, and all the while the bells were sending
+their mingled melody of peals and carillons up into the clear
+frosty air with a defiant joyousness that seemed to speak of
+anything but surrender. As twelve o'clock approached the
+guns of all the batteries on the heights were loaded and trained
+on different parts of the city, and the whole of the forces left
+after the detachment of the armies that had been sent to
+engage the battalions of the Federation prepared to descend
+upon the devoted city from all sides after the two hours'
+incessant bombardment that had been ordered to precede the
+general attack.
+</p>
+<p>
+It had been arranged that if the city surrendered a white
+flag was to be hoisted on the cross of St. Paul's.
+</p>
+<p>
+Within a few minutes of twelve the Tsar ascended to the
+roof of the Alexandra Palace on Muswell Hill, and turned his
+field-glasses on the towering dome. His face and lips were
+bloodless with repressed but intense anxiety, but the hands
+that held his glasses to his eyes were as steady as though he
+had been watching a review of his own troops. It was the
+supreme moment of his victorious career. He was practically
+master of Europe. Only Britain held out. The relieving
+forces would be rent to fragments by his war-balloons, and
+then decimated by his troops as the legions of Germany and
+Austria had been. The capital of the English-speaking world
+lay starving at his feet, and a few minutes would see&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+Ha! there goes the flag at last. A little ball of white
+bunting creeps up from the gallery above the dark dome. It
+clears the railing under the pedestal, and climbs to the apex
+of the shining cross. As it does so the wild chorus of the
+bells suddenly ceases, and out of the silence that follows come
+the deep booming strokes of the great bell of St. Paul's sounding
+the hour of twelve.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the last stroke dies away the ball bursts, and the White
+Ensign of Britain crossed by the Red Cross of St. George, and
+with the Jack in the corner, floats out defiantly on the breeze,
+<a name="page328"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 328]</span>
+greeted by the reawakening clamour of the bells, and a deep
+hoarse cry from millions of throats, that rolls like a vast sea of
+sound up the slopes to the encampments of the League.
+</p>
+<p>
+With an irrepressible cry of rage, Alexander dashed his
+field-glass to the ground, and shouted, in a voice broken with
+passion&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;So! They have tricked us. Let the bombardment begin
+at once, and bring that flag down with the first shots!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+But before the words were out of his mouth, the bombardment
+had already commenced in a very different fashion to
+that in which he had intended that it should begin. So
+intense had been the interest with which all eyes had been
+turned on the Cross of St. Paul's that no one had noticed
+twelve little points of shining light hanging high in air over
+the batteries of the besiegers, six to the north and six to the
+south.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the moment that the Ensign of St. George floated from
+the summit of St. Paul's a rapid series of explosions roared
+out like a succession of thunder-claps along the lines of the
+batteries. The hills of Surrey, and Kent, and Middlesex were
+suddenly transformed into volcanoes spouting flame and thick
+black smoke, and flinging clouds of dust and fragments of
+darker objects high into the air.
+</p>
+<p>
+The order of the Tsar was obeyed in part only, for by the
+time that the word to recommence the bombardment had been
+flashed round the circuit of the entrenchments, more than half
+the batteries had been put out of action. The twelve air-ships
+stationed at equal intervals round the vast ellipse, and discharging
+their No. 3 shell from their four guns ahead and
+astern, from an elevation of four thousand feet, had simultaneously
+wrecked half the batteries of the besiegers before their
+occupants had any clear idea of what was really happening.
+</p>
+<p>
+Wherever one of those shells fell and exploded, earth and
+stone and iron melted into dust under the terrific force of
+the exploding gases, and the air-ships, moving with a velocity
+compared with which the utmost speed of the aerostats was as
+a snail's pace, flitted hither and thither wherever a battery got
+into action, and destroyed it before the second round had been
+fired.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were still twenty-five aerostats at the command of the
+<a name="page329"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 329]</span>
+Tsar which had not been sent against the relieving forces, and
+as soon as it was realised that the a&euml;rial bombardment of the
+batteries came from the air-ships of the Terrorist fleet, they
+were sent into the air to engage them at all hazards. They
+outnumbered them two to one, but there was no comparison
+between the man&oelig;uvring powers of the two a&euml;rial squadrons.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as the aerostats rose into the air, the Terrorist fleet
+receded northward and southward from the batteries. Their
+guns had a six-mile range, and it did not matter to them which
+side of the assailed area they lay. They could still hurl their
+explosives with the same deadly precision on the appointed
+mark. But with the aerostats it was a very different matter.
+They could only drop their shells vertically, and where they
+were not exactly above the object of attack their shells exploded
+with comparative harmlessness.
+</p>
+<p>
+As a natural consequence they had to follow the air-ships,
+not only away from London, but over their own encampments,
+in order to bring them to anything like close quarters. The
+aerostats possessed one advantage, and one only, over the air-ships.
+They were able to rise to a much greater height. But
+this advantage the air-ships very soon turned into a disadvantage
+by reason of their immensely superior speed and
+ease of handling. They darted about at such a speed over the
+heads of the massed forces of the League on either side of
+London, that it was impossible to drop shells upon them
+without running the inevitable risk of missing the small and
+swiftly-moving air-ship, and so causing the shell to burst
+amidst friends instead of foes.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus the Terrorist fleet, sweeping hither and thither, in wide
+and ever changing curves, lured the most dangerous assailants
+of the beleaguered city farther and farther away from the real
+scene of action, at the very time when they were most urgently
+needed to support the attacking forces which at that moment
+were being poured into London.
+</p>
+<p>
+To destroy the air-ships seemed an impossibility, since they
+could move at five times the speed of the swiftest aerostat, and
+yet to return to the bombardment of the city was to leave them
+free to commit what havoc they pleased upon the encampments
+of the armies of the League. So they were drawn farther and
+farther away from the beleaguered city, while their agile enemies,
+<a name="page330"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 330]</span>
+still keeping within their six-mile range, evaded their shells,
+and yet kept up a constant discharge of their own projectiles
+upon the salient points of the attack on London.
+</p>
+<p>
+By four o'clock in the afternoon all the batteries of the
+besiegers had been put out of action by the a&euml;rial bombardment.
+It was now a matter of man to man and steel to steel, and so
+the gage of final battle was accepted, and as dusk began to
+fall over the beleaguered city, the Russian, French and Italian
+hosts left their lines, and descended from their vantage ground
+to the assault on London, where the old Lion at bay was waiting
+for them with claws bared and teeth grinning defiance.
+<a name="page331"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 331]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter44"></a>
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE TURN OF THE BATTLE-TIDE.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p331.png" alt="T" width="121" height="134" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+The force which the Tsar had detached to operate
+against the Federation Army of the North left
+the headquarters at eleven o'clock, and proceeded
+in four main divisions by Edmonton,
+Chingford, Chigwell, and Romford. The aerostats,
+regulating their speed so as to keep touch
+with the land force, maintained a position two miles ahead of
+it at three thousand feet elevation.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Strict orders had been given to press on at the utmost
+speed, and to use every means to discover the Federationists,
+and bring them to an engagement with as little delay as
+possible; but they marched on hour after hour into the dusk
+of the early winter evening, with the sounds of battle growing
+fainter in their rear, without meeting with a sign of the
+enemy.
+</p>
+<p>
+As it would have been the height of imprudence to have
+advanced in the dark into a hostile country occupied by an
+enemy of great but unknown strength, General Pralitzin, the
+Commander of the Russian force, decided to bring his men to
+a halt at nightfall, and therefore took up a series of positions
+between Cheshunt, Epping, Chipping Ongar, and Ingatestone.
+From these points squadrons of Cossacks scoured the country
+in all directions, north, east, and west, in search of the so far
+invisible army; and at the same time he sent mounted messengers
+back to headquarters to report that no enemy had
+been found, and to ask for further orders.
+</p>
+<p>
+The aerostats slowed down their engines until their propellers
+just counteracted the force of the wind and they hung
+<a name="page332"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 332]</span>
+motionless at a height of a thousand feet, ranged in a semicircle
+about fifteen miles long over the heads of the columns.
+</p>
+<p>
+All this time the motions of the Russian army had been
+watched by the captain of the <i>Ithuriel</i> from an elevation of
+eight thousand feet, five miles to the rear. As soon as he
+saw them making preparations for a halt, and had noticed
+the disposition of the aerostats, he left the conning-tower
+which he had occupied nearly all day, and went into the
+after saloon, where he found Natas and Natasha examining
+a large plan of London and its environs.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;They have come to a halt at last,&quot; he said. &quot;And if they
+only remain where they are for three hours longer, we have
+the whole army like rats in a trap, war-balloons and all. They
+have not seen us so far, for if they had they would certainly
+have sent an aerostat aloft to reconnoitre, and, of course, I
+must have destroyed it. The whole forty are arranged in a
+semicircle over the heads of the four main columns in divisions
+of ten.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And what do you propose to do with them now you have
+got them?&quot; said Natasha, looking up with a welcoming smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Give me a cup of coffee first, for I am cold to the marrow,
+and then I'll tell you,&quot; replied Arnold, seating himself at the
+table, on which stood a coffee-urn with a spirit lamp beneath
+it, something after the style of a Russian samovar.
+</p>
+<p>
+Natasha filled a cup and passed it to him, and he went on&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You remember what I said to Tremayne in the Princess's
+sitting-room at Petersburg about the eagle and the crows
+just before the trial of the Tsar's first war-balloon. Well, if
+you like to spend a couple of hours with me in the conning-tower
+as soon as it is dark enough for us to descend, I will
+show you what I meant then. I suppose the original general
+orders stand good?&quot; he said, turning to Natas.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes,&quot; replied the Master gravely. &quot;They must all be
+destroyed. This is the day of vengeance and not of mercy.
+If my orders have been obeyed, all the men belonging to the
+International in this force will have managed to get to the
+rear by nightfall. They can be left to take care of themselves.
+Mazanoff assured me that all the members in the armies of the
+League fully understood what they are to do. Some of the
+war-balloons have been taken possession of by our men, but
+<a name="page333"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 333]</span>
+we don't know how many. As soon as you destroy the first
+of the fleet, these will rise and commence operations on the
+army, and they will also fly the red flag, so there will be no
+fear of your mistaking them.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Very well,&quot; said Arnold, who had been quietly sipping his
+coffee while he listened to the utterance of this death sentence
+on more than a quarter of a million of men. &quot;If our fellows
+to the northward only obey orders promptly, there will not
+be many of the Russians left by sunrise. Now, Natasha, you
+had better put on your furs and come to the conning-tower;
+it's about time to begin.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+It did not take her many moments to wrap up, and within
+five minutes she and Arnold were standing in the conning-tower
+watching the camp fires of the Russian host coming
+nearer and nearer as the <i>Ithuriel</i> sank down through the
+rapidly increasing darkness towards the long dotted line which
+marked the position of the aerostats, whose great gas-holders
+stood out black and distinct against the whitened earth
+beneath them.
+</p>
+<p>
+By means of electric signals to the engineers the captain
+of the <i>Ithuriel</i> was able to regulate both the speed and the
+elevation of the air-ship as readily as though he had himself
+been in charge of the engine-room. Giving Natasha a pair
+of night-glasses, and telling her to keep a bright look-out
+ahead, he brought the <i>Ithuriel</i> round by the westward to a
+position about five miles west of the extremity of the line of
+war-balloons, and as soon as he got on a level with it he
+advanced comparatively slowly, until Natasha was able to
+make it out distinctly with the night-glass.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he signalled to the wheel-house aft to disconnect the
+after-wheel, and at the same moment he took hold of the
+spokes of the forward-wheel in the conning-tower. The next
+signal was &quot;Full speed ahead,&quot; and as the <i>Ithuriel</i> gathered
+way and rushed forward on her errand of destruction he said
+hurriedly to Natasha&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Now, don't speak till it's over. I want all my wits for this
+work, and you'll want all your eyes.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Without speaking, Natasha glanced up at his face, and
+saw on it somewhat of the same expression that she had
+seen at the moment when he put the <i>Ariel</i> at the rock-wall
+<a name="page334"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 334]</span>
+which barred the entrance to Aeria. His face was pale, and
+his lips were set, and his eyes looked straight out from under
+his frowning brows with an angry gleam in them that boded
+ill for the fate of those against whom he was about to use the
+irresistible engine of destruction under his command.
+</p>
+<p>
+Twenty feet in front of them stretched out the long keen
+ram of the air-ship, edged and pointed like a knife. This was
+the sole weapon that he intended to use. It was impossible to
+train the guns at the tremendous speed at which the <i>Ithuriel</i>
+was travelling, but under the circumstance the ram was the
+deadliest weapon that could have been employed.
+</p>
+<p>
+In four minutes from the time the <i>Ithuriel</i> started on her
+eastward course the nearest war-balloon was only fifty yards
+away. The air-ship, travelling at a speed of nearly two
+hundred miles an hour, leapt out of the dusk like a flash of
+white light. In ten seconds more her ram had passed
+completely through the gas-holder without so much as a shock
+being felt. The next one was only five hundred yards away.
+Obedient to her rudder the <i>Ithuriel</i> swerved, ripped her gas-holder
+from end to end, and then darted upon the next one
+even before a terrific explosion in their rear told that the car
+of the first one had struck the earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+So she sped along the whole line, darting hither and thither
+in obedience to the guiding hand that controlled her, with
+such inconceivable rapidity that before any of the unwieldy
+machines, saving only those whose occupants had been
+prepared for the assault, had time to get out of the way of the
+destroying ram, she had rent her way through the gas-holders
+of twenty-eight out of the forty balloons, and flung them to
+the earth to explode and spread consternation and destruction
+all along the van of the army encamped below.
+</p>
+<p>
+From beginning to end the attack had not lasted ten
+minutes. When the last of the aerostats had gone down
+under his terrible ram, Arnold signalled &quot;Stop, and ascend,&quot;
+to the engine-room. A second signal turned on the searchlight
+in the bow, and from this a rapid series of flashes were
+sent up to the sky to the northward and eastward.
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p334a.jpg" alt="Her ram had passed completely through the gasholder." width="640" height="442" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;Her ram had passed completely through the gasholder.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page334">page 334</a>.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+The effect was as fearful as it was instantaneous. The
+twelve war-balloons which had escaped by flying the red flag
+took up their positions above the Russian lines, and began to
+<a name="page335"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 335]</span>
+drop their fire-shell and cyanogen bombs upon the masses of
+men below. The air-ship, swerving round again to the westward,
+with her fan-wheels aloft, moved slowly across the wide
+area over which men and horses were wildly rushing hither
+and thither in vain attempts to escape the rain of death that
+was falling upon them from the sky.
+</p>
+<p>
+Her searchlight, turned downwards to the earth, sought out
+the spots where they were crowded most thickly together, and
+then the air-ship's guns came into play also. Arnold had
+given orders to use the new fire-shell exclusively, and its effects
+proved to be frightful beyond description. Wherever one fell
+a blaze of intense light shone for an instant upon the earth.
+Then this burst into a thousand fragments, which leapt into
+the air and spread themselves far and wide in all directions,
+burning with inextinguishable fury for several minutes, and
+driving men and horses mad with agony and terror.
+</p>
+<p>
+No human fortitude or discipline could withstand the fearful
+rain of fire, in comparison with which even the deadly hail
+from the aerostats seemed insignificant. For half an hour the
+eight guns of the <i>Ithuriel</i> hurled these awful projectiles in all
+directions, scattering death and hopeless confusion wherever
+they alighted, until the whole field of carnage seemed ablaze
+with them.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the end of this time three rockets soared up from her
+deck into the dark sky, and burst into myriads of brilliant
+white stars, which for a few moments shed an unearthly light
+upon the scene of indescribable confusion and destruction
+below. But they made more than this visible, for by their
+momentary light could be seen seemingly interminable lines
+of grey-clad figures swiftly closing in from all sides, chasing
+the Cossack scouts before them in upon the completely disorganised
+Russian host.
+</p>
+<p>
+A few minutes later a continuous roll of musketry burst out
+on front, and flank, and rear, and a ceaseless hail of rifle bullets
+began to plough its way through the helpless masses of the
+soldiers of the Tsar. They formed as well as they could to
+confront these new enemies, but the moment that the searchlight
+of the air-ship, constantly sweeping the field, fell upon a
+company in anything like order, a shell descended in the midst
+of it and broke it up again.
+<a name="page336"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 336]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+All night long the work of death and vengeance went on;
+the grey lines ever closing in nearer and nearer upon the
+dwindling remnants of the Russian army. Hour after hour
+the hail of bullets never slackened. There was no random
+firing on the part of the Federation soldiers. Every man had
+been trained to use his rifle rapidly but deliberately, and never
+to fire until he had found his mark; and the consequence was
+that the long nickel-tipped bullets, fired point-blank into the
+dense masses of men, rent their way through half a dozen
+bodies before they were spent.
+</p>
+<p>
+At last the grey light began to break over an indescribably
+hideous scene of slaughter. Scarcely ten thousand men remained
+of the three hundred thousand who had started the
+day before in obedience to the order of the Tsar; and these
+were split up into formless squads and ragged companies
+fighting desperately amidst heaps of corpses for dear life,
+without any pretence at order or formation.
+</p>
+<p>
+The cannonade from the air had ceased, and the last scene
+in the drama of death had come. With bayonets fixed and
+rifles lowered to the charge, the long grey lines closed up,
+and, as the bugles rang out the long-awaited order, they swept
+forward at the double, horses and men went down like a field
+of standing corn under the irresistible rush of a million
+bayonets, and in twenty minutes all was over. Not a man
+of the whole Russian army was left alive, save those whose
+knot of red ribbon at the button-hole proclaimed them members
+of the International.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as it was light enough for Arnold to see clearly that
+the fate of the Russians was finally decided, he descended to
+the earth, and, after complimenting the commander and officers
+of the Federation troops on the splendid effectiveness of their
+force, and their admirable discipline and coolness, he gave
+orders for a two hours' rest and then a march on the Russian
+headquarters at Muswell Hill with every available man. The
+Tsar and his Staff were to be taken alive at all hazards; every
+other Russian who did not wear the International ribbon was
+to be shot down without mercy.
+</p>
+<p>
+These orders given, the <i>Ithuriel</i> mounted into the air again,
+and disappeared in the direction of London. She passed over
+the now shattered and silent entrenchments of the Russians at
+<a name="page337"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 337]</span>
+a speed which made it possible to remain on deck without
+discomfort or danger, and at an elevation of two thousand feet.
+Natas was below in the saloon, alone with his own thoughts,
+the thoughts of twenty years of waiting and working and
+gradual approach to the hour of vengeance which was now so
+near. Andrew Smith was steering in the wheel-house, Lieutenant
+Marston was taking his watch below, after being on
+deck nearly the whole of the previous night, and Arnold and
+Natasha, wrapped in their warm furs, were pacing up and down
+the deck engaged in conversation which had not altogether to
+do with war.
+</p>
+<p>
+The sun had risen before the <i>Ithuriel</i> passed over London,
+and through the clear, cold air they could see with their field-glasses
+signs of carnage and destruction which made Natasha's
+soul sicken within her to gaze upon them, and even shook
+Arnold's now hardened nerves. All the main thoroughfares
+leading into London from the north and south were choked
+with heaps of dead bodies in Russian, French, and Italian
+uniforms, in the midst of which those who still survived were
+being forced forward by the pressure of those behind. Every
+house that remained standing was spouting flames upon them
+from its windows; and where the streets opened into squares
+and wider streets there were barricades manned with British
+and Federation troops, and from their summits and loopholes
+the quick-firing guns were raining an incessant hail of shot
+and shell upon the struggling masses pent up in the streets.
+</p>
+<p>
+A horrible chorus of the rattle of small arms, the harsh,
+grinding roar of the machine guns, the hurrahs of the defenders,
+and the cries of rage and agony from the baffled and decimated
+assailants, rose unceasingly to their ears as they passed over
+the last battlefield of the Western nations, where the Anglo-Saxon,
+the Russ, and the Gaul were locked in the death
+struggle.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There is some awful work going on down there,&quot; said
+Arnold, as they headed away towards the south, where, from
+behind the Surrey hills, soon came the sound of some
+tremendous conflict. &quot;For the present we must leave them
+to fight it out. They don't seem to have had such easy
+work of it to the south as we have had to the north; but I
+didn't expect they would, for they have probably detached
+<a name="page338"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 338]</span>
+a very much larger force of French and Italians to attack
+the Army of the South than the Russian lot we had to deal
+with.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Is all this frightful slaughter really necessary?&quot; asked
+Natasha, slipping her arm through his, and looking up at
+him with eyes which for the first time were moistened by the
+tears of pity for her enemies.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Necessary or not,&quot; replied Arnold, &quot;it is the Master's
+orders, and I have only to obey them. This is the day of
+vengeance for which he has waited so long, and you can
+hardly expect him to show much mercy. It lies between
+him and Tremayne. For my part I will stay my hand only
+when I am ordered to do so.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Still, if any one can influence Natas to mercy, you can.
+Nothing can now stop the slaughter on the north, I'm afraid,
+for the Russians are caught in a hopeless trap. The Londoners
+are enraged beyond control, and if the men spared
+them I believe the women would tear them to pieces. But
+there are two or three millions of lives or so to be saved at
+the south, and perhaps there is still time to do it. It would
+be a task worthy of the Angel of the Revolution; why should
+you not try it?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I will do so,&quot; said Natasha, and without another word
+she turned away and walked quickly towards the entrance to
+the saloon.
+<a name="page339"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 339]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter45"></a>
+CHAPTER XLV.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+ARMAGEDDON.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p339.png" alt="O" width="115" height="132" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+On the southern side of London the struggle
+between the Franco-Italian armies and the
+troops of the Federation had been raging all
+night with unabated fury along a curved line
+extending from Bexley to Richmond.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+The railways communicating with the ports
+of the south and east had, for their own purposes, been left
+intact by the commanders of the League; and so sudden
+and utterly unexpected had been the invasion of the force
+from America, and the simultaneous uprising of the British
+Section of the Brotherhood, that they had fallen into the
+hands of the Federationists almost without a struggle. This
+had enabled the invaders and their allies to concentrate themselves
+rapidly along the line of action which had been carefully
+predetermined upon.
+</p>
+<p>
+Landing almost simultaneously at Southampton, Portsmouth,
+Shoreham, Newhaven, Hastings, Folkestone, Dover, Deal,
+Ramsgate, and Margate, they had been joined everywhere
+by their comrades of the British Section, whose first action,
+on receiving the signal from the sky, had been to seize the
+railways and shoot down, without warning or mercy, every
+soldier of the League who opposed them.
+</p>
+<p>
+What had happened at Harwich had at the same time and
+in the same fashion happened at Dover and Chatham. The
+troops in occupation had been caught and crushed at a blow
+between overwhelming forces in front and rear. Added to
+this, the International was immensely stronger in France and
+Italy than in Russia, and therefore the defections from the
+<a name="page340"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 340]</span>
+ranks of the League had been far greater than they had been
+in the north.
+</p>
+<p>
+Tens of thousands had donned the red ribbon as the Signal
+flashed over their encampments, and when the moment came
+to repel the assault of the mysterious grey legions that had
+sprung from no one knew where, the bewildered French and
+Italian officers found their regiments automatically splitting
+up into squads of tens and companies of hundreds, obeying
+other orders, and joining in the slaughter of their former
+comrades with the most perfect <i>sang froid</i>. By daybreak
+on the 6th the various divisions of the Federationists were
+well on their way to the French and Italian positions to the
+south of London. The utmost precautions had been taken
+to prevent any news reaching headquarters, and these, as
+has been seen, were almost entirely successful.
+</p>
+<p>
+The three army corps sent southward by General le Gallifet
+met with a ruinous disaster long before they came face to
+face with the enemy. Ten of the fleet of thirty war-balloons
+which had been sent to co-operate with them, had been
+manned and commanded by men of the International. They
+were of the newest type and the swiftest in the fleet, and
+their crews were armed with the strangest weapons that had
+yet been used in the war. These were bows and arrows, a
+curious anachronism amidst the elaborate machinery of
+destruction evolved by the science of the twentieth century,
+but none the less effective on that account. The arrows,
+instead of being headed in the usual way, carried on the
+end of the shaft two little glass tubes full of liquid, bound
+together, and tipped with fulminate.
+</p>
+<p>
+When the fleet had been in the air about an hour these ten
+aerostats had so distributed themselves that each of them,
+with a little man&oelig;uvring, could get within bowshot of two
+others. They also rose a little higher than the rest. The
+flutter of a white handkerchief was the signal agreed upon,
+and when this was given by the man in command of the ten,
+each of them suddenly put on speed, and ran up close to her
+nearest neighbour. A flight of arrows was discharged at the
+gas-holder, and then she headed away for the next nearest,
+and discharged a flight at her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Considering the apparent insignificance of the means
+<a name="page341"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 341]</span>
+employed, the effects were absolutely miraculous. The
+explosion of the fulminate on striking either the hard cordage
+of the net or one of the steel ribs used to give the gas-holder
+rigidity, broke the two tubes full of liquid. Then came
+another far more violent explosion, which tore great rents in
+the envelope. The imprisoned gas rushed out in torrents,
+and the crippled balloons began to sink, at first slowly, and
+then more and more rapidly, till the cars, weighted with
+crews, machinery, and explosives, struck the earth with a
+crash, and exploded, like so many huge shells, amidst the dense
+columns of the advancing army corps. In fifteen minutes
+each of the ten captured aerostats had sent two others to
+the earth, and then, completely masters of the position, those
+in charge of them began their assault on the helpless masses
+below them. This was kept up until the Federation troops
+appeared. Then they retired to the rear of the French and
+Italian columns, and devoted themselves to burning their
+stores and blowing up their ammunition trains with fire-shell.
+</p>
+<p>
+Assailed thus in front and rear, and demoralised by the
+defection of the thousands who, as soon as the battle
+became general, showed the red ribbon and echoed the fierce
+battle-cry of the Federation, the splendid force sent out by
+General le Gallifet was practically annihilated by midnight,
+and by daybreak the Federationists, after fifteen hours of
+almost continuous fighting, had stormed all the outer positions
+held by the French and Italians to the south of London, the
+batteries of which had already been destroyed by the air-ships.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus, when the <i>Ithuriel</i> passed over London on the morning
+of the 7th the position of affairs was as follows: The two
+armies which had been detached by the Tsar and General le
+Gallifet to stop the advance of the Federationists had been
+destroyed almost to a man. Of the two fleets of war-balloons
+there remained twenty-two aerostats in the hands of the
+Terrorists, while the twenty-five sent by the Tsar against the
+air-ships had retired at nightfall to the depot at Muswell
+Hill to replenish their stock of fuel and explosives. Their
+ammunition-tenders, slow and unwieldy machines, adapted
+only for carrying large cargoes of shells, had been rammed and
+destroyed with ease by the air-ships during the running, or
+rather flying, fight of the previous afternoon.
+<a name="page342"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 342]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+At sunset on the 6th the whole available forces of the
+League which could be spared from the defence of the positions,
+numbering more than three million men, had descended
+to the assault on London at nearly fifty different points.
+</p>
+<p>
+No human words could convey any adequate conception
+of that night of carnage and terror. The assailants were
+allowed to advance far into the mighty maze of streets and byways
+with so little resistance, that they began to think that
+the great city would fall an easy prey to them after all. But
+as they approached the main arteries of central London they
+came suddenly upon barricades so skilfully disposed that it
+was impossible to advance without storming them, and from
+which, as they approached them, burst out tempests of rifle
+and machine gunfire, under which the heads of their columns
+melted away faster than they advanced.
+</p>
+<p>
+Light, quick-firing guns, posted on the roofs of lofty buildings,
+rained death and mutilation upon them. The air-ships,
+flying hither and thither a few hundred feet above the house-tops,
+like spirits of destruction, sent their shells into their
+crowded masses and wrought the most awful havoc of all with
+their frightful explosives, blowing hundreds of men to indistinguishable
+fragments at every shot, while from the windows
+of every house that was not in ruins came a ceaseless hail of
+missiles from every kind of firearm, from a magazine rifle to
+a shot-gun.
+</p>
+<p>
+When morning came the Great Eastern Railway and the
+Thames had been cleared and opened, and the hearts of the
+starving citizens were gladdened by the welcome spectacle
+of train after train pouring in laden with provisions from
+Harwich, and of a fleet of steamers, flying the Federation flag,
+which filled the Thames below London Bridge, and was
+rapidly discharging its cargoes of food at the wharves and into
+lighters.
+</p>
+<p>
+As fast as the food could be unloaded it was distributed
+first to the troops manning the barricades, and then to the
+markets and shops, whence it was supplied free in the poorer
+districts, and at the usual prices in the richer ones. All that
+day London feasted and made merry, for now the Thames was
+open there seemed to be no end to the food that was being
+poured into the city which twelve hours before had eaten its
+<a name="page343"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 343]</span>
+last scanty provisions. As soon as one vessel was discharged
+another took its place, and opened its hold filled with the
+necessaries and some of the luxuries of life.
+</p>
+<p>
+The frightful butcheries at the barricades had stopped for
+the time being from sheer exhaustion on both sides. One
+cannot fight without food, and the defenders were half-starved
+when they began. Rage and the longing for revenge had lent
+them strength for the moment, but twelve hours of incessant
+street fighting, the most wearing of all forms of battle, had
+exhausted them, and they were heartily glad of the tacit truce
+which gave them time to eat and drink.
+</p>
+<p>
+As for the assailants, as soon as they saw conclusive proof
+that the blockade had been broken and the city victualled,
+they found themselves deserted by the ally on whose aid they
+had most counted. While the grip of famine remained on
+London they knew that its fall was only a matter of time; but
+now&mdash;if food could get in so could reinforcements, and they
+had not the remotest idea as to the number of the mysterious
+forces which had so suddenly sprung into existence outside
+their own lines.
+</p>
+<p>
+Added to this their losses during the night had been something
+appalling. The streets were choked with their dead, and
+the houses into which they had retired were filled with their
+wounded. So they, too, were glad of a rest, and many spoke
+openly of returning to their lines and abandoning the assault.
+If they did so it might be possible to fight their way to the
+coast, and escape out of this huge death-trap into which they
+had fallen on the very eve of their confidently-anticipated
+victory.
+</p>
+<p>
+So, during the whole of the 7th there was little or no hard
+fighting in London, but to the north and south the grey legions
+of the Federation fought their way mile by mile over the field
+of Armageddon, gradually driving in the two halves of the
+Russian and the Franco-Italian armies which had been faced
+about to oppose their progress while the other halves were
+making their assault on London.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as news reached the Tsar that the blockade of the
+river had been broken, he had ordered twelve of his remaining
+war-balloons to destroy the ships that were swarming below
+London Bridge. Their fuel and cargoes of explosives had
+<a name="page344"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 344]</span>
+been renewed, and they rose into the air to execute the
+Autocrat's command just as Natasha had taken leave of
+Arnold on her errand of mercy. He fathomed their design
+at once, swung the <i>Ithuriel</i> rapidly round to the northward,
+and said to his lieutenant, who had just come on deck&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Mr. Marston, those fellows mean mischief. Put a three-minute
+time fuze on a couple of No. 3 fire-shell, and load the
+bow guns.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The order was at once executed. He trained one of the
+guns himself, giving it an elevation sufficient to throw the
+shell over the rising balloons. As the sixtieth second of the
+first minute passed, he released the projectile. It soared away
+through the air, and burst with a terrific explosion about fifty
+feet over the ascending aerostats.
+</p>
+<p>
+The rain of fire spread out far and wide, and showered down
+upon the gas-holders. Then came a concussion that shook the
+air like a thunder-clap as the escaping gas mixed with the air,
+took fire, and exploded. Seven of the twelve aerostats instantly
+collapsed and plunged back again to the earth, spending the
+collective force of their explosives on the slopes of Muswell
+Hill. Meanwhile the second gun had been loaded and fired
+with the same effect on the remaining five.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold then ran the <i>Ithuriel</i> up to within a mile of Muswell
+Hill, and found the remaining thirteen war-balloons in the act
+of making off to the northward.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Two more time-shells, quick!&quot; he cried. &quot;They are off to
+take part in the battle to the north, and must be stopped at
+once. Look lively, or they'll see us and rise out of range!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Almost before the words were out of his mouth one of the
+guns was ready. A moment later the messenger of destruction
+was speeding on its way, and they saw it explode fairly in the
+midst of the squadron. The second followed before the glare
+of the first explosion had passed, and this was the last shot
+fired in the a&euml;rial warfare between the air-ships and the war-balloons.
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p344a.jpg" alt="The rain of fire spread out far and wide." width="450" height="640" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;The rain of fire spread out far and wide.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page344">page 344</a>.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+The effects of these two shots were most extraordinary. The
+accurately-timed shells burst, not over, but amidst the aerostats,
+enveloping their cars in a momentary mist of fire. The intense
+heat evolved must have suffocated their crews instantaneously.
+Even if it had not done so their fate would have been scarcely
+<a name="page345"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 345]</span>
+less sudden or terrible, for the fire falling in the cars exploded
+their own shells even before it burst their gas-envelopes. With
+a roar and a shock as though heaven and earth were coming
+together, a vast dazzling mass of flame blazed out, darkening
+the daylight by contrast, and when it vanished again there was
+not a fragment of the thirteen aerostats to be seen.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;So ends the Tsar's brief empire of the air!&quot; said Arnold,
+as the smoke of the explosion drifted away. &quot;And twenty-four
+hours more should see the end of his earthly Empire as
+well.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I hope so,&quot; said Natasha's voice at his elbow. &quot;This awful
+destruction is sickening me. I knew war was horrible, but
+this is more like the work of fiends than of men. There is
+something monstrous, something superhumanly impious, in
+blasting your fellow-creatures with irresistible lightnings like
+this, as though you were a god instead of a man. Will you
+not be glad when it is over, Richard?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Glad beyond all expression,&quot; replied her lover, the angry
+light of battle instantly dying out of his eyes as he looked
+upon her sweetly pitiful face. &quot;But tell me, what success
+has my angel of mercy had in pleading for the lives of her
+enemies?&quot; he continued, slipping his arm through hers, and
+leading her aft.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I don't know yet, but my father told me to ask you to go
+to him as soon as you could leave the deck. Go now, and,
+Richard, remember what I said to you when you offered me
+the empire of the world as we were going to Aeria. No one
+has such influence with the Master as you have, for you have
+given him the victory and delivered his enemies into his hands.
+For my sake, and for Humanity's, let your voice be for mercy
+and peace&mdash;surely we have shed blood enough now!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It shall, angel mine! For your sweet sake I would spare
+even Alexander Romanoff himself and all his Staff.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You will never be asked to do that,&quot; said Natasha quietly,
+as Arnold disappeared down the companion-way.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was nearly an hour before he came on deck again, and
+by this time the <i>Ithuriel</i>, constantly moving to and fro over
+London, so that any change in the course of events could be
+at once reported to Natas, had shifted her position to the
+southward, and was hanging in the air over Sydenham Hill,
+<a name="page346"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 346]</span>
+the headquarters of General le Gallifet, whence could be plainly
+heard the roar of the tide of battle as it rolled ever northward
+over the hills of Surrey.
+</p>
+<p>
+An air-ship came speeding up from the southward as he
+reached the deck. He signalled to it to come alongside. It
+proved to be the <i>Mercury</i> taking a message from Tremayne,
+who was personally commanding the Army of the South in
+the <i>Ariel</i>, to the air-ships operating with the Army of the
+North.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What is the message?&quot; asked Arnold.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;To engage and destroy the remaining Russian war-balloons,
+and then come south at once,&quot; replied the captain of the
+<i>Mercury</i>. &quot;I am sorry to say both the <i>Lucifer</i> and the <i>Azrael</i>
+have been disabled by chance shots striking their propellers.
+The <i>Lucifer</i> was so badly injured that she fell to the earth, and
+blew up with a perfectly awful explosion; but the <i>Azrael</i> can
+still use her fan-wheels and stern propeller, though her air-planes
+are badly broken and twisted.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Arnold frowned at the bad news, but took no further notice
+of it beyond saying&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That is unfortunate; but, I suppose, some casualties were
+inevitable under the circumstances.&quot; Then he added: &quot;I have
+already destroyed all that were left of the Tsar's war-balloons,
+but you can take the other part of the message. Where is the
+<i>Ariel</i> to be found?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The captain of the <i>Mercury</i> gave him the necessary directions,
+and the two air-ships parted. Within an hour a council of
+war, consisting of Natas, Arnold, and Tremayne, was being
+held in the saloon of the <i>Ithuriel</i>, on the issue of which the
+lives of more than two millions of men depended.
+<a name="page347"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 347]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter46"></a>
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+VICTORY.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p347.png" alt="I" width="117" height="135" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+It was a little after three o'clock in the afternoon
+when Natas, Tremayne, and Arnold ended their
+deliberations in the saloon of the <i>Ithuriel</i>. At
+the same hour a council of war was being held
+by Generals le Gallifet and Cosensz at the
+Crystal Palace Hotel, Sydenham, where the
+two commanders had taken up their quarters.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Since daybreak matters had assumed a very serious, if not
+desperate aspect for the troops of the League to the south of
+London. Communication had entirely ceased with the Tsar
+since the night before, and this could only mean that his
+Majesty had lost the command of the air, through the destruction
+or disablement of his fleet of aerostats. News from the
+force which had descended upon London told only of a fearful
+expenditure of life that had not purchased the slightest
+advantage.
+</p>
+<p>
+The blockade had been broken on the east, and, therefore,
+all hope of reducing the city by famine was at an end. Their
+own war-balloons had been either captured or destroyed,
+thousands of their men had deserted to the enemy, and multitudes
+more had been slain. Every position was dominated by
+the captured aerostats and the air-ships of the Terrorists.
+Even the building in which the council was being held might
+be shattered to fragments at any moment by a discharge of
+their irresistible artillery.
+</p>
+<p>
+Finally, it was practically certain that within the next few
+hours their headquarters must be surrounded, and then their
+only choice would lie between unconditional surrender and
+<a name="page348"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 348]</span>
+swift and inevitable destruction by an a&euml;rial bombardment.
+Manifestly the time had come to make terms if possible, and
+purchase their own safety and that of their remaining troops.
+Both the generals and every member of their respective staffs
+saw clearly that victory was now a physical impossibility, and
+so the immediate issue of the council was that orders were
+given to hoist the white flag over the tricolour and the Italian
+standard on the summits of the two towers of the Crystal
+Palace, and on the flagstaffs over the headquarters.
+</p>
+<p>
+These were at once seen by a squadron of air-ships coming
+from the north in obedience to Tremayne's summons, and within
+half an hour the same squadron was seen returning from the
+south headed by the flagship, also flying, to the satisfaction of
+the two generals, the signal of truce. The air-ships stopped
+over Sydenham and ranged themselves in a circle with their
+guns pointing down upon the headquarters, and the <i>Ariel</i>, with
+Tremayne on board, descended to within twenty feet of the
+ground in front of the hotel.
+</p>
+<p>
+As she did so an officer wearing the uniform of a French
+General of Division came forward, saluted, and said that he
+had a message for the Commander-in-Chief of the Federation
+forces. Tremayne returned the salute, and said briefly&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I am here. What is the message?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I am commissioned by General Gallifet, Commander-in-Chief
+of the Southern Division, to request on his behalf the
+honour of an audience. He awaits you with General Cosensz
+in the hotel,&quot; replied the Frenchman, gazing in undisguised
+admiration at the wonderful craft which he now for the first
+time saw at close quarters.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;With pleasure. I will be with you in a moment,&quot; said
+Tremayne, and as he spoke the <i>Ariel</i> settled gently down to
+the earth, and the gangway steps dropped from her bow.
+</p>
+<p>
+As he entered the room in which the two generals were
+awaiting him, surrounded by their brilliantly-uniformed
+staffs, he presented a strange contrast to the men whose lives
+he held in the hollow of his hand. He was dressed in a dark
+tweed suit, with Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers, met by
+long shooting boots, just as though he was fresh from the
+moors, instead of from the battlefield on which the fate of the
+world was being decided. General le Gallifet advanced to
+<a name="page349"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 349]</span>
+meet him with a puzzled look of half-recognition on his face,
+which was at once banished by Tremayne holding out his hand
+without the slightest ceremony, and saying&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Ah, I see you recognise me, General!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I do, my Lord Alanmere, and, you will permit me to add,
+with the most profound astonishment,&quot; replied the General,
+taking the proffered hand with a hearty grasp. &quot;May I
+venture to hope that with an old acquaintance our negotiations
+may prove all the easier?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne bowed and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Rest assured, General, that they shall be as easy as my
+instructions will permit me to make them.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Your instructions! But I thought&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That I was in supreme command. So I am in a sense,
+but I am the lieutenant of Natas for all that, and in a case
+like this his word is law. But come, what terms do you
+propose?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That truce shall be proclaimed for twenty-four hours;
+that the commanders of the forces of the League shall meet
+this mysterious Natas, yourself, and the King of England, and
+arrange terms by which the armies of France, Russia, and Italy
+shall be permitted to evacuate the country with the honours of
+war.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Then, General, I may as well tell you at once that those
+terms are impossible,&quot; replied the Chief of the Federation
+quietly, but with a note of inflexible determination in his voice.
+&quot;In the first place, 'the honours of war' is a phrase which
+already belongs to the past. We see no honour in war, and if
+we can have our way this shall be the last war that shall ever
+be waged on earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Indeed, I may tell you that we began this war as one of
+absolute extermination. Had it not been for the intercession
+of Natasha, the daughter of Natas, you would not even have
+been given the opportunity of making terms of peace, or even
+of unconditional surrender. Our orders were simply to slay,
+and spare not, as long as a man remained in arms on British
+soil. You are, of course, aware that we have taken no
+prisoners&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;But, my lord, this is not war, it is murder on the most
+colossal scale!&quot; exclaimed the General, utterly unable to
+<a name="page350"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 350]</span>
+control the agitation that these terrible words evoked, not only
+in his own breast, but in that of every man who heard them.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;To us war and murder are synonymous terms, differing
+only as wholesale and retail,&quot; replied Tremayne drily; &quot;for the
+mere names we care nothing. This world-war is none of our
+seeking; but if war can be cured by nothing but war, then we
+will wage it to the point of extermination. Now here are my
+terms. All the troops of the League on this side of the river
+Thames, on laying down their arms, shall be permitted to
+return to their homes, not as soldiers, but as peaceful citizens
+of the world, to go about their natural business as men who
+have sworn never to draw the sword again save in defence of
+their own homes.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And his Majesty the Tsar?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You cannot make terms for the Tsar, General, and let me
+beg of you not to attempt to do so. No power under heaven
+can save him and his advisers from the fate that awaits them.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And if we refuse your terms, the alternative is what?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Annihilation to the last man!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+A dead silence followed these fearful words so calmly and
+yet so inflexibly spoken. General le Gallifet and the Italian
+Commander-in-Chief looked at one another and at the officers
+standing about them. A murmur of horror and indignation
+passed from lip to lip. Then Tremayne spoke again quickly
+but impressively&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Gentlemen, don't think that I am saying what I cannot
+do. We are inflexibly determined to stamp the curse of war
+out here and now, if it cost millions of lives to do so. Your
+forces are surrounded, your aerostats are captured or destroyed.
+It is no use mincing matters at a moment like this. It is life
+or death with you. If you do not believe me, General le
+Gallifet, come with me and take a flight round London in my
+air-ship yonder, and your own eyes shall see how hopeless all
+further struggle is. I pledge my word of honour as an English
+gentleman that you shall return in safety. Will you come?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I will,&quot; said the French commander. &quot;Gentlemen, you
+will await my return&quot;; and with a bow to his companions, he
+followed the Chief out of the room, and embarked on the air-ship
+without further ado.
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p350b.jpg" alt="Do you understand now why you could not make terms for Russia?" width="425" height="640" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;Do you understand now why you could not make terms for Russia?&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page351">page 351</a>.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Ariel</i> at once rose into the air. Tremayne reported to
+<a name="page351"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 351]</span>
+Natas what had been done, and then took the General into
+the deck saloon, and gave orders to proceed at full speed to
+Richmond, which was reached in what seemed to the Frenchman
+an inconceivably short space of time. Then the <i>Ariel</i>
+swung round to the eastward, and at half speed traversed the
+whole line of battle over hill and vale, at an elevation of eight
+hundred feet, from Richmond to Shooter's Hill.
+</p>
+<p>
+What General le Gallifet saw more than convinced him that
+Tremayne had spoken without exaggeration when he said that
+annihilation was the only alternative to evacuation on his
+terms. The grey legions of the League seemed innumerable.
+Their long lines lapped round the broken squadrons of the
+League, mowing them down with incessant hailstorms of
+magazine fire, and overhead the air-ships and aerostats were
+hurling shells on them which made great dark gaps in their
+formations wherever they attempted anything like order.
+Every position of importance was either occupied or surrounded
+by the Federationists. There was no way open save
+towards London, and that way, as the General knew only too
+well, lay destruction.
+</p>
+<p>
+To the east of Shooter's Hill the air-ship swerved round to
+the northward. The Thames was alive with steamers flying
+the red flag, and carrying food and men into London. To the
+north of the river the battle had completely ceased as far as
+Muswell Hill.
+</p>
+<p>
+There the Black Eagle of Russia still floated from the roof
+of the Palace, and a furious battle was raging round the slopes
+of the hill. But the Russians were already surrounded, and
+manifestly outnumbered five to one, while six aerostats were
+circling to and fro, doing their work of death upon them with
+fearful effectiveness.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You see, General, that the aerostats do not destroy the
+Palace and bury the Tsar in its ruins, nor do I stop and do
+the same, as I could do in a few minutes. Do you understand
+now why you could not make terms for Russia?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What your designs are Heaven and yourselves only know,&quot;
+replied the General, with quivering lips. &quot;But I see that all
+is hopelessly lost. For God's sake let this carnage stop! It
+is not war, it is butchery, and we have deserved this retribution
+for employing those infernal contrivances in the first place.
+<a name="page352"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 352]</span>
+I always said it was not fair fighting. It is murder to drop
+death on defenceless men from the clouds. We will accept
+your terms. Let us get back to the south and save the lives
+of what remain of our brave fellows. If this is scientific
+warfare, I, for one, will fight no more!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Well spoken, General!&quot; said Tremayne, laying his hand
+upon his shoulder. &quot;Those words of yours have saved two
+millions of human lives, and by this time to-morrow war will
+have ceased, I hope for ever, among the nations of the West.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Ariel</i> now swerved southward again, crossed London at
+full speed, and within half an hour General le Gallifet was
+once more standing in front of the Crystal Palace Hotel. As
+it was now getting dusk the searchlights of the air-ships were
+turned on, and they swept along the southern line of battle
+flashing the signal, &quot;Victory! Cease firing!&quot; to the triumphant
+hosts of the Federation, while at the same time the French
+and Italian commanders set the field telegraph to work and
+despatched messengers into London with the news of the terms
+of peace. By nightfall all fighting south of the Thames had
+ceased, and victors and vanquished were fraternising as though
+they had never struck a blow at each other, for war is a matter
+of diplomacy and Court intrigue, and not of personal animosity.
+The peoples of the world would be good enough friends if their
+rulers and politicians would let them.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile the battle raged with unabated fury round the
+headquarters of the Tsar. Here despotism was making its
+last stand, and making it bravely, in spite of the tremendous
+odds against it. But as twilight deepened into night the
+numbers of the assailants of the last of the Russian positions
+seemed to multiply miraculously.
+</p>
+<p>
+A never-ceasing flood of grey-clad soldiery surged up from
+the south, overflowed the barricades to the north, and swept
+the last of the Russians out of the streets like so much chaff.
+All the hundred streams converged upon Muswell Hill, and
+joined the ranks of the attacking force, and so the night fell
+upon the last struggle of the world-war. Even the Tsar himself
+now saw that the gigantic game was virtually over, and
+that the stake of world-empire had been played for&mdash;and
+lost.
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p352b.jpg" alt="A vision which no one who saw it forgot to the day of his death." width="640" height="409" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;A vision which no one who saw it forgot to the day of his death.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page353">page 353</a>.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+A powerful field searchlight had been fixed on the roof of
+<a name="page353"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 353]</span>
+the Palace, and, as it flashed hither and thither round the area
+of the battle, he saw fresh hosts of the British and Federation
+soldiers pouring in upon the scene of action, while his own men
+were being mown down by thousands under the concentrated
+fire of millions of rifles, and his regiments torn to fragments by
+the incessant storm of explosives from the sky.
+</p>
+<p>
+Hour after hour the savage fight went on, and the grey and
+red lines fought their way up and up the slopes, drawing the
+ring of flame and steel closer and closer round the summit of
+the hill on which the Autocrat of the North stood waiting for
+the hour of his fate to strike.
+</p>
+<p>
+The last line of the defenders of the position was reached at
+length. For an hour it held firm in spite of the fearful odds.
+Then it wavered and bent, and swayed to and fro in a last
+agony of desperation. The encircling lines seemed to surge
+backwards for a space. Then came a wild chorus of hurrahs,
+a swift forward rush of levelled bayonets, the clash of steel
+upon steel&mdash;and then butchery, vengeful and pitiless.
+</p>
+<p>
+The red tide of slaughter surged up to the very walls of the
+Palace. Only a few yards separated the foremost ranks of the
+victorious assailants from the little group of officers, in the
+midst of which towered the majestic figure of the White Tsar&mdash;an
+emperor without an empire, a leader without an army. He
+strode forward towards the line of bayonets fringing the crest
+of the hill, drew his sword, snapped the blade as a man would
+break a dry stick, and threw the two pieces to the ground,
+saying in English as he did so&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It is enough, I surrender!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he turned on his heel, and with bowed head walked
+back again to his Staff.
+</p>
+<p>
+Almost at the same moment a blaze of white light appeared
+in the sky, a hundred feet above the heads of the vast throng
+that encircled the Palace. Millions of eyes were turned up at
+once, and beheld a vision which no one who saw it forgot to
+the day of his death.
+</p>
+<p>
+The ten air-ships of the Terrorist fleet were ranged in two
+curves on either side of the <i>Ithuriel</i>, which floated about
+twenty feet below them, her silvery hull bathed in a flood
+of light from their electric lamps. In her bow, robed in
+glistening white fur, stood Natasha, transfigured in the full
+<a name="page354"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 354]</span>
+blaze of the concentrated searchlights. A silence of wonder
+and expectation fell upon the millions at her feet, and in the
+midst of it she began to sing the Hymn of Freedom. It was
+like the voice of an angel singing in the night of peace after
+strife.
+</p>
+<p>
+Men of every nation in Europe listened to her entranced, as
+she changed from language to language; and when at last the
+triumphant strains of the Song of the Revolution came floating
+down from her lips through the still night air, an irresistible
+impulse ran through the listening millions, and with one
+accord they took up the refrain in all the languages of Europe,
+and a mighty flood of exultant song rolled up in wave after
+wave from earth to heaven,&mdash;a song at once of victory and
+thanksgiving, for the last battle of the world-war had been
+lost and won, and the valour and genius of Anglo-Saxondom
+had triumphed over the last of the despotisms of Europe.
+<a name="page355"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 355]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter47"></a>
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE JUDGMENT OF NATAS.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p355.png" alt="T" width="120" height="135" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+The myriad-voiced chorus of the Song of the
+Revolution ended in a mighty shout of jubilant
+hurrahs, in the midst of which the <i>Ariel</i>
+dropped lightly to the earth, and Tremayne,
+dressed now in the grey uniform of the
+Federation, with a small red rosette on the
+left breast of his tunic, descended from her deck to the
+ground with a drawn sword in his hand.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+He was at once recognised by several of the leaders, and
+as the words, &quot;The Chief, the Chief,&quot; ran from lip to lip, those
+in the front ranks brought their rifles to the present, while the
+captains saluted with their swords. The British regulars and
+volunteers followed suit as if by instinct, and the chorus of
+cheers broke out again. Tremayne acknowledged the salute,
+and raised his hand to command silence. A hush at once fell
+upon the assembled multitude, and in the deep silence of
+anticipation which followed, he said in clear, ringing tones&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Soldiers of the Federation and the Empire! that which I
+hope will be the last battle of the Western nations has been
+fought and won. The Anglo-Saxon race has rallied to the
+defence of its motherland, and in the blood of its invaders
+has wiped out the stain of conquest. It has met the conquerors
+of Europe in arms, and on the field of battle it has
+vindicated its right to the empire of the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Henceforth the destinies of the human race are in its
+keeping, and it will worthily discharge the responsibility. It
+may yet be necessary for you to fight other battles with other
+races; but the victory that has attended you here will wait
+<a name="page356"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 356]</span>
+upon your arms elsewhere, and then the curse and the shame
+of war will be removed from the earth, let us hope for ever.
+European despotism has fought its last battle and lost, and
+those who have appealed to the sword shall be judged by the
+sword.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he said this, he pointed with his weapon towards the
+Tsar and his Staff, and continued, with an added sternness in
+his voice&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In the Master's name, take those men prisoners! Their fate
+will be decided to-morrow. Forward a company of the First
+Division; your lives will answer for theirs!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As the Chief ended his brief address to the victorious troops
+ten men, armed with revolver and sword, stepped forward, each
+followed by ten others armed with rifle and fixed bayonet, and
+immediately formed in a hollow square round the Tsar and his
+Staff. This summary proceeding proved too much for the outraged
+dignity of the fallen Autocrat, and he stepped forward
+and cried out passionately&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;What is this? Is not my surrender enough? Have we
+not fought with civilised enemies, that we are to be treated like
+felons in the hour of defeat?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne raised his sword and cried sharply, &quot;To the
+ready!&quot; and instantly the prisoners were encircled by a hedge
+of levelled bayonets and rifle-barrels charged with death. Then
+he went on, in stern commanding tones&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Silence there! We do not recognise what you call the
+usages of civilised warfare. You are criminals against
+humanity, assassins by wholesale, and as such you shall be
+treated.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+There was nothing for it but to submit to the indignity,
+and within a few minutes the Tsar and those who with him
+had essayed the enslavement of the world were lodged in
+separate rooms in the building under a strong guard to await
+the fateful issue of the morrow.
+</p>
+<p>
+The rest of the night was occupied in digging huge trenches
+for the burial of the almost innumerable dead, a task which,
+gigantic as it was, was made light by the work of hundreds of
+thousands of willing hands. Those of the invaders who had
+fallen in London itself were taken down the Thames on the
+ebb tide in fleets of lighters, towed by steamers, and were
+<a name="page357"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 357]</span>
+buried at sea. Happily it was midwinter, and the temperature
+remained some degrees below freezing point, and so the great
+city was saved from what in summer would infallibly have
+brought pestilence in the track of war.
+</p>
+<p>
+At twelve o'clock on the following day the vast interior of
+St. Paul's Cathedral was thronged with the anxious spectators
+of the last scene in the tremendous tragedy which had commenced
+with the destruction of Kronstadt by the <i>Ariel</i>, and
+which had culminated in the triumph of Anglo-Saxondom over
+the leagued despotism and militarism of Europe.
+</p>
+<p>
+At a long table draped with red cloth, and placed under the
+dome in front of the chancel steps, sat Natas, with Tremayne
+and Natasha on his right hand, and Arnold and Alexis
+Mazanoff on his left. Radna, Anna Ornovski, and the other
+members of the Inner Circle of the Terrorists, including the
+President, Nicholas Roburoff, who had been pardoned and
+restored to his office at the intercession of Natasha, occupied
+the other seats, and behind them stood a throng of the leaders
+of the Federation forces.
+</p>
+<p>
+Neither the King of England nor any of his Ministers or
+military officers were present, as they had no voice in the
+proceedings which were about to take place. It had been
+decided, at a consultation with them earlier in the day, that it
+would be better that they should be absent.
+</p>
+<p>
+That which was to be done was unparalleled in the history
+of the world, and outside the recognised laws of nations; and
+so their prejudices were respected, and they were spared what
+they might have looked upon as an outrage on international
+policy, and the ancient but mistaken traditions of so-called
+civilised warfare.
+</p>
+<p>
+In front of the table two double lines of Federation soldiers,
+with rifles and fixed bayonets, kept a broad clear passage down
+to the western doors of the Cathedral. The murmur of
+thousands of voices suddenly hushed as the Cathedral clock
+struck the first stroke of twelve. It was the knell of an
+empire and a despotism. At the last stroke Natas raised his
+hand and said&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Bring up the prisoners!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a quick rustling sound, mingled with the clink of
+steel, as the two grey lines stiffened up to attention. Twelve
+<a name="page358"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 358]</span>
+commanders of divisions marched with drawn swords down to
+the end of the nave, a few rapid orders were given, and then
+they returned heading two double files of Federation guards,
+between which, handcuffed like common felons, walked the once
+mighty Tsar and the ministers of his now departed tyranny.
+</p>
+<p>
+The footsteps of the soldiers and their captives rang clearly
+upon the stones in the ominous breathless silence which greeted
+their appearance. The fallen Autocrat and his servants walked
+with downcast heads, like men in a dream, for to them it was a
+dream, this sudden and incomprehensible catastrophe which
+had overwhelmed them in the very hour of victory and on the
+threshold of the conquest of the world. Three days ago they
+had believed themselves conquerors, with the world at their
+feet; now they were being marched, guarded and in shackles,
+to a tribunal which acknowledged no law but its own, and
+from whose decision there was no appeal. Truly it was a
+dream, such a dream of disaster and calamity as no earthly
+despot had ever dreamt before.
+</p>
+<p>
+Four paces from the table they were halted, the Tsar in the
+centre, facing his unknown judge, and his servants on either
+side of him. He recognised Natasha, Anna Ornovski, Arnold,
+and Tremayne, but the recognition only added to his bewilderment.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a slight flush on the face of Natas, and an angry
+gleam in his dark magnetic eyes, as he watched his captives
+approach; but when he spoke his tones were calm and passionless,
+the tones of the conqueror and the judge, rather than of
+the deeply injured man and a personal enemy. As the
+prisoners were halted in front of the table, and the rifle-butts
+of the guards rang sharply on the stone pavement, so deep a
+hush fell upon the vast throng in the Cathedral, that men
+seemed to hold their breath rather than break it until the
+Master of the Terror began to speak.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Alexander Romanoff, late Tsar of the Russias, and now
+prisoner of the Executive of the Brotherhood of Freedom,
+otherwise known to you as the Terrorists&mdash;you have been
+brought here with your advisers and the ministers of your
+tyranny that your crimes may be recounted in the presence
+of this congregation, and to receive sentence of such punishment
+as it is possible for human justice to mete out to you&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p358b.jpg" alt="Two bayonets crossed in front of him with a sharp clash." width="640" height="429" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;Two bayonets crossed in front of him with a sharp clash.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page359">page 359</a>.</i>
+<a name="page359"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 359]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I deny both your justice and your right to judge. It is
+you who are the criminals, conspirators, and enemies of Society.
+I am a crowned King, and above all earthly laws&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+Before he could say any more two bayonets crossed in front
+of him with a sharp clash, and he was instantly thrust back
+into his place.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Silence!&quot; said Natas, in a tone of such stern command
+that even he instinctively obeyed. &quot;As for our justice, let
+that be decided between you and me when we stand before a
+more awful tribunal than this. My right to judge even a
+crowned king who has no longer a crown, rests, as your own
+authority and that of all earthly rulers has ever done, upon
+the power to enforce my sentence, and I can and will enforce
+it upon you, you heir of a usurping murderess, whose throne
+was founded in blood and supported by the bayonets of her
+hired assassins. You have appealed to the arbitration of
+battle, and it has decided against you; you must therefore
+abide by its decision.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You have waged a war of merciless conquest at the bidding
+of insatiable ambition. You have posed as the peace-keeper
+of Europe until the train of war was laid, as you and your
+allies thought, in secret, and then you let loose the forces of
+havoc upon your fellow-men without ruth or scruple. Your
+path of victory has been traced in blood and flames from one
+end of Europe to the other; you have sacrificed the lives of
+millions, and the happiness of millions more, to a dream of
+world-wide empire, which, if realised, would have been a
+universal despotism.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The blood of the uncounted slain cries out from earth to
+heaven against you for vengeance. The days are past when
+those who made war upon their kind could claim the indulgence
+of their conquerors. You have been conquered by
+those who hold that the crime of aggressive war cannot be
+atoned for by the transfer of territory or the payment of
+money.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If this were your only crime we would have blood for
+blood, and life for life, as far as yours could pay the penalty.
+But there is more than this to be laid to our charge, and the
+swift and easy punishment of death would be too light an
+atonement for Justice to accept.
+<a name="page360"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 360]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Since you ascended your throne you have been as the
+visible shape of God in the eyes of a hundred million subjects.
+Your hands have held the power of life and death, of freedom
+and slavery, of happiness and misery. How have you used
+it, you who have arrogated to yourself the attributes of a vicegerent
+of God on earth? As the power is, so too is the responsibility,
+and it will not avail you now to shelter yourself
+from it behind the false traditions of diplomacy and statecraft.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Your subjects have starved, while you and yours have
+feasted. You have lavished millions in vain display upon
+your palaces, while they have died in their hovels for lack of
+bread; and when men have asked you for freedom and justice,
+you have given them the knout, the chain, and the prison.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You have parted the wife from her husband&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+Here for the moment the voice of Natas trembled with
+irrepressible passion, which, before he could proceed, broke
+from his heaving breast in a deep sob that thrilled the vast
+assembly like an electric shock, and made men clench their
+hands and grit their teeth, and wrung an answering sob from
+the breast of many a woman who knew but too well the
+meaning of those simple yet terrible words. Then Natas
+recovered his outward composure and went on; but now there
+was an angrier gleam in his eyes, and a fiercer ring in his
+voice.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You have parted the wife from her husband, the maid
+from her lover, the child from its parents. You have made
+desolate countless homes that once were happy, and broken
+hearts that had no thought of evil towards you&mdash;and you have
+done all this, and more, to maintain as vile a despotism as
+ever insulted the justice of man, or mocked at the mercy of
+God.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In the inscrutable workings of Eternal Justice it has come
+to pass that your sentence shall be uttered by the lips of one
+of your victims. For no offence known to the laws of earth
+or Heaven my flesh has been galled by your chains and torn
+by your whips. I have toiled to win your ill-gotten wealth
+in your mines, and by the hands of your brutal servants the
+iron has entered into my soul. Yet I am but one of thousands
+whose undeserved agony cries out against you in this hour of
+judgment.
+<a name="page361"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 361]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Can you give us back what you have taken from us&mdash;the
+years of life and health and happiness, our wives and our
+children, our lovers and our kindred? You have ravished,
+but you cannot restore. You have smitten, but you cannot
+heal. You have killed, but you cannot make alive again. If
+you had ten thousand lives they could not atone, though each
+were dragged out to the bitter end in the misery that you
+have meted out to others.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;But so far as you and yours can pay the debt it shall be
+paid to the uttermost farthing. Every pang that you have
+inflicted you shall endure. You shall drag your chains over
+Siberian snows, and when you faint by the wayside the lash
+shall revive you, as in the hands of your brutal Cossacks it has
+goaded on your fainting victims. You shall sweat in the mine
+and shiver in the cell, and your wives and your children shall
+look upon your misery and be helpless to help you, even as
+have been the fond ones who have followed your victims to
+exile and death.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;They have seen your crimes without protest, and shared in
+your wantonness. They have toyed with the gold and jewels
+which they knew were bought with the price of misery and
+death, and so it is just that they should see your sufferings
+and share in your doom.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;To the mines for life! And when the last summons comes
+to you and me, may Eternal Justice judge between us, and
+in its equal scales weigh your crimes against your punishment!
+Begone! for you have looked your last on freedom. You are
+no longer men; you are outcasts from the pale of the brotherhood
+of the humanity you have outraged!
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Alexis Mazanoff, you will hold yourself responsible for the
+lives of the prisoners, and the execution of their sentence.
+You will see them in safe keeping for the present, and on the
+thirtieth day from now you will set out for Siberia.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The sentence of Natas, the most terrible one which human
+lips could have uttered under the circumstances, was received
+with a breathless silence of awe and horror. Then Mazanoff
+rose from his seat, drew his sword, and saluted. As he passed
+round the end of the table the guards closed up round the
+prisoners, who were staring about them in stupefied bewilderment
+at the incredible horror of the fate which in a moment
+<a name="page362"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 362]</span>
+had hurled them from the highest pinnacle of earthly power
+and splendour down to the degradation and misery of the
+most wretched of their own Siberian convicts. No time was
+given for protest or appeal, for Mazanoff instantly gave the
+word &quot;Forward!&quot; and, surrounded by a hedge of bayonets,
+the doomed men were marched rapidly down between the two
+grey lines.
+</p>
+<p>
+As they reached the bottom of the nave the great central
+doors swung open, and through them came a mighty roar of
+execration from the multitude outside as they appeared on the
+top of the Cathedral steps.
+</p>
+<p>
+From St. Paul's Churchyard, down through Ludgate Hill
+and up the Old Bailey to the black frowning walls of Newgate,
+they were led through triple lines of Federation soldiers
+amidst a storm of angry cries from the crowd on either
+side,&mdash;cries which changed to a wild outburst of savage, pitiless
+exultation as the news of their dreadful sentence spread
+rapidly from lip to lip. They had shed blood like water,
+and had known no pity in the hour of their brief triumph,
+and so none was shown for them in the hour of their fall and
+retribution.
+</p>
+<p>
+The hour following their disappearance from the Cathedral
+was spent in a brief and simple service of thanksgiving for the
+victory which had wiped the stain of foreign invasion from the
+soil of Britain in the blood of the invader, and given the
+control of the destinies of the Western world finally into the
+hands of the dominant race of earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+The service began with a short but eloquent address from
+Natas, in which he pointed out the consequences of the victory
+and the tremendous responsibilities to the generations of men
+in the present and the future which it entailed upon the
+victors. He concluded with the following words&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;My own part in this world-revolution is played out. For
+more than twenty years I have lived solely for the attainment
+of one object, the removal of the blot of Russian tyranny upon
+European civilisation, and the necessary punishment of those
+who were guilty of the unspeakable crime of maintaining it at
+such a fearful expense of human life and suffering.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That object has now been accomplished; the soldiers of
+freedom have met the hirelings of despotism on the field of
+<a name="page363"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 363]</span>
+the world's Armageddon, and the God of Battles has decided
+between them. Our motives may have been mistaken by
+those who only saw the bare outward appearance without
+knowing their inward intention, and our ends have naturally
+been misjudged by those who fancied that their accomplishment
+meant their own ruin.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yet, as the events have proved, and will prove in the
+ages to come, we have been but as intelligent instruments in
+the hands of that eternal wisdom and justice which, though it
+may seem to sleep for a season, and permit the evildoer to
+pursue his wickedness for a space, never closes the eye of
+watchfulness or sheathes the sword of judgment. The empire
+of the earth has been given into the hands of the Anglo-Saxon
+race, and therefore it is fitting that the supreme control of
+affairs should rest in the hands of one of Anglo-Saxon blood
+and lineage.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;For that reason I now surrender the power which I have
+so far exercised as the Master of the Brotherhood of Freedom
+into the hands of Alan Tremayne, known in Britain as Earl of
+Alanmere and Baron Tremayne, and from this moment the
+Brotherhood of Freedom ceases to exist as such, for its ends
+are attained, and the objects for which it was founded have
+been accomplished.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;With the confidence born of intimate knowledge, I give
+this power into his keeping, and those who have shared his
+counsels and executed his commands in the past will in the
+future assist him as the Supreme Council, which will form the
+ultimate tribunal to which the disputes of nations will henceforth
+be submitted, instead of to the barbarous and bloody
+arbitration of battle.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;No such power has ever been delivered into the hands of
+a single body of men before; but those who will hold it have
+been well tried, and they may be trusted to wield it without
+pride and without selfishness, the twin curses that have
+hitherto afflicted the divided nations of the earth, because,
+with the fate of humanity in their hands and the wealth of
+earth at their disposal, it will be impossible to tempt them
+with bribes, either of riches or of power, from the plain course
+of duty which will lie before them.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As Natas finished speaking, he signed with his hand to
+<a name="page364"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 364]</span>
+Tremayne, who rose in his place and briefly addressed the
+assembly&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I and those who will share it with me accept alike the
+power and the responsibility&mdash;not of choice, but rather because
+we are convinced that the interests of humanity demand that
+we should do so. Those interests have too long been the sport
+of kings and their courtiers, and of those who have seen in
+selfish profit and aggrandisement the only ends of life worth
+living for.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Under the pretences of furthering civilisation and progress,
+and maintaining what they have been pleased to call law and
+order, they have perpetrated countless crimes of oppression,
+cruelty, and extortion, and we are determined that this shall
+have an end.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Henceforth, so far as we can insure it, the world shall be
+ruled, not by the selfishness of individuals, or the ambitions
+of nations, but in accordance with the everlasting and
+immutable principles of truth and justice, which have hitherto
+been burlesqued alike by despots on their thrones and by
+political partisans in the senates of so-called democratic
+countries.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;To-morrow, at mid-day in this place, the chief rulers of
+Europe will meet us, and our intentions will be further
+explained. And now before we separate to go about the rest
+of the business of the day let us, as is fitting, give due thanks
+to Him who has given us the victory.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He ceased speaking, but remained standing; the same
+instant the organ of the Cathedral pealed out the opening notes
+of the familiar Normanton Chant, and all those at the table,
+saving Natas, rose to their feet. Then Natasha's voice soared up
+clear and strong above the organ notes, singing the first line
+of the old well-known chant&mdash;
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+The strain upraise of joy and praise.<br />
+</p>
+<p>
+And as she ceased the swell of the organ rolled out, and a
+mighty chorus of hallelujahs burst by one consent from the
+lips of the vast congregation, filling the huge Cathedral, and
+flowing out from its now wide-open doors until it was caught
+up and echoed by the thousands who thronged the churchyard
+and the streets leading into it.
+<a name="page365"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 365]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+As this died away Radna sang the second line, and so the
+Psalm of Praise was sung through, as it were in strophe and
+anti-strophe, interspersed with the jubilant hallelujahs of the
+multitude who were celebrating the greatest victory that had
+ever been won on earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+That night the inhabitants of the delivered city gave themselves
+up to such revelry and rejoicing as had never been seen
+or heard in London since its foundation. The streets and
+squares blazed with lights and resounded with the songs and
+cheerings of a people delivered from an impending catastrophe
+which had bidden fair to overwhelm it in ruin, and bring upon
+it calamities which would have been felt for generations.
+<a name="page366"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 366]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter48"></a>
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE ORDERING OF EUROPE.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p366.png" alt="W" width="120" height="133" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+While these events had been in progress three
+squadrons of air-ships had been speeding to St.
+Petersburg, Vienna, and Rome. Three vessels
+had been despatched to each city, and the
+instructions of those in command of the
+squadrons were to bring the German Emperor,
+the Emperor of Austria, and the King of Italy to London.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+The news of the defeat of the League had preceded them
+by telegraph, and all three monarchs willingly obeyed the
+summons which they carried to attend a Conference for the
+ordering of affairs of Europe.
+</p>
+<p>
+The German Emperor was at once released from his
+captivity, although only under a threat of the destruction of
+the city by the air-ships, for the Grand Duke Vladimir, who
+ruled at St. Petersburg as deputy of the Tsar, had first refused
+to believe the astounding story of the defeat of his brother
+and the destruction of his army. The terrible achievements
+of the air-ships were, however, too well and too certainly
+known to permit of resistance by force, and so the Kaiser was
+released, and made his first a&euml;rial voyage from St. Petersburg
+to London, arriving there at ten o'clock on the evening of the
+8th, in the midst of the jubilations of the rejoicing city.
+</p>
+<p>
+The King of England had sent a despatch to the Emperor of
+Austria inviting him to the Conference, and General Cosensz
+had sent a similar one to the King of Italy, and so there had
+been no difficulty about their coming. At mid-day on the
+9th the Conference was opened in St. Paul's, which was the
+only public building left intact in London capable of containing
+<a name="page367"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 367]</span>
+the vast audience that was present, an audience composed of
+men of every race and language in Europe.
+</p>
+<p>
+Natas was absent, and Tremayne occupied his seat in the
+centre of the table; the other members of the Inner Circle,
+now composing the Supreme Council of the Federation, were
+present, with the exception of Natasha, Radna, and Anna
+Ornovski, and the other seats at the table were occupied by
+the monarchs to whom the purposes of the Conference had been
+explained earlier in the day. France was represented in the
+person of General le Gallifet.
+</p>
+<p>
+The body of the Cathedral was filled to overflowing, with
+the exception of an open space kept round the table by the
+Federation guards.
+</p>
+<p>
+The proceedings commenced with a brief but impressive
+religious service conducted by the Primate of England, who
+ended it with a short but earnest appeal, delivered from the
+altar steps, to those composing the Conference, calling upon
+them to conduct their deliberations with justice and moderation,
+and reminding them of the millions who were waiting
+in other parts of Europe for the blessings of peace and prosperity
+which it was now in their power to confer upon them.
+As the Archbishop concluded the prayer for the blessing of
+Heaven upon their deliberation, with which he ended his address,
+Tremayne, after a few moments of silence, rose in his place
+and, speaking in clear deliberate tones, began as follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Your Majesties have been called together to hear the
+statement of the practical issues of the conflict which has
+been decided between the armies of the Federation of the
+Anglo-Saxon peoples and those of the late Franco-Slavonian
+League.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Into the motives which led myself and those who have
+acted with me to take the part which we have done in this
+tremendous struggle, there is now no need for me to enter. It
+is rather with results than with motives that we have to deal,
+and those results may be very briefly stated.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We have demonstrated on the field of battle that we hold
+in our hands means of destruction against which it is absolutely
+impossible for any army fortress or fleet to compete
+with the slightest hope of victory; and more than this, we
+are in command of the only organised army and fleet now
+<a name="page368"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 368]</span>
+on land or sea. We have been compelled by the necessities
+of the case to use our powers unsparingly up to a certain
+point. That we have not used them beyond that point, as
+we might have done, to enslave the world, is the best proof
+that I can give of the honesty of our purposes with regard to
+the future.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;But it must never be forgotten that these powers remain
+with us, and can be evoked afresh should necessity ever arise.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It is not our purpose to enter upon a war of conquest, or
+upon a series of internal revolutions in the different countries
+of Europe, the issue of which might be the subversion of all
+order, and the necessity for universal conquest on our part in
+order to restore it.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;With two exceptions the internal affairs of all the nations
+of Europe, saving only Russia, which for the present we shall
+govern directly, will be left undisturbed. The present tenure
+of land will be abolished, and the only rights to the possession
+of it that will be recognised will be occupation and cultivation.
+Experience has shown that the holding of land for
+mere purposes of luxury or speculative profit leads to untold
+injustices to the general population of a country. The land
+on which cities and towns are built will henceforth belong to
+the municipalities, and the rents of the buildings will be paid
+in lieu of taxation.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The other exception is even more important than this.
+We have waged war in order that it may be waged no more,
+and we are determined that it shall now cease for ever. The
+peoples of the various nations have no interest in warfare.
+It has been nothing but an affliction and a curse to them, and
+we are convinced that if one generation grows up without
+drawing the sword, it will never be drawn again as long as
+men remain upon the earth. All existing fortifications will
+therefore be at once destroyed, standing armies will be disbanded,
+and all the warships in the world, which cannot be
+used for peaceful purposes, will be sent to the bottom of the
+deepest part of the ocean.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;For the maintenance of peace and order each nation will
+maintain a body of police, in which all citizens between the
+ages of twenty and forty will serve in rotation, and this police
+will be under the control, first of the Sovereign and Parliament
+<a name="page369"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 369]</span>
+of the country, and ultimately of an International Board,
+which will sit once a year in each of the capitals of Europe in
+turn, and from whose decision there will be no appeal.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The possession of weapons of warfare, save by the members
+of this force, will be forbidden under penalty of death, as we
+shall presuppose that no man can possess such weapons save
+with intent to kill, and all killing, save execution for murder,
+will henceforth be treated as murder. Declaration of war by
+one country upon another will be held to be a national crime,
+and, should such an event ever occur, the forces of the Anglo-Saxon
+Federation will be at once armed by authority of the
+Supreme Council, and the guilty nation will be crushed and
+its territories will be divided among its neighbours.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Such are the broad outlines of the course which we intend
+to pursue, and all I have now to do is to commend them to
+your earnest consideration in the name of those over whom
+you are the constituted rulers.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As the President of the Federation sat down the German
+Emperor rose and said in a tone which showed that he had
+heard the speech with but little satisfaction&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;From what we have heard it would seem that the Federation
+of the Anglo-Saxon peoples considers itself as having
+conquered the world, and as being, therefore, in a position to
+dictate terms to all the peoples of the earth. Am I correct in
+this supposition?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne bowed in silence, and he continued&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;But this amounts to the destruction of the liberties of
+all peoples who are not of the Anglo-Saxon race. It seems
+impossible to me to believe that free-born men who have
+won their liberty upon the battlefield will ever consent to
+submit to a despotism such as this. What if they refuse to
+do so?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne was on his feet in an instant. He turned half
+round and faced the Kaiser, with a frown on his brow and an
+ominous gleam in his eyes&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Your Majesty of Germany may call it a despotism if you
+choose, but remember that it is a despotism of peace and not
+of war, and that it affects only those who would be peace-breakers
+and drawers of the sword upon their fellow-creatures.
+I regret that you have made it necessary for me to remind
+<a name="page370"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 370]</span>
+you that we have conquered your conquerors, and that the
+despotism from which we have delivered the nations of Europe
+would infallibly have been ten thousand times worse than
+that which you are pleased to miscall by the name.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;You deplore the loss of the right and the power to draw
+the sword one upon another. Well, now, take that right back
+again for the last time! Say here, and now, that you will not
+acknowledge the supremacy of the Council of the Federation,
+and take the consequences!
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Our soldiers are still in the field, our a&euml;rial fleet is still in
+the air, and our sea-navy is under steam. But, remember, if
+you appeal to the sword it shall be with you as it was with
+Alexander Romanoff and the Russian force which invaded
+England. We have annihilated the army to a man, and exiled
+the Autocrat for life. Choose now, peace or war, and let those
+who would choose war with you take their stand beside you,
+and we will fight another Armageddon!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+The pregnant and pitiless words brought the Kaiser to his
+senses in an instant. He remembered that his army was
+destroyed, his strongest fortresses dismantled, his treasury
+empty, and the manhood of his country decimated. He
+turned white to the lips and sank back into his chair, covered
+his face with his hands, and sobbed aloud. And so ended the
+last and only protest made by the spirit of militarism against
+the new despotism of peace.
+</p>
+<p>
+One by one the monarchs now rose in their places, bowed
+to the inevitable, and gave their formal adherence to the new
+order of things. General le Gallifet came last. When he had
+affixed his signature to the written undertaking of allegiance
+which they had all signed, he said, speaking in French&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I was born and bred a soldier, and my life has been passed
+either in warfare or the study of it. I have now drawn the
+sword for the last time, save to defend France from invasion.
+I have seen enough of modern war, or, as I should rather call
+it, murder by machinery, for such it only is now. They spoke
+truly who prophesied that the solution of the problem of
+a&euml;rial navigation would make war impossible. It has made it
+impossible, because it has made it too unspeakably horrible for
+humanity to tolerate it.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In token of the honesty of my belief I ask now that
+<a name="page371"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 371]</span>
+France and Germany shall bury their long blood-feud on their
+last battlefield, and in the persons of his German Majesty and
+myself shake hands in the presence of this company as a pledge
+of national forgiveness and perpetual peace.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+As he ceased speaking, he turned and held out his hand to
+the Kaiser. All eyes were turned on William II, to see how
+he would receive this appeal. For a moment he hesitated,
+then his manhood and chivalry conquered his pride and
+national prejudice, and amidst the cheers of the great assembly,
+he grasped the outstretched hand of his hereditary enemy,
+saying in a voice broken by emotion&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;So be it. Since the sword is broken for ever, let us forget
+that we have been enemies, and remember only that we are
+neighbours.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+This ended the public portion of the Conference. From
+St. Paul's those who had composed it went to Buckingham
+Palace, in the grounds of which the a&euml;rial fleet was reposing
+on the lawns under a strong guard of Federation soldiers.
+Here they embarked, and were borne swiftly through the air
+to Windsor Castle, where they dined together as friends and
+guests of the King of England, and after dinner discussed far
+on into the night the details of the new European Constitution
+which was to be drawn up and formally ratified within the
+next few days.
+</p>
+<p>
+Shortly after noon on the following day the <i>Ithuriel</i>, with
+Natas, Natasha, Arnold, and Tremayne on board, rose into the
+air from the grounds of Buckingham Palace and headed away
+to the northward. The control of affairs was left for the time
+being to a committee of the members of what had once been
+the Inner Circle of the Terrorists, and which was now the
+Supreme Council of the Federation.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was under the joint presidency of Alexis Mazanoff and
+Nicholas Roburoff, who was exerting his great and well-proved
+administrative abilities to the utmost in order to atone for the
+fault which had led to the desertion of the <i>Lucifer</i>, and to
+amply justify the intercession of Natasha which had made it
+possible for him to be present at the last triumph of the
+Federation and the accomplishment of the long and patient
+work of the Brotherhood. There was an immense amount of
+work to be got through in the interval between the pronouncement
+<a name="page372"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 372]</span>
+of the judgment of Natas on the Tsar and his Ministers
+and the execution of the sentence. After twenty-four hours
+in Newgate they were transferred to Wormwood Scrubs Prison,
+and there, under a guard of Federation soldiers, who never left
+them for a moment day or night, they awaited the hour of
+their departure to Siberia.
+</p>
+<p>
+Communication with all parts of the Continent and America
+was rapidly restored. The garrisons of the League were
+withdrawn from the conquered cities, gave up their arms at
+the depots of their respective regiments, and returned to their
+homes. The French and Italian troops round London were
+disarmed and taken to France in the Federation fleet of transports.
+Meanwhile three air-ships were placed temporarily at
+the disposal of the Emperor of Austria, the Kaiser, and the
+King of Italy, to convey them to their capitals, and furnish
+them with the means of speedy transit about their dominions,
+and to and from London during the drawing up of the new
+European Constitution.
+</p>
+<p>
+A fleet of four air-ships and fifteen aerostats was also
+despatched to the Russian capital, and compelled the immediate
+surrender of the members of the Imperial family and the
+Ministers of the Government, and the instant disarmament of
+all troops on Russian soil, under pain of immediate destruction
+of St. Petersburg and Moscow, and invasion and conquest of
+the country by the Federation armies. The Council of State
+and the Ruling Senate were then dissolved, and the Executive
+passed automatically into the hands of the controllers of the
+Federation. Resistance was, of course, out of the question,
+and as soon as it was once known for certain that the Tsar
+had been taken prisoner and his army annihilated, no one
+thought seriously of it, as it would have been utterly impossible
+to have defended even Russia against the overwhelming
+forces of the Federation and the British Empire, assisted by
+the two a&euml;rial fleets.
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Ithuriel</i>, after a flight of a little more than an hour,
+stopped and descended to the earth on the broad, sloping, and
+now snow-covered lawn in front of Alanmere Castle. Lord
+Marazion and his daughter, who, as it is almost needless to
+say, had been kept well informed of the course of events since
+the Federation forces landed in England, had also been warned
+<a name="page373"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 373]</span>
+by telegraph of the coming of their a&euml;rial visitors, and before
+the <i>Ithuriel</i> had touched the earth, the new mistress of Alanmere
+had descended the steps of the terrace that ran the
+whole length of the Castle front to welcome its lord and hers
+back to his own again.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then there were greetings of lovers and friends, well known
+to each other by public report and familiar description, yet
+never seen in the flesh till now, and of others long parted by
+distance and by misconception of aims and motives. But however
+pleasing it might be to dwell at length upon the details
+of such a meeting, and its delightful contrast to the horrors of
+unsparing war and merciless destruction, there is now no space
+to do so, for the original limits of this history of the near future
+have already been reached and overpassed, and it is time to
+make ready for the curtain to descend upon the last scenes of
+the world-drama of the Year of Wonders&mdash;1904.
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne was the first to alight, and he was followed by
+Natasha and Arnold at a respectful distance, which they kept
+until the first greeting between the two long and strangely-parted
+lovers was over. When at length Lady Muriel got out
+of the arms of her future lord, she at once ran to Natasha with
+both her hands outstretched, a very picture of grace and health
+and blushing loveliness.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was Natasha's other self, saving only for the incomparable
+brilliance of colouring and contrast which the daughter of Natas
+derived from her union of Eastern and Western blood. Yet no
+fairer type of purely English beauty than Muriel Penarth could
+have been found between the Border and the Land's End, and
+what she lacked of Natasha's half Oriental brilliance and fire
+she atoned for by an added measure of that indescribable blend
+of dignity and gentleness which makes the English gentlewoman
+perhaps the most truly lovable of all women on earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I could not have believed that the world held two such
+lovely women,&quot; said Arnold to Tremayne, as the two girls
+met and embraced. &quot;How marvellously alike they are, too!
+They might be sisters. Surely they must be some relation.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, I am sure they are,&quot; replied Tremayne; &quot;such a
+resemblance cannot be accidental. I remember in that queer
+double life of mine, when I was your unconscious rival, I
+used to interchange them until they almost seemed to be the
+<a name="page374"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 374]</span>
+same identity to me. There is some little mystery behind the
+likeness which we shall have cleared up before very long now.
+Natas told me to take Lord Marazion to him in the saloon,
+and said he would not enter the Castle till he had spoken with
+him alone. There he is at the door! You go and make
+Muriel's acquaintance, and I will take him on board at once.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+So saying, Tremayne ran up the terrace steps, shook hands
+heartily with the old nobleman, and then came down with him
+towards the air-ship. As they met Lady Muriel coming up
+with Arnold on one side of her and Natasha on the other,
+Lord Marazion stopped suddenly with an exclamation of
+wonder. He took his arm out of Tremayne's, strode rapidly
+to Natasha, and, before his daughter could say a word of
+introduction, put his hands on her shoulders, and looked into
+her lovely upturned face through a sudden mist of tears that
+rose unbidden to his eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It is a miracle!&quot; he said, in a low voice that trembled with
+emotion. &quot;If you are the daughter of Natas, there is no need
+to tell me who he is, for you are Sylvia Penarth's daughter too.
+Is not that so, Sylvia di Murska&mdash;for I know you bear your
+mother's name?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, I bear her name&mdash;and my father's. He is waiting
+for you in the air-ship, and he has much to say to you. You
+will bring him back to the Castle with you, will you not?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Natasha spoke with a seriousness that had more weight than
+her words, but Lord Marazion understood her meaning. He
+stooped down and kissed her on the brow, saying&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, yes; the past is the past. I will go to him, and you
+shall see us come back together.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;And so we are cousins!&quot; exclaimed Lady Muriel, slipping her
+arm round Natasha's waist as she spoke. &quot;I was sure we must
+be some relation to each other; for, though I am not so beautiful&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Don't talk nonsense, or I shall call you 'Your Ladyship'
+for the rest of the day. Yes, of course we are alike, since our
+mothers were twin-sisters, and the very image of each other,
+according to their portraits.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+While the girls were talking of their new-found relationship,
+Arnold had dropped behind to wait for Tremayne, who, after
+he had taken Lord Marazion into the saloon of the <i>Ithuriel</i>,
+had left him with Natas and returned to the Castle alone.
+<a name="page375"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 375]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter49"></a>
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+THE STORY OF THE MASTER.
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p375.png" alt="T" width="121" height="135" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+That evening, when the lamps were lit and the
+curtains drawn in the library at Alanmere, in
+the same room in which Tremayne had seen
+the Vision of Armageddon, Natas told the story
+of Israel di Murska, the Jewish Hungarian
+merchant, and of Sylvia Penarth, the beautiful
+English wife whom he had loved better than his own faith and
+people, and how she had been taken from him to suffer a fate
+which had now been avenged as no human wrongs had ever
+been before.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+&quot;Twenty-five years ago,&quot; he began, gazing dreamily into the
+great fire of pine-logs, round the hearth of which he and his
+listeners were sitting, &quot;I, who am now an almost helpless, half-mutilated
+cripple, was a strong, active man, in the early vigour
+of manhood, rich, respected, happy, and prosperous even beyond
+the average of earthly good fortune.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I was a merchant in London, and I had inherited a large
+fortune from my father, which I had more than doubled by
+successful trading. I was married to an English wife, a
+woman whose grace and beauty are faithfully reflected in her
+daughter&quot;&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+As Natas said this, the fierce light that had begun to shine
+in his eyes softened, and the hard ring left his voice, and for
+a little space he spoke in gentler tones, until sterner memories
+came and hardened them again.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I will not deny that I bought her with my gold and fair
+promises of a life of ease and luxury. But that is done every
+day in the world in which I then lived, and I only did as my
+Christian neighbours about me did. Yet I loved my beautiful
+<a name="page376"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 376]</span>
+Christian wife very dearly,&mdash;more dearly even than my people
+and my ancient faith,&mdash;or I should not have married her.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;When Natasha was two years old the black pall of desolation
+fell suddenly on our lives, and blasted our great happiness
+with a misery so utter and complete that we, who were wont to
+count ourselves among the fortunate ones of the earth, were
+cast down so low that the beggar at our doors might have
+looked down upon us.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It was through no fault of mine or hers, nor through any
+circumstance over which either of us had any control, that we
+fell from our serene estate. On the contrary, it was through a
+work of pure mercy, intended for the relief of those of our
+people who were groaning under the pitiless despotism of
+Russian officialism and superstition, that I fell, as so many
+thousands of my race have fallen, into that abyss of nameless
+misery and degradation that Russian hands have dug for the
+innocent in the ghastly solitudes of Siberia, and, without knowing
+it, dragged my sweet and loving wife into it after me.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It came about in this wise.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I had a large business connection in Russia, and at a time
+when all Europe was ringing with the story of the persecution
+of the Russian Jews, I, at the earnest request of a committee of
+the leading Jews in London, undertook a mission to St. Petersburg,
+to bring their sufferings, if possible, under the direct
+notice of the Tsar, and to obtain his consent to a scheme for
+the payment of a general indemnity, subscribed to by all the
+wealthy Jews of the world, which should secure them against
+persecution and official tyranny until they could be gradually
+and completely removed from Russia.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I, of course, found myself thwarted at every turn by the
+heartless and corrupt officialism that stands between the
+Russian people and the man whom they still regard as the
+vicegerent of God upon earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Upon one pretext and another I was kept from the presence
+of the Tsar for weeks, until he left his dominions on a visit to
+Denmark.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Meanwhile I travelled about, and used my eyes as well as
+the officials would permit me, to see whether the state of things
+was really as bad as the accounts that had reached England
+had made it out to be.
+<a name="page377"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 377]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I saw enough to convince me that no human words could
+describe the awful sufferings of the sons and daughters of
+Israel in that hateful land of bondage.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Neither their lives nor their honour, their homes nor their
+property, were safe from the malice and the lust and the
+rapacity of the brutal ministers of Russian officialdom.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I conversed with families from which fathers and mothers,
+sons and daughters had been spirited away, either never to
+return, or to come back years afterwards broken in health,
+ruined and dishonoured, to the poor wrecks of the homes that
+had once been peaceful, pure, and happy.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I saw every injury, insult, and degradation heaped upon
+them that patient and long-suffering humanity could bear,
+until my soul sickened within me, and my spirit rose in revolt
+against the hateful and inhuman tyranny that treated my
+people like vermin and wild beasts, for no offence save a
+difference in race and creed.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;At last the shame and horror of it all got the better of my
+prudence, and the righteous rage that burned within me spoke
+out through my pen and my lips.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I wrote faithful accounts of all I had seen to the committee
+in England. They never reached their destination, for I was
+already a marked man, and my letters were stopped and opened
+by the police.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;At last I one day attended a court of law, and heard one
+of those travesties of justice which the Russian officials call a
+trial for conspiracy.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;There was not one tittle of anything that would have been
+called evidence, or that would not have been discredited and
+laughed out of court in any other country in Europe; yet two
+of the five prisoners, a man and a woman, were sentenced to
+death, and the other three, two young students and a girl who
+was to have been the bride of one of them in a few weeks'
+time, were doomed to five years in the mines of Kara, and after
+that, if they survived it, to ten years' exile in Sakhalin.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;So awful and so hideous did the appalling injustice seem
+to me, accustomed as I was to the open fairness of the English
+criminal courts, that, overcome with rage and horror, I rose to
+my feet as the judge pronounced the frightful sentence, and
+poured forth a flood of passionate denunciations and wild
+<a name="page378"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 378]</span>
+appeals to the justice of humanity to revoke the doom of the
+innocent.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Of course I was hustled out of the court and flung into the
+street by the police attendants, and I groped my way back to
+my hotel with eyes blinded with tears of rage and sorrow.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;That afternoon I was requested by the proprietor of the
+hotel to leave before nightfall. I expostulated in vain. He
+simply told me that he dared not have in his house a man who
+had brought himself into collision with the police, and that I
+must find other lodgings at once. This, however, I found to be
+no easy matter. Wherever I went I was met with cold looks,
+and was refused admittance.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Lower and lower sank my heart within me at each refusal,
+and the terrible conviction forced itself upon me that I was a
+marked man amidst all-powerful and unscrupulous enemies
+whom no Russian dare offend. I was a Jew and an outcast,
+and there was nothing left for me but to seek for refuge such
+as I could get among my own persecuted people.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Far on into the night I found one, a modest lodging, in
+which I hoped I could remain for a day or two while waiting
+for my passport, and making the necessary preparations to
+return to England and shake the mire of Russia off my feet for
+ever. It would have been a thousand times better for me and
+my dear ones, and for those whose sympathy and kindness
+involved them in my ruin, if, instead of going to that ill-fated
+house, I had flung myself into the dark waters of the Neva,
+and so ended my sorrows ere they had well begun.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I applied for my passport the next day, and was informed
+that it would not be ready for at least three days. The delay
+was, of course, purposely created, and before the time had
+expired a police visit was paid to the house in which I was
+lodging, and papers written in cypher were found within the
+lining of one of my hats.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I was arrested, and a guard was placed over the house.
+Without any further ceremony I was thrown into a cell in the
+fortress of Peter and Paul to await the translation of the
+cypher. Three days later I was taken before the chief of
+police, and accused of having in my possession papers proving
+that I was an emissary from the Nihilist headquarters in
+London.
+<a name="page379"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 379]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I was told that my conduct had been so suspicious and of
+late so disorderly, that I had been closely watched during my
+stay in St. Petersburg, with the result that conclusive evidence
+of treason had been found against me.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As I was known to be wealthy, and to have powerful friends
+in England, the formality of a trial was dispensed with, and
+after eating my heart out for a month in my cell in the fortress,
+I was transferred to Moscow to join the next convict train for
+Siberia. Arrived there, I for the first time learned my sentence&mdash;ten
+years in the mines, and then ten in Sakhalin.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Thus was I doomed by the trick of some police spy to pass
+what bade fair to be the remainder of a life that had been so
+bright and full of fair promise in hopeless exile, torment, and
+degradation&mdash;and all because I protested against injustice and
+made myself obnoxious to the Russian police.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As the chain-gang that I was attached to left Moscow, I
+found to my intense grief that the good Jew and his wife who
+had given me shelter were also members of it. They had been
+convicted of 'harbouring a political conspirator,' and sentenced
+to five years' hard labour, and then exile for life, as 'politicals,'
+which, as you no doubt know, meant that, if they survived the
+first part of their sentence, they would be allowed to settle in
+an allotted part of Southern Siberia, free in everything but
+permission to leave the country.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Were I to talk till this time to-morrow I could not properly
+describe to you all the horrors of that awful journey along the
+Great Siberian road, from the Pillar of Farewells that marks
+the boundary between Europe and Asia across the frightful
+snowy wastes to Kara.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The hideous story has been told again and again without
+avail to the Christian nations of Europe, and they have permitted
+that awful crime against humanity to be committed
+year after year without even a protest, in obedience to the
+miserable principles that bade them to place policy before
+religion and the etiquette of nations before the everlasting
+laws of God.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;After two years of heartbreaking toil at the mines my
+health utterly broke down. One day I fell fainting under the
+lash of the brutal overseer, and as I lay on the ground he ran
+at me and kicked me twice with his heavy iron-shod boots,
+<a name="page380"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 380]</span>
+once on the hip, breaking the bone, and once on the lower part
+of the spine, crushing the spinal cord, and paralysing my lower
+limbs for ever.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As this did not rouse me from my fainting-fit, the heartless
+fiend snatched a torch from the wall of the mine-gallery and
+thrust the burning end in my long thick beard, setting it on
+fire and scorching my flesh horribly, as you can see. I was
+carried out of the mine and taken to the convict hospital,
+where I lay for weeks between life and death, and only lived
+instead of died because of the quenchless spirit that was
+within me crying out for vengeance on my tormentors.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;When I came back to consciousness, the first thing I learnt
+was that I was free to return to England on condition that I
+did not stop on my way through Russia.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;My friends, urged on by the tireless energy of my wife's
+anxious love, had at last found out what had befallen me, and
+proceedings had been instituted to establish the innocence that
+had been betrayed by a common and too well-known device
+used by the Russian police to secure the conviction and removal
+of those who have become obnoxious to the bureaucracy.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Whether my friends would ever have accomplished this of
+themselves is doubtful, but suddenly the evidence of a pope of
+the Orthodox Church, to whom the spy who had put the forged
+letters in my hat had confessed the crime on his deathbed, placed
+the matter in such a strong clear light that not even the
+officialism of Russia could cloud it over. The case got to the
+ears of the Tsar, and an order was telegraphed to the Governor
+of Kara to release me and send me back to St. Petersburg on
+the conditions I have named.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Think of the mockery of such a pardon as that! By the
+unlawful brutality of an official, who was not even reprimanded
+for what he had done, I was maimed, crippled, and disfigured
+for life, and now I was free to return to the land I had left on
+an errand of mercy, which tyranny and corruption had wilfully
+misconstrued into a mission of crime, and punished with the
+ruin of a once happy and useful life. That was bad enough,
+but worse was to come before the cup of my miseries should
+be full.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+Natas was silent for a moment, and as he gazed into the fire
+<a name="page381"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 381]</span>
+the spasm of a great agony passed over his face, and two great
+tears welled up in his eyes and overflowed and ran down his
+cheeks on to his breast.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;On receiving the order the governor telegraphed back that
+I was sick almost to death, and not able to bear the fatigue of
+the long, toilsome journey, and asked for further orders. As
+soon as this news reached my devoted wife she at once set out,
+in spite of all the entreaties of her friends and advisers, to
+cross the wastes of Siberia, and take her place at my bedside.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It was winter time, and from Ekaterinenburg, where the
+rail ended in those days, the journey would have to be performed
+by sledge. She, therefore, took with her only one
+servant and a courier, that she might travel as rapidly as
+possible.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;She reached Tiumen, and there all trace was lost of her and
+her attendants. She vanished into that great white wilderness
+of ice and snow as utterly as though the grave had closed upon
+her. I knew nothing of her journey until I reached St. Petersburg
+many months afterwards.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;All that money could do was done to trace her, but all to
+no avail. The only official news that ever came back out of
+that dark world of death and misery was that she had started
+from one of the post-stations a few hours before a great snow-storm
+had come on, that she had never reached the next
+station&mdash;and after that all was mystery.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Five years passed. I had returned to find my little
+daughter well and blooming into youthful beauty, and my
+affairs prospering in skilful and honest hands. I was richer
+in wealth than I had ever been, and in happiness poorer than
+a beggar, while the shadow of that awful uncertainty hung
+over me.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I could not believe the official story, for the search along
+the Siberian road had been too complete not to have revealed
+evidences of the catastrophe of which it told when the snows
+melted, and none such were ever found.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;At length one night, just as I was going to bed, I was told
+that a man who would not give his name insisted on seeing me
+on business that he would tell no one but myself. All that he
+would say was that he came from Russia. That was enough.
+I ordered him to be admitted.
+<a name="page382"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 382]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;He was a stranger, ragged and careworn, and his face was
+stamped with the look of sullen, unspeakable misery that men's
+faces only wear in one part of the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;'You are from Siberia,' I said, stretching out my hand to
+him. 'Welcome, fellow-sufferer! Have you news for me?'
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;'Yes, I am from Siberia,' he replied, taking my hand; 'an
+escaped Nihilist convict from the mines. I have been four years
+getting from Kara to London, else you should have had my
+news sooner. I fear it is sad enough, but what else could you
+expect from the Russian prison-land? Here it is.'
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;As he spoke, he gave me an envelope, soiled and stained
+with long travel, and my heart stood still as I recognised in the
+blurred address the handwriting of my long-lost wife.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;With trembling fingers I opened it, and through my tears
+I read a letter that my dear one had written to me on her
+deathbed four years before.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It has lain next my heart ever since, and every word is
+burnt into my brain, to stand there against the day of vengeance.
+But I have never told their full tale of shame and woe to
+mortal ears, nor ever can.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Let it suffice to say that my wife was beautiful with a
+beauty that is rare among the daughters of men; that a
+woman's honour is held as cheaply in the wildernesses of Siberia
+as is the life of a man who is a convict.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The official story of her death was false&mdash;false as are all
+the ten thousand other lies that have come out of that abode of
+oppression and misery, and she whom I mourned would have
+been well-favoured of heaven if she had died in the snowdrifts,
+as they said she did, rather than in the shame and misery to
+which her brutal destroyer brought her.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;He was an official of high rank, and he had had the power
+to cover his crime from the knowledge of his superiors in
+St. Petersburg.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;If it was ever known, it was hushed up for fear of the
+trouble that it would have brought to his masters; but two
+years later he visited Paris, and was found one morning in bed
+with a dagger in his black heart, and across his face the mark
+that told that he had died by order of the Nihilist Executive.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;When I read those awful tidings from the grave, sorrow
+became quenchless rage, and despair was swallowed up in
+<a name="page383"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 383]</span>
+revenge. I joined the Brotherhood, and thenceforth placed
+a great portion of my wealth at their disposal. I rose in their
+councils till I commanded their whole organisation. No brain
+was so subtle as mine in planning schemes of revenge upon the
+oppressor, or of relief for the victims of his tyranny.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;In a word, I became the brain of the Brotherhood which
+men used to call Nihilists, and then I organised another Society
+behind and above this which the world has known as the
+Terror, and which the great ones of the earth have for years
+dreaded as the most potent force that ever was arrayed against
+the enemies of humanity. Of this force I have been the
+controlling brain and the directing will. It was my creature,
+and it has obeyed me blindly; but ever since that fatal day in
+the mine at Kara I have been physically helpless, and therefore
+obliged to trust to others the execution of the plans that I
+conceived.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It was for this reason that I had need of you, Alan
+Tremayne, and this is why I chose you after I had watched
+you for years unseen as you grew from youth to manhood, the
+embodiment of all that has made the Anglo-Saxon the dominant
+factor in the development of present-day humanity.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;I have employed a power which, as I firmly believe, was
+given to me when eternal justice made me the instrument of
+its vengeance upon a generation that had forgotten alike its
+God and its brother, to bend your will unconsciously to mine,
+and to compel you to do my bidding. How far I was justified
+in that let the result show.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It was once my intention to have bound you still closer to
+the Brotherhood by giving Natasha to you in marriage while
+you were yet under the spell of my will; but the Master of
+Destiny willed it otherwise, and I was saved from doing
+a great wrong, for the intention to do which I have done my
+best to atone.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+He paused for a moment and looked across the fireplace at
+Arnold and Natasha, who were sitting together on a big, low
+lounge that had been drawn up to the fire. Natasha raised
+her eyes for a moment and then dropped them. She knew
+what was coming, and a bright red flush rose up from her
+white throat to the roots of her dusky, lustrous hair.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Richard Arnold, in the first communication I ever had
+<a name="page384"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 384]</span>
+with you, I told you that if you used the powers you held in
+your hand well and wisely, you should, in the fulness of time,
+attain to your heart's desire. You have proved your faith and
+obedience in the hour of trial, and your strength and discretion
+in the day of battle. Now it is yours to ask and to have.&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+For all answer Arnold put out his hand and took hold of
+Natasha's, and said quietly but clearly&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Give me this!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;So be it!&quot; said Natas. &quot;What you have worthily won you
+will worthily wear. May your days be long and peaceful in
+the world to which you have given peace!&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+And so it came to pass that three days later, in the little
+private chapel of Alanmere Castle, the two men who held
+the destinies of the world in their hands, took to wife the two
+fairest women who ever gave their loveliness to be the crown
+of strength and the reward of loyal love.
+</p>
+<p>
+For a week the Lord of Alanmere kept open house and royal
+state, as his ancestors had done five hundred years before him.
+The conventional absurdity of the honeymoon was ignored, as
+such brides and bridegrooms might have been expected to
+ignore it. Arnold and Natasha took possession of a splendid
+suite of rooms in the eastern wing of the Castle, and the two
+new-wedded couples passed the first days of their new happiness
+under one roof without the slightest constraint; for the
+Castle was vast enough for solitude when they desired it, and
+yet the solitude was not isolation or self-centred seclusion.
+</p>
+<p>
+Tremayne's private wire kept them hourly informed of what
+was going on in London, and when necessary the <i>Ithuriel</i> was
+ready to traverse the space between Alanmere and the capital
+in an hour, as it did more than once to the great delight and
+wonderment of Tremayne's bride, to whom the marvellous
+vessel seemed a miracle of something more than merely human
+skill and genius.
+</p>
+<p>
+So the days passed swiftly and happily until the Christmas
+bells of 1904 rang out over the length and breadth of Christendom,
+for the first time proclaiming in very truth and fact, so
+far as the Western world was concerned, &quot;Peace on earth,
+Goodwill to Man.&quot;
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+On the 8th of January a swift warship, attended by two
+<a name="page385"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 385]</span>
+dynamite cruisers, left Portsmouth, bound for Odessa. She
+had on board the last of the Tsars of Russia, and those of his
+generals and Ministers who had been taken prisoners with him
+on Muswell Hill. A thousand feet overhead floated the <i>Ariel</i>,
+under the command of Alexis Mazanoff.
+</p>
+<p>
+From Odessa the prisoners were taken by train to Moscow.
+There, in the Central Convict Depot, they met their families
+and the officials whose share in their crimes made it necessary
+to bring them under the sentence pronounced by Natas. They
+were chained together in squads, Tsar and prince, noble and
+official, exactly as their own countless victims had been in the
+past, and so they were taken with their wives and children by
+train to Ekaterinenburg.
+</p>
+<p>
+Although the railway extended as far as Tomsk, Mazanoff
+made them disembark here, and marched them by the Great
+Siberian road to the Pillar of Farewells on the Asiatic frontier.
+There, as so many thousands of heart-broken, despairing men
+and women had done before them, they looked their last on
+Russian soil.
+</p>
+<p>
+From here they were marched on to the first Siberian <i>etapé</i>,
+one of a long series of foul and pestilential prisons which were
+to be the only halting-places on their long and awful journey.
+The next morning, as soon as the chill grey light of the winter's
+dawn broke over the snow-covered plains, the men were formed
+up in line, with the sleighs carrying the women and children in
+the rear. When all was ready Mazanoff gave the word:
+&quot;Forward!&quot; the whips of the Cossacks cracked, and the
+mournful procession moved slowly onward into the vast,
+white, silent wilderness, out of which none save the guards
+were destined ever to emerge again.
+</p>
+<p class="figurecenter">
+<img src="images/ill-p384b.jpg" alt="Into the vast, white, silent wilderness, out of which none save the guards were destined ever to emerge again." width="640" height="461" />
+</p>
+<p class="captioncenter">
+&quot;Into the vast, white, silent wilderness, out of which none save the guards were destined ever to emerge again.&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="captionright">
+<i>See <a href="#page385">page 385</a>.</i>
+<a name="page386"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 386]</span>
+</p>
+<h2>
+<a name="chapter50"></a>
+EPILOGUE.
+</h2>
+<p class="h2a">
+&quot;AND ON EARTH PEACE!&quot;
+</p>
+<div class="drop">
+<img src="images/dc-p386.png" alt="T" width="123" height="137" class="cap" /><p class="cap_1">
+The winter and summer of 1905 passed in
+unbroken tranquillity all over Europe and the
+English-speaking world. The nations, at last
+utterly sickened of bloodshed by the brief but
+awful experience of the last six months of
+1904, earnestly and gladly accepted the new
+order of things. From first to last of the war the slaughter
+had averaged more than a million of fighting men a month,
+and fully five millions of non-combatants, men, women, and
+children, had fallen victims to famine and disease, or had been
+killed during the wholesale destruction of fortified towns by
+the war-balloons of the League. At the lowest calculation the
+invasion of England had cost four million lives.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+It was an awful butcher's bill, and when the peoples of
+Europe awoke from the delirium of war to look back upon the
+frightful carnival of death and destruction, and realise that
+all this desolation and ruin had come to pass in little more
+than seven months, so deep a horror of war and all its
+abominations possessed them that they hailed with delight
+the safeguards provided against it by the new European
+Constitution which was made public at the end of March.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a singularly short and simple document considering
+the immense changes which it introduced. It contained only
+five clauses. Of these the first proclaimed the supremacy of
+the Anglo-Saxon Federation in all matters of international
+policy, and set forth the penalties to be incurred by any State
+that made war upon another.
+</p>
+<p>
+The second constituted an International Board of Arbitration
+<a name="page387"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 387]</span>
+and Control, composed of all the Sovereigns of Europe
+and their Prime Ministers for the time being, with the new
+President of the United States, the Governor-General of
+Canada, and the President of the now federated Australasian
+Colonies. This Board was to meet in sections every year in
+the various capitals of Europe, and collectively every five
+years in London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, and New
+York in rotation. There was no appeal from its decision
+save to the Supreme Council of the Federation, and this
+appeal could only be made with the consent of the President
+of that Council, given after the facts of the matter in dispute
+had been laid before him in writing.
+</p>
+<p>
+The third clause dealt with the rearrangement of the
+European frontiers. The Rhine from Karlsruhe to Basle
+was made the political as well as the natural boundary
+between France and Germany. The ancient kingdom of
+Poland was restored, with the frontiers it had possessed
+before the First Partition in 1773, and a descendant of
+Kosciusko, elected by the votes of the adult citizens of the
+reconstituted kingdom, was placed upon the throne. Turkey
+in Europe ceased to exist as a political power. Constantinople
+was garrisoned by British and Federation troops, and the
+country was administered for the time being by a Provisional
+Government under the presidency of Lord Cromer, who was
+responsible only to the Supreme Council. The other States
+were left undisturbed.
+</p>
+<p>
+The fourth and fifth clauses dealt with land, property, and
+law. All tenures of land existing before the war were cancelled
+at a stroke, and the soil of each country was declared to
+be the sole and inalienable property of the State. No occupiers
+were disturbed who were turning the land to profitable
+account, or who were making use of a reasonable area as a
+residential estate; but the great landowners in the country
+and the ground landlords in the towns ceased to exist as such,
+and all private incomes derived from the rent of land were
+declared illegal and so forfeited.
+</p>
+<p>
+All incomes unearned by productive work of hand or brain
+were subjected to a progressive tax, which reached fifty per
+cent. when the income amounted to £10,000 a year. It is
+almost needless to say that these clauses raised a tremendous
+<a name="page388"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 388]</span>
+outcry among the limited classes they affected; but the
+only reply made to it by the President of the Supreme
+Council was &quot;that honestly earned incomes paid no tax, and
+that the idle and useless classes ought to be thankful to be
+permitted to exist at any price. The alternative of the tax
+would be compulsory labour paid for at its actual value by
+the State.&quot; Without one exception the grumblers preferred
+to pay the tax.
+</p>
+<p>
+All rents, revised according to the actual value of the
+produce or property, were to be paid direct to the State. As
+long as he paid this rent-tax no man could be disturbed in the
+possession of his holding. If he did not pay it the non-payment
+was to be held as presumptive evidence that he was not
+making a proper use of it, and he was to receive a year's notice
+to quit; but if at the end of that time he had amended his
+ways the notice was to be revoked.
+</p>
+<p>
+In all countries the Civil and Criminal Codes of Law were
+to be amalgamated and simplified by a committee of judges
+appointed directly by the Parliament with the assent of the
+Sovereign. The fifth clause of the Constitution plainly
+stated that no man was to be expected to obey a law that he
+could not understand, and that the Supreme Council would
+uphold no law which was so complicated that it needed a
+legal expert to explain it.
+</p>
+<p>
+It is almost needless to say that this clause swept away at
+a blow that pernicious class of hired advocates who had for
+ages grown rich on the weakness and the dishonesty of their
+fellow-men. In after years it was found that the abolition of
+the professional lawyer had furthered the cause of peace and
+progress quite as efficiently as the prohibition of standing
+armies had done.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the conclusion of the war the a&euml;rial fleet was increased
+to twenty-five vessels exclusive of the flagship. The number
+of war-balloons was raised to fifty, and three millions of
+Federation soldiers were held ready for active service until
+the conclusion of the war in the East between the Moslems
+and Buddhists. By November the Moslems were victors all
+along the line, and during the last week of that month the
+last battle between Christian and Moslem was fought on the
+Southern shore of the Bosphorus.
+<a name="page389"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 389]</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+All communications with the Asiatic and African shores of
+the Mediterranean were cut as soon as it became certain that
+Sultan Mohammed Reshad, at the head of a million and a half
+of victorious Moslems, and supported by Prince Abbas of
+Egypt at the head of seven hundred thousand more, was
+marching to the reconquest of Turkey. The most elaborate
+precautions were taken to prevent any detailed information as
+to the true state of things in Europe reaching the Sultan, as
+Tremayne and Arnold had come to the conclusion that it
+would be better, if he persisted in courting inevitable defeat,
+that it should fall upon him with crushing force and stupefying
+suddenness, so that he might be the more inclined to listen to
+reason afterwards.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Mediterranean was patrolled from end to end by air-ships
+and dynamite cruisers, and a&euml;rial scouts marked every
+movement of the victorious Sultan until it became absolutely
+certain that his objective point was Scutari. Meanwhile, two
+millions of men had been concentrated between Galata and
+Constantinople, while another million occupied the northern
+shore of the Dardanelles. An immense force of warships and
+dynamite cruisers swarmed between Gallipoli and the Golden
+Horn. Twenty air-ships and forty-five war-balloons lay
+outside Constantinople, ready to take the air at a moment's
+notice.
+</p>
+<p>
+The conqueror of Northern Africa and Southern Asia had
+only a very general idea as to what had really happened in
+Europe. His march of conquest had not been interrupted by
+any European expedition. The Moslems of India had exterminated
+the British garrisons, and there had been no attempt
+at retaliation or vengeance, as there had been in the days of
+the Mutiny. England, he knew, had been invaded, but
+according to the reports which had reached him, none of the
+invaders had ever got out of the island alive, and then the
+English had come out and conquered Europe. Of the
+wonderful doings of the a&euml;rial fleets only the vaguest rumours
+had come to his ears, and these had been so exaggerated and
+distorted, that he had but a very confused idea of the real state
+of affairs.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Moslem forces were permitted to advance without the
+slightest molestation to Scutari and Lamsaki, and on the
+<a name="page390"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 390]</span>
+evening of the 28th of November the Sultan took up his
+quarters in Scutari. That night he received a letter from the
+President of the Federation, setting forth succinctly, and yet
+very clearly, what had actually taken place in Europe, and
+calling upon him to give his allegiance to the Supreme Council,
+as the other sovereigns had done, and to accept the overlordship
+of Northern Africa and Southern Asia in exchange for Turkey
+in Europe. The letter concluded by saying that the immediate
+result of refusal to accept these terms would be the destruction
+of the Moslem armies on the following day. Before midnight,
+Tremayne received the Sultan's reply. It ran thus&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+In the name of the Most Merciful God.
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+From <span class="smcap">Mohammed Reshad</span>, Commander of the Faithful, to <span class="smcap">Alan<br />
+Tremayne</span>, Leader of the English.<br />
+</p>
+<p>
+I have come to retake the throne of my fathers, and I am not to be turned
+back by vain and boastful threats. What I have won with the sword I will
+keep with the sword, and I will own allegiance to none save God and His holy
+Prophet who have given me the victory. Give me back Stamboul and my
+ancient dominions, and we will divide the world between us. If not we must
+fight. Let the reply to this come before daybreak.
+</p>
+<p class="nowrap">
+<span class="smcap">Mohammed</span>.<br />
+</p>
+<p>
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+No reply came back; but during the night the dynamite
+cruisers were drawn up within half a mile of the Asiatic shore
+with their guns pointing southward over Scutari, while other
+warships patrolled the coast to detect and frustrate any
+attempt to transport guns or troops across the narrow strip of
+water. With the first glimmer of light, the two a&euml;rial fleets
+took the air, the war-balloons in a long line over the van of
+the Moslem army, and the air-ships spread out in a semicircle
+to the southward. The hour of prayer was allowed to pass in
+peace, and then the work of death began. The war-balloons
+moved slowly forward in a straight line at an elevation of four
+thousand feet, sweeping the Moslem host from van to rear
+with a ceaseless hail of melinite and cyanogen bombs. Great
+projectiles soared silently up from the water to the north, and
+where they fell buildings were torn to fragments, great holes
+were blasted into the earth, and every human being within the
+radius of the explosion was blown to pieces, or hurled stunned
+to the ground. But more mysterious and terrible than all
+were the effects of the assault delivered by the air-ships, which
+<a name="page391"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 391]</span>
+divided into squadrons and swept hither and thither in wide
+curves, with the sunlight shining on their silvery hulls and
+their long slender guns, smokeless and flameless, hurling the
+most awful missiles of all far and wide, over a scene of
+butchery and horror that beggared all description.
+</p>
+<p>
+In vain the gallant Moslems looked for enemies in the flesh
+to confront them. None appeared save a few sentinels across
+the Bosphorus. And still the work of slaughter went on,
+pitiless and passionless as the earthquake or the thunderstorm.
+Millions of shots were fired into the air without result, and by
+the time the rain of death had been falling without intermission
+for two hours, an irresistible panic fell upon the Moslem
+soldiery. They had never met enemies like these before, and,
+brave as lions and yet simple as children, they looked upon
+them as something more than human, and with one accord
+they flung away their weapons and raised their hands in
+supplication to the sky. Instantly the a&euml;rial bombardment
+ceased, and within an hour East and West had shaken hands,
+Sultan Mohammed had accepted the terms of the Federation,
+and the long warfare of Cross and Crescent had ceased, as men
+hoped, for ever.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the proclamation was issued disbanding the armies of
+Britain and the Federation and the forces of the Sultan.
+The warships steamed away westward on their last voyage
+to the South Atlantic, beneath whose waves they were soon
+to sink with all their guns and armaments for ever. The
+war-balloons were to be kept for purposes of transportation
+of heavy articles to Aeria, while the fleet of air-ships was to
+remain the sole effective fighting force in the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+While these events were taking place in Europe, those who
+had been banished as outcasts from the society of civilised
+men by the terrible justice of Natas had been plodding their
+weary way, in the tracks of the thousands they had themselves
+sent to a living grave, along the Great Siberian Road
+to the hideous wilderness, in the midst of which lie the
+mines of Kara. From the Pillar of Farewells to Tiumen,
+from thence to Tomsk,&mdash;where they met the first of the
+released political exiles returning in a joyous band to their
+beloved Russia,&mdash;and thence to Irkutsk, and then over the
+ice of Lake Baikal, and through the awful frozen desert of
+<a name="page392"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 392]</span>
+the Trans-Baikal Provinces, they had been driven like cattle
+until the remnant that had survived the horrors of the awful
+journey reached the desolate valley of the Kara and were
+finally halted at the Lower Diggings.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of nearly three hundred strong and well-fed men who had
+said good-bye to liberty at the Pillar of Farewells, only a
+hundred and twenty pallid and emaciated wretches stood
+shivering in their rags and chains when the muster was
+called on the morning after their arrival at Kara. Mazanoff
+and his escort had carried out their part of the sentence of
+Natas to the letter. The arctic blasts from the Tundras, the
+forced march, the chain and the scourge had done their
+work, and more than half the exile-convicts had found in
+nameless graves along the road respite from the long horrors
+of the fate which awaited the survivors.
+</p>
+<p>
+The first name called in the last muster was Alexander
+Romanoff. &quot;Here,&quot; came in a deep hollow tone from the
+gaunt and ragged wreck of the giant who twelve months before
+had been the stateliest figure in the brilliant galaxy of
+European Royalty.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Your sentence is hard labour in the mines for&quot;&mdash;The
+last word was never spoken, for ere it was uttered the tall
+and still erect form of the dethroned Autocrat suddenly
+shrank together, lurched forward, and fell with a choking
+gasp and a clash of chains upon the hard-trampled snow.
+A stream of blood rushed from his white, half-open lips,
+and when they went to raise him he was dead.
+</p>
+<p>
+If ever son of woman died of a broken heart it was
+Alexander Romanoff, last of the tyrants of Russia. Never
+had the avenging hand of Nemesis, though long-delayed,
+fallen with more precise and terrible justice. On the very
+spot on which thousands of his subjects and fellow-creatures,
+innocent of all crime save a desire for progress, had worn
+out their lives in torturing toil to provide the gold that had
+gilded his luxury, he fell as the Idol fell of old in the temple
+of Dagon.
+</p>
+<p>
+He had seen the blasting of his highest hopes in the hour
+of their apparent fruition. He had beheld the destruction
+of his army and the ruin of his dynasty. He had seen
+kindred and friends and faithful servants sink under the
+<a name="page393"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 393]</span>
+nameless horrors of a fate he could do nothing to alleviate,
+and with the knowledge that nothing but death could release
+them from it, and now at the last moment death had snatched
+from him even the poor consolation of sharing the sufferings
+of those nearest and dearest to him on earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+This happened on the 1st of December 1905, at nine
+o'clock in the morning. At the same hour Arnold leapt the
+<i>Ithuriel</i> over the Ridge, passed down the valley of Aeria like
+a flash of silver light, and dropped to earth on the shores of
+the lake. In the same grove of palms which had witnessed
+their despairing betrothal he found Natasha swinging in a
+hammock, with a black-eyed six-weeks'-old baby nestling in
+her bosom, and her own loveliness softened and etherealised
+by the sacred grace of motherhood.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Welcome, my lord!&quot; she said, with a bright flush of
+pleasure and the sweetest smile even he had ever seen
+transfiguring her beauty, as she stretched out her hand in
+welcome at his approach. &quot;Does the King come in peace?&quot;
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Yes, Angel mine! the empire that you asked for is yours.
+There is not a regiment of men under arms in all the civilised
+world. The last battle has been fought and won, and so there
+is peace on earth at last!&quot;
+</p>
+<p class="theend">
+THE END
+</p>
+<p class="titlecenter">
+MORRISON AND GIBB PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.<br />
+<a name="page394"></a> <span class="pagenum">[Pg 394]</span>
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p class="titlecenter">
+Now Ready, Third Edition.
+</p>
+<p class="titlecenter">
+<i>308 pages, demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s.</i>,
+</p>
+<p class="titlecenter">
+THE CAPTAIN OF THE MARY ROSE.<br />
+<i>A TALE OF TO-MORROW.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="titlecenter">
+By W. LAIRD CLOWES,<br />
+U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE.
+</p>
+<p class="titlecenter">
+With 60 Illustrations by the Chevalier de Martino and Fred. T. Jane.
+</p>
+<p class="titlecenter">
+<i>A most graphic and enthralling description of the next Naval War between
+France and Great Britain.</i>
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p class="titlecenter">
+THE FOLLOWING ARE A FEW PRESS OPINIONS.
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Deserves something more than a mere passing notice.&quot;&mdash;<i>The Times.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Full of exciting situations.... Has manifold attractions for all sorts
+of readers.&quot;&mdash;<i>Army and Navy Gazette.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The most notable book of the season.&quot;&mdash;<i>The Standard.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;A clever book. Mr. Clowes is pre-eminent for literary touch and
+practical knowledge of naval affairs.&quot;&mdash;<i>Daily Chronicle.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Mr. W. Laird Clowes' exciting story.&quot;&mdash;<i>Daily Telegraph.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;We read 'The Captain of the Mary Rose' at a sitting.&quot;&mdash;<i>The Pall
+Mall Gazette.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Written with no little spirit and imagination.... A stirring romance
+of the future.&quot;&mdash;<i>Manchester Guardian.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Is of a realistic and exciting character.... Designed to show what
+the naval warfare of the future may be.&quot;&mdash;<i>Glasgow Herald.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;One of the most interesting volumes of the year.&quot;&mdash;<i>Liverpool Journal
+of Commerce.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;It is well told and magnificently illustrated.&quot;&mdash;<i>United Service Magazine.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Full of absorbing interest.&quot;&mdash;<i>Engineer's Gazette.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;Is intensely realistic, so much so that after commencing the story every
+one will be anxious to read to the end.&quot;&mdash;<i>Dundee Advertiser.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+&quot;The book is splendidly illustrated.&quot;&mdash;<i>Northern Whig.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="titlecenter">
+TOWER PUBLISHING CO. LIMITED,
+</p>
+<p class="titlecenter">
+91 MINORIES, LONDON, E.C.;
+</p>
+<p class="titlecenter">
+<i>And all Booksellers throughout the Kingdom</i>.
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Angel of the Revolution, by George Griffith
+
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+Project Gutenberg's The Angel of the Revolution, by George Griffith
+
+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: The Angel of the Revolution
+       A Tale of the Coming Terror
+
+Author: George Griffith
+
+Illustrator: Fred T. Jane
+
+Release Date: February 18, 2010 [EBook #31324]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Michael Roe and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION
+
+
+MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
+
+[Illustration: _Drawn by Edwin S. Hope._
+
+NATASHA]
+
+
+
+
+THE ANGEL
+OF THE
+REVOLUTION
+
+A Tale of the Coming Terror
+
+
+BY
+GEORGE GRIFFITH
+
+_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY FRED. T. JANE_
+
+FIFTH EDITION
+
+LONDON
+TOWER PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED
+91 MINORIES, E.C.
+1894
+
+_Copyrighted Abroad_]    [_All Foreign Rights Reserved_
+
+TO
+CYRIL ARTHUR PEARSON
+TO WHOSE SUGGESTION
+THE WRITING OF THIS STORY
+WAS PRIMARILY DUE
+THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED
+BY
+THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  CHAP.                                        PAGE
+
+  I. AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR,                       1
+
+  II. AT WAR WITH SOCIETY,                       8
+
+  III. A FRIENDLY CHAT,                         16
+
+  IV. THE HOUSE ON CLAPHAM COMMON,              23
+
+  V. THE INNER CIRCLE,                          30
+
+  VI. NEW FRIENDS,                              37
+
+  VII. THE DAUGHTER OF NATAS,                   46
+
+  VIII. LEARNING THE PART,                      54
+
+  IX. THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS,                 63
+
+  X. THE "ARIEL,"                               70
+
+  XI. FIRST BLOOD,                              78
+
+  XII. IN THE MASTER'S NAME,                    85
+
+  XIII. FOR LIFE OR DEATH,                      91
+
+  XIV. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT,                98
+
+  XV. A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY,                   103
+
+  XVI. A WOOING IN MID-AIR,                    110
+
+  XVII. AERIA FELIX,                           119
+
+  XVIII. A NAVY OF THE FUTURE,                 127
+
+  XIX. THE EVE OF BATTLE,                      135
+
+  XX. BETWEEN TWO LIVES,                       141
+
+  XXI. JUST IN TIME,                           153
+
+  XXII. ARMED NEUTRALITY,                      162
+
+  XXIII. A BATTLE IN THE NIGHT,                169
+
+  XXIV. THE NEW WARFARE,                       179
+
+  XXV. THE HERALDS OF DISASTER,                188
+
+  XXVI. AN INTERLUDE,                          193
+
+  XXVII. ON THE TRACK OF TREASON,              201
+
+  XXVIII. A SKIRMISH IN THE CLOUDS,            208
+
+  XXIX. AN EMBASSY FROM THE SKY,               216
+
+  XXX. AT CLOSE QUARTERS,                      225
+
+  XXXI. A RUSSIAN RAID,                        233
+
+  XXXII. THE END OF THE CHASE,                 241
+
+  XXXIII. THE BREAKING OF THE CHARM,           247
+
+  XXXIV. THE PATH OF CONQUEST,                 251
+
+  XXXV. FROM CHAOS TO ARCADIE,                 258
+
+  XXXVI. LOVE AND DUTY,                        267
+
+  XXXVII. THE CAPTURE OF A CONTINENT,          276
+
+  XXXVIII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END,           289
+
+  XXXIX. THE BATTLE OF DOVER,                  295
+
+  XL. BELEAGUERED LONDON,                      301
+
+  XLI. AN ENVOY OF DELIVERANCE,                308
+
+  XLII. THE EVE OF ARMAGEDDON,                 315
+
+  XLIII. THE OLD LION AT BAY,                  323
+
+  XLIV. THE TURN OF THE BATTLE-TIDE,           331
+
+  XLV. ARMAGEDDON,                             339
+
+  XLVI. VICTORY,                               347
+
+  XLVII. THE JUDGMENT OF NATAS,                355
+
+  XLVIII. THE ORDERING OF EUROPE,              366
+
+  XLIX. THE STORY OF THE MASTER,               375
+
+  EPILOGUE.--"AND ON EARTH PEACE!"             386
+
+
+
+
+THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR.
+
+
+"Victory! It flies! I am master of the Powers of the Air at last!"
+
+They were strange words to be uttered, as they were, by a pale,
+haggard, half-starved looking young fellow in a dingy, comfortless
+room on the top floor of a South London tenement-house; and yet there
+was a triumphant ring in his voice, and a clear, bright flush on his
+thin cheeks that spoke at least for his own absolute belief in their
+truth.
+
+Let us see how far he was justified in that belief.
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+To begin at the beginning, Richard Arnold was one of those men whom
+the world is wont to call dreamers and enthusiasts before they
+succeed, and heaven-born geniuses and benefactors of humanity
+afterwards.
+
+He was twenty-six, and for nearly six years past he had devoted
+himself, soul and body, to a single idea--to the so far unsolved
+problem of aerial navigation.
+
+This idea had haunted him ever since he had been able to think
+logically at all--first dimly at school, and then more clearly at
+college, where he had carried everything before him in mathematics
+and natural science, until it had at last become a ruling passion
+that crowded everything else out of his life, and made him,
+commercially speaking, that most useless of social units--a
+one-idea'd man, whose idea could not be put into working form.
+
+He was an orphan, with hardly a blood relation in the world. He had
+started with plenty of friends, mostly made at college, who thought
+he had a brilliant future before him, and therefore looked upon him
+as a man whom it might be useful to know.
+
+But as time went on, and no results came, these dropped off, and he
+got to be looked upon as an amiable lunatic, who was wasting his
+great talents and what money he had on impracticable fancies, when he
+might have been earning a handsome income if he had stuck to the
+beaten track, and gone in for practical work.
+
+The distinctions that he had won at college, and the reputation he
+had gained as a wonderfully clever chemist and mechanician, had led
+to several offers of excellent positions in great engineering firms;
+but to the surprise and disgust of his friends he had declined them
+all. No one knew why, for he had kept his secret with the almost
+passionate jealousy of the true enthusiast, and so his refusals were
+put down to sheer foolishness, and he became numbered with the
+geniuses who are failures because they are not practical.
+
+When he came of age he had inherited a couple of thousand pounds,
+which had been left in trust to him by his father. Had it not been
+for that two thousand pounds he would have been forced to employ his
+knowledge and his talents conventionally, and would probably have
+made a fortune. But it was just enough to relieve him from the
+necessity of earning his living for the time being, and to make it
+possible for him to devote himself entirely to the realisation of his
+life-dream--at any rate until the money was gone.
+
+Of course he yielded to the temptation--nay, he never gave the other
+course a moment's thought. Two thousand pounds would last him for
+years; and no one could have persuaded him that with complete
+leisure, freedom from all other concerns, and money for the necessary
+experiments, he would not have succeeded long before his capital was
+exhausted.
+
+So he put the money into a bank whence he could draw it out as he
+chose, and withdrew himself from the world to work out the ideal of
+his life.
+
+Year after year passed, and still success did not come. He found
+practice very different from theory, and in a hundred details he met
+with difficulties he had never seen on paper. Meanwhile his money
+melted away in costly experiments which only raised hopes that ended
+in bitter disappointment. His wonderful machine was a miracle of
+ingenuity, and was mechanically perfect in every detail save one--it
+would do no practical work.
+
+Like every other inventor who had grappled with the problem, he had
+found himself constantly faced with that fatal ratio of weight to
+power. No engine that he could devise would do more than lift itself
+and the machine. Again and again he had made a toy that would fly, as
+others had done before him, but a machine that would navigate the air
+as a steamer or an electric vessel navigated the waters, carrying
+cargo and passengers, was still an impossibility while that terrible
+problem of weight and power remained unsolved.
+
+In order to eke out his money to the uttermost, he had clothed and
+lodged himself meanly, and had denied himself everything but the
+barest necessaries of life.
+
+Thus he had prolonged the struggle for over five years of toil and
+privation and hope deferred, and now, when his last sovereign had
+been changed and nearly spent, success--real, tangible, practical
+success--had come to him, and the discovery that was to be to the
+twentieth century what the steam-engine had been to the nineteenth
+was accomplished.
+
+He had discovered the true motive power at last.
+
+Two liquefied gases--which, when united, exploded spontaneously--were
+admitted by a clockwork escapement in minute quantities into the
+cylinders of his engine, and worked the pistons by the expansive
+force of the gases generated by the explosion. There was no weight
+but the engine itself and the cylinders containing the liquefied
+gases. Furnaces, boilers, condensers, accumulators, dynamos--all the
+ponderous apparatus of steam and electricity--were done away with,
+and he had a power at command greater than either of them.
+
+There was no doubt about it. The moment that his trembling fingers
+set the escapement mechanism in motion, the model that embodied the
+thought and labour of years rose into the air as gracefully as a bird
+on the wing, and sailed round and round in obedience to its rudder,
+straining hard at the string which prevented it from striking the
+ceiling. It was weighted in strict proportion to the load that the
+full-sized air-ship would have to carry. To increase this was merely
+a matter of increasing the power of the engine and the size of the
+floats and fans.
+
+The room was a large one, for the house had been built for a better
+fate than letting in tenements, and it ran from back to front with a
+window at each end. Out of doors there was a strong breeze blowing,
+and as soon as Arnold was sure that his ship was able to hold its own
+in still air, he threw both the windows open and let the wind blow
+straight through the room. Then he drew the air-ship down,
+straightened the rudder, and set it against the breeze.
+
+In almost agonised suspense he watched it rise from the floor, float
+motionless for a moment, and then slowly forge ahead in the teeth of
+the wind, gathering speed as it went. It was then that he had uttered
+that triumphant cry of "Victory!" All the long years of privation and
+hope deferred vanished in that one supreme moment of innocent and
+bloodless conquest, and he saw himself master of a kingdom as wide as
+the world itself.
+
+He let the model fly the length of the room before he stopped the
+clockwork and cut off the motive power, allowing it to sink gently to
+the floor. Then came the reaction. He looked steadfastly at his
+handiwork for several moments in silence, and then he turned and
+threw himself on to a shabby little bed that stood in one corner of
+the room and burst into a flood of tears.
+
+Triumph had come, but had it not come too late? He knew the boundless
+possibilities of his invention--but they had still to be realised. To
+do this would cost thousands of pounds, and he had just one
+half-crown and a few coppers. Even these were not really his own, for
+he was already a week behind with his rent, and another payment fell
+due the next day. That would be twelve shillings in all, and if it
+was not paid he would be turned into the street.
+
+As he raised himself from the bed he looked despairingly round the
+bare, shabby room. No; there was nothing there that he could pawn or
+sell. Everything saleable had gone already to keep up the struggle of
+hope against despair. The bed and wash-stand, the plain deal table,
+and the one chair that comprised the furniture of the room were not
+his. A little carpenter's bench, a few worn tools and odds and ends
+of scientific apparatus, and a dozen well-used books--these were all
+that he possessed in the world now, save the clothes on his back, and
+a plain painted sea-chest in which he was wont to lock up his
+precious model when he had to go out.
+
+His model! No, he could not sell that. At best it would fetch but the
+price of an ingenious toy, and without the secret of the two gases it
+was useless. But was not that worth something? Yes, if he did not
+starve to death before he could persuade any one that there was money
+in it. Besides, the chest and its priceless contents would be seized
+for the rent next day, and then--
+
+"God help me! What _am_ I to do?"
+
+The words broke from him like a cry of physical pain, and ended in a
+sob, and for all answer there was the silence of the room and the
+inarticulate murmur of the streets below coming up through the open
+windows.
+
+He was weak with hunger and sick with excitement, for he had lived
+for days on bread and cheese, and that day he had eaten nothing since
+the crust that had served him for breakfast. His nerves, too, were
+shattered by the intense strain of his final trial and triumph, and
+his head was getting light.
+
+With a desperate effort he recovered himself, and the heroic
+resolution that had sustained him through his long struggle came to
+his aid again. He got up and poured some water from the ewer into a
+cracked cup and drank it. It refreshed him for the moment, and he
+poured the rest of the water over his head. That steadied his nerves
+and cleared his brain. He took up the model from the floor, laid it
+tenderly and lovingly in its usual resting-place in the chest. Then
+he locked the chest and sat down upon it to think the situation over.
+
+Ten minutes later he rose to his feet and said aloud--
+
+"It's no use. I can't think on an empty stomach. I'll go out and have
+one more good meal if it's the last I ever have in the world, and
+then perhaps some ideas will come."
+
+So saying, he took down his hat, buttoned his shabby velveteen coat
+to conceal his lack of a waistcoat, and went out, locking the door
+behind him as he went.
+
+Five minutes' walk brought him to the Blackfriars Road, and then he
+turned towards the river and crossed the bridge just as the motley
+stream of city workers was crossing it in the opposite direction on
+their homeward journey.
+
+At Ludgate Circus he went into an eating-house and fared sumptuously
+on a plate of beef, some bread and butter, and a pint mug of coffee.
+As he was eating a paper-boy came in and laid an _Echo_ on the table
+at which he was sitting. He took it up mechanically, and ran his eye
+carelessly over the columns. He was in no humour to be interested by
+the tattle of an evening paper, but in a paragraph under the heading
+of Foreign News a once familiar name caught his eye, and he read the
+paragraph through. It ran as follows:--
+
+      RAILWAY OUTRAGE IN RUSSIA.
+
+    When the Berlin-Petersburg express stopped last night at Kovno,
+    the first stop after passing the Russian frontier, a shocking
+    discovery was made in the smoking compartment of the palace car
+    which has been on the train for the last few months. Colonel
+    Dornovitch, of the Imperial Police, who is understood to have
+    been on his return journey from a secret mission to Paris, was
+    found stabbed to the heart and quite dead. In the centre of the
+    forehead were two short straight cuts in the form of a *T*
+    reaching to the bone. Not long ago Colonel Dornovitch was
+    instrumental in unearthing a formidable Nihilist conspiracy, in
+    connection with which over fifty men and women of various social
+    ranks were exiled for life to Siberia. The whole affair is
+    wrapped in the deepest mystery, the only clue in the hands of the
+    police being the fact that the cross cut on the forehead of the
+    victim indicates that the crime is the work, not of the Nihilists
+    proper, but of that unknown and mysterious society usually
+    alluded to as the Terrorists, not one of whom has ever been seen
+    save in his crimes. How the assassin managed to enter and leave
+    the car unperceived while the train was going at full speed is an
+    apparently insoluble riddle. Saving the victim and the
+    attendants, the only passengers in the car who had not retired to
+    rest were another officer in the Russian service and Lord
+    Alanmere, who was travelling to St. Petersburg to resume, after
+    leave of absence, the duties of the Secretaryship to the British
+    Embassy, to which he was appointed some two years ago.
+
+"Why, that must be the Lord Alanmere who was at Trinity in my time,
+or rather Viscount Tremayne, as he was then," mused Arnold, as he
+laid the paper down. "We were very good friends in those days. I
+wonder if he'd know me now, and lend me a ten-pound note to get me
+out of the infernal fix I'm in? I believe he would, for he was one of
+the few really good-hearted men I have so far met with.
+
+"If he were in London I really think I should take courage from my
+desperation, and put my case before him and ask his help. However,
+he's not in London, and so it's no use wishing. Well, I feel more of
+a man for that shillingsworth of food and drink, and I'll go and wind
+up my dissipation with a pipe and a quiet think on the Embankment."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+AT WAR WITH SOCIETY.
+
+
+When Richard Arnold reached the Embankment dusk had deepened into
+night, so far, at least, as nature was concerned. But in London in
+the beginning of the twentieth century there was but little night to
+speak of, save in the sense of a division of time. The date of the
+paper which contained the account of the tragedy on the Russian
+railway was September 3rd, 1903, and within the last ten years
+enormous progress had been made in electric lighting.
+
+The ebb and flow in the Thames had at last been turned to account,
+and worked huge turbines which perpetually stored up electric power
+that was used not only for lighting, but for cooking in hotels and
+private houses, and for driving machinery. At all the great centres
+of traffic huge electric suns cast their rays far and wide along the
+streets, supplementing the light of the lesser lamps with which they
+were lined on each side.
+
+The Embankment from Westminster to Blackfriars was bathed in a flood
+of soft white light from hundreds of great lamps running along both
+sides, and from the centre of each bridge a million candle-power sun
+cast rays upon the water that were continued in one unbroken stream
+of light from Chelsea to the Tower.
+
+On the north side of the river the scene was one of brilliant and
+splendid opulence, that contrasted strongly with the half-lighted
+gloom of the murky wilderness of South London, dark and forbidding in
+its irredeemable ugliness.
+
+From Blackfriars Arnold walked briskly towards Westminster, bitterly
+contrasting as he went the lavish display of wealth around him with
+the sordid and seemingly hopeless poverty of his own desperate
+condition.
+
+He was the maker and possessor of a far greater marvel than anything
+that helped to make up this splendid scene, and yet the ragged tramps
+who were remorselessly moved on from one seat to another by the
+policemen as soon as they had settled themselves down for a rest and
+a doze, were hardly poorer than he was.
+
+For nearly four hours he paced backwards and forwards, every now and
+then stopping to lean on the parapet, and once or twice to sit down,
+until the chill autumn wind pierced his scanty clothing, and
+compelled him to resume his walk in order to get warm again.
+
+All the time he turned his miserable situation over and over again in
+his mind without avail. There seemed no way out of it; no way of
+obtaining the few pounds that would save him from homeless beggary
+and his splendid invention from being lost to him and the world,
+certainly for years, and perhaps for ever.
+
+And then, as hour after hour went by, and still no cheering thought
+came, the misery of the present pressed closer and closer upon him.
+He dare not go home, for that would be to bring the inevitable
+disaster of the morrow nearer, and, besides, it was home no longer
+till the rent was paid. He had two shillings, and he owed at least
+twelve. He was also the maker of a machine for which the Tsar of
+Russia had made a standing offer of a million sterling. That million
+might have been his if he had possessed the money necessary to bring
+his invention under the notice of the great Autocrat.
+
+That was the position he had turned over and over in his mind until
+its horrible contradictions maddened him. With a little money, riches
+and fame were his; without it he was a beggar in sight of starvation.
+
+And yet he doubted whether, even in his present dire extremity, he
+could, had he had the chance, sell what might be made the most
+terrific engine of destruction ever thought of to the head and front
+of a despotism that he looked upon as the worst earthly enemy of
+mankind.
+
+For the twentieth time he had paused in his weary walk to and fro to
+lean on the parapet close by Cleopatra's Needle. The Embankment was
+almost deserted now, save by the tramps and a few isolated wanderers
+like himself. For several minutes he looked out over the brightly
+glittering waters below him, wondering listlessly how long it would
+take him to drown if he dropped over, and whether he would be rescued
+before he was dead, and brought back to life, and prosecuted the next
+day for daring to try and leave the world save in the conventional
+and orthodox fashion.
+
+Then his mind wandered back to the Tsar and his million, and he
+pictured to himself the awful part that a fleet of air-ships such as
+his would play in the general European war that people said could not
+now be put off for many months longer. As he thought of this the
+vision grew in distinctness, and he saw them hovering over armies and
+cities and fortresses, and raining irresistible death and destruction
+down upon them. The prospect appalled him, and he shuddered as he
+thought that it was now really within the possibility of realisation;
+and then his ideas began to translate themselves involuntarily into
+words which he spoke aloud, completely oblivious for the time being
+of his surroundings.
+
+"No, I think I would rather destroy it, and then take my secret with
+me out of the world, than put such an awful power of destruction and
+slaughter into the hands of the Tsar, or, for the matter of that, any
+other of the rulers of the earth. Their subjects can butcher each
+other quite efficiently enough as it is. The next war will be the
+most frightful carnival of destruction that the world has ever seen;
+but what would it be like if I were to give one of the nations of
+Europe the power of raining death and desolation on its enemies from
+the skies! No, no! Such a power, if used at all, should only be used
+against and not for the despotisms that afflict the earth with the
+curse of war!"
+
+"Then why not use it so, my friend, if you possess it, and would see
+mankind freed from its tyrants?" said a quiet voice at his elbow.
+
+The sound instantly scattered his vision to the winds, and he turned
+round with a startled exclamation to see who had spoken. As he did
+so, a whiff of smoke from a very good cigar drifted past his
+nostrils, and the voice said again in the same quiet, even tones--
+
+"You must forgive me for my bad manners in listening to what you were
+saying, and also for breaking in upon your reverie. My excuse must be
+the great interest that your words had for me. Your opinions would
+appear to be exactly my own, too, and perhaps you will accept that as
+another excuse for my rudeness."
+
+It was the first really kindly, friendly voice that Richard Arnold
+had heard for many a long day, and the words were so well chosen and
+so politely uttered that it was impossible to feel any resentment, so
+he simply said in answer--
+
+"There was no rudeness, sir; and, besides, why should a gentleman
+like you apologise for speaking to a"--
+
+"Another gentleman," quickly interrupted his new acquaintance.
+"Because I transgressed the laws of politeness in doing so, and an
+apology was due. Your speech tells me that we are socially equals.
+Intellectually you look my superior. The rest is a difference only of
+money, and that any smart swindler can bury himself in nowadays if he
+chooses. But come, if you have no objection to make my better
+acquaintance, I have a great desire to make yours. If you will pardon
+my saying so, you are evidently not an ordinary man, or else,
+something tells me, you would be rich. Have a smoke and let us talk,
+since we apparently have a subject in common. Which way are you
+going?"
+
+"Nowhere--and therefore anywhere," replied Arnold, with a laugh that
+had but little merriment in it. "I have reached a point from which
+all roads are one to me."
+
+"That being the case I propose that you shall take the one that leads
+to my chambers in Savoy Mansions yonder. We shall find a bit of
+supper ready, I expect, and then I shall ask you to talk. Come
+along!"
+
+There was no more mistaking the genuine kindness and sincerity of the
+invitation than the delicacy with which it was given. To have refused
+would not only have been churlish, but it would have been for a
+drowning man to knock aside a kindly hand held out to help him; so
+Arnold accepted, and the two new strangely met and strangely assorted
+friends walked away together in the direction of the Savoy.
+
+The suite of rooms occupied by Arnold's new acquaintance was the beau
+ideal of a wealthy bachelor's abode. Small, compact, cosy, and richly
+furnished, yet in the best of taste withal, the rooms looked like an
+indoor paradise to him after the bare squalor of the one room that
+had been his own home for over two years.
+
+His host took him first into a dainty little bath-room to wash his
+hands, and by the time he had performed his scanty toilet supper was
+already on the table in the sitting-room. Nothing melts reserve like
+a good well-cooked meal washed down by appropriate liquids, and
+before supper was half over Arnold and his host were chatting
+together as easily as though they stood on perfectly equal terms and
+had known each other for years. His new friend seemed purposely to
+keep the conversation to general subjects until the meal was over and
+his pattern man-servant had removed the cloth and left them together
+with the wine and cigars on the table.
+
+As soon as he had closed the door behind him his host motioned Arnold
+to an easy-chair on one side of the fireplace, threw himself into
+another on the other side, and said--
+
+"Now, my friend, plant yourself, as they say across the water, help
+yourself to what there is as the spirit moves you, and talk--the more
+about yourself the better. But stop. I forgot that we do not even
+know each other's name yet. Let me introduce myself first.
+
+"My name is Maurice Colston; I am a bachelor, as you see. For the
+rest, in practice I am an idler, a dilettante, and a good deal else
+that is pleasant and utterly useless. In theory, let me tell you, I
+am a Socialist, or something of the sort, with a lively conviction as
+to the injustice and absurdity of the social and economic conditions
+which enable me to have such a good time on earth without having done
+anything to deserve it beyond having managed to be born the son of my
+father."
+
+He stopped and looked at his guest through the wreaths of his cigar
+smoke as much as to say: "And now who are you?"
+
+Arnold took the silent hint, and opened his mouth and his heart at
+the same time. Quite apart from the good turn he had done him, there
+was a genial frankness about his unconventional host that chimed in
+so well with his own nature that he cast all reserve aside, and told
+plainly and simply the story of his life and its master passion, his
+dreams and hopes and failures, and his final triumph in the hour when
+triumph itself was defeat.
+
+His host heard him through without a word, but towards the end of his
+story his face betrayed an interest, or rather an expectant anxiety,
+to hear what was coming next that no mere friendly concern of the
+moment for one less fortunate than himself could adequately account
+for. At length, when Arnold had completed his story with a brief but
+graphic description of the last successful trial of his model, he
+leant forward in his chair, and, fixing his dark, steady eyes on his
+guest's face, said in a voice from which every trace of his former
+good-humoured levity had vanished--
+
+"A strange story, and truer, I think, than the one I told you. Now
+tell me on your honour as a gentleman: Were you really in earnest
+when I heard you say on the embankment that you would rather smash up
+your model and take the secret with you into the next world, than
+sell your discovery to the Tsar for the million that he has offered
+for such an air-ship as yours?"
+
+"Absolutely in earnest," was the reply. "I have seen enough of the
+seamy side of this much-boasted civilisation of ours to know that it
+is the most awful mockery that man ever insulted his Maker with. It
+is based on fraud, and sustained by force--force that ruthlessly
+crushes all who do not bow the knee to Mammon. I am the enemy of a
+society that does not permit a man to be honest and live, unless he
+has money and can defy it. I have just two shillings in the world,
+and I would rather throw them into the Thames and myself after them
+than take that million from the Tsar in exchange for an engine of
+destruction that would make him master of the world."
+
+"Those are brave words," said Colston, with a smile. "Forgive me for
+saying so, but I wonder whether you would repeat them if I told you
+that I am a servant of his Majesty the Tsar, and that you shall have
+that million for your model and your secret the moment that you
+convince me that what you have told me is true."
+
+Before he had finished speaking Arnold had risen to his feet. He
+heard him out, and then he said, slowly and steadily--
+
+"I should not take the trouble to repeat them; I should only tell you
+that I am sorry that I have eaten salt with a man who could take
+advantage of my poverty to insult me. Good night."
+
+He was moving towards the door when Colston jumped up from his chair,
+strode round the table, and got in front of him. Then he put his two
+hands on his shoulders, and, looking straight into his eyes, said in
+a tone that vibrated with emotion--
+
+"Thank God, I have found an honest man at last! Go and sit down
+again, my friend, my comrade, as I hope you soon will be. Forgive me
+for the foolishness that I spoke! I am no servant of the Tsar. He and
+all like him have no more devoted enemy on earth than I am. Look! I
+will soon prove it to you."
+
+As he said the last words, Colston let go Arnold's shoulders, flung
+off his coat and waistcoat, slipped his braces off his shoulders, and
+pulled his shirt up to his neck. Then he turned his bare back to his
+guest, and said--
+
+"That is the sign-manual of Russian tyranny--the mark of the knout!"
+
+Arnold shrank back with a cry of horror at the sight. From waist to
+neck Colston's back was a mass of hideous scars and wheals, crossing
+each other and rising up into purple lumps, with livid blue and grey
+spaces between them. As he stood, there was not an inch of
+naturally-coloured skin to be seen. It was like the back of a man who
+had been flayed alive, and then flogged with a cat-o'-nine-tails.
+
+Before Arnold had overcome his horror his host had re-adjusted his
+clothing. Then he turned to him and said--
+
+"That was my reward for telling the governor of a petty Russian town
+that he was a brute-beast for flogging a poor decrepit old Jewess to
+death. Do you believe me now when I say that I am no servant or
+friend of the Tsar?"
+
+"Yes, I do," replied Arnold, holding out his hand, "you were right to
+try me, and I was wrong to be so hasty. It is a failing of mine that
+has done me plenty of harm before now. I think I know now what you
+are without your telling me. Give me a piece of paper and you shall
+have my address, so that you can come to-morrow and see the
+model--only I warn you that you will have to pay my rent to keep my
+landlord's hands off it. And then I must be off, for I see it's past
+twelve."
+
+"You are not going out again to-night, my friend, while I have a sofa
+and plenty of rugs at your disposal," said his host. "You will sleep
+here, and in the morning we will go together and see this marvel of
+yours. Meanwhile sit down and make yourself at home with another
+cigar. We have only just begun to know each other--we two enemies of
+Society!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A FRIENDLY CHAT.
+
+
+Soon after eight the next morning Colston came into the sitting-room
+where Arnold had slept on the sofa, and dreamt dreams of war and
+world-revolts and battles fought in mid-air between aerial navies
+built on the plan of his own model. When Colston came in he was just
+awake enough to be wondering whether the events of the previous night
+were a reality or part of his dreams--a doubt that was speedily set
+at rest by his host drawing back the curtains and pulling up the
+blinds.
+
+The moment his eyes were properly open he saw that he was anywhere
+but in his own shabby room in Southwark, and the rest was made clear
+by Colston saying--
+
+"Well, comrade Arnold, Lord High Admiral of the Air, how have you
+slept? I hope you found the sofa big and soft enough, and that the
+last cigar has left no evil effects behind it."
+
+"Eh? Oh, good morning! I don't know whether it was the whisky or the
+cigars, or what it was; but do you know I have been dreaming all
+sorts of absurd things about battles in the air and dropping
+explosives on fortresses and turning them into small volcanoes. When
+you came in just now I hadn't the remotest idea where I was. It's
+time to get up, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, it's after eight a good bit. I've had my tub, so the bath-room
+is at your service. Meanwhile, Burrows will be laying the table for
+breakfast. When you have finished your tub, come into my
+dressing-room, and let me rig you out. We are about of a size, and I
+think I shall be able to meet your most fastidious taste. In fact, I
+could rig you out as anything--from a tramp to an officer of the
+Guards."
+
+"It wouldn't take much change to accomplish the former, I'm afraid.
+But, really, I couldn't think of trespassing so far on your
+hospitality as to take your very clothes from you. I'm deep enough in
+your debt already."
+
+"Don't talk nonsense, Richard Arnold. The tone in which those last
+words were said shows me that you have not duly laid to heart what I
+said last night. There is no such thing as private property in the
+Brotherhood, of which I hope, by this time to-morrow, you will be an
+initiate.
+
+"What I have here is mine only for the purposes of the Cause,
+wherefore it is as much yours as mine, for to-day we are going on the
+Brotherhood's business. Why, then, should you have any scruples about
+wearing the Brotherhood's clothes? Now clear out and get tubbed, and
+wash some of those absurd ideas out of your head."
+
+"Well, as you put it that way, I don't mind, only remember that I
+don't necessarily put on the principles of the Brotherhood with its
+clothes."
+
+So saying, Arnold got up from the sofa, stretched himself, and went
+off to make his toilet.
+
+When he sat down to breakfast with his host half an hour later, very
+few who had seen him on the Embankment the night before would have
+recognised him as the same man. The tailor, after all, does a good
+deal to make the man, externally at least, and the change of clothes
+in Arnold's case had transformed him from a superior looking tramp
+into an aristocratic and decidedly good-looking man, in the prime of
+his youth, saving only for the thinness and pallor of his face, and a
+perceptible stoop in the shoulders.
+
+During breakfast they chatted about their plans for the day, and then
+drifted into generalities, chiefly of a political nature.
+
+The better Arnold came to know Maurice Colston the more remarkable
+his character appeared to him; and it was his growing wonder at the
+contradictions that it exhibited that made him say towards the end of
+the meal--
+
+"I must say you're a queer sort of conspirator, Colston. My idea of
+Nihilists and members of revolutionary societies has always taken the
+form of silent, stealthy, cautious beings, with a lively distrust and
+hatred of the whole human race outside their own circles. And yet
+here are you, an active member of the most terrible secret society in
+existence, pledged to the destruction of nearly every institution on
+earth, and carrying your life in your hand, opening your heart like a
+schoolboy to a man you have literally not known for twenty-four
+hours.
+
+"Suppose you had made a mistake in me. What would there be to prevent
+me telling the police who you are, and having you locked up with a
+view to extradition to Russia?"
+
+"In the first place," replied Colston quietly, "you would not do so,
+because I am not mistaken in you, and because, in your heart, whether
+you fully know it or not, you believe as I do about the destruction
+that is about to fall upon Society.
+
+"In the second place, if you did betray my confidence, I should be
+able to bring such an overwhelming array of the most respectable
+evidence to show that I was nothing like what I really am, that you
+would be laughed at for a madman; and, in the third place, there
+would be an inquest on you within twenty-four hours after you had
+told your story. Do you remember the death of Inspector Ainsworth, of
+the Criminal Investigation Department, about six months ago?"
+
+"Yes, of course I do. Hermit and all as I was, I could hardly help
+hearing about that, considering what a noise it made. But I thought
+that was cleared up. Didn't one of that gang of garotters that was
+broken up in South London a couple of months later confess to
+strangling him in the statement that he made before he was executed?"
+
+"Yes, and his widow is now getting ten shillings a week for life on
+account of that confession. Birkett no more killed Ainsworth than you
+did; but he had killed two or three others, and so the confession
+didn't do him very much harm.
+
+"No; Ainsworth met his death in quite another way. He accepted from
+the Russian secret police bureau in London a bribe of L250 down and
+the promise of another L250 if he succeeded in manufacturing enough
+evidence against a member of our Outer Circle to get him extradited
+to Russia on a trumped-up charge of murder.
+
+"The Inner Circle learnt of this from one of our spies in the Russian
+London police, and----, well, Ainsworth was found dead with the mark
+of the Terror upon his forehead before he had time to put his
+treachery into action. He was executed by two of the Brotherhood, who
+are members of the Metropolitan police force, and who were afterwards
+complimented by the magistrate for the intelligent efforts they had
+made in bringing the murderers to justice."
+
+Colston told the dark story in the most careless of tones between the
+puffs of his after-breakfast cigarette. Arnold stifled his horror as
+well as he was able, but he could not help saying, when his host had
+done--
+
+"This Brotherhood of yours is well named the Terror; but was not that
+rather a murder than an execution?"
+
+"By no means," replied Colston, a trifle coldly. "Society hangs or
+beheads a man who kills another. Ainsworth knew as well as we did
+that if the man he tried to betray by false evidence had once set
+foot in Russia, the torments of a hundred deaths would have been his
+before he had been allowed to die.
+
+"He betrayed his office and his faith to his English masters in order
+to commit this vile crime, and so he was killed as a murderous and
+treacherous reptile that was not fit to live. We of the Terror are
+not lawyers, and so we make no distinctions between deliberate
+plotting for money to kill and the act of killing itself. Our law is
+closer akin to justice than the hair-splitting fraud that is
+tolerated by Society."
+
+Either from emotional or logical reasons Arnold made no reply to this
+reasoning, and, seeing he remained silent, Colston resumed his
+ordinary nonchalant, good-humoured tone, and went on--
+
+"But come, that will be horrors enough for to-day. We have other
+business in hand, and we may as well get to it at once. About this
+wonderful invention of yours. Of course I believe all you have told
+me about it, but you must remember that I am only an agent, and that
+I am inexorably bound by certain rules, in accordance with which I
+must act.
+
+"Now, to be perfectly plain with you, and in order that we may
+thoroughly understand each other before either of us commits himself
+to anything, I must tell you that I want to see this model flying
+ship of yours in order to be able to report on it to-night to the
+Executive of the Inner Circle, to whom I shall also want to introduce
+you. If you will not allow me to do that say so at once, and, for the
+present at least, our negotiations must come to a sudden stop."
+
+"Go on," said Arnold quietly; "so far I consent. For the rest I would
+rather hear you to the end."
+
+"Very well. Then if the Executive approve of the invention, you will
+be asked to join the Inner Circle at once, and to devote yourself
+body and soul to the Society and the accomplishment of the objects
+that will be explained to you. If you refuse there will be an end of
+the matter, and you will simply be asked to give your word of honour
+to reveal nothing that you have seen or heard, and then allowed to
+depart in peace.
+
+"If, on the other hand, you consent, in consideration of the immense
+importance of your secret--which there is no need to disguise from
+you--to the Brotherhood, the usual condition of passing through the
+Outer Circle will be dispensed with, and you will be trusted as
+absolutely as we shall expect you to trust us.
+
+"Whatever funds you then require to manufacture an air-ship on the
+plan of your model will be placed at your disposal, and a suitable
+place will be selected for the works that you will have to build.
+When the ship is ready to take the air you will, of course, be
+appointed to the command of her, and you will pick your crew from
+among the workmen who will act under your orders in the building of
+the vessel.
+
+"They will all be members of the Outer Circle, who will not
+understand your orders, but simply obey them blindly, even to the
+death. One member of the Inner Circle will act as your second in
+command, and he will be as perfectly trusted as you will be, so that
+in unforeseen emergencies you will be able to consult with him with
+perfect confidence. Now I think I have told you all. What do you
+say?"
+
+Arnold was silent for a few minutes, too busy for speech with the
+rush of thoughts that had crowded through his brain as Colston was
+speaking. Then he looked up at his host and said--
+
+"May I make conditions?"
+
+"You may state them," replied he, with a smile, "but, of course, I
+don't undertake to accept them without consultation with my--I mean
+with the Executive."
+
+"Of course not," said Arnold. "Well, the conditions that I should
+feel myself obliged to make with your Executive would be, briefly
+speaking, these: I would not reveal to any one the composition of the
+gases from which I derive my motive force. I should manufacture them
+myself in given quantities, and keep them always under my own charge.
+
+"At the first attempt to break faith with me in this respect I would
+blow the air-ship and all her crew, including myself, into such
+fragments as it would be difficult to find one of them. I have and
+wish for no life apart from my invention, and I would not survive
+it."
+
+"Good!" interrupted Colston. "There spoke the true enthusiast. Go
+on."
+
+"Secondly, I would use the machine only in open warfare--when the
+Brotherhood is fighting openly for the attainment of a definite end.
+Once the appeal to force has been made I will employ a force such as
+no nation on earth can use without me, and I will use it as
+unsparingly as the armies and fleets engaged will employ their own
+engines of destruction on one another. But I will be no party to the
+destruction of defenceless towns and people who are not in arms
+against us. If I am ordered to do that I tell you candidly that I
+will not do it. I will blow the air-ship itself up first."
+
+"The conditions are somewhat stringent, although the sentiments are
+excellent," replied Colston; "still, of myself I can neither accept
+nor reject them. That will be for the Executive to do. For my own
+part I think that you will be able to arrive at a basis of agreement
+on them. And now I think we have said all we can say for the present,
+and so if you are ready we'll be off and satisfy my longing to see
+the invention that is to make us the arbiters of war--when war comes,
+which I fancy will not be long now."
+
+Something in the tone in which these last words were spoken struck
+Arnold with a kind of cold chill, and he shivered slightly as he said
+in answer to Colston--
+
+"I am ready when you are, and no less anxious than you to set eyes on
+my model. I hope to goodness it is all safe! Do you know, when I am
+away from it I feel just like a woman away from her first baby."
+
+A few minutes later two of the most dangerous enemies of Society
+alive were walking quietly along the Embankment towards Blackfriars,
+smoking their cigars and chatting as conventionally as though there
+were no such things on earth as tyranny and oppression, and their
+necessarily ever-present enemies conspiracy and brooding revolution.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE HOUSE ON CLAPHAM COMMON.
+
+
+Twenty minutes' walk took Arnold and Colston to the door of the
+tenement-house in which the former had lived since his fast-dwindling
+store of money had convinced him of the necessity of bringing his
+expenses down to the lowest possible limit if he wished to keep up
+the struggle with fate very much longer.
+
+As they mounted the dirty, evil-smelling staircase, Colston said--
+
+"Phew! Verily you are a hero of science if you have brought yourself
+to live in a hole like this for a couple of years rather than give up
+your dream, and grow fat on the loaves and fishes of
+conventionality."
+
+"This is a palace compared with some of the rookeries about here,"
+replied Arnold, with a laugh. "The march of progress seems to have
+left this half of London behind as hopeless. Ten years ago there were
+a good many thousands of highly respectable mediocrities living on
+this side of the river, but now I am told that the glory has departed
+from the very best of its localities, and given them up to various
+degrees of squalor. Vice, poverty, and misery seem to gravitate
+naturally southward in London. I don't know why, but they do. Well,
+here is the door of my humble den."
+
+As he spoke he put the key in the lock, and opened the door, bidding
+his companion enter as he did so.
+
+Arnold's anxiety was soon relieved by finding the precious model
+untouched in its resting-place, and it was at once brought out.
+Colston was delighted beyond his powers of expression with the
+marvellous ingenuity with which the miracle of mechanical skill was
+contrived and put together; and when Arnold, after showing and
+explaining to him all the various parts of the mechanism and the
+external structure, at length set the engine working, and the
+air-ship rose gracefully from the floor and began to sail round the
+room in the wide circle to which it was confined by its mooring-line,
+he stared at it for several minutes in wondering silence, following
+it round and round with his eyes, and then he said in a voice from
+which he vainly strove to banish the signs of the emotion that
+possessed him--
+
+"It is the last miracle of science! With a few such ships as that one
+could conquer the world in a month!"
+
+"Yes, that would not be a very difficult task, seeing that neither an
+army nor a fleet could exist for twelve hours with two or three of
+them hovering above it," replied Arnold.
+
+The trial over, Arnold set to work and took the model partly to
+pieces for packing up; and while he was putting it away in the old
+sea-chest, Colston counted out ten sovereigns and laid them on the
+table. Hearing the clink of the gold, Arnold looked up and said--
+
+"What is that for? A sovereign will be quite enough to get me out of
+my present scrape, and then if we come to any terms to-night it will
+be time enough to talk about payment."
+
+"The Brotherhood does not do business in that way," was the reply.
+"At present your only connection with it is a commercial one, and ten
+pounds is a very moderate fee for the privilege of inspecting such an
+invention as this. Anyhow, that is what I am ordered to hand over to
+you in payment for your trouble now and to-night, so you must accept
+it as it is given--as a matter of business."
+
+"Very well," said Arnold, closing and locking the chest as he spoke,
+"if you think it worth ten pounds, the money will not come amiss to
+me. Now, if you will remain and guard the household gods for a
+minute, I will go and pay my rent and get a cab."
+
+Half an hour later his few but priceless possessions were loaded on a
+four-wheeler and Arnold had bidden farewell for ever to the dingy
+room in which he had passed so many hours of toil and dreaming,
+suffering and disappointment. Before lunch time they were safely
+bestowed in a couple of rooms which Colston had engaged for him in
+the same building in which his own rooms were.
+
+In the afternoon, among other purchases, a more convenient case was
+bought for the model, and in this it was packed with the plans and
+papers which explained its construction, ready for the evening
+journey.
+
+The two friends dined together at six in Colston's rooms, and at
+seven sharp his servant announced that the cab was at the door.
+Within ten minutes they were bowling along the Embankment towards
+Westminster Bridge in a luxuriously appointed hansom of the newest
+type, with the precious case lying across their knees.
+
+"This is a comfortable cab," said Arnold, when they had gone a
+hundred yards or so. "By the way, how does the man know where to go?
+I didn't hear you give him any directions."
+
+"None were necessary," was the reply. "This cab, like a good many
+others in London, belongs to the Brotherhood, and the man who is
+driving is one of the Outer Circle. Our Jehus are the most useful
+spies that we have. Many is the secret of the enemy that we have
+learnt from, and many is the secret police agent who has been driven
+to his rendezvous by a Terrorist who has heard every word that has
+been spoken on the journey."
+
+"How on earth is that managed?"
+
+"Every one of the cabs is fitted with a telephonic arrangement
+communicating with the roof. The driver has only to button the wire
+of the transmitter up inside his coat so that the transmitter itself
+lies near to his ear, and he can hear even a whisper inside the cab.
+
+"The man who is driving us, for instance, has a sort of retainer from
+the Russian Embassy to be on hand at certain hours on certain nights
+in the week. Our cabs are all better horsed, better appointed, and
+better driven than any others in London, and, consequently, they are
+favourites, especially among the young attaches, and are nearly
+always employed by them on their secret missions or love affairs,
+which, by the way, are very often the same thing. Our own Jehu has a
+job on to-night, from which we expect some results that will mystify
+the enemy not a little. We got our first suspicions of Ainsworth from
+a few incautious words that he spoke in one of our cabs."
+
+"It's a splendid system, I should think, for discovering the
+movements of your enemies," said Arnold, not without an uncomfortable
+reflection on the fact that he was himself now completely in the
+power of this terrible organisation, which had keen eyes and ready
+hands in every capital of the civilised world. "But how do you guard
+against treachery? It is well known that all the Governments of
+Europe are spending money like water to unearth this mystery of the
+Terror. Surely all your men cannot be incorruptible."
+
+"Practically they are so. The very mystery which enshrouds all our
+actions makes them so. We have had a few traitors, of course; but as
+none of them has ever survived his treachery by twenty-four hours, a
+bribe has lost its attraction for the rest."
+
+In such conversation as this the time was passed, while the cab
+crossed the river and made its way rapidly and easily along
+Kennington Road and Clapham Road to Clapham Common. At length it
+turned into the drive of one of those solid abodes of pretentious
+respectability which front the Common, and pulled up before a big
+stucco portico.
+
+"Here we are!" exclaimed Colston, as the doors of the cab
+automatically opened. He got out first, and Arnold handed the case to
+him, and then followed him.
+
+Without a word the driver turned his horse into the road again and
+drove off towards town, and as they ascended the steps the front door
+opened, and they went in, Colston saying as they did so--
+
+"Is Mr. Smith at home?"
+
+"Yes, sir; you are expected, I believe. Will you step into the
+drawing-room?" replied the clean-shaven and immaculately respectable
+man-servant, in evening dress, who had opened the door for them.
+
+They were shown into a handsomely furnished room lit with electric
+light. As soon as the footman had closed the door behind him, Colston
+said--
+
+"Well, now, here you are in the conspirators' den, in the very
+headquarters of those Terrorists for whom Europe is being ransacked
+constantly without the slightest success. I have often wondered what
+the rigid respectability of Clapham Common would think if it knew the
+true character of this harmless-looking house. I hardly think an
+earthquake in Clapham Road would produce much more sensation than
+such a discovery would.
+
+"And now," he continued, his tone becoming suddenly much more
+serious, "in a few minutes you will be in the presence of the Inner
+Circle of the Terrorists, that is to say, of those who practically
+hold the fate of Europe in their hands. You know pretty clearly what
+they want with you. If you have thought better of the business that
+we have discussed you are still at perfect liberty to retire from it,
+on giving your word of honour not to disclose anything that I have
+said to you."
+
+"I have not the slightest intention of doing anything of the sort,"
+replied Arnold. "You know the conditions on which I came here. I
+shall put them before your Council, and if they are accepted your
+Brotherhood will, within their limits, have no more faithful adherent
+than I. If not, the business will simply come to an end as far as I
+am concerned, and your secret will be as safe with me as though I had
+taken the oath of membership."
+
+"Well said!" replied Colston, "and just what I expected you to say.
+Now listen to me for a minute. Whatever you may see or hear for the
+next few minutes say nothing till you are asked to speak. I will say
+all that is necessary at first. Ask no questions, but trust to
+anything that may seem strange being explained in due course--as it
+will be. A single indiscretion on your part might raise suspicions
+which would be as dangerous as they would be unfounded. When you are
+asked to speak do so without the slightest fear, and speak your mind
+as openly as you have done to me."
+
+"You need have no fear for me," replied Arnold. "I think I am
+sensible enough to be prudent, and I am quite sure that I am
+desperate enough to be fearless. Little worse can happen to me than
+the fate that I was contemplating last night."
+
+As he ceased speaking there was a knock at the door. It opened and
+the footman reappeared, saying in the most commonplace fashion--
+
+"Mr. Smith will be happy to see you now, gentlemen. Will you kindly
+walk this way?"
+
+They followed him out into the hall, and then, somewhat to Arnold's
+surprise, down the stairs at the back, which apparently led to the
+basement of the house.
+
+The footman preceded them to the basement floor and halted before a
+door in a little passage that looked like the entrance to a coal
+cellar. On this he knocked in peculiar fashion with the knuckles of
+one hand, while with the other he pressed the button of an electric
+bell concealed under the paper on the wall. The bell sounded faintly
+as though some distance off, and as it rang the footman said abruptly
+to Colston--
+
+"Das Wort ist Freiheit."
+
+Arnold knew German enough to know that this meant "The word is
+'Freedom,'" but why it should have been spoken in a foreign language
+mystified him not a little.
+
+While he was thinking about this the door opened, as if by a released
+spring, and he saw before him a long, narrow passage, lit by four
+electric arcs, and closed at the other end by a door, guarded by a
+sentry armed with a magazine rifle.
+
+He followed Colston down the passage, and when within a dozen feet of
+the sentry, he brought his rifle to the "ready," and the following
+strange dialogue ensued between him and Colston--
+
+"Quien va?"
+
+"Zwei Freunde der Bruderschaft."
+
+"Por la libertad?"
+
+"Fuer Freiheit ueber alles!"
+
+"Pass, friends."
+
+The rifle grounded as the words were spoken, and the sentry stepped
+back to the wall of the passage.
+
+At the same moment another bell rang beyond the door, and then the
+door itself opened as the other had done.
+
+They passed through, and it closed instantly behind them, leaving
+them in total darkness.
+
+Colston caught Arnold by the arm, and drew him towards him, saying as
+he did so--
+
+"What do you think of our system of passwords?"
+
+"Pretty hard to get through unless one knew them, I should think. Why
+the different languages?"
+
+"To make assurance doubly sure every member of the Inner Circle must
+be conversant with four European languages. On these the changes are
+rung, and even I did not know what the two languages were to be
+to-night before I entered the house, and if I had asked for 'Mr.
+Brown' instead of 'Mr. Smith,' we should never have got beyond the
+drawing-room.
+
+"When the footman told me in German that the word was 'Freedom,' I
+knew that I should have to answer the challenge of the sentry in
+German. I did not know that he would challenge in Spanish, and if I
+had not understood him, or had replied in any other language but
+German, he would have shot us both down without saying another word,
+and no one would ever have known what had become of us. You will be
+exempt from this condition, because you will always come with me. I
+am, in fact, responsible for you."
+
+"H'm, there doesn't seem much chance of any one getting through on
+false pretences," replied Arnold, with an irrepressible shudder. "Has
+any one ever tried?"
+
+"Yes, once. The two gentlemen whose disappearance made the famous
+'Clapham Mystery' of about twelve months ago. They were two of the
+smartest detectives in the French service, and the only two men who
+ever guessed the true nature of this house. They are buried under the
+floor on which you are standing at this moment."
+
+The words were spoken with a cruel inflexible coldness, which struck
+Arnold like a blast of frozen air. He shivered, and was about to
+reply when Colston caught him by the arm again, and said hurriedly--
+
+"H'st! We are going in. Remember what I said, and don't speak again
+till some one asks you to do so."
+
+As he spoke a door opened in the wall of the dark chamber in which
+they had been standing for the last few minutes, and a flood of soft
+light flowed in upon their dazzled eyes. At the same moment a man's
+voice said from the room beyond in Russian--
+
+"Who stands there?"
+
+"Maurice Colston and the Master of the Air," replied Colston in the
+same language.
+
+"You are welcome," was the reply, and then Colston, taking Arnold by
+the arm, led him into the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE INNER CIRCLE.
+
+
+As soon as Arnold's eyes got accustomed to the light, he saw that he
+was in a large, lofty room with panelled walls adorned with a number
+of fine paintings. As he looked at these his gaze was fascinated by
+them, even more than by the strange company which was assembled round
+the long table that occupied the middle of the room.
+
+Though they were all manifestly the products of the highest form of
+art, their subjects were dreary and repulsive beyond description.
+There was a horrible realism about them which reminded him
+irresistibly of the awful collection of pictorial horrors in the
+Musee Wiertz, in Brussels--those works of the brilliant but unhappy
+genius who was driven into insanity by the sheer exuberance of his
+own morbid imagination.
+
+Here was a long line of men and women in chains staggering across a
+wilderness of snow that melted away into the horizon without a break.
+Beside them rode Cossacks armed with long whips that they used on men
+and women alike when their fainting limbs gave way beneath them, and
+they were like to fall by the wayside to seek the welcome rest that
+only death could give them.
+
+There was a picture of a woman naked to the waist, and tied up to a
+triangle in a prison yard, being flogged by a soldier with willow
+wands, while a group of officers stood by, apparently greatly
+interested in the performance. Another painting showed a poor wretch
+being knouted to death in the market-place of a Russian town, and yet
+another showed a young and beautiful woman in a prison cell with her
+face distorted by the horrible leer of madness, and her little white
+hands clawing nervously at her long dishevelled hair.
+
+Arnold stood for several minutes fascinated by the hideous realism of
+the pictures, and burning with rage and shame at the thought that
+they were all too terribly true to life, when he was startled out of
+his reverie by the same voice that had called them from the dark room
+saying to him in English--
+
+"Well, Richard Arnold, what do you think of our little picture
+gallery? The paintings are good in themselves, but it may make them
+more interesting to you if you know that they are all faithful
+reproductions of scenes that have really taken place within the
+limits of the so-called civilised and Christian world. There are some
+here in this room now who have suffered the torments depicted on
+those canvases, and who could tell of worse horrors than even they
+portray. We should like to know what you think of our paintings?"
+
+Arnold glanced towards the table in search of Colston, but he had
+vanished. Around the long table sat fourteen masked and shrouded
+forms that were absolutely indistinguishable one from the other. He
+could not even tell whether they were men or women, so closely were
+their forms and faces concealed. Seeing that he was left to his own
+discretion, he laid the case containing the model, which he had so
+far kept under his arm, down on the floor, and, facing the strange
+assembly, said as steadily as he could--
+
+"My own reading tells me that they are only too true to the dreadful
+reality. I think that the civilised and Christian Society which
+permits such crimes to be committed against humanity, when it has the
+power to stop them by force of arms, is neither truly civilised nor
+truly Christian."
+
+"And would _you_ stop them if you could?"
+
+"Yes, if it cost the lives of millions to do it! They would be better
+spent than the thirty million lives that were lost last century over
+a few bits of territory."
+
+"That is true, and augurs well for our future agreement. Be kind
+enough to come to the table and take a seat."
+
+The masked man who spoke was sitting in the chair at the foot of the
+table, and as he said this one of those sitting at the side got up
+and motioned to Arnold to take his place. As soon as he had done so
+the speaker continued--
+
+"We are glad to see that your sentiments are so far in accord with
+our own, for that fact will make our negotiations all the easier.
+
+"As you are aware, you are now in the Inner Circle of the Terrorists.
+Yonder empty chair at the head of the table is that of our Chief,
+who, though not with us in person, is ever present as a guiding
+influence in our councils. We act as he directs, and it was from him
+that we received news of you and your marvellous invention. It is
+also by his direction that you have been invited here to-night with
+an object that you are already aware of.
+
+"I see from your face that you are about to ask how this can be,
+seeing that you have never confided your secret to any one until last
+night. It will be useless to ask me, for I myself do not know. We who
+sit here simply execute the Master's will. We ask no questions, and
+therefore we can answer none concerning him."
+
+"I have none to ask," said Arnold, seeing that the speaker paused as
+though expecting him to say something. "I came at the invitation of
+one of your Brotherhood to lay certain terms before you, for you to
+accept or reject as seems good to you. How you got to know of me and
+my invention is, after all, a matter of indifference to me. With your
+perfect system of espionage you might well find out more secret
+things than that."
+
+"Quite so," was the reply. "And the question that we have to settle
+with you is how far you will consent to assist the work of the
+Brotherhood with this invention of yours, and on what conditions you
+will do so."
+
+"I must first know as exactly as possible what the work of the
+Brotherhood is."
+
+"Under the circumstances there is no objection to your knowing that.
+In the first place, that which is known to the outside world as the
+Terror is an international secret society underlying and directing
+the operations of the various bodies known as Nihilists, Anarchists,
+Socialists--in fact, all those organisations which have for their
+object the reform or destruction, by peaceful or violent means, of
+Society as it is at present constituted.
+
+"Its influence reaches beyond these into the various trade unions and
+political clubs, the moving spirits of which are all members of our
+Outer Circle. On the other side of Society we have agents and
+adherents in all the Courts of Europe, all the diplomatic bodies, and
+all the parliamentary assemblies throughout the world.
+
+"We believe that Society as at present constituted is hopeless for
+any good thing. All kinds of nameless brutalities are practised
+without reproof in the names of law and order, and commercial
+economics. On one side human life is a splendid fabric of cloth of
+gold embroidered with priceless gems, and on the other it is a mass
+of filthy, festering rags, swarming with vermin.
+
+"We think that such a Society--a Society which permits considerably
+more than the half of humanity to be sunk in poverty and misery while
+a very small portion of it fools away its life in perfectly
+ridiculous luxury--does not deserve to exist, and ought to be
+destroyed.
+
+"We also know that sooner or later it will destroy itself, as every
+similar Society has done before it. For nearly forty years there has
+now been almost perfect peace in Europe. At the same time, over
+twenty millions of men are standing ready to take the field in a
+week.
+
+"War--universal war that will shake the world to its foundations--is
+only a matter of a little more delay and a few diplomatic hitches.
+Russia and England are within rifleshot of each other in Afghanistan,
+and France and Germany are flinging defiances at each other across
+the Rhine.
+
+"Some one must soon fire the shot that will set the world in a blaze,
+and meanwhile the toilers of the earth are weary of these dreadful
+military and naval burdens, and would care very little if the
+inevitable happened to-morrow.
+
+"It is in the power of the Terrorists to delay or precipitate that
+war to a certain extent. Hitherto all our efforts have been devoted
+to the preservation of peace, and many of the so-called outrages
+which have taken place in different parts of Europe, and especially
+in Russia, during the last few years, have been accomplished simply
+for the purpose of forcing the attention of the administrations to
+internal affairs for the time, and so putting off what would have led
+to a declaration of war.
+
+"This policy has not been dictated by any hope of avoiding war
+altogether, for that would have been sheer insanity. We have simply
+delayed war as long as possible, because we have not felt that we
+have been strong enough to turn the tide of battle at the right
+moment in favour of the oppressed ones of the earth and against their
+oppressors.
+
+"But this invention of yours puts a completely different aspect on
+the European situation. Armed with such a tremendous engine of
+destruction as a navigable air-ship must necessarily be, when used in
+conjunction with the explosives already at our disposal, we could
+make war impossible to our enemies by bringing into the field a force
+with which no army or fleet could contend without the certainty of
+destruction. By these means we should ultimately compel peace and
+enforce a general disarmament on land and sea.
+
+"The vast majority of those who make the wealth of the world are sick
+of seeing that wealth wasted in the destruction of human life, and
+the ruin of peaceful industries. As soon, therefore, as we are in a
+position to dictate terms under such tremendous penalties, all the
+innumerable organisations with which we are in touch all over the
+world will rise in arms and enforce them at all costs.
+
+"Of course, it goes without saying that the powers that are now
+enthroned in the high places of the world will fight bitterly and
+desperately to retain the rule that they have held for so long, but
+in the end we shall be victorious, and then on the ruins of this
+civilisation a new and a better shall arise.
+
+"That is a rough, brief outline of the policy of the Brotherhood,
+which we are going to ask you to-night to join. Of course, in the
+eyes of the world we are only a set of fiends, whose sole object is
+the destruction of Society, and the inauguration of a state of
+universal anarchy. That, however, has no concern for us. What is
+called popular opinion is merely manufactured by the Press according
+to order, and does not count in serious concerns. What I have
+described to you are the true objects of the Brotherhood; and now it
+remains for you to say, yes or no, whether you will devote yourself
+and your invention to carrying them out or not."
+
+For two or three minutes after the masked spokesman of the Inner
+Circle had ceased speaking, there was absolute silence in the room.
+The calmly spoken words which deliberately sketched out the ruin of a
+civilisation and the establishment of a new order of things made a
+deep impression on Arnold's mind. He saw clearly that he was standing
+at the parting of the ways, and facing the most tremendous crisis
+that could occur in the life of a human being.
+
+It was only natural that he should look back, as he did, to the life
+from which a single step would now part him for ever, without the
+possibility of going back. He knew that if he once put his hands to
+the plough, and looked back, death, swift and inevitable, would be
+the penalty of his wavering. This, however, he had already weighed
+and decided.
+
+Most of what he had heard had found an echo in his own convictions.
+Moreover, the life that he had left had no charms for him, while to
+be one of the chief factors in a world-revolution was a destiny
+worthy both of himself and his invention. So the fatal resolution was
+taken, and he spoke the words that bound him for ever to the
+Brotherhood.
+
+"As I have already told Mr. Colston," he began by saying, "I will
+join and faithfully serve the Brotherhood if the conditions that I
+feel compelled to make are granted"--
+
+"We know them already," interrupted the spokesman, "and they are
+freely granted. Indeed, you can hardly fail to see that we are
+trusting you to a far greater extent than it is possible for us to
+make you trust us, unless you choose to do so. The air-ship once
+built and afloat under your command, the game of war would to a great
+extent be in your own hands. True, you would not survive treachery
+very long; but, on the other hand, if it became necessary to kill
+you, the air-ship would be useless, that is, if you took your secret
+of the motive power with you into the next world."
+
+"As I undoubtedly should," added Arnold quietly.
+
+"We have no doubt that you would," was the equally quiet rejoinder.
+"And now I will read to you the oath of membership that you will be
+required to sign. Even when you have heard it, if you feel any
+hesitation in subscribing to it, there will still be time to
+withdraw, for we tolerate no unwilling or half-hearted recruits."
+
+Arnold bowed his acquiescence, and the spokesman took a piece of
+paper from the table and read aloud--
+
+"_I, Richard Arnold, sign this paper in the full knowledge that in
+doing so I devote myself absolutely for the rest of my life to the
+service of the Brotherhood of Freedom, known to the world as the
+Terrorists. As long as I live its ends shall be my ends, and no human
+considerations shall weigh with me where those ends are concerned. I
+will take life without mercy, and yield my own without hesitation at
+its bidding. I will break all other laws to obey those which it
+obeys, and if I disobey these I shall expect death as the just
+penalty of my perjury._"
+
+As he finished reading the oath, he handed the paper to Arnold,
+saying as he did so--
+
+"There are no theatrical formalities to be gone through. Simply sign
+the paper and give it back to me, or else tear it up and go in
+peace."
+
+Arnold read it through slowly, and then glanced round the table. He
+saw the eyes of the silent figures sitting about him shining at him
+through the holes in their masks. He laid the paper down on the table
+in front of him, dipped a pen in an inkstand that stood near, and
+signed the oath in a firm, unfaltering hand. Then--committed for
+ever, for good or evil, to the new life that he had adopted--he gave
+the paper back again.
+
+The President took it and read it, and then passed it to the mask on
+his right hand. It went from one to the other round the table, each
+one reading it before passing it on, until it got back to the
+President. When it reached him he rose from his seat, and, going to
+the fireplace, dropped it into the flames, and watched it until it
+was consumed to ashes. Then, crossing the room to where Arnold was
+sitting, he removed his mask with one hand, and held the other out to
+him in greeting, saying as he did so--
+
+"Welcome to the Brotherhood! Thrice welcome! for your coming has
+brought the day of redemption nearer!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+NEW FRIENDS.
+
+
+As Arnold returned the greeting of the President, all the other
+members of the Circle rose from their seats and took off their masks
+and the black shapeless cloaks which had so far completely covered
+them from head to foot.
+
+Then, one after the other, they came forward and were formally
+introduced to him by the President. Nine of the fourteen were men,
+and five were women of ages varying from middle age almost to
+girlhood. The men were apparently all between twenty-five and
+thirty-five, and included some half-dozen nationalities among them.
+
+All, both men and women, evidently belonged to the educated, or
+rather to the cultured class. Their speech, which seemed to change
+with perfect ease from one language to another in the course of their
+somewhat polyglot converse, was the easy flowing speech of men and
+women accustomed to the best society, not only in the social but the
+intellectual sense of the word.
+
+All were keen, alert, and swift of thought, and on the face of each
+one there was the dignifying expression of a deep and settled purpose
+which at once differentiated them in Arnold's eyes from the ordinary
+idle or merely money-making citizens of the world.
+
+As each one came and shook hands with the new member of the
+Brotherhood, he or she had some pleasant word of welcome and greeting
+for him; and so well were the words chosen, and so manifestly
+sincerely were they spoken, that by the time he had shaken hands all
+round Arnold felt as much at home among them as though he were in the
+midst of a circle of old friends.
+
+Among the women there were two who had attracted his attention and
+roused his interest far more than any of the other members of the
+Circle. One of these was a tall and beautifully-shaped woman, whose
+face and figure were those of a woman in the early twenties, but
+whose long, thick hair was as white as though the snows of seventy
+winters had drifted over it. As he returned her warm, firm
+hand-clasp, and looked upon her dark, resolute, and yet perfectly
+womanly features, the young engineer gave a slight start of
+recognition. She noticed this at once and said, with a smile and a
+quick flash from her splendid grey eyes--
+
+"Ah! I see you recognise me. No, I am not ashamed of my portrait. I
+am proud of the wounds that I have received in the war with tyranny,
+so you need not fear to confess your recognition."
+
+It was true that Arnold had recognised her. She was the original of
+the central figure of the painting which depicted the woman being
+flogged by the Russian soldiers.
+
+Arnold flushed hotly at the words with the sudden passionate anger
+that they roused within him, and replied in a low, steady voice--
+
+"Those who would sanction such a crime as that are not fit to live. I
+will not leave one stone of that prison standing upon another. It is
+a blot on the face of the earth, and I will wipe it out utterly!"
+
+"There are thousands of blots as black as that on earth, and I think
+you will find nobler game than an obscure Russian provincial prison.
+Russia has cities and palaces and fortresses that will make far
+grander ruins than that--ruins that will be worthy monuments of
+fallen despotism," replied the girl, who had been introduced by the
+President as Radna Michaelis. "But here is some one else waiting to
+make your acquaintance. This is Natasha. She has no other name among
+us, but you will soon learn why she needs none."
+
+Natasha was the other woman who had so keenly roused Arnold's
+interest. Woman, however, she hardly was, for she was seemingly still
+in her teens, and certainly could not have been more than twenty.
+
+He had mixed but little with women, and during the past few years not
+at all, and therefore the marvellous beauty of the girl who came
+forward as Radna spoke seemed almost unearthly to him, and confused
+his senses for the moment as some potent drug might have done. He
+took her outstretched hand in awkward silence, and for an instant so
+far forgot himself as to gaze blankly at her in speechless
+admiration.
+
+She could not help noticing it, for she was a woman, and for the same
+reason she saw that it was so absolutely honest and involuntary that
+it was impossible for any woman to take offence at it. A quick bright
+flush swept up her lovely face as his hand closed upon hers, her
+darkly-fringed lids fell for an instant over the most wonderful pair
+of sapphire-blue eyes that Arnold had ever even dreamed of, and when
+she raised them again the flush had gone, and she said in a sweet,
+frank voice--
+
+"I am the daughter of Natas, and he has desired me to bid you welcome
+in his name, and I hope you will let me do so in my own as well. We
+are all dying to see this wonderful invention of yours. I suppose you
+are going to satisfy our feminine curiosity, are you not?"
+
+The daughter of Natas! This lovely girl, in the first sweet flush of
+her pure and innocent womanhood, the daughter of the unknown and
+mysterious being whose ill-omened name caused a shudder if it was
+only whispered in the homes of the rich and powerful; the name with
+which the death-sentences of the Terrorists were invariably signed,
+and which had come to be an infallible guarantee that they would be
+carried out to the letter.
+
+No death-warrants of the most powerful sovereigns of Europe were more
+certain harbingers of inevitable doom than were those which bore this
+dreaded name. Whether he were high or low, the man who received one
+of them made ready for his end. He knew not where or when the fatal
+blow would be struck. He only knew that the invisible hand of the
+Terror would strike him as surely in the uttermost ends of the earth
+as it would in the palace or the fortress. Never once had it missed
+its aim, and never once had the slightest clue been obtained to the
+identity of the hand that held the knife or pistol.
+
+Some such thoughts as these flashed one after another through
+Arnold's brain as he stood talking with Natasha. He saw at once why
+she had only that one name. It was enough, and it was not long before
+he learnt that it was the symbol of an authority in the Circle that
+admitted of no question.
+
+She was the envoy of him whose word was law, absolute and
+irrevocable, to every member of the Brotherhood; to disobey whom was
+death; and to obey whom had, so far at least, meant swift and
+invariable success, even where it seemed least to be hoped for.
+
+Of course, Natasha's almost girlish question about the air-ship was
+really a command, which would have been none the less binding had she
+only had her own beauty to enforce it. As she spoke the President and
+Colston--who had only lost himself for the time behind a mask and
+cloak--came up to Arnold and asked him if he was prepared to give an
+exhibition of the powers of his model, and to explain its working and
+construction to the Circle at once.
+
+He replied that everything was perfectly ready for the trial, and
+that he would set the model working for them in a few minutes. The
+President then told him that the exhibition should take place in
+another room, where there would be much more space than where they
+were, and bade him bring the box and follow him.
+
+A door was now opened in the wall of the room remote from that by
+which he and Colston had entered, and through this the whole party
+went down a short passage, and through another door at the end which
+opened into a very large apartment, which, from the fact of its being
+windowless, Arnold rightly judged to be underground, like the
+Council-chamber that they had just left.
+
+A single glance was enough to show him the chief purpose to which the
+chamber was devoted. The wall at one end was covered with arm-racks
+containing all the newest and most perfect makes of rifles and
+pistols; while at the other end, about twenty paces distant, were
+three electric signalling targets, graded, as was afterwards
+explained to him, to one, three, and five hundred yards range.
+
+In a word, the chamber was an underground range for rifle and pistol
+practice, in which a volley could have been fired without a sound
+being heard ten yards away. It was here that the accuracy of the
+various weapons invented from time to time was tested; and here, too,
+every member of the Circle, man and woman, practised with rifle and
+pistol until an infallible aim was acquired. A register of scores was
+kept, and at the head of it stood the name of Radna Michaelis.
+
+A long table ran across the end at which the arm-racks were, and on
+this Arnold laid the case containing the model, he standing on one
+side of the table, and the members of the Circle on the other,
+watching his movements with a curiosity that they took no trouble to
+disguise.
+
+He opened the case, feeling something like a scientific demonstrator,
+with an advanced and critical class before him. In a moment the man
+disappeared, and the mechanician and the enthusiast took his place.
+As each part was taken out and laid upon the table, he briefly
+explained its use; and then, last of all, came the hull of the
+air-ship.
+
+This was three feet long and six inches broad in its midships
+diameter. It was made in two longitudinal sections of polished
+aluminium, which shone like burnished silver. It would have been
+cigar-shaped but for the fact that the forward end was drawn out into
+a long sharp ram, the point of which was on a level with the floor of
+the hull amidships as it lay upon the table. Two deep bilge-plates,
+running nearly the whole length of the hull, kept it in an upright
+position and prevented the blades of the propellers from touching the
+table. For about half its whole length the upper part of the hull was
+flattened and formed a deck from which rose three short strong masts,
+each of which carried a wheel of thin metal whose spokes were six
+inclined fans something like the blades of a screw.
+
+A little lower than this deck there projected on each side a broad,
+oblong, slightly curved sheet of metal, very thin, but strengthened
+by means of wire braces, till it was as rigid as a plate of solid
+steel, although it only weighed a few ounces. These air-planes worked
+on an axis amidships, and could be inclined either way through an
+angle of thirty degrees. At the pointed stern there revolved a
+powerful four-bladed propeller, and from each quarter, inclined
+slightly outwards from the middle line of the vessel, projected a
+somewhat smaller screw working underneath the after end of the
+air-planes.
+
+The hull contained four small double-cylinder engines, one of which
+actuated the stern-propeller, and the other three the fan-wheels and
+side-propellers. There were, of course, no furnaces, boilers, or
+condensers. Two slender pipes ran into each cylinder from suitably
+placed gas reservoirs, or power-cylinders, as the engineer called
+them, and that was all.
+
+Arnold deftly and rapidly put the parts together, continuing his
+running description as he did so, and in a few minutes the beautiful
+miracle of ingenuity stood complete before the wondering eyes of the
+Circle, and a murmur of admiration ran from lip to lip, bringing a
+flush of pleasure to the cheek of its creator.
+
+"There," said he, as he put the finishing touches to the apparatus,
+"you see that she is a combination of two principles--those of the
+Aeronef and the Aeroplane. The first reached its highest development
+in Jules Verne's imaginary "Clipper of the Clouds," and the second in
+Hiram Maxim's Aeroplane. Of course, Jules Verne's Aeronef was merely
+an idea, and one that could never be realised while Robur's
+mysterious source of electrical energy remained unknown--as it still
+does.
+
+"Maxim's Aeroplane is, as you all know, also an unrealised ideal so
+far as any practical use is concerned. He has succeeded in making it
+fly, but only under the most favourable conditions, and practically
+without cargo. Its two fatal defects have been shown by experience to
+be the comparatively overwhelming weight of the engine and the fuel
+that he has to carry to develop sufficient power to rise from the
+ground and progress against the wind, and the inability of the
+machine to ascend perpendicularly to any required height.
+
+"Without the power to do this no air-ship can be of any use save
+under very limited conditions. You cannot carry a railway about with
+you, or a station to get a start from every time you want to rise,
+and you cannot always choose a nice level plain in which to come
+down. Even if you could the Aeroplane would not rise again without
+its rails and carriage. For purposes of warfare, then, it may be
+dismissed as totally useless.
+
+"In this machine, as you see, I have combined the two principles.
+These helices on the masts will lift the dead weight of the ship
+perpendicularly without the slightest help from the side-planes,
+which are used to regulate the vessel's flight when afloat. I will
+set the engines that work them in motion independently of the others
+which move the propellers, and then you will see what I mean."
+
+As he spoke, he set one part of the mechanism working. Those watching
+saw the three helices begin to spin round, the centre one revolving
+in an opposite direction to the other two, with a soft whirring sound
+that gradually rose to a high-pitched note.
+
+When they attained their full speed they looked like solid wheels,
+and then the air-ship rose, at first slowly, and then more and more
+swiftly, straight up from the table, until it strained hard at the
+piece of cord which prevented it from reaching the roof.
+
+A universal chorus of "bravas" greeted it as it rose, and every eye
+became fixed on it as it hung motionless in the air, sustained by its
+whirling helices. After letting it remain aloft for a few minutes
+Arnold pulled it down again, saying as he did so--
+
+"That, I think, proves that the machine can rise from any position
+where the upward road is open, and without the slightest assistance
+of any apparatus. Now it shall take a voyage round the room.
+
+"You see it is steered by this rudder-fan under the stern propeller.
+In the real ship it will be worked by a wheel, like the rudder of a
+sea-going vessel; but in the model it is done by this lever, so that
+I can control it by a couple of strings from the ground."
+
+He went round to the other side of the table while he was speaking,
+and adjusted the steering gear, stopping the engines meanwhile. Then
+he put the model down on the floor, set all four engines to work, and
+stood behind with the guiding-strings in his hands. The spectators
+heard a louder and somewhat shriller whirring noise than before, and
+the beautiful fabric, with its shining, silvery hull and side-planes,
+rose slantingly from the ground and darted forward down the room,
+keeping Arnold at a quick run with the rudder-strings tightly
+strained.
+
+Like an obedient steed, it instantly obeyed the slightest pull upon
+either of them, and twice made the circuit of the room before its
+creator pulled it down and stopped the machinery.
+
+The experiment was a perfect and undeniable success in every respect,
+and not one of those who saw it had the slightest doubt as to
+Arnold's air-ship having at last solved the problem of aerial
+navigation, and made the Brotherhood lords of a realm as wide as the
+atmospheric ocean that encircles the globe.
+
+As soon as the model was once more resting on the table, the
+President came forward and, grasping the engineer by both hands, said
+in a voice from which he made but little effort to banish the emotion
+that he felt--
+
+"Bravo, brother! Henceforth you shall be known to the Brotherhood as
+the Master of the Air, for truly you have been the first among the
+sons of men to fairly conquer it. Come, let us go back and talk, for
+there is much to be said about this, and we cannot begin too soon to
+make arrangements for building the first of our aerial fleet. You can
+leave your model where it is in perfect safety, for no one ever
+enters this room save ourselves."
+
+So saying the President led the way to the Council-chamber, and
+there, after the _Ariel_--as it had already been decided to name the
+first air-ship--had been christened in anticipation in twenty-year
+old champagne, the Circle settled down at once to business, and for a
+good three hours discussed the engineer's estimate and plans for
+building the first vessel of the aerial fleet.
+
+At length all the practical details were settled, and the President
+rose in token of the end of the conference. As he did so he said
+somewhat abruptly to Arnold--
+
+"So far so good. Now there is nothing more to be done but to lay
+those plans before the Chief and get his authority for withdrawing
+out of the treasury sufficient money to commence operations. I
+presume you could reproduce them from memory if necessary--at any
+rate, in sufficient outline to make them perfectly intelligible?"
+
+"Certainly," was the reply. "I could reproduce them in _fac simile_
+without the slightest difficulty. Why do you ask?"
+
+"Because the Chief is in Russia, and you must go to him and place
+them before him from memory. They are far too precious to be trusted
+to any keeping, however trustworthy. There are such things as railway
+accidents, and other forms of sudden death, to say nothing of the
+Russian customs, false arrests, personal searches, and imprisonments
+on mere suspicion.
+
+"We can risk none of these, and so there is nothing for it but your
+going to Petersburg and verbally explaining them to the Chief. You
+can be ready in three days, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, in two, if you like," replied Arnold, not a little taken aback
+at the unexpected suddenness of what he knew at once to be the first
+order that was to test his obedience to the Brotherhood. "But as I am
+absolutely ignorant of Russia and the Russians, I suppose you will
+make such arrangements as will prevent my making any innocent but
+possibly awkward mistakes."
+
+"Oh yes," replied the President, with a smile, "all arrangements have
+been made already, and I expect you will find them anything but
+unpleasant. Natasha goes to Petersburg in company with another lady
+member of the Circle whom you have not yet seen.
+
+"You will go with them, and they will explain everything to you _en
+route_, if they have no opportunity of doing so before you start. Now
+let us go upstairs and have some supper. I am famished, and I suppose
+every one else is too."
+
+Arnold simply bowed in answer to the President; but one pair of eyes
+at least in the room caught the quick, faint flush that rose in his
+cheek as he was told in whose company he was to travel. As for
+himself, if the journey had been to Siberia instead of Russia, he
+would have felt nothing but pleasure at the prospect after that.
+
+They left the Council-chamber by the passage and the ante-room, the
+sentry standing to attention as they passed him, each giving the word
+in turn, till the President came last and closed the doors behind
+him. Then the sentry brought up the rear and extinguished the lights
+as he left the passage.
+
+Fifteen minutes later there sat down to supper, in the solidly
+comfortable dining-room of the upper house, a party of ladies and
+gentlemen who chatted through the meal as merrily and innocently as
+though there were no such things as tyranny or suffering in the
+world, and whom not the most acute observer would have taken for the
+most dangerous and desperately earnest body of conspirators that ever
+plotted the destruction, not of an empire, but of a civilisation and
+a social order that it had taken twenty centuries to build up.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE DAUGHTER OF NATAS.
+
+
+Supper was over about eleven, and then the party adjourned to the
+drawing-room, where for an hour or so Arnold sat and listened to such
+music and singing as he had never heard in his life before. The songs
+seemed to be in every language in Europe, and he did not understand
+anything like half of them, so far, at least, as the words were
+concerned.
+
+They were, however, so far removed from the average drawing-room
+medley of twaddle and rattle that the music interpreted the words
+into its own universal language, and made them almost superfluous.
+
+For the most part they were sad and passionate, and once or twice,
+especially when Radna Michaelis was singing, Arnold saw tears well up
+into the eyes of the women, and the brows of the men contract and
+their hands clench with sudden passion at the recollection of some
+terrible scene or story that was recalled by the song.
+
+At last, close on midnight, the President rose from his seat and
+asked Natasha to sing the "Hymn of Freedom." She acknowledged the
+request with an inclination of her head, and then as Radna sat down
+to the piano, and she took her place beside it, all the rest rose to
+their feet like worshippers in a church.
+
+The prelude was rather longer than usual, and as Radna played it
+Arnold heard running through it, as it were, echoes of all the
+patriotic songs of Europe from "Scots Wha Hae" and "The Shan van
+Voght" to the forbidden Polish National Hymn and the Swiss Republican
+song, which is known in England as "God Save the Queen." The prelude
+ended with a few bars of the "Marseillaise," and then Natasha began.
+
+It was a marvellous performance. As the air changed from nation to
+nation the singer changed the language, and at the end of each verse
+the others took up the strain in perfect harmony, till it sounded
+like a chorus of the nations in miniature, each language coming in
+its turn until the last verse was reached.
+
+Then there was silence for a moment, and then the opening chords of
+the "Marseillaise" rang out from the piano, slow and stately at
+first, and then quickening like the tread of an army going into
+battle.
+
+Suddenly Natasha's voice soared up, as it were, out of the music, and
+a moment later the Song of the Revolution rolled forth in a flood of
+triumphant melody, above which Natasha's pure contralto thrilled
+sweet and strong, till to Arnold's intoxicated senses it seemed like
+the voice of some angel singing from the sky in the ears of men, and
+it was not until the hymn had been ended for some moments that he was
+recalled to earth by the President saying to him--
+
+"Some day, perhaps, you will be floating in the clouds, and you will
+hear that hymn rising from the throats of millions gathered together
+from the ends of the earth, and when you hear that you will know that
+our work is done, and that there is peace on earth at last."
+
+"I hope so," replied the engineer quietly, "and, what is more, I
+believe that some day I shall hear it."
+
+"I believe so too," suddenly interrupted Radna, turning round on her
+seat at the piano, "but there will be many a battle-song sung to the
+accompaniment of battle-music before that happens. I wish"--
+
+"That all Russia were a haystack, and that you were beside it with a
+lighted torch," said Natasha, half in jest and half in earnest.
+
+"Yes, truly!" replied Radna, turning round and dashing fiercely into
+the "Marseillaise" again.
+
+"I have no doubt of it. But, come, it is after midnight, and we have
+to get back to Cheyne Walk. The princess will think we have been
+arrested or something equally dreadful. Ah, Mr. Colston, we have a
+couple of seats to spare in the brougham. Will you and our Admiral of
+the Air condescend to accept a lift as far as Chelsea?"
+
+"The condescension is in the offer, Natasha," replied Colston,
+flushing with pleasure and glancing towards Radna the while. Radna
+answered with an almost imperceptible sign of consent, and Colston
+went on: "If it were in an utterly opposite direction"--
+
+"You would not be asked to come, sir. So don't try to pay compliments
+at the expense of common sense," laughed Natasha before he could
+finish. "If you do you shall sit beside me instead of Radna all the
+way."
+
+There was a general smile at this retort, for Colston's avowed
+devotion to Radna and the terrible circumstances out of which it had
+sprung was one of the romances of the Circle.
+
+As for Arnold, he could scarcely believe his ears when he heard that
+he was to ride from Clapham Common to Chelsea sitting beside this
+radiantly beautiful girl, behind whose innocence and gaiety there lay
+the shadow of her mysterious and terrible parentage.
+
+Lovely and gentle as she seemed, he knew even now how awful a power
+she held in the slender little hand whose nervous clasp he could
+still feel upon his own, and this knowledge seemed to raise an
+invisible yet impassable barrier between him and the possibility of
+looking upon her as under other circumstances it would have been
+natural for a man to look upon so fair a woman.
+
+Natasha's brougham was so far an improvement on those of the present
+day that it had two equally comfortable seats, and on these the four
+were cosily seated a few minutes after the party broke up. To Arnold,
+and, doubtless, to Colston also, the miles flew past at an unheard-of
+speed; but for all that, long before the carriage stopped at the
+house in Cheyne Walk, he had come to the conviction that, for good or
+evil, he was now bound to the Brotherhood by far stronger ties than
+any social or political opinions could have formed.
+
+After they had said good-night at the door, and received an
+invitation to lunch for the next day to talk over the journey to
+Russia, he and Colston decided to walk to the Savoy, for it was a
+clear moonlit night, and each had a good deal to say to the other,
+which could be better and more safely said in the open air than in a
+cab. So they lit their cigars, buttoned up their coats, and started
+off eastward along the Embankment to Vauxhall.
+
+"Well, my friend, tell me how you have enjoyed your evening, and what
+you think of the company," said Colston, by way of opening the
+conversation.
+
+"Until supper I had a very pleasant time of it. I enjoyed the
+business part of the proceedings intensely, as any other mechanical
+enthusiast would have done, I suppose. But I frankly confess that
+after that my mind is in a state of complete chaos, in the midst of
+which only one figure stands out at all distinctly."
+
+"And that figure is?"
+
+"Natasha. Tell me--who is she?"
+
+"I know no more as to her true identity than you do, or else I would
+answer you with pleasure."
+
+"What! Do you mean to say"--
+
+"I mean to say just what I have said. Not only do I not know who she
+is, but I do not believe that more than two or three members of the
+Circle, at the outside, know any more than I do. Those are, probably,
+Nicholas Roburoff, the President of the Executive, and his wife, and
+Radna Michaelis."
+
+"Then, if Radna knows, how comes it that you do not know? You must
+forgive me if I am presuming on a too short acquaintance; but it
+certainly struck me to-night that you had very few secrets from each
+other."
+
+"There is no presumption about it, my dear fellow," replied Colston,
+with a laugh. "It is no secret that Radna and I are lovers, and that
+she will be my wife when I have earned her."
+
+"Now you have raised my curiosity again," interrupted Arnold, in an
+inquiring tone.
+
+"And will very soon satisfy it. You saw that horrible picture in the
+Council-chamber? Yes. Well, I will tell you the whole story of that
+some day when we have more time; but for the present it will be
+enough for me to tell you that I have sworn not to ask Radna to come
+with me to the altar while a single person who was concerned in that
+nameless crime remains alive.
+
+"There were five persons responsible for it to begin with--the
+governor of the prison, the prefect of police for the district, a
+spy, who informed against her, and the two soldiers who executed the
+infernal sentence. It happened nearly three years ago, and there are
+two of them alive still--the governor and the prefect of police.
+
+"Of course the Brotherhood would have removed them long ago had it
+decided to do so; but I got the circumstances laid before Natas, by
+the help of Natasha, and received permission to execute the sentences
+myself. So far I have killed three with my own hand, and the other
+two have not much longer to live.
+
+"The governor has been transferred to Siberia, and will probably be
+the last that I shall reach. The prefect is now in command of the
+Russian secret police in London, and unless an accident happens he
+will never leave England."
+
+Colston spoke in a cold, passionless, merciless tone, just as a
+lawyer might speak of a criminal condemned to die by the ordinary
+process of the law, and as Arnold heard him he shuddered. But at the
+same time the picture in the Council-chamber came up before his
+mental vision, and he was forced to confess that men who could so far
+forget their manhood as to lash a helpless woman up to a triangle and
+flog her till her flesh was cut to ribbons, were no longer men but
+wild beasts, whose very existence was a crime. So he merely said--
+
+"They were justly slain. Now tell me more about Natasha."
+
+"There is very little more that I can tell you, I'm afraid. All I
+know is that the Brotherhood of the Terror is the conception and
+creation of a single man, and that that man is Natas, the father of
+Natasha, as she is known to us. His orders come to us either directly
+in writing through Natasha, or indirectly through him you have heard
+spoken of as the Chief."
+
+"Oh, then the Chief is not Natas?"
+
+"No, we have all of us seen him. In fact, when he is in London he
+always presides at the Circle meetings. You would hardly believe it,
+but he is an English nobleman, and Secretary to the English Embassy
+at Petersburg."
+
+"Then he is Lord Alanmere, and an old college friend of mine!"
+exclaimed Arnold. "I saw his name in the paper the night before last.
+It was mentioned in the account of the murder"--
+
+"We don't call those murders, my friend," drily interrupted Colston;
+"we call them what they really are--executions."
+
+"I beg your pardon; I was using the phraseology of the newspaper.
+What was his crime?"
+
+"I don't know. But the fact that the Chief was there when he died is
+quite enough for me. Well, as I was saying, the Chief, as we call
+him, is the visible and supreme head of the Brotherhood so far as we
+are concerned. We know that Natas exists, and that he and the Chief
+admit no one save Natasha to their councils.
+
+"They control the treasury absolutely, and apart from the
+contributions of those of the members who can afford to make them,
+they appear to provide the whole of the funds. Of course, Lord
+Alanmere, as you know, is enormously wealthy, and probably Natas is
+also rich. At any rate, there is never any want of money where the
+work of the Brotherhood is concerned.
+
+"The estimates are given to Natasha when the Chief is not present,
+and at the next meeting she brings the money in English gold and
+notes, or in foreign currency as may be required, and that is all we
+know about the finances.
+
+"Perhaps I ought to tell you that there is also a very considerable
+mystery about the Chief himself. When he presides at the Council
+meetings he displays a perfectly marvellous knowledge of both the
+members and the working of the Brotherhood.
+
+"It would seem that nothing, however trifling, is hidden from him;
+and yet when any of us happen to meet him, as we often do, in
+Society, he treats us all as the most perfect strangers, unless we
+have been regularly introduced to him as ordinary acquaintances. Even
+then he seems utterly ignorant of his connection with the
+Brotherhood.
+
+"The first time I met him outside the Circle was at a ball at the
+Russian Embassy. I went and spoke to him, giving the sign of the
+Inner Circle as I did so. To my utter amazement, he stared at me
+without a sign of recognition, and calmly informed me, in the usual
+way, that I had the advantage of him.
+
+"Of course I apologised, and he accepted the apology with perfect
+good humour, but as an utter stranger would have done. A little later
+Natasha came in with the Princess Ornovski, whom you are going to
+Russia with, and who is there one of the most trusted agents of the
+Petersburg police. I told her what had happened.
+
+"She looked at me for a moment rather curiously with those wonderful
+eyes of hers; then she laughed softly, and said, 'Come, I will set
+that at rest by introducing you; but mind, not a word about politics
+or those horrible secret societies, as you value my good opinion.'
+
+"I understood from this that there was something behind which could
+not be explained there, where every other one you danced with might
+be a spy, and I was introduced to his Lordship, and we became very
+good friends in the ordinary social way; but I failed to gather the
+slightest hint from his conversation that he even knew of the
+existence of the Brotherhood.
+
+"When we left I drove home with Natasha and the Princess to supper,
+and on the way Natasha told me that his Lordship found it necessary
+to lead two entirely distinct lives, and that he adhered so rigidly
+to this rule that he never broke it even with her. Since then I have
+been most careful to respect what, after all, is a very wise, if not
+an absolutely necessary, precaution on his part."
+
+"And, now," said Arnold, speaking in a tone that betrayed not a
+little hesitation and embarrassment, "if you can do so, answer me one
+more question, and do so as shortly and directly as you can. Is
+Natasha in love with, or betrothed to, any member of the Brotherhood
+as far as you know?"
+
+Colston stopped and looked at him with a laugh in his eyes. Then he
+put his hand on his shoulder and said--
+
+"As I thought, and feared! You have not escaped the common lot of all
+heart-whole men upon whom those terrible eyes of hers have looked.
+The Angel of the Revolution, as we call her among ourselves, is
+peerless among the daughters of men. What more natural, then, that
+all the sons of men should fall speedy victims to her fatal charms?
+So far as I know, every man who has ever seen her is more or less in
+love with her--and mostly more!
+
+"As for the rest, I am as much in the dark as you are, save for the
+fact that I know, on the authority of Radna, that she is not
+betrothed to any one, and, so far as _she_ knows, still in the
+blissful state of maiden fancy-freedom."
+
+"Thank God for that!" said Arnold, with an audible sigh of relief.
+Then he went on in somewhat hurried confusion, "But there, of course,
+you think me a presumptuous ass, and so I am; wherefore"--
+
+"There is no need for you to talk nonsense, my dear fellow. There
+never can be presumption in an honest man's love, no matter how
+exalted the object of it may be. Besides, are you not now the central
+hope of the Revolution, and is not yours the hand that shall hurl
+destruction on its enemies?
+
+"As for Natasha, peerless and all as she is, has not the poet of the
+ages said of just such as her--
+
+  She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd;
+  She is a woman: therefore to be won?
+
+"And who, too, has a better chance of winning her than you will have
+when you are commanding the aerial fleet of the Brotherhood, and,
+like a very Jove, hurling your destroying bolts from the clouds, and
+deciding the hazard of war when the nations of Europe are locked in
+the death-struggle? Why, you see such a prospect makes even me
+poetical.
+
+"Seriously, though, you must not consider the distance between you
+too great. Remember that you are a very different person now to what
+you were a couple of days ago. Without any offence, I may say that
+you were then nameless, while now you have the chance of making a
+name that will go down to all time as that of the solver of the
+greatest problem of this or any other age.
+
+"Added to this, remember that Natasha, after all, is a woman, and,
+more than that, a woman devoted heart and soul to a great cause, in
+which great deeds are soon to be done. Great deeds are still the
+shortest way to a woman's heart, and that is the way you must take if
+you are to hope for success."
+
+"I will!" simply replied Arnold, and the tone in which the two words
+were said convinced Colston that he meant all that they implied to
+its fullest extent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+LEARNING THE PART.
+
+
+It was nearly eleven the next morning by the time Arnold and Colston
+had finished breakfast. This was mostly due to the fact that Arnold
+had passed an almost entirely sleepless night, and had only begun to
+doze off towards morning. The events of the previous evening kept on
+repeating themselves in various sequences time after time, until his
+brain reeled in the whirl of emotions that they gave rise to.
+
+Although of a strongly mathematical and even mechanical turn of mind,
+the young engineer was also an enthusiast, and therefore there was a
+strong colouring of romance in his nature which lifted him far above
+the level upon which his mere intellect was accustomed to work.
+
+Where intellect alone was concerned--as, for instance, in the working
+out of a problem in engineering or mechanics--he was cool,
+calculating, and absolutely unemotional. His highly-disciplined mind
+was capable of banishing every other subject from consideration save
+the one which claimed the attention of the hour, and of incorporating
+itself wholly with the work in hand until it was finished.
+
+These qualities would have been quite sufficient to assure his
+success in life on conventional lines. They would have made him rich,
+and perhaps famous, but they would never have made him a great
+inventor; for no one can do anything really great who is not a
+dreamer as well as a worker.
+
+It was because he was a dreamer that he had sacrificed everything to
+the working out of his ideal, and risked his life on the chance of
+success, and it was for just the same reason that the tremendous
+purposes of the Brotherhood had been able to fire his imagination
+with luridly brilliant dreams of a gigantic world-tragedy in which
+he, armed with almost supernatural powers, should play the central
+part.
+
+This of itself would have been enough to make all other
+considerations of trivial moment in his eyes, and to bind him
+irrevocably to the Brotherhood. He saw, it is true, that a frightful
+amount of slaughter and suffering would be the price either of
+success or failure in so terrific a struggle; but he also knew that
+that struggle was inevitable in some form or other, and whether he
+took a part in it or not.
+
+But since the last sun had set a new element had come into his life,
+and was working in line with both his imagination and his ambition.
+So far he had lived his life without any other human love than what
+was bound up with his recollections of his home and his boyhood. As a
+man he had never loved any human being. Science had been his only
+mistress, and had claimed his undivided devotion, engrossing his mind
+and intellect completely, but leaving his heart free.
+
+And now, as it were in an instant, a new mistress had come forward
+out of the unknown. She had put her hand upon his heart, and, though
+no words of human speech had passed between them, save the merest
+commonplaces, her soul had said to his, "This is mine. I have called
+it into life, and for me it shall live until the end."
+
+He had heard this as plainly as though it had been said to him with
+the lips of flesh, and he had acquiesced in the imperious claim with
+a glad submission which had yet to be tinged with the hope that it
+might some day become a mastery.
+
+Thus, as the silent, sleepless hours went by, did he review over and
+over again the position in which he found himself on the threshold of
+his strange new life, until at last physical exhaustion brought sleep
+to his eyes if not to his brain, and he found himself flying over the
+hills and vales of dreamland in his air-ship, with the roar of battle
+and the smoke of ruined towns far beneath him, and Natasha at his
+side, sharing with him the dominion of the air that his genius had
+won.
+
+At length Colston came in to tell him that the breakfast was
+spoiling, and that it was high time to get up if they intended to be
+in time for their appointment at Chelsea. This brought him out of bed
+with effective suddenness, and he made a hasty toilet for breakfast,
+leaving more important preparations until afterwards.
+
+During the meal their conversation naturally turned chiefly on the
+visit that they were to pay, and Colston took the opportunity of
+explaining one or two things that it was necessary for him to know
+with regard to the new acquaintance that he was about to make at
+Chelsea.
+
+"So far as the outside world is concerned," said he, "Natasha is the
+niece of the Princess Ornovski. She is the daughter of a sister of
+hers, who married an English gentleman, named Darrel, who was drowned
+with his wife about twelve years ago, when the _Albania_ was wrecked
+off the coast of Portugal. The Princess had a sister, who was drowned
+with her husband in the _Albania_, and she left a daughter about
+Natasha's then age, but who died of consumption shortly after in
+Nice.
+
+"Under these circumstances, it was, of course, perfectly easy for the
+Princess to adopt Natasha, and introduce her into Society as her
+niece as soon as she reached the age of coming out.
+
+"This has been of immense service to the Brotherhood, as the Princess
+is, as I told you, one of the most implicitly trusted allies of the
+Petersburg police. She is received at the Russian Court, and is
+therefore able to take Natasha into the best Russian Society, where
+her extraordinary beauty naturally enables her to break as many
+hearts as she likes, and to learn secrets which are of the greatest
+importance to the Brotherhood.
+
+"Her Society name is Fedora Darrel, and it will scarcely be necessary
+to tell you that outside our own Circle no such being as Natasha has
+any existence."
+
+"I perfectly understand," replied Arnold. "The name shall never pass
+my lips save in privacy, and indeed it is hardly likely that it will
+ever do so even then, for your habit of calling each other by your
+Christian names is too foreign to my British insularity."
+
+"It is a Russian habit, as you, of course, know, and added to that,
+we are, so far as the Cause is concerned, all brothers and sisters
+together, and so it comes natural to us. Anyhow, you will have to use
+it with Natasha, for in the Circle she has no other name, and to call
+her Miss Darrel there would be to produce something like an
+earthquake."
+
+"Oh, in that case, I daresay I shall be able to avoid the calamity,
+though there will seem to be a presumption about it that will not
+make me very comfortable at first."
+
+"Too much like addressing one's sweetheart, eh?"
+
+This brought the conversation to a sudden stop, for Arnold's only
+reply to it was a quick flush, and a lapse into silence that was a
+good deal more eloquent than any verbal reply could have been.
+Colston noticed it with a smile, and got up and lit a pipe.
+
+For the first time for a good few years Arnold took considerable
+pains with his toilet that morning. A new fit-out had just been
+delivered by a tailor who had promised the things within twenty-four
+hours, and had kept his word. The consequences were that he was able
+to array himself in perfect morning costume, from his hat to his
+boots, and that was what it had not been his to do since he left
+college.
+
+Colston had recommended him in his easy friendly way to pay
+scrupulous attention to externals in the part that he would
+henceforth have to play before the world. He fully saw the wisdom of
+this advice, for he knew that, however well a part may be played, if
+it is not dressed to perfection, some sharp eyes will see that it is
+a part and not a reality.
+
+The playing of his part was to begin that day, and he recognised that
+at least one of the purposes of his visit to Natasha was the
+determining of what that part was to be. He thus looked forward with
+no little curiosity to the events of the afternoon, quite apart from
+the supreme interest that centred in his hostess.
+
+They started out nearly a couple of hours before they were due at
+Cheyne Walk, as they had several orders to give with regard to
+Arnold's outfit for the journey that was before him; and this done,
+they reached the house about a quarter of an hour before lunch time.
+
+They were received in the most delightful of sitting-rooms by a very
+handsome, aristocratic-looking woman, who might have been anywhere
+between forty and fifty. She shook hands very cordially with Arnold,
+saying as she did so--
+
+"Welcome, Richard Arnold! The friends of the Cause are mine, and I
+have heard much about you already from Natasha, so that I already
+seem to know you. I am very sorry that I was not able to be at the
+Circle last night to see what you had to show. Natasha tells me that
+it is quite a miracle of genius."
+
+"She is too generous in her praise," replied Arnold, speaking as
+quietly as he could in spite of the delight that the words gave him.
+"It is no miracle, but only the logical result of thought and work.
+Still, I hope that it will be found to realise its promise when the
+time of trial comes."
+
+"Of that I have no doubt, from all that I hear," said the Princess.
+"Before long I shall hope to see it for myself. Ah, here is Natasha.
+Come, I must introduce you afresh, for you do not know her yet as the
+world knows her."
+
+Arnold heard the door open behind him as the Princess spoke, and,
+turning round, saw Natasha coming towards him with her hand
+outstretched and a smile of welcome on her beautiful face. Before
+their hands met the Princess moved quietly between them and said,
+half in jest and half in earnest--
+
+"Fedora, permit me to present to you Mr. Richard Arnold, who is to
+accompany us to Russia to inspect the war-balloon offered to our
+Little Father the Tsar. Mr. Arnold, my niece, Fedora Darrel. There,
+now you know each other."
+
+"I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Arnold," said Natasha,
+with mock gravity as they shook hands. "I have heard much already of
+your skill in connection with aerial navigation, and I have no doubt
+but that your advice will be of the greatest service to his Majesty."
+
+"That is as it may be," answered Arnold, at once entering into the
+somewhat grim humour of the situation. "But if it is possible I
+should like to hear something a little definite as to this mission
+with which I have been, I fear, undeservingly honoured. I have been
+very greatly interested in the problem of aerial navigation for some
+years past, but I must confess that this is the first I have heard of
+these particular war-balloons."
+
+"It is for the purpose of enlightening you on that subject that this
+little party has been arranged," said the Princess, turning for the
+moment away from Colston, with whom she was talking earnestly in a
+low tone. "Ha! There goes the lunch-bell. Mr. Colston, your arm.
+Fedora, will you show Mr. Arnold the way?"
+
+Arnold opened the door for the Princess to go out, and then followed
+with Natasha on his arm. As they went out, she said in a low tone to
+him--
+
+"I think, if you don't mind, you had better begin at once to call me
+Miss Darrel, so as to get into the way of it. A slip might be
+serious, you know."
+
+"Your wishes are my laws, Miss Darrel," replied he, the name slipping
+as easily off his tongue as if he had known her by it for months. It
+may have been only fancy on his part, he thought he felt just the
+lightest imaginable pressure on his arm as he spoke. At any rate, he
+was vain enough or audacious enough to take the impression for a
+reality, and walked the rest of the way to the dining-room on air.
+
+The meal was dainty and perfectly served, but there were no servants
+present, for obvious reasons, and so they waited on themselves.
+Colston sat opposite the Princess and carved the partridges, while
+Arnold was _vis-a-vis_ to Natasha, a fact which had a perceptible
+effect upon his appetite.
+
+"Now," said the Princess, as soon as every one was helped, "I will
+enlighten you, Mr. Arnold, as to your mission to Russia. One part of
+the business, I presume, you are already familiar with?"
+
+Arnold bowed his assent, and she went on--
+
+"Then the other is easily explained. Interested as you are in the
+question, I suppose there is no need to tell you that for several
+years past the Tsar has had an offer open to all the world of a
+million sterling for a vessel that will float in the air, and be
+capable of being directed in its course as a ship at sea can be
+directed."
+
+"Yes, I am well aware of the fact. Pray proceed." As he said this
+Arnold glanced across the table at Natasha, and a swift smile and a
+flash from her suddenly unveiled eyes told him that she, too, was
+thinking of how the world's history might have been altered had the
+Tsar's million been paid for his invention. Then the Princess went
+on--
+
+"Well, through a friend at the Russian Embassy, I have learnt that a
+French engineer has, as he says, perfected a balloon constructed on a
+new principle, which he claims will meet the conditions of the Tsar's
+offer.
+
+"My friend also told me that his Majesty had decided to take an
+entirely disinterested opinion with regard to this invention, and
+asked me if I could recommend any English engineer who had made a
+study of aerial navigation, and who would be willing to go to Russia,
+superintend the trials of the war-balloon, and report as to their
+success or otherwise.
+
+"This happened a few days ago only, and as I had happened to read an
+article that you will remember you wrote about six months ago in the
+_Nineteenth_, or, as it is now called, the _Twentieth Century_, I
+thought of your name, and said I would try to find some one. Two days
+later I got news from the Circle of your invention--never mind how;
+you will learn that later on--and called at the Embassy to say I had
+found some one whose judgment could be absolutely relied upon. Now,
+wasn't that kind of me, to give you such a testimonial as that to his
+Omnipotence the Tsar of All the Russias?"
+
+Once more Arnold bowed his acknowledgments--this time somewhat
+ironically, and Natasha interrupted the narrative by saying with a
+spice of malice in her voice--
+
+"No doubt the Little Father will duly recognise your kindness,
+Princess, when he gets quite to the bottom of the matter."
+
+"I hope he will," replied the Princess, "but that is a matter of the
+future--and of considerable doubt as well." Then, turning to Arnold
+again, she continued--
+
+"You will now, of course, see the immense advantage there appeared to
+be in getting you to examine these war-balloons. They are evidently
+the only possible rivals to your own invention in the field, and
+therefore it is of the utmost importance that you should know their
+strength or their weakness, as the case may be.
+
+"Well, that is all I have to say, so far. It has been decided that
+you shall go, if you are willing, with us to Petersburg the day after
+to-morrow to see the balloon, and make your report. All your expenses
+will be paid on the most liberal scale, for the Tsar is no niggard in
+spending either his own or other people's money, and you will have a
+handsome fee into the bargain for your trouble."
+
+"So far as the work is concerned, of course, I undertake it
+willingly," said Arnold, as the Princess stopped speaking. "But it
+hardly seems to me to be right that I should take even the Tsar's
+money under such circumstances. To tell you the truth, it looks to me
+rather uncomfortably like false pretences."
+
+Again Natasha's eyes flashed approval across the table, but
+nevertheless she said--
+
+"You seem to forget, my friend, that we are at war with the Tsar, and
+all's fair in--in love and war. Besides, if you have any scruples
+about keeping the fee for your professional services--which, after
+all, you will render as honestly as though it were the merest matter
+of business--you can put it into the treasury, and so ease your
+conscience. Remember, too," she went on more seriously, "how the
+enormous wealth of this same Tsar has swollen by the confiscation of
+fortunes whose possessors had committed no other crime than becoming
+obnoxious to the corrupt bureaucracy."
+
+"I will take the fee if I fairly earn it, Miss Darrel," replied
+Arnold, returning the glance as he spoke, "and it shall be my first
+contribution to the treasury of the Brotherhood."
+
+"Spoken like a sensible man," chimed in the Princess. "After all, it
+is no worse than spoiling the Egyptians, and you have scriptural
+authority for that. However, you can do as you like with his
+Majesty's money when you get it. The main fact is that you have the
+opportunity of going to earn it, and that Colonel Martinov is coming
+here to tea this afternoon to bring our passports, specially
+authorising us to travel without customs examination or any kind of
+questioning to any part of the Tsar's dominions, and that, I can
+assure you, is a very exceptional honour indeed."
+
+"Who did you say? Martinov? Is that the Colonel Martinov who is the
+director of the secret police here?" asked Colston hurriedly.
+
+"Yes," replied the Princess, "the same. Why do you ask?"
+
+"Because," said Colston quietly, "he received the sentence of death
+nearly a month ago, and to-morrow night he will be executed, unless
+there is some accident. It was he who stood with the governor of
+Brovno in the prison-yard and watched Radna Michaelis flogged by the
+soldiers. I received news this morning that the arrangements are
+complete, and that the sentence will be carried out to-morrow night."
+
+"Yes, that is so," added Natasha, as Colston ceased speaking.
+"Everything is settled. It is therefore well that he should do
+something useful before he meets his fate."
+
+"How curious that it should just happen so!" said the Princess
+calmly, as she rose from the table and moved towards the door
+followed by Natasha.
+
+As soon as the ladies had left the room, Colston and Arnold lit their
+cigarettes and chatted while they smoked over their last glass of
+claret. Arnold would have liked to have asked more about the coming
+tragedy, but something in Colston's manner restrained him; and so the
+conversation remained on the subject of the Russian journey until
+they returned to the sitting-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS.
+
+
+On the 6th of March 1904, just six months after Arnold's journey to
+Russia, a special meeting of the Inner Circle of the Terrorists took
+place in the Council-chamber, at the house on Clapham Common.
+
+Although it was only attended by twelve persons all told, and those
+men and women whose names were unknown outside the circle of their
+own Society and the records of the Russian police, it was the most
+momentous conference that had taken place in the history of the world
+since the council of war that Abdurrhaman the Moslem had held with
+his chieftains eleven hundred and seventy-two years before, and, by
+taking their advice, spared the remnants of Christendom from the
+sword of Islam.
+
+Then the fate of the world hung in the balance of a council of war,
+and the supremacy of the Cross or the Crescent depended, humanly
+speaking, upon the decision of a dozen warriors. Now the fate of the
+civilisation that was made possible by that decision, lay at the
+mercy of a handful of outlaws and exiles who had laboriously brought
+to perfection the secret schemes of a single man.
+
+The work of the Terrorists was finally complete. Under the whole
+fabric of Society lay the mines which a single spark would now
+explode, and above this slumbering volcano the earth was trembling
+with the tread of millions of armed men, divided into huge hostile
+camps, and only waiting until Diplomacy had finished its work in the
+dark, and gave the long-awaited signal of inevitable and universal
+war.
+
+To-night that spark was to be shaken from the torch of Revolution,
+and to-morrow the first of the mines would explode. After that, if
+the course to be determined on by the Terrorist Council failed to
+arrive at the results which it was designed to reach, the armies of
+Europe would fight their way through the greatest war that the world
+had ever seen, the Fates would once more decide in favour of the
+strongest battalions, the fittest would triumph, and a new era of
+military despotism would begin--perhaps neither much better nor much
+worse than the one it would succeed.
+
+If, on the other hand, the plans of the Terrorists were successfully
+worked out to their logical conclusion, it would not be war only, but
+utter destruction that Society would have to face. And then with
+dissolution would come anarchy. The thrones of the world would be
+overthrown, the fabric of Society would be dissolved, commerce would
+come to an end, the structure that it had taken twenty centuries of
+the discipline of war and the patient toil of peace to build up,
+would crumble into ruins in a few short months, and then--well, after
+that no man could tell what would befall the remains of the human
+race that had survived the deluge. The means of destruction were at
+hand, and they would be used without mercy, but for the rest no man
+could speak.
+
+When Nicholas Roburoff, the President of the Executive, rose in his
+place at eight o'clock to explain the business in hand, every member
+present saw at a glance, by the gravity of his demeanour, that the
+communication that he had to make was of no ordinary nature, but even
+they were not prepared for the catastrophe that he announced in the
+first sentence that he uttered.
+
+"Friends," he said, in a voice that was rendered deeply impressive by
+the emotion that he vainly tried to conceal, "it is my mournful duty
+to tell you that she whom any one of us would willingly shed our
+blood to serve or save from the slightest evil, our beautiful and
+beloved Angel of the Revolution, as we so fondly call her, Natasha,
+the daughter of the Master, has, in the performance of her duty to
+the Cause, fallen into the hands of Russia."
+
+Save for a low, murmuring groan that ran round the table, the news
+was received in silence. It was too terrible, too hideous in the
+awful meaning that its few words conveyed, for any exclamations of
+grief, or any outburst of anger, to express the emotions that it
+raised.
+
+Not one of those who heard it but had good reason to know what it
+meant for a revolutionist to fall into the hands of Russia. For a man
+it meant the last extremity of human misery that flesh and blood
+could bear, but for a young and beautiful woman it was a fate that no
+words could describe--a doom that could only be thought of in silence
+and despair; and so the friends of Natasha were silent, though they
+did not yet despair. Roburoff bowed his head in acknowledgment of the
+inarticulate but eloquent endorsement of his words, and went on--
+
+"You already know the outcome of Richard Arnold's visit to Russia;
+how he was present at the trial of the Tsar's war-balloon, and was
+compelled to pronounce it such a complete success, that the Autocrat
+at once gave orders for the construction of a fleet of fifty
+aerostats of the same pattern; and how, thanks to the warning
+conveyed by Anna Ornovski, he was able to prevent his special
+passport being stolen by a police agent, and so to foil the designs
+of the chief of the Third Section to stop him taking the secret of
+the construction of the war-balloon out of Russia. You also know that
+he brought back the Chief's authority to build an air-ship after the
+model which was exhibited to us here, and that since his return he
+has been prosecuting that work on Drumcraig Island, one of the
+possessions of the Chief in the Outer Hebrides, which he placed at
+his disposal for the purpose.
+
+"You know, also, that Natasha and Anna Ornovski went to Russia partly
+to discover the terms of the secret treaty that we believed to exist
+between France and Russia, and partly to warn, and, if possible,
+remove from Russian soil a large number of our most valuable allies,
+whose names had been revealed to the Minister of the Interior,
+chiefly through the agency of the spy Martinov, who was executed in
+this room six months ago.
+
+"The first part of the task was achieved, not without difficulty, but
+with complete success, and of that more anon. The second part was
+almost finished when Natasha and Anna Ornovski were surprised in the
+house of Alexei Kassatkin, a member of the Moscow Nihilist Circle, in
+the Bolshoi Dmitrietka. He had been betrayed by one of his own
+servants, and a police visit was the result.
+
+"Added to this there is reason to believe that she had, quite apart
+from this, become acquainted with enough official secrets to make her
+removal desirable in high quarters. I need not tell you that that is
+the usual way in which the Tsar rewards those of his secret servants
+who get to know too much.
+
+"The fact of her being found in the house of a betrayed Nihilist was
+taken as sufficient proof of sympathy or complicity, and she was
+arrested. Natasha, as Fedora Darrel, claimed to be a British subject,
+and, as such, to be allowed to go free in virtue of the Tsar's safe
+conduct, which she exhibited. Instead of that she was taken before
+the chief of the Moscow police, rudely interrogated, and then
+brutally searched. Unhappily, in the bosom of her dress was found a
+piece of paper bearing some of the new police cypher. That was
+enough. That night they were thrown into prison, and three days later
+taken to the convict depot under sentence of exile by administrative
+process to Sakhalin for life.
+
+"You know what that means for a beautiful woman like Natasha. She
+will not go to Sakhalin. They do not bury beauty like hers in such an
+abode of desolation as that. If she cannot be rescued, she will only
+have two alternatives before her. She will become the slave and
+plaything of some brutal governor or commandant at one of the
+stations, or else she will kill herself. Of course, of these two she
+would choose the latter--if she could and when she could. Should she
+be driven to that last resort of despair, she shall be avenged as
+woman never yet was avenged; but rescue must, if possible, come
+before revenge.
+
+"The information that we have received from the Moscow agent tells us
+that the convict train to which Natasha and Anna Ornovski are
+attached left the depot nearly a fortnight ago; they were to be taken
+by train in the usual way to Nizhni Novgorod, thence by barge on the
+Volga and Kama to Perm, and on by rail to Tiumen, the forwarding
+station for the east. Until they reach Tiumen they will be safe from
+anything worse than what the Russians are pleased to call
+'discipline,' but once they disappear into the wilderness of Siberia
+they will be lost to the world, and far from all law but the will of
+their official slave-drivers.
+
+"It has, therefore, been decided that the rescue shall be attempted
+before the chain-gang leaves Tiumen, if it can be reached in time. As
+nearly as we can calculate, the march will begin on the morning of
+Friday the 9th, that is to say, in three nights and one day from now.
+Happily we possess the means of making the rescue, if it can be
+accomplished by human means. I have received a report from Richard
+Arnold saying that the _Ariel_ is complete, and that she has made a
+perfectly satisfactory trial trip to the clouds. The _Ariel_ is the
+only vehicle in existence that could possibly reach the frontier of
+Siberia in the given time, and it is fitting that her first duty
+should be the rescue of the Angel of the Revolution from the clutches
+of the Tyrant of the North.
+
+"Alexis Mazanoff, it is the will of the Master that you shall take
+these instructions to Richard Arnold and accompany him on the voyage
+in order to show him what course to steer, and assist him in every
+way possible. You will find the Chief's yacht at Port Patrick ready
+to convey you to Drumcraig Island. When you have heard what is
+further necessary for you to hear, you will take the midnight express
+from Euston. Have you any preparations to make?"
+
+"No," replied Mazanoff, or Colston, to call him by a name more
+familiar to the reader. "I can start in half an hour if necessary,
+and on such an errand you may, of course, depend on me not to lose
+much time. I presume there are full instructions here?"
+
+"Yes, both for the rescue and for your conduct afterwards, whether
+you are successful or unsuccessful," said the President. Then turning
+to the others he continued--
+
+"You may now rest assured that all that can be done to rescue Natasha
+will be done, and we must therefore turn to other matters. I said a
+short time ago that the conditions of the secret treaty between
+France and Russia had been discovered by the two brave women who are
+now suffering for their devotion to the cause of the Revolution. A
+full copy of them is in the hands of the Chief, who arrives in London
+to-day, and will at once lay the documents before Mr. Balfour, the
+Premier.
+
+"It is extremely hostile to England, and amounts, in fact, to a
+compact on the part of France to declare war and seize the Suez
+Canal, as soon as the first shot is fired between Great Britain and
+Russia. In return for this, Russia is to invade Germany and Austria,
+destroy the eastern frontier fortresses with her fleet of
+war-balloons, and then cross over and do the same on the Rhine, while
+France at last throws herself upon her ancient foe.
+
+"Meanwhile, the French fleet is to concentrate in the Mediterranean
+as quietly and rapidly as possible, before war actually breaks out,
+so as to be able to hold the British and Italians in check, and shut
+the Suez Canal, while Russia, who is pushing her troops forward to
+the Hindu Kush, gets ready for a dash at the passes, and a rush upon
+Cashmere, before Britain can get sufficient men out to India by the
+Cape to give her very much trouble.
+
+"As there also exists a secret compact between Britain and the Triple
+Alliance, binding all four powers to declare war the moment one is
+threatened, the disclosure of this treaty must infallibly lead to war
+in a few weeks. In addition to this, measures have been taken to
+detach Italy from the Triple Alliance at the last moment, if
+possible. Success in this respect is, however, somewhat uncertain.
+
+"To make assurance doubly sure, the Chief informs me that he has
+ordered Ivan Brassoff, who is in command of a large reconnoitring
+party on the Afghan side of the Hindu Kush, to provoke reprisals from
+a similar party of Indian troops who have been told off to watch
+their movements. Captain Brassoff is one of us, and can be depended
+upon to obey at all costs. He will do this in a fortnight from now,
+and therefore we may feel confident that Great Britain and Russia
+will be at war within a month.
+
+"With the first outbreak of war our work for the present ceases, so
+far as active interference goes. We shall therefore withdraw from the
+scene of action until the arrival of the supreme moment when the
+nations of Europe shall be locked in the death-struggle, and the fate
+of the world will rest in our hands. The will of the Master now is
+that all the members of the Brotherhood shall at once wind up their
+businesses, and turn all of their possessions that are not portable
+and useful into money.
+
+"A large steamer has been purchased and manned with members of the
+Outer Circle who are sailors by profession. She is now being loaded
+at Liverpool with all the machinery and materials necessary for the
+construction of twelve air-ships like the _Ariel_. This steamer, when
+ready for sea, will sail, ostensibly, for Rio de Janeiro with a cargo
+of machinery, but in reality for Drumcraig, where she will embark the
+workmen who will be left there by the _Ariel_ with all the working
+plant on the island, and from there she will proceed to a lonely
+island off the West Coast of Africa, between Cape Blanco and Cape
+Verde, where new works will be set up and the fleet of air-ships put
+together as rapidly as possible.
+
+"The position of this island is in the instructions which Alexis
+Mazanoff takes to Drumcraig to-night, and the _Ariel_ will rendezvous
+there when the work that is in hand for her is done. The members of
+the Brotherhood will, of course, go in the steamer as passengers for
+Rio, so that no suspicions may be aroused, and every one must be
+ready to embark in ten days from now.
+
+"That is all I have to say at present in the name of the Master. And
+now, Alexis Mazanoff, it is time you set out. We shall remain here
+and discuss every detail fully so that nothing may be overlooked. You
+will find that everything has been provided for in the instructions
+you have, so go, and may the Master of Destiny be with you!"
+
+As he spoke he held out his hand, which the young man grasped
+heartily, saying--
+
+"Farewell! I will obey to the death, and if success can be earned we
+will earn it. If not, you shall hear of the _Ariel's_ work in Russia
+before the week is out."
+
+He then took leave of the other members of the Council, coming last
+to Radna. As their hands clasped she said--
+
+"I wish I could come with you, but that is impossible. But bring
+Natasha back to us safe and sound, and there is nothing that you can
+ask of me that I will not say 'yes' to. Go, and God speed your good
+work. Farewell!"
+
+For all answer he took her in his arms before them all. Their lips
+met in one long silent kiss, and a moment later he had gone to strike
+the first blow in the coming world-war, and to bring the beginning of
+sorrows on the Tyrant of the North.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE "ARIEL."
+
+
+On the sixth stroke of twelve that night the Scotch express drew out
+of Euston Station. At half-past nine the next morning, the _Lurline_,
+Lord Alanmere's yacht, steamed out of Port Patrick Harbour, and at
+one o'clock precisely she dropped her anchor in the little inlet that
+served for a harbour at Drumcraig.
+
+Colston had the quarter-boat lowered and pulled ashore without a
+moment's delay, and as his foot touched the shore Arnold grasped his
+hand, and, after the first words of welcome, asked for the latest
+news of Natasha.
+
+Without immediately answering, Colston put his arm through his, drew
+him away from the men who were standing about, and told him as
+briefly and gently as he could the terrible news of the calamity that
+had befallen the Brotherhood, and the errand upon which he had come.
+
+Arnold received the blow as a brave man should--in silence. His now
+bronzed face turned pale, his brows contracted, and his teeth
+clenched till Colston could hear them gritting upon each other. Then
+a great wave of agony swept over his soul as a picture too horrible
+for contemplation rose before his eyes, and after that came calm, the
+calm of rapid thought and desperate resolve.
+
+He remembered the words that Natasha had used in a letter that she
+had given him when she took leave of him in Russia. "We shall trust
+to you to rescue us, and, if that is no longer possible, to avenge
+us."
+
+Yes, and now the time had come to justify that trust and prove his
+own devotion. It should be proved to the letter, and if there was
+cause for vengeance, the proof should be written in blood and flame
+over all the wide dominions of the Tsar. Grief might come after, when
+there was time for it; but this was the hour of action, and a strange
+savage joy seemed to come with the knowledge that the safety of the
+woman he loved now depended mainly upon his own skill and daring.
+
+Colston respected his silence, and waited until he spoke. When he did
+he was astonished at the difference that those few minutes had made
+in the young engineer. The dreamer and the enthusiast had become the
+man of action, prompt, stern, and decided. Colston had never before
+heard from his lips the voice in which he at length said to him--
+
+"Where is this place? How far is it as the crow flies from here?"
+
+"At a rough guess I should say about two thousand two hundred miles,
+almost due east, and rather less than two hundred miles on the other
+side of the Ourals."
+
+"Good! That will be twenty hours' flight for us, or less if this
+south-west wind holds good."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Colston. "Twenty hours, did you say? You must
+surely be making some mistake. Don't you mean forty hours? Think of
+the enormous distance. Why, even then we should have to travel over
+sixty miles an hour through the air."
+
+"My dear fellow, I don't make mistakes where figures are concerned.
+The paradox of aerial navigation is 'the greater the speed the less
+the resistance.'
+
+"In virtue of that paradox I am able to tell you that the speed of
+the _Ariel_ in moderate weather is a hundred and twenty miles an
+hour, and a hundred and twenty into two thousand two hundred goes
+eighteen times and one-third. This is Wednesday, and we have to be on
+the Asiatic frontier at daybreak on Friday. We shall start at dusk
+to-night, and you shall see to-morrow's sun set over the Ourals."
+
+"That means from the eastern side of the range!"
+
+"Of course. There will be no harm in being a few hours too soon. In
+case we may have a long cruise, I must have additional stores, and
+power-cylinders put on board. Come, you have not seen the _Ariel_
+yet.
+
+"I have made several improvements on the model, as I expected to do
+when I came to the actual building of the ship, and, what is more
+important than that, I have immensely increased the motive power and
+economised space and weight at the same time. In fact, I don't
+despair now of two hundred miles an hour before very long. Come!"
+
+The engineer and the enthusiast had now come to the fore again, and
+the man and the lover had receded, put back, as it were, until the
+time for love, or perchance for sorrow, had come.
+
+He put his arm through Colston's, and led him up a hill-path and
+through a little gorge which opened into a deep valley, completely
+screened on all sides by heather-clad hills. Sprinkled about the
+bottom of this valley were a few wooden dwelling-houses and
+workshops, and in the centre was a huge shed, or rather an enclosure
+now, for its roof had been taken off.
+
+In this lay, like a ship in a graving-dock, a long, narrow,
+grey-painted vessel almost exactly like a sea-going ship, save for
+the fact that she had no funnel, and that her three masts, instead of
+yards, each carried a horizontal fan-wheel, while from each of her
+sides projected, level with the deck, a plane twice the width of the
+deck and nearly as long as the vessel herself.
+
+They entered the enclosure and walked round the hull. This was
+seventy feet long and twelve wide amidships, and save for size it was
+the exact counterpart of the model already described.
+
+As soon as he had taken Colston round the hull, and roughly explained
+its principal features, reserving more detailed description and the
+inspection of the interior for the voyage, he gave the necessary
+orders for preparing for a lengthy journey, and the two went on board
+the _Lurline_ to dinner, which Colston had deferred in order to eat
+it in Arnold's company.
+
+After dinner they carefully discussed the situation in order that
+every possible accident might be foreseen, argued the pros and cons
+of the venture in all their bearings, and even went so far as to plan
+the vengeance they would take should, by any chance, the rescue fail
+or come too late.
+
+The instructions, signed by Natas himself, were very precise on
+certain essential points, and in their broad outlines, but, like all
+wisely planned instructions to such men as these, they left ample
+margin for individual initiative in case of emergency.
+
+Some of the stores of the _Lurline_ had to be transferred to the
+_Ariel_, and these were taken ashore after dinner, and at the same
+time Colston made his first inspection of the interior of the
+air-ship, under the guidance of her creator. What struck him most at
+first sight was the apparent inadequacy of the machinery to the
+attainment of the tremendous speed at which Arnold had promised they
+should travel.
+
+There were four somewhat insignificant-looking engines in all. Of
+these, one drove the stern propeller, one the side propellers, and
+two the fan-wheels on the masts. He learnt as soon as the voyage
+began, that, by a very simple switch arrangement, the power of the
+whole four engines could be concentrated on the propellers; for, once
+in the air, the lifting wheels were dispensed with and lowered on
+deck, and the ship was entirely sustained by the pressure of the air
+under her planes.
+
+There was not an ounce of superfluous wood or metal about the
+beautifully constructed craft, but for all that she was complete in
+every detail, and the accommodation she had for crew and passengers
+was perfectly comfortable, and in some respects cosy in the extreme.
+Forward there was a spacious cabin with berths for six men, and aft
+there were separate cabins for six people, and a central saloon for
+common use.
+
+On deck there were three structures, a sort of little conning tower
+forward, a wheel-house aft, and a deck saloon amidships. All these
+were, of course, so constructed as to offer the least possible
+resistance to the wind, or rather the current created by the vessel
+herself when flying through the air at a speed greater than that of
+the hurricane itself.
+
+All were closely windowed with toughened glass, for it is hardly
+necessary to say that, but for such a protection, every one who
+appeared above the level of the deck would be almost instantly
+suffocated, if not whirled overboard, by the rush of air when the
+ship was going at full speed. Her armament consisted of four long,
+slender cannon, two pointing over the bows, and two over the stem.
+
+The crew that Arnold had chosen for the voyage consisted, curiously
+enough, of men belonging to the four nationalities which would be
+principally concerned in the Titanic struggle which a few weeks would
+now see raging over Europe. Their names were Andrew Smith,
+Englishman, and coxswain; Ivan Petrovitch, Russian; Franz Meyer,
+German; and Jean Guichard, Frenchman. Diverse as they were, there
+never were four better workers, or four better friends.
+
+They had no country but the world, and no law save those which
+governed their Brotherhood. They conversed in assorted but perfectly
+intelligible English, for the very simple reason that Mr. Andrew
+Smith consistently refused to attempt even the rudiments of any other
+tongue.
+
+While the stores were being put on board, Arnold made a careful
+examination of every part of the machinery, and then of the whole
+vessel, in order to assure himself that everything was in perfect
+order. This done, he gave his final instructions to those of the
+little community who were left behind to await the arrival of the
+steamer, and as the sun sank behind the western ridges of the island,
+he went on board the _Ariel_ with Colston, took his place at the
+wheel, and ordered the fan-wheels to be set in motion.
+
+Colston was standing by the open door of the wheel-house as Arnold
+communicated his order to the engine-room by pressing an electric
+button, one of four in a little square of mahogany in front of the
+wheel.
+
+There was no vibration or grinding, as would have been the case in
+starting a steamer, but only a soft whirring, humming sound, that
+rose several degrees in pitch as the engines gained speed, and the
+fan-wheels revolved faster and faster until they sang in the air, and
+the _Ariel_ rose without a jar or a tremor from the ground, slowly at
+first, and then more and more swiftly, until Colston saw the ground
+sinking rapidly beneath him, and the island growing smaller and
+smaller, until it looked like a little patch on the dark grey water
+of the sea.
+
+Away to the north and west he could see the innumerable islands of
+the Hebrides, while to the east the huge mountainous mass of the
+mainland of Scotland loomed dark upon the horizon.
+
+When the barometer marked eight hundred feet above the sea-level, the
+_Ariel_ passed through a stratum of light clouds, and on the upper
+side of this the sun was still shining, shooting his almost level
+rays across it as though over some illimitable sea of white fleecy
+billows, whose crests were tipped with rosy, golden light.
+
+Above the surface of this fairy sea rose north-eastward the black
+mass of Ben More on the Island of Mull, and to the southward, the
+lesser peaks of Jura and Islay.
+
+While he was still wrapped in admiration of the strange beauty of
+this, to him, marvellous scene, the _Ariel_ had risen to a thousand
+feet, still almost in a vertical line from the island. Arnold now
+pressed another button, and the stern propeller began to revolve
+swiftly and noiselessly, and Colston saw the waves of the cloud-sea
+begin to slip behind, although so smooth was the working of the
+machinery, and the motion of the air-ship, that, but for this, he
+could hardly have guessed that he was in motion.
+
+Arnold now turned a few spokes of the wheel, and headed the _Ariel_
+due east by the compass. Then he touched a third button. The side
+propellers began to turn swiftly on their axes, and, at the same time
+the speed of the fan-wheels slackened, and gradually stopped.
+
+Colston now began to feel the air rushing by him in a stream so rapid
+and strong, that he had to take hold of the side of the wheel-house
+doorway to steady himself.
+
+"I think you had better come inside and shut the door," said Arnold.
+"We are getting up speed now, and in a few minutes you won't be able
+to hold yourself there. You'll be able to see just as well inside."
+
+Colston did as he was bidden, and as soon as he was safely inside
+Arnold pulled a lever beside the wheel, and slightly inclined the
+planes from forward aft. At the same time the fan-wheels began to
+slide down the masts until they rested upon the deck.
+
+"Now, you shall see her fly," said Arnold, taking a speaking-tube
+from the wall and whistling thrice into it.
+
+Colston felt a slight tremor in the deck beneath his feet, and then a
+lifting movement. He staggered a little, and said to Arnold--
+
+"What's that? Are we going higher still?"
+
+"Yes," replied the engineer. "She is feeling the air-planes now under
+the increased speed. I am going up to fifteen hundred feet, so that
+we shall only have the highest peaks to steer clear of in crossing
+Scotland. Now, use your eyes, and you will see something worth
+looking at."
+
+The upper part of the wheel-house was constructed almost entirely of
+glass, and so Colston could see just as well as if he had been on
+deck outside. He did use his eyes. In fact, for some time to come,
+all his other senses seemed to be merged in that of sight, for the
+scene was one of such rare and marvellous beauty, and the sensations
+that it called up were of so completely novel a nature, that, for the
+time being, he felt as though he had been suddenly transported into
+fairyland.
+
+The cloud-sea now lay about seven hundred feet beneath them. The sun
+had sunk quite below the horizon, even at that elevation; but his
+absence was more than made up for by the nearly full moon, which had
+risen to the southward, as though to greet the conqueror of the air,
+and was spreading a flood of silvery radiance over the snowy plain
+beneath, through the great gaps in which they could see the darker
+sheen of the moving sea-waves.
+
+Their course lay almost exactly along the fifty-sixth parallel of
+latitude, and took them across Argyle, Dumbarton, and Stirlingshire
+to the head of the Firth of Forth. As they approached the mainland,
+Colston saw one or two peaks rise up out of the clouds, and soon they
+were sweeping along in the midst of a score or so of these. To the
+left Ben Lomond towered into the clear sky above his attendant peaks,
+and to the right the lower summits of the Campsie Fells soon rose a
+few miles ahead.
+
+The rapidity with which these mountain-tops rose up on either side,
+and were left behind, proved to Colston that the _Ariel_ must be
+travelling at a tremendous speed, and yet, but for a very slight
+quivering of the deck, there was no motion perceptible, so smoothly
+did the air-ship glide through the elastic medium in which she
+floated.
+
+So engrossed was he with the unearthly beauty of the new world into
+which he had risen, that for nearly two hours he stood without
+speaking a word. Arnold, wrapped in his own thoughts, maintained a
+like silence, and so they sped on amidst a stillness that was only
+broken by the soft whirring of the propellers, and the singing of the
+wind past the masts and stays.
+
+At length a faint sound like the dashing of breakers on a rocky coast
+roused Colston from his reverie, and he turned to Arnold and said--
+
+"What is that? Not the sea, surely!"
+
+"Yes, those are the waves of the Firth of Forth breaking on the
+shores of Fife."
+
+"What! Do you mean to tell me that we have crossed Scotland already?
+Why, we have not been an hour on the way yet!"
+
+"Oh yes, we have," replied the engineer. "We have been nearly two.
+You have been so busy looking about you that you have not noticed how
+the time has passed. We have travelled a little over two hundred and
+forty miles. We are over the German Ocean now, and as there will be
+no more hills until we reach the Ourals we can go down a little."
+
+As he spoke he moved the lever beside him about an inch, and
+instantly the clouds seemed to rise up toward them as the _Ariel_
+swept downwards in her flight. A hundred feet above them Arnold
+touched the lever again, and the air-ship at once resumed her
+horizontal course.
+
+Then he put her head a little more to the northward, and called down
+the speaking tube for Andrew Smith to come and relieve him. A minute
+later Smith's head appeared at the top of the companion-ladder which
+led from the saloon to the wheel-house, and Arnold gave him the wheel
+and the course, saying at the same time to Colston--
+
+"Now, come down and have something to eat, and then we will have a
+smoke and a chat and go to bed. There is nothing more to be seen
+until the morning, and then I will show you Petersburg as it looks
+from the clouds."
+
+"If you told me you would show me the Ourals themselves, I should
+believe you after what I have seen," replied Colston, as together
+they descended the companion-way from the wheel-house to the saloon.
+
+"Ah, I'm afraid that would be too much even for the _Ariel_ to
+accomplish in the time," said Arnold. "Still, I think I can guarantee
+that you shall cross Europe in such time as no man ever crossed it
+before."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+FIRST BLOOD.
+
+
+After supper the two friends ascended to the deck saloon for a smoke,
+and to continue their discussion of the tremendous events in which
+they were so soon to be taking part. They found the _Ariel_ flying
+through a cloudless sky over the German Ocean, whose white-crested
+billows, silvered by the moonlight, were travelling towards the
+north-east under the influence of the south-west breeze from which
+the engineer had promised himself assistance when they started.
+
+"We seem to be going at a most frightful speed," said Colston,
+looking down at the water. "There's a strong south-west breeze
+blowing, and yet those white horses seem to be travelling quite the
+other way."
+
+"Yes," replied Arnold, looking down. "This wind will be travelling
+about twenty miles an hour, and that means that we are making nearly
+a hundred and fifty. The German Ocean here is five hundred miles
+across, and we shall cross it at this rate in about three hours and a
+half, and if the wind holds over the land we shall sight Petersburg
+soon after sunrise.
+
+"The sun will rise to-morrow morning a few minutes after five by
+Greenwich time, which is about two hours behind Petersburg time.
+Altogether we shall make, I expect, from two to two and a half hours'
+gain on time."
+
+The two men talked until a few minutes after ten, and then went to
+bed. Colston, who had been travelling all the previous night, began
+to feel drowsy in spite of the excitement of the novel voyage, and
+almost as soon as he lay down in his berth dropped off into a sound,
+dreamless sleep, and knew nothing more until Arnold knocked at his
+door and said--
+
+"If you want to see the sun rise, you had better get up. Coffee will
+be ready in a quarter of an hour."
+
+Colston pulled back the slide which covered the large oblong pane of
+toughened glass which was let into the side of his cabin and looked
+out. There was just light enough in the grey dawn to enable him to
+see that the _Ariel_ was passing over a sea dotted in the distance
+with an immense number of islands.
+
+"The Baltic," he said to himself as he jumped out of bed. "This is
+travelling with a vengeance! Why, we must have travelled a good deal
+over a thousand miles during the night. I suppose those islands will
+be off the coast of Finland. If so, we are not far from Petersburg,
+as the _Ariel_ seems to count distance."
+
+The most magnificent spectacle that Colston had ever seen in his
+life, or, for the matter of that, ever dreamed of, was the one that
+he saw from the conning-tower of the _Ariel_ while the sun was rising
+over the vast plain of mingled land and water which stretched away to
+the eastward until it melted away into the haze of early morning.
+
+The sky was perfectly clear and cloudless, save for a few light
+clouds that hung about the eastern horizon, and were blazing gold and
+red in the light of the newly-risen sun. The air-ship was flying at
+an elevation of about two thousand feet, which appeared to be her
+normal height for ordinary travelling. There was land upon both sides
+of them, but in front opened a wide bay, the northern shores of which
+were still fringed with ice and snow.
+
+"That is the Gulf of Finland," said Arnold. "The winter must have
+been very late this year, and that probably means that we shall find
+the eastern side of the Ourals still snow-bound."
+
+"So much the better," replied Colston. "They will have a much better
+chance of escape if there is good travelling for a sleigh."
+
+"Yes," replied Arnold, his brows contracting as he spoke. "Do you
+know, if it were not for the Master's explicit orders, I should be
+inclined to smash up the station at Ekaterinburg a few hours
+beforehand, and then demand the release of the whole convict train,
+under penalty of laying the town in ruins."
+
+Colston shook his head, saying--
+
+"No, no, my friend, we must have a little more diplomacy than that.
+Your thirst for the life of the enemy will, no doubt, be fully
+gratified later on. Besides, you must remember that you would
+probably blow some hundreds of perfectly innocent people to pieces,
+and very possibly a good many friends of the Cause among them."
+
+"True," replied Arnold; "I didn't think of that; but I'll tell you
+what we can do, if you like, without transgressing our instructions
+or hurting any one except the soldiers of the Tsar, who, of course,
+are paid to slaughter and be slaughtered, and so don't count."
+
+"What is that?" asked Colston.
+
+"We shall be passing over Kronstadt in a little over an hour, and we
+might take the opportunity of showing his Majesty the Tsar what the
+_Ariel_ can do with the strongest fortress in Europe. How would you
+like to fire the first shot in the war of the Revolution?"
+
+Colston was silent for a few moments, and then he looked up and
+said--
+
+"There is not the slightest reason why we should not take a shot at
+Kronstadt, if only to give the Russians a foretaste of favours to
+come. Still, I won't fire the first shot on any account, simply
+because that honour belongs to you. I'll fire the second with
+pleasure."
+
+"Very good," replied Arnold. "We'll have two shots apiece, one each
+as we approach the fortress, and one each as we leave it. Now come
+and take a preparatory lesson in the new gunnery."
+
+They went down into the chief saloon, and there Arnold showed Colston
+a model of the new weapon with which the _Ariel_ was armed, and
+thoroughly explained the working of it. After this they went to the
+wheel-house, where Arnold inclined the planes at a sharper angle, and
+sent the _Ariel_ flying up into the sky, until the barometer showed
+an elevation of three thousand feet.
+
+Then he signalled to the engine-room, the fan-wheels rose from the
+deck, as if by their own volition, and, as soon as they reached their
+places, began to spin round faster and faster, until Colston could
+again hear the high-pitched singing sound that he had heard as the
+_Ariel_ rose from Drumcraig Island.
+
+At the same time the speed of the vessel rapidly decreased; the side
+propellers ceased working, and the stern-screw revolved more and more
+slowly, until the speed came down to about thirty miles an hour.
+
+By this time the great fortress of Kronstadt could be distinctly seen
+lying upon its island, like some huge watch-dog crouched at the
+entrance to his master's house, guarding the way to St. Petersburg.
+
+"Now," said Arnold, "we can go outside without any fear of being
+blown off into space."
+
+They went out and walked forward to the bow. Arrived there they found
+two of the men, each with a curious-looking shell in his arms. The
+projectiles were about two feet long and six inches in diameter, and
+were, as Arnold told Colston, constructed of _papier-mache_. There
+were three blades projecting from the outside, and running spirally
+from the point to the butt. These fitted into grooves in the inside
+of the cannon, which were really huge air-guns twenty feet long,
+including the air-chamber at the breech.
+
+The projectiles were placed in position, the breeches of the guns
+closed, and a minute later the air-chambers were filled with air at a
+pressure of two hundred atmospheres, pumped from the forward engines
+through pipes leading up to the guns for the purpose.
+
+"Now," said Arnold, "we're ready! Meanwhile you two can go and load
+the two after guns."
+
+The men saluted and retired, and Arnold continued--
+
+"Just take a look down with your glasses and see if they see us. I
+expect they do by this time."
+
+Colston put his field-glass to his eyes, and looked down at the
+fortress, which was now only six or seven miles ahead.
+
+"Yes," he said, "at any rate I can see a lot of little figures
+running about on the roof of one of the ramparts, which I suppose are
+soldiers. What's the range of your gun? I should say the fortress is
+about six miles off now."
+
+"We can hit it from here, if you like," replied Arnold, "and if we
+were a thousand feet higher I could send a shell into Petersburg.
+See! there is the City of Palaces. Away yonder in the distance you
+can just see the sun shining on the houses. We could see it quite
+plainly if it wasn't for the haze that seems to be lying over the
+Neva."
+
+While he was speaking, Arnold trained the gun according to a scale on
+a curved steel rod which passed through a screw socket in the breech
+of the piece.
+
+"Now," he said. "Watch!"
+
+He pressed a button on the top of the breech. There was a sharp but
+not very loud sound as the compressed air was released; something
+rushed out of the muzzle of the gun, and a few seconds later, Colston
+could see the missile boring its way through the air, and pursuing a
+slanting but perfectly direct path for the centre of the fortress.
+
+A second later it struck. He could see a bright greenish flash as it
+smote the steel roof of the central fort. Then the fort seemed to
+crumble up and dissolve into fragments, and a few moments later a
+dull report floated up into the sky mingled, as he thought, with
+screams of human agony.
+
+For a moment he stared in silence through the glasses, then he turned
+to Arnold and said in a voice that trembled with violent emotion--
+
+"Good God, that is awful! The whole of the centre citadel is gone as
+though it had been swept off the face of the earth. I can hardly see
+even the ruins of it. Surely that's murder rather than war!"
+
+"No more murder than the use of torpedoes in naval warfare, as far as
+I can see," replied Arnold coolly. "Remember, too," he continued in a
+sterner tone, "that fortress belongs to the power that flogged Radna
+and has captured Natasha. Come, let's see what execution you can do."
+
+He crossed the deck and set the other gun by its scale, saying as he
+did so--
+
+"Put your finger on the button and press when I tell you."
+
+Colston did as he was bid, and as his finger touched the little knob
+his hand was as firm as though he had been making a shot at
+billiards.
+
+"Now!"
+
+He pressed the button down hard. There was the same sharp sound, and
+a second messenger of destruction sped on its way towards the doomed
+fortress.
+
+[Illustration: "Good God, that is awful."
+
+_See page 82._]
+
+They saw it strike, and then came the flash, and after that a huge
+cloud of dust mingled with flying objects that might have been blocks
+of masonry, guns, or human bodies, rose into the air, and then fell
+back again to the earth.
+
+"There goes one of the angles of the fortification into the sea,"
+said Arnold, as he saw the effects of the shot. "Kronstadt won't be
+much good when the war breaks out, it strikes me. I suppose they'll
+be replying soon with a few rifle shots. We'd better quicken up a
+bit."
+
+He went aft to the wheel-house, followed by Colston, and signalled
+for the three propellers to work at their utmost speed. The order was
+instantly obeyed; the fan-wheels ceased revolving, and under the
+impetus of her propellers the _Ariel_ leapt forwards and upwards like
+an eagle on its upward swoop, rose five hundred feet in the air, and
+then swept over Kronstadt at a speed of more than a hundred miles an
+hour.
+
+As they passed over they saw a series of flashes rise from one of the
+untouched portions of the fortress, but no bullets came anywhere near
+them. In fact, they must have passed through the air two or three
+miles astern of the flying _Ariel_. No soldier who ever carried a
+rifle could have sent a bullet within a thousand yards of an object
+seventy feet long travelling over a hundred miles an hour at a height
+of nearly four thousand feet, and so the Russians wasted their
+ammunition.
+
+As soon as they had passed over the fortress, Arnold signalled for
+the propellers to stop, and the fan-wheels to revolve again at half
+speed. The air-ship stopped within three miles, and remained
+suspended in air over the opening mouth of the Neva. Then the two
+after guns were trained upon the fortress, and Colston and Arnold
+fired them together.
+
+The two shells struck at the same moment, one in each of two angles
+of the ramparts. Their impact was followed by a tremendous explosion,
+far greater than could be accounted for by the shells themselves.
+
+"There goes one, if not two, of his powder magazines. Look! half the
+fortress is a wreck. I wonder which fired the lucky shot."
+
+The man who a year before had been an inoffensive student of
+mechanics and an enthusiast dreaming of an unsolved problem, spoke of
+the frightful destruction of life and the havoc that he had caused by
+just pressing a button with his finger, as coolly and quietly as a
+veteran officer of artillery might have spoken of shelling a fort.
+
+There were two reasons for this almost miraculous change. One was to
+be found in the bitter hatred of Russian tyranny which he had imbibed
+during the last six months, and the other was the fact that the woman
+for whom he would have himself died a thousand deaths if necessary,
+was a captive in Russian chains, being led at that moment to slavery
+and degradation.
+
+As soon as they had seen the effects of the last two shots, Arnold
+said with a grim, half-smile on his lips--
+
+"I think it will be better if we don't show ourselves too plainly to
+Petersburg. It will take some time for the news of the destruction of
+Kronstadt to reach the city, and, of course, there will be the
+wildest rumours as to the agency by which it was done, so we may as
+well leave them to argue the matter out among themselves."
+
+He signalled again to the engine-room, and with the united aid of her
+planes and fan-wheels the _Ariel_ mounted up and up into the sky,
+driven only by the stern-propeller and with the force of the other
+engines concentrated on the lifting wheels, until a height of five
+thousand feet was reached.
+
+At that height she would have looked, if she could have been seen at
+all, nothing more than a little grey spot against the blue of the
+sky, and as they heard afterwards she passed over St. Petersburg
+without being noticed.
+
+From St. Petersburg to Tiumen, as the crow flies, the distance is
+1150 English miles, and nine hours after she had passed over the
+Capital of the North, the _Ariel_ had winged her way over the Ourals
+and the still snow-clad forests of the eastern slopes, past the
+tear-washed Pillar of Farewells, and had come to a rest after her
+voyage of two thousand two hundred miles, including the delay at
+Kronstadt, in twenty hours almost to the minute, as her captain had
+predicted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+IN THE MASTER'S NAME.
+
+
+The _Ariel_, in order to avoid being seen from the town, had made a
+wide circuit to the northward at a considerable elevation, and as
+soon as a suitable spot had been sought out by means of the
+field-glasses, she dropped suddenly and swiftly from the clouds into
+the depths of the dense forest through which the Tobolsk road runs
+from Tiumen to the banks of the Tobol.
+
+From Tiumen to the Tobol is about twenty-five miles by road. The
+railway, which was then finished as far as Tomsk, ran to Tobolsk by a
+more northerly and direct route than the road, but convicts were
+still marched on foot along the great post road after the gangs had
+been divided at Tiumen according to their destinations.
+
+The spot which had been selected for the resting-place of the _Ariel_
+was a little glade formed by the bend of a frozen stream about five
+miles east of the town, and at a safe distance from the road.
+
+Painted a light whitish-grey all over, she would have been invisible
+even from a short distance as she lay amid the snow-laden trees, and
+Arnold gave strict orders that all the window-slides were to be kept
+closed, and no light shown on any account.
+
+Every precaution possible was taken to obviate a discovery which
+should seriously endanger the success of the rescue, but,
+nevertheless, the fan-wheels were kept aloft, and everything was in
+readiness to rise into the air at a moment's notice should any
+emergency require them to do so.
+
+It was a little after three o'clock on the Thursday afternoon when
+the _Ariel_ settled down in her resting-place, and half an hour later
+Colston and Ivan Petrovitch appeared on deck completely disguised,
+the former as a Russian fur trader, and the latter as his servant.
+
+All the arrangements for the rescue had been once more gone over in
+every detail, and just before he swung himself over the side Colston
+shook hands for the last time with Arnold, saying as he did so--
+
+"Well, good-bye again, old fellow! Ivan shall come back and bring you
+the news, if necessary; but if he doesn't come, don't be uneasy, but
+possess your soul in patience till you hear the whistle from the road
+in the morning. I expect the train will get in sometime during the
+night, and in that case we shall have everything ready to make the
+attempt soon after daybreak, if not before.
+
+"If we can get as far as this without being pursued we shall come
+right on board. If not we must trust to our horses and our pistols to
+keep the Cossacks at a distance till you can help us. In any case,
+rest assured that once clear of Tiumen, we shall never be taken
+alive. Those are the Master's orders, and I will shoot Natasha myself
+before she goes back to captivity."
+
+"Yes, do so," replied Arnold. His lips quivered as he spoke, but
+there was no tremor in the hand with which he gripped Colston's in
+farewell. "She will prefer death to slavery, and I shall prefer it
+for her. But if you have to do it you will at least have the
+consolation of knowing that within twelve hours of your death the
+Tsar shall be lying buried beneath the ruins of the Peterhof Palace.
+I will have his life for hers if only I live to take it."
+
+"I will tell her," said Colston simply, "and if die she must, she
+will die content."
+
+So saying, he descended the little rope-ladder, followed by Ivan, and
+in a few moments the two were lost in the deep shadow of the trees,
+while Arnold went down into the saloon to await with what patience he
+might the moment that would decide the fate of the daughter of Natas
+and the man who had gone, as he would so gladly have done, to risk
+his life to restore her to liberty.
+
+Rather more than half an hour's tramp through the forest brought
+Colston and Ivan out on the road at a point a little less than five
+miles from Tiumen.
+
+Colston was provided with passports and permits to travel for himself
+and Ivan. These, of course, were forged on genuine forms which the
+Terrorists had no difficulty in obtaining through their agents in
+high places, who were as implicitly trusted as the Princess Ornovski
+had been but a few months before.
+
+So skilfully were they executed, however, that it would have been a
+very keen official eye that had discovered anything wrong with them.
+They described him as "Stepan Bakuinin, fur merchant of Nizhni
+Novgorod, travelling in pursuit of his business, with his servant,
+Peter Petrovitch, also of Nizhni Novgorod."
+
+Instead of going straight into the town by the main road they made a
+considerable detour and entered it by a lane that led them through a
+collection of miserable huts occupied by the poorest class of
+Siberian mujiks, half peasants, half townsfolk, who cultivate their
+patches of ground during the brief spring and summer, and struggle
+through the long dreary winter as best they can on their scanty
+savings and what work they can get to do from the Government or their
+richer neighbours.
+
+Colston had never been in Tiumen before, but Ivan had, for ten years
+before he had voluntarily accompanied his father, who had been
+condemned to five years' forced labour on the new railway works from
+Tiumen to Tobolsk, for giving a political fugitive shelter in his
+house. He had died of hard labour and hard usage, and that was one
+reason why Ivan was a member of the Outer Circle of the Terrorists.
+
+He led his master through the squalid suburb to the business part of
+the town, which had considerably developed since the through line to
+Tobolsk and Tomsk had been constructed, and at length they stopped
+before a comfortable-looking house in the street that ends at the
+railway station.
+
+They knocked, gave their names, and were at once admitted. The
+servant who opened the door to them led them to a room in which they
+found a man of about fifty in the uniform of a sub-commissioner of
+police. As Colston held out his hand to him he said--
+
+"In the Master's name!"
+
+The official took his hand, and, bending over it, replied in a low
+tone--
+
+"I am his servant. What is his will?"
+
+"That Anna Ornovski and Fedora Darrel, the English girl who was taken
+with her, be released as soon as may be," replied Colston. "Is the
+train from Ekaterinburg in yet?"
+
+"Not yet. The snow is still deep between here and the mountains. The
+winter has been very severe and long. We have almost starved in
+Tiumen in spite of the railway. There has been a telegram from
+Ekaterinburg to say that the train descended the mountain safely, and
+one from Kannishlov to say that we expect it soon after ten
+to-night."
+
+"Good! That is sooner than we expected in London. We thought it would
+not reach here till to-morrow morning."
+
+"In London! What do you mean? You cannot have come from London, for
+there has been no train for two days."
+
+"Nevertheless I have come from London. I left England yesterday
+evening."
+
+"Yesterday evening! But, with all submission, that is impossible. If
+there were a railway the whole distance it could not be done."
+
+"To the Master there is nothing impossible. Look! I received that the
+evening I left London."
+
+As he spoke, Colston held out an envelope. The Russian examined it
+closely. It bore the Ludgate Hill post-mark, which was dated "March
+7."
+
+Colston's host bent over it with almost superstitious reverence, and
+handed it back, saying humbly--
+
+"Forgive my doubts, Nobleness! It is a miracle! I ask no more. The
+Tsar himself could not have done it. The Master is all powerful, and
+I am proud to be his servant, even to the death."
+
+Although the twentieth century had dawned, the Siberian Russians were
+still inclined to look even upon the railway as a miracle. This man,
+although he occupied a post of very considerable responsibility and
+authority under the Russian Government, was only a member of the
+Outer Circle of the Terrorists, as most of the officials were, and
+therefore he knew nothing of the existence of the _Ariel_, and
+Colston purposely mystified him with the apparent miracle of his
+presence in Tiumen after so short an absence from London, in order to
+command his more complete obedience in the momentous work that was on
+hand.
+
+He allowed the official a few moments to absorb the full wonder of
+the seeming marvel, and then he replied--
+
+"Yes, we are all his servants _to the death_. At least I know of none
+who have even thought of treason to him and lived to put their
+thoughts into action. But tell me, are all the arrangements complete
+as far as you can make them? Much depends upon how you carry them
+out, you know, to say nothing of the two thousand roubles that I
+shall hand to you as soon as the two ladies are delivered into my
+charge."
+
+"All is arranged, Nobleness," replied the official, bowing
+involuntarily at the mention of the money. "Such of the prisoners,
+that is to say the politicals, who can afford to pay for the
+privilege, may, by the new regulations, be lodged in the houses of
+approved persons during their sojourn in Tiumen, if it be only for a
+night, and so escape the common prison.
+
+"We knew at the police bureau of the arrest of the Princess Ornovski
+some days ago, and I have obtained permission from the chief of
+police to lodge her Highness and her companion in misfortune--if they
+are prepared to pay what I shall ask. It has come to be looked upon
+as a sort of perquisite of diligent officials, and as I have been
+very diligent here I had no difficulty in getting the
+permission--which I shall have to pay for in due course."
+
+"Just so! Nothing for nothing in Russian official circles. Very good.
+Now listen. If this escape is successfully accomplished you will be
+degraded and probably punished into the bargain for letting the
+prisoners slip through your fingers. But that must not happen if it
+can be prevented.
+
+"Now this has been foreseen, as everything is with the Master; and
+his orders are that you shall take this passport--which you will find
+in perfect order, save for the fact that the date has been slightly
+altered--from me as soon as I have got the ladies safely in the
+troika out on the Tobolsk road, put off the livery of the Tsar,
+disguise yourself as effectually as may be, and take the first train
+back to Perm and Nizhni Novgorod as Stepan Bakuinin, fur merchant.
+
+"The servant you can leave behind on any excuse. From Novgorod you
+can travel _via_ Moscow to Koenigsberg, and, if you will take my
+advice, you will get out of Russia as soon as the Fates will let
+you."
+
+"It shall be done, Nobleness. But how will the disappearance of
+Dmitri Soudeikin, sub-commissioner of police, be accounted for?"
+
+"That also has been provided for. Before you go you will pin this
+with a dagger to your sitting-room table."
+
+The official took the little piece of paper which Colston held out to
+him as he spoke. It read thus--
+
+    Dmitri Soudeikin, sub-commissioner of police at Tiumen, has been
+    removed for over-zeal in the service of the Tsar.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+Soudeikin bowed almost to the ground as the dreaded name of the
+Master of the Terror met his eyes, and then he said, as he handed the
+paper back--
+
+"It is so! The Master sees all, and cares for the least of his
+servants. My life shall be forfeited if the ladies are not released
+as I have said."
+
+"It probably will be," returned Colston drily. "None of us expect to
+get out of this business alive if it does not succeed. Now that is
+all I have to say for the present. It is for you to bring the ladies
+here as your prisoners, to see us out of the town before daybreak,
+and to have the troika in readiness for us on the Tobolsk road. Then
+see to yourself and I will be responsible for the rest."
+
+As it still wanted more than two hours to the expected arrival of the
+train, Soudeikin had the samovar, or tea-urn, brought in, and Colston
+and Ivan made a hearty meal after their five-mile walk through the
+snow. Then they and their host lit their pipes, and smoked and
+chatted until a distant whistle warned Soudeikin that the train was
+at last approaching the station, and that it was time for him to be
+on duty to receive his convict-lodgers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+FOR LIFE OR DEATH.
+
+
+No time had ever seemed so long to Colston as did the hour and a half
+which passed after the departure of Soudeikin until his return. He
+would have given anything to have accompanied him to the station, but
+it would have been so very unwise to have incurred the risk of being
+questioned, and perhaps obliged to show the passport that Soudeikin
+was to use, that he controlled his impatience as best he could, and
+let events take their course.
+
+At length, when he had looked at his watch for the fiftieth time, and
+found that it indicated nearly half-past eleven, there was a heavy
+knock at the door. As it opened, Colston heard a rattle of arms and a
+clinking of chains. Then there was a sound of gruff guttural voices
+in the entrance-hall, and the next moment the door of the room was
+thrown open, and Soudeikin walked in, followed by a young man in the
+uniform of a lieutenant of the line, and after them came two
+soldiers, to one of whom was handcuffed the Princess Ornovski, and to
+the other Natasha.
+
+Shocked as he was at the pitiable change that had taken place in the
+appearance of the two prisoners since he had last seen them in
+freedom, Colston was far too well trained in the school of conspiracy
+to let the slightest sign of surprise or recognition escape him.
+
+He and Ivan rose as the party entered, greeted Soudeikin and saluted
+the officer, hardly glancing at the two pale, haggard women in their
+rough grey shapeless gowns and hoods as they stood beside the men to
+whom they were chained.
+
+As the officer returned Colston's salute he turned to Soudeikin and
+said civilly enough--
+
+"I did not know you had another guest. I hope we shall not overcrowd
+you."
+
+"By no means," replied the commissioner, waving his hand toward
+Colston as he spoke. "This is only my nephew, Ernst Vronski, who is
+staying with me for a day or two on his way through to Nizhni
+Novgorod with his furs, and that is his servant, Ivan Arkavitch. You
+need not be uneasy. I have plenty of rooms, as I live almost alone,
+and I have set apart one for the prisoners which I think will satisfy
+you in every way. Would it please you to come and see it?"
+
+"Yes, we will go now and get them put in safety for the night, if you
+will lead the way."
+
+As the party left the room Colston caught one swift glance from
+Natasha which told him that she understood his presence in the house
+fully, and he felt that, despite her miserable position, he had an
+ally in her who could be depended upon.
+
+The officer carefully examined the room which had been provided for
+the two prisoners, tried the heavy shutters with which the windows
+were closed, and took from Soudeikin the keys of the padlocks to the
+bars which ran across them. He then directed the prisoners to be
+released from their handcuffs and locked them in the room, stationing
+one of the soldiers at the door and sending the other to patrol the
+back of the house from which the two windows of the room looked out.
+
+At the end of two hours the sentries were to change places, and in
+two hours more they were to be relieved by a detachment from the
+night patrol. This arrangement had been foreseen by Soudeikin, and it
+had been settled that the rescue was to be attempted as soon as the
+guard had been changed.
+
+This would give the prisoners time to get a brief but much needed
+rest after their long and miserable journey from Perm, penned up like
+sheep in iron-barred cattle trucks, and it would leave the drowsiest
+part of the night, from four o'clock to sunrise, for the hazardous
+work in hand.
+
+"That is a pretty girl you have there, captain," said Colston, as the
+officer returned to the sitting-room. "Is she for the mines or
+Sakhalin?"
+
+"For Sakhalin by sentence, but as a matter of fact for neither, as
+far as I can see."
+
+"You mean that the Little Father will pardon her or give her a
+lighter sentence, I suppose."
+
+The officer grinned meaningly as he replied--
+
+"_Nu vot!_ That is hardly likely. What I mean is that Captain
+Kharkov, who is in command of the convict train from here, has had
+instructions to convey her as comfortably as possible, and with no
+more fatigue than is necessary, to Tchit, in the Trans-Baikal, and
+that he is also charged with a letter from the Governor of Perm to
+the Governor of Tchit.
+
+"You know these gentlemen like to do each other a good turn when they
+can, and so, putting two and two together, I should say that his
+Excellency of Perm has concluded that our pretty prisoner will serve
+to beguile the dulness of that Godforsaken hole in which his
+Excellency of Tchit is probably dying of _ennui_. She will be more
+comfortable there than at Sakhalin, and it is a lucky thing for her
+that she has found favour in his Excellency's eyes."
+
+Colston could have shot the fellow where he sat leering across the
+table; but though his blood was at boiling point, he controlled
+himself sufficiently to make a reply after the same fashion, and soon
+after took his leave and retired for the night.
+
+At four o'clock the guard was changed. The new officer, after taking
+the keys, unlocked the door of the room in which Natasha and the
+Princess were confined, and roused them up to satisfy himself that
+they were still in safe keeping. It was a brutal formality, but
+perfectly characteristic of Siberian officialism.
+
+The man who had been on guard so far joined the patrol and returned
+to the barracks, while the new officer made himself comfortable with
+a bottle of brandy, with which Soudeikin had obligingly provided him,
+in the sitting-room. It was a bitterly cold night, and he drank a
+couple of glasses of it in quick succession. Ten minutes after he had
+swallowed the second he rolled backwards on the couch on which he was
+sitting and went fast asleep. A few moments later he had ceased to
+breathe.
+
+Then the door opened softly and Soudeikin and Colston slipped into
+the room. The former shook him by the shoulder. His eyes remained
+half closed, his head lolled loosely from side to side, and his arms
+hung heavily downwards.
+
+"He's gone," whispered Soudeikin; and, without another word, they set
+to work to strip the uniform off the lifeless body. Then Colston
+dressed himself in it and gave his own clothes to Soudeikin.
+
+As soon as the change was effected, Colston took the keys and went to
+the door at which the sentry was keeping guard. The man was already
+half asleep, and blinked at him with drowsy eyes as he challenged
+him. For all answer the Terrorist levelled his pistol at his head and
+fired. There was a sharp crack that could hardly have been heard on
+the other side of the wall, and the man tumbled down with a bullet
+through his brain.
+
+Colston stepped over the corpse, unlocked the door, and found Natasha
+and the Princess already dressed in male attire as two peasant boys,
+with sheepskin coats and shapkas, and wide trousers tucked into their
+half boots. These disguises had been provided beforehand by
+Soudeikin, and hidden in the bed in which they were to sleep.
+
+Colston grasped their hands in silence, and the three left the room.
+In the passage they found Ivan and Soudeikin, the former dressed in
+the uniform of the soldier who had been on guard outside the house,
+and whose half-stripped corpse was now lying buried in the snow.
+
+"Ready?" whispered Soudeikin.
+
+"Have you finished in there?" asked Colston, jerking his thumb
+towards the sitting-room.
+
+Soudeikin nodded in reply, and the five left the house by the back
+door.
+
+It was then after half-past four. Fortunately it was a dark cloudy
+morning, and the streets of the town were utterly deserted. By ones
+and twos they stole through the by-streets and lanes without meeting
+a soul, until Soudeikin at length stopped at a house on the eastern
+edge of the town about a mile from the Tobolsk road.
+
+He tapped at one of the windows. The door was softly opened by an
+invisible hand, and they entered and passed through a dark passage
+and out into a stable-yard behind the house. Under a shed they found
+a troika, or three-horse sleigh, with the horses ready harnessed, in
+charge of a man dressed as a mujik.
+
+They got in without a word, all but Soudeikin, who went to the
+horses' heads, while the other man went and opened the gates of the
+yard. The bells had been removed from the harness, and the horses'
+feet made no sound as Soudeikin led them out through the gate. Ivan
+took the reins, and Colston held out his hand from the sleigh. There
+was a roll of notes in it, and as he gave it to Soudeikin he
+whispered--
+
+"Farewell! If we succeed, the Master shall know how well you have
+done your part."
+
+Soudeikin took the money with a salute and a whispered farewell, and
+Ivan trotted his horses quietly down the lane and swung round into
+the road at the end of it.
+
+So far all had gone well, but the supreme moment of peril had yet to
+come. A mile away down the road was the guard-house on the Tobolsk
+road leading out of the town, and this had to be passed before there
+was even a chance of safety.
+
+As there was no hope of getting the sleigh past unobserved, Colston
+had determined to trust to a rush when the moment came. He had given
+Natasha and the Princess a magazine pistol apiece, and held a brace
+in his own hands; so among them they had a hundred shots.
+
+Ivan kept his horses at an easy trot till they were within a hundred
+yards of the guard-house. Then, at a sign from Colston, he suddenly
+lashed them into a gallop, and the sleigh dashed forward at a
+headlong speed, swept round the curve past the guard-house, hurling
+one of the sentries on guard to the earth, and away out on to the
+Tobolsk road.
+
+The next instant the notes of a bugle rang out clear and shrill just
+as another sounded from the other end of the town. Colston at once
+guessed what had happened. The inspector of the patrols, in going his
+rounds, had called at Soudeikin's house to see if all was right, and
+had discovered the tragedy that had taken place. He looked back and
+saw a body of Cossacks galloping down the main street towards the
+guard-house, waving their lanterns and brandishing their spears above
+their heads.
+
+"Whip up, Ivan, they will be on us in a couple of minutes!" he cried
+and Ivan swung his long whip out over his horses' ears, and shouted
+at them till they put their heads down and tore over the smooth snow
+in gallant style.
+
+By the time the race for life or death really began they had a good
+mile start, and as they had only four more to go Ivan did not spare
+his cattle, but plied whip and voice with a will till the trees
+whirled past in a continuous dark line, and the sleigh seemed to fly
+over the snow almost without touching it.
+
+Still the Cossacks gained on them yard by yard, till at the end of
+the fourth mile they were less than three hundred yards behind. Then
+Colston leant over the back of the sleigh, and taking the best aim he
+could, sent half a dozen shots among them. He saw a couple of the
+flying figures reel and fall, but their comrades galloped heedlessly
+over them, yelling wildly at the tops of their voices, and every
+moment lessening the distance between themselves and the sleigh.
+
+Colston fired a dozen more shots into them, and had the satisfaction
+of seeing three or four of them roll into the snow. At the same time
+he put a whistle to his lips, and blew a long shrill call that
+sounded high and clear above the hoarse yells of the Cossacks.
+
+Their pursuers were now within a hundred yards of them, and Natasha,
+speaking for the first time since the race had begun, said--
+
+"I think I can do something now."
+
+As she spoke she leaned out of the sleigh sideways, and began firing
+rapidly at the Cossacks. Shot after shot told either upon man or
+beast, for the daughter of Natas was one of the best shots in the
+Brotherhood; but before she had fired a dozen times a bright gleam of
+white light shot downwards over the trees, apparently from the
+clouds, full in the faces of their pursuers.
+
+Involuntarily they reined up like one man, and their yells of fury
+changed in an instant into a general cry of terror. The Cossacks are
+as brave as any soldiers on earth, and they can fight any mortal foe
+like the fiends that they are, but here was an enemy they had never
+seen before, a strange, white, ghostly-looking thing that floated in
+the clouds and glared at them with a great blazing, blinding eye,
+dazzling them and making their horses plunge and rear like things
+possessed.
+
+They were not long left in doubt as to the intentions of their new
+enemy. Something came rushing through the air and struck the ground
+almost at the feet of their first rank. Then there was a flash of
+green light, a stunning report, and men and horses were rent into
+fragments and hurled into the air like dead leaves before a
+hurricane.
+
+Only three or four who had turned tail at once were left alive; and
+these, without daring to look behind them, drove their spurs into
+their horses' flanks and galloped back to Tiumen, half mad with
+terror, to tell how a demon had come down from the skies, annihilated
+their comrades, and carried the fugitives away into the clouds upon
+its back.
+
+When they reached the town it was a scene of the utmost panic.
+Soldiers were galloping and running hither and thither, bugles were
+sounding, and the whole population were turning out into the
+snow-covered streets. On every lip there were only two
+words--"Natas!" "The Terrorists!"
+
+The death sentence on Soudeikin, the sub-commissioner of police, had
+been found pinned with a dagger to the table in the room in which lay
+the body of the lieutenant, with the bloody *T* on his forehead.
+Soudeikin had vanished utterly, leaving only his uniform behind him;
+so had the two prisoners for whom he had made himself responsible,
+and at the door of their room lay the corpse of the sentry with a
+bullet-hole clean through his head from front to back, while in the
+snow under one of the windows of the room lay the body of the other
+sentry, stabbed through the heart.
+
+From the very midst of one of the strongholds of Russian tyranny in
+Siberia, two important prisoners and a police official had been
+spirited away as though by magic, and now upon the top of all the
+wonder and dismay came the fugitive Cossacks with their wild tale
+about the air-demon that had swooped down and destroyed their troop
+at a single blow. To crown all, half an hour later three horses, mad
+with fear, came galloping up the Tobolsk road, dragging behind them
+an empty sleigh, to one of the seats of which was pinned a scrap of
+paper on which was written--
+
+"The daughter of Natas sends greeting to the Governor of Tiumen, and
+thanks him for his hospitality."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT.
+
+
+On the morning of Tuesday, the 9th of March 1904, the _Times_
+published the following telegram at the head of its Foreign
+Intelligence:--
+
+      ASTOUNDING OCCURRENCE IN RUSSIA.
+
+      _Destruction of Kronstadt by an unknown Air-Ship._
+      (_From our own Correspondent._)
+
+      St. Petersburg, _March 8th_, 4 P.M.
+
+    Between six and seven this morning, the fortress of Kronstadt was
+    partially destroyed by an unknown air-ship, which was first
+    sighted approaching from the westward at a tremendous speed.
+
+    Four shots in all were fired upon the fortress, and produced the
+    most appalling destruction. There was no smoke or flame visible
+    from the guns of the air-ship, and the explosives with which the
+    missiles were charged must have been far more powerful than
+    anything hitherto used in warfare, as in the focus of the
+    explosion masses of iron and steel and solid masonry were
+    instantly reduced to powder.
+
+    Two shots were fired as the strange vessel approached, and two as
+    she left the fortress. The two latter exploded over one of the
+    powder magazines, dissolved the steel roof to dust, and ignited
+    the whole contents of the magazine, blowing that portion of the
+    fortification bodily into the sea. At least half the garrison has
+    disappeared, most of the unfortunate men having been practically
+    annihilated by the terrific force of the explosions.
+
+    The air-ship was not of the navigable balloon type, and is
+    described by the survivors as looking more like a flying
+    torpedo-boat than anything else. She flew no flag, and there is
+    no clue to her origin.
+
+    After destroying the fortress, she ascended several thousand
+    feet, and continued her eastward course at such a prodigious
+    speed, that in less than five minutes she was lost to sight.
+
+    The excitement in St. Petersburg almost reaches the point of
+    panic. All efforts to keep the news of the disaster secret have
+    completely failed, and I have therefore received permission to
+    send this telegram, which has been revised by the Censorship, and
+    may therefore be accepted as authentic.
+
+Within an hour of the appearance of this telegram, which appeared
+only in the _Times_, the Russian Censorship having refused to allow
+any more to be despatched, the astounding news was flying over the
+wires to every corner of the world.
+
+The _Times_ had a lengthy and very able article on the subject,
+which, although by no means alarmist in tone, told the world, in
+grave and weighty sentences, that there could now be no doubt but
+that the problem of aerial navigation had been completely solved, and
+that therefore mankind stood confronted by a power that was
+practically irresistible, and which changed the whole aspect of
+warfare by land and sea.
+
+In the face of this power, the fortresses, armies, and fleets of the
+world were useless and helpless. The destruction of Kronstadt had
+proved that to demonstration. From a height of several thousand feet,
+and a distance of nearly seven miles, the unknown air-vessel had
+practically destroyed, with four shots from her mysterious,
+smokeless, and flameless guns, the strongest fortress in Europe. If
+it could do that, and there was not the slightest doubt but that it
+had done so, it could destroy armies wholesale without a chance of
+reprisals, sink fleets, and lay cities in ruins, at the leisure of
+those who commanded it.
+
+And here arose the supreme question of the hour--a question beside
+which all other questions of national or international policy sank
+instantly into insignificance--Who were those who held this new and
+appalling power in their hands? It was hardly to be believed that
+they were representatives of any regularly-constituted national
+Power, for, although the air was full of rumours of war, there was at
+present unbroken peace all over the world.
+
+Even in the hands of a recognised Power, the possession of such a
+frightful engine of destruction could not be viewed by the rest of
+the world with anything but the gravest apprehension, for that Power,
+however insignificant otherwise, would now be in a position to
+terrorise any other nation, or league of nations, however great.
+Manifestly those who had built the one air-vessel that had been seen,
+and had given such conclusive proof of her terrible powers, could
+construct a fleet if they chose to do so, and then the world would be
+at their mercy.
+
+If, however, as seemed only too probable, the machine was in the
+hands of a few irresponsible individuals, or, still worse, in those
+of such enemies of humanity as the Nihilists, or that yet more
+mysterious and terrible society who were popularly known as the
+Terrorists, then indeed the outlook was serious beyond forecast or
+description. At any moment the forces of destruction and anarchy
+might be let loose upon the world, in such fashion that little less
+than the collapse of the whole fabric of Society might be expected as
+the result.
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+The above necessarily brief and imperfect digest gives only the
+headings of an article which filled nearly two columns of the
+_Times_, and it is needless to say that such an article in the
+leading columns of the most serious and respectable newspaper in the
+world produced an intense impression wherever it was read.
+
+Of course the telegram was instantly copied by the evening papers,
+which ran out special editions for the sole purpose of reproducing
+it, with their own comments upon it, which, after all, were not much
+more original than the telegram. Meanwhile the _Berliner Tageblatt_,
+the _Newe Freie Presse_, the _Koelnische Zeitung_, and the _Journal
+des Debats_ had received later and somewhat similar telegrams, and
+had given their respective views of the catastrophe to the world.
+
+By noon all the capitals of Europe were in a fever of expectation and
+apprehension. The cables had carried the news to America and India;
+and when the evening of the same day brought the telegraphic account
+of the extraordinary occurrence at Tiumen in the grey dusk of the
+early morning, proving almost conclusively that the rescue had been
+effected by the same agency that had destroyed Kronstadt, and that,
+worse than all, the air-vessel was at the command of Natas, the
+unknown Chief of the mysterious Terrorists, excitement rose almost to
+frenzy, and everywhere the wildest rumours were accepted as truth.
+
+In a word, the "psychological moment" had come all over Europe, the
+moment in which all men were thinking of the same thing, discussing
+the same event, and dreading the same results. To have found a
+parallel state of affairs, it would have been necessary to go back
+more than a hundred years, to the hour when the head of Louis XVI.
+fell into the basket of the guillotine, and the monarchies of Europe
+sprang to arms to avenge his death.
+
+Meanwhile other and not less momentous events had, unknown to the
+newspapers or the public, been taking place in three very different
+parts of the world.
+
+On the evening of Saturday, the 6th, Lord Alanmere had called upon
+Mr. Balfour in Downing Street, and laid the duplicates of the secret
+treaty between France and Russia, and copies of all the memoranda
+appertaining to it, before him, and had convinced him of their
+authenticity. At the same time he showed him plans of the
+war-balloons, of which a fleet of fifty would within a few days be at
+the command of the Tsar.
+
+The result of this interview was a meeting of a Cabinet Council, and
+the immediate despatch of secret orders to mobilise the fleet and the
+army, to put every available ship into commission, and to double the
+strength of the Mediterranean Squadron at once. That evening three
+Queen's messengers left Charing Cross by the night mail, one for
+Berlin, one for Vienna, and one for Rome, each of them bearing a copy
+of the secret treaty.
+
+On Monday morning a Council of Ministers was held at the Peterhof
+Palace in St. Petersburg, presided over by the Tsar, and convened to
+discuss the destruction of Kronstadt.
+
+At this Council it was announced that the fleet of war-balloons would
+be ready to take the air in a week's time from then, and that the
+concentration of troops on the Afghan frontier was as complete as it
+could be without provoking immediate hostilities with Britain. In
+fact, so close were the Cossacks and the Indian troops to each other,
+both on the Pamirs and on the western slopes of the Hindu Kush, that
+a collision might be expected at any moment.
+
+The Council of the Tsar decided to let matters take their course in
+the East, and to make all arrangements with France to simultaneously
+attack the Triple Alliance as soon as the war-balloons had been
+satisfactorily tested.
+
+Soon after daybreak on Wednesday, the 10th, an affair of outposts
+took place near the northern end of the Sir Ulang Pass of the Hindu
+Kush, between two considerable bodies of Cossacks and Ghoorkhas, in
+which, after a stubborn fight, the Russians gave way before the
+magazine fire of the Indian troops, and fled, leaving nearly a fourth
+of their number on the field.
+
+The news of this encounter reached London on Wednesday night, and was
+published in the papers on Thursday morning, together with the
+intelligence that the fight had been watched from a height of nearly
+three thousand feet by a small party of men and women in an air-ship,
+evidently a vessel of war, from the fact that she carried four long
+guns. She took no part in the fight, and as soon as it was over went
+off to the south-west at a speed which carried her out of sight in a
+few minutes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY.
+
+
+While all Europe was thrilling with the apprehension of approaching
+war, and the excitement caused by the appearance of the strange
+air-ship and the news of its terrible exploits at Kronstadt and
+Tiumen, the _Ariel_ herself was quietly pursuing her way in mid-air
+south-westerly from the scene of the skirmish outside the Sir Ulang
+Pass.
+
+She was bound for a region in the midst of Africa, which, even in the
+first decade of the twentieth century, was still unknown to the
+geographer and untrodden by the explorer.
+
+Fenced in by huge and precipitous mountains, round whose bases lay
+vast forests and impenetrable swamps and jungles, from whose deadly
+areas the boldest pioneers had turned aside as being too hopelessly
+inhospitable to repay the cost and toil of exploration, it had
+remained undiscovered and unknown save by two men, who had reached it
+by the only path by which it was accessible--through the air and over
+the mountains which shut it in on every side from the external world.
+
+These two adventurous travellers were a wealthy and eccentric
+Englishman, named Louis Holt, and Thomas Jackson, his devoted
+retainer, and these two had taken it into their heads--or rather
+Louis Holt had taken it into his head--to achieve in fact the feat
+which Jules Verne had so graphically described in fiction, and to
+cross Africa in a balloon.
+
+They had set out from Zanzibar towards the end of the last year of
+the nineteenth century, and, with the exception of one or two vague
+reports from the interior, nothing more had been heard of them until,
+nearly a year later, a collapsed miniature balloon had been picked up
+in the Gulf of Guinea by the captain of a trading steamer, who had
+found in the little car attached to it a hermetically sealed
+meat-tin, which contained a manuscript, the contents of which will
+become apparent in due course.
+
+The captain of the steamer was a practical and somewhat stupid man,
+who read the manuscript with considerable scepticism, and then put it
+away, having come to the conclusion that it was no business of his,
+and that there was no money in it anyhow. He thought nothing more of
+it until he got back to Liverpool, and then he gave it to a friend of
+his, who was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and who duly
+laid it before that body.
+
+It was published in the _Transactions_, and there was some talk of
+sending out an expedition under the command of an eminent explorer to
+rescue Louis Holt and his servant; but when that personage was
+approached on the subject, it was found that the glory would not be
+at all commensurate with the expense and risk, and so, after being
+the usual nine days' wonder, and being duly elaborated by several
+able editors in the daily and weekly press, the strange adventures of
+Louis Holt had been dismissed, as of doubtful authenticity, into the
+limbo of exhausted sensations.
+
+One man, however, had laid the story to heart somewhat more
+seriously, and that was Richard Arnold, who, on reading it, had
+formed the resolve that, if ever his dream of aerial navigation were
+realised, the first use he would make of his air-ship would be to
+discover and rescue the lonely travellers who were isolated from the
+rest of the world in the strange, inaccessible region of which the
+manuscript had given a brief but graphic and fascinating account. He
+was now carrying out that resolve, and at the same time working out a
+portion of a plan that was not his own, and which he had been very
+far from foreseeing when he made the resolution.
+
+Louis Holt's original MS. had been purchased by the President of the
+Inner Circle, and the _Ariel_ was now, in fact, on a voyage of
+exploration, the object of which was the discovery of this unknown
+region, with a view to making it the seat of a settlement from which
+the members of the Executive could watch in security and peace the
+course of the tremendous struggle which would, ere long, be shaking
+the world to its foundations.
+
+In such a citadel as this, fenced in by a series of vast natural
+obstacles, impassable to all who did not possess the means of aerial
+locomotion, they would be secure from molestation, though all the
+armies of Europe sought to attack them; and the _Ariel_ could, if
+necessary, traverse in twenty-five hours the three thousand odd miles
+which separated it from the centre of Europe.
+
+After the rescue of Natasha and the Princess on the Tobolsk road, the
+_Ariel_, in obedience to the orders of the Council, had shaped her
+course southward to the western slopes of the Hindu Kush, in order to
+be present at the prearranged attack of the Cossacks on the British
+reconnoitring force.
+
+Arnold's orders were simply to wait for the engagement, and only to
+watch it, unless the British were attacked in overwhelming numbers.
+In that case he was to have dispersed the Russian force, as the plan
+of the Terrorists did not allow of any advantage being gained by the
+soldiers of the Tsar in that part of the world just then.
+
+As the British had defeated them unaided, the _Ariel_ had taken no
+part in the affair, and, after vanishing from the sight of the
+astonished combatants, had proceeded upon her voyage of discovery.
+
+As a good month would have to elapse before she could keep her
+rendezvous with the steamer that was to bring out the materials for
+the construction of the new air-ships from England, there was plenty
+of time to make the voyage in a leisurely and comfortable fashion. As
+soon, therefore, as he was out of sight of the skirmishers, he had
+reduced the speed of the _Ariel_ to about forty miles an hour, using
+only the stern-propeller driven by one engine, and supporting the
+ship on the air-planes and two fan-wheels.
+
+At this speed he would traverse the three thousand odd miles which
+lay between the Hindu Kush and "Aeria"--as Louis Holt had somewhat
+fancifully named the region that could be reached only through the
+air--in a little over seventy-five hours, or rather more than three
+days.
+
+Those three days were the happiest that his life had so far
+contained. The complete success of his invention, and the absolute
+fulfilment of his promises to the Brotherhood, had made him a power
+in the world, and a power which, as he honestly believed, would be
+used for the highest good of mankind when the time came to finally
+confront and confound the warring forces of rival despotisms.
+
+But far more than this in his eyes was the fact that he had been able
+to use the unique power which his invention had placed in his hands,
+to rescue the woman that he loved so dearly from a fate which, even
+now that it was past, he could not bring himself to contemplate.
+
+When she had first greeted him in the Council-chamber of the Inner
+Circle, the distance that had separated her from him had seemed
+immeasurable, and she--the daughter of Natas and the idol of the most
+powerful society in the world--might well have looked down upon
+him--the nameless dreamer of an unrealised dream, and a pauper, who
+would not have known where to have looked for his next meal, had the
+Brotherhood not had faith in him and his invention.
+
+But now all that was changed. The dream had become the reality, and
+the creation of his genius was bearing her with him swiftly and
+smoothly through a calm atmosphere, and under a cloudless sky, over
+sea and land, with more ease than a bird wings its flight through
+space. He had accomplished the greatest triumph in the history of
+human discovery. He had revolutionised the world, and ere long he
+would make war impossible. Surely this entitled him to approach even
+her on terms of equality, and to win her for his own if he could.
+
+Natasha saw this too as clearly as he did--more clearly, perhaps;
+for, while he only arrived at the conclusion by a process of
+reasoning, she reached it intuitively at a single step. She knew that
+he loved her, that he had loved her from the moment that their hands
+had first met in greeting, and, peerless as she was among women, she
+was still a woman, and the homage of such a man as this was sweet to
+her, albeit it was still unspoken.
+
+She knew, too, that the hopes of the Revolution, which, before all
+things human, claimed her whole-souled devotion, now depended mainly
+upon him, and the use that he might make of the power that lay in his
+hands, and this of itself was no light bond between them, though not
+necessarily having anything to do with affection.
+
+So far she was heart-whole, and though many had attempted the task,
+no man had yet made her pulses beat a stroke faster for his sake.
+Ever since she had been old enough to know what tyranny meant, she
+had been trained to hate it, and prepared to work against it, and, if
+necessary, to sacrifice herself body and soul to destroy it.
+
+Thus hatred rather than love had been the creed of her life and the
+mainspring of her actions, and, save her father and her one friend
+Radna, she stood aloof from mankind and its loves and friendships,
+rather the beautiful incarnation of an abstract principle than a
+woman, to whom love and motherhood were the highest aims of
+existence.
+
+More than this, she was the daughter of a Jew, and therefore held
+herself absolutely at her father's disposal as far as marriage was
+concerned, and if he had given her in wedlock even to a Russian
+official, telling her that the Cause demanded the sacrifice, she
+would have obeyed, though her heart had broken in the same hour.
+
+Although he had never hinted directly at such a thing, the conviction
+had been growing upon her for the last two or three years that Natas
+really intended her to marry Tremayne, and so, in the case of his own
+death, form a bond that should hold him to the Brotherhood when the
+chain of his own control was snapped. Though she instinctively shrank
+from such a union of mere policy, she would enter it without
+hesitation at her father's bidding, and for the sake of the Cause to
+which her life was devoted.
+
+How great such a sacrifice would be, should it ever be asked of her,
+no one but herself could ever know, for she was perfectly well aware
+that in Tremayne's strange double life there were two loves, one of
+which, and that not the real and natural one, was hers.
+
+Had she felt that she had the disposal of herself in her own hands,
+she would not, perhaps, have waited with such painful apprehension
+the avowal which hour after hour, now that they were brought into
+such close and constant relationships on board this little vessel
+high in mid-air, she saw trembling on the lips of her rescuer.
+
+Arnold's life of hard, honest work, and his constant habit of facing
+truth in its most uncompromising forms, had made dissimulation almost
+impossible to him; and added to that, situated as he was, there was
+no necessity for it. Colston knew of his love, and the Princess had
+guessed it long ago. Did Natasha know his open secret? Of that he
+hardly dared to be sure, though something told him that the
+inevitable moment of knowledge was near at hand.
+
+For the first twenty-four hours of the voyage he had seen very little
+of either her or the Princess, as they had mostly remained in their
+cabins, enjoying a complete rest after the terrible fatigue and
+suffering they had gone through since their capture in Moscow, but on
+the Thursday morning they had had breakfast in the saloon with him
+and Colston, and had afterwards spent a portion of the morning on
+deck, deeply interested in watching the fight between the British and
+Russians. Thanks to Radna's foresight, they had each found a trunk
+full of suitable clothing on board the _Ariel_. These had been taken
+to Drumcraig by Colston, and placed in the cabins intended for their
+use, and so they were able to discard the uncouth but useful costumes
+in which they had made their escape.
+
+In the afternoon Arnold had had to perform the pleasant task of
+showing them over the _Ariel_, explaining the working of the
+machinery, and putting the wonderful vessel through various
+evolutions to show what she was capable of doing.
+
+He rushed her at full speed through the air, took flying leaps over
+outlying spurs of mountain ranges that lay in their path, swooped
+down into valleys, and flew over level plains fifty yards from the
+ground, like an albatross over the surface of a smooth tropic sea.
+Then he soared up from the earth again, until the horizon widened out
+to vast extent, and they could see the mighty buttresses of "the Roof
+of the World" stretching out below them in an endless succession of
+ranges as far as the eye could reach.
+
+Neither Natasha nor the Princess could find words to at all
+adequately express all that they saw and learnt during that day of
+wonders, and all night Natasha could hardly sleep for waking dreams
+of universal empire, and a world at peace equitably ruled by a power
+that had no need of aggression, because all the realms of earth and
+air belonged to those who wielded it.
+
+When at last she did go to sleep, it was to dream again, and this
+time of herself, the Angel of the Revolution, sharing the aerial
+throne of the world-empire with the man who had made revolutions
+impossible by striking the sword from the hand of the tyrants of
+earth for ever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A WOOING IN MID AIR.
+
+
+After breakfast on the Friday morning, Natasha and Arnold were
+standing in the bows of the _Ariel_, admiring the magnificent
+panorama that lay stretched out five thousand feet below them.
+
+The air-ship had by this time covered a little over 2000 miles of her
+voyage, and was now speeding smoothly and swiftly along over the
+south-western shore of the Red Sea, a few miles southward of the
+sixteenth parallel of latitude. Eastward the bright blue waves of the
+sea were flashing behind them in the cloudless morning sun; the high
+mountains of the African coast rose to right and left and in front of
+them; and through the breaks in the chain they could see the huge
+masses of Abyssinia to the southward, and the vast plains that
+stretched away westward across the Blue and White Niles, away to the
+confines of the Libyan Desert.
+
+"What a glorious world!" exclaimed Natasha, after gazing for many
+silent minutes with entranced eyes over the limitless landscape. "And
+to think that, after all, all this is but a little corner of it!"
+
+"It is yours, Natasha, if you will have it," replied Arnold quietly,
+yet with a note in his voice that warned her that the moment which
+she had expected and yet dreaded, had already come. There was no use
+in avoiding the inevitable for a time. It would be better if they
+understood each other at once; and so she looked round at him with
+eyebrows elevated in well-simulated surprise, and said--
+
+"Mine! What do you mean, my friend?"
+
+There was an almost imperceptible emphasis on the last word that
+brought the blood to Arnold's cheek, and he answered, with a ring in
+his voice that gave unmistakable evidence of the effort that he was
+making to restrain the passion that inspired his words--
+
+"I mean just what I say. All the kingdoms of the world, and the glory
+of them, from pole to pole, and from east to west, shall be yours,
+and shall obey your lightest wish. I have conquered the air, and
+therefore the earth and sea. In two months from now I shall have an
+aerial navy afloat that will command the world, and I--is it not
+needless to tell you, Natasha, why I glory in the possession of that
+power? Surely you must know that it is because I love you more than
+all that a subject world can give me, and because it makes it
+possible for me, if not to win you, at least not to be unworthy to
+attempt the task?"
+
+It was a distinctly unconventional declaration--such a one, indeed,
+as no woman had ever heard since Alexander the Great had whispered in
+the ears of Lais his dreams of universal empire, but there was a
+straightforward earnestness about it which convinced her beyond
+question that it came from no ordinary man, but from one who saw the
+task before him clearly, and had made up his mind to achieve it.
+
+For a moment her heart beat faster than it had ever yet done at the
+bidding of a man's voice, and there was a bright flush on her cheeks,
+and a softer light in her eyes, as she replied in a more serious tone
+than Arnold had ever heard her use--
+
+"My friend, you have forgotten something. You and I are not a man and
+a woman in the relationship that exists between us. We are two
+factors in a work such as has never been undertaken since the world
+began; two units in a mighty problem whose solution is the happiness
+or the ruin of the whole human race. It is not for us to speak of
+individual love while these tremendous issues hang undecided in the
+balance.
+
+"One does not speak of love in the heat of war, and you and I and
+those who are with us are at war with the powers of the earth, and
+higher things than the happiness of individuals are at stake. You
+know my training has been one of hate and not of love, and till the
+hate is quenched I must not know what love is.
+
+"Remember your oath--the oath which I have taken as well as you--'_As
+long as I live those ends shall be my ends, and no human
+considerations shall weigh with me where those ends are concerned._'
+Is not this love of which you speak a human consideration that might
+clash with the purposes of the Brotherhood whose ends you and I have
+solemnly sworn to hold supreme above all earthly things?
+
+"My father has told me that when love takes possession of a human
+soul, reason abdicates her throne, and great aims become impossible.
+No, no; that great power which you hold in your hands was not given
+you just to win the love of a woman, and I tell you frankly that you
+will never win mine with it.
+
+"More than this, if I saw you using it for such an end, I would take
+care that you did not use it for long. No man ever had such an awful
+responsibility laid upon him as the possession of this power lays
+upon you. It is yours to make or mar the future of the human race, of
+which I am but a unit. It is not the power that will ever win either
+my respect or my love, but the wisdom and the justice with which it
+may be used."
+
+"Ah! I see you distrust me. You think that because I have the power
+to be a despot, that therefore I may forget my oath and become one. I
+forgive you for the thought, unworthy of you as it is, and also, I
+hope, of me. No, Natasha; I am no skilled hand at love-making, for I
+have never wooed any mistress but one before to-day, and she is won
+only by plain honesty and hard service; just what I will devote to
+the winning of you, whether you are to be won or not--but I must have
+expressed myself clumsily indeed for you to have even thought of
+treason to the Cause.
+
+"You are no more devoted adherent of it than I am. You have suffered
+in one way and I in another from the falsehood and rottenness of
+present-day Society, but you do not hate it more utterly than I do,
+and you would not go to greater lengths than I would to destroy it.
+Yours is a hatred of emotion, and mine is a hatred of reason. I have
+proved that, as Society is constituted, it is the worst and not the
+best qualities of humanity that win wealth and power, and such
+respect as the vulgar of all classes can give. But it is not such
+power as this that I would lay at your feet, when I ask you to share
+the world-empire with me. It is an empire of peace and not of war
+that I shall offer to you."
+
+"Then," said Natasha, taking a step towards him, and laying her hand
+on his arm as she spoke, "when you have made war impossible to the
+rivalry of nations and races, and have proclaimed peace on earth,
+then I will give myself to you, body and soul, to do with as you
+please, to kill or to keep alive, for then truly you will have done
+that which all the generations of men before you have failed to do,
+and it will be yours to ask and to have."
+
+As she spoke these last words Natasha bowed her proudly-carried head
+as though in submission to the dictum that her own lips had
+pronounced; and Arnold, laying his hand on hers and holding it for a
+moment unresisting in his own, said--
+
+"I accept the condition, and as you have said so shall it be. You
+shall hear no more words of love from my lips until the day that
+peace shall be proclaimed on earth and war shall be no more; and when
+that day comes, as it shall do, I will hold you to your words, and I
+will claim you and take you, body and soul, as you have said, though
+I break every other human tie save man's love for woman to possess
+you."
+
+Natasha looked him full in the eyes as he spoke these last words. She
+had never heard such words before, and by their very strength and
+audacity they compelled her respect and even her submission. Her
+heart was still untamed and unconquered, and no man was its lord, yet
+her eyes sank before the steady gaze of his, and in a low sweet voice
+she answered--
+
+"So be it! There never was a true woman yet who did not love to meet
+her master. When that day comes I shall have met my master, and I
+will do his bidding. Till then we are friends and comrades in a
+common Cause to which both our lives are devoted. Is it not better
+that it should be so?"
+
+"Yes, I am content. I would not take the prize before I have won it.
+Only answer me one question frankly, and then I have done till I may
+speak again."
+
+"What is that."
+
+"Have I a rival--not among men, for of that I am careless--but in
+your own heart?"
+
+"No, none. I am heart-whole and heart-free. Win me if you can. It is
+a fair challenge, and I will abide by the result, be it what it may."
+
+"That is all I ask for. If I do not win you, may Heaven do so to me
+that I shall have no want of the love of woman for ever!"
+
+So saying, he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it, in token of
+the compact that was made between them. Then, intuitively divining
+that she wished to be alone, he turned away without another word, and
+walked to the after end of the vessel.
+
+Natasha remained where she was for a good half-hour, leaning on the
+rail that surrounded the deck, and gazing out dreamily over the
+splendid and ever-changing scene that lay spread out beneath her.
+Truly it was a glorious world, as she had said, even now, cursed as
+it was with war and the hateful atrocities of human selfishness, and
+the sordid ambition of its despots.
+
+What would it be like in the day when the sword should lie rusting on
+the forgotten battle-field, and the cannon's mouth be choked with the
+desert dust for ever? What was now a hell of warring passions would
+then be a paradise of peaceful industry, and he who had the power, if
+any man had, to turn that hell into the paradise that it might be,
+had just told her that he loved her, and would create that paradise
+for her sake.
+
+Could he do it? Was not this marvellous creation of his genius, that
+was bearing her in mid-air over land and sea, as woman had never
+travelled before, a sufficient earnest of his power? Truly it was.
+And to be won by such a man was no mean destiny, even for her, the
+daughter of Natas, and the peerless Angel of the Revolution.
+
+Situated as they were, it would of course have been impossible, even
+if it had been in any way desirable, for Arnold and Natasha to have
+kept their compact secret from their fellow-travellers, who were at
+the same time their most intimate friends.
+
+There was not, however, the remotest reason for attempting to do so.
+Although with regard to the rest of the world the members of the
+Brotherhood were necessarily obliged to live lives of constant
+dissimulation, among themselves they had no secrets from each other.
+
+Thus, for instance, it was perfectly well known that Tremayne, during
+those periods of his double life in which he acted as Chief of the
+Inner Circle, regarded the daughter of Natas with feelings much
+warmer than those of friendship or brotherhood in a common cause, and
+until Arnold and his wonderful creation appeared on the scene, he was
+looked upon as the man who, if any man could, would some day win the
+heart of their idolised Angel.
+
+Of the other love that was the passion of his other life, no one save
+Natasha, and perhaps Natas himself, knew anything; and even if they
+had known, they would not have considered it possible for any other
+woman to have held a man's heart against the peerless charms of
+Natasha. In fact they would have looked upon such rivalry as mere
+presumption that it was not at all necessary for their incomparable
+young Queen of the Terror to take into serious account.
+
+In Arnold, however, they saw a worthy rival even to the Chief
+himself, for there was a sort of halo of romance, even in their eyes,
+about this serious, quiet-spoken young genius, who had come suddenly
+forth from the unknown obscurity of his past life to arm the
+Brotherhood with a power which revolutionised their tactics and
+virtually placed the world at their mercy. In a few months he had
+become alike their hero and their supreme hope, so far as all active
+operations went; and now that with his own hand he had snatched
+Natasha from a fate of unutterable misery, and so signally punished
+her persecutors, it seemed to be only in the fitness of things that
+he should love her, win her for his own, if won she was to be by any
+man.
+
+This, at any rate, was the line of thought which led the Princess and
+Colston each to express their unqualified satisfaction with the state
+of affairs arrived at in the compact that had been made between
+Natasha and Arnold--"armed neutrality," as the former smilingly
+described to the Princess while she was telling her of the strange
+wooing of her now avowed lover. Natasha was no woman to be wooed and
+won in the ordinary way, and it was fitting that she should be the
+guerdon of such an achievement as no man had ever undertaken before,
+since the world began.
+
+The voyage across Africa progressed pleasantly and almost
+uneventfully for the thirty-six hours after the crossing of the Red
+Sea. After passing over the mountains of the coast, the _Ariel_ had
+travelled at a uniform height of about 3000 feet over a magnificent
+country of hill and valley, forest and prairie, occasionally being
+obliged to rise another thousand feet or so to cross some of the
+ridges of mountain chains which rose into peaks and mountain knots,
+some of which touched the snow-line.
+
+Several times the air-ship was sighted by the people of the various
+countries over which she passed, and crowds swarmed out of the
+villages and towns, gesticulating wildly, and firing guns and beating
+drums to scare the flying demon away.
+
+Once or twice they heard bullets singing through the air, but of
+these they took little heed, beyond quickening the speed of the
+air-ship for the time, knowing that there was not a chance in a
+hundred thousand of the _Ariel_ being hit, and that even if she were
+the bullet would glance harmlessly off her smooth hull of hardened
+aluminium.
+
+Once only they descended in a delightful little valley among the
+mountains, which appeared to be totally uninhabited, and here they
+renewed their store of fresh water, and laid in one of fruit, as well
+as taking advantage of the opportunity to stretch their legs on
+_terra firma_.
+
+This was on the Saturday morning; and when they again rose into the
+air to continue their voyage, they saw that they had crossed the
+great mountain mass that divides the Sahara from the little-known
+regions of Equatorial Africa, and that in front of them to the
+south-west lay, as far as the eye could reach, a boundless expanse of
+dense forest and jungle and swamp, a gloomy and forbidding-looking
+region which it would be well-nigh impossible to traverse on foot.
+
+Early in the afternoon the four voyagers were gathered in the
+deck-saloon, closely examining a somewhat rudely-drawn chart that was
+spread out on the table. It was the map that formed part of the
+manuscript which had been found in the car of Louis Holt's miniature
+balloon, and sketched out his route from Zanzibar to Aeria, and the
+country lying round so far as he had been able to observe it.
+
+"This gives us, after all, very little idea of the distance we have
+yet to go," said Arnold; "for though Holt has got his latitude
+presumably right, we have very little clue to his longitude, for he
+says himself that his watch was stopped in a thunder-storm, and that
+in the same storm he lost all count of the distance he had travelled.
+Added to that, he admits that he was blown about for twelve days in
+one direction and another, so that all we really know is that
+somewhere across this fearful wilderness beneath us we shall find
+Aeria, but where is still a problem."
+
+"What is your own idea?" asked Colston.
+
+"Not a very clear one, I must confess. At this elevation we can see
+about sixty miles as the atmosphere is now, and as far as we can see
+to the south-west there is nothing but the same kind of country that
+we have under us. We have travelled rather more than 2700 miles since
+we left the Hindu Kush, and according to my reckoning Aeria lies
+somewhere between 3000 and 3200 miles south-west of where we started
+from on Thursday morning. That means that we are within between three
+and five hundred miles of Aeria, unless, indeed, our calculations are
+wholly at fault, and at that rate, as we only have about four and a
+half hours' daylight left, we shall not get there to-day at our
+present speed."
+
+"Couldn't we go a bit faster?" put in Natasha. "You know I and the
+Princess are dying to see this mysterious unknown country that only
+two other people have ever seen."
+
+"You have but to say so, Natasha, and it is already done," replied
+Arnold, signalling at the same moment to the engine-room by means of
+a similar arrangement of electric buttons to that which was in the
+wheel-house. "Only you must remember that you must not go out on deck
+now, or you will be blown away like a feather into space."
+
+While he was speaking the three propellers had begun to revolve at
+full speed, and the _Ariel_ darted forward with a velocity that
+caused the mountains she had just crossed to sink rapidly on the
+horizon.
+
+All the afternoon the _Ariel_ flew at full speed over the seemingly
+interminable wilderness of swamp and jungle, until, when the
+equatorial sun was within a few degrees of the horizon, one of the
+crew, who had been stationed in the conning tower at the bows,
+signalled to call the attention of the man in the wheel-house.
+Arnold, who was in the after-saloon at the time, heard the signal,
+and hurried forward to the look-out. He gave one quick glance ahead,
+signalled "half-speed" to the engine-room, and then went aft again to
+the saloon, and said--
+
+"Aeria is in sight!"
+
+Immediately everyone hastened to the deck saloon, from the windows of
+which could be seen a huge mass of mountains looming dark and
+distinct against the crimsoning western sky.
+
+It rose like some vast precipitous island out of the sea of forest
+that lay about its base; and above the mighty rock-walls that seemed
+to rise sheer from the surrounding plain at least a dozen peaks
+towered into the sky, two of their summits covered with eternal snow,
+and shining like points of rosy fire in the almost level rays of the
+sun.
+
+As nearly as Arnold could judge in the deceptive state of the
+atmosphere, they were still between thirty and forty miles from it,
+and as it would not be safe to approach its lofty cliffs at a high
+rate of speed in the half light that would so soon merge into
+darkness, he said to his companions--
+
+"We shall have to find a resting-place up among the cliffs on this
+side to-night, for we have lost the moon, and unless it were
+absolutely necessary to cross the mountains in the dark, I should not
+care to do so with the ladies on board. Besides, there is no hurry
+now that we are here, and we shall get a much finer first impression
+of our new kingdom if we cross at sunrise. What do you think?"
+
+All agreed that this would be the best plan, and so the _Ariel_ ran
+up to within a mile of the rocks, and then the forward engine was
+connected with the dynamo, and the searchlight, which had so
+disconcerted the Cossacks on the Tobolsk road, was turned on to the
+cliffs, which they carefully explored, until they found a little
+plateau covered with luxuriant vegetation and well watered, about two
+thousand feet above the plain below.
+
+Here it was decided to come to a halt for the night, and to reserve
+the exploration of Aeria for the morning, and so the fan-wheels were
+sent aloft, and the _Ariel_, after hovering for a few minutes over
+the verdant little plain seeking for a suitable spot to alight in,
+sank gently to the earth after her flight of more than three thousand
+miles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+AERIA FELIX.
+
+
+Every one on board the _Ariel_ was astir the next morning as soon as
+the first rays of dawn were shooting across the vast plain that
+stretched away to the eastward, and by the time it was fairly
+daylight breakfast was over and all were anxiously speculating as to
+what they would find on the other side of the tremendous cliffs, on
+an eyrie in which they had found a resting-place for the night.
+
+As soon as all was ready for a start, Arnold said to Natasha, who was
+standing alone with him on the after part of the deck--
+
+"If you would like to steer the _Ariel_ into your new kingdom, I
+shall be delighted to give you the lesson in steering that I promised
+you yesterday."
+
+Natasha saw the inner meaning of the offer at a glance, and replied
+with a smile that made his blood tingle--
+
+"That would be altogether too great a responsibility for a beginner.
+I might run on to some of these fearful rocks. But if you will take
+the helm when the dangerous part comes, I will learn all I can by
+watching you."
+
+"As long as you are with me in the wheel-house for the next hour or
+so," said Arnold, with almost boyish frankness, "I shall be content.
+I need scarcely tell you why I want to be alone with you when we
+first sight this new home of our future empire."
+
+"I have half a mind not to come after that very injudicious speech.
+Still, if only for the sake of its delightful innocence, I will
+forgive you this time. You really must practise the worldly art of
+dissimulation a little, or I shall have to get the Princess to play
+chaperon."
+
+Natasha spoke these words in a bantering tone, and with a flush on
+her lovely cheeks, that forced Arnold to cut short the conversation
+for the moment, by giving an order to Andrew Smith, who at that
+instant put his head out of the wheel-house door to say--
+
+"All ready, sir!"
+
+"Very well," replied Arnold. "I will take the wheel, and do you tell
+every one to keep under cover."
+
+Smith saluted, and disappeared, and then Natasha and Arnold went into
+the wheel-house, while Colston and the Princess took their places in
+the deck-saloon, the two men off duty going into the conning tower
+forward.
+
+"Why every one under cover, Captain Arnold?" asked Natasha, as soon
+as the two were ensconced in the wheel-house and the door shut.
+
+"Because I am going to put the _Ariel_ through her paces, and enter
+Aeria in style," replied he, signalling for the fan-wheels to
+revolve. "The fact is that, so far as I can see, these mountains are
+too high for us to rise over them by means of the lifting-wheels,
+which are only calculated to carry the ship to a height of about five
+thousand feet. After that the air gets too rarefied for them to get a
+solid grip. Now, these mountains look to me more like seven thousand
+feet high."
+
+"Then how will you get over them?"
+
+"I shall first take a cruise and see if I can find a negotiable gap,
+and then leap it."
+
+"What! Leap seven thousand feet?"
+
+"No; you forget that we shall be over five thousand up when we take
+the jump, and I have no doubt that we shall find a place where a
+thousand feet or so more will take us over. That we shall rise easily
+with the planes and propellers, and you will see such a leap as man
+never made in the world before."
+
+While he was speaking the _Ariel_ had risen from the ground, and was
+hanging a few hundred feet above the little plateau. He gave the
+signal for the wheels to be lowered, and the propellers to set to
+work at half-speed. Then he pulled the lever which moved the
+air-planes, and the vessel sped away forwards and upwards at about
+sixty miles an hour.
+
+Arnold headed her away from the mountains until he had got an offing
+of a couple of miles, and then he swung her round and skirted the
+cliffs, rising ever higher and higher, and keeping a sharp look-out
+for a depression among the ridges that still towered nearly three
+thousand feet above them.
+
+When he had explored some twenty miles of the mountain wall, Arnold
+suddenly pointed towards it, and said--
+
+"There is a place that I think will do. Look yonder, between those
+two high peaks away to the southward. That ridge is not more than six
+thousand feet from the earth, and the _Ariel_ can leap that as easily
+as an Irish hunter would take a five-barred gate."
+
+"It looks dreadfully high from here," said Natasha, in spite of
+herself turning a shade paler at the idea of taking a six thousand
+foot ridge at a flying leap. She had splendid nerves, but this was
+her first aerial voyage, and it was also the first time that she had
+ever been brought so closely face to face with the awful grandeur of
+Nature in her own secret and solitary places.
+
+She would have faced a levelled rifle without flinching, but as she
+looked at that frowning mass of rocks towering up into the sky, and
+then down into the fearful depths below, where huge trees looked like
+tiny shrubs, and vast forests like black patches of heather on the
+earth, her heart stood still in her breast when she thought of the
+frightful fate that would overwhelm the _Ariel_ and her crew should
+she fail to rise high enough to clear the ridge, or if anything went
+wrong with her machinery at the critical moment.
+
+"Are you sure you can do it?" she asked almost involuntarily.
+
+"Perfectly sure," replied Arnold quietly, "otherwise I should not
+attempt it with you on board. The _Ariel_ contains enough explosives
+to reduce her and us to dust and ashes, and if we hit that ridge
+going over, she would go off like a dynamite shell. No, I know what
+she can do, and you need not have the slightest fear!"
+
+"I am not exactly afraid, but it _looks_ a fearful thing to attempt."
+
+"If there were any danger I should tell you--with my usual lack of
+dissimulation. But really there is none, and all you have to do is to
+hold tight when I tell you, and keep your eyes open for the first
+glimpse of Aeria."
+
+By this time the _Ariel_ was more than ten miles away from the
+mountains. Arnold, having now got offing enough, swung her round
+again, headed her straight for the ridge between the two peaks, and
+signalled "full speed" to the engine-room.
+
+In an instant the propellers redoubled their revolutions, and the
+_Ariel_ gathered way until the wind sang and screamed past her masts
+and stays. She covered eight miles in less than four minutes, and it
+seemed to Natasha as though the rock-wall were rushing towards them
+at an appalling speed, still frowning down a thousand feet above
+them. For the instant she was all eyes. She could neither open her
+lips nor move a limb for sheer, irresistible, physical terror. Then
+she heard Arnold say sharply--
+
+"Now, hold on tight!"
+
+The nearest thing to her was his own arm, the hand of which grasped
+one of the spokes of the steering wheel. Instinctively she passed her
+own arm under it, and then clasped it with both her hands. As she did
+so she felt the muscles tighten and harden. Then with his other hand
+he pulled the lever back to the full, and inclined the planes to
+their utmost.
+
+Suddenly, as though some Titan had overthrown it, the huge black wall
+of rock in front seemed to sink down into the earth, the horizon
+widened out beyond it, and the _Ariel_ soared upwards and swept over
+it nearly a thousand feet to the good.
+
+"Ah!"
+
+The exclamation was forced from her white lips by an impulse that
+Natasha had no power to resist. All the pride of her nature was
+conquered and humbled for the moment by the marvel that she had seen,
+and by the something, greater and stranger than all, that she saw in
+the man beside her who had worked this miracle with a single touch of
+his hand. A moment later she had recovered her self-possession. She
+unclasped her hands from his arm, and as the colour came back to her
+cheeks she said, as he thought, more sweetly than she had ever spoken
+to him before--
+
+"My friend, you have glorious nerves where physical danger is
+concerned, and now I freely forgive you for fainting in the
+Council-chamber when Martinov was executed. But don't try mine again
+like that if you can help it. For the moment I thought that the end
+of all things had come. Oh, look! What a paradise! Truly this is a
+lovely kingdom that you have brought me to!"
+
+[Illustration: "The _Ariel_ sank down after the leap across the
+ridge."
+
+_See page 123._]
+
+"And one that you and I will yet reign over together," replied Arnold
+quietly, as he moved the lever again and allowed the _Ariel_ to sink
+smoothly down the other side of the ridge over which she had taken
+her tremendous leap.
+
+When she had called it a paradise, Natasha had used almost the only
+word that would fitly describe the scene that opened out before them
+as the _Ariel_ sank down after her leap across the ridge. The
+interior of the mountain mass took the form of an oval valley, as
+nearly as they could guess about fifty miles long by perhaps thirty
+wide. All round it the mountains seemed to rise unbroken by a single
+gap or chasm to between three and four thousand feet above the lowest
+part of the valley, and above this again the peaks rose high into the
+sky, two of them to the snow-line, which in this latitude was over
+15,000 feet above the sea.
+
+Of the two peaks which reached to this altitude, one was at either
+end of a line drawn through the greater length of the valley, that is
+to say, from north to south. At least ten other peaks all round the
+walls of the valley rose to heights varying from eight to twelve
+thousand feet.
+
+The centre of the valley was occupied by an irregularly shaped lake,
+plentifully dotted with islands about its shores, but quite clear of
+them in the middle. In its greatest length it would be about twelve
+miles long, while its breadth varied from five miles to a few hundred
+yards. Its sloping shores were covered with the most luxuriant
+vegetation, which reached upwards almost unbroken, but changing in
+character with the altitude, until there was a regular series of
+transitions, from the palms and bananas on the shores of the lake, to
+the sparse and scanty pines and firs that clung to the upper slopes
+of the mountains.
+
+The lake received about a score of streams, many of which began as
+waterfalls far up the mountains, while two of them at least had their
+origin in the eternal snows of the northern and southern peaks. So
+far as they could see from the air-ship, the lake had no outlet, and
+they were therefore obliged to conclude that its surplus waters
+escaped by some subterranean channel, probably to reappear again as a
+river welling from the earth, it might be, hundreds of miles away.
+
+Of inhabitants there were absolutely no traces to be seen, from the
+direction in which the _Ariel_ was approaching. Animals and birds
+there seemed to be in plenty, but of man no trace was visible, until
+in her flight along the valley the _Ariel_ opened up one of the many
+smaller valleys formed by the ribs of the encircling mountains.
+
+There, close by a clump of magnificent tree-ferns, and nestling under
+a precipitous ridge, covered from base to summit with dark-green
+foliage and brilliantly-coloured flowers, was a well-built log-hut
+surrounded by an ample verandah, also almost smothered in flowers,
+and surmounted by a flagstaff from which fluttered the tattered
+remains of a Union-Jack.
+
+In a little clearing to one side of the hut, a man, who might very
+well have passed for a modern edition of Robinson Crusoe, so far as
+his attire was concerned, was busily skinning an antelope which hung
+from a pole suspended from two trees. His back was turned towards
+them, and so swift and silent had been their approach that he did not
+hear the soft whirring of the propellers until they were within some
+three hundred yards of him.
+
+Then, just as he looked round to see whence the sound came, Andrew
+Smith, who was standing in the bows near the conning tower, put his
+hands to his mouth and roared out a regular sailor's hail--
+
+"Thomas Jackson, ahoy!"
+
+The man straightened himself up, stared open-mouthed for a moment at
+the strange apparition, and then, with a yell either of terror or
+astonishment, bolted into the house as hard as he could run.
+
+As soon as he was able to speak for laughing at the queer incident,
+Arnold sent the fan-wheels aloft and lowered the _Ariel_ to within
+about twenty feet of the ground over a level patch of sward, across
+which meandered a little stream on its way to the lake. While she was
+hanging motionless over this, the man who had fled into the house
+reappeared, almost dragging another man, somewhat similarly attired,
+after him, and pointing excitedly towards the _Ariel_.
+
+The second comer, if he felt any astonishment at the apparition that
+had invaded his solitude, certainly betrayed none. On the contrary,
+he walked deliberately from the hut to the bit of sward over which
+the _Ariel_ hung motionless, and, seeing two ladies leaning on the
+rail that ran round the deck, he doffed his goatskin cap with a
+well-bred gesture, and said, in a voice that betrayed not the
+slightest symptom of surprise--
+
+"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! Good morning, and welcome to
+Aeria! I see that the problem of aerial navigation has been solved; I
+always said it would be in the first ten years of the twentieth
+century, though I often got laughed at by the wiseacres who know
+nothing until they see a thing before their noses. May I ask whether
+that little message that I sent to the outside world some years ago
+has procured me the pleasure of this visit?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holt. Your little balloon was picked up about three years
+ago in the Gulf of Guinea, and, after various adventures and much
+discussion, has led to our present voyage."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it. I suppose there were plenty of noodles
+who put it down to a practical joke or something of that sort? What's
+become of Stanley? Why didn't he come out and rescue me, as he did
+Emin? Not glory enough, I suppose? It would bother him, too, to get
+over these mountains, unless he flew over. By the way, has he got an
+air-ship?"
+
+"No," replied Arnold, with a laugh. "This is the only one in
+existence, and she has not been a week afloat. But if you'll allow
+us, we'll come down and get generally acquainted, and after that we
+can explain things at our leisure."
+
+"Quite so, quite so; do so by all means. Most happy, I'm sure. Ah!
+beautiful model. Comes down as easily as a bird. Capital mechanism.
+What's your motive-power? Gas, electricity--no, not steam, no
+funnels! Humph! Very ingenious. Always said it would be done some
+day. Build flying navies next, and be fighting in the clouds. Then
+there'll be general smash. Serve 'em right. Fools to fight. Why can't
+they live in peace?"
+
+While Louis Holt was running along in this style, jerking his words
+out in little short snappy sentences, and fussing about round the
+air-ship, she had sunk gently to the earth, and her passengers had
+disembarked.
+
+Arnold for the time being took no notice of the questions with regard
+to the motive-power, but introduced first himself, then the ladies,
+and then Colston, to Louis Holt, who may be described here, as
+elsewhere, as a little, bronzed, grizzled man, anywhere between
+fifty-five and seventy, with a lean, wiry, active body, a good square
+head, an ugly but kindly face, and keen, twinkling little grey eyes,
+that looked straight into those of any one he might be addressing.
+
+The introductions over, he was invited on board the _Ariel_, and a
+few minutes later, in the deck-saloon, he was chattering away
+thirteen to the dozen, and drinking with unspeakable gusto the first
+glass of champagne he had tasted for nearly five years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A NAVY OF THE FUTURE.
+
+
+Arnold's instructions from the Council had been to remain in Aeria,
+and make a thorough exploration of the wonderful region described in
+Louis Holt's manuscript, until the time came for him to meet the
+_Avondale_, the steamer which was to bring out the materials for
+constructing the Terrorists' aerial navy.
+
+Louis Holt and his faithful retainer, during the three years and a
+half that they had been shut up in it from the rest of the world, had
+made themselves so fully acquainted with its geography that very
+little of its surface was represented by blanks on the map which the
+former had spent several months in constructing, and so no better or
+more willing guides could have been placed at their service than they
+were.
+
+Holt was an enthusiastic naturalist, and he descanted at great length
+on the strangeness of the flora and fauna that it had been his
+privilege to discover and classify in this isolated and hitherto
+unvisited region. It appeared that neither its animals nor its plants
+were quite like those of the rest of the continent, but seemed rather
+to belong to an anterior geological age.
+
+From this fact he had come to the conclusion that at some very remote
+period, while the greater portion of Northern Africa was yet
+submerged by the waters of that ocean of which what is now the Sahara
+was probably the deepest part, Aeria was one of the many islands that
+had risen above its surface; and that, as the land rose and the
+waters subsided, its peculiar shape had prevented the forms of life
+which it contained from migrating or becoming modified in the
+struggle for existence with other forms, just as the flora and fauna
+of Australia have been shut off from those of the rest of the world.
+
+There were no traces of human inhabitants to be found; but there were
+apparently two or three families of anthropoid apes, that seemed, so
+far as Holt had been able to judge--for they were extremely shy and
+cunning, and therefore difficult of approach--to be several degrees
+nearer to man, both in structure and intelligence, than any other
+members of the Simian family that had been discovered in other parts
+of the world.
+
+As may well be imagined, a month passed rapidly and pleasantly away,
+what with exploring excursions by land and air, in the latter of
+which by no means the least diverting element was the keen and
+quaintly-expressed delight of Louis Holt at the new method of travel.
+Two or three times Arnold had, for his satisfaction, sent the _Ariel_
+flying over the ridge across which she had entered Aeria, but he had
+always been content with a glimpse of the outside world, and was
+always glad to get back again to the "happy valley," as he invariably
+called his isolated paradise.
+
+The brief sojourn in this delightful land had brought back all the
+roses to Natasha's lovely cheeks, and had completely restored both
+her and the Princess to the perfect health that they had lost during
+their short but terrible experience of Russian convict life; but
+towards the end of the month they both began to get restless and
+anxious to get away to the rendezvous with the steamer that was
+bringing their friends and comrades out from England.
+
+So it came about that an hour or so after sunrise on Friday, the 20th
+of May, the company of the _Ariel_ bade farewell for a time to Louis
+Holt and his companion, leaving with them a good supply of the
+creature comforts of civilisation which alone were lacking in Aeria,
+rose into the air, and disappeared over the ridge to the north-west.
+
+They had rather more than 2500 miles of plain and mountain and desert
+to cross, before they reached the sea-coast on which they expected to
+meet the steamer, and Arnold regulated the speed of the _Ariel_ so
+that they would reach it about daybreak on the following morning.
+
+The voyage was quite uneventful, and the course that they pursued led
+them westward through the Zegzeb and Nyti countries, then
+north-westward along the valley of the Niger, and then westward
+across the desert to the desolate sandy shores of the Western Sahara,
+which they crossed at sunrise on the Sunday morning, in the latitude
+of the island which was to form their rendezvous with the steamer.
+
+They sighted the island about an hour later, but there was no sign of
+any vessel for fifty miles round it. The ocean appeared totally
+deserted, as, indeed, it usually is, for there is no trade with this
+barren and savage coast, and ships going to and from the southward
+portions of the continent give its treacherous sandbanks as wide a
+berth as possible. This, in fact, was the principal reason why this
+rocky islet, some sixty miles from the coast, had been chosen by the
+Terrorists for their temporary dockyard.
+
+According to their calculations, the steamer would not be due for
+another twenty-four hours at the least, and at that moment would be
+about three hundred miles to the northward. The _Ariel_ was therefore
+headed in that direction, at a hundred miles an hour, with a view to
+meeting her and convoying her for the rest of her voyage, and
+obviating such a disaster as Natasha's apprehensions pointed to.
+
+The air-ship was kept at a height of two thousand feet above the
+water, and a man was stationed in the forward conning tower to keep a
+bright look-out ahead. For more than three hours she sped on her way
+without interruption, and then, a few minutes before twelve, the man
+in the conning tower signalled to the wheel-house--"Steamer in
+sight."
+
+The signal was at once transmitted to the saloon, where Arnold was
+sitting with the rest of the party; he immediately signalled
+"half-speed" in reply to it, and went to the conning tower to see the
+steamer for himself.
+
+She was then about twelve miles to the northward. At the speed at
+which the _Ariel_ was travelling a very few minutes sufficed to bring
+her within view of the ocean voyagers. A red flag flying from the
+stern of the air-ship was answered by a similar one from the mainmast
+of the steamer. The _Ariel's_ engines were at once slowed down, the
+fan-wheels went aloft, and she sank gently down to within twenty feet
+of the water, and swung round the steamer's stern.
+
+As soon as they were within hailing distance, those on board the
+air-ship recognised Nicholas Roburoff and his wife, Radna Michaelis,
+and several other members of the Inner Circle, standing on the bridge
+of the steamer. Handkerchiefs were waved, and cries of welcome and
+greeting passed and re-passed from the air to the sea, until Arnold
+raised his hand for silence, and, hailing Roburoff, said--
+
+"Are you all well on board?"
+
+"Yes, all well," was the reply, "though we have had rather a risky
+time of it, for war was generally declared a fortnight ago, and we
+have had to run the blockade for a good part of the way. That is why
+we are a little before our time. Can you come nearer? We have some
+letters for you."
+
+"Yes," replied Arnold. "I'll come alongside. You go ahead, I'll do
+the rest."
+
+So saying, he ran the _Ariel_ up close to the quarter of the
+_Avondale_ as easily as though she had been lying at anchor instead
+of going twenty miles an hour through the water, and went forward and
+shook hands with Roburoff over the rail, taking a packet of letters
+from him at the same time. Meanwhile Colston, who had grasped the
+situation at a glance, had swung himself on to the steamer's deck,
+and was already engaged in an animated conversation with Radna.
+
+The first advantage that Arnold took of the leisure that was now at
+his disposal, was to read the letter directed to himself that was
+among those for Natasha, the Princess, and Colston, which had been
+brought out by the _Avondale_. He recognised the writing as
+Tremayne's, and when he opened the envelope he found that it
+contained a somewhat lengthy letter from him, and an enclosure in an
+unfamiliar hand, which consisted of only a few lines, and was signed
+"Natas."
+
+He started as his eye fell on the terrible name, which now meant so
+much to him, and he naturally read the note to which it was appended
+first. There was neither date nor formal address, and it ran as
+follows:--
+
+    You have done well, and fulfilled your promises as a true man
+    should. For the personal service that you have rendered to me I
+    will not thank you in words, for the time may come when I shall
+    be able to do so in deeds. What you have done for the Cause was
+    your duty, and for that I know that you desire no thanks. You
+    have proved that you hold in your hands such power as no single
+    man ever wielded before. Use it well, and in the ages to come men
+    shall remember your name with blessings, and you, if the Master
+    of Destiny permits, shall attain to your heart's desire.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+Arnold laid the little slip of paper down almost reverently, for, few
+as the words were, they were those of a man who was not only Natas,
+the Master of the Terror, but also the father of the woman whose
+love, in spite of his oath, was the object to the attainment of which
+he held all things else as secondary, and who therefore had the power
+to crown his life-work with the supreme blessing without which it
+would be worthless, however glorious, for he knew full well that,
+though he might win Natasha's heart, she herself could never be his
+unless Natas gave her to him.
+
+The other letter was from Tremayne, dated more than a fortnight
+previously, and gave him a brief _resume_ of the course of events in
+Europe since his voyage of exploration had begun. It also urged him
+to push on the construction of the aerial navy as fast as possible,
+as there was now no telling where or how soon its presence might be
+required to determine the issue of the world-war, the first
+skirmishes of which had already taken place in Eastern Europe. Natas
+and the Chief were both in London, making the final arrangements for
+the direction of the various diplomatic and military agents of the
+Brotherhood throughout Europe. From London they were to go to
+Alanmere, where they would remain until all arrangements were
+completed. As soon as the fleet was built and the crews and
+commanders of the air-ships had thoroughly learned their duties, the
+flagship was to go to Plymouth, where the _Lurline_ would be lying.
+The news of her arrival would be telegraphed to Alanmere, and Natas
+and Tremayne would at once come south and put to sea in her. The
+air-ship was to wait for them at a point two hundred miles due
+south-west of the Land's End, and pick them up. The yacht was then to
+be sunk, and the Executive of the Terrorists would for the time being
+vanish from the sight of men.
+
+It is unnecessary to say that Arnold carried out the plans laid down
+in this letter in every detail, and with the utmost possible
+expedition. The _Avondale_ arrived the next day at the island which
+had been chosen as a dockyard, and the ship-building was at once
+commenced.
+
+All the material for constructing the air-ships had been brought out
+completely finished as far as each individual part was concerned, and
+so there was nothing to do but to put them together. The crew and
+passengers of the steamer included the members of the Executive of
+the Inner Circle, and sixty picked members of the Outer Circle,
+chiefly mechanics and sailors, destined to be first the builders and
+then the crews of the new vessels.
+
+These, under Arnold's direction, worked almost day and night at the
+task before them. Three of the air-ships were put together at a time,
+twenty men working at each, and within a month from the time that the
+_Avondale_ discharged her cargo, the twelve new vessels were ready to
+take the air.
+
+They were all built on the same plan as the _Ariel_, and eleven of
+them were practically identical with her as regards size and speed;
+but the twelfth, the flagship of the aerial fleet, had been designed
+by Arnold on a more ambitious scale.
+
+This vessel was larger and much more powerful than any of the others.
+She was a hundred feet long, with a beam of fifteen feet amidships.
+On her five masts she carried five fan-wheels, capable of raising her
+vertically to a height of ten thousand feet without the assistance of
+her air-planes, and her three propellers, each worked by duplex
+engines, were able to drive her through the air at a speed of two
+hundred miles an hour in a calm atmosphere.
+
+She was armed with two pneumatic guns forward and two aft, each
+twenty-five feet long and with a range of twelve miles at an altitude
+of four thousand feet; and in addition to these she carried two
+shorter ones on each broadside, with a range of six miles at the same
+elevation. She also carried a sufficient supply of power-cylinders to
+give her an effective range of operations of twenty thousand miles
+without replenishing them.
+
+In addition to the building materials and the necessary tools and
+appliances for putting them together, the cargo of the _Avondale_ had
+included an ample supply of stores of all kinds, not the least
+important part of which consisted of a quantity of power-cylinders
+sufficient to provide the whole fleet three times over.
+
+The necessary chemicals and apparatus for charging them were also on
+board, and the last use that Arnold made of the engines of the
+steamer, which he had disconnected from the propeller and turned to
+all kinds of uses during the building operations, was to connect them
+with his storage pumps and charge every available cylinder to its
+utmost capacity.
+
+At length, when everything that could be carried in the air-ships had
+been taken out of the steamer, she was towed out into deep water, and
+then a shot from one of the flagship's broadside guns sent her to the
+bottom of the sea, so severing the last link which had connected the
+now isolated band of revolutionists with the world on which they were
+ere long to declare war.
+
+The naming of the fleet was by common consent left to Natasha, and
+her half-oriental genius naturally led her to appropriately name the
+air-ships after the winged angels and air-spirits of Moslem and other
+Eastern mythologies. The flagship she named the _Ithuriel_, after the
+angel who was sent to seek out and confound the Powers of Darkness in
+that terrific conflict between the upper and nether worlds, which was
+a fitting antetype to the colossal struggle which was now to be waged
+for the empire of the earth.
+
+Arnold's first task, as soon as the fleet finally took the air, was
+to put the captains and crews of the vessels through a thorough
+drilling in management and evolution. A regular code of signals had
+been arranged, by means of which orders as to formation, speed,
+altitude, and direction could be at once transmitted from the
+flagship. During the day flags were used, and at night flashes from
+electric reflectors.
+
+The scene of these evolutions was practically the course taken by the
+_Ariel_ from Aeria to the island; and as the captains and lieutenants
+of the different vessels were all men of high intelligence, and
+carefully selected for the work, and as the mechanism of the
+air-ships was extremely simple, the whole fleet was well in hand by
+the time the mountain mass of Aeria was sighted a week after leaving
+the island.
+
+Arnold in the _Ithuriel_ led the way to a narrow defile on the
+south-western side, which had been discovered during his first visit,
+and which admitted of entrance to the valley at an elevation of about
+3000 feet. Through this the fleet passed in single file soon after
+sunrise one lovely morning in the middle of June, and within an hour
+the thirteen vessels had come to rest on the shores of the lake.
+
+Then for the first time, probably, since the beginning of the world,
+the beautiful valley became the scene of a busy activity, in the
+midst of which the lean wiry figure of Louis Holt seemed to be here,
+there, and everywhere at once, doing the honours of Aeria as though
+it were a private estate to which the Terrorists had come by his
+special invitation.
+
+He was more than ever delighted with the air-ships, and especially
+with the splendid proportions of the _Ithuriel_, and the brilliant
+lustre of her polished hull, which had been left unpainted, and shone
+as though her plates had been of burnished silver. Altogether he was
+well pleased with this invasion of a solitude which, in spite of its
+great beauty and his professed contempt for the world in general, had
+for the last few months been getting a good deal more tedious than he
+would have cared to admit.
+
+In the absence of Natas and the Chief, the command of the new colony
+devolved, in accordance with the latter's directions, upon Nicholas
+Roburoff, who was a man of great administrative powers, and who set
+to work without an hour's delay to set his new kingdom in order,
+marking out sites for houses and gardens, and preparing materials for
+building them and the factories for which the water-power of the
+valley was to be utilised.
+
+Arnold, as admiral of the fleet, had transferred the command of the
+_Ariel_ to Colston, but he retained him as his lieutenant in the
+_Ithuriel_ for the next voyage, partly because he wanted to have him
+with him on what might prove to be a momentous expedition, and partly
+because Natasha, who was naturally anxious to rejoin her father as
+soon as possible, wished to have Radna for a companion in place of
+the Princess, who had elected to remain in the valley. As another
+separation of the lovers, who, according to the laws of the
+Brotherhood, now only waited for the formal consent of Natas to their
+marriage, was not to be thought of, this arrangement gave everybody
+the most perfect satisfaction.
+
+Three days sufficed to get everything into working order in the new
+colony, and on the morning of the fourth the _Ithuriel_, having on
+board the original crew of the _Ariel_, reinforced by two engineers
+and a couple of sailors, rose into the air amidst the cheers of the
+assembled colonists, crossed the northern ridge, and vanished like a
+silver arrow into space.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE EVE OF BATTLE.
+
+
+It will now be necessary to go back about six weeks from the day that
+the _Ithuriel_ started on her northward voyage, and to lay before the
+reader a brief outline of the events which had transpired in Europe
+subsequently to the date of Tremayne's letter to Arnold.
+
+On the evening of that day he went down to the House of Lords, to
+make his speech in favour of the Italian Loan. He had previously
+spoken some half dozen times since he had taken his seat, and, young
+as he was, had always commanded a respectful hearing by his sound
+common sense and his intimate knowledge of foreign policy, but none
+of his brother peers had been prepared for the magnificent speech
+that he had made on this momentous night.
+
+He had never given his allegiance to any of the political parties of
+the day, but he was one of the foremost advocates of what was then
+known as the Imperial policy, and which had grown up out of what is
+known in the present day as Imperial Federation. To this he
+subordinated everything else, and held as his highest, and indeed
+almost his only political ideal, the consolidation of Britain and her
+colonies into an empire commercially and politically intact and apart
+from the rest of the world, self-governing in all its parts as
+regards local affairs, but governed as a whole by a representative
+Imperial Parliament, sitting in London, and composed of delegates
+from all portions of the empire.
+
+This ideal--which, it is scarcely necessary to say, was still
+considered as "beyond the range of practical politics"--formed the
+keynote of such a speech as had never before been heard in the
+British House of Lords. He commenced by giving a rapid but minute
+survey of foreign policy, which astounded the most experienced of his
+hearers. Not only was it absolutely accurate as far as they could
+follow it, but it displayed an intimate knowledge of involutions of
+policy at which British diplomacy had only guessed.
+
+More than this, members of the Government and the Privy Council saw,
+to their amazement, that the speaker knew the inmost secrets of their
+own policy even better than they did themselves. How he had become
+possessed of them was a mystery, and all that they could do was to
+sit and listen in silent wonder.
+
+He drew a graphic word-picture of the nations of the earth standing
+full-armed on the threshold of such a war as the world had never seen
+before,--a veritable Armageddon, which would shake the fabric of
+society to its foundations, even if it did not dissolve it finally in
+the blood of countless battlefields.
+
+He estimated with marvellous accuracy the exact amount of force which
+each combatant would be able to put on to the field, and summed up
+the appalling mass of potential destruction that was ready to burst
+upon the world at a moment's notice. He showed the position of Italy,
+and proved to demonstration that if the loan were not immediately
+granted, it would be necessary either for Britain to seize her fleet,
+as she did that of Denmark a century before--an act which the
+Italians would themselves resist at all hazards--or else to finance
+her through the war, as she had financed Germany during the
+Napoleonic struggle.
+
+To grant the loan would be to save the Italian fleet and army for the
+Triple Alliance; to refuse it would be to detach Italy from the
+Alliance, and to drive her into the arms of their foes, for not only
+could she not stand alone amidst the shock of the contending Powers,
+but without an immediate supply of ready money she would not be able
+to keep the sea for a month.
+
+Thus, he said in conclusion, the fate of Europe, and perhaps of the
+world, lay for the time being in their Lordships' hands. The Double
+Alliance was already numerically stronger than the Triple, and,
+moreover, they had at their command a new means of destruction, for
+the dreadful effectiveness of which he could vouch from personal
+experience.
+
+The trials of the Russian war-balloons had been secret, it was true,
+but he had nevertheless witnessed them, no matter how, and he knew
+what they could accomplish. It was true that there were in existence
+even more formidable engines than these, but they belonged to no
+nation, and were in the hands of those whose hands were against every
+man's, and whose designs were still wrapped in the deepest mystery.
+
+He therefore besought his hearers not to trust too implicitly to that
+hitherto unconquerable valour and resource which had so far rendered
+Britain impregnable to her enemies. These were not the days of
+personal valour. They were the days of warfare by machinery, of
+wholesale destruction by means which men had never before been called
+upon to face, and which annihilated from a distance before mere
+valour had time to strike its blow.
+
+If ever the Fates were on the side of the biggest battalions, they
+were now, and, so far as human foresight could predict the issue of
+the colossal struggle, the greatest and the most perfectly equipped
+armaments would infallibly insure the ultimate victory, quite apart
+from considerations of personal heroism and devotion.
+
+No such speech had been heard in either House since Edmund Burke had
+fulminated against the miserable policy which severed America from
+Britain, and split the Anglo-Saxon race in two; but now, as then,
+personal feeling and class prejudice proved too strong for eloquence
+and logic.
+
+Italy was the most intensely Radical State in Europe, and she was
+bankrupt to boot; and, added to this, there was a very strong party
+in the Upper House which believed that Britain needed no such ally,
+that with Germany and Austria at her side she could fight the world,
+in spite of the Tsar's new-fangled balloons, which would probably
+prove failures in actual war as similar inventions had done before,
+and even if her allies succumbed, had she not stood alone before, and
+could she not do it again if necessary?
+
+She would fulfil her engagement with the Triple Alliance, and declare
+war the moment that one of the Powers was attacked, but she would not
+pour British gold in millions into the bottomless gulf of Italian
+bankruptcy.
+
+Such were the main points in the speech of the Duke of Argyle, who
+followed Lord Alanmere, and spoke just before the division. When the
+figures were announced, it was found that the Loan Guarantee Bill had
+been negatived by a majority of seven votes.
+
+The excitement in London that night was tremendous. The two Houses of
+Parliament had come into direct collision on a question which the
+Premier had plainly stated to be of vital importance, and a deadlock
+seemed inevitable. The evening papers brought out special editions
+giving Tremayne's speech _verbatim_, and the next morning the whole
+press of the country was talking of nothing else.
+
+The "leading journals," according to their party bias, discussed it
+pro and con, and rent each other in a furious war of words, the
+prelude to the sterner struggle that was to come.
+
+Unhappily the parties in Parliament were very evenly balanced, and a
+very strong section of the Radical Opposition was, as it always had
+been, bitterly opposed to the arrangement with the Triple Alliance,
+which every one suspected and no one admitted until Tremayne
+astounded the Lords by reciting its conditions in the course of his
+speech.
+
+It was the avowed object of this section of the Opposition to stand
+out of the war at any price till the last minute, and not to fight at
+all if it could possibly be avoided. The immediate consequence was
+that, when the Government on the following day asked for an urgency
+vote of ten millions for the mobilisation of the Volunteers and the
+Naval Reserve, the Opposition, led by Mr. John Morley, mustered to
+its last man, and defeated the motion by a majority of eleven.
+
+The next day a Cabinet Council was held, and in the afternoon Mr.
+Balfour rose in a densely-crowded House, and, after a dignified
+allusion to the adverse vote of the previous day, told the House that
+in view of the grave crisis which was now inevitable in European
+affairs, a crisis in which the fate, not only of Britain, but of the
+whole Western world, would probably be involved, the Ministry felt it
+impossible to remain in office without the hearty and unequivocal
+support of both Houses--a support which the two adverse votes in
+Lords and Commons had made it hopeless to look for as those Houses
+were at present constituted.
+
+He had therefore to inform the House that, after consultation with
+his colleagues, he had decided to place the resignations of the
+Ministry in the hands of his Majesty,[1] and appeal to the country on
+the plain issue of Intervention or Non-intervention. Under the
+circumstances, there was nothing else to be done. The deplorable
+crisis which immediately followed was the logical consequence of the
+inherently vicious system of party government.
+
+While the fate of the world was practically trembling in the balance,
+Europe, armed to the teeth in readiness for the Titanic struggle that
+a few weeks would now see shaking the world, was amused by the
+spectacle of what was really the most powerful nation on earth losing
+its head amidst the excitement of a general election, and frittering
+away on the petty issues of party strife the energies that should
+have been devoted with single-hearted unanimity to preparation for
+the conflict whose issue would involve its very existence.
+
+For a month the nations held their hand, why, no one exactly knew,
+except, perhaps, two men who were now in daily consultation in a
+country house in Yorkshire. It may have been that the final
+preparations were not yet complete, or that the combatants were
+taking a brief breathing-space before entering the arena, or that
+Europe was waiting to see the decision of Britain at the
+ballot-boxes, or possibly the French fleet of war-balloons was not
+quite ready to take the air,--any of these reasons might have been
+sufficient to explain the strange calm before the storm; but
+meanwhile the British nation was busy listening to the conflicting
+eloquence of partisan orators from a thousand platforms throughout
+the land, and trying to make up its mind whether it should return a
+Conservative or a Radical Ministry to power.
+
+In the end, Mr. Balfour came back with a solid hundred majority
+behind him, and at once set to work to, if possible, make up for lost
+time. The moment of Fate had, however, gone by for ever. During the
+precious days that had been fooled away in party strife, French gold
+and Russian diplomacy had done their work.
+
+The day after the Conservative Ministry returned to power, France
+declared war, and Russia, who had been nominally at war with Britain
+for over a month, suddenly took the offensive, and poured her Asiatic
+troops into the passes of the Hindu Kush. Two days later, the
+defection of Italy from the Triple Alliance told Europe how
+accurately Tremayne had gauged the situation in his now historic
+speech, and how the month of strange quietude had been spent by the
+controllers of the Double Alliance.
+
+The spell was broken at last. After forty years of peace, Europe
+plunged into the abyss of war; and from one end of the Continent to
+the other nothing was heard but the tramp of vast armies as they
+marshalled themselves along the threatened frontiers, and
+concentrated at the points of attack and defence.
+
+On all the lines of ocean traffic, steamers were hurrying homeward or
+to neutral ports, in the hope of reaching a place of safety before
+hostilities actually broke out. Great liners were racing across the
+Atlantic either to Britain or America with their precious freights,
+while those flying the French flag on the westward voyage prepared to
+run the gauntlet of the British cruisers as best they might.
+
+All along the routes to India and the East the same thing was
+happening, and not a day passed but saw desperate races between fleet
+ocean greyhounds and hostile cruisers, which, as a rule, terminated
+in favour of the former, thanks to the superiority of private
+enterprise over Government contract-work in turning out ships and
+engines.
+
+In Britain the excitement was indescribable. The result of the
+general election had cast the final die in favour of immediate war in
+concert with the Triple Alliance. The defection of Italy had
+thoroughly awakened the popular mind to the extreme gravity of the
+situation, and the declaration of war by France had raised the blood
+of the nation to fever heat. The magic of battle had instantly
+quelled all party differences so far as the bulk of the people was
+concerned, and no one talked of anything but the war and its
+immediate issues. Men forgot that they belonged to parties, and only
+remembered that they were citizens of the same nation.
+
+[Footnote 1: At the period in which the action of the narrative takes
+place, her Majesty Queen Victoria had abdicated in favour of the
+present Prince of Wales, and was living in comparative retirement at
+Balmoral, retaining Osborne as an alternative residence.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+BETWEEN TWO LIVES.
+
+
+Six weeks after he had made his speech in the House of Lords,
+Tremayne was sitting in his oak-panelled library at Alanmere, in deep
+and earnest converse with a man who was sitting in an invalid chair
+by a window looking out upon the lawn. The face of this man exhibited
+a contrast so striking and at the same time terrible, that the most
+careless glance cast upon it would have revealed the fact that it was
+the face of a man of extraordinary character, and that the story of
+some strange fate was indelibly stamped upon it.
+
+The upper part of it, as far down as the mouth, was cast in a mould
+of the highest and most intellectual manly beauty. The forehead was
+high and broad and smooth, the eyebrows dark and firm but finely
+arched, the nose somewhat prominently aquiline, but well shaped, and
+with delicate, sensitive nostrils. The eyes were deep-set, large and
+soft, and dark as the sky of a moonless night, yet shining in the
+firelight with a strange magnetic glint that seemed to fasten
+Tremayne's gaze and hold it at will.
+
+But the lower portion of the face was as repulsive as the upper part
+was attractive. The mouth was the mouth of a wild beast, and the lips
+and cheeks and chin were seared and seamed as though with fire, and
+what looked like the remains of a moustache and beard stood in black
+ragged patches about the heavy unsightly jaws.
+
+When the thick, shapeless lips parted, they did so in a hideous grin,
+which made visible long, sharp white teeth, more like those of a wolf
+than those of a human being.
+
+His body, too, exhibited no less strange a contrast than his face
+did. To the hips it was that of a man of well-knit, muscular frame,
+not massive, but strong and well-proportioned. The arms were long and
+muscular, and the hands white and small, but firm, well-shaped, and
+nervous.
+
+But from his hips downwards, this strange being was a dwarf and a
+cripple. His hips were narrow and shrunken, one of his legs was some
+inches shorter than the other, and both were twisted and distorted,
+and hung helplessly down from the chair as he sat.
+
+Such was Natas, the Master of the Terror, and the man whose wrongs,
+whatever they might have been, had caused him to devote his life to a
+work of colossal vengeance, and his incomparable powers to the
+overthrow of a whole civilisation.
+
+The tremendous task to which he had addressed himself with all the
+force of his mighty nature for twenty years, was now at length
+approaching completion. The mine that he had so patiently laid, year
+after year, beneath the foundations of Society, was complete in every
+detail, the first spark had been applied, and the first rumbling of
+the explosion was already sounding in the ears of men, though they
+little knew how much it imported. The work of the master-intellect
+was almost done. The long days and nights of plotting and planning
+were over, and the hour for action had arrived at last.
+
+For him there was little more to do, and the time was very near when
+he could retire from the strife, and watch in peace and confidence
+the reaping of the harvest of ruin and desolation that his hands had
+sown. Henceforth, the central figure in the world-revolution must be
+the young English engineer, whose genius had brought him forth out of
+his obscurity to take command of the subjugated powers of the air,
+and to arbitrate the destinies of the world.
+
+This was why he was sitting here, in the long twilight of the June
+evening, talking so earnestly with the man who, under the spell of
+his mysterious power and master-will, had been his second self in
+completing the work that he had designed, and had thought and spoken
+and acted as he had inspired him against all the traditions of his
+race and station, in that strange double life that he had lived, in
+each portion of which he had been unconscious of all that he had been
+and had done in the other. The time had now come to draw aside the
+veil which had so far divided these two lives from each other, to
+show him each as it was in very truth, and to leave him free to
+deliberately choose between them.
+
+Natas had been speaking without any interruption from Tremayne for
+nearly an hour, drawing the parallel of the two lives before him with
+absolute fidelity, neither omitting nor justifying anything, and his
+wondering hearer had listened to him in silence, unable to speak for
+the crowding emotions which were swarming through his brain. At
+length Natas concluded by saying--
+
+"And now, Alan Tremayne, I have shown you faithfully the two paths
+which you have trodden since first I had need of you. So far you have
+been as clay in the hands of the potter. Now the spell is removed,
+and you are free to choose which of them you will follow to the
+end,--that of the English gentleman of fortune and high position,
+whose country is on the brink of a war that will tax her vast
+resources to the utmost, and may end in her ruin; or that of the
+visible and controlling head of the only organisation which can at
+the supreme moment be the arbiter of peace or war, order or anarchy,
+and which alone, if any earthly power can, will evolve order out of
+chaos, and bring peace on earth at last."
+
+As Natas ceased, Tremayne passed his hand slowly over his eyes and
+brows, as though to clear away the mists which obscured his mental
+vision. Then he rose from his chair, and paced the floor with quick,
+uneven strides for several minutes. At length he replied, speaking as
+one might who was just waking from some evil dream--
+
+"You have made a conspirator and a murderer of me. How is it possible
+that, knowing this, I can again become what I was before your
+infernal influence was cast about me?"
+
+"What you have done at my command is nothing to you, and leaves no
+stain upon your honour, if you choose to put it so, for it was not
+your will that was working within you, but mine. As for the killing
+of Dornovitch, it was necessary, and you were the only instrument by
+which it could have been accomplished before irretrievable harm had
+been done.
+
+"He alone of the outside world possessed the secret of the Terror. A
+woman of the Outer Circle in Paris had allowed her love for him to
+overcome her duty to the Brotherhood, and had betrayed what she
+could, in order, as she vainly thought, to shield him from its
+vengeance for the executive murders of the year before. He too had on
+him the draft of the secret treaty, the possession of which has
+enabled us to control the drift of European politics at the most
+crucial time.
+
+"Had he escaped, not only would hundreds of lives have been
+sacrificed on suspicion to Russian official vengeance, but Russia and
+France would now be masters of the British line of communication to
+the East, for it would not have been possible for Mr. Balfour to have
+been forewarned, and therefore forearmed, in time to double the
+Mediterranean Squadron as he has done. Surely one Russian's life is
+not too great a price to pay for all that."
+
+"I do not care for the man's life, for he was an enemy, and even then
+plotting the ruin of my own country in the dark. It is not the
+killing, but the manner of it. England does not fight her battles
+with the assassin's knife, and his blood is on my hands"--
+
+"On your hands, perhaps, but not on your soul. It is on mine, and I
+will answer for it when we stand face to face at the Bar where all
+secrets are laid bare. The man deserved death, for he was plotting
+the death of thousands. What matter then how or by whose hands he
+died?
+
+"It is time the world had done with these miserable sophistries, and
+these spurious distinctions between murder by wholesale and by
+retail, and it soon will have done with them. I, by your hand, killed
+Dornovitch in his sleep. That was murder, says the legal casuist. You
+read this morning in the _Times_ how one of the Russian war-balloons
+went the night before last and hung in the darkness over a sleeping
+town on the Austrian frontier, and dropped dynamite shells upon it,
+killing and maiming hundreds who had no personal quarrel with Russia.
+That is war, and therefore lawful!
+
+"Nonsense, my friend, nonsense! There is no difference. All violence
+is crime, if you will, but it is a question of degree only. The world
+is mad on this subject of war. It considers the horrible thing
+honourable, and gives its highest distinctions to those who shed
+blood most skilfully on the battlefield, and the triumphs that are
+won by superior force or cunning are called glorious, and those who
+achieve them the nations fall down and worship.
+
+"The nations must be taught wisdom, for war has had victims enough.
+But men are still foolish, and to cure them a terrible lesson will be
+necessary. But that lesson shall be taught, even though the whole
+earth be turned into a battlefield, and all the dwellings of men into
+charnel-houses, in order to teach it to them."
+
+"In other words, Society is to be dissolved in order that anarchy and
+lawlessness may take its place. Society may not be perfect,--nay, I
+will grant that its sins are many and grievous, that it has forgotten
+its duty both to God and man in its worship of Mammon and its slavery
+to externals,--but you who have plotted its destruction, have you
+anything better to put in its place? You can destroy, perhaps, but
+can you build up?"
+
+"The jungle must be cleared and the swamp drained before the
+habitations of men can be built in their place. It has been mine to
+destroy, and I will pursue the work of destruction to the end, as I
+have sworn to do by that Name which a Jew holds too sacred for
+speech. I believe myself to be the instrument of vengeance upon this
+generation, even as Joshua was upon Canaan, and as Khalid the Sword
+of God was upon Byzantium in the days of her corruption. You may hold
+this for an old man's fancy if you will, but it shall surely come to
+pass in the fulness of time, which is now at hand; and then, where I
+have destroyed, may you, if you will, build up again!"
+
+"What do you mean? You are speaking in parables."
+
+"Which shall soon be made plain. You read in your newspaper this
+morning of a mysterious movement that is taking place throughout the
+Buddhist peoples of the East. They believe that Buddha has returned
+to earth, reincarnated, to lead them to the conquest of the world.
+Now, as you know, every fourth man, woman, and child in the whole
+human race is a Buddhist, and the meaning of this movement is that
+that mighty mass of humanity, pent up and stagnant for centuries, is
+about to burst its bounds and overflow the earth in a flood of
+desolation and destruction.
+
+"The nations of the West know nothing of this, and are unsheathing
+the sword to destroy each other. Like a house divided against itself,
+their power shall be brought to confusion, and their empire be made
+as a wilderness. And over the starving and war-smitten lands of
+Europe these Eastern swarms shall sweep, innumerable as the locusts,
+resistless as the pestilence, and what fire and sword have spared
+they shall devour, and nothing shall be left of all the glory of
+Christendom but its name and the memory of its fall!"
+
+Natas spoke his frightful prophecy like one entranced, and when he
+had finished he let his head fall forward for a moment on his breast,
+as though he were exhausted. Then he raised it again, and went on in
+a calmer voice--
+
+"There is but one power under heaven that can stand between the
+Western world and this destruction, and that is the race to which you
+belong. It is the conquering race of earth, and the choicest fruit of
+all the ages until now. It is nearly two hundred million strong, and
+it is united by the ties of kindred blood and speech the wide world
+over.
+
+"But it is also divided by petty jealousies, and mean commercial
+interests. But for these the world might be an Anglo-Saxon planet.
+Would it not be a glorious task for you, who are the flower of this
+splendid race, so to unite it that it should stand as a solid barrier
+of invincible manhood before which this impending flood of yellow
+barbarism should dash itself to pieces like the cloud-waves against
+the granite summits of the eternal hills?"
+
+"A glorious task, truly!" exclaimed Tremayne, once more springing
+from his chair and beginning to pace the room again; "but the man is
+not yet born who could accomplish it."
+
+"There are fifty men on earth at this moment who can accomplish it,
+and of them the two chief are Englishmen,--yourself and this Richard
+Arnold, whose genius has given the Terrorists the command of the air.
+
+"Come, Alan Tremayne! here is a destiny such as no man ever had
+before revealed to him. It is not for a man of your nation and
+lineage to shrink from it. You have reproached me for using you to
+unworthy ends, as you thought them, and with pulling down where I am
+not able to build up again. Obey me still, this time of your own free
+will and with your eyes open, and, as I have pulled down by your
+hand, so by it will I build up again, if the Master of Destiny shall
+permit me; and if not, then shall you achieve the task without me.
+Now give me your ears, for the words that I have to say are weighty
+ones.
+
+"No human power can stop the war that has now begun, nor can any
+curtail it until it has run its appointed course. But we have at our
+command a power which, if skilfully applied at the right moment, will
+turn the tide of conflict in favour of Britain, and if at that moment
+the Mother of Nations can gather her children about her in obedience
+to the call of common kindred, all shall be well, and the world shall
+be hers.
+
+"But before that is made possible she must pass through the fire, and
+be purged of that corruption which is even now poisoning her blood
+and clouding her eyes in the presence of her enemies. The overweening
+lust of gold must be burnt out of her soul in the fiery crucible of
+war, and she must learn to hold honour once more higher than wealth,
+and rich and poor and gentle and simple must be as one family, and
+not as master and servant.
+
+"East and west, north and south, wherever the English tongue is
+spoken, men must clasp hands and forget all other things save that
+they are brothers of blood and speech, and that the world is theirs
+if they choose to take it. This is a work that cannot be done by any
+nation, but only by a whole race, which with millions of hands and a
+single heart devotes itself to achieve success or perish."
+
+"Brave words, brave words!" cried Tremayne, pausing in his walk in
+front of the chair in which Natas sat; "and if you could make me
+believe them true, I would follow you blindly to the end, no matter
+what the path might be. But I cannot believe them. I cannot think
+that you or I and a few followers, even aided by Arnold and his
+aerial fleet, could accomplish such a stupendous task as that. It is
+too great. It is superhuman! And yet it would be glorious even to
+fail worthily in such a task, even to fall fighting in such a Titanic
+conflict!"
+
+He paused, and stood silent and irresolute, as though appalled by the
+prospect with which he was confronted here at the parting of the
+ways. He glanced at the extraordinary being sitting near him, and saw
+his deep, dark eyes fixed upon him, as though they were reading his
+very soul within him. Then he took a step towards the cripple's
+chair, took his right hand in his, and said slowly and steadily and
+solemnly--
+
+"It is a worthy destiny! I will essay it for good or evil, for life
+or death. I am with you to the end!"
+
+As Tremayne spoke the fatal words which once more bound him, and this
+time for life and of his own free will, to Natas the Jew, this
+cripple who, chained to his chair, yet aspired to the throne of a
+world, he fancied he saw his shapeless lips move in a smile, and into
+his eyes there came a proud look of mingled joy and triumph as he
+returned the handclasp, and said in a softer, kinder voice than
+Tremayne had ever heard him use before--
+
+"Well spoken! Those words were worthy of you and of your race! As
+your faith is, so shall your reward be. Now wheel my chair to yonder
+window that looks out towards the east, and you shall look past the
+shadows into the day which is beyond. So! that will do. Now get
+another chair and sit beside me. Fix your eyes on that bright star
+that shows above the trees, and do not speak, but think only of that
+star and its brightness."
+
+Tremayne did as he was bidden in silence, and when he was seated
+Natas swept his hands gently downwards over his open eyes again and
+again, till the lids grew heavy and fell, shutting out the brightness
+of the star, and the dim beauty of the landscape which lay sleeping
+in the twilight and the June night.
+
+Then suddenly it seemed as though they opened again of their own
+accord, and were endowed with an infinite power of vision. The trees
+and lawns of the home park of Alanmere and the dark rolling hills of
+heather beyond were gone, and in their place lay stretched out a
+continent which he saw as though from some enormous height, with its
+plains and lowlands and rivers, vast steppes and snowclad hills,
+forests and tablelands, huge mountain masses rearing lonely peaks of
+everlasting ice to a sunlight that had no heat; and then beyond these
+again more plains and forests, that stretched away southward until
+they merged in the all-surrounding sea.
+
+[Illustration: "You have seen the Field of Armageddon."
+
+_See page 149._]
+
+Then he seemed to be carried forward towards the scene until he could
+distinguish the smallest objects upon the earth, and he saw, swarming
+southward and westward, vast hordes of men, that divided into long
+streams, and poured through mountain passes and defiles, and spread
+themselves again over fertile lands, like locusts over green fields
+of young corn. And wherever those hordes swept forward, a long line
+of fire and smoke went in front of them, and where they had passed
+the earth was a blackened wilderness.
+
+Then, too, from the coasts and islands vast fleets of war-ships put
+out, pouring their clouds of smoke to the sky, and making swiftly for
+the southward and westward, where from other coasts and islands other
+vessels put out to meet them, and, meeting them, were lost with them
+under great clouds of grey smoke, through which flashed incessantly
+long livid tongues of flame.
+
+Then, like a panorama rolled away from him, the mighty picture
+receded and new lands came into view, familiar lands which he had
+traversed often. They too were black and wasted with the tempest of
+war from east to west, but nevertheless those swarming streams came
+on, countless and undiminished, up out of the south and east, while
+on the western verge vast armies and fleets battled desperately with
+each other on sea and land, as though they heeded not those locust
+swarms of dusky millions coming ever nearer and nearer.
+
+Once more the scene rolled backwards, and he saw a mighty city
+closely beleaguered by two vast hosts of men, who slowly pushed their
+batteries forward until they planted them on all the surrounding
+heights, and poured a hail of shot and shell upon the swarming,
+helpless millions that were crowded within the impassable ring of
+fire and smoke. Above the devoted city swam in mid-air strange shapes
+like monstrous birds of prey, and beneath where they floated the
+earth seemed ever and anon to open and belch forth smoke and flame
+into which the crumbling houses fell and burnt in heaps of shapeless
+ruins. Then----
+
+He felt a cool hand laid almost caressingly on his brow, and the
+voice of Natas said beside him--
+
+"That is enough. You have seen the Field of Armageddon, and when the
+day of battle comes you shall be there and play the part allotted to
+you from the beginning. Do you believe?"
+
+"Yes," replied Tremayne, rising wearily from his chair, "I believe;
+and as the task is, so may Heaven make my strength in the stress of
+battle!"
+
+"Amen!" said Natas very solemnly.
+
+That night the young Lord of Alanmere went sleepless to bed, and lay
+awake till dawn, revolving over and over again in his mind the
+marvellous things that he had seen and heard, and the tremendous task
+to which he had now irrevocably committed himself for good or evil.
+In all these waking dreams there was ever present before his mental
+vision the face of a woman whose beauty was like and yet unlike that
+of the daughter of Natas. It lacked the brilliance and subtle charm
+which in Natasha so wondrously blended the dusky beauty of the
+daughters of the South with the fairer loveliness of the daughters of
+the North; but it atoned for this by that softer grace and sweetness
+which is the highest charm of purely English beauty.
+
+It was the face of the woman whom, in that portion of his strange
+double life which had been free from the mysterious influence of
+Natas, he had loved with well-assured hope that she would one day
+rule his house and broad domains with him. She was now Lady Muriel
+Penarth, the daughter of Lord Marazion, a Cornish nobleman, whose
+estates abutted on those which belonged to Lord Alanmere as Baron
+Tremayne, of Tremayne, in the county of Cornwall, as the _Peerage_
+had it. Noble alike by lineage and nature, no fairer mistress could
+have been found for the lands of Tremayne and Alanmere, but--what
+seas of blood and flame now lay between him and the realisation of
+his love-ideal!
+
+He must forsake his own, and become a revolutionary and an outcast
+from Society. He must draw the sword upon the world and his own race,
+and, armed with the most awful means of destruction that the wit of
+man had ever devised, he must fight his way through universal war to
+that peace which alone he could ask her to share with him. Still much
+could be done before he took the final step of severance which might
+be perpetual, and he would lose no time in doing it.
+
+As soon as it was fairly light, he rose and took a long, rapid walk
+over the home park, and when he returned to breakfast at nine he had
+resolved to execute forthwith a deed of gift, transferring the whole
+of his vast property, which was unentailed and therefore entirely at
+his own disposal, to the woman who was to have shared it with him in
+a few months as his wife. If the Fates were kind, he would come back
+from the world-war and reclaim both the lands and their mistress, and
+if not he would have the satisfaction of knowing that his broad acres
+at least had a worthy mistress.
+
+At breakfast he met Natas again, and during the meal one of his
+footmen entered, bringing the letters that had come by the morning
+post.
+
+There were several letters for each of them, those for Natas being
+addressed to "Herr F. Niemand," and for some time they were both
+employed in looking through their correspondence. Suddenly Natas
+looked up, and said--
+
+"When do you expect to hear that Arnold is off the south coast?"
+
+"Almost any day now; in fact, within the week, if everything has gone
+right. Here is a letter from Johnston to say that the _Lurline_ has
+arrived at Plymouth, and that a bright look-out is being kept for
+him. He will telegraph here and to the club in London as soon as the
+air-ship is sighted. Twenty-four hours will then see us on board the
+_Ariel_, or whichever of the ships he comes in."
+
+"I hope the news will come soon, for Michael Roburoff, the
+President's brother, who has been in command of the American Section,
+cables to say that he sails from New York the day after to-morrow
+with detailed accounts. That means that he will come with full
+reports of what the Section has done and will be ready to do when the
+time comes, and also what the enemy are doing.
+
+"He sails in the _Aurania_, and as the Atlantic routes are swarming
+with war-ships and torpedo-boats, she will probably have to run the
+gauntlet, and it is of the last importance that Michael and his
+reports reach us safely. It will therefore be necessary for the
+air-ship to meet the _Aurania_ as soon as possible on her passage,
+and take him off her before any harm happens to him. If he and his
+reports fell into the hands of the enemy, there is no telling what
+might happen."
+
+"As nearly as I can calculate," said Tremayne, "the air-ship should
+be sighted in three days from now, perhaps in two. It will take the
+_Aurania_ over four days to cross the Atlantic, and so we ought to be
+able to meet her somewhere in mid-ocean if she is able to get so far
+without being overhauled. Unfortunately she is known to be a British
+ship and subsidised by the British Government, so there will be very
+little chance of her getting through under the American flag. Still
+she's about the fastest steamer afloat, and will take a lot of
+catching."
+
+"And if the worst comes and she falls into the hands of the enemy, we
+must fight our first naval battle and retake her, even if we have to
+sink a few cruisers to do so," added Natas; "for, come what may,
+Michael must not be captured."
+
+"Arnold will almost certainly come in his flagship, and if she is
+what he promised, she should be more than a match for a whole fleet,
+so I don't think there is much to fear unless the _Aurania_ gets sunk
+before we reach her," said Tremayne.
+
+Natas and his host devoted the rest of the forenoon to their
+correspondence, and to making the final arrangements for leaving
+Alanmere. Tremayne wrote full instructions to his lawyers for the
+drawing up of the deed, and directed them to have it ready for his
+signature by two o'clock on the following day. After lunch he rode
+over to Knaresborough himself with the post-bag, telegraphed an
+abstract of his instructions in advance, and ordered his private
+saloon carriage to be attached to the up express which passed through
+at eight the next morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+JUST IN TIME.
+
+
+As the train drew up in King's Cross station at twelve the next day,
+almost the first words that Tremayne heard were--
+
+"Special _Pall Mall_, sir! Appearance of the mysterious air-ship over
+Plymouth this morning! Great battle in Austria yesterday, defeat of
+the Austrians--awful slaughter with war-balloons! Special!"
+
+The boy was selling the papers as fast as he could hand them out to
+the eager passengers. Tremayne secured one, shut the door of the
+saloon again, and, turning to the middle page, read aloud to Natas--
+
+"We have just received a telegram from our Plymouth correspondent, to
+say that soon after daybreak this morning torpedo-boat No. 157
+steamed into the Sound, bringing the news that she had sighted a
+large five-masted air-ship about ten miles from the coast, when in
+company with the cruiser _Ariadne_, whose commander had despatched
+her with the news. Hardly had the report been received when the
+air-ship herself passed over Mount Edgcumbe and came towards the
+town.
+
+"The news spread like wildfire, and in a few minutes the streets were
+filled with crowds of people, who had thrown on a few clothes and
+rushed out to get a look at the strange visitant. At first it was
+thought that an attack on the arsenal was intended by the mysterious
+vessel, and the excitement had risen almost to the pitch of panic,
+when it was observed that she was flying a plain white flag, and that
+her intentions were apparently peaceful.
+
+"Panic then gave place to curiosity. The air-ship crossed the town at
+an elevation of about 3000 feet, described a complete circle round it
+in the space of a few minutes, and then suddenly shot up into the air
+and vanished to the south-westward at an inconceivable speed. The
+vessel is described as being about a hundred feet long, and was
+apparently armed with eight guns. Her hull was of white polished
+metal, probably aluminium, and shone like silver in the sunlight.
+
+"The wildest rumours are current as to the object of her visit, but
+of course no credence can be attached to any of them. The vessel is
+plainly of the same type as that which destroyed Kronstadt two months
+ago, but larger and more powerful. The inference is that she is one
+of a fleet in the hands of the Terrorists, and the profoundest
+uncertainty and anxiety prevail throughout naval and military circles
+everywhere as to the use that they may make of these appalling means
+of destruction should they take any share in the war."
+
+"Humph!" said Tremayne, as he finished reading. "Johnston's telegram
+must have crossed us on the way, but I shall find one at the club.
+Well, we have no time to lose, for we ought to start for Plymouth
+this evening. Your men will take you straight to the Great Western
+Hotel, and I will hurry my business through as fast as possible, and
+meet you there in time to catch the 6.30. At this rate we shall meet
+the _Aurania_ soon after she leaves New York."
+
+Within the next six hours Tremayne transferred the whole of his vast
+property in a single instrument to his promised wife, thus making her
+the richest woman in England; handed the precious deeds to her
+astonished father; obtained his promise to take his wife and daughter
+to Alanmere at the end of the London season, and to remain there with
+her until he returned to reclaim her and his estates together; and
+said good-bye to Lady Muriel herself in an interview which was a good
+deal longer than that which he had with his bewildered and somewhat
+scandalised lawyers, who had never before been forced to rush any
+transaction through at such an indecent speed. Had Lord Alanmere not
+been the best client in the kingdom, they might have rebelled against
+such an outrage on the law's time-honoured delays; but he was not a
+man to be trifled with, and so the work was done and an unbeatable
+record in legal despatch accomplished, albeit very unwillingly, by
+the men of law.
+
+By midnight the _Lurline_, ostensibly bound for Queenstown, had
+cleared the Sound, and, with the Eddystone Light on her port bow,
+headed away at full-speed to the westward. She was about the fastest
+yacht afloat, and at a pinch could be driven a good twenty-seven
+miles an hour through the water. As both Natas and Tremayne were
+anxious to join the air-ship as soon as possible, every ounce of
+steam that her boilers would stand was put on, and she slipped along
+in splendid style through the long, dark seas that came rolling
+smoothly up Channel from the westward.
+
+In an hour and a half after passing the Eddystone she sighted the
+Lizard Light, and by the time she had brought it well abeam the first
+interruption of her voyage occurred. A huge, dark mass loomed
+suddenly up out of the darkness of the moonless night, then a
+blinding, dazzling ray of light shot across the water from the
+searchlight of a battleship that was patrolling the coast, attended
+by a couple of cruisers and four torpedo-boats. One of these last
+came flying towards the yacht down the white path of the beam of
+light, and Tremayne, seeing that he would have to give an account of
+himself, stopped his engines and waited for the torpedo-boat to come
+within hail.
+
+"Steamer ahoy! Who are you? and where are you going to at that
+speed?"
+
+"This is the _Lurline_, the Earl of Alanmere's yacht, from Plymouth
+to Queenstown. We're only going at our usual speed."
+
+"Oh, if it's the _Lurline_, you needn't say that," answered the
+officer who had hailed from the torpedo-boat, with a laugh. "Is Lord
+Alanmere on board?"
+
+"Yes, here I am," said Tremayne, replying instead of his
+sailing-master. "Is that you, Selwyn? I thought I recognised your
+voice."
+
+"Yes, it's I, or rather all that's left of me after two months in
+this buck-jumping little brute of a craft. She bobs twice in the same
+hole every time, and if it's a fairly deep hole she just dives right
+through and out on the other side; and there are such a lot of
+Frenchmen about that we get no rest day or night on this patrolling
+business."
+
+"Very sorry for you, old man; but if you will seek glory in a
+torpedo-boat, I don't see that you can expect anything else. Will you
+come on board and have a drink?"
+
+"No, thanks. Very sorry, but I can't stop. By the way, have you heard
+of that air-ship that was over this way this morning? I wonder what
+the deuce it really is, and what it's up to?"
+
+"I've heard of it; it was in the London papers this morning. Have you
+seen any more of it?"
+
+"Oh yes; the thing was cruising about in mid-air all this morning,
+taking stock of us and the Frenchmen too, I suppose. She vanished
+during the afternoon. Where to, I don't know. It's awfully
+humiliating, you know, to be obliged to crawl about here on the
+water, at twenty-five knots at the utmost, while that fellow is
+flying a hundred miles an hour or so through the clouds without
+turning a hair, or I ought to say without as much as a puff of smoke.
+He seems to move of his own mere volition. I wonder what on earth he
+is."
+
+"Not much on earth apparently, but something very considerable in the
+air, where I hope he'll stop out of sight until I get to Queenstown;
+and as I want to get there pretty early in the morning, perhaps
+you'll excuse me saying good-night and getting along, if you won't
+come on board."
+
+"No, very sorry I can't. Good-night, and keep well in to the coast
+till you have to cross to Ireland. Good-bye?"
+
+"Good-bye!" shouted Tremayne in reply, as the torpedo-boat swung
+round and headed back to the battleship, and he gave the order to go
+ahead again at full-speed.
+
+In another hour they were off the Land's End, and from there they
+headed out due south-west into the Atlantic. They had hardly made
+another hundred miles before it began to grow light, and then it
+became necessary to keep a bright look-out for the air-ship, for
+according to what they had heard from the commander of the
+torpedo-boat she might be sighted at any moment as soon as it was
+light enough to see her.
+
+Another hour passed, but there was still no sign of the air-ship.
+This of course was to be expected, for they had still another
+seventy-five miles or so to go before the rendezvous was reached.
+
+"Steamer to the south'ard!" sang out the man on the forecastle, just
+as Tremayne came on deck after an attempt at a brief nap. He picked
+up his glass, and took a good look at the thin cloud of smoke away on
+the southern horizon.
+
+From what he could see it was a large steamer, and was coming up very
+fast, almost at right angles to the course of the _Lurline_. Fifteen
+minutes later he was able to see that the stranger was a warship, and
+that she was heading for Queenstown. She was therefore either a
+British ship attached to the Irish Squadron, or else she was an enemy
+with designs on the liners bound for Liverpool.
+
+In either case it was most undesirable that the yacht should be
+overhauled again. Any mishap to her, even a lengthy delay, might have
+the most serious consequences. A single unlucky shell exploding in
+her engine-room would disable her, and perhaps change the future
+history of the world.
+
+Tremayne therefore altered her course a little more to the northward,
+thus increasing the distance between her and the stranger, and at the
+same time ordered the engineer to keep up the utmost head of steam,
+and get the last possible yard out of her.
+
+The alteration in her course appeared to be instantly detected by the
+warship, for she at once swerved off more to the westward, and
+brought herself dead astern of the _Lurline_. She was now near enough
+for Tremayne to see that she was a large cruiser, and attended by a
+brace of torpedo-boats, which were running along one under each of
+her quarters, like a couple of dogs following a hunter.
+
+There was now no doubt but that, whatever her nationality, she was
+bent on overhauling the yacht, if possible, and the dense volumes of
+smoke that were pouring out of her funnels told Tremayne that she was
+stoking up vigorously for the chase.
+
+By this time she was about seven miles away, and the _Lurline_, her
+twin screws beating the water at their utmost speed, and every plate
+in her trembling under the vibration of her engines, rushed through
+the water faster than she had ever done since the day she was
+launched. As far as could be seen, she was holding her own well in
+what had now become a dead-on stern chase.
+
+Still the stranger showed no flag, and though Tremayne could hardly
+believe that a hostile cruiser and a couple of torpedo-boats would
+venture so near to the ground occupied by the British battle-ships,
+the fact that she showed no colours looked at the best suspicious.
+Determined to settle the question, if possible, one way or the other,
+he ran up the ensign of the Royal Yacht Squadron.
+
+This brought no reply from the cruiser, but a column of bluish-white
+smoke shot up a moment later from the funnels of one of the
+torpedo-boats, telling that she had put on the forced draught, and,
+like a greyhound slipped from the leash, she began to draw away from
+the big ship, plunging through the long rollers, and half-burying
+herself in the foam that she threw up from her bows.
+
+Tremayne knew that there were some of these viperish little craft in
+the French navy that could be driven thirty miles an hour through the
+water, and if this was one of them, capture was only a matter of
+time, unless the air-ship sighted them and came to the rescue.
+
+Happily, although there was a considerable swell on, the water was
+smooth and free from short waves, and this was to the advantage of
+the _Lurline_; for she went along "as dry as a bone," while the
+torpedo-boat, lying much lower in the water, rammed her nose into
+every roller, and so lost a certain amount of way. The yacht was
+making a good twenty-eight miles an hour under the heroic efforts of
+the engineers; and at this rate it would be nearly two hours before
+she was overhauled, provided that the torpedo-boat was not able to
+use the gun that she carried forward of her funnels with any
+dangerous effect.
+
+There could now be no doubt as to the hostility of the pursuers. Had
+they been British, they would have answered the flag flying at the
+peak of the yacht.
+
+"Steamer coming down from the nor'ard, sir!" suddenly sang out a man
+whom Tremayne had just stationed in the fore cross-trees to look out
+for the air-ship that was now so anxiously expected.
+
+A dense volume of smoke was seen rising in the direction indicated,
+and a few minutes later a second big steamer came into view, bearing
+down directly on the yacht, and so approaching the torpedo-boat
+almost stem on. There was no doubt about her nationality. A glance
+through the glass showed Tremayne the white ensign floating above the
+horizontal stream of smoke that stretched behind her. She was a
+British cruiser, no doubt a scout of the Irish Squadron, and had
+sighted the smoke of the yacht and her pursuers, and had come to
+investigate.
+
+Tremayne breathed more freely now, for he knew that his flag would
+procure the assistance of the new-comer in case it was wanted, as
+indeed it very soon was.
+
+Hardly had the British cruiser come well in sight than a puff of
+smoke rose from the deck of the other warship, and a shell came
+whistling through the air, and burst within a hundred yards of the
+_Lurline_. Twenty-four hours ago Tremayne had been one of the richest
+men in England, and just now he would have willingly given all that
+he had possessed to be twenty-five miles further to the
+south-westward than he was.
+
+Another shell from the Frenchman passed clear over the _Lurline_, and
+plunged into the water and burst, throwing a cloud of spray high into
+the air. Then came one from the torpedo-boat, but she was still too
+far off for her light gun to do any damage, and the projectile fell
+spent into the sea nearly five hundred yards short.
+
+Immediately after this came a third shell from the French cruiser,
+and this, by an unlucky chance, struck the forecastle of the yacht,
+burst, and tore away several feet of the bulwarks, and, worse than
+all, killed four of her crew instantly.
+
+"First blood!" said Tremayne to himself through his clenched teeth.
+"That shall be an unlucky shot for you, my friend, if we reach the
+air-ship before you sink us."
+
+Meanwhile the two cruisers, each approaching the other at a speed of
+more than twenty miles an hour, had got within shot. A puff of smoke
+spurted out from the side of the latest comer. The well-aimed
+projectile passed fifty yards astern of the _Lurline_, and struck the
+advancing torpedo-boat square on the bow.
+
+The next instant it was plainly apparent that there was nothing more
+to be feared from her. The solid shot had passed clean through her
+two sides. Her nose went down and her stern came up. Then bang went
+another gun from the British cruiser. This time the messenger of
+death was a shell. It struck the inclined deck amidships, there was a
+flash of flame, a cloud of steam rose up from her bursting boilers,
+and then she broke in two and vanished beneath the smooth-rolling
+waves.
+
+Two minutes later the duel began in deadly earnest. The tricolor ran
+up to the masthead of the French cruiser, and jets of mingled smoke
+and flame spurted one after the other from her sides, and shells
+began bursting in quick succession round the rapidly-advancing
+Englishman. Evidently the Frenchman, with his remaining torpedo-boat,
+thought himself a good match for the British cruiser, for he showed
+no disposition to shirk the combat, despite the fact that he was so
+near to the cruising ground of a powerful squadron.
+
+As the two cruisers approached each other, the fire from their heavy
+guns was supplemented by that of their light quick-firing armament,
+until each of them became a floating volcano, vomiting continuous
+jets of smoke and flame, and hurling showers of shot and shell across
+the rapidly-lessening space between them.
+
+The din of the hideous concert became little short of appalling, even
+to the most hardened nerves. The continuous deep booming of the heavy
+guns, as they belched forth their three-hundred-pound projectiles,
+mingled with the sharp ringing reports of the thirty and forty pound
+quick-firers, and the horrible grinding rattle of the machine guns in
+the tops that sounded clearly above all, and every few seconds came
+the scream and the bang of bursting shells, and the dull, crashing
+sound of rending and breaking steel, as the terrible missiles of
+death and destruction found their destined mark.
+
+Happily the _Lurline_ was out of the line of fire, or she would have
+been torn to fragments and sent to the bottom in a few seconds. She
+continued on her course at her utmost speed, and the French cruiser
+was, of course, too busy to pay any further attention to her. Not so
+the remaining torpedo-boat, however, which, leaving the two big ships
+to fight out their duel for the present, was pursuing the yacht at
+the utmost speed of her forced draught.
+
+Capture or destruction soon only became a matter of a few minutes.
+Tremayne, determined to hold on till he was sunk or sighted the
+air-ship, kept his flag flying and his engines working to the last
+ounce that the quivering boilers would stand, and the Frenchman,
+seeing that he was determined to escape if he could, opened fire on
+him with his twenty-pounder.
+
+Owing to the high speed of the two vessels, and the rolling of the
+torpedo-boat, not much execution was done at first; but, as the
+distance diminished, shell after shell crashed through the bulwarks
+of the _Lurline_, ripping them longitudinally, and tearing up the
+deck-planks with their jagged fragments. The wheel-house and the
+funnel escaped by a miracle, and the yacht being end on to her
+pursuer, the engines and boilers were comparatively safe.
+
+One boat had also escaped, and that was hanging ready to be lowered
+at a moment's notice.
+
+At last a shell struck the funnel, burst, and shattered it to
+fragments. Almost at the same moment the man in the fore-cross-trees,
+who had stuck to his post in defiance of the cannonade, sang out with
+a triumphant shout--
+
+"The air-ship! The air-ship!"
+
+Hardly had the words left his lips when a shell from the torpedo-boat
+struck the _Lurline_ under the quarter, and ripped one of her plates
+out like a sheet of paper. The next instant the engineer rushed up on
+deck, crying--
+
+"The bottom's out of her! She'll go down in five minutes!"
+
+Tremayne, who was the only man on deck save the look-out, ran out of
+the wheel-house, dived into the cabin, and a moment later reappeared
+with Natas in his arms, and followed by his two attendants. Then,
+without the loss of a second, but in perfect order, the quarter-boat
+was manned and lowered, and pulled clear of the ill-fated _Lurline_
+just as she pitched backwards into the sea and went down with a run,
+stern foremost.
+
+The air-ship, coming up at a tremendous speed, swooped suddenly down
+from a height of two thousand feet, and slowed up within a thousand
+yards of the torpedo-boat. A projectile rushed through the air and
+landed on the deck of the Frenchman. There was a flash of greenish
+flame, a cloud of mingled smoke and steam, and when this had drifted
+away there was not a vestige of the torpedo-boat to be seen. Then a
+few fragments of iron splashed into the water here and there, and
+that was all that betokened her fate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+ARMED NEUTRALITY.
+
+
+Hardly had the _Lurline_ disappeared than the air-ship was lying
+alongside the boat, floating on the water as easily and lightly as a
+seagull, and Natas and his two attendants, Tremayne, and the three
+men who had been saved from the yacht, were at once taken on board.
+
+It would be useless to interrupt the progress of the narrative to
+describe the welcoming greetings which passed between the rescued
+party and the crew of the _Ithuriel_, or the amazement of Arnold and
+his companions when Natasha threw her arms round the neck of the
+almost helpless cripple, who was rifted over the rail by Tremayne and
+his two attendants, kissed him on the brow, and said so that all
+could hear her--
+
+"We were in time! Thank God we were in time, my father!"
+
+Her father! This paralytic creature, who could not move a yard
+without the assistance of some one else--this was Natas, the father
+of Natasha, and the Master of the Terror, the man who had planned the
+ruin of a civilisation, and for all they knew might aspire to the
+empire of the world!
+
+It was marvellous, inconceivable, but there was no time to think
+about it now, for the two cruisers were still blazing away at each
+other, and Tremayne had determined to punish the Frenchman for his
+discourtesy in not answering his flag, and his inhumanity in firing
+on an unarmed vessel which was well known as a private pleasure-yacht
+all round the western and southern shores of Europe.
+
+As soon as Natas had been conveyed into the saloon, Tremayne, after
+returning Arnold's hearty handclasp, said to him--
+
+"That rascally Frenchman chased and fired on us, and then sent his
+torpedo-boat after us, without the slightest provocation. I purposely
+hoisted the Yacht Squadron flag to show that we were non-combatants,
+and still he sank us. I suppose he took the _Lurline_ for a fast
+despatch boat, but still he ought to have had the sense and the
+politeness to let her alone when he saw she was a yacht, so I want
+you to teach him better manners."
+
+"Certainly," replies Arnold. "I'll sink him for you in five seconds
+as soon as we get aloft again."
+
+"I don't want you to do that if you can help it. She has five or six
+hundred men on board, who are only doing as they are told, and we
+have not declared war on the world yet. Can't you disable her, and
+force her to surrender to the British cruiser that came to our
+rescue? You know we must have been sunk or captured half an hour ago
+if she had not turned up so opportunely, in spite of your so happily
+coming fifty miles this side of the rendezvous. I should like to
+return the compliment by delivering his enemy into his hand."
+
+"I quite see what you mean, but I'm afraid I can't guarantee success.
+You see, our artillery is intended for destruction, and not for
+disablement. Still I'll have a try with pleasure. I'll see if I can't
+disable his screws, only you mustn't blame me if he goes to the
+bottom by accident."
+
+"Certainly not, you most capable destroyer of life and property,"
+laughed Tremayne. "Only let him off as lightly as you can. Ah,
+Natasha! Good morning again! I suppose Natas has taken no harm from
+the unceremonious way in which I had to almost throw him on board the
+boat. Aerial voyaging seems to agree with you, you"--
+
+"Must not talk nonsense, my Lord of Alanmere, especially when there
+is sterner work in hand," interrupted Natasha, with a laugh. "What
+are you going to do with those two cruisers that are battering each
+other to pieces down there? Sink them both, or leave them to fight it
+out?"
+
+"Neither, with your permission, fair lady. The British cruiser saved
+us by coming on the scene at the right moment, and as the Frenchman
+fired upon us without due cause, I want Captain Arnold to disable her
+in some way and hand her over a prisoner to our rescuer."
+
+"Ah, that would be better, of course. One good turn deserves another.
+What are you going to do, Captain Arnold?"
+
+"Drop a small shell under his stern and disable his propellers, if I
+can do so without sinking him, which I am afraid is rather doubtful,"
+replied Arnold.
+
+While they were talking, the _Ithuriel_ had risen a thousand feet or
+so from the water, and had advanced to within about half a mile of
+the two cruisers, which were now manoeuvring round each other at a
+distance of about a thousand yards, blazing away without cessation,
+and waiting for some lucky shot to partially disable one or the
+other, and so give an opportunity for boarding, or ramming.
+
+In the old days, when France and Britain had last grappled in the
+struggle for the mastery of the sea, the two ships would have been
+laid alongside each other long before this. But that was not to be
+thought of while those terrible machine guns were able to rain their
+hail of death down from the tops, and the quick-firing cannon were
+hurling their thirty shots a minute across the intervening space of
+water.
+
+The French cruiser had so far taken no notice of the sudden
+annihilation of her second torpedo-boat by the air-ship, but as soon
+as the latter made her way astern of her she seemed to scent
+mischief, and turned one of her three-barrelled Nordenfeldts on to
+her. The shots soon came singing about the _Ithuriel_ in somewhat
+unpleasant proximity, and Arnold said--
+
+"Monsieur seems to take us for a natural enemy, and if he wants fight
+he shall have it. If I don't disable him with this shot I'll sink him
+with the next."
+
+So saying he trained one of the broadside guns on the stern of the
+French cruiser, and at the right moment pressed the button. The shell
+bored its way through the air and down into the water until it struck
+and exploded against the submerged rudder.
+
+A huge column of foam rose up under the cruiser's stern; half lifted
+out of the water, she plunged forward with a mighty lurch, burying
+her forecastle in the green water, and then she righted and lay
+helpless upon the sea, deprived of the power of motion and steering,
+and with the useless steam roaring in great clouds from her pipes. A
+moment later she began to settle by the stern, showing that her after
+plates had been badly injured, if not torn away by the explosion.
+
+Meanwhile the _Ithuriel_ had shot away out of range until the two
+cruisers looked like little toy-ships spitting fire at each other,
+and Arnold said to Tremayne, who was with him in the wheel-house--
+
+"I think that has settled her, as far as any more real fighting is
+concerned. Look! She can't stand that sort of thing very long."
+
+He handed Tremayne the glasses as he spoke. The French cruiser was
+lying motionless upon the water, with her after compartments full,
+and very much down by the stern. She was still blazing away gamely
+with all her available guns, but it was obvious at a glance that she
+was now no match for her antagonist, who had taken full advantage of
+the help rendered by her unknown ally, and was pouring a perfect hail
+of shot and shell point-blank into her half-disabled adversary,
+battering her deck-works into ruins, and piercing her hull again and
+again.
+
+At length, when the splendid fabric had been reduced to little better
+than a floating wreck by the terrible cannonade, the fire from the
+British cruiser stopped, and the signal "Will you surrender?" flew
+from her masthead.
+
+A few moments later the tricolor, for the first time in the war,
+dipped to the White Ensign, and the naval duel was over.
+
+"Now we will leave them to talk it over," said Tremayne, shutting the
+glasses. "I should like to hear what they have to say about us, I
+must confess, but there is something more important to be done, and
+the sooner we are on the other side of the Atlantic the better. The
+_Aurania_ started from New York this morning. How soon can you get
+across?"
+
+"In about sixteen hours if we had to go all the way," replied Arnold.
+"It is, say, three thousand miles from here to New York, and the
+_Ithuriel_ can fly two hundred miles an hour if necessary. But the
+_Aurania_, if she starts in good time, will make between four and
+five hundred miles during the day, and so we ought to meet her soon
+after sundown this evening if we are lucky."
+
+As Arnold ceased speaking, the report of a single gun came up from
+the water, and a string of signal flags floated out from the masthead
+of the British cruiser.
+
+"Hullo!" said Tremayne, once more turning the glasses on the two
+vessels, "that was a blank cartridge, and as far as I can make out
+that signal reads, 'We want to speak you.' And look: there goes a
+white flag to the fore. His intentions are evidently peaceful. What
+do you say, shall we go down?"
+
+"I see no objection to it. It will only make a difference of half an
+hour or so, and perhaps we may learn something worth knowing from the
+captain about the naval force afloat in the Atlantic. I think it
+would be worth while. We have no need for concealment now; and
+besides, all Europe is talking about us, so there can be no harm in
+showing ourselves a bit more closely."
+
+"Very well, then, we will go down and hear what he has to say,"
+replied Tremayne. "But I don't think it would be well for me to show
+myself just now, and so I will go below."
+
+Arnold at once signalled the necessary order from the conning tower
+to the engine-room. The fan-wheels revolved more slowly, and the
+_Ithuriel_ sank swiftly downwards towards the two cruisers, now lying
+side by side.
+
+As soon as she came to a standstill within speaking distance of the
+British man-of-war, discipline was for the moment forgotten on board
+of both victor and vanquished, under the influence of the intense
+excitement and curiosity aroused by seeing the mysterious and
+much-talked-of air-ship at such close quarters.
+
+The French and British captains were both standing on the
+quarter-deck eagerly scanning the strange craft through their glasses
+till she came near enough to dispense with them, and every man and
+officer on board the two cruisers who was able to be on deck, crowded
+to points of 'vantage, and stared at her with all their eyes. The
+whole company of the _Ithuriel_, with the exception of Natas,
+Tremayne, and those whose duties kept them in the engine-room, were
+also on deck, and Arnold stood close by the wheel-house and the after
+gun, ready to give any orders that might be necessary in case the
+conversation took an unfriendly turn.
+
+"May I ask the name of that wonderful craft, and to what I am
+indebted for the assistance you have given me?" hailed the British
+captain.
+
+"Certainly. This is the Terrorist air-ship _Ithuriel_, and we
+disabled the French cruiser because her captain had the bad manners
+to fire upon and sink an unarmed yacht that had no quarrel with him.
+But for that we should have left you to fight it out."
+
+"The Terrorists, are you? If I had known that, I confess I should not
+have asked to speak you, and I tell you candidly that I am sorry you
+did not leave us to fight it out, as you say. As I cannot look upon
+you as an ally or a friend, I can only regret the advantage you have
+given me over an honourable foe."
+
+There was an emphasis on the word "honourable" which brought a flush
+to Arnold's cheek, as he replied--
+
+"What I did to the French cruiser I should have done whether you had
+been on the scene or not. We are as much your foes as we are those of
+France, that is to say, we are totally indifferent to both of you. As
+for _honourable_ foes, I may say that I only disabled the French
+cruiser because I thought she had acted both unfairly and
+dishonourably. But we are wasting time. Did you merely wish to speak
+to us in order to find out who we were?"
+
+"Yes, that was my first object, I confess. I also wished to know
+whether this is the same air-ship which crossed the Mediterranean
+yesterday, and if not, how many of these vessels there are in
+existence, and what you mean to do with them?"
+
+"Before I answer, may I ask how you know that an air-ship crossed the
+Mediterranean yesterday?" asked Arnold, thoroughly mystified by this
+astounding piece of news.
+
+"We had it by telegraph at Queenstown during the night. She was going
+northward, when observed, by Larnaka"--
+
+"Oh yes, that was one of our despatch boats," replied Arnold, forcing
+himself to speak with a calmness that he by no means felt. "I'm
+afraid my orders will hardly allow me to answer your other questions
+very fully, but I may tell you that we have a fleet of air-ships at
+our command, all constructed in England under the noses of your
+intelligent authorities, and that we mean to use them as it seems
+best to us, should we at any time consider it worth our while to
+interfere in the game that the European Powers are playing with each
+other. Meanwhile we keep a position of armed neutrality. When we
+think the war has gone far enough we shall probably stop it when a
+good opportunity offers."
+
+This was too much for a British sailor to listen to quietly on his
+own quarter-deck, whoever said it, and so the captain of the
+_Andromeda_ forgot his prudence for the moment, and said somewhat
+hotly--
+
+"Confound it, sir! you talk as if you were omnipotent and arbiters of
+peace and war. Don't go too far with your insolence, or I shall haul
+that flag of truce down and give you five minutes to get out of range
+of my guns or take your chance"--
+
+For all answer there came a contemptuous laugh from the deck of the
+_Ithuriel_, the rapid ringing of an electric bell, and the
+disappearance of her company under cover. Then with one mighty leap
+she rose two thousand feet into the air, and before the astounded and
+disgusted captain of H.M. cruiser _Andromeda_ very well knew what had
+become of her, she was a mere speck of light in the sky, speeding
+away at two hundred miles an hour to the westward.
+
+As soon as she was fairly on her course, Arnold gave up the wheel to
+one of the crew, and went into the saloon to discuss with Tremayne
+and Natas the all-important scrap of news that had fallen from the
+lips of the captain of the British cruiser. What was the other
+air-ship that had been seen crossing the Mediterranean?
+
+Surely it must be one of the Terrorist fleet, for there were no
+others in existence. And yet strict orders had been given that none
+of the fleet were to take the air until the _Ithuriel_ returned. Was
+it possible that there were traitors, even in Aeria, and that the
+air-ship seen from Larnaka was a deserter going northward to the
+enemy, the worst enemy of all, the Russians?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+A BATTLE IN THE NIGHT.
+
+
+At half-past five on the morning of the 23rd of June, the Cunard
+liner _Aurania_ left New York for Queenstown and Liverpool. She was
+the largest and swiftest passenger steamer afloat, and on her maiden
+voyage she had lowered the Atlantic record by no less than twelve
+hours; that is to say, she had performed the journey from Sandy Hook
+to Queenstown in four days and a half exactly. Her measurement was
+forty-five thousand tons, and her twin screws, driven by quadruple
+engines, developing sixty thousand horse-power, forced her through
+the water at the unparalleled speed of thirty knots, or thirty-four
+and a half statute miles an hour.
+
+Since the outbreak of the war it had been found necessary to take all
+but the most powerful vessels off the Atlantic route, for, as had
+long been foreseen, the enemies of the Anglo-German Alliance were
+making the most determined efforts to cripple the Transatlantic trade
+of Britain and Germany, and swift, heavily-armed French and Italian
+cruisers, attended by torpedo-boats and gun-boats, and supported by
+battle-ships and depot vessels for coaling purposes, were swarming
+along the great ocean highway.
+
+These, of course, had to be opposed by an equal or greater force of
+British warships. In fact, the burden of keeping the Atlantic route
+open fell entirely on Britain, for the German and Austrian fleets had
+all the work they were capable of doing nearer home in the Baltic and
+Mediterranean.
+
+The terrible mistake that had been made by the House of Lords in
+negativing the Italian Loan had already become disastrously apparent,
+for though the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance was putting forth every
+effort, its available ships were only just sufficient to keep the
+home waters clear and the ocean routes practically open, even for the
+fastest steamers.
+
+The task, therefore, which lay before the _Aurania_ when she cleared
+American waters was little less than running the gauntlet for nearly
+three thousand miles. The French cruiser which had been captured by
+the _Andromeda_, thanks to the assistance of the _Ithuriel_, had left
+Brest with the express purpose of helping to intercept the great
+Cunarder, for she had crossed the Atlantic five times already without
+a scratch since the war had begun, showing a very clean pair of heels
+to everything that had attempted to overhaul her, and now on her
+sixth passage a grand effort was to be made to capture or cripple the
+famous ocean greyhound.
+
+It was by far her most important voyage in more senses than one. In
+the first place, her incomparable speed and good luck had made her
+out of sight the prime favourite with those passengers who were
+obliged to cross the Atlantic, war or no war, and for the same
+reasons she also carried more mails and specie than any other liner,
+and this voyage she had an enormously valuable consignment of both on
+board. As for passengers, every available foot of space was taken for
+months in advance.
+
+Enterprising agents on both sides of the water had bought up every
+berth from stem to stern, and had put them up to auction, realising
+fabulous prices, which had little chance of being abated, even when
+her sister ship the _Sidonia_, the construction of which was being
+pushed forward on the Clyde with all possible speed, was ready to
+take the water.
+
+But the chief importance of this particular passage lay, though
+barely half a dozen persons were aware of it, in the fact that among
+her passengers was Michael Roburoff, chief of the American Section of
+the Terrorists, who was bringing to the Council his report of the
+work of the Brotherhood in the United States, together with the
+information which he had collected, by means of an army of spies, as
+to the true intentions of the American Government with regard to the
+war.
+
+These, so far as the rest of the world was concerned, were a profound
+secret, and he was the only man outside the President's Cabinet and
+the Tsar's Privy Council who had accurate information with regard to
+them. The _Aurania_ was therefore not only carrying mails, treasure,
+and passengers, but, in the person of Michael Roburoff, she was
+carrying secrets on the revelation of which the whole issue of the
+war and the destiny of the world might turn.
+
+America was the one great Power not involved in the tremendous
+struggle that was being waged. The most astute diplomatist in Europe
+had no idea what her real policy was, but every one knew that the
+side on which she threw the weight of her boundless wealth and vast
+resources must infallibly win in the long run.
+
+The plan that had been adopted by Britain for keeping the Atlantic
+route open was briefly as follows:--All along the 3000 miles of the
+steamer track a battleship was stationed at the end of every day's
+run, that is to say, at intervals of about 500 miles, and patrolled
+within a radius of 100 miles. Each of these was attended by two
+heavily-armed cruisers and four torpedo-boats, while between these
+points swifter cruisers were constantly running to and fro convoying
+the liners.
+
+Thus, when the _Aurania_ left New York, she was picked up on the
+limit of the American water by two cruisers, which would keep pace
+with her as well as they could until she reached the first
+battleship. As she passed the ironclad these two would leave her, and
+the next two would take up the running, and so on until she reached
+the range of operations of the Irish Squadron.
+
+No other Power in the world could have maintained such a system of
+ocean police, but Britain was putting forth the whole of her mighty
+naval strength, and so she spared neither ships nor money to keep
+open the American and Canadian routes, for on them nearly half her
+food-supply depended, as well as her chief line of communication with
+the far East.
+
+On the other hand, her enemies were making desperate efforts to break
+the chain of steel that was thus stretched across the hemisphere, for
+they well knew that, this once broken, the first real triumph of the
+war would have been won.
+
+Five hundred miles out from New York the _Aurania_ was joined by the
+_Oceana_, the largest vessel on the Canadian Pacific line from
+Halifax to Liverpool. So far no enemy had been seen. The two great
+liners reached the first battleship together, and were joined by the
+second pair of cruisers. Before sunset the Cunarder had drawn ahead
+of her companions, and by nightfall was racing away alone over the
+water with every light carefully concealed, and keeping an eager
+look-out for friend or foe.
+
+There was no moon, and the sky was so heavily overcast with clouds,
+that, under any other circumstances, it would have been the height of
+rashness to go rushing through the darkness at such a headlong speed.
+But the captain of the _Aurania_ was aware of the state of the road,
+and he knew that in speed and secrecy lay his only chances of getting
+his magnificent vessel through in safety.
+
+Soon after ten o'clock lights were sighted dead ahead. The course was
+slightly altered, and the great liner swept past one of the North
+German Lloyd boats in company with a cruiser. The private signal was
+made and answered, and in half an hour she was again alone amidst the
+darkness.
+
+It was nearly eleven o'clock, when Michael Roburoff, who was standing
+under the lee of one of the ventilators amidships, smoking a last
+pipe before turning in, saw a figure muffled in a huge grey ulster
+creeping into the deeper shadows under the bridge. It was so dark
+that he could only just make out the outline of the figure, but he
+could see enough to rouse his ever ready suspicions in the furtive
+movements that the man was making.
+
+He stole out on the starboard, that is the southward, rail of the
+spar-deck, and Michael, straining his eyes to the utmost, saw him
+take a round flat object from under his coat, and then look round
+stealthily to see if he was observed. As he did so Michael whipped a
+pistol out of his pocket, levelled it at the man, and said in a low,
+distinct tone--
+
+"Put that back, or I'll shoot!"
+
+For all answer the man raised his arm to throw the object overboard.
+Michael, taking the best aim he could in the darkness, fired. The
+bullet struck the elbow of the raised arm, the man lurched forward
+with a low cry of rage and pain, grasped the object with his other
+hand, and, as he fell to the deck, flung it into the sea.
+
+Scarcely had it touched the water when it burst into flame, and an
+intensely bright blaze of bluish-white light shot up, shattering the
+darkness, and illuminating the great ship from the waterline to the
+trucks of her masts. Instantly the deck of the liner was a scene of
+wild excitement. In a moment the man whom Roburoff had wounded was
+secured in the act of trying to throw himself overboard. Michael
+himself was rapidly questioned by the captain, who was immediately on
+the spot.
+
+He told his story in a dozen words, and explained that he had fired
+to disable the man and prevent the fire-signal falling into the sea.
+There was no doubt about the guilt of the traitor, for he himself cut
+the captain's interrogation short by saying defiantly, in broken
+English that at once betrayed him as a Frenchman--
+
+"Yees, I do it! I give signal to ze fleet down there. If I succeeded,
+I got half million francs. I fail, so shoot! C'est la fortune de la
+guerre! Voila, look! They come!"
+
+As the spy said this he pointed to the south-eastern horizon. A brief
+bright flash of white light went up through the night and vanished.
+It was the answering signal from the French or Italian cruisers,
+which were making all speed up from the south-east to head off the
+_Aurania_ before she reached the next station and gained the
+protection of the British battleship.
+
+The spy's words were only too true. He had gone to America for the
+sole purpose of returning in the _Aurania_ and giving the signal at
+this particular point on the passage. Within ten miles were four of
+the fleetest French and Italian cruisers, six torpedo-boats, and two
+battleships, which, by keeping well to the southward during the day,
+and then putting on all steam as soon as night fell, had managed to
+head off the ocean greyhound at last.
+
+Two cruisers and a battleship with two torpedo-boats were coming up
+from the south-east; one cruiser, the other battleship, and two
+torpedo-boats were bearing down from the south-west, and the
+remaining cruiser and brace of torpedo-boats had managed to slip
+through the British line and gain a position to the northward.
+
+This large force had not been brought up without good reason. The
+_Aurania_ was the biggest prize afloat, and well worth fighting for,
+if it came to blows, as it very probably would do; added to which
+there was a very good chance of one or two other liners falling
+victims to a well-planned and successful raid.
+
+The French spy was at once sent below and put into safe keeping, and
+the signal to "stoke up" was sent to the engine-rooms. The firemen
+responded with a will, extra hands were put on in the stokeholes, and
+the furnaces taxed to their utmost capacity. The boilers palpitated
+under the tremendous head of steam, the engines throbbed and groaned
+like labouring giants, and the great ship, trembling like some live
+animal under the lash, rushed faster and faster over the long dark
+rollers under the impulse of her whirling screws.
+
+There was no longer any need for concealment even if it had been
+possible. Speed and speed only afforded the sole chance of escape. Of
+course the captain of the _Aurania_ had no idea of the strength or
+disposition of the force that had undertaken his capture. Had he
+known the true state of the case, his anxiety would have been a good
+deal greater than it was. He fully believed that he could outsteam
+the vessels to the south-east, and, once past these, he knew that he
+would be in touch with the British ships at the next station before
+any harm could come to him. He therefore headed a little more to the
+northward, and trusted with perfect confidence to his heels.
+
+Michael Roburoff was the hero of the moment, and the captain
+cordially thanked him for his prompt attempt to frustrate the
+atrocious act of the spy which deliberately endangered the liberty
+and perhaps the lives of more than a thousand non-combatants.
+Michael, however, cut his thanks short by taking him aside and asking
+him what he thought of the position of affairs. He spoke so seriously
+that the captain thought he was frightened, and by way of reassuring
+him replied cheerily--
+
+"Don't have any fear for the _Aurania_, Mr. Roburoff. That's only a
+cruiser, or perhaps a couple, down there, and the enemy haven't a
+ship that I can't give a good five knots and a beating to. We shall
+sight the British ships soon after daybreak, and by that time those
+fellows will be fifty miles behind us."
+
+"I have as much confidence in the _Aurania's_ speed as you have,
+Captain Frazer," replied Michael, "but I'm afraid you are underrating
+the enemy's strength. Do you know that within the last few days it
+has been almost doubled, and that a determined effort is to be made,
+not only to catch or sink the _Aurania_, but also to break the
+British line of posts, and cut the line of American and Canadian
+communication altogether?"
+
+"No, sir," replied the captain, looking sharply at Michael. "I don't
+know anything of the sort, neither do the commanders of the British
+warships on this side. If your information is correct, I should like
+to know how you came by it. You are a Russian by name"--
+
+"But not a subject of the Tsar," quickly interrupted Michael. "I am
+an American citizen, and I have come by this information not as the
+friend of Russia, as you seem to suspect, but as her enemy, or rather
+as the enemy of her ruler. How I got it is my business. It is enough
+for you to know that it is correct, and that you are in far greater
+danger than you think you are. The signal given by that French spy
+was evidently part of a prearranged plan, and for all you know you
+may even now be surrounded, or steaming straight into a trap that has
+been laid for you. If I may advise, I would earnestly counsel you to
+double on your course and make every effort to rejoin the other liner
+and the cruisers we have passed."
+
+"Nonsense, sir, nonsense!" answered the captain testily. "Our
+watch-dogs are far too wide awake to be caught napping like that. You
+have been deceived by one of the rumours that are filling the air
+just now. You can go to your berth and sleep in peace, and to-morrow
+you shall be half-way across the Atlantic without an enemy's ship in
+sight."
+
+"Captain Frazer," said Michael very seriously, "with your leave I
+shall not go to my berth; and what is more, I can tell you that very
+few of us will get much sleep to-night, and that if you do not back I
+hardly think you will be flying the British flag to-morrow. Ha! look
+there--and there!"
+
+Michael seized the captain's arm suddenly, and pointed rapidly to the
+south-east and north-east. Two thin rays of light flashed up into the
+sky one after the other. Then came a third from the south-west, and
+then darkness again. At the same instant came the hails from the
+look-outs announcing the lights.
+
+Captain Frazer was wrong, and he saw that he was at a glance. The
+flash in the north-east could not be from a friend, for it was a
+plain answer to the known enemy in the south-east, and so too in all
+probability was the third. If so, the _Aurania_ was almost
+surrounded.
+
+The captain wasted no words in confessing his error, but ran up on to
+the bridge to rectify it as far as he could at once. The helm was put
+hard over, the port screw was reversed, and the steamer swung round
+in a wide sweep, and was soon speeding back westward over her own
+tracks. An hour's run brought her in sight of the lights of the
+_North German_ and her escort. She slowed as she passed them, and
+told the news. Then she sped on again at full-speed to meet the
+_Oceana_ and the two cruisers, which were about fifty miles behind.
+
+By one A.M. the three cruisers and the three liners had joined
+forces, and were steaming westward at twenty knots an hour, the
+liners in single file led by a cruiser, and having one on each beam.
+Soon the flashes on the horizon grew more frequent, always drawing
+closer together.
+
+Then those in the westward dropped from the perpendicular to the
+horizontal, and swept the water as though seeking something. It was
+not long before the darting rays of one of the searchlights fell
+across the track of the British flotilla. Instantly from all three
+points converging flashes were concentrated upon it, revealing the
+outline of every ship with the most perfect distinctness.
+
+The last hope of running through the hostile fleet unperceived had
+now vanished. There was nothing for it but to go ahead full-speed,
+and trust to the chances of a running fight to get clear. With a view
+of finding out the strength of the enemy, the British cruisers now
+turned their searchlights on and swept the horizon.
+
+A very few moments sufficed to show that an overwhelming force was
+closing in on them from three sides. They were completely caught in a
+trap, from which there was no escape save by running the gauntlet.
+Whichever way they headed they would have to pass through the
+converging fire of the enemy.
+
+The weakest point, so far as they could see, was the one cruiser and
+two torpedo-boats to the northward, and so towards them they headed.
+At the speed at which they were travelling it needed but a few
+minutes to bring them within range, and the British commanders
+rightly decided to concentrate their fire for the present on the
+single cruiser and her two attendants, in the hope of sinking them
+before the others could get into action.
+
+At three thousand yards the heavy guns came into play, and a storm of
+shell was hurled upon the advancing foe, who lost no time in replying
+in the same terms. As the vessels approached each other the shooting
+became closer and terribly effective.
+
+The searchlights of the British cruisers were kept full ahead, and
+every attempt of the torpedo-boats to get round on the flank was
+foiled by a hail of shot from the quick-firing guns. Within fifteen
+minutes of opening fire one of these was sunk and the other disabled.
+The French cruiser, too, suffered fearfully from the tempest of shot
+and shell that was rained upon her.
+
+Had the British got within range of her half an hour sooner the plan
+would have been completely foiled. As it was, her fate was sealed,
+but it was too late. The three British warships rushed at her
+together, vomiting flame and smoke and iron across the
+rapidly-decreasing distance, until within five hundred yards of her.
+Then the fire from the two on either flank suddenly stopped.
+
+The centre one, still blazing away, put on her forced draught,
+swerved sharply round, and then darted in on her with the ram. There
+was a terrific shock, a heavy, grinding crunch, and then the mighty
+mass of the charging vessel, hurled at nearly thirty miles an hour
+upon her victim, bored and ground her resistless way into her side.
+
+Then she suddenly reversed her engines and backed out. In less than
+thirty seconds it was all over. The Frenchman, almost cut in half by
+the frightful blow, reeled once, and once only, and then went down
+like a stone.
+
+But by this time the other two divisions of the enemy were within
+range, and through the roar of the lighter artillery now came the
+deep, sullen boom of the big guns on the battleships, and the great
+thousand-pound projectiles began to scream through the air and fling
+the water up into mountains of foam where they pitched.
+
+Where one of them struck, death and destruction would follow as
+surely as though it were a thunderbolt from Heaven. The three liners
+scattered and steamed away to the northward as fast as their
+propellers would drive them. But what was their utmost speed to that
+of the projectiles cleaving through the air at more than two thousand
+feet a second?
+
+See! one at length strikes the German liner square amidships, and
+bursts. There is a horrible explosion. The searchlight thrown on her
+shows a cloud of steam and smoke and flame rising up from her riven
+decks. Where her funnels were is a huge ragged black hole. This is
+visible for an instant, then her back breaks, and in two halves she
+follows the French cruiser to the bottom of the Atlantic.
+
+The sinking of the German liner was the signal for the appearance of
+a new actor on the scene, and the commencement of a work of
+destruction more appalling than anything that human warfare had so
+far known.
+
+Michael Roburoff, standing on the spar-deck of the flying _Aurania_,
+suddenly saw a bright stream of light shoot down from the clouds, and
+flash hither and thither, till it hovered over the advancing French
+and Italian squadron. For the moment the combat ceased, so astounded
+were the combatants on both sides at this mysterious apparition.
+
+Then, without the slightest warning, with no flash or roar of guns,
+there came a series of frightful explosions among the ships of the
+pursuers. They followed each other so quickly that the darkness
+behind the electric lights seemed lit with a continuous blaze of
+livid green flame for three or four minutes.
+
+Then there was darkness and silence. Black darkness and absolute
+silence. The searchlights were extinguished, and the roar of the
+artillery was still. The British waited in dazed silence for it to
+begin again, but it never did. The whole of the pursuing squadron had
+been annihilated.
+
+[Illustration: "This mysterious apparition."
+
+_See page 178._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE NEW WARFARE.
+
+
+It will now be necessary, in order to insure the continuity of the
+narrative, to lay before the reader a brief sketch of the course of
+events in Europe from the actual commencement of hostilities on a
+general scale between the two immense forces which may be most
+conveniently designated as the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance and the
+Franco-Slavonian League.
+
+In order that these two terms may be fully understood, it will be
+well to explain their general constitution. When the two forces, into
+which the declaration of war ultimately divided the nations of
+Europe, faced each other for the struggle which was to decide the
+mastery of the Western world, the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance consisted
+primarily of Britain, Germany, and Austria, and, ranged under its
+banner, whether from choice or necessity, stood Holland, Belgium, and
+Denmark in the north-west, with Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey in the
+south-west.
+
+Egypt was strongly garrisoned for the land defence of the Suez Canal
+and the high road to the East by British, Indian, and Turkish troops.
+British and Belgian troops held Antwerp and the fortresses of the
+Belgian Quadrilateral in force.
+
+A powerful combined fleet of British, Danish, and Dutch war vessels
+of all classes held the approaches by the Sound and Kattegat to the
+Baltic Sea, and co-operated in touch with the German fleet; the Dutch
+and the German having, at any rate for the time being, and under the
+pressure of irresistible circumstances, laid aside their hereditary
+national hatred, and consented to act as allies under suitable
+guarantees to Holland.
+
+The co-operation of Denmark had been secured, in spite of the family
+connections existing between the Danish and the Russian Courts, and
+the rancour still remaining from the old Schleswig-Holstein quarrel,
+by very much the same means that had been taken in the historic days
+of the Battle of the Baltic. It is true that matters had not gone so
+far as they went when Nelson disobeyed orders by putting his
+telescope to his blind eye, and engaged the Danish fleet in spite of
+the signals; but a demonstration of such overwhelming force had been
+made by sea and land on the part of Britain and Germany, that the
+House of Dagmar had bowed to the inevitable, and ranged itself on the
+side of the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance.
+
+Marshalled against this imposing array of naval and military force
+stood the Franco-Slavonian League, consisting primarily of France,
+Russia, and Italy, supported--whether by consent or necessity--by
+Spain, Portugal, and Servia. The co-operation of Spain had been
+purchased by the promise of Gibraltar at the conclusion of the war,
+and that of Portugal by the guarantee of a largely increased sphere
+of influence on the West Coast of Africa, plus the Belgian States of
+the Congo.
+
+Roumania and Switzerland remained neutral, the former to be a
+battlefield for the neighbouring Powers, and the latter for the
+present safe behind her ramparts of everlasting snow and ice.
+Scandinavia also remained neutral, the sport of the rival diplomacies
+of East and West, but not counted of sufficient importance to
+materially influence the colossal struggle one way or the other.
+
+In round numbers the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance had seven millions of
+men on the war footing, including, of course, the Indian and Colonial
+forces of the British Empire, while in case of necessity urgent
+levies were expected to produce between two and three millions more.
+Opposed to these, the Franco-Slavonian League had about ten millions
+under arms, with nearly three millions in reserve.
+
+As regards naval strength, the Alliance was able to pit rather more
+than a thousand warships of all classes, and about the same number of
+torpedo-boats, against nearly nine hundred warships and about seven
+hundred torpedo-boats at the disposal of the League.
+
+In addition to this latter armament, it is very necessary to name a
+fleet of a hundred war-balloons of the type mentioned in an earlier
+chapter, fifty of which belonged to Russia and fifty to France. No
+other European Power possessed any engine of destruction that was
+capable of being efficiently matched against the invention of M.
+Riboult, who was now occupying the position of Director of the aerial
+fleet in the service of the League.
+
+It would be both a tedious repetition of sickening descriptions of
+scenes of bloodshed and a useless waste of space, to enumerate in
+detail all the series of conflicts by sea and land which resulted
+from the collision of the tremendous forces which were thus arrayed
+against each other in a conflict that was destined to be unparalleled
+in the history of the human race.
+
+To do so would be to occupy pages filled with more or less technical
+descriptions of strategic movements, marches, and countermarches,
+skirmishes, reconnaissances, and battles, which followed each other
+with such unparalleled rapidity that the combined efforts of the war
+correspondents of the European press proved entirely inadequate to
+keep pace with them in the form of anything like a continuous
+narrative.
+
+It will therefore be necessary to ask the reader to remain content
+with such brief summary as has been given, supplemented with the
+following extracts from a very lengthy _resume_ of the leading events
+of the war up to date, which were published in a special War
+Supplement issued by the _Daily Telegraph_ on the morning of Tuesday
+the 28th of June 1904:--
+
+"Although little more than a period of six weeks has elapsed since
+the actual outbreak of hostilities which marked the commencement of
+what, be its issue what it may, must indubitably prove the most
+colossal struggle in the history of human warfare, changes have
+already occurred which must infallibly mark their effect upon the
+future destiny of the world. Almost as soon as the first shot was
+fired the nations of Europe, as if by instinct or under the influence
+of some power higher than that of international diplomacy,
+automatically marshalled themselves into the two most mighty hosts
+that have ever trod the field of battle since man first fought with
+man.
+
+"Not less than twenty millions of men are at this moment facing each
+other under arms throughout the area of the war. These are almost
+equally divided; for, although what is now known as the
+Franco-Slavonian League has some three millions of men more on land,
+it may be safely stated that the preponderance of naval strength
+possessed by the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance fully counterbalances this
+advantage.
+
+"There is, however, another most important element which has now for
+the first time been introduced into warfare, and which, although it
+is most unhappily arrayed amongst the forces opposed to our own
+country and her gallant allies, it would be both idle and most
+imprudent to ignore. We refer, of course, to the two fleets of
+war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable
+aerostats, possessed by France and Russia.
+
+"So tremendous has been the influence which these terrible inventions
+have exercised upon the course of the war, that we are not
+transgressing the bounds of sober truth when we say that they have
+utterly disconcerted and brought to nought the highest strategy and
+the most skilfully devised plans of the brilliant array of masters of
+the military art whose presence adorns the ranks and enlightens the
+councils of the Alliance.
+
+"Since the day when the Russians crossed the German and Austrian
+frontiers, and the troops of France and Italy simultaneously flung
+themselves across the western frontiers of Germany and through the
+passes of the Tyrol, their progress, unparalleled in rapidity even by
+the marvellous marches of Napoleon, has been marked, not by what we
+have hitherto been accustomed to call battles, but rather by a series
+of colossal butcheries.
+
+"In every case of any moment the method of procedure on the part of
+the attacking forces has been the same, and, with the deepest regret
+we confess it, it has been marked with the same unvarying success.
+Whenever a large army has been set in motion upon a predetermined
+point of attack, whether a fortress, an entrenched camp, or a
+strongly occupied position in the field, a squadron of aerostats has
+winged its way through the air under cover of the darkness of night,
+and silently and unperceived has marked the disposition of forces,
+the approximate strength of the army or the position to be attacked,
+and, as far as they were observable, the points upon which the attack
+could be most favourably delivered. Then they have returned with
+their priceless information, and, according to it, the assailants
+have been able, in every case so far, to make their assault where
+least expected, and to make it, moreover, upon an already partially
+demoralised force.
+
+"From the detailed descriptions which we have already published of
+battles and sieges, or rather of the storming of great fortresses, it
+will be remembered that every assault on the part of the troops of
+the League has been preceded by a preliminary and irresistible attack
+from the clouds.
+
+"The aerostats have stationed themselves at great elevations over the
+ramparts of fortresses and the bivouacs of armies, and have rained
+down a hail of dynamite, melinite, fire-shells and cyanogen
+poison-grenades, which have at once put guns out of action, blown up
+magazines, rendered fortifications untenable, and rent masses of
+infantry and squadrons of cavalry into demoralised fragments, before
+they had the time or the opportunity to strike a blow in reply. Then
+upon these silenced batteries, these wrecked fortifications, and
+these demoralised brigades, there has been poured a storm of
+artillery fire from the untouched enemy, advancing in perfect order,
+and inspired with high-spirited confidence, which has been
+irresistibly opposed to the demoralisation of their enemies.
+
+"Is it any wonder, or any disgrace, to the defeated, that under such
+novel and appalling conditions the orderly and disciplined onslaughts
+of the legions of the League have in almost every case been
+completely successful? The sober truth is that the invention and
+employment of these devastating appliances have completely altered
+the face of the field of battle and the conditions of modern warfare.
+It is not in human valour, no matter how heroic or self-devoted it
+may be, to oppose itself with anything like confidence to an enemy
+which strikes from the skies, and cannot be struck in return.
+
+"It was thus that the battles of Alexandrovo, Kalisz, and Czernowicz
+were won in the early stages of the war upon the Austro-German
+frontier. So, too, in the Rhine Provinces, were the battles of
+Treves, Mulhausen, and Freiburg turned by the aid of the French
+aerostats from battles into butcheries. It was under the assault of
+these irresistible engines that the great fortresses of Koenigsberg,
+Thorn, Breslau, Strasburg, and Metz, to say nothing of many minor,
+but strongly fortified, places, were first reduced to a state of
+impotence for defence, and then battered into ruins by the siege-guns
+of the assailants.
+
+"All these terrible events, forming a series of catastrophes
+unparalleled in the annals of war, are still fresh in the minds of
+our readers, for they have followed one upon the other with almost
+stupefying rapidity, and it is yet hardly six weeks since the
+Cossacks and Uhlans were engaged in their first skirmish near Gnesen.
+
+"This is an amazingly brief space of time for the fate of empires to
+be decided, and yet we are forced, with the utmost sorrow and
+reluctance, to admit that what were two months ago the magnificently
+disciplined and equipped armies of Germany and Austria, are now
+completely shattered and broken up into fragmentary and isolated army
+corps, decimated as to numbers and demoralised as to discipline,
+gathered in and about such strong places as are left to them, and
+awaiting only with the courage of desperation the moment, we fear the
+inevitable moment, when they shall be finally crushed between the
+rapidly converging hosts of the victorious League.
+
+"Within the next few days, Berlin, Hanover, Prague, Munich, and
+Vienna must be invested, and may possibly be destroyed or compelled
+to ignominious and unconditional surrender by the irresistible forces
+that will be arrayed against them.
+
+"Meanwhile, with still deeper regret, we are forced to confess that
+those operations in the Low Countries and the east of Europe and Asia
+Minor in which our own gallant troops have been engaged in
+conjunction with their several allies, have been, if not equally
+disastrous, at least void of any tangible success.
+
+"Erzeroum, Trebizond, and Scutari have fallen; the passes of the
+Balkans have been forced, although at immense cost to the enemy;
+Belgrade has been stormed; Adrianople is invested, and Constantinople
+is therefore most seriously threatened.
+
+"By heroic efforts the French attack upon the Quadrilateral has been
+rolled back at a fearful expense of human life. Antwerp is still
+untouched, and the command of the Baltic is still ours. In our own
+waters, as well as in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, we have won
+victories which prove that Great Britain is still the unconquered,
+and we trust unconquerable, mistress of the seas. We have kept the
+Dardanelles open, and the Suez Canal is still inviolate.
+
+"Two combined attacks, delivered by the allied French and Italian
+squadrons on Malta and Gibraltar, have been repulsed by Admiral
+Beresford with heavy loss to the enemy, thanks to the timely warning
+delivered to Mr. Balfour by the Earl of Alanmere--upon whose
+mysterious disappearance we comment in another column--and the Prime
+Minister's prompt and statesmanlike action in doubling the strength
+of the Mediterranean fleet before the outbreak of hostilities.
+
+"Thanks to the tireless activity and splendid handling of the Channel
+fleet, the North Sea Division, and the Irish Squadron, the enemy's
+flag has been practically swept from the home waters, and the shores
+of our beloved country are as inviolate as they have been for more
+than seven centuries. These brilliant achievements go far to
+compensate us as an individual nation for the disasters which have
+befallen our allies on the Continent, and, in addition, we have the
+satisfaction of knowing that, so far, the most complete success has
+attended our arms in the East, and that the repeated and determined
+assaults of our Russian foes have been triumphantly hurled back from
+the impregnable bulwarks of our Indian Empire.
+
+"It has been pointed out, and it would be vain to ignore the fact,
+that not only have all our victories been won in the absence of the
+aerial fleets of the League; but that we, in common with our allies,
+have been worsted in each of the happily few cases in which even one
+of these terrible aerostats has delivered its assaults upon us.
+Against this, however, we take leave to set our belief that these
+machines do not yet inspire sufficient confidence in their possessors
+to warrant them in undertaking operations above the sea, or at any
+considerable distance from their bases of manoeuvring. It is true
+that we are entirely ignorant of the essentials of their
+construction; but the fact that no attempt has yet been made to send
+them into action over blue water inspires us with the hope and belief
+that their effective range of operations is confined to the land....
+
+"It would be superfluous to say that the British Empire is now
+involved in a struggle in comparison with which all our former wars
+sink into absolute insignificance, a struggle which will tax its
+immense resources to the very utmost. Nothing, however, has yet
+occurred to warrant the belief that those resources will not prove
+equal to the strain, or that the greatest empire on earth will not
+emerge from this combat of the giants with her ancient glory enhanced
+by new and hitherto unequalled triumphs.
+
+"Certainly at no period in our history have we been so splendidly
+prepared to face our enemies both at home and abroad. All arms of the
+Services are in the highest state of efficiency, and the Government
+dockyards and arsenals, as well as private firms, are working day and
+night to still further strengthen them, and provide ample supplies of
+munitions of war. The hearts of all the nations united under our flag
+are beating as that of one man, and from the highest to the lowest
+ranks of Society all are inspired by a spirit of whole-souled
+patriotism which, if necessary, will make any sacrifice to preserve
+the flag untarnished, and the honour of Britain without a spot.
+
+"At the head of affairs stands the man who of all others has proved
+himself to be the most fitted to direct the destinies of the empire
+in this tremendous crisis of her history. Party feeling for the time
+being has almost entirely disappeared, save amongst the few scattered
+bands of isolated Revolutionaries and malcontents, and Mr. Balfour
+possesses the absolute confidence of his Majesty on the one hand, and
+the undivided support of an impregnable majority in both Houses of
+Parliament on the other. He is admirably seconded by such lieutenants
+as Lord Randolph Churchill, Sir Joseph Chamberlain, and Sir George J.
+Goschen on his own side of the House, and by the Earls of Rosebery
+and Morley, Lord Brassey, and Sir Charles Dilke in what, previous to
+the outbreak of the war, was the opposing political camp, but which
+is now a party as loyal as that of the Government to the best
+interests of the Empire, and fully determined to give the utmost
+possible moral support consistent with fair and impartial criticism.
+
+"The disastrous mistake which was made by a very small majority of
+the Upper House in rejecting the Government guarantee for the
+ill-fated Italian loan is now, of course, past repair; for Italy, as
+events have proved, exasperated by what her spokesmen termed her
+selfish betrayal by Britain, has passionately thrown herself into the
+arms of the League, and the Alliance has now no more bitter enemy
+than she is. It is, however, only justice to those who defeated the
+loan to add that they have now clearly seen and frankly owned their
+grievous mistake, and rallied as one man to the support of the
+Government."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+THE HERALDS OF DISASTER.
+
+
+Another column in the same issue contained an account of the
+"Mysterious Disappearance of Lord Alanmere" and the doings of the
+_Ithuriel_ in the Atlantic. The account concluded as follows:--
+
+"As the enemy's squadron came up in chase it was annihilated without
+warning and with appalling suddenness by the air-ship, which must
+have crossed the Atlantic in something like sixteen hours. After this
+fearful achievement it descended to the _Aurania_, took off a saloon
+passenger named Michael Roburoff, evidently, from his reception, a
+Terrorist himself, and then vanished through the clouds. For the
+present, and until we have fuller information, we attempt no detailed
+analysis of these astounding events. We merely content ourselves with
+saying in the most solemn words that we can use, that, awful and
+disastrous as is the war that is now raging throughout the greatest
+part of the old world, it is our firm belief that, behind the
+smoke-clouds of battle, and beneath the surface of visible events,
+there is working a secret power, possibly greater than any which has
+yet been called into action, and which at an unexpected moment may
+suddenly put forth its strength, upheave the foundations of Society,
+and bury existing institutions in the ruins of Civilisation.
+
+"One fact is quite manifest, and that is, that although the League
+possesses a weapon of fearful efficiency for destruction in their
+fleet of aerostats, the Terrorists, controlled by no law save their
+own, and hampered by no traditions or limitations of civilised
+warfare, are in command of another fleet of unknown strength, the
+air-ships of which are apparently as superior to the aerostats of the
+League as a modern battleship would be to a three-decker of the time
+of Nelson.
+
+"The power represented by such a fleet as this is absolutely
+inconceivable. The aerostats are large, clumsy, and comparatively
+slow. They do not carry guns, and can only drop their projectiles
+vertically downwards. Moreover, their sphere of operations has so far
+been entirely confined to the land.
+
+"Very different, however, would seem to be the powers of the
+Terrorist air-ships. They have proved conclusively that they are
+swift almost beyond imagination. They have crossed oceans and
+continents in a few hours; they can ascend to enormous heights, and
+they carry artillery of unknown design and tremendous range, whose
+projectiles excel in destructiveness the very lightnings of heaven
+itself.
+
+"In the presence of such an awful and mysterious power as this even
+the quarrels of nations seem to shrink into unimportance, and almost
+to pettiness. Where and when it may strike, no man knows save those
+who wield it, and therefore there is nothing for the peoples of the
+earth, however mighty they may be, to do but to await the blow in
+humiliating impotence, but still with a humble trust in that Higher
+Power which alone can save it from accomplishing the destruction of
+Society and the enslavement of the human race."
+
+It may well be imagined with what interest, and it may fairly be
+added with what intense anxiety, these words were read by hundreds of
+thousands of people throughout the British Islands. Even the news
+from the Seat of War began to pall in interest before such tidings as
+these, invested as they were with the irresistible if terrible charm
+of the unknown and the mysterious.
+
+By noon it was almost impossible to get any one in London or any of
+the large towns to talk of anything but the disappearance of Lord
+Alanmere, the Terrorists, and their marvellous aerial fleet. But it
+goes without saying that nowhere did the news produce greater
+distress or more utter bewilderment than it did among the occupants
+of Alanmere Castle, and especially in the breast of her who had been
+so quickly and so strangely installed as its new owner and mistress.
+
+Everywhere the wildest rumours passed from lip to lip, growing in
+sensation and absurdity as they went. A report, telegraphed by an
+anonymous idiot from Liverpool, to the effect that six air-ships had
+appeared over the Mersey, and demanded a ransom of L10,000,000 from
+the town, was eagerly seized on by the cheaper evening papers, which
+rushed out edition after edition on the strength of it, until the
+_St. James's Gazette_ put an end to the excitement by publishing a
+telegram from the Mayor of Liverpool denouncing the report as an
+insane and criminal hoax.
+
+The next edition of the _St. James's_, however, contained a telegram
+from Hiorring, in Denmark, _via_ Newcastle, which was of almost, if
+not quite, as startling and disquieting a nature, and which,
+moreover, contained a very considerable measure of truth. The
+telegram ran as follows:--
+
+      NAVAL DISASTER IN THE BALTIC.
+
+      _The Sound forced by a Russian Squadron, assisted by a
+      Terrorist Air-Ship._
+
+      (_From our own Correspondent._)
+
+      Hiorring, _June 28th_, 8 A.M.
+
+    With the deepest regret I have to record the first naval disaster
+    to the British arms during the present war. As soon as it became
+    dark last night heavy firing was heard from Copenhagen to the
+    southward, and before long the sound deepened into an almost
+    continuous roar of light and heavy guns.
+
+    Our naval force in the Baltic was so strong that it was deemed
+    incredible that the Russian fleet, which we have held imprisoned
+    here since the commencement of hostilities, should dream even of
+    making an attempt to escape. The cannonade, however, was the
+    beginning of such an attempt, and it is useless disguising the
+    fact that it has been completely successful. That this would have
+    been the case, or, indeed, that the attempt would ever have been
+    made by the Russian fleet alone, cannot be for a moment credited.
+    But, incredible as it seems, it is nevertheless true that it was
+    assisted, and that in a practically irresistible fashion, by one
+    of those air-ships which have hitherto been believed to belong
+    exclusively to the Terrorists, that is to say, to the deadliest
+    enemies that Russia possesses.
+
+    As nearly as is known the Russian fleet consisted of twelve
+    battleships, twenty-five armoured and unarmoured cruisers, and
+    about forty torpedo-boats. These came charging ahead at full
+    speed into the entrance to the Sound in spite of the overwhelming
+    force of the Allied fleets, supported by the fortresses of
+    Copenhagen and Elsinore. The attack was so sudden and so
+    completely unexpected, that it must be confessed the defenders
+    were to a certain extent taken unawares. The Russians came on in
+    the form of an elongated wedge, their most powerful vessels being
+    at the apex and external sides.
+
+    [Illustration: "On the water the results of the air-ship's attack
+    were destructive almost beyond description."
+
+    _See page 191._]
+
+    The firing was furious and sustained from beginning to end of the
+    rush, but the damage inflicted by the cannonade of the Russian
+    fleet and the torpedo-boats, which every now and then darted out
+    from between the warships as opportunity offered to employ their
+    silent and deadly weapons, was as nothing in comparison with the
+    frightful havoc achieved by the air-ship.
+
+    This extraordinary craft hovered over the attacking force,
+    darting hither and thither with bewildering rapidity, and raining
+    down shells charged with an unknown explosive of fearful power
+    among the crowded ships of the great force which was blocking the
+    Sound. Half a dozen of these shells were fired upon the seaward
+    fortifications of Copenhagen in passing, and produced a perfectly
+    paralysing effect.
+
+    On the water the results of the air-ship's attack were
+    destructive almost beyond description, particularly when she
+    stationed herself over the Allied fleet and began firing her four
+    guns right and left, ahead and astern. Every time a shell struck
+    either a battleship or a cruiser, the terrific explosion which
+    resulted either sank the ship in a few minutes, or so far
+    disabled it that it fell an easy prey to the guns and rams of the
+    Russians. As for the torpedo-boats which were struck, they were
+    simply scattered over the water in indistinguishable fragments.
+
+    Under these conditions maintenance of formation and effective
+    fighting were practically impossible, and the huge iron wedge of
+    the Russian squadron was driven almost without a check through
+    the demoralised ranks of the Allied fleet. The Gut of Elsinore
+    was reached in a little more than three hours after the first
+    sounds of the cannonade were heard. Shortly before this the
+    air-ship had stationed itself about a thousand feet above the
+    water, and a mile from the fortifications.
+
+    From this position it commenced a brief, rapid cannonade from its
+    smokeless and flameless guns, the effects of which on the
+    fortress are said to have been indescribably awful. Great blocks
+    of steel-sheathed masonry were dislodged from the ramparts and
+    hurled bodily into the sea, carrying with them guns and men to
+    irretrievable destruction. In less than half an hour the once
+    impregnable fortress of Elsinore was little better than a heap of
+    ruins. The last shell blew up the central magazine; the
+    tremendous explosion was heard for miles along the coast, and
+    proved to be the closing act of the briefest but most deadly
+    great naval action in the history of war.
+
+    The Russian fleet steamed triumphantly past the silenced Cerberus
+    of the Sound with flashing searchlights, blazing rockets, and
+    jubilant salvos of blank cartridge in honour of their really
+    brilliant victory.
+
+    The losses of the Allied fleet, so far as they are at present
+    known, are distressingly heavy. We have lost the battleships
+    _Neptune_, _Hotspur_, _Anson_, _Superb_, _Black Prince_, and
+    _Rodney_, the armoured cruisers _Narcissus_, _Beatrice_, and
+    _Mersey_, the unarmoured cruisers _Arethusa_, _Barossa_, _Clyde_,
+    _Lais_, _Seagull_, _Grasshopper_, and _Nautilus_, and not less
+    than nineteen torpedo-boats of the first and second classes.
+
+    The Germans and Danes have lost the battleships _Kaiser Wilhelm_,
+    _Friedrich der Grosse_, _Dantzig_, _Viborg_, and _Funen_, five
+    German and three Danish cruisers, and about a dozen
+    torpedo-boats.
+
+    Under whatever circumstances the Russians have obtained the
+    assistance of the air-ship, which rendered them services that
+    have proved so disastrous to the Allies, there can be no doubt
+    but that her arrival on the scene puts a completely different
+    aspect on the face of affairs at sea.
+
+    I have written this telegram on board first-class torpedo-boat,
+    No. 87, which followed the Russian fleet from the Sound round the
+    Skawe. They passed through the Kattegat in two columns of line
+    ahead, with the air-ship apparently resting after her flight on
+    board one of the largest steamers. We could see her quite
+    distinctly by the glare of the rockets and the electric light.
+    She is a small three-masted vessel almost exactly resembling the
+    one which partially destroyed Kronstadt in the middle of March.
+
+    After rounding the Skawe, the Russian fleet steamed away westward
+    into the German Ocean, and we put in here to send off our
+    despatches. This telegram has, of course, been officially
+    revised, and my information, as far as it goes, can therefore be
+    relied upon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+AN INTERLUDE.
+
+
+At noon on the 26th, as the tropical sun was pouring down its
+vertical rays upon the lovely valley of Aeria, the _Ithuriel_ crossed
+the Ridge which divided it from the outer world, and came to rest on
+the level stretch of sward on the northern shore of the lake.
+
+Before she touched the earth Arnold glanced rapidly round and
+discovered his aerial fleet resting under a series of large
+palm-thatched sheds which had already been erected to protect them
+from the burning sun, and the rare but violent tropical rain-storms.
+He counted them. There were only eleven, and therefore the evil
+tidings that they had heard from the captain of the _Andromeda_ was
+true.
+
+Even before greetings were exchanged with the colonists Natas ordered
+Nicholas Roburoff to be summoned on board alone. He received him in
+the lower saloon, on either side of which, as he went in, he found a
+member of the crew armed with a magazine rifle and fixed bayonet.
+
+Seated at the cabin table were Natas, Tremayne, and Arnold. The
+President was received in cold and ominous silence, not even a glance
+of recognition was vouchsafed to him. He stood at the other end of
+the table with bowed head, a prisoner before his judges. Natas looked
+at him for some moments in dead silence, and there was a dark gleam
+of anger in his eyes which made Arnold tremble for the man whose life
+hung upon a word of a judge from whose sentence there could be no
+appeal.
+
+At length Natas spoke; his voice was hard and even; there were no
+modulations in it that displayed the slightest feeling, whether of
+anger or any other emotion. It was like the voice of an impassive
+machine speaking the very words of Fate itself.
+
+"You know why we have returned, and why you have been sent for?"
+
+"Yes, Master."
+
+Roburoff's voice was low and respectful, but there was no quaver of
+fear in it.
+
+"You were left here in command of the settlement and in charge of the
+fleet. You were ordered to permit no vessel to leave the valley till
+the flagship returned. One of them was seen crossing the
+Mediterranean in a northerly direction three days ago. Either you are
+a traitor, or that vessel is in the hands of traitors. Explain."
+
+Nicholas Roburoff remained silent for a few moments. His breast
+heaved once or twice convulsively, as though he were striving hard to
+repress some violent emotion. Then he drew himself up like a soldier
+coming to attention, and, looking straight in front of him, told his
+story briefly and calmly, though he knew that, according to the laws
+of the Order, its sequel might, and probably would, be his own death.
+
+"The night of the day on which the flagship left the valley was
+visited by a violent storm, which raged for about four hours without
+cessation. We had no proper shelter but the air-ships, and so I
+distributed the company among them.
+
+"When nearly all had been provided for, there was one vessel left
+unoccupied, and four of the unmarried men had not been accommodated.
+They therefore took their places in the spare vessel. They were Peter
+Tamboff, Amos Vornjeh, Ivan Tscheszco, and Paul Oreloff, all
+Russians.
+
+"We closed the hatches of the vessels, and remained inside till the
+storm ceased. When we were able to open the hatches again, it was
+pitch dark--so dark that it was impossible to see even a yard from
+one's face. Suspecting no evil, we retired to rest again till
+sunrise. When day dawned it was found that the vessel in which the
+four men I have named had taken shelter had disappeared.
+
+"I at once ordered three vessels to rise and pass through the defile.
+On the outside we separated and made the entire circuit of Aeria,
+rising as high as the fan-wheels would take us, and examining the
+horizon in all directions for the missing vessel.
+
+"We failed to discover her, and were forced to the conclusion that
+the deserters had taken her away early in the night at full speed,
+and would, therefore, be far beyond the possibility of capture, as we
+possessed no faster vessel than the missing one. So we returned. That
+is all."
+
+"Go to the forward cabin and remain there till you're sent for," said
+Natas.
+
+The President instantly turned and walked mechanically through the
+door that was opened for him by one of the sentinels. The other went
+in front of him, the second behind, closing the door as he left the
+saloon.
+
+A brief discussion took place between Natas and his two lieutenants,
+and within a quarter of an hour Nicholas Roburoff was again standing
+at the end of the table to hear the decision of his judges. Without
+any preamble it was delivered by Natas in these words--
+
+"We have heard your story, and believe it. You have been guilty of a
+serious mistake, for these four men were all ordinary members of the
+Outer Circle, who had only been brought here on account of their
+mechanical skill to occupy subordinate positions. You therefore
+committed a grave error, amounting almost to a breach of the rule
+which states that no members of the Outer Circle shall be entrusted
+with any charge, or work, save under the supervision of a member of
+the Inner Circle responsible for them.
+
+"Had such a breach been even technically committed your life would
+have been forfeited, and you would have been executed for breach of
+trust. We have considered the circumstances, and find you guilty of
+indiscretion and want of forethought.
+
+"You will cease from now to be President of the Inner Circle. Your
+place will be taken for the time by Alan Tremayne as Chief of the
+Executive. You will cease also to share the Councils of the Order for
+a space of twelve months, during which time you will be incapable of
+any responsible charge or authority. Your restoration will, of
+course, depend upon your behaviour. I have said."
+
+As he finished speaking Natas waved his hand towards the door. It was
+opened, the sentries stepped aside, and Nicholas Roburoff walked out
+in silence, with bowed head and a heart heavy with shame. The penalty
+was really the most severe that could be inflicted on him, for he
+found himself suddenly deprived both of authority and the confidence
+of his chiefs at the very hour when the work of the Brotherhood was
+culminating to its fruition.
+
+Yet, heavy as the punishment seemed in comparison with the fault, it
+was justified by the necessities of the case. Without the strictest
+safeguards, not only against treachery or disobedience, but even mere
+carelessness, it would have been impossible to have carried on the
+tremendous work which the Brotherhood had silently and secretly
+accomplished, and which was soon to produce results as momentous as
+they would be unexpected. No one knew this better than the late
+President himself, who frankly acknowledged the justice and the
+necessity of his punishment, and prepared to devote himself heart and
+soul to regaining his lost credit in the eyes of the Master.
+
+No sooner was the sentence pronounced than the matter was instantly
+dismissed and never alluded to again, so far as Roburoff was
+concerned, by any one. No one presumed even to comment upon a word or
+deed of the Master. The disgraced President fell naturally, and
+apparently without observation, into his humbler sphere of duties,
+and the members of the colony treated him with exactly the same
+friendliness and fraternity as they had done before. Natas had
+decided, and there was nothing more for any one to say or do in the
+matter.
+
+Arnold, as soon as he had exchanged greetings with the Princess, now
+known simply as Anna Ornovski, and his other friends and
+acquaintances in the colony, not, of course, forgetting Louis Holt,
+at once shut himself up in his laboratory by the turbine, and for the
+next four hours remained invisible, preparing a large supply of his
+motor gases, and pumping them into the exhausted cylinders of the
+_Ithuriel_, and all the others that were available, by means of his
+hydraulic machinery.
+
+Soon after four he had finished his task, and come out to take his
+part in a ceremony of a very different character to that at which he
+had been obliged to assist earlier in the day. This was the
+fulfilment of the promise which Radna Michaelis had made to Colston
+in the Council-chamber of the house on Clapham Common on the evening
+of his departure on the expedition which had so brilliantly proved
+the powers of the _Ariel_, and brought such confusion on the enemies
+of the Brotherhood.
+
+Almost the first words that Colston had said to Radna when he boarded
+the _Avondale_ were--
+
+"Natasha is yonder, safe and sound, and you are mine at last!"
+
+And she had replied very quietly, yet with a thrill in her voice that
+told her lover how gladly she accepted her own condition--
+
+"What you have fairly won is yours to take when you will have it.
+Besides, you cannot do justice on Kastovitch now, for it has already
+been done. We had news before we left England that he had been shot
+through the heart by the brother of a girl whom he treated worse than
+he treated me."
+
+But, as has been stated before, the laws of the Brotherhood did not
+permit of the marriage of any of its members without the direct
+sanction of Natas, and therefore it had been necessary to wait until
+now.
+
+As Radna and Colston were two of the most trusted and prominent
+members of the Inner Circle, it was fitting that their wedding should
+be honoured by the presence of the Master in person. An added
+solemnity was also given to it by the fact that, in all human
+probability, it was the first time since the world began that the
+mighty hills which looked down upon Aeria had witnessed the plighting
+of the troth of a man and a woman.
+
+Like all other formal acts of the Brotherhood, the ceremony was
+simple in the extreme; but, in this case at least, it was none the
+less impressive on that account. In a lovely glade, through which a
+crystal stream ran laughing on its way to the lake, Natas sat under
+the shade of a spreading tree-fern. In front of him was a small table
+covered with a white cloth, on which lay a roll of parchment and a
+copy of the Hebrew Scriptures.
+
+At this table, facing Natas, stood the betrothed pair with their
+witnesses, Natasha for Radna, and Arnold for Colston, or Alexis
+Mazanoff, to give him his true name, which must, of course, be used
+on such an occasion. In a wide semicircle some four yards off stood
+all the members of the little community, Louis Holt and his faithful
+servitor not excepted.
+
+In the midst of a silence broken only by the whispering of the warm,
+scented wind in the tree-tops, the Master of the Terror spoke in a
+kindly yet solemn tone--
+
+"Alexis Mazanoff and Radna Michaelis, you stand here before Heaven,
+and in the presence of your comrades, to take each other for wedded
+wife and husband, till death shall part the hands that now are
+joined!
+
+"Your mutual vows have long ago been pledged, and what you are about
+to do is good earnest of their fulfilment. But above the duty that
+you owe to each other stands your duty to that great Cause to which
+you have already irrevocably devoted your lives. You have already
+sworn that as long as you shall live its ends shall be your ends, and
+that no human considerations shall weigh with you where those ends
+are concerned. Do you take each other for husband and wife subject to
+that condition and all that it implies?"
+
+"We do!" replied the lovers with one voice, and then Natas went on--
+
+"Then by the laws of our Order, the only laws that we are permitted
+to obey, I pronounce you man and wife before Heaven and this company.
+Be faithful to each other and the Cause in the days to come as you
+have been in the days that are past, and if it shall please the
+Master of Destiny that you shall be blessed with children, see to it
+that you train them up in the love of truth, freedom, and justice,
+and in the hatred of tyranny and wrong.
+
+"May the blessings of life be yours as you shall deserve them, and
+when the appointed hour shall come, may you be found ready to pass
+from the mystery of the things that are into the deeper mystery of
+the things that are to be!"
+
+So saying, the Master raised his hands as though in blessing, and as
+Alexis and Radna bent their heads the slanting sunrays fell upon the
+thickly coiled white hair of the new-made wife, crowning her shapely
+head like a diadem of silver.
+
+All that remained to do now was to sign the Marriage Roll of the
+Brotherhood, and when they had done this the entry stood as
+follows:--
+
+    "Married on the tenth day of the Month Tamuz, in the Year of the
+    World five thousand six hundred and sixty-four, in the presence
+    of me, Natas, and those of the Brotherhood now resident in the
+    Colony of Aeria:--
+
+      {ALEXIS MAZANOFF,
+      {RADNA MICHAELIS MAZANOFF.
+
+      Witnesses   {RICHARD ARNOLD,
+                  {NATASHA.
+
+As Natasha laid down the pen after signing she looked up quickly, as
+though moved by some sudden impulse, her eyes met Arnold's, and an
+instant later the happy flush on Radna's cheek was rivalled by that
+which rose to her own. Her lips half parted in a smile, and then she
+turned suddenly away to be the first to offer her congratulations to
+the newly-wedded wife, while Arnold, his heart beating as it had
+never done since the model of the _Ariel_ first rose from the floor
+of his room in the Southwark tenement-house, grasped Mazanoff by the
+hand and said simply--
+
+"God bless you both, old man!"
+
+The whole ceremony had not taken more than fifteen minutes from
+beginning to end. After Arnold came Tremayne with his good wishes,
+and then Anna Ornovski and the rest of the friends and comrades of
+the newly-wedded lovers.
+
+One usually conspicuous feature in similar ceremonies was entirely
+wanting. There were no wedding presents. For this there was a very
+sufficient reason. All the property of the members of the Inner
+Circle, saving only articles of personal necessity, were held in
+common. Articles of mere convenience or luxury were looked upon with
+indifference, if not with absolute contempt, and so no one had
+anything to give.
+
+After all, this was not a very serious matter for a company of men
+and women who held in their hands the power of levying indemnities to
+any amount upon the wealth-centres of the world under pain of
+immediate destruction.
+
+That evening the supper of the colonists took the shape of a sylvan
+marriage feast, eaten in the open air under the palms and tree ferns,
+as the sun was sinking down behind the western peaks of Aeria, and
+the full moon was rising over those to the eastward.
+
+The whole earth might have been searched in vain for a happier
+company of men and women than that which sat down to the marriage
+feast of Radna Michaelis and Alexis Mazanoff in the virgin groves of
+Aeria. For the time being the world-war and all its horrors were
+forgotten, and they allowed their thoughts to turn without restraint
+to the promise of the days when the work of the Brotherhood should be
+accomplished, and there should be peace on earth at last.
+
+It had been decided that three of the air-ships would be sufficient
+for the chase and capture or destruction, as the case might be, of
+the deserters. These were the _Ithuriel_, under the command of
+Arnold; the _Ariel_, commanded by Mazanoff, who, of course, did not
+sail alone; and the _Orion_, in charge of Tremayne, who had already
+mastered the details of aerial navigation under Arnold's tuition.
+
+To the unspeakable satisfaction of the latter, Natas had signified
+his intention of accompanying him in the _Ithuriel_. As Natasha
+utterly refused to be parted so soon from her father again, one of
+his attendants was dispensed with and she took his place. This fact
+had, of course, something to do with the Admiral's satisfaction with
+the arrangement.
+
+By nine o'clock the moon was high in the heavens. At that hour the
+fan-wheels of the little squadron rose from the decks, and at a
+signal from Arnold began to revolve. The three vessels ascended
+quietly into the air amidst the cheers and farewells of the
+colonists, and in single file passed slowly down the beautiful valley
+bathed in the brilliant moonlight. One by one they disappeared
+through the defile that led to the outer world, and, once clear of
+the mountains, the _Ithuriel_, with one of her consorts on either
+side, headed away due north at the speed of a hundred miles an hour.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+ON THE TRACK OF TREASON.
+
+
+The _Ithuriel_ and her consorts crossed the northern coast of Africa
+soon after daybreak on the 27th, in the longitude of Alexandria, at
+an elevation of nearly 4000 feet. From thence they pursued almost the
+same course as that steered by the deserters, as Natas had rightly
+judged that they would first make for Russia, probably St.
+Petersburg, and there hand the air-ship over to the representatives
+of the Tsar.
+
+There was, of course, another alternative, and that was the
+supposition that they had stolen the _Lucifer_--the "fallen Angel,"
+as Natasha had now re-named her--for purposes of piracy and private
+revenge; but that was negatived by the fact that Tamboff knew that he
+only had a certain supply of motive power which he could not renew,
+and which, once exhausted, left his air-ship as useless as a steamer
+without coal. His only reasonable course, therefore, would be to sell
+the vessel to the Tsar, and leave his Majesty's chemists to discover
+and renew the motive power if they could.
+
+These conclusions once arrived at, it was an easy matter for the keen
+and subtle intellect of Natas to deduce from them almost the exact
+sequence of events that had actually taken place. The _Lucifer_ had a
+sufficient supply of power-cylinders and shells for present use, and
+these would doubtless be employed at once by the Tsar, who would
+trust to his chemists and engineers to discover the nature of the
+agents employed.
+
+For this purpose it would be absolutely necessary for him to give
+them one or two of the shells, and at least two of the spare
+power-cylinders as subjects for their experiments.
+
+Now Natas knew that if there was one man in Russia who could discover
+the composition of the explosives, that man was Professor Volnow of
+the Imperial Arsenal Laboratory, and therefore the shells and
+cylinders would be sent to him at the Arsenal for examination. The
+whereabouts of the deserters for the present mattered nothing in
+comparison with the possible discovery of the secret on which the
+whole power of the Terrorists depended.
+
+That once revealed, the sole empire of the air was theirs no longer.
+The Tsar, with millions of money at his command, could very soon
+build an aerial fleet, not only equal, but, numerically at least,
+vastly superior to their own, and this would practically give him the
+command of the world.
+
+Natas therefore came to the conclusion that no measures could be too
+extreme to be justified by such a danger as this, and so, after a
+consultation with the commanders of the three vessels, it was decided
+to, if necessary, destroy the Arsenal at St. Petersburg, on the
+strength of the reasoning that had led to the logical conclusion that
+within its precincts the priceless secret either might be or had
+already been discovered.
+
+As the crow flies, St. Petersburg is thirty degrees of latitude, or
+eighteen hundred geographical miles, north of Alexandria, and this
+distance the _Ithuriel_ and her consorts, flying at a speed of a
+hundred and twenty miles an hour, traversed in fifteen hours,
+reaching the Russian capital a few minutes after seven on the evening
+of the 27th.
+
+The Rome of the North, basking in the soft evening sunlight of the
+incomparable Russian summer, lay vast and white and beautiful on the
+islands formed by the Neva and its ten tributaries; its innumerable
+palaces, churches, and theatres, and long straight streets of stately
+houses, its parks and gardens, and its green shady suburbs, making up
+a picture which forced an exclamation of wonder from Arnold's lips as
+the air-ships slowed down and he left the conning-tower of the
+_Ithuriel_ to admire the magnificent view from the bows. They passed
+over the city at a height of four thousand feet, and so were quite
+near enough to see and enjoy the excitement and consternation which
+their sudden appearance instantly caused among the inhabitants. The
+streets and squares filled in an inconceivably short space of time
+with crowds of people, who ran about like tiny ants upon the ground,
+gesticulating and pointing upwards, evidently in terror lest the fate
+of Kronstadt was about to fall upon St. Petersburg.
+
+The experimental department of the Arsenal had within the last two or
+three years been rebuilt on a large space of waste ground outside the
+northern suburbs, and to this the three air-ships directed their
+course after passing over the city. It was a massive three-storey
+building, built in the form of a quadrangle. The three air-ships
+stopped within a mile of it at an elevation of two thousand feet. It
+had been decided that, before proceeding to extremities, which, after
+all, might still leave them in doubt as to whether or not they had
+really destroyed all means of analysing the explosives, they should
+make an effort to discover whether Professor Volnow had received them
+for experiment, and, if so, what success he had had.
+
+Mazanoff had undertaken this delicate and dangerous task, and so, as
+soon as the _Ithuriel_ and the _Orion_ came to a standstill, and hung
+motionless in the air, with all their guns ready trained on different
+parts of the building, the _Ariel_ sank suddenly and swiftly down,
+and stopped within forty feet of the heads of a crowd of soldiers and
+mechanics, who had rushed pell-mell out of the building, under the
+impression that it was about to be destroyed.
+
+The bold manoeuvre of the _Ariel_ took officers and men completely by
+surprise. So intense was the terror in which these mysterious
+air-ships were held, and so absolute was the belief that they were
+armed with perfectly irresistible means of destruction, that the
+sight of one of them at such close quarters paralysed all thought and
+action for the time being. The first shock over, the majority of the
+crowd took to their heels and fled incontinently. Of the remainder a
+few of the bolder spirits handled their rifles and looked inquiringly
+at their officers. Mazanoff saw this, and at once raised his hand
+towards the sky and shouted--
+
+"Ground arms! If a shot is fired the Arsenal will be destroyed as
+Kronstadt was, and then we shall attack Petersburg."
+
+The threat was sufficient. A grey-haired officer in undress uniform
+glanced up at the _Ithuriel_ and her consort, and then at the guns of
+the _Ariel_, all four of which had been swung round and brought to
+bear on the side of the building near which she had descended. He was
+no coward, but he saw that Mazanoff had the power to do what he said,
+and that even if this one air-ship were captured or destroyed, the
+other two would take a frightful vengeance. He thought of Kronstadt,
+and decided to parley. The rifle butts had come to the ground before
+Mazanoff had done speaking.
+
+"Order arms, and keep silence!" said the officer, and then he
+advanced alone from the crowd and said--
+
+"Who are you, and what is your errand?"
+
+"Alexis Mazanoff, late prisoner of the Tsar, and now commander of the
+Terrorist air-ship _Ariel_. I have not come to destroy you unless you
+force me to do so, but to ask certain questions, and demand the
+giving up of certain property delivered into your hands by deserters
+and traitors."
+
+"What are your questions?"
+
+"First, is Professor Volnow in the building?"
+
+"He is."
+
+"Then I must ask you to send for him at once."
+
+It went sorely against the grain of the servant of the Tsar to
+acquiesce in the demand of an outlaw, but there was nothing else for
+it. The outlaw could blow him and all his subordinates into space
+with a pressure of his finger; and so he sent an orderly with a
+request for the presence of the professor. Meanwhile Mazanoff
+continued--
+
+"An air-ship similar to this arrived here three days ago, I believe?"
+
+The officer bit his lips with rage at his helpless position, and
+bowed affirmatively.
+
+"And certain articles were taken out of her for examination here--two
+gas cylinders and a projectile, I believe?"
+
+Again the officer bowed, wondering how on earth the Terrorist could
+have come by such accurate information.
+
+"And the air-ship has been sent on to the seat of war, while the
+Professor is trying to discover the composition of the gases and the
+explosive used in the shell?" went on Mazanoff, risking a last shot
+at the truth.
+
+The officer did not bow this time. Giving way at last to his rising
+fury, he stamped on the ground and almost screamed--
+
+"Great God! you insolent scoundrel! Why do you ask me questions when
+you know the answers as well as I do, and better? Yes, we have got
+one of your diabolical ships of the air, and we will build a fleet
+like it and hunt you from the world!"
+
+"All in good time, my dear sir," replied Mazanoff ironically. "When
+you have found a place in which to build them that we cannot blow off
+the face of the earth before you get one finished. Meanwhile, let me
+beg of you to keep your temper, and to remember that there is a lady
+present. That girl standing yonder by the gun was once stripped and
+flogged by Russians calling themselves men and soldiers. Her fingers
+are itching to make the movement that would annihilate you and every
+one standing near you, so pray try keep your temper; for if we fire a
+shot the air-ships up yonder will at once open fire, and not stop
+while there is a stone of that building left upon another. Ah! here
+comes the Professor."
+
+As he spoke the man of science advanced, looking wonderingly at the
+air-ship. Mazanoff made a sign to the old officer to keep silence,
+and continued in the same polite tone that he had used all along--
+
+"Good evening, Professor! I have come to ask you whether you have yet
+made any experiments on the contents of the shell and the two
+cylinders that were given to you for examination?"
+
+"I must first ask for your authority to put such an inquiry to me on
+a confidential subject," replied the Professor stiffly.
+
+"On the authority given me by the power to enforce an answer, sir,"
+returned the Terrorist quietly. "I know that Professor Volnow will
+not lie to me, even at the order of the Tsar, and when I tell you
+that your refusal to reply will cost the lives of every one here, and
+possibly involve the destruction of Petersburg itself, I feel sure
+that, as a mere matter of humanity, you will comply with my request."
+
+"Sir, the orders of my master are absolute secrecy on this subject,
+and I will obey them to the death. I have analysed the contents of
+one of the cylinders, but what they are I will tell to no one save by
+the direct command of his Majesty. That is all I have done."
+
+"Then in that case, Professor, I must ask you to surrender yourself
+prisoner of war, and to come on board this vessel at once."
+
+As Mazanoff said this the _Ariel_ dropped to within ten feet of the
+ground, and a rope-ladder fell over the side.
+
+"Come, Professor, there is no time to be lost. I shall give the order
+to fire in one minute from now."
+
+He took out his watch, and began to count the seconds. Ten, twenty,
+thirty passed and the Professor stood irresolute. Two of the
+_Ariel's_ guns pointed at the gables of the Arsenal, and two swept
+the crowded space in front.
+
+Konstantin Volnow knew enough to see clearly the frightful slaughter
+and destruction that twenty seconds more would bring if he refused to
+give himself up. As Mazanoff counted "forty" he threw up his hands
+with a gesture of despair, and cried--
+
+"Stop! I will come. The Tsar has as good servants as I am! Colonel,
+tell his Majesty that I gave myself up to save the lives of better
+men."
+
+Then the Professor mounted the ladder amidst a murmur of relief and
+applause from the crowd, and, gaining the deck of the _Ariel_, bowed
+coldly to Mazanoff and said--
+
+"I am your prisoner, sir!"
+
+The captain of the _Ariel_ bowed in reply, and stamped thrice on the
+deck. The fan-wheels whirled round, and the air-ship rapidly
+ascended, at the same time moving diagonally across the quadrangle of
+the Arsenal.
+
+Scarcely had she reached the other side when there was a tremendous
+explosion in the north-eastern angle of the building. A sheet of
+flame shot up through the roof, the walls split asunder, and masses
+of stone, wood, and iron went flying in all directions, leaving only
+a fiercely burning mass of ruins where the gable had been.
+
+The Professor turned ashy pale, staggered backwards with both his
+hands clasped to his head, and gasped out brokenly as he stared at
+the conflagration--
+
+"God have mercy on me! My laboratory! My assistant--I told him"--
+
+"What did you tell him, Professor?" said Mazanoff sternly, grasping
+him suddenly by the arm.
+
+"I told him not to open the other cylinder."
+
+"And he has done so, and paid for his disobedience with his life,"
+said Mazanoff calmly. "Console yourself, my dear sir! He has only
+saved me the trouble of destroying your laboratory. I serve a sterner
+and more powerful master than yours. He ordered me to make your
+experiments impossible if it cost a thousand lives to do so, and I
+would have done it if necessary. Rest content with the knowledge that
+you have saved, not only the rest of the Arsenal, but also
+Petersburg, by your surrender; for sooner than that secret had been
+revealed, we should have laid the city in ruins to slay the man who
+had discovered it."
+
+The prisoner of the Terrorists made no reply, but turned away in
+silence to watch the rapidly receding building, in the angle of which
+the flames were still raging furiously. A few minutes later the
+_Ariel_ had rejoined her consorts. Her captain at once went on board
+the flagship to make his report and deliver up his prisoner to Natas,
+who looked sharply at him and said--
+
+"Professor, will you give me your word of honour to attempt no
+communication with the earth while it may be found necessary to
+detain you? If not, I shall be compelled to keep you in strict
+confinement till it is beyond your power to do so."
+
+"Sir, I give you my word that I will not do so," said the Professor,
+who had now somewhat regained his composure.
+
+"Very well," replied Natas. "Then on that condition you will be made
+free of the vessel, and we will make you as comfortable as we can.
+Captain Arnold, full speed to the south-westward, if you please."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+A SKIRMISH IN THE CLOUDS.
+
+
+A few minutes after two on the following morning, that is to say on
+the 28th, the electric signal leading from the conning-tower of the
+_Ithuriel_ to the wall of Arnold's cabin, just above his berth,
+sounded. As it was only permitted to be used on occasions of urgency,
+he knew that his presence was immediately required forward for some
+good reason, and so he turned out at once, threw a dressing-gown over
+his sleeping suit, and within three minutes was standing in the
+conning-tower beside Andrew Smith, whose watch it then happened to
+be.
+
+"Well, Smith, what's the matter?"
+
+"Fleet of war-balloons coming up from the south'ard, sir. You can
+just see 'em, sir, coming on in line under that long bank of cloud."
+
+The captain of the _Ithuriel_ took the night-glasses, and looked
+eagerly in the direction pointed out by his keen-eyed coxswain. As
+soon as he picked them up he had no difficulty in making out twelve
+small dark spots in line at regular intervals sharply defined against
+a band of light that lay between the earth and a long dark bank of
+clouds.
+
+It was a division of the Tsar's aerial fleet, returning from some
+work of death and destruction in the south to rejoin the main force
+before Berlin. Arnold's course was decided on in an instant. He saw a
+chance of turning the tables on his Majesty in a fashion that he
+would find as unpleasant as it would be unexpected. He turned to his
+coxswain and said--
+
+"How is the wind, Smith?"
+
+"Nor'-nor'-west, with perhaps half a point more north in it, sir.
+About a ten-knot breeze--at least that's the drift that Mr. Marston's
+allowing for."
+
+"Yes, that's near enough. Then those fellows, if they are going full
+speed, are coming up at about twenty miles an hour, or not quite
+that. They're nearly twenty miles off, as nearly as I can judge in
+this light. What do you make it?"
+
+"That's about it, sir; rather less than more, if anything, to my
+mind."
+
+"Very well, then. Now signal to stop, and send up the fan-wheels; and
+tell the _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ to close up and speak."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," said the coxswain, as he saluted and disappeared.
+Arnold at once went back to his cabin and dressed, telling his second
+officer, Frank Marston, a young Englishman, whom he had chosen to
+take Mazanoff's place, to do the same as quietly as possible, as he
+did not wish to awaken any of his three passengers just at present.
+
+By the time he got on deck the three air-ships had slowed down
+considerably, and the two consorts of the _Ithuriel_ were within easy
+speaking distance. Mazanoff and Tremayne were both on deck, and to
+them he explained his plans as follows--
+
+"There are a dozen of the Tsar's war-balloons coming up yonder to the
+southward, and I am going to head them off and capture the lot if I
+can. If we can do that, we can make what terms we like for the
+surrender of the _Lucifer_.
+
+"You two take your ships and get to windward of them as fast as you
+can. Keep a little higher than they are, but not much. On no account
+let one of them get above you. If they try to descend, give each one
+that does so a No. 1 shell, and blow her up. If one tries to pass
+you, ram her in the upper part of the gas-holder, and let her down
+with a smash.
+
+"I am going up above them to prevent any of them from rising too far.
+They can outfly us in that one direction, so I shall blow any that
+attempt it into little pieces. If you have to fire on any of them,
+don't use more than No. 1; you'll find that more than enough.
+
+"Keep an eye on me for signals, and remember that the whole fleet
+must be destroyed rather than one allowed to escape. I want to give
+the Tsar a nice little surprise. He seems to be getting a good deal
+too cock-sure about these old gas-bags of his, and it's time to give
+him a lesson in real aerial warfare."
+
+There was not a great newspaper in the world that would not have
+given a very long price to have had the privilege of putting a
+special correspondent on the deck of the _Ithuriel_ for the two hours
+which followed the giving of Arnold's directions to his brother
+commanders of the little squadron. The journal which could have
+published an exclusive account of the first aerial skirmish in the
+history of the world would have scored a triumph which would have
+left its competitors a long way behind in the struggle to be "up to
+date."
+
+As soon as Arnold had given his orders, the three air-ships at once
+separated. The _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ shot away to the southward on
+only a slightly upward course, while the _Ithuriel_ soared up beyond
+the stratum of clouds which lay in thin broken masses rather more
+than four thousand feet above the earth.
+
+It was still rather more than an hour before sunrise, and, as the
+moon had gone down, and the clouds intercepted most of the starlight,
+it was just "the darkest hour before the dawn," and therefore the
+most favourable for the carrying out of the plan that Arnold had in
+view.
+
+Shortly after half-past two he knocked at Natasha's cabin-door, and
+said--
+
+"If you would like to see an aerial battle, get up and come into the
+conning-tower at once. We have overtaken a squadron of Russian
+war-balloons, and we are going either to capture or destroy them."
+
+"Glorious!" exclaimed Natasha, wide awake in an instant at such
+startling news. "I'll be with you in five minutes. Tell my father,
+and please don't begin till I come."
+
+"I shouldn't think of opening the ball without your ladyship's
+presence," laughed Arnold in reply, and then he went and called Natas
+and his attendant and the Professor before going to the
+conning-tower, where in a very few minutes he was joined by Natasha.
+The first words she said were--
+
+"I have told Ivan to send us some coffee as soon as he has attended
+to my father. You see how thoughtful I am for your creature comforts.
+Now, where are the war-balloons?"
+
+[Illustration: "Come now, and fire the first shot in the warfare of
+the future."
+
+_See page 211._]
+
+"On the other side of those clouds. There, look down through that big
+rift, and you will see one of them."
+
+"Why, what a height we must be from the earth! The balloon looks like
+a little toy thing, but it must be a great clumsy contrivance for all
+that."
+
+"The barometer gives five thousand three hundred feet. You will soon
+see why I have come up so high. The balloons can rise to fifteen or
+twenty thousand feet, if they wish to, and in that way they could
+easily escape us; therefore, if one of them attempts to rise through
+those clouds, I shall send him back to earth in little bits."
+
+"And what are the other two air-ships doing?"
+
+"They are below the clouds, heading the balloons off from the Russian
+camp, which is about fifty miles to the north-westward. Ha! look,
+there go the searchlights!"
+
+As he spoke, two long converging beams of light darted across a broad
+space of sky that was free from cloud. They came from the _Ariel_ and
+the _Orion_, which thus suddenly revealed themselves to the
+astonished and disgusted Russians, one at each end of their long
+line, and only a little more than half a mile ahead of it.
+
+The searchlights flashed to and fro along the line, plainly showing
+the great masses of the aerostats' gas-holders, with their long
+slender cars beneath them. A blue light was burnt on the largest of
+the war-balloons, and at once the whole flotilla began to ascend
+towards the clouds, followed by the two air-ships.
+
+"Here they come!" said Arnold, as he saw them rising through a
+cloud-rift. "Come out and watch what happens to the first one that
+shows herself."
+
+He went out on deck, followed by Natasha, and took his place by one
+of the broadside guns. At the same time he gave the order for the
+_Ithuriel's_ searchlight to be turned on, and to sweep the
+cloud-field below her. Presently a black rounded object appeared
+rising through the clouds like a whale coming to the surface of the
+sea.
+
+He trained the gun on to it as it came distinctly into view, and said
+to Natasha--
+
+"Come, now, and fire the first shot in the warfare of the future. Put
+your finger on the button, and press when I tell you."
+
+Natasha did as he told her, and at the word "Fire!" pressed the
+little ivory button down. The shell struck the upper envelope of the
+balloon, passed through, and exploded. A broad sheet of flame shot
+up, brilliantly illuminating the sea of cloud for an instant, and all
+was darkness again. A few seconds later there came another blaze, and
+the report of a much greater explosion from below the clouds.
+
+"What was that?" asked Natasha.
+
+"That was the car full of explosives striking the earth and going off
+promiscuously," replied Arnold. "There isn't as much of that aerostat
+left as would make a pocket-handkerchief or a walking-stick."
+
+"And the crew?"
+
+"Never knew what happened to them. In the new warfare people will not
+be merely killed, they will be annihilated."
+
+"Horrible!" exclaimed Natasha, with a shudder. "I think you may do
+the rest of the shooting. The effects of that shot will last me for
+some time. Look, there's another of them coming up!"
+
+The words were hardly out of her mouth before Arnold had crossed to
+the other side of the deck and sped another missile on its errand of
+destruction with almost exactly the same result as before. This
+second shot, as it was afterwards found, threw the Russian squadron
+into complete panic.
+
+The terrific suddenness with which the two aerostats had been
+destroyed convinced those in command of the others that there was a
+large force of air-ships above the clouds ready to destroy them one
+by one as they ascended. Arnold waited for a few minutes, and then,
+seeing that no others cared to risk the fate that had overwhelmed the
+first two that had sought to cross the cloud-zone, sank rapidly
+through it, and then stopped again.
+
+He found himself about six hundred feet above the rest of the
+squadron. The _Ithuriel_ coming thus suddenly into view, her eight
+guns pointing in all directions, and her searchlight flashing hither
+and thither as though seeking new victims, completed the
+demoralisation of the Russians. For all they knew there were still
+more air-ships above the clouds. Even this one could not be passed
+while those mysterious guns of unknown range and infallible aim were
+sweeping the sky, ready to hurl their silent lightnings in every
+direction.
+
+Ascend they dare not. To descend was to be destroyed in detail as
+they lay helpless upon the earth. There was only one chance of
+escape, and that was to scatter. The commander of the squadron at
+once signalled for this to be done, and the aerostats headed away to
+all points of the compass. But here they had reckoned without the
+incomparable speed of their assailants.
+
+Before they had moved a hundred yards from their common centre the
+_Ariel_ and the _Orion_ headed away in different directions, and in
+an inconceivably short space of time had described a complete circle
+round them, and then another and another, narrowing each circle that
+they made. One of the aerostats, watching its opportunity, put on
+full speed and tried to get outside the narrowing zone. She had
+almost succeeded, when the _Orion_ swerved outwards and dashed at her
+with the ram.
+
+In ten seconds she was overtaken. The keen steel prow of the
+air-ship, driven at more than a hundred miles an hour, ripped her
+gas-holder from end to end as if it had been tissue paper. It
+collapsed like broken bubble, and the wreck, with its five occupants
+and its load of explosives, dropped like a stone to the earth, three
+thousand feet below, exploding like one huge shell as it struck.
+
+This was the last blow struck in the first aerial battle in the
+history of warfare. The Russians had no stomach for this kind of
+fighting. It was all very well to sail over armies and fortresses on
+the earth and drop shells upon them without danger of retaliation;
+but this was an entirely different matter.
+
+Three of the aerostats had been destroyed in little more than as many
+minutes, so utterly destroyed that not a vestige of them remained,
+and the whole squadron had not been able to strike a blow in
+self-defence. They carried no guns, not even small arms, for they had
+no use for them in the work that they had to do. There were only two
+alternatives before them--surrender or piecemeal destruction.
+
+As soon as she had destroyed the third aerostat, the _Orion_ swerved
+round again, and began flying round the squadron as before in an
+opposite direction to the _Ariel_. None of the aerostats made an
+attempt to break the strange blockage again. As the circles narrowed
+they crowded closer and closer together, like a flock of sheep
+surrounded by wolves.
+
+Meanwhile the _Ithuriel_, floating above the centre of the disordered
+squadron, descended slowly until she hung a hundred feet above the
+highest of them. Then Arnold with his searchlight flashed a signal to
+the _Ariel_ which at once slowed down, the _Orion_ continuing on her
+circular course as before.
+
+As soon as the _Ariel_ was going slowly enough for him to make
+himself heard, Mazanoff shouted through a speaking-trumpet--
+
+"Will you surrender, or fight it out?"
+
+"_Nu vot_! how can we fight with those devil-ships of yours? What is
+your pleasure?"
+
+The answering hail came from one of the aerostats in the centre of
+the squadron. Mazanoff at once replied--
+
+"Unconditional surrender for the present, under guarantee of safety
+to every one who surrenders. Who are you?"
+
+"Colonel Alexei Alexandrovitch, in command of the squadron. I
+surrender on those terms. Who are you?"
+
+"The captain of the Terrorist air-ship _Ariel_. Be good enough to
+come out here, Colonel Alexei Alexandrovitch."
+
+One of the aerostats moved out of the midst of the Russian squadron
+and made its way towards the _Ariel_. As she approached Mazanoff
+swung his bow round and brought it level with the car of the
+aerostat, at the same time training one of his guns full on it. Then,
+with his arm resting on the breach of the gun, he said,--
+
+"Come on board, Colonel, and bid your balloon follow me. No nonsense,
+mind, or I'll blow you into eternity and all your squadron after
+you."
+
+The Russian did as he was bidden, and the _Ariel_, followed by the
+aerostat, ascended to the _Ithuriel_, while the _Orion_ kept up her
+patrol round the captive war-balloons.
+
+"Colonel Alexandrovitch, in command of the Tsar's aerial squadron,
+surrenders unconditionally, save for guarantee of personal safety to
+himself and his men," reported Mazanoff, as he came within earshot of
+the flagship.
+
+"Very good," replied Arnold from the deck of the _Ithuriel_. "You will
+keep Colonel Alexandrovitch as hostage for the good behaviour of the
+rest, and shoot him the moment one of the balloons attempts to
+escape. After that destroy the rest without mercy. They will form in
+line close together. The _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ will convoy them on
+either flank, and you will follow me until you have the signal to
+stop. On the first suspicion of any attempt to escape you will know
+what to do. You have both handled your ships splendidly."
+
+Mazanoff saluted formally, more for the sake of effect than anything
+else, and descended again to carry out his orders. The captured
+flotilla was formed in line, the balloons being closed up until there
+was only a couple of yards or so between any of them and her next
+neighbour, with the _Orion_ and the _Ariel_ to right and left, each
+with two guns trained on them, and the _Ithuriel_ flying a couple of
+hundred feet above them. In this order captors and captured made
+their way at twenty miles an hour to the north-west towards the
+headquarters of the Tsar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+AN EMBASSY FROM THE SKY.
+
+
+By the time the captured war-balloons had been formed in order, and
+the voyage fairly commenced, the eastern sky was bright with the
+foreglow of the coming dawn, and, as the flotilla was only floating
+between eight and nine hundred feet above the earth, it was not long
+before the light was sufficiently strong to render the landscape
+completely visible.
+
+Far and wide it was a scene of desolation and destruction, of wasted,
+blackened fields trampled into wildernesses by the tread of countless
+feet, of forests of trees broken, scorched, and splintered by the
+iron hail of artillery, and of towns and villages, reduced to heaps
+of ruins, still smouldering with the fires that had destroyed them.
+
+No more eloquent object-lesson in the horrors of what is called
+civilised warfare could well have been found than the scene which was
+visible from the decks of the air-ships. The promised fruits of a
+whole year of patient industry had been withered in a few hours under
+the storm-blast of war; homes which but a few days before had
+sheltered stalwart, well-fed peasants and citizens, were now mere
+heaps of blackened brick and stone and smoking thatches.
+
+Streets which had been the thoroughfares of peaceful industrious
+folk, who had no quarrel with the Powers of the earth, or with any of
+their kind, were now strewn with corpses and encumbered with ruins,
+and the few survivors, more miserable than those who had died, were
+crawling, haggard and starving, amidst the wrecks of their vanished
+prosperity, seeking for some scanty morsels of food to prolong life
+if only for a few more days of misery and nights of sleepless
+anxiety.
+
+As the sun rose and shed its midsummer splendour, as if in sublime
+mockery, over the scene of suffering and desolation, hideous features
+of the landscape were brought into stronger and more horrifying
+relief; the scorched and trampled fields were seen to be strewn with
+unburied corpses of men and horses, and ploughed up with cannon shot
+and torn into great irregular gashes by shells that had buried
+themselves in the earth and then exploded.
+
+It was evident that some frightful tragedy must have taken place in
+this region not many hours before the air-ships had arrived upon the
+scene. And this, in fact, had been the case. Barely three days
+previously the advance guard of the Russian army of the North had
+been met and stubbornly but unsuccessfully opposed by the remnants of
+the German army of the East, which, driven back from the frontier,
+was retreating in good order to join the main force which had
+concentrated about Berlin, under the command of the Emperor, there to
+fight out the supreme struggle, on the issue of which depended the
+existence of that German Empire which fifty years before had been so
+triumphantly built up by the master-geniuses of the last generation.
+
+After a flight of a little over two hours the flotilla came in sight
+of the Russian army lying between Cuestrin on the right and
+Frankfort-on-Spree on the left. The distance between these two towns
+is nearly twelve English miles, and yet the wings of the vast host
+under the command of the Tsar spread for a couple of miles on either
+side to north and south of each of them.
+
+In spite of the colossal iniquity which it concealed, the spectacle
+was one of indescribable grandeur. Almost as far as the eye could
+reach the beams of the early morning sun were gleaming upon
+innumerable white tents, and flashing over a sea of glittering metal,
+of bare bayonets and sword scabbards, of spear points and helmets, of
+gold-laced uniforms and the polished accoutrements of countless
+batteries of field artillery.
+
+Far away to the westward the stately city of Berlin could be seen
+lying upon its intersecting waters, and encircled by its
+fortifications bristling with guns, and in advance of it were the
+long serried lines of its defenders gathered to do desperate battle
+for home and fatherland.
+
+As soon as the Russian army was fairly in sight the _Ithuriel_ shot
+ahead, sank to the level of the flotilla, and then stopped until she
+was overtaken by the _Orion_. Tremayne was on deck, and Arnold as
+soon as he came alongside said--
+
+"You must stop here for the present. I want the aerostat commanded by
+Colonel Alexandrovitch to come with me; meanwhile you and the _Ariel_
+will rise with the rest of the balloons to a height of four thousand
+feet; you will keep strict guard over the balloons, and permit no
+movement to be made until my return. We are going to bring his
+Majesty the Tsar to book, or else make things pretty lively for him
+if he won't listen to reason."
+
+"Very well," replied Tremayne. "I will do as you say, and await
+developments with considerable interest. If there is going to be a
+fight, I hope you're not going to leave us out in the cold."
+
+"Oh no," replied Arnold. "You needn't be afraid of that. If his
+Majesty won't come to terms, you will smash up the war-balloons and
+then come and join us in the general bombardment. I see, by the way,
+that there are ten or a dozen more of these unwieldy monsters with
+the Russian force moored to the ground yonder on the outskirts of
+Cuestrin. It will be a little amusement for us if we have to come to
+blows to knock them to pieces before we smash up the Tsar's
+headquarters.
+
+So saying, Arnold increased the speed of the _Ithuriel_, swept round
+in front of the line, and communicated the same instructions to the
+captain of the _Ariel_.
+
+A few minutes later the _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ began to rise with
+their charges to the higher regions of the air, leaving the
+_Ithuriel_ and the one aerostat to carry out the plan which had been
+arranged by Natas and Arnold an hour previously.
+
+As the speed of the aerostat was only about twenty miles an hour
+against the wind, a rope was passed from the stern of the _Ithuriel_
+to the cordage connecting the car with the gas-holder, and so the
+aerostat was taken in tow by the air-ship, and dragged through the
+air at a speed of about forty miles an hour, as a wind-bound sailing
+vessel might have been towed by a steamer.
+
+On the journey the elevation was increased to more than four thousand
+feet,--an elevation at which both the _Ithuriel_ and her captive, and
+especially the former, presented practically impossible marks for the
+Russian riflemen. Almost immediately over Cuestrin they came to a
+standstill, and then Colonel Alexandrovitch and Professor Volnow were
+summoned by Natas into the deck saloon.
+
+He explained to them the mission which he desired them to undertake,
+that is to say, the conveyance of a letter from himself to the Tsar
+offering terms for the surrender of the _Lucifer_. They accepted the
+mission; and in order that they might fully understand the gravity of
+it, Natas read them the letter, which ran as follows:--
+
+      ALEXANDER ROMANOFF,--
+
+    Three days ago one of my fleet of air-ships, named the _Lucifer_,
+    was delivered into your hands by traitors and deserters, whose
+    lives are forfeit in virtue of the oaths which they took of their
+    own free will. I have already taken measures to render abortive
+    the analysis which you ordered to be performed in the chemical
+    department of your Arsenal at St. Petersburg, and I have now come
+    to make terms, if possible, for the restoration of the air-ship.
+    Those terms are as follows--
+
+    An hour before daybreak this morning I captured nine of your
+    war-balloons, after destroying three others which attempted to
+    escape. I have no desire to take any present part in the war
+    which you are now carrying on with the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance,
+    and if you will tell me where the _Lucifer_ is now to be found,
+    and will despatch orders both by land and through Professor
+    Volnow, who brings this letter to you, and will return with your
+    answer, for her to be given up to me forthwith with everything
+    she has on board, and will surrender with her the four traitors
+    who delivered her into your hands, I will restore the nine
+    war-balloons to you intact, and when I have recovered the
+    _Lucifer_ I will take no further part in the war unless either
+    you or your opponents proceed to unjustifiable extremities.
+
+    If you reject these terms, or if I do not receive an answer to
+    this letter within two hours of the time that the bearer of it
+    descends in the aerostat, I shall give orders for the immediate
+    destruction of the war-balloons now in my hands, and I shall then
+    proceed to destroy Cuestrin and the other aerostats which are
+    moored near the town. That done I shall, for the time being,
+    devote the force at my disposal to the defence of Berlin, and do
+    my utmost to bring about the defeat and dispersal of the army
+    which will then no longer be commanded by yourself.
+
+    In case you may doubt what I say as to the capture of the fleet
+    of war-balloons, Professor Volnow will be accompanied by Colonel
+    Alexei Alexandrovitch, late in command of the squadron, and now
+    my prisoner of war.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+The ambassadors were at once transferred to the aerostat, and with a
+white flag hoisted on the after stays of the balloon she began to
+sink rapidly towards the earth, and at the same time Natas gave
+orders for the _Ithuriel_ to ascend to a height of eight thousand
+feet in order to frustrate any attempts that might be made, whether
+with or without the orders of the Tsar, to injure her by means of a
+volley from the earth.
+
+Even from that elevation, those on board the _Ithuriel_ were able
+with the aid of their field-glasses to see with perfect ease the
+commotion which the appearance of the air-ship with the captured
+aerostat had produced in the Russian camp. The whole of the vast
+host, numbering more than four millions of men, turned out into the
+open to watch their aerial visitors, and everywhere throughout the
+whole extent of the huge camp the plainest signs of the utmost
+excitement were visible.
+
+In less than half an hour they saw the aerostat touch the earth near
+to a large building, above which floated the imperial standard of
+Russia. An hour had been allowed for the interview and for the Tsar
+to give his decision, and half an hour for the aerostat to return and
+meet the air-ship.
+
+In all the history of the world there had probably never been an hour
+so pregnant with tremendous consequences, not only to Europe, but to
+the whole civilised world, as that was; and though apparently a
+perfect calm reigned throughout the air-ship, the issue of the
+embassy was awaited with the most intense anxiety.
+
+Another half hour passed, and hardly a word was spoken on the deck of
+the _Ithuriel_, hanging there in mid-air over the mighty Russian
+host, and in range of the field-glasses of the outposts of the German
+army of Berlin lying some ten or twelve miles away to the westward.
+
+It was the calm before the threatening storm,--a storm which in less
+than an hour might break in a hail of death and destruction from the
+sky, and turn the fields of earth into a volcano of shot and flame.
+Certainly the fate of an empire, and perhaps of Europe, or indeed the
+world, hung in the balance over that field of possible carnage.
+
+If the Russians regained their war-balloons and were left to
+themselves, nothing that the heroic Germans could do would be likely
+to save Berlin from the fate that had overwhelmed Strassburg and
+Metz, Breslau and Thorn.
+
+On the other hand, should the aerostat not return in time with a
+satisfactory answer, the victorious career of the Tsar would be cut
+short by such a bolt from the skies as had wrecked his fortress at
+Kronstadt,--a blow which he could neither guard against nor return,
+for it would come from an unassailable vantage point, a little vessel
+a hundred feet long floating in the air six thousand feet from the
+earth, and looking a mere bright speck amidst the sunlight. She
+formed a mark that the most skilful rifle-shot in his army could not
+hit once in a thousand shots, and against whose hull of hardened
+aluminium, bullets, even if they struck, would simply splash and
+scatter, like raindrops on a rock.
+
+The remaining minutes of the last half hour were slipping away one by
+one, and still no sign came from the earth. The aerostat remained
+moored near the building surmounted by the Russian standard, and the
+white flag, which, according to arrangement, had been hauled down to
+be re-hoisted if the answer of the Tsar was favourable, was still
+invisible. When only ten minutes of the allotted time were left,
+Arnold, moving his glass from his eyes, and looking at his watch,
+said to Natas--
+
+"Ten minutes more; shall I prepare?"
+
+"Yes," said Natas. "And let the first gun be fired with the first
+second of the eleventh minute. Destroy the aerostats first and then
+the batteries of artillery. After that send a shell into Frankfort,
+if you have a gun that will carry the distance, so that they may see
+our range of operations; but spare the Tsar's headquarters for the
+present."
+
+"Very good," replied Arnold. Then, turning to his lieutenant, he
+said--
+
+"You have the guns loaded with No. 3, I presume, Mr. Marston, and the
+projectile stands are filled, I see. Very good. Now descend to six
+thousand feet and go a mile to the westward. Train one broadside gun
+on that patch of ground where you see those balloons, another to
+strike in the midst of those field-guns yonder by the
+ammunition-waggons, and train the starboard after-gun to throw a
+shell into Frankfort. The distance is a little over twelve miles, so
+give sufficient elevation."
+
+By the time these orders had been executed, swiftly as the necessary
+evolution had been performed, only four minutes of the allotted time
+were left. Arnold took his stand by the broadside gun trained on the
+aerostats, and, with one hand on the breech of the gun and the other
+holding his watch, he waited for the appointed moment. Natasha stood
+by him with her eyes fastened to the eye-pieces of the glasses
+watching for the white flag in breathless suspense.
+
+"One minute more!" said Arnold.
+
+"Stop, there it goes!" cried Natasha as the words left his lips. "His
+Majesty has yielded to circumstances!"
+
+Arnold took the glasses from her, and through them saw a tiny white
+speck shining against the black surface of the gas-holder of the
+balloon. He handed the glasses back to her, saying--
+
+"We must not be too sure of that. His message may be one of
+defiance."
+
+"True," said Natasha. "We shall see."
+
+Ten minutes later the aerostat was released from her moorings and
+rose swiftly and vertically into the air. As soon as it reached her
+own altitude the _Ithuriel_ shot forward to meet it, and stopped
+within a couple of hundred yards, a gun ready trained upon the car in
+case of treachery. In the car stood Professor Volnow and Colonel
+Alexandrovitch. The former held something white in his hand, and
+across the intervening space came the reassuring hail: "All well!"
+
+In five minutes he was standing on the deck of the _Ithuriel_
+presenting a folded paper to Natas. He was pale to the lips, and his
+whole body trembled with violent emotion. As he handed him the paper,
+he said to Natas in a low, husky voice that was barely recognisable
+as his--
+
+"Here is the answer of the Tsar. Whether you are man or fiend, I know
+not, but his Majesty has yielded and accepted your terms. May I never
+again witness such anger as was his when I presented your letter. It
+was not till the last moment that he yielded to my entreaties and
+those of his staff, and ordered the white flag to be hoisted."
+
+"Yes," replied Natas. "He tempted his fate to the last moment. The
+guns were already trained upon Cuestrin, and thirty seconds more would
+have seen his headquarters in ruins. He did wisely, if he acted
+tardily."
+
+So saying, Natas broke the imperial seal. On a sheet of paper bearing
+the imperial arms were scrawled three or four lines in the Autocrat's
+own handwriting--
+
+    I accept your main terms. The air-ship has joined the Baltic
+    fleet. She will be delivered to you with all on board. The four
+    men are my subjects, and I feel bound to protect them; they will
+    therefore not be delivered up. Do as you like.
+
+      ALEXANDER.
+
+"A Royal answer, though it comes from a despot," said Natas as he
+refolded the paper. "I will waive that point, and let him protect the
+traitors, if he can. Colonel Alexandrovitch," he continued, turning
+to the Russian, who had also boarded the air-ship, "you are free. You
+may return to your war-balloon, and accompany us to give the order
+for the release of your squadron."
+
+"Free!" suddenly screamed the Russian, his face livid and distorted
+with passion. "Free, yes, but disgraced! Ruined for life, and
+degraded to the ranks! I want no freedom from you. I will not even
+have my life at your hands, but I will have yours, and rid the earth
+of you if I die a thousand deaths!"
+
+As he spoke he wrenched his sword from its scabbard, thrust the
+Professor aside, and rushed at Natas with the uplifted blade. Before
+it had time to descend a stream of pale flame flashed over the back
+of the Master's chair, accompanied by a long, sharp rattle, and the
+Russian's body dropped instantly to the deck riddled by a hail of
+bullets.
+
+"I saw murder in that man's eyes when he began to speak," said
+Natasha, putting back into her pocket the magazine pistol that she
+had used with such terrible effect.
+
+"I saw it too, daughter," quietly replied Natas. "But you need not
+have been afraid; the blow would never have reached me, for I would
+have paralysed him before he could have made the stroke."
+
+"Impossible! No man could have done it!"
+
+The exclamation burst involuntarily from the lips of Professor
+Volnow, who had stood by, an amazed and horrified spectator of the
+rapidly enacted tragedy.
+
+"Professor," said Natas, in quick, stern tones, "I am not accustomed
+to say what is not true, nor yet to be contradicted by any one in
+human shape. Stand there till I tell you to move."
+
+As he spoke these last words Natas made a swift, sweeping downward
+movement with one of his hands, and fixed his eyes upon those of the
+Professor. In an instant Volnow's muscles stiffened into immovable
+rigidity, and he stood rooted to the deck powerless to move so much
+as a finger.
+
+"Captain Arnold," continued Natas, as though nothing had happened.
+"We will rejoin our consorts, please, and release the aerostats in
+accordance with the terms. This man's body will be returned in one of
+them to his master, and the Professor here will write an account of
+his death in order that it may not be believed that we have murdered
+him. Konstantin Volnow, go into the saloon and write that letter, and
+bring it to me when it is done."
+
+Like an automaton the Professor turned and walked mechanically into
+the deck-saloon. Meanwhile the _Ithuriel_ started on her way towards
+the captive squadron. Before she reached it Volnow returned with a
+sheet of paper in his hand filled with fresh writing, and signed with
+his name.
+
+Natas took it from him, read it, and then fixing his eyes on his
+again, said--
+
+"That will do. I give you back your will. Now, do you believe?"
+
+The Professor's body was suddenly shaken with such a violent
+trembling that he almost fell to the deck. Then he recovered himself
+with a violent effort, and cried through his chattering teeth--
+
+"Believe! How can I help it? Whoever and whatever you are, you are
+well named the Master of the Terror."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+AT CLOSE QUARTERS.
+
+
+As soon as the captive war-balloons had been released, the _Ithuriel_
+and her consorts, without any further delay or concern for the issue
+of the decisive battle which would probably prove to be the
+death-struggle of the German Empire, headed away to the northward at
+the utmost speed of the two smaller vessels. Their objective point
+was Copenhagen, and the distance rather more than two hundred and
+sixty miles in a straight line.
+
+This was covered in under two hours and a half, and by noon they had
+reached the Danish capital. In crossing the water from Stralsund they
+had sighted several war-vessels, all flying British, German, or
+Danish colours, and all making a northerly course like themselves.
+They had not attempted to speak to any of these, because, as they
+were all apparently bound for the same point, and, as the speed of
+the air-ships was more than five times as great as that of the
+swiftest cruiser, to do so would have been a waste of time, when
+every moment might be of the utmost consequence.
+
+Off Copenhagen the aerial travellers saw the first signs of the
+terrible night's work, with the details of which the reader has
+already been made acquainted. Wrecked fortifications, cruisers and
+battleships bearing every mark of a heavy engagement, some with their
+top-works battered into ruins, their military masts gone, and their
+guns dismounted; some down by the head, and some by the stern, and
+others evidently run ashore to save them from sinking; and the
+harbour crowded with others in little better condition--everywhere
+there were eloquent proofs of the disaster which had overtaken the
+Allied fleets on the previous night.
+
+"There seems to have been some rough work going on down there within
+the last few hours," said Arnold to Natas as they came in sight of
+this scene of destruction. "The Russians could not have done this
+alone, for when the war began they were shut up in the Baltic by an
+overwhelming force, of which these seem to be the remains. And those
+forts yonder were never destroyed by anything but our shells."
+
+"Yes," replied Natas. "It is easy to see what has happened. The
+_Lucifer_ was sent here to help the Russian fleet to break the
+blockade, and it looks as though it had been done very effectually.
+We are just a few hours too late, I fear.
+
+"That one victory will have an immense effect on the course of the
+war, for it is almost certain that the Russians will make for the
+Atlantic round the north of the Shetland Islands, and co-operate with
+the French and Italian squadrons along the British line of
+communication with the West. That once cut, food will go up to famine
+prices in Britain, and the end will not be far off."
+
+Natas spoke without the slightest apparent personal interest in the
+subject; but his words brought a flush to Arnold's cheeks, and make
+him suddenly clench his hands and knit his brows. After all he was an
+Englishman, and though he owed England nothing but the accident of
+his birth, the knowledge that one of his own ships should be the
+means of bringing this disaster upon her made him forget for the
+moment the gulf that he had placed between himself and his native
+land, and long to go to her rescue. But it was only a passing
+emotion. He remembered that his country was now elsewhere, and that
+all his hopes were now alien to Britain and her fortunes.
+
+If Natas noticed the effect of his words he made no sign that he did,
+and he went on in the same even tone as before--
+
+"We must overtake the fleet, and either recapture the _Lucifer_ or
+destroy her before she does any more mischief in Russian hands. The
+first thing to do is to find out what has happened, and what course
+they have taken. Hoist the Union Jack over a flag of truce on all
+three ships, and signal to Mazanoff to come alongside. We had better
+stop here till we get the news."
+
+The Master's orders were at once executed, and as soon as the _Ariel_
+was floating beside the flagship he said to her captain--
+
+"Go down and speak that cruiser lying at anchor off the harbour, and
+learn all you can of what has happened. Tell them freely how it
+happened that the _Lucifer_ assisted the Russian, if it turns out
+that she did so. Say that we have no hostility to Britain at present,
+but rather the reverse, and that our only purpose just now is to
+retake the air-ship and prevent her doing any more damage. If you can
+get any newspapers, do so."
+
+"I understand fully," replied Mazanoff, and a minute later his vessel
+was sinking rapidly down towards the cruiser.
+
+His reception was evidently friendly, for those on board the
+_Ithuriel_ saw that he ran the _Ariel_ close alongside the
+man-of-war, after the first hails had been exchanged, and conversed
+for some time with a group of officers across the rails of the two
+vessels. Then a large roll of newspapers was passed from the cruiser
+to the air-ship, salutes were exchanged, and the _Ariel_ rose
+gracefully into the air to rejoin her consorts, followed by the
+envious glances of the crews of the battered warships.
+
+Mazanoff presented his report, the facts of which were substantially
+those given in the _St. James's Gazette_ telegram, and added that the
+British officers had confessed to him that the damage done was so
+great, both to the fleet and the shore fortifications, that the Sound
+was now practically as open as the Atlantic, and that it would be two
+or three weeks before even half the Allied force would be able to
+take the sea in fighting trim.
+
+They added that there was not the slightest need to conceal their
+condition, as the Russians, who had steamed in triumph past their
+shattered ships and silenced forts, knew it just as well as they did.
+As regards the Russian fleet, it had been followed past the Skawe,
+and had headed out westward.
+
+In their opinion it would consider itself strong enough, with the aid
+of the air-ship, to sweep the North Sea, and would probably attempt
+to force the Straits of Dover, as it has done the Sound, and effect a
+junction with the French squadrons at Brest and Cherbourg. This done,
+a combined attack might possibly be made upon Portsmouth, or the
+destruction of the Channel fleet attempted. The effects of the
+air-ship's shells upon both forts and ships had been so appalling
+that the Russians would no doubt think themselves strong enough for
+anything as long as they had possession of her.
+
+"They were extremely polite," said Mazanoff, as he concluded his
+story. "They asked me to go ashore and interview the Admiral, who,
+they told me, would guarantee any amount of money on behalf of the
+British Government if we would only co-operate with their fleets for
+even a month. They said Britain would gladly pay a hundred thousand a
+month for the hire of each ship and her crew; and they looked quite
+puzzled when I refused point-blank, and said that a million a month
+would not do it.
+
+"They evidently take us for a new sort of pirates, corsairs of the
+air, or something of that kind; for when I said that a few odd
+millions were no good to people who could levy blackmail on the whole
+earth if they chose, they stared at me and asked me what we did want
+if we didn't want money. The idea that we could have any higher aims
+never seemed to have entered their heads, and, of course, I didn't
+enlighten them."
+
+"Quite right," said Natas, with a quiet laugh. "They will learn our
+aims quite soon enough. And now we must overtake the Russian fleet as
+soon as possible. You say they passed the Skawe soon after five this
+morning. That gives them nearly six hours' start, and if they are
+steaming twenty miles an hour, as I daresay they are, they will now
+be some hundred and twenty miles west of the Skawe. Captain Arnold,
+if we cut straight across Zeeland and Jutland, about what distance
+ought we to travel before we meet them?"
+
+Arnold glanced at the chart which lay spread out on the table of the
+saloon in which they were sitting, and said--
+
+"I should say a course of about two hundred miles due north-west from
+here ought to take us within sight of them, unless they are making
+for the Atlantic, and keep very close to the Swedish coast. In that
+case I should say two hundred and fifty in the same direction."
+
+"Very well, then, let us take that course and make all the speed we
+can," said Natas; and within ten minutes the three vessels were
+speeding away to the north-westward at a hundred and twenty miles an
+hour over the verdant lowlands of the Danish peninsula.
+
+The _Ithuriel_ kept above five miles ahead of the others, and when
+the journey had lasted about an hour and three-quarters, the man who
+had been stationed in the conning-tower signalled, "Fleet in sight"
+to the saloon. The air-ships were then travelling at an elevation of
+3000 feet. A good ten miles to the northward could be seen the
+Russian fleet steering to the westward, and, judging by the dense
+clouds of smoke that were pouring out of the funnels of the vessels,
+making all the speed they could.
+
+Arnold, who had gone forward to the conning-tower as soon as the
+signal sounded, at once returned to the saloon and made his formal
+report to Natas.
+
+"The Russian fleet is in sight, heading to the westward, and
+therefore evidently meaning to reach the Atlantic by the north of the
+Shetlands. There are twelve large battleships, about twenty-five
+cruisers of different sizes, eight of them very large, and a small
+swarm of torpedo-boats being towed by the larger vessels, I suppose
+to save their coal. I see no signs of the _Lucifer_ at present, but
+from what we have learnt she will be on the deck of one of the large
+cruisers. What are your orders?"
+
+"Recover the air-ship if you can," replied Natas. "Send Mazanoff with
+Professor Volnow to convey the Tsar's letter to the Admiral, and
+demand the surrender of the _Lucifer_. If he refuses, let the _Ariel_
+return at once, and we will decide what to do. I leave the details
+with you with the most perfect confidence."
+
+Arnold bowed in silence and retired, catching, as he turned to leave
+the saloon, a glance from Natasha which, it must be confessed, meant
+more to him than even the command of the Master. From the expression
+of his face as he went to the wheel-house to take charge of the ship,
+it was evident that it would go hard with the Russian fleet if the
+Admiral refused to recognise the order of the Tsar.
+
+When he got to the wheel-house the _Ithuriel_ was almost over the
+fleet. He signalled "stop" to the engine-room. Immediately the
+propellers slowed and then ceased their rapid revolutions, and at the
+same time the fan-wheels went aloft and began to revolve. This was a
+prearranged signal to the others to do the same, and by the time they
+had overtaken the flagship they also came to a standstill. As soon as
+they were within speaking distance Arnold hailed the _Orion_ and the
+_Ariel_ to come alongside.
+
+After communicating to Tremayne and Mazanoff the orders of Natas, he
+said to the latter--
+
+"You will take Professor Volnow to present the Tsar's letter to the
+Admiral in command of the fleet. Fly the Russian flag over a flag of
+truce, and if he acknowledges it say that if the _Lucifer_ is given
+up we shall allow the fleet to go on its way unmolested and without
+asking any question.
+
+"The cruiser that has her on board must separate from the rest of the
+fleet and allow two of your men to take possession of her and bring
+her up here. The lives of the four traitors are safe for the present
+if the air-ship is given up quietly."
+
+"And if they will not recognise the authority of the Tsar's letter,
+and refuse to give the air-ship up, what then?" asked Mazanoff.
+
+"In that case haul down the Russian flag, and get aloft as quickly as
+you can. You can leave the rest to us," said Arnold. "Meanwhile,
+Tremayne, will you go down to two thousand feet or so, and keep your
+eye on that big cruiser a bit ahead of the rest of the fleet. I fancy
+I can make out the _Lucifer_ on her deck. Train a couple of guns on
+her, and don't let the air-ship rise without orders. I shall stop up
+here for the present, and be ready to make things lively for the
+Admiral if he refuses to obey his master's orders."
+
+The _Ariel_ took the Professor on board, and hoisted the Russian
+colours over the flag of truce, and began to sink down towards the
+fleet. As she descended, the Admiral in command of the squadron,
+already not a little puzzled by the appearance of the three
+air-ships, was still more mystified by seeing the Russian ensign
+flying from her flagstaff.
+
+Was this only a ruse of the Terrorists, or were they flying the
+Russian flag for a legitimate reason? As he knew from the experience
+of the previous night that the air-ships, if their intentions were
+hostile, could destroy his fleet in detail without troubling to
+parley with him, he concluded that there was a good reason for the
+flag of truce, and so he ordered one to be flown from his own
+masthead in answer to it.
+
+The white flag at once enabled Mazanoff to single out the huge
+battleship on which it was flying as the Admiral's flagship. The
+fleet was proceeding in four columns of line abreast. First two long
+lines of cruisers, each with one or two torpedo boats in tow, and
+with scouts thrown out on each wing, and then two lines of
+battleships, in the centre of the first of which was the flagship.
+
+It was a somewhat risky matter for the _Ariel_ to descend thus right
+in the middle of the whole fleet, but Mazanoff had his orders, and
+they had to be obeyed, and so down he went, running his bow up to
+within a hundred feet of the hurricane deck, on which stood the
+Admiral surrounded by several of his officers.
+
+"I have a message for the Admiral of the fleet," he shouted, as soon
+as he came within hail.
+
+"Who are you, and from whom is your message?" came the reply.
+
+"Konstantin Volnow, of the Imperial Arsenal at Petersburg, brings the
+message from the Tsar in writing.'
+
+"His Majesty's messenger is welcome. Come alongside."
+
+The _Ariel_ ran ahead until her prow touched the rail of the
+hurricane deck, and the Professor advanced with the Tsar's letter in
+his hand, and gave it to the Admiral, saying--
+
+"You are acquainted with me, Admiral Prabylov. Though I bear it
+unwillingly, I can vouch for the letter being authentic. I saw his
+Majesty write it, and he gave it into my hands."
+
+"Then how do you come to be an unwilling bearer of it?" asked the
+Admiral, scowling and gnawing his moustache as he read the unwelcome
+letter. "What are these terms, and with whom were they made?"
+
+"Pardon me, Admiral," interrupted Mazanoff, "that is not the
+question. I presume you recognise his Majesty's signature, and see
+that he desires the air-ship to be given up."
+
+"His Majesty's signature can be forged, just as Nihilists' passports
+can be, Mr. Terrorist, for that's what I presume you are, and"--
+
+"Admiral, I solemnly assure you that that letter is genuine, and that
+it is really his Majesty's wish that the air-ship should be given
+up," the Professor broke in before Mazanoff had time to reply. "It is
+to be given in exchange for nine war-balloons which these air-ships
+captured before daybreak this morning."
+
+"How do you come to be the bearer of it, sir? Please answer me that
+first."
+
+"I am a prisoner of war. I surrendered to save the Arsenal and
+perhaps Petersburg from destruction under circumstances which I
+cannot now explain"--
+
+"Thank you, sir, that is quite enough! A pretty story, truly! And you
+ask me to believe this, and to give up that priceless air-ship on
+such grounds as these--a story that would hardly deceive a child? You
+captured nine of the Tsar's war-balloons this morning, had an
+interview with his Majesty, got this letter from him at Cuestrin--more
+than five hundred miles away, and bring it here, and it is barely two
+in the afternoon!
+
+"No, gentlemen, I am too old a sailor to be taken in by a yarn like
+that. I believe this letter to be a forgery, and I will not give the
+air-ship up on its authority."
+
+"That is your last word, is it?" asked Mazanoff, white with passion,
+but still forcing himself to speak coolly.
+
+"That is my last word, sir, save to tell you that if you do not haul
+that flag you are masquerading under down at once I will fire upon
+you," shouted the Admiral, tearing the Tsar's letter into fragments
+as he spoke.
+
+"If I haul that flag down it will be the signal for the air-ships up
+yonder to open fire upon you, so your blood be on your own heads!"
+said Mazanoff, stamping thrice on the deck as he spoke. The
+propellers of the _Ariel_ whirled round in a reverse direction, and
+she sprang swiftly back from the battleship, at the same time rising
+rapidly in the air.
+
+Before she had cleared a hundred yards, and before the flag of truce
+was hauled down, there was a sharp, grinding report from one of the
+tops of the man-of-war, and a hail of bullets from a machine gun
+swept across the deck. Mazanoff heard a splintering of wood and
+glass, and a deep groan beside him. He looked round and saw the
+Professor clasp his hand to a great red wound in his breast, and fall
+in a heap on the deck.
+
+This was the event of an instant. The next he had trained one of the
+bow-guns downwards on the centre of the deck of the Russian flagship
+and sent the projectile to its mark. Then quick as thought he sprang
+over and discharged the other gun almost at random. He saw the
+dazzling green flash of the explosions, then came a shaking of the
+atmosphere, and a roar as of a hundred thunder-claps in his ears, and
+he dropped senseless to the deck beside the corpse of the Professor.
+
+[Illustration: "There was a sharp, grinding report from one of the
+tops of the man-of-war."
+
+_See page 232._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+A RUSSIAN RAID.
+
+
+Mazanoff came to himself about ten minutes later, lying on one of the
+seats in the after saloon, and all that he saw when he first opened
+his eyes was the white anxious face of Radna bending over him.
+
+"What is the matter? What has happened? Where am I?" he asked, as
+soon as his tongue obeyed his will. His voice, although broken and
+unsteady, was almost as strong as usual, and Radna's face immediately
+brightened as she heard it. A smile soon chased away her anxious
+look, and she said cheerily--
+
+"Ah, come! you're not killed after all. You are still on board the
+_Ariel_, and what has happened is this as far as I can see. In your
+hurry to return the shot from the Russian flagship you fired your
+guns at too close range, and the shock of the explosion stunned you.
+In fact, we thought for the moment you had blown the _Ariel_ up too,
+for she shook so that we all fell down; then her engines stopped, and
+she almost fell into the water before they could be started again."
+
+"Is she all right now? Where's the Russian fleet, and what happened
+to the flagship? I must get on deck," exclaimed Mazanoff, sitting up
+on the seat. As he did so he put his hand to his head and said: "I
+feel a bit shaky still. What's that--brandy you've got there? Get me
+some champagne, and put the brandy into it. I shall be all right when
+I've had a good drink. Now I think of it, I wonder that explosion
+didn't blow us to bits. You haven't told me what became of the
+flagship," he continued, as Radna came back with a small bottle of
+champagne and uncorked it.
+
+"Well, the flagship is at the bottom of the German Ocean. When
+Petroff told me that you had fallen dead, as he said, on deck, I ran
+up in defiance of your orders and saw the battleship just going down.
+The shells had blown the middle of her right out, and a cloud of
+steam and smoke and fire was rising out of a great ragged space where
+the funnels had been. Before I got you down here she broke right in
+two and went down."
+
+"That serves that blackguard Prabylov right for saying we forged the
+Tsar's letter, and firing on a flag of truce. Poor Volnow's dead, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Oh yes," replied Radna sadly. "He was shot almost to pieces by the
+volley from the machine gun. The deck saloon is riddled with bullets,
+and the decks badly torn up, but fortunately the hull and propellers
+are almost uninjured. But come, drink this, then you can go up and
+see for yourself."
+
+So saying she handed him a tumbler of champagne well dashed with
+brandy. He drank it down at a gulp, like the Russian that he was, and
+said as he put the glass down--
+
+"That's better. I feel a new man. Now give me a kiss, _batiushka_,
+and I'll be off."
+
+When he reached the deck he found the _Ariel_ ascending towards the
+_Ithuriel_, and about a mile astern of the Russian fleet, the vessels
+of which were blazing away into the air with their machine guns, in
+the hope of "bringing him down on the wing," as he afterwards put it.
+He could hear the bullets singing along underneath him; but the
+_Ariel_ was rising so fast, and going at such a speed through the
+air, that the moment the Russians got the range they lost it again,
+and so merely wasted their ammunition.
+
+Neither the _Ithuriel_ nor the _Orion_ seemed to have taken any part
+in the battle so far, or to have done anything to avenge the attack
+made upon the _Ariel_. Mazanoff wondered not a little at this, as
+both Arnold and Tremayne must have seen the fate of the Russian
+flagship. As soon as he got within speaking distance of the
+_Ithuriel_, he sang out to Arnold, who was on the deck--
+
+"I got in rather a tight place down there. That scoundrel fired upon
+us with the flag of truce flying, and when I gave him a couple of
+shells in return I thought the end of the world was come."
+
+"You fired at too close range, my friend. Those shells are sudden
+death to anything within a hundred yards of them. Are you all well on
+board? You've been knocked about a bit, I see."
+
+"No; poor Volnow's dead. He was killed standing close beside me, and
+I wasn't touched, though the explosion of the shell knocked the
+senses out of me completely. However, the machinery's all right, and
+I don't think the hull is hurt to speak of. But what are you doing? I
+should have thought you'd have blown half the fleet out of the water
+by this time."
+
+"No. We saw that you had amply avenged yourself, and the Master's
+orders were not to do anything till you returned. You'd better come
+on board and consult with him."
+
+Mazanoff did so, and when he had told his story to Natas, the latter
+mystified him not a little by replying--
+
+"I am glad that none of you are injured, though, of course, I'm sorry
+that I sent Volnow to his death; but that is the fortune of war. If
+one of us fell into his master's hands his fate would be worse than
+that. You avenged the outrage promptly and effectively.
+
+"I have decided not to injure the Russian fleet more than I can help.
+It has work to do which must not be interfered with. My only object
+is to recover the _Lucifer_, if possible, and so we shall follow the
+fleet for the present across the North Sea on our way to the
+rendezvous with the other vessels from Aeria which are to meet us on
+Rockall Island, and wait our opportunity. Should the opportunity not
+come before then, we must proceed to extremities, and destroy her and
+the cruiser that has her on board.
+
+"And do you think we shall get such an opportunity?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Natas. "But it is possible. I don't think it
+likely that the fleet will have coal enough for a long cruise in the
+Atlantic, and therefore it is possible that they will make a descent
+on Aberdeen, which they are quite strong enough to capture if they
+like, and coal up there. In that case it is extremely probable that
+they will make use of the air-ship to terrorise the town into
+surrender, and as soon as she takes the air we must make a dash for
+her, and either take her or blow her to pieces."
+
+Arnold expressed his entire agreement with this idea, and, as the
+event proved, it was entirely correct. Instead of steering
+nor'-nor'-west, as they would have done had they intended to go round
+the Shetland Islands, or north-west, had they chosen the course
+between the Orkneys and the Shetlands, the Russian vessels kept a due
+westerly course during the rest of the day, and this course could
+only take them to the Scotch coast near Aberdeen.
+
+The distance from where they were was a little under five hundred
+miles, and at their present rate of steaming they would reach
+Aberdeen about four o'clock on the following afternoon. The air-ships
+followed them at a height of four thousand feet during the rest of
+the day and until shortly before dawn on the following morning.
+
+They then put on speed, took a wide sweep to the northward, and
+returned southward over Banffshire, and passing Aberdeen to the west,
+found a secluded resting-place on the northern spur of the
+Kincardineshire Hills, about five miles to the southward of the
+Granite City.
+
+Here the repairs which were needed by the _Ariel_ were at once taken
+in hand by her own crew and that of the _Ithuriel_, while the _Orion_
+was sent out to sea again to keep a sharp look-out for the Russian
+fleet, which she would sight long before she herself became visible,
+and then to watch the movements of the Russians from as great a
+distance as possible until it was time to make the counter-attack.
+
+As Aberdeen was then one of the coaling depots for the North Sea
+Squadron, it was defended by two battleships, the _Ascalon_ and the
+_Menelaus_, three powerful coast-defence vessels, the _Thunderer_,
+the _Cyclops_, and the _Pluto_, six cruisers, and twelve
+torpedo-boats. The shore defences consisted of a fort on the north
+bank at the mouth of the Dee, mounting ten heavy guns, and the
+Girdleness fort, mounting twenty-four 9-inch twenty-five ton guns, in
+connection with which was a station for working navigable torpedoes
+of the Brennan type, which had been considerably improved during the
+last ten years.
+
+Shortly after two o'clock on the afternoon of the 30th the _Orion_
+returned to her consorts with the news that the Russian fleet was
+forty miles off the land, heading straight for Aberdeen, and that
+there were no other warships in sight as far as could be seen to the
+southward. From this fact it was concluded that the Russians had
+escaped the notice of the North Sea Squadron, and so would only have
+the force defending Aberdeen to reckon with.
+
+Even had they not possessed the air-ship, this force was so far
+inferior to their own that there would be little chance of
+successfully defending the town against them. They had eleven
+battleships, twenty-five cruisers, eight of which were very large and
+heavily armed, and forty torpedo-boats, to pit against the little
+British force and the two forts.
+
+But given the assistance of the _Lucifer_, and the town practically
+lay at their mercy. They evidently feared no serious opposition in
+their raid, for, without even waiting for nightfall, they came on at
+full speed, darkening the sky with their smoke, the battleships in
+the centre, a dozen cruisers on either side of them, and one large
+cruiser about a mile ahead of their centre.
+
+When the captain of the _Ascalon_, who was in command of the port,
+saw the overwhelming force of the hostile fleet, he at once came to
+the conclusion that it would be madness for him to attempt to put to
+sea with his eleven ships and six torpedo-boats. The utmost that he
+could do was to remain inshore and assist the forts to keep the
+Russians at bay, if possible, until the assistance, which had already
+been telegraphed for to Dundee and the Firth of Forth, where the bulk
+of the North Sea Squadron was then stationed, could come to his aid.
+
+Five miles off the land the Russian fleet stopped, and the _Lucifer_
+rose from the deck of the big cruiser and stationed herself about a
+mile to seaward of the mouth of the river at an elevation of three
+thousand feet. Then a torpedo-boat flying a flag of truce shot out
+from the Russian line and ran to within a mile of the shore.
+
+The Commodore of the port sent out one of his torpedo-boats to meet
+her, and this craft brought back a summons to surrender the port for
+twelve hours, and permit six of the Russian cruisers to fill up with
+coal. The alternative would be bombardment of the town by the fleet
+and the air-ship, which alone, as the Russians said, held the fort
+and the ships at its mercy.
+
+To this demand the British Commodore sent back a flat refusal, and
+defiance to the Russian Commander to do his worst.
+
+Where the _Ithuriel_ and her consorts were lying the hills between
+them and the sea completely screened them from the observation of
+those on board the _Lucifer_. Arnold and Tremayne had climbed to the
+top of a hill above their ships, and watched the movements of the
+Russians through their glasses. As soon as they saw the _Lucifer_
+rise into the air they returned to the _Ithuriel_ to form their plans
+for their share in the conflict that they saw impending.
+
+"I'm afraid we can't do much until it gets a good deal darker than it
+is now," said Arnold, in reply to a question from Natas as to his
+view of the situation. "If we take the air now the _Lucifer_ will see
+us; and we must remember that she is armed with the same weapons as
+we have, and a shot from one of her guns would settle any of us that
+it struck. Even if we hit her first we should destroy her, and we
+could have done that easily yesterday.
+
+"It has felt very like thunder all day, and I see there are some very
+black-looking clouds rolling up there over the hills to the
+south-west. My advice is to wait for those. I'm afraid we can't do
+anything to save the town under the circumstances, but in this state
+of the atmosphere a heavy bombardment is practically certain to bring
+on a severe thunderstorm, and to fetch those clouds up at the double
+quick.
+
+"I don't for a moment think that the British will surrender, big and
+all as the Russian force is, and as they have never seen the effects
+of our shells they won't fear the _Lucifer_ much until she commences
+operations, and then it will be too late. Listen! They've begun.
+There goes the first gun!"
+
+A deep, dull boom came rolling up the hills from the sea as he spoke,
+and was almost immediately followed by a rapid series of similar
+reports, which quickly deepened into a continuous roar. Every one who
+could be spared from the air-ship at once ran up to the top of the
+hill to watch the progress of the fight. The Russian fleet had
+advanced to within three miles of the land, and had opened a furious
+cannonade on the British ships and the forts, which were manfully
+replying to it with every available gun.
+
+By the time the watchers on the hill had focussed their glasses on
+the scene, the _Lucifer_ discharged her first shell on the fort on
+Girdleness. They saw the blaze of the explosion gleam through the
+smoke that already hung thick over the low building. Another and
+another followed in quick succession, and the firing from the fort
+ceased. The smoke drifted slowly away, and disclosed a heap of
+shapeless ruins.
+
+"That is horrible work, isn't it?" said Arnold to Tremayne through
+his clenched teeth. "Anywhere but on British ground would not be so
+bad, but the sight of that makes my blood boil. I would give my ears
+to take our ships into the air, and smash up that Russian fleet as we
+did the French Squadron in the Atlantic."
+
+"There spoke the true Briton, Captain Arnold," said Natasha, who was
+standing beside him under a clump of trees. "Yes, I can quite
+understand how you feel watching a scene like that, for country is
+country after all. Even my half-English blood is pretty near boiling
+point; and though I wouldn't give my ears, I would give a good deal
+to go with you and do as you say.
+
+"But you may rest assured that the Master's way is the best, and will
+prove the shortest road to the universal peace which can only come
+through universal war. Courage, my friend, and patience! There will
+be a heavy reckoning to pay for this sort of thing one day, and that
+before very long."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Tremayne. "There goes the other fort. I suppose it
+will be the turn of the ships next. What a frightful scene! Twenty
+minutes ago it was as peaceful as these hills, and look at it now."
+
+The second fort had been destroyed as rapidly as the first, and the
+cessation of the fire of both had made a very perceptible difference
+in the cannonade, though the great guns of the Russian fleet still
+roared continuously and poured a hurricane of shot and shell into the
+mouth of the river across which the British ships were drawn, keeping
+up the unequal conflict like so many bull-dogs at bay.
+
+Over them and the river hung a dense pall of bluish-white smoke,
+through which the _Lucifer_ sent projectile after projectile in the
+attempt to sink the British ironclads. As those on board her could
+only judge by the flash of the guns, the aim was very imperfect, and
+several projectiles were wasted, falling into the sea and exploding
+there, throwing up mountains of water, but not doing any further
+damage. At length a brilliant green flash shot up through the smoke
+clouds over the river mouth.
+
+"He's hit one of the ships at last!" exclaimed Tremayne, as he saw
+the flash. "It'll soon be all up with poor old Aberdeen."
+
+"I don't think so," exclaimed Arnold. "At any rate the _Lucifer_
+won't do much more harm. There comes the storm at last! Back to the
+ships all of you at once, it's time to go aloft!"
+
+As he spoke a brilliant flash of lightning split the inky clouds
+which had now risen high over the western hills, and a deep roll of
+thunder came echoing up the valleys as if in answer to the roar of
+the cannonade on the sea. The moment every one was on board, Arnold
+gave the signal to ascend. As soon as the fan-wheels had raised them
+a hundred feet from the ground he gave the signal for full speed
+ahead, and the three air-ships swept upwards to the west as though to
+meet the coming storm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+THE END OF THE CHASE.
+
+
+The flight of the _Ithuriel_ and her consorts was so graduated, that
+as they rose to the level of the storm-cloud they missed it and
+passed diagonally beyond it at a sufficient distance to avoid
+disturbing the electrical balance between it and the earth. The
+object of doing so was not so much to escape a discharge of
+electricity, since all the vital parts of the machinery and the
+power-cylinders were carefully insulated, but rather in order not to
+provoke a lightning flash which might have revealed their rapid
+passage to the occupants of the _Lucifer_.
+
+As it was, they swept upwards and westward at such a speed that they
+had gained the cover of the thunder-cloud, and placed a considerable
+area of it between themselves and the town, long before the storm
+broke over Aberdeen, and so they were provided with ample shelter
+under, or rather over, which they were to make their attack on the
+_Lucifer_.
+
+They waited until the clouds coming up from the westward joined those
+which had begun to gather thick and black and threatening over the
+Russian fleet soon after the tremendous cannonade had begun. The
+shock of the meeting of the two cloud-squadrons formed a fitting
+counterpart to the drama of death and destruction that was being
+played on land and sea.
+
+The brilliant sunshine of the midsummer afternoon was suddenly
+obscured by a darkness born of smoke and cloud like that of a
+midwinter night. The smoke of the cannonade rose heavily and mingled
+with the clouds, and the atmospheric concussions produced by the
+discharge of hundreds of heavy guns, brought down the rain in
+torrents. Almost continuous streams of lightning flashed from cloud
+to cloud, and from heaven to earth, eclipsing the spouting fire of
+the guns, while to the roar of the bombardment was added an almost
+unbroken roll of thunder.
+
+Above all this hideous turmoil of human and elemental strife, the
+three air-ships floated for awhile in a serene and sunlit atmosphere.
+But this was only for a time. Arnold had taken the position and
+altitude of the _Lucifer_ very carefully by means of his sextant and
+compass before he rose into the air, and as soon as his preparations
+were complete he made another observation of the angle of the sun's
+elevation, allowing, of course, for his own, and placed his three
+ships as nearly perpendicular as he could over the _Lucifer_,
+floating on the under side of the storm-cloud.
+
+His preparations had been simple in the extreme. Four light strong
+grappling-irons hung downwards from the _Ithuriel_, two at the bow
+and two at the stern, by thin steel-wire rope; two similar ones hung
+from the starboard side of the _Orion_, which was on his left hand,
+and two from the port side of the _Ariel_, which was on his right
+hand. As they gained the desired position, a man was stationed at
+each of the ropes, with instructions how to act when the word was
+given. Then the fan-wheels were slowed down, and the three vessels
+sank swiftly through the cloud.
+
+Through the mist and darkness underneath they saw the white shape of
+the _Lucifer_ almost immediately below them, so accurately had the
+position been determined. They sank a hundred feet farther, and then
+Arnold shouted--
+
+"Now is your time. Cast!"
+
+Instantly the eight grappling-irons dropped and swung towards the
+_Lucifer_, hooking themselves in the stays of her masts and the
+railing that ran completely round her deck.
+
+"Now, up again, and ahead!" shouted Arnold once more, and the
+fan-wheels of the three ships revolved at their utmost speed; the
+air-planes had already been inclined to the full, the nine propellers
+whirled round, and the recaptured _Lucifer_ was dragged forward and
+upwards through the mist and darkness of the thunder-cloud into the
+bright sunshine above.
+
+[Illustration: "Now is your time, cast!"
+
+_See page 242._]
+
+So suddenly had the strange manoeuvre been executed that those on
+board her had not time to grasp what had really happened to them
+before they found themselves captured and utterly helpless. As she
+hung below her three captors it was impossible to bring one of the
+_Lucifer's_ guns to bear upon them, while four guns, two from the
+_Ariel_ and two from the _Orion_, grinned down upon her ready to blow
+her into fragments at the least sign of resistance.
+
+Added to this, a dozen magazine rifles covered her deck, threatening
+sudden death to the six bewildered men who were still staring
+helplessly about them in wonderment at the strange thing that had
+happened to them.
+
+"Who are the Russian officers in command of that air-ship?" hailed
+Mazanoff from the _Ariel_.
+
+Two men in Russian uniform raised their hands in reply, and Mazanoff
+hailed again--
+
+"Which will you have--surrender or death? If you surrender your lives
+are safe, and we will put you on to the land as soon as possible; if
+not you will be shot."
+
+"We surrender!" exclaimed one of the officers, drawing his sword and
+dropping it on the deck. The other followed suit, and Mazanoff
+continued--
+
+"Very good. Remain where you are. The first man that moves will be
+shot down."
+
+Almost before the last words had left his lips half a dozen men had
+slid down the wire ropes and landed on the deck of the _Lucifer_. The
+moment their feet had touched the deck each whipped a magazine pistol
+out of his belt and covered his man.
+
+Within a couple of minutes the captives were all disarmed; indeed,
+most of them had thrown their weapons down on the first summons. The
+arms were tossed overboard, and all but the two Russian officers were
+rapidly bound hand and foot. Then three of the six men descended to
+the engine-room, and one went to the wheel-house. In another minute
+the fan-wheels of the _Lucifer_ began to spin round faster, and
+quickly raised her to the level of the other three ships, and so the
+recapture of the deserter was completed.
+
+The two officers were at once summoned on board the _Ithuriel_ and
+shut up under guard in separate cabins. The rest of the crew of the
+_Lucifer_ was found to consist of the four traitors who had carried
+her away, and two Russian engineers who had been put on board to
+assist in the working of the vessel.
+
+As soon as these had been replaced by a crew drafted from the
+_Ithuriel_ and her consorts under the command of Lieutenant Marston,
+Arnold gave the order to go ahead at fifty miles an hour to the
+northward, and the four air-ships immediately sped away in that
+direction, leaving Aberdeen to its fate, and within a little over an
+hour the sounds of both storm and battle had died away in silence
+behind them.
+
+When they were fairly under way Natas ordered the four deserters to
+be brought before him in the after saloon of the flagship. He sat at
+one end of the table, and they were placed in a line in front of him
+at the other, each with a guard behind him, and the muzzle of a
+pistol at his head.
+
+"Peter Tamboff, Amos Vornjeh, Ivan Tscheszco, and Paul Oreloff! you
+have broken your oaths, betrayed your companions, deserted the Cause
+to which you devoted your lives, and placed in the hands of the
+Russian tyrant the means of destruction which has enabled him to
+break the blockade of the Baltic, and so perhaps to change the whole
+course of the war which he is now waging, as you well know, with the
+object of conquering Europe and enslaving its peoples.
+
+"Already the lives of thousands of better men than you have been lost
+through this vile treason of yours, the vilest of all treason, for it
+was committed for love of money. By the laws of the Brotherhood your
+lives are forfeit, and if you had a hundred lives each they would be
+forfeited again by the calamities that your treason has brought, and
+will bring, upon the world. You will die in half an hour. If you have
+any preparations to make for the next world, make them. I have done
+with you. Go!"
+
+Half an hour later the four deserters were taken up on to the deck of
+the _Ithuriel_. The signal was given to stop the flotilla, which was
+then flying three thousand feet above the waters of the Moray Firth.
+As soon as they came to a standstill their crews were summoned on
+deck. The three smaller vessels floated around the _Ithuriel_ at a
+distance of about fifty yards from her. The traitors, bound hand and
+foot, were stood up facing the rail of the flagship, and four of her
+crew were stationed opposite to them on the other side of the deck
+with loaded rifles.
+
+They were allowed one last look upon sun and sky, and then their eyes
+were bandaged. As soon as this was done Arnold raised his hand; the
+four rifles came up to the ready; a stream of flame shot from the
+muzzles, and the bodies of the four traitors lurched forward over the
+rail and disappeared into the abyss beneath.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," said Arnold in French, turning to the two Russian
+officers who had been spectators of the scene, "that is how we punish
+traitors. Your own lives are spared because we do not murder
+prisoners of war. You will, I hope, in due time return to your
+master, and you will tell him why we have been obliged to retake the
+air-ship which he surrendered to us by force, and therefore why we
+destroyed his flagship in the North Sea. If Admiral Prabylov had
+obeyed his orders, the _Lucifer_ would have been surrendered to us
+quietly, and there would have been for the present no further
+trouble.
+
+"Tell him also from me, as Admiral of the Terrorist fleet, that, so
+far as matters have now gone, we shall take no further part in the
+war; but that the moment he brings his war-balloons across the waters
+which separate Britain from Europe, the last hour of his empire will
+have struck.
+
+"If he neglects this warning with which I now entrust you, I will
+bring a force against him before which he shall be as helpless as the
+armies of the Alliance have so far been before him and his
+war-balloons; and, more than this, tell him that if I conquer I will
+not spare. I will hold him and his advisers strictly to account for
+all that may happen after that moment.
+
+"There will be no treaties with conquered enemies in the hour of our
+victory. We will have blood for blood, and life for life. Remember
+that, and bear the message to him faithfully. For the present you
+will be prisoners on parole; but I warn you that you will be watched
+night and day, and at the first suspicion of treachery you will be
+shot, and cast into the air as those traitors were just now.
+
+"You will remain on board this ship. The two engineers will be placed
+one on board of each of two of our consorts. In twenty-four hours or
+so you will be landed on Spanish soil and left to your own devices.
+Meanwhile we shall make you as comfortable as the circumstances
+permit."
+
+The two Russian officers bowed their acknowledgments, and Arnold gave
+the signal for the flotilla to proceed.
+
+It was then about seven o'clock in the evening. Flying at the rate of
+a hundred miles an hour, the squadron crossed the mouth of the Moray
+Firth trending to the westward until they passed over Thurso, and
+then took a westerly course to Rockall Island, four hundred miles to
+the west. Here they met the two other air-ships which had been
+despatched from Aeria with extra power-cylinders and munitions of war
+in case they had been needed for a prolonged campaign.
+
+The cylinders, which had been exhausted on board the _Ithuriel_ and
+her three consorts, were replaced, and then the whole squadron rose
+into the air from one of the peaks of Rockall Island and winged its
+way southward to the north-western coast of Spain. They made the
+Spanish land near Corunna shortly before eight on the following
+evening, and here the four Russian prisoners were released on the
+sea-shore and provided with money to take them as far as Valladolid,
+whence they would be able to communicate with the French military
+authorities at Toulouse.
+
+The Terrorist Squadron then rose once more into the air, ascended to
+a height of two thousand feet, skirted the Portuguese coast, and then
+took a south-easterly course over Morocco through one of the passes
+of the Atlas Mountains, and so across the desert of Sahara and the
+wilds of Central Africa to Aeria.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+THE BREAKING OF THE CHARM.
+
+
+The first news of the Russian attack on Aberdeen was received in
+London soon after five o'clock on the afternoon of the 30th, and
+produced an effect which it is quite beyond the power of language to
+describe. The first telegram containing the bare announcement of the
+fact fell like a bolt from the blue on the great Metropolis. It ran
+as follows:--
+
+      Aberdeen, 4.30 P.M.
+
+    A large fleet, supposed to be the Russian fleet which broke the
+    blockade of the Baltic on the morning of the 28th, has appeared
+    off the town. About forty large vessels can be made out. Our
+    defences are quite inadequate to cope with such an immense force,
+    but we shall do our best till help comes.
+
+After that the wires were kept hot with messages until well into the
+night. The newspapers rushed out edition after edition to keep pace
+with them, and in all the office windows of the various journals
+copies of the telegrams were posted up as soon as they arrived.
+
+As the messages multiplied in number they brought worse and worse
+tidings, until excitement grew to frenzy and frenzy degenerated into
+panic. The thousand tongues of rumour wagged faster and faster as
+each hour went by. The raid upon a single town was magnified into a
+general invasion of the whole country.
+
+Very few people slept in London that night, and the streets were
+alive with anxious crowds till daybreak, waiting for the
+confidently-expected news of the landing of the Russian troops, in
+spite of the fact that the avowed and real object of the raid had
+been made public early in the evening. The following are the most
+important of the telegrams which were received, and will suffice to
+inform the reader of the course of events after the departure of the
+four air-ships from the scene of action--
+
+      5 P.M.
+
+    A message has been received from the Commander of the Russian
+    fleet demanding the surrender of the town for twelve hours to
+    allow six of his ships to fill up with coal. The captain of the
+    _Ascalon_, in command of the port, has refused this demand, and
+    declares that he will fight while he has a ship that will float
+    or a gun that can be fired. The Russians are accompanied by the
+    air-ship which assisted them to break the blockade of the Sound.
+    She is now floating over the town. The utmost terror prevails
+    among the inhabitants, and crowds are flying into the country to
+    escape the bombardment. Aid has been telegraphed for to Edinburgh
+    and Dundee; but if the North Sea Squadron is still in the Firth
+    of Forth, it cannot get here under nearly twelve hours' steaming.
+
+      5.30 P.M.
+
+    The bombardment has commenced, and fearful damage has been done
+    already. With three or four shells the air-ship has blown up and
+    utterly destroyed the fort on Girdleness, which mounted
+    twenty-four heavy guns. But for the ships, this leaves the town
+    almost unprotected. News has just come from the North Shore that
+    the batteries there have met with the same fate. The Russians are
+    pouring a perfect storm of shot and shell into the mouth of the
+    river where our ships are lying, but the town has so far been
+    spared.
+
+      5.45 P.M.
+
+    We have just received news from Edinburgh that the North Sea
+    Squadron left at daybreak this morning under orders to proceed to
+    the mouth of the Elbe to assist in protecting Hamburg from an
+    anticipated attack by the same fleet which has attacked us. There
+    is now no hope that the town can be successfully defended, and
+    the Provost has called a towns-meeting to consider the
+    advisability of surrender, though it is feared that the Russians
+    may now make larger demands. The whole country side is in a state
+    of the utmost panic.
+
+      7 P.M.
+
+    The towns-meeting empowered the Provost to call upon Captain
+    Marchmont, of the _Ascalon_, to make terms with the Russians in
+    order to save the town from destruction. He refused point blank,
+    although one of the coast-defence ships, the _Thunderer_, has
+    been disabled by shells from the air-ship, and all his other
+    vessels have been terribly knocked about by the incessant
+    cannonade from the fleet, which has now advanced to within two
+    miles of the shore, having nothing more to fear from the land
+    batteries. A terrific thunderstorm is raging, and no words can
+    describe the horror of the scene. The air-ship ceased firing
+    nearly an hour ago.
+
+      10 P.M.
+
+    Five of our eleven ships--two battleships and three
+    cruisers--have been sunk; the rest are little better than mere
+    wrecks, and seven torpedo-boats have been destroyed in attempting
+    to torpedo some of the enemy's ships. Heavy firing has been heard
+    to the southward, and we have learnt from Dundee that four
+    battleships and six cruisers have been sent to our relief. A
+    portion of the Russian fleet has been detached to meet them. We
+    cannot hope anything from them. Captain Marchmont has now only
+    four ships capable of fighting, but refuses to strike his flag.
+    The storm has ceased, and a strong land breeze has blown the
+    clouds and smoke to seaward. The air-ship has disappeared. Six
+    large Russian ironclads are heading at full speed towards the
+    mouth of the river--
+
+The telegram broke off short here, and no more news was received from
+Aberdeen for several hours. Of this there was only one possible
+explanation. The town was in the hands of the Russians, and they had
+cut the wires. The long charm was broken, and the Isle Inviolate was
+inviolate no more. The next telegram from the North came from Findon,
+and was published in London just before ten o'clock on the following
+morning. It ran thus--
+
+      Findon, N.B., 9.15.
+
+    About ten o'clock last night the attack on Aberdeen ended in a
+    rush of six ironclads into the river mouth. They charged down
+    upon the four half-crippled British ships that were left, and in
+    less than five minutes rammed and sank them. The Russians then
+    demanded the unconditional surrender of the town, under pain of
+    bombardment and destruction. There was no other course but to
+    yield, and until eight o'clock this morning the town has been in
+    the hands of the enemy.
+
+    The Russians at once landed a large force of sailors and marines,
+    cut the telegraph wires and the railway lines, and fired without
+    warning upon every one who attempted to leave the town. The
+    stores of coal and ammunition were seized, and six large cruisers
+    were taking in coal all night. The banks were also entered, and
+    the specie taken possession of, as indemnity for the town. At
+    eight o'clock the cruisers and battleships steamed out of the
+    river without doing further damage. The squadron from the Tay was
+    compelled to retire by the overwhelming force that the Russians
+    brought to bear upon it after Aberdeen surrendered.
+
+    Half an hour ago the Russian fleet was lost sight of proceeding
+    at full speed to the north-eastward. Our loss has been terribly
+    heavy. The fort and batteries have been destroyed, all the ships
+    have been sunk or disabled, and of the whole defending force
+    scarcely three hundred men remain. Captain Marchmont went down on
+    the _Ascalon_ with his flag flying, and fighting to the last
+    moment.
+
+While the excitement caused by the news of the raid upon Aberdeen was
+at its height, that is to say, on the morning of the 2nd of July,
+intelligence was received in London of a tremendous disaster to the
+Anglo-Teutonic Alliance. It was nothing less, in short, than the fall
+of Berlin, the collapse of the German Empire, and the surrender of
+the Kaiser and the Crown Prince to the Tsar. After nearly sixty hours
+of almost continuous fighting, during which the fortifications had
+been wrecked by the war-balloons, the German ammunition-trains burnt
+and blown up by the fire-shells rained from the air, and the heroic
+defenders of the city disorganised by the aerial bombardment of
+melinite shells and cyanogen poison-bombs, and crushed by an
+overwhelming force of not less than four million assailants. So fell
+like a house of cards the stately fabric built up by the genius of
+Bismarck and Moltke; and so, after bearing his part gallantly in the
+death-struggle of his empire, had the grandson of the conqueror of
+Sedan yielded up his sword to the victorious Autocrat of the Russias.
+
+The terrible news fell upon London like the premonitory echo of an
+approaching storm. The path of the triumphant Muscovites was now
+completely open to the forts of the Belgian Quadrilateral, under the
+walls of which they would form a junction, which nothing could now
+prevent, with the beleaguering forces of France. Would the Belgian
+strongholds be able to resist any more effectually than the
+fortifications of Berlin had done the assaults of the terrible
+war-balloons of the Tsar?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+THE PATH OF CONQUEST.
+
+
+This narrative does not in any sense pretend to be a detailed history
+of the war, but only of such phases of it as more immediately concern
+the working out of those deep-laid and marvellously-contrived plans
+designed by their author to culminate in nothing less than the
+collapse of the existing fabric of Society, and the upheaval of the
+whole basis of civilisation.
+
+It will therefore be impossible to follow the troops of the Alliance
+and the League through the different campaigns which were being
+simultaneously carried out in different parts of Europe. The most
+that can be done will be to present an outline of the leading events
+which, operating throughout a period of nearly three months, prepared
+the way for the final catastrophe in which the tremendous issues of
+the world-war were summed up.
+
+The fall of Berlin was the first decisive blow that had been struck
+during the war. Under it the federation of kingdoms and states which
+had formed the German Empire fell asunder almost instantly, and the
+whole fabric collapsed like a broken bubble. The shock was felt
+throughout the length and breadth of Europe, and it was immediately
+seen that nothing but a miracle could save the whole of Central
+Europe from falling into the hands of the League.
+
+Its immediate results were the surrender of Magdeburg, Brunswick,
+Hanover, and Bremen. Hamburg, strongly garrisoned by British and
+German troops, supported by a powerful squadron in the Elbe, and
+defended by immense fortifications on the landward side, alone
+returned a flat defiance to the summons of the Tsar. The road to the
+westward, therefore, lay entirely open to his victorious troops. As
+for Hamburg, it was left for the present under the observation of a
+corps of reconnaissance to be dealt with when its time came.
+
+When Berlin fell the position of affairs in Europe may be briefly
+described as follows:--The French army had taken the field nearly
+five millions strong, and this immense force had been divided into an
+Army of the North and an Army of the East. The former, consisting of
+about two millions of men, had been devoted to the attack on the
+British and German forces holding an almost impregnable position
+behind the chain of huge fortresses known at present as the Belgian
+Quadrilateral.
+
+This Army of the North, doubtless acting in accordance with the
+preconceived schemes of operations arranged by the leaders of the
+League, had so far contented itself with a series of harassing
+attacks upon different points of the Allied position, and had made no
+forward movement in force. The Army of the East, numbering nearly
+three million men, and divided into fifteen army corps, had crossed
+the German frontier immediately on the outbreak of the war, and at
+the same moment that the Russian Armies of the North and South had
+crossed the eastern Austro-German frontier, and the Italian army had
+forced the passes of the Tyrol.
+
+The whole of the French fleet of war-balloons had been attached to
+the Army of the East with the intention, which had been realised
+beyond the most sanguine expectations, of overrunning and subjugating
+Central Europe in the shortest possible space of time. It had swept
+like a destroying tempest through the Rhine Provinces, leaving
+nothing in its track but the ruins of towns and fortresses, and wide
+wastes of devastated fields and vineyards.
+
+Before the walls of Munich it had effected a junction with the
+Italian army, consisting of ten army corps, numbering two million
+men. The ancient capital of Bavaria fell in three days under the
+assault of the aerial fleet and the overwhelming numbers of the
+attacking force. Then the Franco-Italian armies advanced down the
+valley of the Danube and invested Vienna, which, in spite of the
+heroic efforts of what had been left of the Austrian army after the
+disastrous conflicts on the Eastern frontier, was stormed and sacked
+after three days and nights of almost continuous fighting, and the
+most appalling scenes of bloodshed and destruction, four days after
+the surrender of the German Emperor to the Tsar had announced the
+collapse of what had once been the Triple Alliance.
+
+From Vienna the Franco-Italian armies continued their way down the
+valley of the Danube, and at Budapest was joined by the northern
+division of the Russian Army of the South, and from there the mighty
+flood of destruction rolled south-eastward until it overflowed the
+Balkan peninsula, sweeping everything before it as it went, until it
+joined the force investing Constantinople.
+
+The Turkish army, which had retreated before it, had concentrated
+upon Gallipoli, where, in conjunction with the allied British and
+Turkish Squadrons holding the Dardanelles, it prepared to advance to
+the relief of Constantinople.
+
+The final attack upon the Turkish capital had been purposely delayed
+until the arrival of the French war-balloons, and as soon as these
+appeared upon the scene the work of destruction instantly
+recommenced. After four days of bombardment by sea and land, and from
+the air, and a rapid series of what can only be described as
+wholesale butcheries, the ancient capital of the Sultan shared the
+fate of Berlin and Vienna, and after four centuries and a half the
+Turkish dominion in Europe died in its first stronghold.
+
+Meanwhile one of the wings of the Franco-Italian army had made a
+descent upon Gallipoli, and after forty-eight hours' incessant
+fighting had compelled the remnant of the Turkish army, which it thus
+cut off from Constantinople, to take refuge on the Turkish and
+British men-of-war under the protection of the guns of the fleet. In
+view of the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, and the terrible
+effectiveness of the war-balloons, it was decided that any attempt to
+retake Constantinople, or even to continue to hold the Dardanelles,
+could only result in further disaster.
+
+The forts of the Dardanelles were therefore evacuated and blown up,
+and the British and Turkish fleet, with the remains of the Turkish
+army on board, steamed southward to Alexandria to join forces with
+the British Squadron that was holding the northern approaches to the
+Suez Canal. There the Turkish troops were landed, and the Allied
+fleets prepared for the naval battle which the release of the Russian
+Black Sea Squadron, through the opening of the Dardanelles, was
+considered to have rendered inevitable.
+
+Five days later was fought a second battle of the Nile, a battle
+compared with which the former conflict, momentous as it had been,
+would have seemed but child's play. On the one side Admiral
+Beresford, in command of the Mediterranean Squadron, had collected
+every available ship and torpedo-boat to do battle for the defence of
+the all-important Suez Canal, and opposed to him was an immense
+armament formed by the junction of the Russian Black Sea Squadron
+with the Franco-Italian fleet, or rather those portions of it which
+had survived the attacks, or eluded the vigilance of the British
+Admiral.
+
+The battle, fought almost on the ancient battle-ground of Nelson and
+Collingwood, was incomparably the greatest sea-fight in the history
+of war.
+
+The fleet under Admiral Beresford's command consisted of fifty-five
+battleships of the first and second class, forty-six armoured and
+seventy-two unarmoured cruisers, fifty-four gunboats, and two hundred
+and seventy torpedo-boats; while the Franco-Italian Allied fleets
+mustered between them forty-six battleships, seventy-five armoured
+and sixty-three unarmoured cruisers, forty gunboats, and two hundred
+and fifty torpedo-boats.
+
+The battle began soon after sundown on the 24th of August, and raged
+continuously for over sixty hours. The whole issue of the fight was
+the question of the command of the Mediterranean, and the British
+line of communication with India and the East _via_ the Suez Canal.
+
+The prize was well worthy of the tremendous struggle that the two
+contending forces waged for it; and from the two Admirals in command
+to the boys employed on the most insignificant duties about the
+ships, every one of the combatants seemed equally impressed with the
+magnitude of the momentous issues at stake.
+
+To the League, victory meant a deadly blow inflicted upon the only
+enemy now seriously to be reckoned with. It meant the severing of the
+British Empire into two portions, and the cutting of the one
+remaining channel of supply upon which the heart of the Empire now
+depended for its nutrition. To destroy Admiral Beresford's fleet
+would be to achieve as great a triumph on the sea as the armies of
+the League had achieved on land by the taking of Berlin, Vienna, and
+Constantinople. On the other hand, the defeat of the Franco-Italian
+fleets meant complete command of the Mediterranean, and the ability
+to destroy in detail all the important sea-board fortresses and
+arsenals of the League that were situated on its shores.
+
+It meant the keeping open of the Suez Canal, the maintenance of
+communication with India and Australia by the shortest route, and,
+what was by no means the least important consideration, the
+vindication of British prestige in Egypt, the Soudan, and India. It
+was with these enormous gains and losses before their eyes that the
+two forces engaged and fought as perhaps men had never fought with
+each other in the world before. Everything that science and
+experience could suggest was done by the leaders of both sides. Human
+life was counted as nothing in the balance, and deeds of the most
+reckless heroism were performed in countless instances as the mighty
+struggle progressed.
+
+With such inflexible determination was the battle waged on either
+side, and so appalling was the destruction accomplished by the
+weapons brought into play, that by sunrise on the morning of the
+27th, more than half the opposing fleets had been destroyed, and of
+the remainder the majority were so crippled that a continuance of the
+fight had become a matter of physical impossibility.
+
+What advantage remained appeared to be on the side of the remains of
+the Franco-Italian fleet; but this was speedily negatived an hour
+after sunrise by the appearance of a fresh British Squadron,
+consisting of the five battleships, fifteen cruisers, and a large
+flotilla of gunboats and torpedo-boats which had passed through the
+Canal during the night from Aden and Suakim, and appeared on the
+scene just in time to turn the tide of battle decisively in favour of
+the British Admiral.
+
+As soon as this new force got into action it went to work with
+terrible effectiveness, and in three hours there was not a single
+vessel that was still flying the French or Italian flag. The victory
+had, it is true, been bought at a tremendous price, but it was
+complete and decisive, and at the moment that the last of the ships
+of the League struck her flag, Admiral Beresford stood in the same
+glorious position as Sir George Rodney had done a hundred and
+twenty-two years before, when he saved the British Empire in the
+ever-memorable victory of the 12th of April 1782.
+
+The triumph in the Mediterranean was, however, only a set-off to a
+disaster which had occurred more than five weeks previously in the
+Atlantic. The Russian fleet, which had broken the blockade of the
+Sound, with the assistance of the _Lucifer_, had, after coaling at
+Aberdeen, made its way into the Atlantic, and there, in conjunction
+with the Franco-Italian fleets operating along the Atlantic steamer
+route, had, after a series of desperate engagements, succeeded in
+breaking up the line of British communication with America and
+Canada.
+
+This result had been achieved mainly in consequence of the contrast
+between the necessary methods of attack and defence. On the one hand,
+Britain had been compelled to maintain an extended line of ocean
+defence more than three thousand miles in length, and her ships had
+further been hampered by the absolute necessity of attending, first,
+to the protection of the Atlantic liners, and, secondly, to warding
+off isolated attacks which were directed upon different parts of the
+line by squadrons which could not be attacked in turn without
+breaking the line of convoy which it was all-essential to preserve
+intact.
+
+For two or three weeks there had been a series of running fights; but
+at length the ocean chain had broken under the perpetual strain, and
+a repulse inflicted on the Irish Squadron by a superior force of
+French, Italian, and Spanish warships had settled the question of the
+command of the Atlantic in favour of the League. The immediate result
+of this was that food supplies from the West practically stopped.
+
+Now and then a fleet Atlantic greyhound ran the blockade and brought
+her priceless cargo into a British port; but as the weeks went by
+these occurrences became fewer and further between, till the time
+news was received in London of the investment of the fortresses of
+the Quadrilateral by the innumerable hosts of the League, brought
+together by the junction of the French and Russian Armies of the
+North and the conquerors of Vienna and Constantinople, who had
+returned on their tracks after garrisoning their conquests in the
+East.
+
+Food in Britain, already at war prices, now began to rise still
+further, and soon touched famine prices. Wheat, which in the last
+decade of the nineteenth century had averaged about L9 a ton, rose to
+over L31 a ton, its price two years before the Battle of Waterloo.
+Other imported food-stuffs, of course, rose in proportion with the
+staple commodity, and the people of Britain saw, at first dimly, then
+more and more clearly, the real issue that had been involved in the
+depopulation of the rural districts to swell the populations of the
+towns, and the consequent lapse of enormous areas of land either into
+pasturage or unused wilderness.
+
+In other words, Britain began to see approaching her doors an enemy
+before whose assault all human strength is impotent and all valour
+unavailing. Like Imperial Rome, she had depended for her food supply
+upon external sources, and now these sources were one by one being
+cut off.
+
+The loss of the command of the Atlantic, the breaking of the Baltic
+blockade, and the consequent closing of all the continental ports
+save Hamburg, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp, had left her
+entirely dependent upon her own miserably insufficient internal
+resources and the Mediterranean route to India and the East.
+
+More than this, too, only Hamburg, Antwerp, and the fortresses of the
+Quadrilateral now stood between her and actual invasion,--that
+supreme calamity which, until the raid upon Aberdeen, had been for
+centuries believed to be impossible.
+
+Once let the League triumph in the Netherlands, as it had done in
+Central and South-Eastern Europe, and its legions would descend like
+an avalanche upon the shores of England, and the Lion of the Seas
+would find himself driven to bay in the stronghold which he had held
+inviolate for nearly a thousand years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+FROM CHAOS TO ARCADIE.
+
+
+During the three months of incessant strife and carnage which deluged
+the plains and valleys of Europe with blood after the fall of Berlin,
+the Terrorists took no part whatever in the war. At long intervals an
+air-ship was seen from the earth flying at full speed through the
+upper regions of the atmosphere, now over Europe, now over America,
+and now over Australia or the Cape of Good Hope; but if they held any
+communication with the earth they did so secretly, and only paid the
+briefest of visits, the objects of which could only be guessed at.
+
+When one was sighted the fact was mentioned in the newspapers, and
+vague speculations were indulged in; but there was soon little room
+left for these in the public attention, especially in Britain, for as
+the news of disaster after disaster came pouring in, and the hosts of
+the League drew nearer and nearer to the western shores of Europe,
+all eyes were turned more and more anxiously across "the silver
+streak" which now alone separated the peaceful hills and valleys of
+England and Scotland from the destroying war-storm which had so
+swiftly desolated the fields of Europe, and all hearts were heavy
+with apprehension of coming sorrows.
+
+The rapidity of their movements had naturally led to the supposition
+that several of the air-ships had taken the air for some unknown
+purpose, but in reality there were only two of them afloat during
+nearly the whole of the three mouths.
+
+Of these, one was the _Orion_, on board of which Tremayne was
+visiting the various centres of the Brotherhood throughout the
+English-speaking world, making everything ready for the carrying out
+at the proper time of the great project to which he had devoted
+himself since the memorable night at Alanmere, when he had seen the
+vision of the world's Armageddon. The other was under the command of
+Michael Roburoff, who was busy in America and Canada perfecting the
+preparations for checkmating the designs of the American Ring, which
+were described in a former chapter.
+
+The remainder of the members of the Inner Circle and those of the
+Outer Circle, living in Aeria, were quietly pursuing the most
+peaceful avocations, building houses and water-mills, clearing fields
+and laying out gardens, fishing in the lake and streams, and hunting
+in the forests as though they had never heard of the horrors of war,
+and had no part or share in the Titanic strife whose final issue they
+would soon have to go forth and decide.
+
+One of the hardest workers in the colony was the Admiral of the
+aerial fleet. Morning after morning he shut himself up in his
+laboratory for three or four hours experimenting with explosives of
+various kinds, and especially on a new form of fire-shell which he
+had invented, and which he was now busy perfecting in preparation for
+the next, and, as he hoped, final conflict that he would have to wage
+with the forces of despotism and barbarism.
+
+The afternoons he spent supervising the erection of the mills, and
+the construction of new machinery, and in exploring the mountain
+sides in search of mineral wealth, of which he was delighted to find
+abundant promise that was afterwards realised beyond his
+expectations.
+
+On these exploring expeditions he was frequently accompanied by
+Natasha and Radna and her husband. Sometimes Arnold would be enticed
+away from his chemicals, and his designs on the lives of his enemies,
+and after breakfasting soon after sunrise would go off for a long
+day's ramble to some unknown part of their wonderful domain, in
+which, like children in a fairyland, they were always discovering
+some new wonders and beauties. And, indeed, no children could have
+been happier or freer from care than they were during this delightful
+interval in the tragedy in which they were so soon to play such
+conspicuous parts. The two wedded lovers, with the dark past put far
+behind them for ever, found perfect happiness in each other's
+society, and so left, it is almost needless to add, Arnold and
+Natasha pretty much to their own devices. Indeed, Natasha had more
+than once declared that she would have to get the Princess to join
+the party, as Radna had proved herself a hopeless failure as a
+chaperone.
+
+Every one in the valley by this time looked upon Arnold and Natasha
+as lovers, though their rank in the Brotherhood was so high that no
+one ventured to speak of them as betrothed save by implication. How
+Natas regarded them was known only to himself. He, of course, saw
+their intimacy, and since he said nothing he doubtless looked upon it
+with approval; but whether he regarded it as an intimacy of friends
+or of lovers, remained a mystery even to Natasha herself, for he
+never by any chance made an allusion to it.
+
+As for Arnold, he had scrupulously observed the compact tacitly made
+between them on the first and only occasion that he had ever spoken
+words of love to her. They were the best of friends, the closest
+companions, and their intercourse with each other was absolutely
+frank and unrestrained, just as it would have been between two close
+friends of the same sex; but they understood each other perfectly,
+and by no word or deed did either cross the line that divides
+friendship from love.
+
+She trusted him absolutely in all things, and he took this trust as a
+sacred pledge between them that until his part of their compact had
+been performed, love was a forbidden subject, not even to be
+approached.
+
+So perfectly did Natasha play her part that though he spent hours and
+hours alone with her on their exploring expeditions, and in rowing
+and sailing on the lake, and though he spent many another hour in
+solitude, weighing her every word and action, he was utterly unable
+to truthfully congratulate himself on having made the slightest
+progress towards gaining that love without which, even if he held her
+to the compact in the day of victory, victory itself would be robbed
+of its crowning glory and dearest prize.
+
+To a weaker man it would have been an impossible situation, this
+constant and familiar companionship with a girl whose wonderful
+beauty dazzled his eyes and fired his blood as he looked upon it, and
+whose winning charm of manner and grace of speech and action seemed
+to glorify her beauty until she seemed a being almost beyond the
+reach of merely human love--rather one of those daughters of men whom
+the sons of God looked upon in the early days of the world, and found
+so fair that they forsook heaven itself to woo them.
+
+Trained and disciplined as he had been in the sternest of all
+schools, and strengthened as he was by the knowledge of the compact
+that existed between them, there were moments when his self-control
+was very sorely tried, moments when her hand would be clasped in his,
+or rested on his shoulder as he helped her across a stream or down
+some steep hillside, or when in the midst of some animated discussion
+she would stop short and face him, and suddenly confound his logic
+with a flash from her eyes and a smile on her lips that literally
+forced him to put forth a muscular effort to prevent himself from
+catching her in his arms and risking everything for just one kiss,
+one taste of the forbidden fruit within his reach, and yet parted
+from him by a sea of blood and flame that still lay between the world
+and that empire of peace which he had promised to win for her sweet
+sake.
+
+Once, and once only, she had tried him almost too far. They had been
+discussing the possibility of ruling the world without the ultimate
+appeal to force, when the nations, weary at length of war, should
+have consented to disarm, and she, carried away by her own eloquent
+pleading for the ultimate triumph of peace and goodwill on earth, had
+laid her hand upon his arm, and was looking up at him with her lovely
+face aglow with the sweetest expression even he had ever seen upon
+it.
+
+Their eyes met, and there was a sudden silence between them. The
+eloquent words died upon her lips, and a deep flush rose to her
+cheeks and then faded instantly away, leaving her pale and with a
+look almost of terror in her eyes. He took a quick step backwards,
+and, turning away as though he feared to look any longer upon her
+beauty, said in a low tone that trembled with the strength of his
+repressed passion--
+
+"Natasha, for God's sake remember that I am only made of flesh and
+blood!"
+
+In a moment she was by his side again, this time with her eyes
+downcast and her proud little head bent as though in acknowledgment
+of his reproof. Then she looked up again, and held out her hand and
+said--
+
+"Forgive me; I have done wrong! Let us be friends again!"
+
+There was a gentle emphasis on the word "friends" that was
+irresistible. He took her hand in silence, and after a pressure that
+was almost imperceptibly returned, let it go again, and they walked
+on together; but there was very little more said between them that
+evening.
+
+This had happened one afternoon towards the middle of September, and
+two days later their delightful companionship came suddenly to an
+end, and the bond that existed between them was severed in a moment
+without warning, as a nerve thrilling with pleasure might be cut by
+an unexpected blow with a knife.
+
+On the 16th of September the _Orion_ returned from Australia. She
+touched the earth shortly after mid-day, and before sunset the
+_Azrael_, the vessel in which Michael Roburoff had gone to America,
+also returned, but without her commander. Her lieutenant, however,
+brought a despatch from him, which he delivered at once to Natas,
+who, immediately on reading it, sent for Tremayne.
+
+It evidently contained matters of great importance, for they remained
+alone together discussing it for over an hour. At the end of that
+time Tremayne left the Master's house and went to look for Arnold. He
+found him just helping Natasha out of a skiff at a little
+landing-stage that had been built out into the lake for boating
+purposes. As soon as greetings had been exchanged, he said--
+
+"Natasha, I have just left your father. He asked me, if I saw you, to
+tell you that he wishes to speak to you at once."
+
+"Certainly," said Natasha. "I hope you have not brought bad news home
+from your travels. You are looking very serious about something," and
+without waiting for an answer, she was gone to obey her father's
+summons. As soon as she was out of earshot Tremayne put his arm
+through Arnold's, and, drawing him away towards a secluded portion of
+the shore of the lake, said--
+
+"Arnold, old man, I have some very serious news for you. You must
+prepare yourself for the severest strain that, I believe, could be
+put on your loyalty and your honour."
+
+"What is it? For Heaven's sake don't tell me that it has to do with
+Natasha!" exclaimed Arnold, stopping short and facing round, white to
+the lips with the sudden fear that possessed him. "You know"--
+
+"Yes, I know everything," replied Tremayne, speaking almost as gently
+as a woman would have done, "and I am sorry to say that it has to do
+with her. I know what your hopes have been with regard to her, and no
+man on earth could have wished to see those hopes fulfilled more
+earnestly than I have done, but"--
+
+"What do you mean, Tremayne? Speak out, and let me know the worst. If
+you tell me that I am to give her up, I tell you that I am"--
+
+"'That I am an English gentleman, and that I will break my heart
+rather than my oath'--that is what you will tell me when I tell you
+that you must not only give up your hopes of winning Natasha, but
+that it is the Master's orders that you shall have the _Ithuriel_
+ready to sail at midnight to take her to America to Michael Roburoff,
+who has written to Natas to ask her for his wife."
+
+Arnold heard him out in dazed, stupefied silence. It seemed too
+monstrous, too horrible, to be true. The sudden blow had stunned him.
+He tried to speak, but the words would not come. Tremayne, still
+standing with his arm through his, felt his whole body trembling, as
+though stricken with some sudden palsy. He led him on again, saying
+in a sterner tone than before--
+
+"Come, come! Play the man, and remember that the work nearest to your
+hand is war, and not love. Remember the tremendous issues that are
+gathering to their fulfilment, and the part that you have to play in
+working them out. This is not a question of the happiness or the
+hopes of one man or woman, but of millions, of the whole human race.
+You, and you alone, hold in your hands the power to make the defeat
+of the League certain."
+
+"And I will use it, have no fear of that!" replied Arnold, stopping
+again and passing his hand over his eyes like a man waking from an
+evil dream. "What I have sworn to do I will do; I am not going back
+from my oath. I will obey to the end, for she will do the same, and
+what would she think of me if I failed! Leave me alone for a bit now,
+old man. I must fight this thing out with myself, but the _Ithuriel_
+shall be ready to start at twelve."
+
+Tremayne saw that he was himself again, and that it was better that
+he should do as he said; so with a word of farewell he turned away
+and left him alone with his thoughts. Half-way back to the settlement
+he met Natasha coming down towards the lake. She was deadly pale, but
+she walked with a firm step, and carried her head as proudly erect as
+ever. As they met she stopped him and said--
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+Tremayne's first thought was to try and persuade her to go back and
+leave Arnold to himself, but a look at Natasha's white set face and
+burning eyes warned him that she was not in a mood to take advice,
+and so he told her, and without another word she went on swiftly down
+the path that led to the lake.
+
+The brief twilight of the tropics had passed before he reached a
+grove of palms on the western shore of the lake, towards which he had
+bent his steps when he left Tremayne. He walked with loose, aimless
+strides, now quickly and now slowly, and now stopping to watch the
+brightening moon shining upon the water.
+
+He caught himself thinking what a lovely night it would be to take
+Natasha for a row, and then his mind sprang back with a jerk to the
+remembrance of the horrible journey that he was to begin at
+midnight--to take Natasha to another man, and leave her with him as
+his wife.
+
+No, it could not be true. It was impossible that he should have
+fought and triumphed as he had done, and all for this. To give up the
+one woman he had ever loved in all his life, the woman he had
+snatched from slavery and degradation when not another man on earth
+could have done it.
+
+What had this Roburoff done that she should be given to him for the
+mere asking? Why had he not come in person like a man to woo and win
+her if he could, and then he would have stood aside and bowed to her
+choice. But this curt order to take her away to him as though she
+were some piece of merchandise--no, if such things were possible,
+better that he had never--
+
+"Richard!"
+
+He felt a light touch on his arm, and turned round sharply. Natasha
+was standing beside him. He had been so engrossed by his dark
+thoughts that he had not heard her light step on the soft sward, and
+now he seemed to see her white face and great shining eyes looking up
+at him in the moonlight as though there was some mist floating
+between him and her. Suddenly the mist seemed to vanish. He saw tears
+under the long dark lashes, and the sweet red lips parted in a faint
+smile.
+
+Lose her he might to-morrow, but for this one moment she was his and
+no other man's, let those who would say nay. That instant she was
+clasped helpless and unresisting in his arms, and her lips were
+giving his back kiss for kiss. Wreck and chaos might come now for all
+he cared. She loved him, and had given herself to him, if only for
+that one moonlit hour.
+
+After that he could plunge into the battle again, and slay and spare
+not--yes, and he would slay without mercy. He would hurl his
+lightnings from the skies, and where they struck there should be
+death. If not love and life, then hate and death--it was not his
+choice. Let those who had chosen see to that; but for the present
+love and life were his, why should he not live? Then the mad, sweet
+delirium passed, and saner thoughts came. He released her suddenly,
+almost brusquely, and said with a harsh ring in his voice--
+
+"Why did you come? Have you forgotten what so nearly happened the day
+before yesterday?"
+
+"No, I have not forgotten it. I have remembered it, and that is why I
+came to tell you--what you know now."
+
+Her face was rosy enough now, and she looked him straight in the eyes
+as she spoke, proud to confess the mastery that he had won.
+
+"Now listen," she went on, speaking in a low, quick, passionate tone.
+"The will of the Master must be done. There is no appeal from that,
+either for you or me. He can dispose of me as he chooses, and I shall
+obey, as I warned you I should when you first told me that you would
+win me if you could.
+
+"Well, you have won me, so far as I can be won. I love you, and I
+have come to tell you so before the shadow falls between us. And I
+have come to tell you that what you have won shall belong to no one
+else. I will obey my father to the letter, but the spirit is my
+affair. Now kiss me again, dear, and say good-bye. We have had our
+glimpse of heaven, and this is not the only life."
+
+For one more brief moment she surrendered herself to him again. Their
+lips met and parted, and in an instant she had slipped out of his
+arms and was gone, leaving him dazed with her beauty and her
+winsomeness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+LOVE AND DUTY.
+
+
+An hour later he walked back to the settlement, looking five years
+older than he had done a couple of hours before, but with his nerves
+steady and with the light of a solemn resolve burning in his eyes. He
+went straight to the _Ithuriel_, and made a minute personal
+inspection of the whole vessel, inside and out. He saw that every
+cylinder was charged, and that there was an ample supply of spare
+ones and ammunition on board, including a number of his new
+fire-shells. Then he went to Lieutenant Marston's quarters, and told
+him to have the crew in their places by half-past eleven; and this
+done, he paid a formal visit to the Master to report all ready.
+
+Natas received him as usual, just as though nothing out of the common
+had happened; and if he noticed the change that had come over him, he
+made no sign that he did so. When Arnold had made his report, he
+merely said--
+
+"Very good. You will start at twelve. The Chief has told you the
+nature and purpose of the voyage you are about to make, I presume?"
+
+He bowed a silent affirmative, and Natas went on--
+
+"The Chief and Anna Ornovski will go with you as witnesses for
+Michael Roburoff and Natasha, and the Chief will be provided with my
+sealed orders for your guidance in the immediate future. The
+rendezvous is a house on one of the spurs of the Alleghany Mountains.
+What time will it take to reach there?"
+
+"The distance is about seven thousand miles. That will be from thirty
+to thirty-five hours' flight according to the wind. With a fair wind
+we shall reach the Alleghanies a little before sunrise on the 18th."
+
+"Then to make sure of that, if possible, you had better start an hour
+earlier. Natasha is making her preparations, and will be on board at
+eleven."
+
+"Very well; I will be ready to start then," replied Arnold, speaking
+as calmly and formally as Natas had done. Then he saluted and walked
+out.
+
+When he got into the open air he drew a deep breath. His teeth came
+together with a sharp snap, and his hands clenched. So it was true,
+then, this horrible thing, this sacrilege, this ruin, that had fallen
+upon his life and hers. Natas had spoken of giving her to this man as
+quietly as though it had been the most natural proceeding possible,
+an understood arrangement about which there could be no question.
+Well, he had sworn, and he would obey, but there would be a heavy
+price to pay for his obedience.
+
+He did not see Natasha again that night. When the _Ithuriel_ rose
+into the air she was in her cabin with the Princess, and did not
+appear during the voyage save at meals, when all the others were
+present, and then she joined in the conversation with a composure
+which showed that, externally at least, she had quite regained her
+habitual self-control.
+
+Arnold spent the greater part of the voyage in the deck-saloon with
+Tremayne, talking over the events of the war, and arranging plans of
+future action. By mutual consent the object of their present voyage
+was not mentioned. As Arnold was more than two months and a half
+behind the news, he found not a little relief in hearing from
+Tremayne of all that had taken place since the recapture of the
+_Lucifer_.
+
+The two men, who were now to be the active leaders of the Revolution
+which, as they hoped, was soon to overturn the whole fabric of
+Society, and introduce a new social order of things, conversed in
+this fashion, quietly discussing the terrific tragedy in which they
+were to play the leading parts, and arranging all the details of
+their joint action, until well into the night of the 17th.
+
+About eleven Tremayne went to his cabin, and Arnold, going to the
+conning-tower, told the man on the look-out to go below until he was
+called. Then he took his place, and remained alone with his thoughts
+as the _Ithuriel_ sped on her way a thousand feet above the deserted
+waters of the Atlantic, until the dark mass of the American Continent
+loomed up in front of him to the westward.
+
+As soon as he sighted land he went aft to the wheel-house, and
+slightly inclined the air-planes, causing the _Ithuriel_ to soar
+upwards until the barometer marked a height of 6000 feet. At this
+elevation he passed over the mouth of the Chesapeake, and across
+Virginia; and a little more than an hour before sunrise the
+_Ithuriel_ sank to the earth on one of the spurs of the Alleghanies,
+in sight of a lonely weather-board house, in one of the windows of
+which three lights were burning in the form of a triangle.
+
+This building was used ostensibly as a shooting and hunting-box by
+Michael Roburoff and a couple of his friends, and in reality as a
+meeting-place for the Inner Circle or Executive Council of the
+American Section of the Brotherhood. This Section was, numerically
+speaking, the most important of the four branches into which the
+Outer Circle of the Brotherhood was divided--that is to say, the
+British, Continental, American, and Colonial Sections.
+
+All told, the Terrorists had rather more than five million adherents
+in America and Canada, of whom more than four millions were men in
+the prime of life, and nearly all of Anglo-Saxon blood and English
+speech. All these men were not only armed, but trained in the use of
+firearms to a high degree of skill; their organisation, which had
+gradually grown up with the Brotherhood for twenty years, was known
+to the world only under the guise of the different forms of
+industrial unionism, but behind these there was a perfect system of
+discipline and command which the outer world had never even
+suspected.
+
+The Section was divided first into squads of ten under the command of
+an eleventh, who alone knew the leaders of the other squads in his
+neighbourhood. Ten of these squads made a company, commanded by one
+man, who was only known to the squad-captains, and who alone knew the
+captain of the regiment, which was composed of ten companies.
+
+The next step in the organisation was the brigade, consisting of ten
+regiments, the captains of which alone knew the commander of the
+brigade, while the commanders of the brigades were alone acquainted
+with the members of the Inner Circle or Executive Council which
+managed the affairs of the whole Section, and whose Chief was the
+only man in the Section who could hold any communication with the
+Inner Circle of the Brotherhood itself, which, under the immediate
+command of Natas, governed the whole organisation throughout the
+world.
+
+This description will serve for all the Sections, as all were
+modelled upon exactly the same plan. The advantages of such an
+organisation will at once be obvious. In the first place, no member
+of the rank and file could possibly betray more than ten of his
+fellows, including his captain; while his treachery could, if
+necessary, be made known in a few hours to ten thousand others, not
+one of whom he knew, and thus it would be impossible for him to
+escape the invariable death penalty. The same is, of course, equally
+true of the captains and the commanders.
+
+On the other hand, the system was equally convenient for the
+transmission of orders from headquarters. An order given to ten
+commanders of brigades could, in a single night, be transmitted
+individually to the whole of the Section, and yet those in command of
+the various divisions would not know whence the orders came, save as
+regards their immediate superiors.
+
+It will be necessary for the reader to bear these few particulars in
+mind in order to understand future developments, which, without them,
+might seem to border on the impossible. It is only necessary to add
+that the full fighting strength of the four Sections of the
+Brotherhood amounted to about twelve millions of men, a considerable
+proportion of whom were serving as soldiers in the armies of the
+League and the Alliance, and that in its cosmopolitan aspect it was
+known to the rank and file as the Red International, whose members
+knew each other only by the possession of a little knot of red ribbon
+tied into the button-hole in a peculiar fashion on occasions of
+meetings for instruction or drill.
+
+The three lights burning in the form of a triangle in the window of
+the house were a prearranged signal to avoid mistake on the part of
+those on board the air-ship. When they reached the earth, Arnold,
+acting under the instructions of Tremayne, who was his superior on
+land though his voluntary subordinate when afloat, left the
+_Ithuriel_ and her crew in charge of Lieutenant Marston and Andrew
+Smith, the coxswain.
+
+The remainder disembarked, and then the air-ship rose from the ground
+and ascended out of sight through a layer of clouds that hung some
+eight hundred feet above the high ground of the hills. Lieutenant
+Marston's orders were to remain out of sight for an hour and then
+return.
+
+Arnold had not seen Natasha for several hours previous to the
+landing, and he noticed with wonder, by no means unmixed with
+something very like anger, that she looked a great deal more cheerful
+than she had done during the voyage. She had preserved her composure
+all through, but the effort of restraint had been visible. Now this
+had vanished, although the supreme hour of the sacrifice that her
+father had commanded her to make was actually at hand. When her feet
+touched the earth she looked round with a smile on her lips and a
+flush on her cheeks, and said, in a voice in which there was no
+perceptible trace of anxiety or suffering--
+
+"So this is the place of my bridal, is it? Well, I must say that a
+more cheerful one might have been selected; yet perhaps, after all,
+such a gloomy spot is more suitable to the ceremony. Come along; I
+suppose the bridegroom will be anxiously waiting the coming of the
+bride. I wonder what sort of a reception I shall have. Come, my Lord
+of Alanmere, your arm; and you, Captain Arnold, bring the Princess.
+We have a good deal to do before it gets light."
+
+These were strange words to be uttered by a girl who but a few hours
+before had voluntarily confessed her love for one man, and was on the
+eve of compulsorily giving herself up to another one. Had it been any
+one else but Natasha, Arnold could have felt only disgust; but his
+love made it impossible for him to believe her guilty of such
+unworthy lightness as her words bespoke, even on the plain evidence
+before him, so he simply choked back his anger as best he might, and
+followed towards the house, speechless with astonishment at the
+marvellous change that had come over the daughter of Natas.
+
+Tremayne knocked in a peculiar fashion on the window, and then
+repeated the knock on the door, which was opened almost immediately.
+
+"Who stands there?" asked a voice in French.
+
+"Those who bring the expected bride," replied Tremayne in German.
+
+"And by whose authority?" This time the question was in Spanish.
+
+"In the Master's name," said Tremayne in English.
+
+"Enter! you are welcome."
+
+A second door was now opened inside the house, and through it a light
+shone into the passage. The four visitors entered, and, passing
+through the second door, found themselves in a plainly-furnished
+room, down the centre of which ran a long table, flanked by five
+chairs on each side, in each of which, save one, sat a masked and
+shrouded figure exactly similar to those which Arnold had seen when
+he was first introduced to the Council-chamber in the house on
+Clapham Common. In a chair at one end of the table sat another figure
+similarly draped.
+
+The door was closed as they entered, and the member of the Circle who
+had let them in returned to his seat. No word was spoken until this
+was done. Then Natasha, leaving her three companions by the door,
+advanced alone to the lower end of the table.
+
+As she did so, Arnold for the first time noticed that she carried her
+magazine pistol in a sheath at her belt. He and Tremayne were, as a
+matter of course, armed with a brace of these weapons, but this was
+the first time that he had ever seen Natasha carry her pistol openly.
+Wondering greatly what this strange sight might mean, he waited with
+breathless anxiety for the drama to begin.
+
+As Natasha took her stand at the opposite end of the table, the
+figure in the chair at the top rose and unmasked, displaying the
+pallid countenance of the Chief of the American Section. He looked to
+Arnold anything but a bridegroom awaiting his bride, and the ceremony
+which was to unite him to her for ever. His cheeks and lips were
+bloodless, and his eyes wandered restlessly from Natasha to Tremayne
+and back again. He glanced to and fro in silence for several moments,
+and when he at last found his voice he said, in half-choked, broken
+accents--
+
+"What is this? Why am I honoured by the presence of the Chief and the
+Admiral of the Air? I asked only that if the Master consented to
+grant my humble petition in reward for my services, the daughter of
+Natas should come attended simply by a sister of the Brotherhood and
+the messenger that I sent."
+
+They let him finish, although it was with manifest difficulty that he
+stammered to the end of his speech. Arnold, still wondering at the
+strange turn events had taken, saw Tremayne's lips tighten and his
+brows contract in the effort to repress a smile. The other masked
+figures at the table moved restlessly in their seats, and glanced
+from one to another. Seeing this, Tremayne stepped quickly forward to
+Natasha's side, and said in a stern, commanding tone--
+
+"I am the Chief of the Central Council, and I order every one here to
+keep his seat and remain silent until the daughter of Natas has
+spoken."
+
+The ten masked and hooded heads instantly bowed consent. Then
+Tremayne stepped back again, and Natasha spoke. There was a keen,
+angry light in her eyes, and a bright flush upon her cheek, but her
+voice was smooth and silvery, and in strange contrast to the words
+that she used, almost to the end.
+
+"Did you think, Michael Roburoff, that the Master of the Terror would
+send his daughter to her bridal so poorly escorted as you say? Surely
+that would have been almost as much of a slight as you put upon me
+when, instead of coming to woo me as a true lover should have done,
+you contented yourself with sending a messenger as though you were
+some Eastern potentate despatching an envoy to demand the hand of the
+daughter of a vassal.
+
+"It would seem that this sudden love which you do me the honour to
+profess for me has destroyed your manners as well as your reason. But
+since you have assumed so high a dignity, it is not seemly that you
+should stand to hear what I have to say; sit down, for it looks as
+though standing were a trouble to you."
+
+Michael Roburoff, who by this time could scarcely support himself on
+his trembling limbs, sank suddenly back into his chair and covered
+his face with his hands.
+
+"That is not very lover-like to cover your eyes when the bride that
+you have asked for is standing in front of you; but as long as you
+don't cover your ears as well, I will forgive you the slight. Now,
+listen.
+
+"I have come, as you see, and I have brought with me the answer of
+the Master to your request. Until an hour ago I did not know what it
+was myself, for, like the rest of the faithful members of the
+Brotherhood, I obey the word of the Master blindly.
+
+"You, as it would appear, maddened by what you are pleased to call
+your love for me, have dared to attempt to make terms where you swore
+to obey blindly to the death. You have dared to place me, the
+daughter of Natas, in the balance against the allegiance of the
+American Section on the eve of the supreme crisis of its work, thus
+imperilling the results of twenty years of labour.
+
+"If you had not been mad you would have foreseen the results of such
+treachery. As it is you must learn them now. What I have said has
+been proved by your own hand, and the proof is here in the hand of
+the Chief. This is the answer of Natas to the servant who would have
+betrayed him in the hour of trial."
+
+She took a folded paper from her belt as she spoke, and, unfolding
+it, read in clear, deliberate tones--
+
+    Michael Roburoff, late chief of the American Section of the
+    Brotherhood. When you joined the Order, you took an oath to obey
+    the directions of its chiefs to the death, and you acknowledged
+    that death would be the just penalty of perjury. My orders to you
+    were to complete the arrangements for bringing the American
+    Section into action when you received the signal to do so.
+    Instead of doing that, you have sought to bargain with me for the
+    price of its allegiance. That is treachery, and the penalty of
+    treachery is death.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+"Those are the words of the Master," continued Natasha, throwing the
+paper down upon the table with one hand, and drawing her pistol with
+the other. "It rests with the Chief to say when and where the
+sentence of the Master shall be carried out."
+
+[Illustration: "He dropped back into his chair with a bullet in his
+brain."
+
+_See page 275._]
+
+"Let it be carried out here, and now," said Tremayne, "and let him
+who has anything to say against it speak now, or for ever hold his
+peace."
+
+The ten heads bowed once more in silence, and Natasha went on still
+addressing the trembling wretch who sat huddled in the chair in front
+of her.
+
+"You have asked for a bride, Michael Roburoff, and she has come to
+you, and I can promise you that you shall sleep soundly in her
+embrace. Your bride is Death, and I have chosen to bring her to you
+with my own hand, that all here may see how the daughter of Natas can
+avenge an insult to her womanhood.
+
+"You have been guilty of treachery to the Brotherhood, and for that
+you might have been punished by any hand; but you would also have
+condemned me to the infamy of a loveless marriage, and that is an
+insult that no one shall punish but myself. Look up, and, if you can,
+die like a man."
+
+Roburoff took his hands from his face, and with an inarticulate cry
+started to his feet. The same instant Natasha's hand went up, her
+pistol flashed, and he dropped back again into his chair with a
+bullet in his brain. Then she replaced the pistol in her belt, and
+going up to Arnold held out both her hands and said, as he clasped
+them in his own--
+
+"If the Master's reply had been different, that bullet would by this
+time have been in my own heart."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+THE CAPTURE OF A CONTINENT.
+
+
+Within an hour after the execution of Michael Roburoff the _Ithuriel_
+was winging her way back to Aeria, and at least two of her company
+were anticipating their return to the valley with feelings very
+different to those with which they had contemplated their departure.
+
+When the last farewells and congratulations had been spoken, and the
+air-ship rose from the earth, Tremayne returned to the house to
+commence forthwith the great task which now developed upon him; for
+in addition to being Chief of the Central Executive, he now assumed
+the direct command of the American Section, which, after long
+consideration, had been selected as the nucleus of the Federation of
+the English-speaking peoples of the world.
+
+For a fortnight he worked almost night and day, attending to every
+detail with the utmost care, and bringing into play all those rare
+powers of mind which in the first instance had led Natas to select
+him as the visible head of the Executive. In this way the chief
+consequence of the love-madness of Roburoff had been to place at the
+head of affairs in America the one man of all others most fitted by
+descent and ability to carry out such a work, and to this fact its
+complete success must in a great measure be attributed.
+
+So perfectly were his plans laid and executed, that right up to the
+moment when the signal was given and the plans became actions,
+American society went about its daily business without the remotest
+suspicion that it was living on the slope of a slumbering volcano
+whose fires were so soon to burst forth and finally consume the
+social fabric which, despite its splendid exterior, was inwardly as
+rotten as were the social fabrics of Rome and Byzantium on the eve of
+their fall.
+
+On the 1st of October the cables brought the news of the fall of the
+Quadrilateral, the storming of Hamburg, and the retreat of the
+British forces on Antwerp. Four days later came the tidings of a
+great battle under the walls of Antwerp, in which the British and
+German forces, outnumbered ten to one by the innumerable hosts of the
+League, had suffered a decisive defeat, which rendered it imperative
+for them to fall back upon the Allied fleets in the Scheldt, and to
+leave the Netherlands to the mercy of the Tsar and his allies, who
+were thus left undisputed masters of the continent of Europe.
+
+This last and crowning victory had been achieved by exactly the same
+means which had accomplished all the other triumphs of the campaign,
+and therefore there will be no need to enter into any detailed
+description of it. Indeed, the fall of the Quadrilateral and the
+defeat of the last army of the Alliance round Antwerp would have been
+accomplished much more easily and speedily than it had been but for
+the fact that the weather, which had been fine up to the end of July,
+had suddenly broken, and a succession of violent storms and gales
+from the north and north-west had made it impossible for the
+war-balloons to be brought into action with any degree of
+effectiveness.
+
+During the last week of September the storms had ceased, and then the
+work of destruction began. Not even the hitherto impregnable
+fortresses of Tournay, Mons, Namur, and Liege had been able to
+withstand the assault from the air any better than the forts of
+Berlin or the walls of Constantinople. A day's bombardment had
+sufficed to reduce them to ruins, and, the chain once broken, the
+armies of the League swept in wave after wave across the plains which
+they had guarded.
+
+The loss of life had been unparalleled even in this the greatest of
+all wars, for the British and Germans had fought with a dogged
+resolution which, but for the vastly superior numbers and the
+irresistible means of destruction employed against them, must
+infallibly have triumphed. As it was, it was only when valour had
+achieved its last sacrifice, and further resistance became rather
+madness than devotion, that the retreat was finally sounded in time
+to embark the remnants of the armies of the Alliance on board the
+warships. Happily at the very hour when this was being done the
+weather broke again, and the ships of the Allied fleets were
+therefore able to make their way to sea through storm and darkness,
+unmolested by the war-balloons.
+
+While the American press was teeming with columns of description
+telegraphed at enormous cost from the seat of war, and with
+absolutely misleading articles as to the policy of the League and the
+attitude of studious neutrality that was to be observed by the United
+States Government, the dockyards, controlled directly and indirectly
+by the American Ring, were working night and day putting the
+finishing touches to the flotilla of dynamite cruisers and other
+war-vessels intended to carry out the plan revealed by Michael
+Roburoff on board the _Ithuriel_, after he had been taken off the
+_Aurania_ in the Mid-Atlantic.
+
+Briefly described, this was as follows:--Representative government in
+America had by this time become a complete sham. The whole political
+machinery and internal resources of the United States were now
+virtually at the command of a great Ring of capitalists who, through
+the medium of the huge monopolies which they controlled, and the
+enormous sums of money at their command, held the country in the
+hollow of their hand. These men were as totally devoid of all human
+feeling or public sentiment as it was possible for human beings to
+be. They had grown rich in virtue of their contempt of every
+principle of justice and mercy, and they had no other object in life
+than to still further increase their gigantic hoards of wealth, and
+to multiply the enormous powers which they already wielded. The then
+condition of affairs in Europe had presented them with such an
+opportunity as no other combination of circumstances could have given
+them, and ignoring, as such wretches would naturally do, all ties of
+blood and kindred speech, they had determined to take advantage of
+the situation to the utmost.
+
+In the guise of the United States Government the Ring had concluded a
+secret treaty with the commanders of the League, in virtue of which,
+at a stipulated point in the struggle, America was to declare war on
+Britain, invade Canada by land, and send to sea an immense flotilla
+of swift dynamite cruisers of tremendously destructive power, which
+had been constructed openly in the Government dockyards, ostensibly
+for coast defence, and secretly in private yards belonging to the
+various Corporations composing the Ring.
+
+This flotilla was to co-operate with the fleet of the League as soon
+as England had been invaded, and complete the blockade of the British
+ports. Were this once accomplished nothing could save Britain from
+starvation into surrender, and the British Empire from disintegration
+and partition between the Ring and the Commanders of the League, who
+would then practically divide the mastery of the world among them.
+
+On the night of the 4th of October the five words: "The hour and the
+man," went flying over the wires from Washington throughout the
+length and breadth of the North American Continent. The next morning
+half the industries of the United States were paralysed; all the
+lines of communication by telegraph and rail between the east and
+west were severed, the shore ends of the Atlantic cables were cut, no
+newspapers appeared, and every dockyard on the eastern coast was in
+the hands of the Terrorists.
+
+To complete the stupor produced by this swift succession of
+astounding events, when the sun rose an air-ship was seen floating
+high in the air over the ten arsenals of the United States--that is
+to say, over Portsmouth, Charlestown, Brooklyn, League Island, New
+London, Washington, Norfolk, Pensacola, Mare Island, and Port Royal,
+while two others held Chicago and St. Louis, the great railway
+centres for the west and south, at their mercy, and the _Ithuriel_,
+with a broad red flag flying from her stern, swept like a meteor
+along the eastern coast from Maine to Florida.
+
+To attempt to describe the condition of frenzied panic into which the
+inhabitants of the threatened cities, and even the whole of the
+Eastern States were thrown by the events of that ever-memorable
+morning, would be to essay an utterly hopeless task. From the
+millionaire in his palace to the outcasts who swarmed in the slums,
+not a man or a woman kept a cool head save those who were in the
+councils of the Terrorists. The blow had fallen with such stupefying
+suddenness that as far as America was concerned the Revolution was
+practically accomplished before any one very well knew what had
+happened.
+
+Out of the midst of an apparently peaceful and industrious population
+five millions of armed men had sprung in a single night. Factories
+and workshops had opened their doors, but none entered them; ships
+lay idle by the wharves, offices were deserted, and the great reels
+of paper hung motionless beside the paralysed machines which should
+have converted them into newspapers.
+
+It was not a strike, for no mere trade organisation could have
+accomplished such a miracle. It was the force born of the
+accumulation of twenty years of untiring labour striking one mighty
+blow which shattered the commercial fabric of a continent in a single
+instant. Those who had been clerks or labourers yesterday, patient,
+peaceful, and law-abiding, were to-day soldiers, armed and
+disciplined, and obeying with automatic regularity the unheard
+command of some unknown chief.
+
+This of itself would have been enough to throw the United States into
+a panic; but, worse than all, the presence of the air-ships, holding
+at their mercy the arsenals and the richest cities in the Eastern
+States, proved that tremendous and all as it was, this was only a
+phase of some vast and mysterious cataclysm which might as easily
+involve the whole civilised world as it could overwhelm the United
+States of America.
+
+By noon, almost without striking a blow, every dynamite cruiser and
+warship on the eastern coast had been seized and manned by the
+Terrorists. To the dismay of the authorities, it was found that more
+than half the army and navy, officers and men alike, had obeyed the
+mysterious summons that had gone throughout the land the night
+before; and matters reached a climax when, as the clocks of
+Washington were striking twelve, the President himself was arrested
+in the White House.
+
+All the streets of Washington were in the hands of the Terrorists,
+and at one o'clock Tremayne, after posting guards at all the
+approaches, entered the Senate, and in the name of Natas proclaimed
+the Constitution of the United States null and void, and the
+Government dissolved.
+
+Then with a copy of the Constitution in his hand he proceeded to the
+steps of the Capitol, and, in the presence of a vast throng of the
+armed members of the American Section, he proclaimed the Federation
+of the English-speaking races of the world, in virtue of their bonds
+of kindred blood and speech and common interests; and amidst a scene
+of the wildest enthusiasm called upon all who owned those bonds to
+forget the artificial divisions that had separated them into hostile
+nations and communities, and to follow the leadership of the
+Brotherhood to the conquest of the earth.
+
+Then in a few strong and simple phrases he exposed the subservience
+of the Government to the capitalist Ring, and described the inhuman
+compact that it had entered into with the arch-enemies of national
+freedom and personal liberty to crush the motherland of the
+Anglo-Saxon nations, and for the sake of sordid gain to rivet the
+fetters of oppression upon the limbs of the race which for a thousand
+years had stood in the forefront of the battle for freedom.
+
+As he concluded his appeal, one mighty shout of wrath and execration
+rose up to heaven from a million throats. He waited until this died
+away into silence, then, raising the copy of the Constitution above
+his head, he cried in clear ringing tones--
+
+"For a hundred and fifty years this has been boasted as the bulwark
+of liberty, and used as the instrument of social and commercial
+oppression. The Republic of America has been governed, not by
+patriots and statesmen, but by millionaires and their hired political
+puppets. It is therefore a fraud and a sham, and deserves no longer
+to exist!"
+
+So saying, he tore the paper into fragments and cast them into the
+air amidst a storm of cheers and volley after volley of musketry.
+While the enthusiasm was at its height the _Ithuriel_ suddenly swept
+downwards from the sky in full view of the mighty assemblage that
+swarmed round the Capitol. She was greeted with a roar of wondering
+welcome, for her appearance was the fulfilment of a promise upon
+which the success of the Revolution in America had largely depended.
+
+This was the promise, issued by Tremayne several days previously
+through the commanders of the various divisions of the Section, that
+as soon as the Anglo-Saxon Federation was proclaimed and accepted in
+America, the whole Brotherhood throughout the world would fall into
+line with it, and place its aerial navy at the disposal of its
+leaders. Practically this was giving the empire of the world in
+exchange for a money-despotism, of which every one save the
+millionaires and their servants had become heartily sick.
+
+There were few who in their hearts did not believe the Republic to be
+a colossal fraud, and therefore there were few who regretted it.
+
+The _Ithuriel_ passed slowly over the heads of the wondering crowd,
+and came to a standstill alongside the steps on which Tremayne was
+standing. The crowd saw a man on her deck shake hands with Tremayne
+and give him a folded paper. Then the air-ship swept gracefully
+upward again in a spiral curve until she hung motionless over the
+dome of the Capitol.
+
+Amidst a silence born of breathless interest to know the import of
+this message from the sky, Tremayne opened the paper, glanced at its
+contents, and handed it to the senior officer in command of the
+brigades, who stood beside him. This man, a veteran who had grown
+grey in the service of the Brotherhood, advanced with the open paper
+in his hand, and read out in a loud voice--
+
+    Natas sends greeting to the Brotherhood in America. The work has
+    been well done, and the reward of patient labour is at hand. This
+    is to name Alan Tremayne, Chief of the Central Executive, first
+    President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation throughout the world, and
+    to invest him with the supreme authority for the ordering of its
+    affairs. The aerial navy of the Brotherhood is placed at his
+    disposal to co-operate with the armies and fleets of the
+    Federation.
+
+      NATAS.
+
+When the mighty shout of acclamation which greeted the reading of
+this commission had died away, Tremayne stepped forward again and
+spoke the few words that now remained to be said--
+
+"I accept the office and all that it implies. The fate of the world
+lies in our hands, and as we decide it so will the future lot of
+humanity be good or evil. The armies of the Franco-Slavonian League
+are now masters of the continent of Europe, and are preparing for the
+invasion of Britain. The first use that I shall make of the authority
+now vested in me will be to summon the Tsar in the name of the
+Federation to sheathe the sword at once, and relinquish his designs
+on Britain. The moment that one of his soldiers sets foot on the
+sacred soil of our motherland I shall declare war upon him, and it
+shall be a war, not of conquest, but of extermination, and we will
+make an end of tyranny on earth for ever.
+
+"Now let those who are not on guard-duty go to their homes, and
+remember that they are now citizens of a greater realm than the
+United States, and endowed with more than national duties and
+responsibilities. Let every man's person and property be respected,
+and let the penalty of all violence be death. Those who have plotted
+against the public welfare will be dealt with in due course, and
+yonder air-ship will be despatched with our message to the Tsar at
+sundown. Long live the Federation!"
+
+Millions of throats took up the cry as the last words left his lips
+until it rolled away from the Capitol in mighty waves of sound,
+flowing along the crowded streets and overrunning the utmost confines
+of the capital.
+
+Thus, without the loss of a hundred lives, and in a space of less
+than twelve hours, was the Revolution in America accomplished. The
+triumph of the Terrorists was as complete as it had been unexpected.
+Menaced by air and sea and land, the great centres of population made
+no resistance, and, when they learnt the true object of the
+Revolution, wanted to make none. No one really believed in the late
+Government, and every one in his soul hated and despised the
+millionaires.
+
+There was no bond between them and their fellow-men but money, and
+the moment that was snapped they were looked upon in their true
+nature as criminals and outcasts from the pale of humanity. By
+sundown, when the _Ithuriel_ left for the seat of war, the members of
+the Ring and those of the late Government who refused to acknowledge
+the Federation were lodged in prison, and news had been received from
+Montreal that the simultaneous rising of the Canadian Section had
+been completely successful, and that all the railways and arsenals
+and ships of war were in the hands of the Terrorists, so completing
+the capture of the North American continent.
+
+The President of the Federation and his faithful subordinates went to
+work, without losing an hour, to reorganise as far as was necessary
+the internal affairs of the continent of which they had so suddenly
+become the undisputed masters. There was some trouble with the
+British authorities in Canada, who, from mistaken motives of duty to
+the mother country, at first refused to recognise the Federation.
+
+The consequence of this was that Tremayne went north the next day and
+had an interview with the Governor-General at Montreal. At the same
+time he ordered six air-ships and twenty-five dynamite cruisers to
+blockade the St. Lawrence and the eastern ports. The Canadian Pacific
+Railway and the telegraph lines to the west were already in the hands
+of the Terrorists, and a million men were under arms waiting his
+commands.
+
+A very brief explanation, therefore, sufficed to show the Governor
+that forcible resistance would not only be the purest madness, but
+that it would also seriously interfere with the working of the great
+scheme of Federation, the object of which was, not merely to place
+Britain in the first place among the nations, but to make the
+Anglo-Saxon race the one dominant power in the whole world.
+
+To all the Governor's objections on the score of loyalty to the
+British Crown, Tremayne, who heard him to the end without
+interruption, simply replied in a tone that precluded all further
+argument--
+
+"The day of states and empires, and therefore of loyalty to
+sovereigns, has gone by. The history of nations is the history of
+intrigue, quarrelling, and bloodshed, and we are determined to put a
+stop to warfare for good and all. We hold in our hands the only power
+that can thwart the designs of the League and avert an era of tyranny
+and retrogression. That power we intend to use whether the British
+Government likes it or not.
+
+"We shall save Britain, if necessary, in spite of her rulers. If they
+stand in the way, so much the worse for them. They will be called
+upon to resign in favour of the Federation and its Executive within
+the next seven days. If they consent, the forces of the League will
+never cross the Straits of Dover. If they refuse we shall allow
+Britain to taste the results of their choice, and then settle the
+matter in our own way."
+
+The next day the Governor dissolved the Canadian Legislatures "under
+protest," and retired into private life for the present. He felt that
+it was no time to argue with a man who had millions of men behind
+him, to say nothing of an aerial fleet which alone could reduce
+Montreal to ruins in twelve hours.
+
+After arranging matters in Canada the President returned to
+Washington in the _Ariel_, which he had taken into his personal
+service for the present, and set about disposing of the Ring and
+those members of the late Government who were most deeply implicated
+in the secret alliance with the leaders of the League. When the facts
+of this scheme were made public they raised such a storm of popular
+indignation, that if those responsible for it had been turned loose
+in the streets of Washington they would have been torn to pieces like
+vermin.
+
+As it was, however, they were placed upon their trial before a
+Commission of seven members of the Inner Circle of the American
+Section, presided over by the President. Their guilt was speedily
+proved beyond the shadow of a doubt. Documents, memoranda, and
+telegrams were produced by men who had seemed their most trusted
+servants, but had been in reality members of the Brotherhood told off
+to unearth their schemes.
+
+Cyphers were translated which showed that they had practically sold
+the resources of the country in advance to the Tsar and his allies,
+and that they were only waiting the signal to declare war without
+warning and without cause upon Britain, blockade her ports, and
+starve her into surrender and acceptance of any terms that the
+victors might choose to impose. Last of all, the terms of the bargain
+between the League and the Ring were produced, signed by the late
+President and the Secretary of State, and countersigned by the
+Russian Minister at Washington.
+
+The Court sat for three days, and reassembled on the fourth to
+deliver its verdict and sentence. Fifteen members of the late
+Government, including the President, the Vice-President, and the
+Secretary of State, and twenty-four great capitalists composing the
+Ring, were found guilty of giving and receiving bribes, directly and
+indirectly, and of betraying and conspiring to betray the confidence
+of the American people in its elected representatives, and also of
+conspiring to make war without due cause on a friendly Power for
+purely commercial reasons.
+
+At eleven o'clock on the morning of the 9th of October the President
+of the Federation rose in the Senate House, amidst breathless
+silence, to pronounce the sentence of the Court.
+
+"All the accused," he said, speaking in slow, deliberate tones, "have
+been proved guilty of such treason against their own race and the
+welfare of humanity as no men ever were guilty of before in all the
+disreputable history of state-craft. In view of the suffering and
+misery to millions of individuals, and the irreparable injury to the
+cause of civilisation that would have resulted from the success of
+their schemes, it would be impossible for human wit to devise any
+punishment which in itself would be adequate. The sentence of the
+Court is the extreme penalty known to human justice--Death!"
+
+A shudder passed through the vast assembly as he pronounced the
+ominous word, and the accused, who but a few days before had looked
+upon the world as their footstool, gazed with blanched faces and
+terror-stricken eyes upon each other. He paused for a moment, and
+looked sternly upon them. Then he went on--
+
+"But the Federation does not seek a punishment of revenge, but of
+justice; nor shall its first act of government be the shedding of
+blood, however guilty. Therefore, as President I override the
+sentence of death, and instead condemn you, who have been proved
+guilty of this unspeakable crime, to confiscation of the wealth that
+you have acquired so unscrupulously and used so mercilessly, and to
+perpetual banishment with your wives and families, who have shared
+the profits of your infamous traffic.
+
+"You will be at once conveyed to Kodiak Island, off the south coast
+of Alaska, and landed there. Once every six months you will be
+visited by a steamer, which will supply you with the necessaries of
+life, and the original penalty of death will be the immediate
+punishment of any one of you who attempts to return to a world of
+which you from this moment cease to be citizens."
+
+The sentence was carried out without an hour's delay. The exiles,
+with their wives and families, were placed under a strong guard in a
+special train, which conveyed them from Washington _via_ St. Louis to
+San Francisco, where they were transferred to a steamer which took
+them to the lonely and desolate island in the frozen North which was
+to be their home for the rest of their lives. They were followed by
+the execrations of a whole people and the regrets of none save the
+money-worshippers who had respected them, not as men, but as
+incarnations of the purchasing power of wealth.
+
+The huge fortunes which they had amassed, amounting in the aggregate
+to more than three hundred millions in English money, were placed in
+the public treasury for the immediate purposes of the war which the
+Federation was about to wage for the empire of the world. All their
+real estate property was transferred to the various municipalities in
+which it was situated, and their rents devoted to the relief of
+taxation, while the railways and other enterprises which they had
+controlled were declared public property, and placed in the hands of
+boards of management composed of their own officials.
+
+Within a week everything was working as smoothly as though no
+Revolution had ever taken place. All officials whose honesty there
+was no reason to suspect were retained in their offices, while those
+who were dismissed were replaced without any friction. All the
+affairs of government were conducted upon purely business principles,
+just as though the country had been a huge commercial concern, save
+for the fact that the chief object was efficiency and not
+profit-making.
+
+Money was abundantly plentiful, and the necessaries of life were
+cheaper than they had ever been before. Perhaps the principal reason
+for this happy state of affairs was the fact that law and politics
+had suddenly ceased to be trades at which money could be made. People
+were amazed at the rapidity with which public business was
+transacted.
+
+The President and his Council had at one stroke abrogated every civil
+and criminal law known to the old Constitution, and proclaimed in
+their place a simple, comprehensive code which was practically
+identical with the Decalogue. To this a final clause was added,
+stating that those who could not live without breaking any of these
+laws would not be considered as fit to live in civilised society, and
+would therefore be effectively removed from the companionship of
+their fellows.
+
+While the internal affairs of the Federation in America were being
+thus set in order, events had been moving rapidly in other parts of
+the world. The Tsar, the King of Italy, and General le Gallifet, who
+was now Dictator of France in all but name, were masters of the
+continent of Europe. The Anglo-Teutonic Alliance was a thing of the
+past. Germany, Austria, and Turkey were completely crushed, and the
+minor Powers had succumbed.
+
+Britain, crippled by the terrible cost in ships and men of the
+victory of the Nile, had evacuated the Mediterranean after
+dismantling the fortifications of Gibraltar and Malta, and had
+concentrated the remains of her fleets in the home waters, to prepare
+for the invasion which was now inevitable as soon as fair winds and
+fine weather made it possible for the war-balloons of the League to
+cross the water and co-operate with the invading forces.
+
+The Tsar, as had been expected, had not even deigned to reply to
+Tremayne's summons to disarm, and so the last arrangements for
+bringing the forces of the Federation into action at the proper time
+were pushed on with the utmost speed. The blockade of the American
+and Canadian coasts was rigidly maintained, and no vessels allowed to
+enter or leave any of the ports. All the warships of the League had
+been withdrawn from the Atlantic, and the great ocean highway
+remained unploughed by a single keel.
+
+On the 10th of October the _Ithuriel_ had returned from her second
+trip to the West, with the refusal of the British Government to
+recognise the Federation as a duly constituted Power, or to have any
+dealings with its leaders. "Great Britain," the reply concluded,
+"will stand or fall alone; and even in the event of ultimate defeat,
+the King of England will prefer to make terms with the sovereigns
+opposed to him rather than with those whose acts have proved them to
+be beyond the pale of the law of nations."
+
+"Ah!" said Tremayne to Arnold, as he read the royal words, "the
+policy which lost the American Colonies for the sake of an idea still
+rules at Westminster, it seems. But I'm not going to let the old Lion
+be strangled in his den for all that.
+
+"Natas was right when he said that Britain would have to pass through
+the fire before she would accept the Federation, and so I suppose she
+must, more's the pity. Still, perhaps it will be all for the best in
+the long run. You can't expect to root up a thousand-year-old oak as
+easily as a mushroom that only came up the day before yesterday."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
+
+
+It is now time to return to Britain, to the land which the course of
+events had so far appeared to single out as the battle-ground upon
+which was to be fought the Armageddon of the Western World--that
+conflict of the giants, the issue of which was to decide whether the
+Anglo-Saxon race was still to remain in the forefront of civilisation
+and progress, or whether it was to fall, crushed and broken, beneath
+the assaults of enemies descending upon the motherland of the
+Anglo-Saxon nations; whether the valour and personal devotion, which
+for a thousand years had scarcely known a defeat by flood or field,
+was still to pursue its course of victory, or whether it was to
+succumb to weight of numbers and mechanical discipline, reinforced by
+means of assault and destruction which so far had turned the
+world-war of 1904 into a succession of colossal and unparalleled
+butcheries, such as had never been known before in the history of
+human strife.
+
+When the Allied fleets, bearing the remains of the British and German
+armies which had been driven out of the Netherlands, reached England,
+and the news of the crowning disaster of the war in Europe was
+published in detail in the newspapers, the popular mind seemed
+suddenly afflicted with a paralysis of stupefaction.
+
+Men looked back over the long series of triumphs in which British
+valour and British resolution had again and again proved themselves
+invulnerable to the assaults of overwhelming numbers. They thought of
+the glories of the Peninsula, of the unbreakable strength of the thin
+red line at Waterloo, of the magnificent madness of Balaclava, and
+the invincible steadiness and discipline that had made Inkermann a
+word to be remembered with pride as long as the English name endured.
+
+Then their thoughts reverted to the immediate past, and they heard
+the shock of colossal armaments, compared with which the armies of
+the past appeared but pigmies in strength. They saw empires defended
+by millions of soldiers crushed in a few weeks, and a wave of
+conquest sweep in one unbroken roll from end to end of a continent in
+less time than it would have taken Napoleon or Wellington to have
+fought a single campaign. Huge fortresses, rendered, as men had
+believed, impregnable by the employment of every resource known to
+the most advanced military science, had been reduced to heaps of
+defenceless ruins in a few hours by a bombardment, under which their
+magnificent guns had lain as impotent as though they had been the
+culverins of three hundred years ago.
+
+It seemed like some hideous nightmare of the nations, in which Europe
+had gone mad, revelling in superhuman bloodshed and destruction,--a
+conflict in which more than earthly forces had been let loose,
+accomplishing a carnage so immense that the mind could only form a
+dim and imperfect conception of it. And now this red tide of
+desolation had swept up to the western verge of the Continent, and
+was there gathering strength and volume day by day against the hour
+when it should burst and oversweep the narrow strip of water which
+separated the inviolate fields of England from the blackened and
+blood-stained waste that it had left behind it from the Russian
+frontier to the German Ocean.
+
+It seemed impossible, and yet it was true. The first line of defence,
+the hitherto invincible fleet, magnificently as it had been managed,
+and heroically as it had been fought, had failed in the supreme hour
+of trial. It had failed, not because the sailors of Britain had done
+their duty less valiantly than they had done in the days of Rodney
+and Nelson, but simply because the conditions of naval warfare had
+been entirely changed, because the personal equation had been almost
+eliminated from the problem of battle, and because the new warfare of
+the seas had been waged rather with machinery than with men.
+
+In all the war not a single battle had been fought at close quarters;
+there had been plenty of instances of brilliant manoeuvring, of
+torpedo-boats running the gauntlet and hurling their deadly missiles
+against the sides of battleships and cruisers, and of ships rammed
+and sunk in a few instants by consummately-handled opponents; but the
+days of boarding and cutting out, of night surprises and fire-ships,
+had gone by for ever.
+
+The irresistible artillery with which modern science had armed the
+warships of all nations had made these feats impossible, and so had
+placed the valour which achieved them out of court. Within the last
+few weeks scarcely a day had passed but had witnessed the return of
+some mighty ironclad or splendid cruiser, which had set out a miracle
+of offensive and defensive strength, little better than a floating
+ruin, wrecked and shattered almost beyond recognition by the awful
+battle-storm through which she had passed.
+
+The magnificent armament which had held the Atlantic route had come
+back represented only by a few crippled ships almost unfit for any
+further service. True, they and those which never returned had
+rendered a splendid account of themselves before the enemy, but the
+fact remained--they were not defeated, but they were no longer able
+to perform the Titanic task which had been allotted to them.
+
+So, too, with the Mediterranean fleet, which, so far as sea-fighting
+was concerned, had achieved the most splendid triumph of the war. It
+had completely destroyed the enemy opposed to it, but the victory had
+been purchased at such a terrible price that, but for the squadron
+which had come to its aid, it would hardly have been able to reach
+home in safety.
+
+In a word, the lesson of the struggle on the sea had been, that
+modern artillery was just as effective whether fired by Englishmen,
+Frenchmen, or Russians; that where a torpedo struck a warship was
+crippled, no matter what the nationality or the relative valour of
+her crew; and that where once the ram found its mark the ship that it
+struck went down, no matter what flag she was flying.
+
+And then, behind and beyond all that was definitely known in England
+of the results of the war, there were vague rumours of calamities and
+catastrophes in more distant parts of the world, which seemed to
+promise nothing less than universal anarchy, and the submergence of
+civilisation under some all-devouring wave of barbarism.
+
+All regular communications with the East had been stopped for several
+weeks; that India was lost, was guessed by intuition rather than
+known as a certainty. Australia was as isolated from Britain as
+though it had been on another planet, and now every one of the
+Atlantic cables had suddenly ceased to respond to the stimulus of the
+electric current. No ships came from the East, or West, or South. The
+British ports were choked with fleets of useless merchantmen, to
+which the markets of the world were no longer open.
+
+Some few venturesome craft that had set out to explore the now silent
+ocean had never returned, and every warship that could be made fit
+for service was imperatively needed to meet the now inevitable attack
+on the shores of the English Channel and the southern portions of the
+North Sea. Only one messenger had arrived from the outside world
+since the remains of Admiral Beresford's fleet had returned from the
+Mediterranean, and she had come, not by land or sea, but through the
+air.
+
+On the 6th of October an air-ship had been seen flying at an
+incredible speed across the south of England. She had reached London,
+and touched the ground during the night on Hampstead Heath; the next
+day she had descended again in the same place, taken a single man on
+board, and then vanished into space again. What her errand had been
+is well known to the reader; but outside the members of the Cabinet
+Council no one in England, save the King and his Ministers, knew the
+object of her mission.
+
+For fifteen days after that event the enemy across the water made no
+sign, although from the coast of Kent round about Deal and Dover
+could be seen fleets of transports and war-vessels hurrying along the
+French coast, and on clear days a thousand telescopes turned towards
+the French shore made visible the ominous clusters of moving black
+spots above the land, which betokened the presence of the terrible
+machines which had wrought such havoc on the towns and fortresses of
+Europe.
+
+It was only the calm before the final outburst of the storm. The Tsar
+and his allies were marshalling their hosts for the invasion, and
+collecting transports and fleets of war-vessels to convoy them. For
+several days strong north-westerly gales had made the sea impassable
+for the war-balloons, as though to the very last the winds and waves
+were conspiring to defend their ancient mistress. But this could not
+last for ever.
+
+Sooner or later the winds must sink or change, and then these
+war-hawks of the air would wing their flight across the silver
+streak, and Portsmouth, and Dover, and London would be as defenceless
+beneath their attack as Berlin, Vienna, and Hamburg had been. And
+after them would come the millions of the League, descending like a
+locust swarm upon the fields of eastern England; and after that would
+come the deluge.
+
+But the old Lion of the Seas was not skulking in his lair, or
+trembling at the advent of his enemies, however numerous and mighty
+they might be. On sea not a day passed but some daring raid was made
+on the transports passing to and fro in the narrow seas, and all the
+while a running fight was kept up with cruisers and battleships that
+approached too near to the still inviolate shore. So surely as they
+did so the signals flashed along the coast; and if they escaped at
+all from the fierce sortie that they provoked, it was with
+shot-riddled sides and battered top-works, sure signs that the Lion
+still had claws, and could strike home with them.
+
+On shore, from Land's End to John o' Groats, and from Holyhead to the
+Forelands, everything that could be done was being done to prepare
+for the struggle with the invader. It must, however, be confessed
+that, in comparison with the enormous forces of the League, the ranks
+of the defenders were miserably scanty. Forty years of universal
+military service on the Continent had borne their fruits.
+
+Soldiers are not made in a few weeks or months; and where the League
+had millions in the field, Britain, even counting the remnant of her
+German allies, that had been brought over from Antwerp, could hardly
+muster hundreds of thousands. All told, there were little more than a
+million men available for the defence of the country; and should the
+landing of the invaders be successfully effected, not less than six
+millions of men, trained to the highest efficiency, and flushed with
+a rapid succession of unparalleled victories, would be hurled against
+them.
+
+This was the legitimate outcome of the policy to which Britain had
+adhered since first she had maintained a standing army, instead of
+pursuing the ancient policy of making every man a soldier, which had
+won the triumphs of Crecy and Agincourt. She had trusted everything
+to her sea-line of defence. Now that was practically broken, and it
+seemed inevitable that her second line, by reason of its miserable
+inadequacy, should fail her in a trial which no one had ever dreamt
+it would have to endure.
+
+A very grave aspect was given to the situation by the fact that the
+great mass of the industrial population seemed strangely indifferent
+to the impending catastrophe which was hanging over the land. It
+appeared to be impossible to make them believe that an invasion of
+Britain was really at hand, and that the hour had come when every man
+would be called upon to fight for the preservation of his own hearth
+and home.
+
+Vague threats of "eating the Russians alive" if they ever did dare to
+come, were heard on every hand; but beyond this, and apart from the
+regular army and the volunteers, men went about their daily
+avocations very much as usual, grumbling at the ever-increasing price
+of food, and here and there breaking out into bread riots wherever it
+was suspected that some wealthy man was trying to corner food for his
+own commercial benefit, but making no serious or combined efforts to
+prepare for a general rising in case the threatened invasion became a
+fact.
+
+Such was the general state of affairs in Britain when, on the night
+of the 27th of October, the north-west gales sank suddenly to a calm,
+and the dawn of the 28th brought the news from Dover to London that
+the war-balloons of the League had taken the air, and were crossing
+the Straits.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+THE BATTLE OF DOVER.
+
+
+Until the war of 1904, it had been an undisputed axiom in naval
+warfare that a territorial attack upon an enemy's coast by a fleet
+was foredoomed to failure unless that enemy's fleet had been either
+crippled beyond effective action, or securely blockaded in distant
+ports. As an axiom secondary to this, it was also held that it would
+be impossible for an invading force, although convoyed by a powerful
+fleet, to make good its footing upon any portion of a hostile coast
+defended by forts mounting heavy long-range guns.
+
+These principles have held good throughout the history of naval
+warfare from the time when Sir Walter Raleigh first laid them down in
+the early portion of his _History of the World_, written after the
+destruction of the Spanish Armada.
+
+But now two elements had been introduced which altered the conditions
+of naval warfare even more radically than one of them had changed
+those of military warfare. Had it not been for this the attack upon
+the shores of England made by the commanders of the League would
+probably either have been a failure, or it would have stopped at a
+demonstration of force, as did that of the great Napoleon in 1803.
+
+The portion of the Kentish coast selected for the attack was that
+stretching from Folkestone to Deal, and it would perhaps have been
+difficult to find in the whole world any portion of sea-coast more
+strongly defended than this was on the morning of October 28, 1904;
+and yet, as the event proved, the fortresses which lined it were as
+useless and impotent for defence as the old Martello towers of a
+hundred and fifty years before would have been.
+
+As the war-balloons rose into the air from the heights above
+Boulogne, good telescopes at Dover enabled their possessors to count
+no less than seventy-five of them. Fifty of these were quite newly
+constructed, and were of a much improved type, as they had been built
+in view of the practical experience gained by the first fleet.
+
+This aerial fleet divided into three squadrons; one, numbering
+twenty-five, steered south-westward in the direction of Folkestone,
+twelve shaped their course towards Deal, and the remaining
+thirty-eight steered directly across the Straits to Dover. As they
+approached the English coast they continually rose, until by the time
+they had reached the land, aided by the light south-easterly breeze
+which was then blowing, they floated at a height of more than five
+thousand feet.
+
+All this while not a warship or a transport had put to sea. The whole
+fleet of the League lay along the coast of France between Calais and
+Dieppe, under the protection of shore batteries so powerful that it
+would have been madness for the British fleet to have assumed the
+offensive with regard to them. With the exception of two squadrons
+reserved for a possible attack upon Portsmouth and Harwich, all that
+remained from the disasters and costly victories of the war of the
+once mighty British naval armament was massed together for the
+defence of that portion of the coast which would evidently have to
+bear the brunt of the attack of the League.
+
+Ranged along the coast from Folkestone to Deal was an armament
+consisting of forty-five battleships of the first, second, and third
+classes, supported by fifteen coast-defence ironclads, seventy
+armoured and thirty-two unarmoured cruisers, forty gunboats, and a
+hundred and fifty torpedo-boats.
+
+Such was the still magnificent fleet that patrolled the waters of the
+narrow sea,--a fleet as impotent for the time being as a flotilla of
+Thames steamboats would have been in face of the tactics employed
+against it by the League. Had the enemy's fleet but come out into the
+open, as it would have been compelled to do under the old conditions
+of warfare, to fight its way across the narrow strip of water, there
+is little doubt but that the issue of the day would have been very
+different, and that what had been left of it would have been driven
+back, shattered and defeated, to the shelter of the French shore
+batteries.
+
+But, in accordance with the invariable tactics of the League, the
+first and most deadly assault was delivered from the air. The
+war-balloons stationed themselves above the fortifications on land,
+totally ignoring the presence of the fleet, and a few minutes after
+ten o'clock began to rain their deadly hail of explosives down upon
+them. Fifteen were placed over Dover Castle, and five over the fort
+on the Admiralty Pier, while the rest were distributed over the town
+and the forts on the hills above it. In an hour everything was in a
+state of the most horrible confusion. The town was on fire in a
+hundred places from the effects of the fire-shells. The Castle hill
+seemed as if it had been suddenly turned into a volcano; jets of
+bright flame kept leaping up from its summit and sides, followed by
+thunderous explosions and masses of earth and masonry hurled into the
+air, mingled with guns and fragments of human bodies.
+
+The end of the Admiralty Pier, with its huge blocks of stone wrenched
+asunder and pulverised by incessant explosions of dynamite and
+emmensite, collapsed and subsided into the sea, carrying fort, guns,
+and magazine with it; and all along the height of the Shakespeare
+cliff the earthworks had been blown up and scattered into dust, and a
+huge portion of the cliff itself had been blasted out and hurled down
+on to the beach.
+
+Meanwhile the victims of this terrible assault had, in the nature of
+the case, been able to do nothing but keep up a vertical fire, in the
+hope of piercing the gas envelopes of the balloons, and so bringing
+them to the earth. For more than an hour this fusilade produced no
+effect; but at length the concentrated fire of several Maxim and
+Nordenfelt guns, projecting a hail of missiles into the sky, brought
+about a result which was even more disastrous to the town than it was
+to its assailants.
+
+Four of the aerostats came within the zone swept by the bullets.
+Riddled through and through, their gas-holders collapsed, and their
+cars plunged downwards from a height of more than 5000 feet. A few
+seconds later four frightful explosions burst forth in different
+parts of the town, for the four cargoes exploded simultaneously as
+they struck the earth.
+
+The emmensite and dynamite tore whole streets of houses to fragments,
+and hurled them far and wide into the air, to fall back again on
+other parts of the town, and at the same time the fire-shells
+ignited, and set the ruins blazing like so many furnaces. No more
+shots were fired into the air after that.
+
+There was nothing for it but for British valour to bow to the
+inevitable, and evacuate the town and what remained of its
+fortifications; and so with sad and heavy hearts the remnant of the
+brave defenders turned their faces inland, leaving Dover to its fate.
+Meanwhile exactly the same havoc had been wrought upon Folkestone and
+Deal. Hour after hour the merciless work continued, until by three
+o'clock in the afternoon there was not a gun left upon the whole
+range of coast that was capable of firing a shot.
+
+All this time the ammunition tenders of the aerial fleet had been
+winging their way to and fro across the Strait constantly renewing
+the shells of the war-balloons.
+
+As soon as it began to grow dusk the naval battle commenced.
+Numerically speaking the attacking force was somewhat inferior to
+that of the defenders, but now the second element, which so
+completely altered the tactics of sea fighting, was for the first
+time in the war brought into play.
+
+As the battleships of the League steamed out to engage the opponents,
+who were thirsting to avenge the destruction that had been wrought
+upon the land, a small flotilla of twenty-five insignificant-looking
+little craft, with neither masts nor funnels, and looking more like
+half-submerged elongated turtles than anything else, followed in tow
+close under their quarters. Hardly had the furious cannonade broken
+out into thunder and flame along the two opposing lines, than these
+strange craft sank gently and silently beneath the waves. They were
+submarine vessels belonging to the French navy, an improved type of
+the _Zede_ class, which had been in existence for more than ten
+years.[1]
+
+These vessels were capable of sinking to a depth of twenty feet, and
+remaining for four hours without returning to the surface. They were
+propelled by twin screws worked by electricity at a speed of twenty
+knots, and were provided with an electric searchlight, which enabled
+them to find the hulls of hostile ships in the dark.
+
+Each carried three torpedoes, which could be launched from a tube
+forward so as to strike the hull of the doomed ship from beneath. As
+soon as the torpedo was discharged the submarine boat spun round on
+her heel and headed away at full speed in an opposite direction out
+of the area of the explosion.
+
+The effects of such terrible and, indeed, irresistible engines of
+naval warfare were soon made manifest upon the ships of the British
+fleet. In the heat of the battle, with every gun in action, and
+raining a hail of shot and shell upon her adversary, a great
+battleship would receive an unseen blow, struck in the dark upon her
+most vulnerable part, a huge column of water would rise up from under
+her side, and a few minutes later the splendid fabric would heel over
+and go down like a floating volcano, to be quenched by the waves that
+closed over her.
+
+But as if it were not enough that the defending fleet should be
+attacked from the surface of the water and the depths of the sea, the
+war-balloons, winging their way out from the scene of ruin that they
+had wrought on shore, soon began to take their part in the work of
+death and destruction.
+
+Each of them was provided with a mirror set a little in front of the
+bow of the car, at an angle which could be varied according to the
+elevation. A little forward of the centre of the car was a tube fixed
+on a level with the centre of the mirror. The ship selected for
+destruction was brought under the car, and the speed of the balloon
+was regulated so that the ship was relatively stationary to it.
+
+As soon as the glare from one of the funnels could be seen through
+the tube reflected in the centre of the mirror, a trap was sprung in
+the floor of the car, and a shell charged with dynamite, which, it
+will be remembered, explodes vertically downwards, was released, and,
+where the calculations were accurately made, passed down the funnel
+and exploded in the interior of the vessel, bursting her boilers and
+reducing her to a helpless wreck at a single stroke.
+
+Every time this horribly ingenious contrivance was successfully
+brought into play a battleship or a cruiser was either sunk or
+reduced to impotence. In order to make their aim the surer, the
+aerostats descended to within three hundred yards of their prey, and
+where the missile failed to pass through the funnel it invariably
+struck the deck close to it, tearing up the armour sheathing, and
+wrecking the funnel itself so completely that the steaming-power of
+the vessel was very seriously reduced.
+
+All night long the battle raged incessantly along a semicircle some
+twelve miles long, the centre of which was Dover. Crowds of anxious
+watchers on the shore watched the continuous flashes of the guns
+through the darkness, varied ever and anon by some tremendous
+explosion which told the fate of a warship that had fired her last
+shot.
+
+All night long the incessant thunder of the battle rolled to and fro
+along the echoing coast, and when morning broke the light dawned upon
+a scene of desolation and destruction on sea and shore such as had
+never been witnessed before in the history of warfare. On land were
+the smoking ruins of houses, still smouldering in the remains of the
+fires which had consumed them; forts which twenty-four hours before
+had grinned defiance at the enemy were shapeless heaps of earth and
+stone, and armour-plating torn into great jagged fragments; and on
+sea were a few half-crippled wrecks, the remains of the British
+fleet, with their flags still flying, and such guns as were not
+disabled firing their last rounds at the victorious foe.
+
+To the eastward of these about half the fleet of the League, in but
+little better condition, was advancing in now overwhelming force upon
+them, and behind these again a swarm of troopships and transports
+were heading out from the French shore. About an hour after dawn the
+_Centurion_, the last of the British battleships, was struck by one
+of the submarine torpedoes, broke in two, and went down with her flag
+flying and her guns blazing away to the last moment. So ended the
+battle of Dover, the most disastrous sea-fight in the history of the
+world, and the death-struggle of the Mistress of the Seas.
+
+The last news of the tremendous tragedy reached the now
+panic-stricken capital half an hour before the receipt of similar
+tidings from Harwich, announcing the destruction of the defending
+fleet and forts, and the capture of the town by exactly the same
+means as those employed against Dover. Nothing now lay between London
+and the invading forces but the utterly inadequate army and the lines
+of fortifications, which could not be expected to offer any more
+effective resistance to the assault of the war-balloons than had
+those of the three towns on the Kentish coast.
+
+[Footnote 1: _The Naval Annual_ for 1893 mentions two types of
+submarine boats, the _Zede_ and the _Goubet_, both belonging to the
+French navy, which had then been tried with success. The same work
+mentions no such vessels belonging to Britain, nor yet any prospect
+of her possessing one. The effects described here as produced by
+these terrible machines are little, if at all, exaggerated. Granted
+ten years of progress, and they will be reproduced to a
+certainty.--AUTHOR.]
+
+[Illustration: "The _Centurion_, the last of the British battleships,
+was struck by one of the submarine torpedoes."
+
+_See page 300._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+BELEAGUERED LONDON.
+
+
+A month had passed since the battle of Dover. It had been a month of
+incessant fighting, of battles by day and night, of heroic defences
+and dearly-bought victories, but still of constant triumphs and
+irresistible progress for the ever-increasing legions of the League.
+From sunrise to sunrise the roar of artillery, the rattle of
+musketry, and the clash of steel had never ceased to sound to the
+north and south of London as, over battlefield after battlefield, the
+two hosts which had poured in constant streams through Harwich and
+Dover had fought their way, literally mile by mile, towards the
+capital of the modern world.
+
+Day and night the fighting never stopped. As soon as two hostile
+divisions had fought each other to a standstill, and from sheer
+weariness of the flesh the battle died down in one part of the huge
+arena, the flame sprang up in another, and raged on with ever renewed
+fury. Outnumbered four and five to one in every engagement, and with
+the terrible war-balloons raining death on them from the clouds, the
+British armies had eclipsed all the triumphs of the long array of
+their former victories by the magnificent devotion that they showed
+in the hour of what seemed to be the death-struggle of the Empire.
+
+The glories of Inkermann and Balaclava, of Albuera and Waterloo,
+paled before the achievements of the whole-souled heroism displayed
+by the British soldiery standing, as it were, with its back to the
+wall, and fighting, not so much with any hope of victory, for that
+was soon seen to be a physical impossibility, but with the invincible
+determination not to permit the invader to advance on London save
+over the dead bodies of its defenders.
+
+Such a gallant defence had never been made before in the face of such
+irresistible odds. When the soldiers of the League first set foot on
+British soil the defending armies of the North and South had, with
+the greatest exertions, been brought up to a fighting strength of
+about twelve hundred thousand men. So stubborn had been the heroism
+with which they had disputed the progress of their enemies that by
+the time that the guns of the League were planted on the heights that
+commanded the Metropolis, more than a million and a half of men had
+gone down under the hail of British bullets and the rush of British
+bayonets.
+
+Of all the battlefields of this the bloodiest war in the history of
+human strife, none had been so deeply dyed with blood as had been the
+fair and fertile English gardens and meadows over which the hosts of
+the League had fought their way to the confines of London. Only the
+weight of overwhelming numbers, reinforced by engines of destruction
+which could strike without the possibility of effective retaliation,
+had made their progress possible.
+
+Had they met their heroic foes as they had met them in the days of
+the old warfare, their superiority of numbers would have availed them
+but little. They would have been hurled back and driven into the sea,
+and not a man of them all would have left British soil alive had it
+been but a question of military attack and defence.
+
+But this was not a war of men. It was a war of machines, and those
+who wielded the most effective machinery for the destruction of life
+won battle after battle as a matter of course, just as a man armed
+with a repeating rifle would overcome a better man armed with a bow
+and arrow.
+
+Natas had formed an entirely accurate estimate of the policy of the
+leaders of the League when he told Tremayne, in the library at
+Alanmere, that they would concentrate all their efforts on the
+reduction of London. The rest of the kingdom had been for the present
+entirely ignored.
+
+London was the heart of the British Empire and of the
+English-speaking world, for the matter of that, and therefore it had
+been determined to strike one deadly blow at the vital centre of the
+whole huge organism. That paralysed, the rest must fall to pieces of
+necessity. The fleet was destroyed, and every soldier that Britain
+could put into the field had been mustered for the defence of London.
+Therefore the fall of London meant the conquest of Britain.
+
+After the battles of Dover and Harwich the invading forces advanced
+upon London in the following order: The Army of the South had landed
+at Deal, Dover, and Folkestone in three divisions, and after a series
+of terrific conflicts had fought its way _via_ Chatham, Maidstone,
+and Tunbridge to the banks of the Thames, and occupied all the
+commanding positions from Shooter's Hill to Richmond. These three
+forces were composed entirely of French and Italian army corps, and
+numbered from first to last nearly four million men.
+
+On the north the invading force was almost wholly Russian, and was
+under the command of the Tzar in person, in whom the supreme command
+of the armies of the League had by common consent been now vested. A
+constant service of transports, plying day and night between Antwerp
+and Harwich, had placed at his disposal a force about equal to that
+of the Army of the South, although he had lost over seven hundred
+thousand men before he was able to occupy the line of heights from
+Hornsey to Hampstead, with flanking positions at Brondesbury and
+Harlesden to the west, and at Tottenham, Stratford, and Barking to
+the east.
+
+By the 29th of November all the railways were in the hands of the
+invaders. A chain of war-balloons between Barking and Shooter's Hill
+closed the Thames. The forts at Tilbury had been destroyed by an
+aerial bombardment. A flotilla of submarine torpedo-vessels had blown
+up the defences of the estuary of the Thames and Medway, and led to
+the fall of Sheerness and Chatham, and had then been docked at
+Sheerness, there being no further present use for them.
+
+The other half of the squadron, supported by a few battleships and
+cruisers which had survived the battle of Dover, had proceeded to
+Portsmouth, destroyed the booms and submarine defences, while a
+detachment of aerostats shelled the land defences, and then in a
+moment of wanton revenge had blown up the venerable hulk of the
+_Victory_, which had gone down at her moorings with her flag still
+flying as it had done a hundred years before at the fight of
+Trafalgar. After this inglorious achievement they had been laid up in
+dock to wait for their next opportunity of destruction, should it
+ever occur.
+
+London was thus cut off from all communication, not only with the
+outside world, but even from the rest of England. The remnants of the
+armies of defence had been gradually driven in upon the vast
+wilderness of bricks and mortar which now held more than eight
+millions of men, women, and children, hemmed in by long lines of
+batteries and entrenched camps, from which thousands of guns hurled
+their projectiles far and wide into the crowded masses of the houses,
+shattering them with bursting shells, and laying the whole streets in
+ruins, while overhead the war-balloons slowly circled hither and
+thither, dropping their fire-shells and completing the ruin and havoc
+wrought by the artillery of the siege-trains.
+
+Under such circumstances surrender was really only a matter of time,
+and that time had very nearly come. The London and North-Western
+Railway, which had been the last to fall into the hands of the
+invaders, had been closed for over a week, and food was running very
+short. Eight millions of people massed together in a space of thirty
+or forty square miles' area can only be fed and kept healthy under
+the most favourable conditions. Hemmed in as London now was, from
+being the best ordered great city in the world, it had degenerated
+with frightful rapidity into a vast abode of plague and famine, a
+mass of human suffering and misery beyond all conception or
+possibility of description.
+
+Defence there was now practically none; but still the invaders did
+not leave their vantage ground on the hills, and not a soldier of the
+League had so far set foot in London proper. Either the besiegers
+preferred to starve the great city into surrender at discretion, and
+then extort ruinous terms, or else they hesitated to plunge into that
+tremendous gulf of human misery, maddened by hunger and made
+desperate by despair. If they did so hesitate they were wise, for
+London was too vast to be carried by assault or by any series of
+assaults.
+
+No army could have lived in its wilderness of streets swarming with
+enemies, who would have fought them from house to house and street to
+street. Once they had entered that mighty maze of streets and squares
+both their artillery and their war-balloons would have been useless,
+for they would only have buried friend and foe in common destruction.
+There were plenty of ways into London, but the way out was a very
+different matter.
+
+Had a general assault been attempted, not a man would ever have got
+out of London alive. The commanders of the League saw this clearly,
+and so they kept their position on the heights, wasted the city with
+an almost constant bombardment, and, while they drew their supplies
+from the fertile lands in their rear, lay on their arms and waited
+for the inevitable.
+
+Within the besieged area martial law prevailed universally. Riots
+were of daily, almost hourly, occurrence, but they were repressed
+with an iron hand, and the rioters were shot down in the streets
+without mercy; for, though siege and famine were bad enough, anarchy
+breaking out amidst that vast sweltering mass of human beings would
+have been a thousand times worse, and so the King, who, assisted by
+the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Council, had assumed the control
+of the whole city, had directed that order was to be maintained at
+any price.
+
+The remains of the army were quartered in the parks under canvas, and
+billeted in houses throughout the various districts, in order to
+support the police in repressing disorder and protecting property.
+Still, in spite of all that could be done, matters were rapidly
+coming to a terrible pass. In a week, at the latest, the horses of
+the cavalry would be eaten. For a fortnight London had almost lived
+upon horse-flesh. In the poorer quarters there was not a dog to be
+seen, and a sewer rat was considered a delicacy.
+
+Eight million mouths had made short work of even the vast supplies
+that had been hurriedly poured into the city as soon as the invasion
+had become a certainty, and absolute starvation was now a matter of a
+few days at the outside. There were millions of money lying idle, but
+very soon a five-pound note would not buy even a little loaf of
+bread.
+
+But famine was by no means the only horror that afflicted London
+during those awful days and nights. All round the heights the booming
+of cannon sounded incessantly. Huge shells went screaming through the
+air overhead to fall and burst amidst some swarming hive of humanity,
+scattering death and mutilation where they fell; and high up in the
+air the fleet of aerostats perpetually circled, dropping their
+fire-shells and blasting cartridges on the dense masses of houses,
+until a hundred conflagrations were raging at once in different parts
+of the city.
+
+No help had come from outside. Indeed none was to be expected. There
+was only one Power in the world that was now capable of coping with
+the forces of the victorious League, but its overtures had been
+rejected, and neither the King nor any of his advisers had now the
+slightest idea as to how those who controlled it would now use it. No
+one knew the real strength of the Terrorists, or the Federation which
+they professed to control.
+
+All that was known was that, if they choose, they could with their
+aerial fleet sweep the war-balloons from the air in a few moments and
+destroy the batteries of the besiegers; but they had made no sign
+after the rejection of their President's offer to prevent the landing
+of the forces of the League on condition that the British Government
+accepted the Federation, and resigned its powers in favour of its
+Executive.
+
+The refusal of those terms had now cost more than a million British
+lives, and an incalculable amount of human suffering and destruction
+of property. Until the news of the disaster of Dover had actually
+reached London, no one had really believed that it was possible for
+an invading force to land on British soil and exist for twenty-four
+hours. Now the impossible had been made possible, and the last
+crushing blow must fall within the next few days. After that who knew
+what might befall?
+
+So far as could be seen, Britain lay helpless at the mercy of her
+foes. Her allies had ceased to exist as independent Powers, and the
+Russian and the Gaul were thundering at her gates as, fifteen hundred
+years before, the Goth had thundered at the gates of the Eternal City
+in the last days of the Roman Empire.
+
+If the terms of the Federation could have been offered again, it is
+probable that the King of England would have been the first man to
+own his mistake and that of his advisers and accept them, for now the
+choice lay between utter and humiliating defeat and the breaking up
+of the Empire, and the recognition of the Federation. After all, the
+kinship of a race was a greater fact in the supreme hour of national
+disaster than the maintenance of a dynasty or the perpetuation of a
+particular form of government.
+
+It was not now a question of nation against nation, but of race
+against race. The fierce flood of war had swept away all smaller
+distinctions. It was necessary to rise to the altitude of the problem
+of the Government, not of nations, but of the world. Was the genius
+of the East or of the West to shape the future destinies of the human
+race? That was the mighty problem of which the events of the next few
+weeks were to work out the solution, for when the sun set on the
+Field of Armageddon the fate of Humanity would be fixed for centuries
+to come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+AN ENVOY OF DELIVERANCE.
+
+
+From the time that the Tsar had received the conditional declaration
+of war from the President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation in America to
+nightfall on the 29th of November, when the surrender of the capital
+of the British Empire was considered to be a matter of a few days
+only, the Commander-in-Chief of the forces of the League was
+absolutely in the dark, not only as to the actual intentions of the
+Terrorists, if they had any, but also as to the doings of his allies
+in America.
+
+According to the stipulations arranged between himself and the
+confidential agent of the American Government, the blockading
+flotilla of dynamite cruisers ought to have sailed from America as
+soon as the cypher message containing the news of the battle of Dover
+reached New York. The message had been duly sent _via_ Queenstown and
+New York, and had been acknowledged in the usual way, but no definite
+reply had come to it, and a month had elapsed without the appearance
+of the promised squadron. The explanation of this will be readily
+guessed. The American end of the Queenstown cable had been
+reconnected with Washington, but it was under the absolute control of
+Tremayne, who permitted no one to use it save himself.
+
+Other messages had been sent to which no reply had been received, and
+a swift French cruiser, which had been launched at Brest since the
+battle of Dover, had been dispatched across the Atlantic to discover
+the reason of this strange silence. She had gone, but she had never
+returned. The Atlantic highway appeared to be barred by some
+invisible force. No vessels came from the westward, and those which
+started from the east were never heard of again.
+
+His Majesty had treated the summons of the President of the
+Federation with silent contempt, just as such a victorious autocrat
+might have been expected to do. True, he knew the terrific power
+wielded by the Terrorists through their aerial fleet, and he had an
+uncomfortable conviction, which refused to be entirely stifled, that
+in the days to come he would have to reckon with them and it.
+
+But that a member of the Terrorist Brotherhood could by any possible
+means have placed himself at the head of any body of men sufficiently
+numerous or well-disciplined to make them a force to be seriously
+reckoned with in military warfare, his Majesty had never for a moment
+believed.
+
+And, more than this, however disquieting might be the uncertainty due
+to the ominous silence on the other side of the Atlantic, and the
+non-arrival of the expected fleet, there stood the great and
+significant fact that the army of the League had been permitted,
+without molestation either from the Terrorists or the Federation in
+whose name they had presumed to declare war upon him, not only to
+destroy what remained of the British fleet, but to completely invest
+the very capital of Anglo-Saxondom itself.
+
+All this had been done; the sacred soil of Britain itself had been
+violated by the invading hosts; the army of defence had been slowly,
+and at a tremendous sacrifice of life on both sides, forced back from
+line after line, and position after position, into the city itself;
+his batteries were raining their hail of shot and shell from the
+heights round London, and his aerostats were hurling ruin from the
+sky upon the crowded millions locked up in the beleaguered space; and
+yet the man who had presumed to tell him that the hour in which he
+set foot on British soil would be the last of his Empire, had done
+absolutely nothing to interrupt the march of conquest.
+
+From this it will be seen that Alexander Romanoff was at least as
+completely in the dark as to the possible course of the events of the
+near future as was the King of England himself, shut up in his
+capital, and cut off from all communication from the rest of the
+world.
+
+On the morning of the 29th of November there was held at the Prime
+Minister's rooms in Downing Street a Cabinet Council, presided over
+by the King in person. After the Council had remained for about an
+hour in earnest consultation, a stranger was admitted to the room in
+which they were sitting.
+
+The reader would have recognised him in a moment as Maurice Colston,
+otherwise Alexis Mazanoff, for he was dressed almost exactly as he
+had been on that memorable night, just thirteen months before, when
+he made the acquaintance of Richard Arnold on the Thames Embankment.
+
+Well-dressed, well-fed, and perfectly at ease, he entered the Council
+Chamber without any aggressive assumption, but still with the quiet
+confidence of a man who knows that he is practically master of the
+situation. How he had even got into London, beleaguered as it was on
+every side in such fashion that no one could get out of it without
+being seen and shot by the besiegers, was a mystery; but how he could
+have in his possession, as he had, a despatch dated thirty-six hours
+previously in New York was a still deeper mystery; and upon neither
+of these points did he make the slightest attempt to enlighten the
+members of the British Cabinet.
+
+All that he said was that he was the bearer of a message from the
+President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation in America, and that he was
+instructed to return that night to New York with such answer as the
+British Government might think fit to make to it. It was this message
+that had been the subject of the deliberations of the Council before
+his admission, and its net effect was as follows.
+
+It was now practically certain, indeed proved to demonstration, that
+the forces at the command of the British Government were not capable
+of coping with those brought against them by the commanders of the
+League, and that therefore Britain, if left to her own resources,
+must inevitably succumb, and submit to such terms as her conquerors
+might think fit to impose upon her. The choice before the British
+Government thus lay between surrender to her foreign enemies, whose
+objects were well known to be dismemberment of the Empire and the
+reduction of Great Britain to the rank of a third-class Power,--to
+say nothing of the payment of a war indemnity which could not fail to
+be paralysing,--and the consent of those who controlled the destinies
+of the mother country to accept a Federation of the whole Anglo-Saxon
+race, to waive the merely national idea in favour of the racial one,
+and to permit the Executive Council of the Federation to assume those
+governmental functions which were exercised at present by the King
+and the British Houses of Parliament.
+
+In a word, the choice lay between conquest by a league of foreign
+powers and the merging of Britain into the Federation of the
+English-speaking peoples of the world.
+
+If the former choice were taken, the only prospect possible under the
+condition of things was a possibly enormous sacrifice of human life
+on the side of both Britain and its enemies, a gigantic loss in
+money, the crippling of British trade and commerce, and then a
+possible, nay probable, social revolution to which the message
+distinctly pointed.
+
+If the latter choice were taken, the forces of the Federation would
+be at once brought into the field against those of the League, the
+siege of London would be raised, the power of the invaders would be
+effectually broken for ever, and the stigma of conquest finally wiped
+away.
+
+It is only just to record the fact that in this supreme crisis of
+British history the man who most strongly insisted upon the
+acceptance of the terms which he had previously, as he now confessed
+in the most manly and outspoken fashion, rejected in ignorance of the
+true situation of affairs, was the man who believed that he would
+lose a crown by accepting them.
+
+When the Ambassador of the Federation had been presented to the
+Council, the King rose in his place and handed to him with his own
+hands a sealed letter, saying as he did so--
+
+"Mr. Mazanoff, I am still to a great extent in ignorance as to the
+inexplicable combination of events which has made it necessary for me
+to return this affirmative answer to the message of which you are the
+bearer. I am, however, fully aware that the Earl of Alanmere, whose
+name I have seen at the foot of this document with the most profound
+astonishment, is in a position to do what he says.
+
+"The course of events has been exactly that which he predicted. I
+know, too, that whatever causes may have led him to unite himself to
+those known as the Terrorists, he is an English nobleman, and a man
+to whom falsehood or bad faith is absolutely impossible. In your
+marvellous aerial fleet I know also that he wields the only power
+capable of being successfully opposed to those terrible machines
+which had wrought such havoc upon the fleets and armies, not only of
+Britain, but of Europe.
+
+"To a certain extent this is a surrender, but I feel that it will be
+better to surrender the destinies of Britain into the hands of her
+own blood and kindred than to the tender mercies of her alien
+enemies. My own personal feelings must weigh as nothing in the
+balance where the fate, not only of this country, but perhaps of the
+whole world, is now poised.
+
+"After all, the first duty of a Constitutional King is not to himself
+and his dynasty, but to his country and his people, and therefore I
+feel that it will be better for me and mine to be citizens of a free
+Federation of the English-speaking peoples, and of the nations to
+which Britain has given birth, than the titular sovereign and Royal
+family of a conquered country, holding the mockery of royalty on the
+sufferance of their conquerors.
+
+"Tell Lord Alanmere from me that I now accept the terms he has
+offered as President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation, first, because at
+all hazards I would see Britain delivered from her enemies; and,
+secondly, because I have chosen rather to be an English gentleman
+without a crown, than to wear a crown which after all would only be
+gift from my conquerors."
+
+Edward VII. spoke with visible emotion, but with a dignity which even
+Mazanoff, little and all as he respected the name of king, felt
+himself compelled to recognise and respect. He took the letter with a
+bow that was more one of reverence than of courtesy, and as he put it
+into his breast-pocket of his coat he said--
+
+"The President will receive your Majesty's reply with as genuine
+pleasure and satisfaction as I shall give it to him. Though I am a
+Russian without a drop of English blood in my veins, I have always
+looked upon the British race as the real bulwark of freedom, and I
+rejoice that the King of England has not permitted either tradition
+or personal feeling to stand in the way of the last triumph of the
+Anglo-Saxon race.
+
+"As long as the English language is spoken your Majesty's name will
+be held in greater honour for this sacrifice which you make to-day,
+than will that of any other English king for the greatest triumph of
+arms ever achieved in the history of your country.
+
+"I must now take my leave, for I must be in New York to-morrow night.
+I have your word that I shall not be watched or followed after I
+leave here. Hold the city for six days more at all costs, and on the
+seventh at the latest the siege shall be raised and the enemies of
+Britain destroyed in their own entrenchments."
+
+So saying, the envoy of the Federation bowed once more to the King
+and the astonished members of his Council, and was escorted to the
+door.
+
+Once in the street he strode away rapidly through Parliament Street
+and the Strand, then up Drury Lane, until he reached the door of a
+mean-looking house in a squalid court, and entering this with a
+latch-key, disappeared.
+
+Three hours later a Russian soldier of the line, wearing an almost
+imperceptible knot of red ribbon in one of the button-holes of his
+tunic, passed through the Russian lines on Hampstead Heath
+unchallenged by the sentries, and made his way northward to Northaw
+Wood, which he reached soon after nightfall.
+
+Within half an hour the _Ithuriel_ rose from the midst of a thick
+clump of trees like a grey shadow rising into the night, and darted
+southward and upward at such a speed that the keenest eyes must soon
+have lost sight of her from the earth.
+
+She passed over the beleaguered city at a height of nearly ten
+thousand feet, and then swept sharply round to the eastward. She
+stopped immediately over the lights of Sheerness, and descended to
+within a thousand feet of the dock, in which could be seen the
+detachment of the French submarine vessels lying waiting to be sent
+on their next errand of destruction.
+
+As soon as those on board her had made out the dock clearly she
+ascended a thousand feet and went about half a mile to the southward.
+From that position she poured a rapid hail of shells into the dock,
+which was instantly transformed into a cavity vomiting green flame
+and fragments of iron and human bodies. In five minutes nothing was
+left of the dock or its contents but a churned-up swamp of muddy
+water and shattered stonework.
+
+Then, her errand so far accomplished, the air-ship sped away to the
+south-westward, and within an hour she had destroyed in like fashion
+the submarine squadron in the Government dock at Portsmouth, and was
+winging her way westward to New York with the reply of the King of
+England to the President of the Federation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+THE EVE OF ARMAGEDDON.
+
+
+When the news of the destruction of the two divisions of the
+submarine squadron reached the headquarters of the League on the
+night of the 29th, it would have been difficult to say whether anger
+or consternation most prevailed among the leaders. A council of war
+was hurriedly summoned to discuss an event which it was impossible to
+look upon as anything less than a calamity.
+
+The destruction which had been wrought was of itself disastrous
+enough, for it deprived the League of the chief means by which it had
+destroyed the British fleet and kept command of the sea. But even
+more terrible than the actual destruction was the unexpected
+suddenness with which the blow had been delivered.
+
+For five months, that is to say, from the recapture of the _Lucifer_
+at Aberdeen, the Tsar and his coadjutors had seen nothing of the
+operations of the Terrorists; and now, without a moment's warning,
+this apparently omnipresent and yet almost invisible force had struck
+once more with irresistible effect, and instantly vanished back into
+the mystery out of which it had come.
+
+Who could tell when the next blow would fall, or in what shape the
+next assault would be delivered? In the presence of such enemies,
+invisible and unreachable, the commanders of the League, to their
+rage and disgust, felt themselves, on the eve of their supreme
+victory, as impotent as a man armed with a sword would have felt in
+front of a Gatling gun.
+
+Consternation naturally led to divided councils. The French and
+Italian commanders were for an immediate general assault on London at
+all hazards, and the enforcement of terms of surrender at the point
+of the sword. The Tsar, on the other hand, insisted on the pursuance
+of the original policy of reduction by starvation, as he rightly
+considered that, great as the attacking force was, it would be
+practically swamped amidst the infuriated millions of the besieged,
+and that, even if the assault were successful, the loss of life would
+be so enormous that the conquest of the rest of Britain--which in
+such a case would almost certainly rise to a man--would be next door
+to impossible.
+
+He, however, so far yielded as to agree to send a message to the King
+of England to arrange terms of surrender, if possible at once, in
+order to save further bloodshed, and then, if these terms were
+rejected, to prepare for a general assault on the seventh day from
+then.
+
+These terms were accepted as a compromise, and the next morning the
+bombardment ceased both from the land batteries and the air. At
+daybreak on the 30th an envoy left the Tsar's headquarters in one of
+the war-balloons, flying a flag of truce, and descended in Hyde Park.
+He was received by the King in Council at Buckingham Palace, and,
+after a lengthy deliberation, an answer was returned to the effect
+that on condition the bombardment ceased for the time being, London
+would be surrendered at noon on the 6th of December if no help had by
+that time arrived from the other cities of Britain. These terms,
+after considerable opposition from General le Gallifet and General
+Cosensz, the Italian Commander-in-Chief, were adopted and ratified at
+noon that day, almost at the very moment that Alexis Mazanoff was
+presenting the reply of the King of England to the President of the
+Federation in New York.
+
+As the relief expedition had been fully decided upon, whether the
+British Government recognised the Federation or not, everything was
+in readiness for an immediate start as soon as the _Ithuriel_ brought
+definite news as to the acceptation or rejection of the President's
+second offer. For the last seven weeks the ten dockyards of the east
+coast of America, and at Halifax in Nova Scotia, had been thronged
+with shipping, and swarming with workmen and sailors.
+
+All the vessels which had been swept off the Atlantic by the
+war-storm, and which were of sufficient size and speed to take part
+in the expedition, had been collected at these eleven ports. Whole
+fleets of liners of half a dozen different nationalities, which had
+been laid up since the establishment of the blockade, were now lying
+alongside the quays, taking in vast quantities of wheat and
+miscellaneous food-stuffs, which were being poured into their holds
+from the glutted markets of America and Canada. Every one of these
+vessels was fitted up as a troopship, and by the time all
+arrangements were complete, more than a thousand vessels, carrying on
+an average twelve hundred men each, were ready to take the sea.
+
+In addition to these there was a fleet of warships as yet unscathed
+by shot or shell, consisting of thirty battleships, a hundred and ten
+cruisers, and the flotilla of dynamite cruisers which had been
+constructed by the late Government at the expense of the capitalist
+Ring. There were no less than two hundred of these strange but
+terribly destructive craft, the lineal descendants of the _Vesuvius_,
+which, as the naval reader will remember, was commissioned in 1890.
+
+They were double-hulled vessels built on the whale-back plan, and the
+compartments between the inner and outer hull could be wholly or
+partially filled with water. When they were entirely filled the hull
+sank below the surface, leaving nothing as a mark to an enemy save a
+platform standing ten feet above the water. This platform,
+constructed throughout of 6-inch nickel-steel, was of oval shape, a
+hundred feet long and thirty broad in its greatest diameter, and
+carried the heavily armoured wheel-house and conning-tower, two
+funnels, six ventilators, and two huge pneumatic guns, each
+seventy-five feet long, working on pivots nearly amidships. These
+weapons, with an air-charge of three hundred atmospheres, would throw
+four hundred pounds of dynamite to a distance of three miles with
+such accuracy that the projectile would invariably fall within a
+space of twenty feet square. The guns could be discharged once a
+minute, and could thus hurl 48,000 lbs. of dynamite an hour upon a
+hostile fleet or fortifications.
+
+Each cruiser also carried two under-water torpedo tubes ahead and two
+astern. The funnels emitted no smoke, but merely supplied draught to
+the petroleum furnaces, which burned with practically no waste, and
+developed a head of steam which drove the long submerged hulls
+through the water at a rate of thirty-two knots, or more than
+thirty-six miles an hour.
+
+Such was the enormous naval armament, manned by nearly a hundred
+thousand men, which hoisted the Federation flag at one o'clock on the
+afternoon of the 30th of November, when orders were telegraphed north
+and south from Washington to get ready for sea. Two hours later the
+vast flotilla of warships and transports had cleared American waters,
+and was converging towards a point indicated by the intersection of
+the 41st parallel of latitude with the 40th meridian of longitude.
+
+At this ocean rendezvous the divisions of the fleet and its convoys
+met and shaped their course for the mouth of the English Channel.
+They proceeded in column of line abreast three deep, headed by the
+dynamite cruisers, after which came the other warships which had
+formed the American Navy, and after these again came the troopships
+and transports properly protected by cruisers on their flanks and in
+their rear.
+
+The commander of every warship and transport had the most minute
+instructions as to how he was to act on reaching British waters, and
+what these were will become apparent in due course. The weather was
+fairly good for the time of year, and, as there was but little danger
+of collision on the now deserted waters of the Atlantic, the whole
+flotilla kept at full speed all the way. As, however, its speed was
+necessarily limited by that of its slowest steamer until the scene of
+action was reached, it was after midnight on the 5th of December when
+its various detachments had reached their appointed stations on the
+English coast.
+
+At the entrance of the English Channel and St. George's Channel a few
+scouting cruisers, flying French, Russian, and Italian colours, had
+been run down and sunk by the dynamite cruisers. Strict orders had
+been given by Tremayne to destroy everything flying a hostile flag,
+and not to permit any news to be taken to England of the approach of
+the flotilla. The Federation was waging a war, not merely of conquest
+and revenge, but of extermination, and no more mercy was to be shown
+to its enemies than they had shown in their march of victory from one
+end of Europe to the other.
+
+While the Federation fleet had been crossing the Atlantic, other
+events no less important had been taking place in England and
+Scotland. The hitherto apparently inert mass of the population had
+suddenly awakened out of its lethargy. In town and country alike men
+forsook their daily avocations as if by one consent. As in America,
+artisans, pitmen, clerks, and tradesmen were suddenly transformed
+into soldiers, who drilled, first in squads of ten, and then in
+hundreds and thousands, and finally in tens of thousands, all
+uniformed alike in rough grey breeches and tunics, with a knot of red
+ribbon in the button-hole, and all armed with rifle, bayonet, and
+revolver, which they seemed to handle with a strange and ominous
+familiarity.
+
+All the railway traffic over the island was stopped, and the
+rolling-stock collected at the great stations along the lines to
+London, and at the same time all the telegraph wires communicating
+with the south and east were cut. As day after day passed, signs of
+an intense but strongly suppressed excitement became more and more
+visible all over the provinces, and especially in the great towns and
+cities.
+
+In London very much the same thing had happened. Hundreds of
+thousands of civilians vanished during that seven days of anxious
+waiting for the hour of deliverance, and in their place sprang up
+orderly regiments of grey-clad soldiers, who saw the red knot in each
+other's button-holes, and welcomed each other as comrades unknown
+before.
+
+To the surprise of the commanders of the regular army, orders had
+been issued by the King that all possible assistance was to be
+rendered to these strange legions, which had thus so suddenly sprang
+into existence; and the result was that when the sun set on the 5th
+of December, the twenty-first day of the total blockade of London,
+the beleaguered space contained over two millions of armed men,
+hungering both for food and vengeance, who, like the five millions of
+their fellow-countrymen outside London, were waiting for a sign from
+the sky to fling themselves upon the entrapped and unsuspecting
+invader.
+
+That night countless eyes were upturned throughout the length and
+breadth of Britain to the dun pall of wintry cloud that overspread
+the land. Yet so far, so perfect was the discipline of this gigantic
+host, not a sign of overt hostile movement had been made, and the
+commanders of the armies of the League looked forward with exulting
+confidence to the moment, now only a few hours distant, when the
+capital of the British Empire, cut off from all help, should be
+surrendered into their hands in accordance with the terms agreed
+upon.
+
+When night fell the _Ithuriel_ was floating four thousand feet above
+Aberdeen. Arnold and Natasha, wrapped in warm furs, were standing on
+deck impatiently watching the sun sinking down over the sea of clouds
+which lay between them and the earth.
+
+"There it goes at last!" exclaimed Natasha, as the last of the level
+beams shot across the cloud-sea and the rim of the pale disc sank
+below the surface of the vapoury ocean. "The time that we have waited
+and worked for so long has come at last. This is the eve of
+Armageddon! Who would think it, floating up here above the clouds and
+beneath those cold, calmly shining stars! And yet the fate of the
+whole world is trembling in the balance, and the doings of the next
+twenty-four hours will settle the destiny of mankind for generations
+to come. The hour of the Revolution has struck at last"--
+
+"And therefore it is time that the Angel of the Revolution should
+give the last signal with her own hand!" said Arnold, seized with a
+sudden fancy, "Come, you shall start the dynamo yourself."
+
+"Yes I will, and, I hope, kindle a flame that shall purge the earth
+of tyranny and oppression for ever. Richard, what must my father be
+thinking of just now down yonder in the cabin?"
+
+"I dare not even guess. To-morrow or the next day will be the day of
+reckoning, and then God help those of whom he demands payment, for
+they will need it. The vials of wrath are full, and before long the
+oppressors of the earth will have drained them to the dregs. Come, it
+is time we went down."
+
+They descended together to the engine-room, and meanwhile the
+air-ship sank through the clouds until the lights of Aberdeen lay
+about a thousand feet below. A lens of red glass had been fitted to
+the searchlight of the _Ithuriel_, and all that was necessary was to
+connect the forward engine with the dynamo.
+
+Arnold put Natasha's hand on a little lever. As she took hold of it
+she thought with a shudder of the mighty forces of destruction which
+her next movement would let loose. Then she thought of all that those
+nearest and dearest to her had suffered at the hands of Russian
+despotism, and of all the nameless horrors of the rule whose
+death-signal she was about to give.
+
+As she did so her grip tightened on the lever, and when Arnold,
+having given his orders to the head engineer as to speed and course,
+put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Now!" she pulled it back with
+a sharp, determined motion, and the next instant a broad fan of
+blood-red light shot over the _Ithuriel's_ bows.
+
+At the same moment the air-ship's propellers began to spin round, and
+then with the flood of red light streaming in front of her, she
+headed southward at full speed towards Edinburgh. The signal flashed
+over the Scottish capital, and then the _Ithuriel_ swerved round to
+the westward.
+
+Half an hour later Glasgow saw it, and then away she sped southward
+across the Border to Carlisle; and so through the long December night
+she flew hither and thither, eastward and westward, flashing the red
+battle-signal over field and village and town; and wherever it shone
+armed men sprang up like the fruit of the fabled dragon's teeth,
+companies were mustered in streets and squares and fields and marched
+to railway stations; and soon long trains, one after another in
+endless succession, got into motion, all moving towards the south and
+east, all converging upon London.
+
+Last of all, after it had made a swift circuit of northern and
+central and western England, the red light swept along the south
+coast, and then swerved northward again till it flashed thrice over
+London, and then it vanished into the darkness of the hour before the
+dawn of Armageddon.
+
+Since the ever-memorable night of Thursday the 29th of July 1588,
+three hundred and sixteen years before, when "The beacon blazed upon
+the roof of Edgcumbe's lofty Hall," and the answering fires sprang up
+"From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay," to tell
+that the Spanish Armada was in sight, there had been no such night in
+England, nor had men ever dreamed that there should be.
+
+But great as had been the deeds done by the heroes of the sixteenth
+century with the pigmy means at their command, they were but the
+merest child's play to the awful storm of devastation which, in a few
+hours, was to burst over southern England. Then it was England
+against Spain; now it was Anglo-Saxondom against the world; and the
+conquering race of earth, armed with the most terrific powers of
+destruction that human wit had ever devised, was rising in its wrath,
+millions strong, to wipe out the stain of invasion from the sacred
+soil of the motherland of the Anglo-Saxon nations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+THE OLD LION AT BAY.
+
+
+The morning of the 6th of December dawned grey and cold over London
+and the hosts that were waiting for its surrender. Scarcely any smoke
+rose from the myriad chimneys of the vast city, for the coal was
+almost all burnt, and what was left was selling at L12 a ton. Wood
+was so scarce that people were tearing up the woodwork of their
+houses to keep a little fire going.
+
+So the steel-grey sky remained clear, for towards daybreak the clouds
+had been condensed by a cold north-easter into a sharp fall of fine,
+icy snow, and as the sun gained power it shone chilly over the
+whitened landscape, the innumerable roofs of London, and the miles of
+tents lining the hills to the north and south of the Thames valley.
+
+The havoc wrought by the bombardment on the public buildings of the
+great city had been terrible. Of the Houses of Parliament only a
+shapeless heap of broken stones remained, the Law Courts were in
+ruins, what had been the Albert Hall was now a roofless ring of
+blackened walls, Nelson's Column lay shattered across Trafalgar
+Square, and the Royal Exchange, the Bank of England, and the Mansion
+House mingled their fragments in the heart of the almost deserted
+city.
+
+Only three of the great buildings of London had suffered no damage.
+These were the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, and St Paul's,
+which had been spared in accordance with special orders issued by the
+commanders of the League. The two former were spared for the same
+reason that the Germans had spared Strasburg Cathedral in
+1870--because their destruction would have been a loss, not to
+Britain alone, but to the world.
+
+The great church of the metropolis had been left untouched chiefly
+because it had been arranged that, on the fall of London, the Tsar
+was to be proclaimed Emperor of Asia under its dome, and at the same
+time General le Gallifet was to assume the Dictatorship of France and
+abolish the Republic, which for more than ten years had been the
+plaything of unprincipled financiers, and the laughing-stock of
+Europe. As the sun rose the great golden cross, rising high out of
+the wilderness of houses, shone more and more brightly under the
+brightening sky, and millions of eyes looked upon it from within the
+city and from without with feelings far asunder as triumph and
+defeat.
+
+At daybreak the last meal had been eaten by the defenders of the
+city. To supply it almost every animal left in London had been
+sacrificed, and the last drop of liquor was drunk, even to the last
+bottle of wine in the Royal cellars, which the King shared with his
+two commanders-in-chief, Lord Roberts and Lord Wolseley, in the
+presence of the troops on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. At nine
+o'clock the King and Queen attended service in St. Paul's, and when
+they left the Cathedral half an hour later the besiegers on the
+heights were astounded to hear the bells of all the steeples left
+standing in London ring out in a triumphant series of peals which
+rippled away eastward and westward from St. Paul's and Westminster
+Abbey, caught up and carried on by steeple after steeple, until from
+Highgate to Dulwich, and from Hammersmith to Canning Town, the
+beleaguered and starving city might have been celebrating some great
+triumph or deliverance.
+
+The astonished besiegers could only put the extraordinary
+manifestation down to joy on the part of the citizens at the near
+approaching end of the siege; but before the bells of London had been
+ringing for half an hour this fallacious idea was dispelled from
+their minds in a very stern and summary fashion.
+
+Since nightfall there had been no communication with the secret
+agents of the League in the various towns of England and Scotland. At
+ten o'clock a small company of Cossacks spurred and flogged their
+jaded horses up the northern slope of Muswell Hill, on which the Tsar
+had fixed his headquarters. Nearly every man was wounded, and the
+horses were in the last stages of exhaustion. Their captain was at
+once admitted to the presence of the Tsar, and, flinging himself on
+the ground before the enraged Autocrat, gasped out the dreadful
+tidings that his little company were the sole survivors of the army
+of occupation that had been left at Harwich, and which, twelve hours
+before, had been thirty thousand strong.
+
+A huge fleet of strange-looking vessels, flying a plain blood-red
+flag, had just before four A.M. forced the approaches to the harbour,
+sunk every transport and warship with guns that were fired without
+flame, or smoke, or report, and whose projectiles shattered
+everything that they struck. Immediately afterwards an immense
+flotilla of transports had steamed in, and, under the protection of
+those terrible guns, had landed a hundred thousand men, all dressed
+in the same plain grey uniform, with no facings or ornaments save a
+knot of red ribbon at the button-hole, and armed with magazine rifle
+and a bayonet and a brace of revolvers. All were English by their
+speech, and every man appeared to know exactly what to do with very
+few orders from his officers.
+
+This invading force had hunted the Russians out of Harwich like
+rabbits out of a warren, while the ships in the harbour had hurled
+their shells up into the air so that they fell back to earth on the
+retreating army and exploded with frightful effect. The general in
+command had at once telegraphed to London for a detachment of
+war-balloons and reinforcements, but no response had been received.
+
+After four hours' fighting the Russian army was in full retreat,
+while the attacking force was constantly increasing as transport
+after transport steamed into the harbour and landed her men. At
+Colchester the Russians had been met by another vast army which had
+apparently sprung from the earth, dressed and armed exactly as the
+invading force was. What its numbers were there was no possibility of
+telling.
+
+By this time, too, treachery began to show itself in the Russian
+ranks, and whole companies suddenly appeared with the red knot of
+ribbon in their tunics, and instantly turned their weapons against
+their comrades, shooting them down without warning or mercy. No
+quarter had been given to those who did not show the ribbon. Most of
+them died fighting, but those who had thrown away their arms were
+shot down all the same.
+
+Whoever commanded this strange army had manifestly given orders to
+take no prisoners, and it was equally certain that its movements were
+directed by the Terrorists, for everywhere the battle-cries had been,
+"In the Master's name!" and "Slay, and spare not!"
+
+The whole of the army, save the deserters, had been destroyed, and
+the deserters had immediately assumed the grey uniforms of those of
+the Terrorist army who had fallen. The Cossack captain and his forty
+or fifty followers were the sole remains of a body of three thousand
+men who had fought their way through the second army. The whole
+country to the north and east seemed alive with the grey soldiery,
+and it was only after a hundred hair-breadth escapes that they had
+managed to reach the protection of the lines round London.
+
+Such was the tale of the bringer of bad tidings to the Tsar at the
+moment when he was looking forward to the crowning triumph of his
+reign. Like the good soldier that he was, he wasted no time in
+thinking at a moment when everything depended on instant action.
+
+He at once despatched a war-balloon to the French and Italian
+headquarters with a note containing the terrible news from Harwich,
+and requesting Generals le Gallifet and Cosensz to lose no time in
+communicating with the eastern and southern ports, and in throwing
+out corps of observation supported by war-balloons. Evidently the
+American Government had played the League false at the last moment,
+and had allied herself with Britain.
+
+As soon as he had sent off this message, the Tsar ordered a fleet of
+forty aerostats to proceed to the north-eastward, in advance of a
+force of infantry and cavalry numbering three hundred thousand men,
+and supported by fifty batteries of field and machine guns, which he
+detached to stop the progress of the Federation army towards London.
+Before this force was in motion a reply came back from General le
+Gallifet to the effect that all communication with the south and east
+was stopped, and that an aerostat, which had been on scout duty
+during the night, had returned with the news that the whole country
+appeared to be up in arms from Portsmouth to Dover. Corps of
+observation and a fleet of thirty aerostats had been sent out, and
+three army corps were already on the march to the south and east.
+
+Meanwhile, the hour for the surrender of London was drawing very
+near, and all the while the bells were sending their mingled melody
+of peals and carillons up into the clear frosty air with a defiant
+joyousness that seemed to speak of anything but surrender. As twelve
+o'clock approached the guns of all the batteries on the heights were
+loaded and trained on different parts of the city, and the whole of
+the forces left after the detachment of the armies that had been sent
+to engage the battalions of the Federation prepared to descend upon
+the devoted city from all sides after the two hours' incessant
+bombardment that had been ordered to precede the general attack.
+
+It had been arranged that if the city surrendered a white flag was to
+be hoisted on the cross of St. Paul's.
+
+Within a few minutes of twelve the Tsar ascended to the roof of the
+Alexandra Palace on Muswell Hill, and turned his field-glasses on the
+towering dome. His face and lips were bloodless with repressed but
+intense anxiety, but the hands that held his glasses to his eyes were
+as steady as though he had been watching a review of his own troops.
+It was the supreme moment of his victorious career. He was
+practically master of Europe. Only Britain held out. The relieving
+forces would be rent to fragments by his war-balloons, and then
+decimated by his troops as the legions of Germany and Austria had
+been. The capital of the English-speaking world lay starving at his
+feet, and a few minutes would see--
+
+Ha! there goes the flag at last. A little ball of white bunting
+creeps up from the gallery above the dark dome. It clears the railing
+under the pedestal, and climbs to the apex of the shining cross. As
+it does so the wild chorus of the bells suddenly ceases, and out of
+the silence that follows come the deep booming strokes of the great
+bell of St. Paul's sounding the hour of twelve.
+
+As the last stroke dies away the ball bursts, and the White Ensign of
+Britain crossed by the Red Cross of St. George, and with the Jack in
+the corner, floats out defiantly on the breeze, greeted by the
+reawakening clamour of the bells, and a deep hoarse cry from millions
+of throats, that rolls like a vast sea of sound up the slopes to the
+encampments of the League.
+
+With an irrepressible cry of rage, Alexander dashed his field-glass
+to the ground, and shouted, in a voice broken with passion--
+
+"So! They have tricked us. Let the bombardment begin at once, and
+bring that flag down with the first shots!"
+
+But before the words were out of his mouth, the bombardment had
+already commenced in a very different fashion to that in which he had
+intended that it should begin. So intense had been the interest with
+which all eyes had been turned on the Cross of St. Paul's that no one
+had noticed twelve little points of shining light hanging high in air
+over the batteries of the besiegers, six to the north and six to the
+south.
+
+But the moment that the Ensign of St. George floated from the summit
+of St. Paul's a rapid series of explosions roared out like a
+succession of thunder-claps along the lines of the batteries. The
+hills of Surrey, and Kent, and Middlesex were suddenly transformed
+into volcanoes spouting flame and thick black smoke, and flinging
+clouds of dust and fragments of darker objects high into the air.
+
+The order of the Tsar was obeyed in part only, for by the time that
+the word to recommence the bombardment had been flashed round the
+circuit of the entrenchments, more than half the batteries had been
+put out of action. The twelve air-ships stationed at equal intervals
+round the vast ellipse, and discharging their No. 3 shell from their
+four guns ahead and astern, from an elevation of four thousand feet,
+had simultaneously wrecked half the batteries of the besiegers before
+their occupants had any clear idea of what was really happening.
+
+Wherever one of those shells fell and exploded, earth and stone and
+iron melted into dust under the terrific force of the exploding
+gases, and the air-ships, moving with a velocity compared with which
+the utmost speed of the aerostats was as a snail's pace, flitted
+hither and thither wherever a battery got into action, and destroyed
+it before the second round had been fired.
+
+There were still twenty-five aerostats at the command of the Tsar
+which had not been sent against the relieving forces, and as soon as
+it was realised that the aerial bombardment of the batteries came
+from the air-ships of the Terrorist fleet, they were sent into the
+air to engage them at all hazards. They outnumbered them two to one,
+but there was no comparison between the manoeuvring powers of the two
+aerial squadrons.
+
+As soon as the aerostats rose into the air, the Terrorist fleet
+receded northward and southward from the batteries. Their guns had a
+six-mile range, and it did not matter to them which side of the
+assailed area they lay. They could still hurl their explosives with
+the same deadly precision on the appointed mark. But with the
+aerostats it was a very different matter. They could only drop their
+shells vertically, and where they were not exactly above the object
+of attack their shells exploded with comparative harmlessness.
+
+As a natural consequence they had to follow the air-ships, not only
+away from London, but over their own encampments, in order to bring
+them to anything like close quarters. The aerostats possessed one
+advantage, and one only, over the air-ships. They were able to rise
+to a much greater height. But this advantage the air-ships very soon
+turned into a disadvantage by reason of their immensely superior
+speed and ease of handling. They darted about at such a speed over
+the heads of the massed forces of the League on either side of
+London, that it was impossible to drop shells upon them without
+running the inevitable risk of missing the small and swiftly-moving
+air-ship, and so causing the shell to burst amidst friends instead of
+foes.
+
+Thus the Terrorist fleet, sweeping hither and thither, in wide and
+ever changing curves, lured the most dangerous assailants of the
+beleaguered city farther and farther away from the real scene of
+action, at the very time when they were most urgently needed to
+support the attacking forces which at that moment were being poured
+into London.
+
+To destroy the air-ships seemed an impossibility, since they could
+move at five times the speed of the swiftest aerostat, and yet to
+return to the bombardment of the city was to leave them free to
+commit what havoc they pleased upon the encampments of the armies of
+the League. So they were drawn farther and farther away from the
+beleaguered city, while their agile enemies, still keeping within
+their six-mile range, evaded their shells, and yet kept up a constant
+discharge of their own projectiles upon the salient points of the
+attack on London.
+
+By four o'clock in the afternoon all the batteries of the besiegers
+had been put out of action by the aerial bombardment. It was now a
+matter of man to man and steel to steel, and so the gage of final
+battle was accepted, and as dusk began to fall over the beleaguered
+city, the Russian, French and Italian hosts left their lines, and
+descended from their vantage ground to the assault on London, where
+the old Lion at bay was waiting for them with claws bared and teeth
+grinning defiance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+THE TURN OF THE BATTLE-TIDE.
+
+
+The force which the Tsar had detached to operate against the
+Federation Army of the North left the headquarters at eleven o'clock,
+and proceeded in four main divisions by Edmonton, Chingford,
+Chigwell, and Romford. The aerostats, regulating their speed so as to
+keep touch with the land force, maintained a position two miles ahead
+of it at three thousand feet elevation.
+
+Strict orders had been given to press on at the utmost speed, and to
+use every means to discover the Federationists, and bring them to an
+engagement with as little delay as possible; but they marched on hour
+after hour into the dusk of the early winter evening, with the sounds
+of battle growing fainter in their rear, without meeting with a sign
+of the enemy.
+
+As it would have been the height of imprudence to have advanced in
+the dark into a hostile country occupied by an enemy of great but
+unknown strength, General Pralitzin, the Commander of the Russian
+force, decided to bring his men to a halt at nightfall, and therefore
+took up a series of positions between Cheshunt, Epping, Chipping
+Ongar, and Ingatestone. From these points squadrons of Cossacks
+scoured the country in all directions, north, east, and west, in
+search of the so far invisible army; and at the same time he sent
+mounted messengers back to headquarters to report that no enemy had
+been found, and to ask for further orders.
+
+The aerostats slowed down their engines until their propellers just
+counteracted the force of the wind and they hung motionless at a
+height of a thousand feet, ranged in a semicircle about fifteen miles
+long over the heads of the columns.
+
+All this time the motions of the Russian army had been watched by the
+captain of the _Ithuriel_ from an elevation of eight thousand feet,
+five miles to the rear. As soon as he saw them making preparations
+for a halt, and had noticed the disposition of the aerostats, he left
+the conning-tower which he had occupied nearly all day, and went into
+the after saloon, where he found Natas and Natasha examining a large
+plan of London and its environs.
+
+"They have come to a halt at last," he said. "And if they only remain
+where they are for three hours longer, we have the whole army like
+rats in a trap, war-balloons and all. They have not seen us so far,
+for if they had they would certainly have sent an aerostat aloft to
+reconnoitre, and, of course, I must have destroyed it. The whole
+forty are arranged in a semicircle over the heads of the four main
+columns in divisions of ten."
+
+"And what do you propose to do with them now you have got them?" said
+Natasha, looking up with a welcoming smile.
+
+"Give me a cup of coffee first, for I am cold to the marrow, and then
+I'll tell you," replied Arnold, seating himself at the table, on
+which stood a coffee-urn with a spirit lamp beneath it, something
+after the style of a Russian samovar.
+
+Natasha filled a cup and passed it to him, and he went on--
+
+"You remember what I said to Tremayne in the Princess's sitting-room
+at Petersburg about the eagle and the crows just before the trial of
+the Tsar's first war-balloon. Well, if you like to spend a couple of
+hours with me in the conning-tower as soon as it is dark enough for
+us to descend, I will show you what I meant then. I suppose the
+original general orders stand good?" he said, turning to Natas.
+
+"Yes," replied the Master gravely. "They must all be destroyed. This
+is the day of vengeance and not of mercy. If my orders have been
+obeyed, all the men belonging to the International in this force will
+have managed to get to the rear by nightfall. They can be left to
+take care of themselves. Mazanoff assured me that all the members in
+the armies of the League fully understood what they are to do. Some
+of the war-balloons have been taken possession of by our men, but we
+don't know how many. As soon as you destroy the first of the fleet,
+these will rise and commence operations on the army, and they will
+also fly the red flag, so there will be no fear of your mistaking
+them."
+
+"Very well," said Arnold, who had been quietly sipping his coffee
+while he listened to the utterance of this death sentence on more
+than a quarter of a million of men. "If our fellows to the northward
+only obey orders promptly, there will not be many of the Russians
+left by sunrise. Now, Natasha, you had better put on your furs and
+come to the conning-tower; it's about time to begin."
+
+It did not take her many moments to wrap up, and within five minutes
+she and Arnold were standing in the conning-tower watching the camp
+fires of the Russian host coming nearer and nearer as the _Ithuriel_
+sank down through the rapidly increasing darkness towards the long
+dotted line which marked the position of the aerostats, whose great
+gas-holders stood out black and distinct against the whitened earth
+beneath them.
+
+By means of electric signals to the engineers the captain of the
+_Ithuriel_ was able to regulate both the speed and the elevation of
+the air-ship as readily as though he had himself been in charge of
+the engine-room. Giving Natasha a pair of night-glasses, and telling
+her to keep a bright look-out ahead, he brought the _Ithuriel_ round
+by the westward to a position about five miles west of the extremity
+of the line of war-balloons, and as soon as he got on a level with it
+he advanced comparatively slowly, until Natasha was able to make it
+out distinctly with the night-glass.
+
+Then he signalled to the wheel-house aft to disconnect the
+after-wheel, and at the same moment he took hold of the spokes of the
+forward-wheel in the conning-tower. The next signal was "Full speed
+ahead," and as the _Ithuriel_ gathered way and rushed forward on her
+errand of destruction he said hurriedly to Natasha--
+
+"Now, don't speak till it's over. I want all my wits for this work,
+and you'll want all your eyes."
+
+Without speaking, Natasha glanced up at his face, and saw on it
+somewhat of the same expression that she had seen at the moment when
+he put the _Ariel_ at the rock-wall which barred the entrance to
+Aeria. His face was pale, and his lips were set, and his eyes looked
+straight out from under his frowning brows with an angry gleam in
+them that boded ill for the fate of those against whom he was about
+to use the irresistible engine of destruction under his command.
+
+Twenty feet in front of them stretched out the long keen ram of the
+air-ship, edged and pointed like a knife. This was the sole weapon
+that he intended to use. It was impossible to train the guns at the
+tremendous speed at which the _Ithuriel_ was travelling, but under
+the circumstance the ram was the deadliest weapon that could have
+been employed.
+
+In four minutes from the time the _Ithuriel_ started on her eastward
+course the nearest war-balloon was only fifty yards away. The
+air-ship, travelling at a speed of nearly two hundred miles an hour,
+leapt out of the dusk like a flash of white light. In ten seconds
+more her ram had passed completely through the gas-holder without so
+much as a shock being felt. The next one was only five hundred yards
+away. Obedient to her rudder the _Ithuriel_ swerved, ripped her
+gas-holder from end to end, and then darted upon the next one even
+before a terrific explosion in their rear told that the car of the
+first one had struck the earth.
+
+So she sped along the whole line, darting hither and thither in
+obedience to the guiding hand that controlled her, with such
+inconceivable rapidity that before any of the unwieldy machines,
+saving only those whose occupants had been prepared for the assault,
+had time to get out of the way of the destroying ram, she had rent
+her way through the gas-holders of twenty-eight out of the forty
+balloons, and flung them to the earth to explode and spread
+consternation and destruction all along the van of the army encamped
+below.
+
+From beginning to end the attack had not lasted ten minutes. When the
+last of the aerostats had gone down under his terrible ram, Arnold
+signalled "Stop, and ascend," to the engine-room. A second signal
+turned on the searchlight in the bow, and from this a rapid series of
+flashes were sent up to the sky to the northward and eastward.
+
+[Illustration: "Her ram had passed completely through the gasholder."
+
+_See page 334._]
+
+The effect was as fearful as it was instantaneous. The twelve
+war-balloons which had escaped by flying the red flag took up their
+positions above the Russian lines, and began to drop their fire-shell
+and cyanogen bombs upon the masses of men below. The air-ship,
+swerving round again to the westward, with her fan-wheels aloft,
+moved slowly across the wide area over which men and horses were
+wildly rushing hither and thither in vain attempts to escape the rain
+of death that was falling upon them from the sky.
+
+Her searchlight, turned downwards to the earth, sought out the spots
+where they were crowded most thickly together, and then the
+air-ship's guns came into play also. Arnold had given orders to use
+the new fire-shell exclusively, and its effects proved to be
+frightful beyond description. Wherever one fell a blaze of intense
+light shone for an instant upon the earth. Then this burst into a
+thousand fragments, which leapt into the air and spread themselves
+far and wide in all directions, burning with inextinguishable fury
+for several minutes, and driving men and horses mad with agony and
+terror.
+
+No human fortitude or discipline could withstand the fearful rain of
+fire, in comparison with which even the deadly hail from the
+aerostats seemed insignificant. For half an hour the eight guns of
+the _Ithuriel_ hurled these awful projectiles in all directions,
+scattering death and hopeless confusion wherever they alighted, until
+the whole field of carnage seemed ablaze with them.
+
+At the end of this time three rockets soared up from her deck into
+the dark sky, and burst into myriads of brilliant white stars, which
+for a few moments shed an unearthly light upon the scene of
+indescribable confusion and destruction below. But they made more
+than this visible, for by their momentary light could be seen
+seemingly interminable lines of grey-clad figures swiftly closing in
+from all sides, chasing the Cossack scouts before them in upon the
+completely disorganised Russian host.
+
+A few minutes later a continuous roll of musketry burst out on front,
+and flank, and rear, and a ceaseless hail of rifle bullets began to
+plough its way through the helpless masses of the soldiers of the
+Tsar. They formed as well as they could to confront these new
+enemies, but the moment that the searchlight of the air-ship,
+constantly sweeping the field, fell upon a company in anything like
+order, a shell descended in the midst of it and broke it up again.
+
+All night long the work of death and vengeance went on; the grey
+lines ever closing in nearer and nearer upon the dwindling remnants
+of the Russian army. Hour after hour the hail of bullets never
+slackened. There was no random firing on the part of the Federation
+soldiers. Every man had been trained to use his rifle rapidly but
+deliberately, and never to fire until he had found his mark; and the
+consequence was that the long nickel-tipped bullets, fired
+point-blank into the dense masses of men, rent their way through half
+a dozen bodies before they were spent.
+
+At last the grey light began to break over an indescribably hideous
+scene of slaughter. Scarcely ten thousand men remained of the three
+hundred thousand who had started the day before in obedience to the
+order of the Tsar; and these were split up into formless squads and
+ragged companies fighting desperately amidst heaps of corpses for
+dear life, without any pretence at order or formation.
+
+The cannonade from the air had ceased, and the last scene in the
+drama of death had come. With bayonets fixed and rifles lowered to
+the charge, the long grey lines closed up, and, as the bugles rang
+out the long-awaited order, they swept forward at the double, horses
+and men went down like a field of standing corn under the
+irresistible rush of a million bayonets, and in twenty minutes all
+was over. Not a man of the whole Russian army was left alive, save
+those whose knot of red ribbon at the button-hole proclaimed them
+members of the International.
+
+As soon as it was light enough for Arnold to see clearly that the
+fate of the Russians was finally decided, he descended to the earth,
+and, after complimenting the commander and officers of the Federation
+troops on the splendid effectiveness of their force, and their
+admirable discipline and coolness, he gave orders for a two hours'
+rest and then a march on the Russian headquarters at Muswell Hill
+with every available man. The Tsar and his Staff were to be taken
+alive at all hazards; every other Russian who did not wear the
+International ribbon was to be shot down without mercy.
+
+These orders given, the _Ithuriel_ mounted into the air again, and
+disappeared in the direction of London. She passed over the now
+shattered and silent entrenchments of the Russians at a speed which
+made it possible to remain on deck without discomfort or danger, and
+at an elevation of two thousand feet. Natas was below in the saloon,
+alone with his own thoughts, the thoughts of twenty years of waiting
+and working and gradual approach to the hour of vengeance which was
+now so near. Andrew Smith was steering in the wheel-house, Lieutenant
+Marston was taking his watch below, after being on deck nearly the
+whole of the previous night, and Arnold and Natasha, wrapped in their
+warm furs, were pacing up and down the deck engaged in conversation
+which had not altogether to do with war.
+
+The sun had risen before the _Ithuriel_ passed over London, and
+through the clear, cold air they could see with their field-glasses
+signs of carnage and destruction which made Natasha's soul sicken
+within her to gaze upon them, and even shook Arnold's now hardened
+nerves. All the main thoroughfares leading into London from the north
+and south were choked with heaps of dead bodies in Russian, French,
+and Italian uniforms, in the midst of which those who still survived
+were being forced forward by the pressure of those behind. Every
+house that remained standing was spouting flames upon them from its
+windows; and where the streets opened into squares and wider streets
+there were barricades manned with British and Federation troops, and
+from their summits and loopholes the quick-firing guns were raining
+an incessant hail of shot and shell upon the struggling masses pent
+up in the streets.
+
+A horrible chorus of the rattle of small arms, the harsh, grinding
+roar of the machine guns, the hurrahs of the defenders, and the cries
+of rage and agony from the baffled and decimated assailants, rose
+unceasingly to their ears as they passed over the last battlefield of
+the Western nations, where the Anglo-Saxon, the Russ, and the Gaul
+were locked in the death struggle.
+
+"There is some awful work going on down there," said Arnold, as they
+headed away towards the south, where, from behind the Surrey hills,
+soon came the sound of some tremendous conflict. "For the present we
+must leave them to fight it out. They don't seem to have had such
+easy work of it to the south as we have had to the north; but I
+didn't expect they would, for they have probably detached a very much
+larger force of French and Italians to attack the Army of the South
+than the Russian lot we had to deal with."
+
+"Is all this frightful slaughter really necessary?" asked Natasha,
+slipping her arm through his, and looking up at him with eyes which
+for the first time were moistened by the tears of pity for her
+enemies.
+
+"Necessary or not," replied Arnold, "it is the Master's orders, and I
+have only to obey them. This is the day of vengeance for which he has
+waited so long, and you can hardly expect him to show much mercy. It
+lies between him and Tremayne. For my part I will stay my hand only
+when I am ordered to do so.
+
+"Still, if any one can influence Natas to mercy, you can. Nothing can
+now stop the slaughter on the north, I'm afraid, for the Russians are
+caught in a hopeless trap. The Londoners are enraged beyond control,
+and if the men spared them I believe the women would tear them to
+pieces. But there are two or three millions of lives or so to be
+saved at the south, and perhaps there is still time to do it. It
+would be a task worthy of the Angel of the Revolution; why should you
+not try it?"
+
+"I will do so," said Natasha, and without another word she turned
+away and walked quickly towards the entrance to the saloon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+ARMAGEDDON.
+
+
+On the southern side of London the struggle between the
+Franco-Italian armies and the troops of the Federation had been
+raging all night with unabated fury along a curved line extending
+from Bexley to Richmond.
+
+The railways communicating with the ports of the south and east had,
+for their own purposes, been left intact by the commanders of the
+League; and so sudden and utterly unexpected had been the invasion of
+the force from America, and the simultaneous uprising of the British
+Section of the Brotherhood, that they had fallen into the hands of
+the Federationists almost without a struggle. This had enabled the
+invaders and their allies to concentrate themselves rapidly along the
+line of action which had been carefully predetermined upon.
+
+Landing almost simultaneously at Southampton, Portsmouth, Shoreham,
+Newhaven, Hastings, Folkestone, Dover, Deal, Ramsgate, and Margate,
+they had been joined everywhere by their comrades of the British
+Section, whose first action, on receiving the signal from the sky,
+had been to seize the railways and shoot down, without warning or
+mercy, every soldier of the League who opposed them.
+
+What had happened at Harwich had at the same time and in the same
+fashion happened at Dover and Chatham. The troops in occupation had
+been caught and crushed at a blow between overwhelming forces in
+front and rear. Added to this, the International was immensely
+stronger in France and Italy than in Russia, and therefore the
+defections from the ranks of the League had been far greater than
+they had been in the north.
+
+Tens of thousands had donned the red ribbon as the Signal flashed
+over their encampments, and when the moment came to repel the assault
+of the mysterious grey legions that had sprung from no one knew
+where, the bewildered French and Italian officers found their
+regiments automatically splitting up into squads of tens and
+companies of hundreds, obeying other orders, and joining in the
+slaughter of their former comrades with the most perfect _sang
+froid_. By daybreak on the 6th the various divisions of the
+Federationists were well on their way to the French and Italian
+positions to the south of London. The utmost precautions had been
+taken to prevent any news reaching headquarters, and these, as has
+been seen, were almost entirely successful.
+
+The three army corps sent southward by General le Gallifet met with a
+ruinous disaster long before they came face to face with the enemy.
+Ten of the fleet of thirty war-balloons which had been sent to
+co-operate with them, had been manned and commanded by men of the
+International. They were of the newest type and the swiftest in the
+fleet, and their crews were armed with the strangest weapons that had
+yet been used in the war. These were bows and arrows, a curious
+anachronism amidst the elaborate machinery of destruction evolved by
+the science of the twentieth century, but none the less effective on
+that account. The arrows, instead of being headed in the usual way,
+carried on the end of the shaft two little glass tubes full of
+liquid, bound together, and tipped with fulminate.
+
+When the fleet had been in the air about an hour these ten aerostats
+had so distributed themselves that each of them, with a little
+manoeuvring, could get within bowshot of two others. They also rose a
+little higher than the rest. The flutter of a white handkerchief was
+the signal agreed upon, and when this was given by the man in command
+of the ten, each of them suddenly put on speed, and ran up close to
+her nearest neighbour. A flight of arrows was discharged at the
+gas-holder, and then she headed away for the next nearest, and
+discharged a flight at her.
+
+Considering the apparent insignificance of the means employed, the
+effects were absolutely miraculous. The explosion of the fulminate on
+striking either the hard cordage of the net or one of the steel ribs
+used to give the gas-holder rigidity, broke the two tubes full of
+liquid. Then came another far more violent explosion, which tore
+great rents in the envelope. The imprisoned gas rushed out in
+torrents, and the crippled balloons began to sink, at first slowly,
+and then more and more rapidly, till the cars, weighted with crews,
+machinery, and explosives, struck the earth with a crash, and
+exploded, like so many huge shells, amidst the dense columns of the
+advancing army corps. In fifteen minutes each of the ten captured
+aerostats had sent two others to the earth, and then, completely
+masters of the position, those in charge of them began their assault
+on the helpless masses below them. This was kept up until the
+Federation troops appeared. Then they retired to the rear of the
+French and Italian columns, and devoted themselves to burning their
+stores and blowing up their ammunition trains with fire-shell.
+
+Assailed thus in front and rear, and demoralised by the defection of
+the thousands who, as soon as the battle became general, showed the
+red ribbon and echoed the fierce battle-cry of the Federation, the
+splendid force sent out by General le Gallifet was practically
+annihilated by midnight, and by daybreak the Federationists, after
+fifteen hours of almost continuous fighting, had stormed all the
+outer positions held by the French and Italians to the south of
+London, the batteries of which had already been destroyed by the
+air-ships.
+
+Thus, when the _Ithuriel_ passed over London on the morning of the
+7th the position of affairs was as follows: The two armies which had
+been detached by the Tsar and General le Gallifet to stop the advance
+of the Federationists had been destroyed almost to a man. Of the two
+fleets of war-balloons there remained twenty-two aerostats in the
+hands of the Terrorists, while the twenty-five sent by the Tsar
+against the air-ships had retired at nightfall to the depot at
+Muswell Hill to replenish their stock of fuel and explosives. Their
+ammunition-tenders, slow and unwieldy machines, adapted only for
+carrying large cargoes of shells, had been rammed and destroyed with
+ease by the air-ships during the running, or rather flying, fight of
+the previous afternoon.
+
+At sunset on the 6th the whole available forces of the League which
+could be spared from the defence of the positions, numbering more
+than three million men, had descended to the assault on London at
+nearly fifty different points.
+
+No human words could convey any adequate conception of that night of
+carnage and terror. The assailants were allowed to advance far into
+the mighty maze of streets and byways with so little resistance, that
+they began to think that the great city would fall an easy prey to
+them after all. But as they approached the main arteries of central
+London they came suddenly upon barricades so skilfully disposed that
+it was impossible to advance without storming them, and from which,
+as they approached them, burst out tempests of rifle and machine
+gunfire, under which the heads of their columns melted away faster
+than they advanced.
+
+Light, quick-firing guns, posted on the roofs of lofty buildings,
+rained death and mutilation upon them. The air-ships, flying hither
+and thither a few hundred feet above the house-tops, like spirits of
+destruction, sent their shells into their crowded masses and wrought
+the most awful havoc of all with their frightful explosives, blowing
+hundreds of men to indistinguishable fragments at every shot, while
+from the windows of every house that was not in ruins came a
+ceaseless hail of missiles from every kind of firearm, from a
+magazine rifle to a shot-gun.
+
+When morning came the Great Eastern Railway and the Thames had been
+cleared and opened, and the hearts of the starving citizens were
+gladdened by the welcome spectacle of train after train pouring in
+laden with provisions from Harwich, and of a fleet of steamers,
+flying the Federation flag, which filled the Thames below London
+Bridge, and was rapidly discharging its cargoes of food at the
+wharves and into lighters.
+
+As fast as the food could be unloaded it was distributed first to the
+troops manning the barricades, and then to the markets and shops,
+whence it was supplied free in the poorer districts, and at the usual
+prices in the richer ones. All that day London feasted and made
+merry, for now the Thames was open there seemed to be no end to the
+food that was being poured into the city which twelve hours before
+had eaten its last scanty provisions. As soon as one vessel was
+discharged another took its place, and opened its hold filled with
+the necessaries and some of the luxuries of life.
+
+The frightful butcheries at the barricades had stopped for the time
+being from sheer exhaustion on both sides. One cannot fight without
+food, and the defenders were half-starved when they began. Rage and
+the longing for revenge had lent them strength for the moment, but
+twelve hours of incessant street fighting, the most wearing of all
+forms of battle, had exhausted them, and they were heartily glad of
+the tacit truce which gave them time to eat and drink.
+
+As for the assailants, as soon as they saw conclusive proof that the
+blockade had been broken and the city victualled, they found
+themselves deserted by the ally on whose aid they had most counted.
+While the grip of famine remained on London they knew that its fall
+was only a matter of time; but now--if food could get in so could
+reinforcements, and they had not the remotest idea as to the number
+of the mysterious forces which had so suddenly sprung into existence
+outside their own lines.
+
+Added to this their losses during the night had been something
+appalling. The streets were choked with their dead, and the houses
+into which they had retired were filled with their wounded. So they,
+too, were glad of a rest, and many spoke openly of returning to their
+lines and abandoning the assault. If they did so it might be possible
+to fight their way to the coast, and escape out of this huge
+death-trap into which they had fallen on the very eve of their
+confidently-anticipated victory.
+
+So, during the whole of the 7th there was little or no hard fighting
+in London, but to the north and south the grey legions of the
+Federation fought their way mile by mile over the field of
+Armageddon, gradually driving in the two halves of the Russian and
+the Franco-Italian armies which had been faced about to oppose their
+progress while the other halves were making their assault on London.
+
+As soon as news reached the Tsar that the blockade of the river had
+been broken, he had ordered twelve of his remaining war-balloons to
+destroy the ships that were swarming below London Bridge. Their fuel
+and cargoes of explosives had been renewed, and they rose into the
+air to execute the Autocrat's command just as Natasha had taken leave
+of Arnold on her errand of mercy. He fathomed their design at once,
+swung the _Ithuriel_ rapidly round to the northward, and said to his
+lieutenant, who had just come on deck--
+
+"Mr. Marston, those fellows mean mischief. Put a three-minute time
+fuze on a couple of No. 3 fire-shell, and load the bow guns."
+
+The order was at once executed. He trained one of the guns himself,
+giving it an elevation sufficient to throw the shell over the rising
+balloons. As the sixtieth second of the first minute passed, he
+released the projectile. It soared away through the air, and burst
+with a terrific explosion about fifty feet over the ascending
+aerostats.
+
+The rain of fire spread out far and wide, and showered down upon the
+gas-holders. Then came a concussion that shook the air like a
+thunder-clap as the escaping gas mixed with the air, took fire, and
+exploded. Seven of the twelve aerostats instantly collapsed and
+plunged back again to the earth, spending the collective force of
+their explosives on the slopes of Muswell Hill. Meanwhile the second
+gun had been loaded and fired with the same effect on the remaining
+five.
+
+Arnold then ran the _Ithuriel_ up to within a mile of Muswell Hill,
+and found the remaining thirteen war-balloons in the act of making
+off to the northward.
+
+"Two more time-shells, quick!" he cried. "They are off to take part
+in the battle to the north, and must be stopped at once. Look lively,
+or they'll see us and rise out of range!"
+
+Almost before the words were out of his mouth one of the guns was
+ready. A moment later the messenger of destruction was speeding on
+its way, and they saw it explode fairly in the midst of the squadron.
+The second followed before the glare of the first explosion had
+passed, and this was the last shot fired in the aerial warfare
+between the air-ships and the war-balloons.
+
+[Illustration: "The rain of fire spread out far and wide."
+
+_See page 344._]
+
+The effects of these two shots were most extraordinary. The
+accurately-timed shells burst, not over, but amidst the aerostats,
+enveloping their cars in a momentary mist of fire. The intense heat
+evolved must have suffocated their crews instantaneously. Even if it
+had not done so their fate would have been scarcely less sudden or
+terrible, for the fire falling in the cars exploded their own shells
+even before it burst their gas-envelopes. With a roar and a shock as
+though heaven and earth were coming together, a vast dazzling mass of
+flame blazed out, darkening the daylight by contrast, and when it
+vanished again there was not a fragment of the thirteen aerostats to
+be seen.
+
+"So ends the Tsar's brief empire of the air!" said Arnold, as the
+smoke of the explosion drifted away. "And twenty-four hours more
+should see the end of his earthly Empire as well."
+
+"I hope so," said Natasha's voice at his elbow. "This awful
+destruction is sickening me. I knew war was horrible, but this is
+more like the work of fiends than of men. There is something
+monstrous, something superhumanly impious, in blasting your
+fellow-creatures with irresistible lightnings like this, as though
+you were a god instead of a man. Will you not be glad when it is
+over, Richard?"
+
+"Glad beyond all expression," replied her lover, the angry light of
+battle instantly dying out of his eyes as he looked upon her sweetly
+pitiful face. "But tell me, what success has my angel of mercy had in
+pleading for the lives of her enemies?" he continued, slipping his
+arm through hers, and leading her aft.
+
+"I don't know yet, but my father told me to ask you to go to him as
+soon as you could leave the deck. Go now, and, Richard, remember what
+I said to you when you offered me the empire of the world as we were
+going to Aeria. No one has such influence with the Master as you
+have, for you have given him the victory and delivered his enemies
+into his hands. For my sake, and for Humanity's, let your voice be
+for mercy and peace--surely we have shed blood enough now!"
+
+"It shall, angel mine! For your sweet sake I would spare even
+Alexander Romanoff himself and all his Staff."
+
+"You will never be asked to do that," said Natasha quietly, as Arnold
+disappeared down the companion-way.
+
+It was nearly an hour before he came on deck again, and by this time
+the _Ithuriel_, constantly moving to and fro over London, so that any
+change in the course of events could be at once reported to Natas,
+had shifted her position to the southward, and was hanging in the air
+over Sydenham Hill, the headquarters of General le Gallifet, whence
+could be plainly heard the roar of the tide of battle as it rolled
+ever northward over the hills of Surrey.
+
+An air-ship came speeding up from the southward as he reached the
+deck. He signalled to it to come alongside. It proved to be the
+_Mercury_ taking a message from Tremayne, who was personally
+commanding the Army of the South in the _Ariel_, to the air-ships
+operating with the Army of the North.
+
+"What is the message?" asked Arnold.
+
+"To engage and destroy the remaining Russian war-balloons, and then
+come south at once," replied the captain of the _Mercury_. "I am
+sorry to say both the _Lucifer_ and the _Azrael_ have been disabled
+by chance shots striking their propellers. The _Lucifer_ was so badly
+injured that she fell to the earth, and blew up with a perfectly
+awful explosion; but the _Azrael_ can still use her fan-wheels and
+stern propeller, though her air-planes are badly broken and twisted."
+
+Arnold frowned at the bad news, but took no further notice of it
+beyond saying--
+
+"That is unfortunate; but, I suppose, some casualties were inevitable
+under the circumstances." Then he added: "I have already destroyed
+all that were left of the Tsar's war-balloons, but you can take the
+other part of the message. Where is the _Ariel_ to be found?"
+
+The captain of the _Mercury_ gave him the necessary directions, and
+the two air-ships parted. Within an hour a council of war, consisting
+of Natas, Arnold, and Tremayne, was being held in the saloon of the
+_Ithuriel_, on the issue of which the lives of more than two millions
+of men depended.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+VICTORY.
+
+
+It was a little after three o'clock in the afternoon when Natas,
+Tremayne, and Arnold ended their deliberations in the saloon of the
+_Ithuriel_. At the same hour a council of war was being held by
+Generals le Gallifet and Cosensz at the Crystal Palace Hotel,
+Sydenham, where the two commanders had taken up their quarters.
+
+Since daybreak matters had assumed a very serious, if not desperate
+aspect for the troops of the League to the south of London.
+Communication had entirely ceased with the Tsar since the night
+before, and this could only mean that his Majesty had lost the
+command of the air, through the destruction or disablement of his
+fleet of aerostats. News from the force which had descended upon
+London told only of a fearful expenditure of life that had not
+purchased the slightest advantage.
+
+The blockade had been broken on the east, and, therefore, all hope of
+reducing the city by famine was at an end. Their own war-balloons had
+been either captured or destroyed, thousands of their men had
+deserted to the enemy, and multitudes more had been slain. Every
+position was dominated by the captured aerostats and the air-ships of
+the Terrorists. Even the building in which the council was being held
+might be shattered to fragments at any moment by a discharge of their
+irresistible artillery.
+
+Finally, it was practically certain that within the next few hours
+their headquarters must be surrounded, and then their only choice
+would lie between unconditional surrender and swift and inevitable
+destruction by an aerial bombardment. Manifestly the time had come to
+make terms if possible, and purchase their own safety and that of
+their remaining troops. Both the generals and every member of their
+respective staffs saw clearly that victory was now a physical
+impossibility, and so the immediate issue of the council was that
+orders were given to hoist the white flag over the tricolour and the
+Italian standard on the summits of the two towers of the Crystal
+Palace, and on the flagstaffs over the headquarters.
+
+These were at once seen by a squadron of air-ships coming from the
+north in obedience to Tremayne's summons, and within half an hour the
+same squadron was seen returning from the south headed by the
+flagship, also flying, to the satisfaction of the two generals, the
+signal of truce. The air-ships stopped over Sydenham and ranged
+themselves in a circle with their guns pointing down upon the
+headquarters, and the _Ariel_, with Tremayne on board, descended to
+within twenty feet of the ground in front of the hotel.
+
+As she did so an officer wearing the uniform of a French General of
+Division came forward, saluted, and said that he had a message for
+the Commander-in-Chief of the Federation forces. Tremayne returned
+the salute, and said briefly--
+
+"I am here. What is the message?"
+
+"I am commissioned by General Gallifet, Commander-in-Chief of the
+Southern Division, to request on his behalf the honour of an
+audience. He awaits you with General Cosensz in the hotel," replied
+the Frenchman, gazing in undisguised admiration at the wonderful
+craft which he now for the first time saw at close quarters.
+
+"With pleasure. I will be with you in a moment," said Tremayne, and
+as he spoke the _Ariel_ settled gently down to the earth, and the
+gangway steps dropped from her bow.
+
+As he entered the room in which the two generals were awaiting him,
+surrounded by their brilliantly-uniformed staffs, he presented a
+strange contrast to the men whose lives he held in the hollow of his
+hand. He was dressed in a dark tweed suit, with Norfolk jacket and
+knickerbockers, met by long shooting boots, just as though he was
+fresh from the moors, instead of from the battlefield on which the
+fate of the world was being decided. General le Gallifet advanced to
+meet him with a puzzled look of half-recognition on his face, which
+was at once banished by Tremayne holding out his hand without the
+slightest ceremony, and saying--
+
+"Ah, I see you recognise me, General!"
+
+"I do, my Lord Alanmere, and, you will permit me to add, with the
+most profound astonishment," replied the General, taking the
+proffered hand with a hearty grasp. "May I venture to hope that with
+an old acquaintance our negotiations may prove all the easier?"
+
+Tremayne bowed and said--
+
+"Rest assured, General, that they shall be as easy as my instructions
+will permit me to make them."
+
+"Your instructions! But I thought"--
+
+"That I was in supreme command. So I am in a sense, but I am the
+lieutenant of Natas for all that, and in a case like this his word is
+law. But come, what terms do you propose?"
+
+"That truce shall be proclaimed for twenty-four hours; that the
+commanders of the forces of the League shall meet this mysterious
+Natas, yourself, and the King of England, and arrange terms by which
+the armies of France, Russia, and Italy shall be permitted to
+evacuate the country with the honours of war."
+
+"Then, General, I may as well tell you at once that those terms are
+impossible," replied the Chief of the Federation quietly, but with a
+note of inflexible determination in his voice. "In the first place,
+'the honours of war' is a phrase which already belongs to the past.
+We see no honour in war, and if we can have our way this shall be the
+last war that shall ever be waged on earth.
+
+"Indeed, I may tell you that we began this war as one of absolute
+extermination. Had it not been for the intercession of Natasha, the
+daughter of Natas, you would not even have been given the opportunity
+of making terms of peace, or even of unconditional surrender. Our
+orders were simply to slay, and spare not, as long as a man remained
+in arms on British soil. You are, of course, aware that we have taken
+no prisoners"--
+
+"But, my lord, this is not war, it is murder on the most colossal
+scale!" exclaimed the General, utterly unable to control the
+agitation that these terrible words evoked, not only in his own
+breast, but in that of every man who heard them.
+
+"To us war and murder are synonymous terms, differing only as
+wholesale and retail," replied Tremayne drily; "for the mere names we
+care nothing. This world-war is none of our seeking; but if war can
+be cured by nothing but war, then we will wage it to the point of
+extermination. Now here are my terms. All the troops of the League on
+this side of the river Thames, on laying down their arms, shall be
+permitted to return to their homes, not as soldiers, but as peaceful
+citizens of the world, to go about their natural business as men who
+have sworn never to draw the sword again save in defence of their own
+homes."
+
+"And his Majesty the Tsar?"
+
+"You cannot make terms for the Tsar, General, and let me beg of you
+not to attempt to do so. No power under heaven can save him and his
+advisers from the fate that awaits them."
+
+"And if we refuse your terms, the alternative is what?"
+
+"Annihilation to the last man!"
+
+A dead silence followed these fearful words so calmly and yet so
+inflexibly spoken. General le Gallifet and the Italian
+Commander-in-Chief looked at one another and at the officers standing
+about them. A murmur of horror and indignation passed from lip to
+lip. Then Tremayne spoke again quickly but impressively--
+
+"Gentlemen, don't think that I am saying what I cannot do. We are
+inflexibly determined to stamp the curse of war out here and now, if
+it cost millions of lives to do so. Your forces are surrounded, your
+aerostats are captured or destroyed. It is no use mincing matters at
+a moment like this. It is life or death with you. If you do not
+believe me, General le Gallifet, come with me and take a flight round
+London in my air-ship yonder, and your own eyes shall see how
+hopeless all further struggle is. I pledge my word of honour as an
+English gentleman that you shall return in safety. Will you come?"
+
+"I will," said the French commander. "Gentlemen, you will await my
+return"; and with a bow to his companions, he followed the Chief out
+of the room, and embarked on the air-ship without further ado.
+
+[Illustration: "Do you understand now why you could not make terms
+for Russia?"
+
+_See page 351._]
+
+The _Ariel_ at once rose into the air. Tremayne reported to Natas
+what had been done, and then took the General into the deck saloon,
+and gave orders to proceed at full speed to Richmond, which was
+reached in what seemed to the Frenchman an inconceivably short space
+of time. Then the _Ariel_ swung round to the eastward, and at half
+speed traversed the whole line of battle over hill and vale, at an
+elevation of eight hundred feet, from Richmond to Shooter's Hill.
+
+What General le Gallifet saw more than convinced him that Tremayne
+had spoken without exaggeration when he said that annihilation was
+the only alternative to evacuation on his terms. The grey legions of
+the League seemed innumerable. Their long lines lapped round the
+broken squadrons of the League, mowing them down with incessant
+hailstorms of magazine fire, and overhead the air-ships and aerostats
+were hurling shells on them which made great dark gaps in their
+formations wherever they attempted anything like order. Every
+position of importance was either occupied or surrounded by the
+Federationists. There was no way open save towards London, and that
+way, as the General knew only too well, lay destruction.
+
+To the east of Shooter's Hill the air-ship swerved round to the
+northward. The Thames was alive with steamers flying the red flag,
+and carrying food and men into London. To the north of the river the
+battle had completely ceased as far as Muswell Hill.
+
+There the Black Eagle of Russia still floated from the roof of the
+Palace, and a furious battle was raging round the slopes of the hill.
+But the Russians were already surrounded, and manifestly outnumbered
+five to one, while six aerostats were circling to and fro, doing
+their work of death upon them with fearful effectiveness.
+
+"You see, General, that the aerostats do not destroy the Palace and
+bury the Tsar in its ruins, nor do I stop and do the same, as I could
+do in a few minutes. Do you understand now why you could not make
+terms for Russia?"
+
+"What your designs are Heaven and yourselves only know," replied the
+General, with quivering lips. "But I see that all is hopelessly lost.
+For God's sake let this carnage stop! It is not war, it is butchery,
+and we have deserved this retribution for employing those infernal
+contrivances in the first place. I always said it was not fair
+fighting. It is murder to drop death on defenceless men from the
+clouds. We will accept your terms. Let us get back to the south and
+save the lives of what remain of our brave fellows. If this is
+scientific warfare, I, for one, will fight no more!"
+
+"Well spoken, General!" said Tremayne, laying his hand upon his
+shoulder. "Those words of yours have saved two millions of human
+lives, and by this time to-morrow war will have ceased, I hope for
+ever, among the nations of the West."
+
+The _Ariel_ now swerved southward again, crossed London at full
+speed, and within half an hour General le Gallifet was once more
+standing in front of the Crystal Palace Hotel. As it was now getting
+dusk the searchlights of the air-ships were turned on, and they swept
+along the southern line of battle flashing the signal, "Victory!
+Cease firing!" to the triumphant hosts of the Federation, while at
+the same time the French and Italian commanders set the field
+telegraph to work and despatched messengers into London with the news
+of the terms of peace. By nightfall all fighting south of the Thames
+had ceased, and victors and vanquished were fraternising as though
+they had never struck a blow at each other, for war is a matter of
+diplomacy and Court intrigue, and not of personal animosity. The
+peoples of the world would be good enough friends if their rulers and
+politicians would let them.
+
+Meanwhile the battle raged with unabated fury round the headquarters
+of the Tsar. Here despotism was making its last stand, and making it
+bravely, in spite of the tremendous odds against it. But as twilight
+deepened into night the numbers of the assailants of the last of the
+Russian positions seemed to multiply miraculously.
+
+A never-ceasing flood of grey-clad soldiery surged up from the south,
+overflowed the barricades to the north, and swept the last of the
+Russians out of the streets like so much chaff. All the hundred
+streams converged upon Muswell Hill, and joined the ranks of the
+attacking force, and so the night fell upon the last struggle of the
+world-war. Even the Tsar himself now saw that the gigantic game was
+virtually over, and that the stake of world-empire had been played
+for--and lost.
+
+[Illustration: "A vision which no one who saw it forgot to the day of
+his death."
+
+_See page 353._]
+
+A powerful field searchlight had been fixed on the roof of the
+Palace, and, as it flashed hither and thither round the area of the
+battle, he saw fresh hosts of the British and Federation soldiers
+pouring in upon the scene of action, while his own men were being
+mown down by thousands under the concentrated fire of millions of
+rifles, and his regiments torn to fragments by the incessant storm of
+explosives from the sky.
+
+Hour after hour the savage fight went on, and the grey and red lines
+fought their way up and up the slopes, drawing the ring of flame and
+steel closer and closer round the summit of the hill on which the
+Autocrat of the North stood waiting for the hour of his fate to
+strike.
+
+The last line of the defenders of the position was reached at length.
+For an hour it held firm in spite of the fearful odds. Then it
+wavered and bent, and swayed to and fro in a last agony of
+desperation. The encircling lines seemed to surge backwards for a
+space. Then came a wild chorus of hurrahs, a swift forward rush of
+levelled bayonets, the clash of steel upon steel--and then butchery,
+vengeful and pitiless.
+
+The red tide of slaughter surged up to the very walls of the Palace.
+Only a few yards separated the foremost ranks of the victorious
+assailants from the little group of officers, in the midst of which
+towered the majestic figure of the White Tsar--an emperor without an
+empire, a leader without an army. He strode forward towards the line
+of bayonets fringing the crest of the hill, drew his sword, snapped
+the blade as a man would break a dry stick, and threw the two pieces
+to the ground, saying in English as he did so--
+
+"It is enough, I surrender!"
+
+Then he turned on his heel, and with bowed head walked back again to
+his Staff.
+
+Almost at the same moment a blaze of white light appeared in the sky,
+a hundred feet above the heads of the vast throng that encircled the
+Palace. Millions of eyes were turned up at once, and beheld a vision
+which no one who saw it forgot to the day of his death.
+
+The ten air-ships of the Terrorist fleet were ranged in two curves on
+either side of the _Ithuriel_, which floated about twenty feet below
+them, her silvery hull bathed in a flood of light from their electric
+lamps. In her bow, robed in glistening white fur, stood Natasha,
+transfigured in the full blaze of the concentrated searchlights. A
+silence of wonder and expectation fell upon the millions at her feet,
+and in the midst of it she began to sing the Hymn of Freedom. It was
+like the voice of an angel singing in the night of peace after
+strife.
+
+Men of every nation in Europe listened to her entranced, as she
+changed from language to language; and when at last the triumphant
+strains of the Song of the Revolution came floating down from her
+lips through the still night air, an irresistible impulse ran through
+the listening millions, and with one accord they took up the refrain
+in all the languages of Europe, and a mighty flood of exultant song
+rolled up in wave after wave from earth to heaven,--a song at once of
+victory and thanksgiving, for the last battle of the world-war had
+been lost and won, and the valour and genius of Anglo-Saxondom had
+triumphed over the last of the despotisms of Europe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+THE JUDGMENT OF NATAS.
+
+
+The myriad-voiced chorus of the Song of the Revolution ended in a
+mighty shout of jubilant hurrahs, in the midst of which the _Ariel_
+dropped lightly to the earth, and Tremayne, dressed now in the grey
+uniform of the Federation, with a small red rosette on the left
+breast of his tunic, descended from her deck to the ground with a
+drawn sword in his hand.
+
+He was at once recognised by several of the leaders, and as the
+words, "The Chief, the Chief," ran from lip to lip, those in the
+front ranks brought their rifles to the present, while the captains
+saluted with their swords. The British regulars and volunteers
+followed suit as if by instinct, and the chorus of cheers broke out
+again. Tremayne acknowledged the salute, and raised his hand to
+command silence. A hush at once fell upon the assembled multitude,
+and in the deep silence of anticipation which followed, he said in
+clear, ringing tones--
+
+"Soldiers of the Federation and the Empire! that which I hope will be
+the last battle of the Western nations has been fought and won. The
+Anglo-Saxon race has rallied to the defence of its motherland, and in
+the blood of its invaders has wiped out the stain of conquest. It has
+met the conquerors of Europe in arms, and on the field of battle it
+has vindicated its right to the empire of the world.
+
+"Henceforth the destinies of the human race are in its keeping, and
+it will worthily discharge the responsibility. It may yet be
+necessary for you to fight other battles with other races; but the
+victory that has attended you here will wait upon your arms
+elsewhere, and then the curse and the shame of war will be removed
+from the earth, let us hope for ever. European despotism has fought
+its last battle and lost, and those who have appealed to the sword
+shall be judged by the sword."
+
+As he said this, he pointed with his weapon towards the Tsar and his
+Staff, and continued, with an added sternness in his voice--
+
+"In the Master's name, take those men prisoners! Their fate will be
+decided to-morrow. Forward a company of the First Division; your
+lives will answer for theirs!"
+
+As the Chief ended his brief address to the victorious troops ten
+men, armed with revolver and sword, stepped forward, each followed by
+ten others armed with rifle and fixed bayonet, and immediately formed
+in a hollow square round the Tsar and his Staff. This summary
+proceeding proved too much for the outraged dignity of the fallen
+Autocrat, and he stepped forward and cried out passionately--
+
+"What is this? Is not my surrender enough? Have we not fought with
+civilised enemies, that we are to be treated like felons in the hour
+of defeat?"
+
+Tremayne raised his sword and cried sharply, "To the ready!" and
+instantly the prisoners were encircled by a hedge of levelled
+bayonets and rifle-barrels charged with death. Then he went on, in
+stern commanding tones--
+
+"Silence there! We do not recognise what you call the usages of
+civilised warfare. You are criminals against humanity, assassins by
+wholesale, and as such you shall be treated."
+
+There was nothing for it but to submit to the indignity, and within a
+few minutes the Tsar and those who with him had essayed the
+enslavement of the world were lodged in separate rooms in the
+building under a strong guard to await the fateful issue of the
+morrow.
+
+The rest of the night was occupied in digging huge trenches for the
+burial of the almost innumerable dead, a task which, gigantic as it
+was, was made light by the work of hundreds of thousands of willing
+hands. Those of the invaders who had fallen in London itself were
+taken down the Thames on the ebb tide in fleets of lighters, towed by
+steamers, and were buried at sea. Happily it was midwinter, and the
+temperature remained some degrees below freezing point, and so the
+great city was saved from what in summer would infallibly have
+brought pestilence in the track of war.
+
+At twelve o'clock on the following day the vast interior of St.
+Paul's Cathedral was thronged with the anxious spectators of the last
+scene in the tremendous tragedy which had commenced with the
+destruction of Kronstadt by the _Ariel_, and which had culminated in
+the triumph of Anglo-Saxondom over the leagued despotism and
+militarism of Europe.
+
+At a long table draped with red cloth, and placed under the dome in
+front of the chancel steps, sat Natas, with Tremayne and Natasha on
+his right hand, and Arnold and Alexis Mazanoff on his left. Radna,
+Anna Ornovski, and the other members of the Inner Circle of the
+Terrorists, including the President, Nicholas Roburoff, who had been
+pardoned and restored to his office at the intercession of Natasha,
+occupied the other seats, and behind them stood a throng of the
+leaders of the Federation forces.
+
+Neither the King of England nor any of his Ministers or military
+officers were present, as they had no voice in the proceedings which
+were about to take place. It had been decided, at a consultation with
+them earlier in the day, that it would be better that they should be
+absent.
+
+That which was to be done was unparalleled in the history of the
+world, and outside the recognised laws of nations; and so their
+prejudices were respected, and they were spared what they might have
+looked upon as an outrage on international policy, and the ancient
+but mistaken traditions of so-called civilised warfare.
+
+In front of the table two double lines of Federation soldiers, with
+rifles and fixed bayonets, kept a broad clear passage down to the
+western doors of the Cathedral. The murmur of thousands of voices
+suddenly hushed as the Cathedral clock struck the first stroke of
+twelve. It was the knell of an empire and a despotism. At the last
+stroke Natas raised his hand and said--
+
+"Bring up the prisoners!"
+
+There was a quick rustling sound, mingled with the clink of steel, as
+the two grey lines stiffened up to attention. Twelve commanders of
+divisions marched with drawn swords down to the end of the nave, a
+few rapid orders were given, and then they returned heading two
+double files of Federation guards, between which, handcuffed like
+common felons, walked the once mighty Tsar and the ministers of his
+now departed tyranny.
+
+The footsteps of the soldiers and their captives rang clearly upon
+the stones in the ominous breathless silence which greeted their
+appearance. The fallen Autocrat and his servants walked with downcast
+heads, like men in a dream, for to them it was a dream, this sudden
+and incomprehensible catastrophe which had overwhelmed them in the
+very hour of victory and on the threshold of the conquest of the
+world. Three days ago they had believed themselves conquerors, with
+the world at their feet; now they were being marched, guarded and in
+shackles, to a tribunal which acknowledged no law but its own, and
+from whose decision there was no appeal. Truly it was a dream, such a
+dream of disaster and calamity as no earthly despot had ever dreamt
+before.
+
+Four paces from the table they were halted, the Tsar in the centre,
+facing his unknown judge, and his servants on either side of him. He
+recognised Natasha, Anna Ornovski, Arnold, and Tremayne, but the
+recognition only added to his bewilderment.
+
+There was a slight flush on the face of Natas, and an angry gleam in
+his dark magnetic eyes, as he watched his captives approach; but when
+he spoke his tones were calm and passionless, the tones of the
+conqueror and the judge, rather than of the deeply injured man and a
+personal enemy. As the prisoners were halted in front of the table,
+and the rifle-butts of the guards rang sharply on the stone pavement,
+so deep a hush fell upon the vast throng in the Cathedral, that men
+seemed to hold their breath rather than break it until the Master of
+the Terror began to speak.
+
+"Alexander Romanoff, late Tsar of the Russias, and now prisoner of
+the Executive of the Brotherhood of Freedom, otherwise known to you
+as the Terrorists--you have been brought here with your advisers and
+the ministers of your tyranny that your crimes may be recounted in
+the presence of this congregation, and to receive sentence of such
+punishment as it is possible for human justice to mete out to you"--
+
+[Illustration: "Two bayonets crossed in front of him with a sharp
+clash."
+
+_See page 359._]
+
+"I deny both your justice and your right to judge. It is you who are
+the criminals, conspirators, and enemies of Society. I am a crowned
+King, and above all earthly laws"--
+
+Before he could say any more two bayonets crossed in front of him
+with a sharp clash, and he was instantly thrust back into his place.
+
+"Silence!" said Natas, in a tone of such stern command that even he
+instinctively obeyed. "As for our justice, let that be decided
+between you and me when we stand before a more awful tribunal than
+this. My right to judge even a crowned king who has no longer a
+crown, rests, as your own authority and that of all earthly rulers
+has ever done, upon the power to enforce my sentence, and I can and
+will enforce it upon you, you heir of a usurping murderess, whose
+throne was founded in blood and supported by the bayonets of her
+hired assassins. You have appealed to the arbitration of battle, and
+it has decided against you; you must therefore abide by its decision.
+
+"You have waged a war of merciless conquest at the bidding of
+insatiable ambition. You have posed as the peace-keeper of Europe
+until the train of war was laid, as you and your allies thought, in
+secret, and then you let loose the forces of havoc upon your
+fellow-men without ruth or scruple. Your path of victory has been
+traced in blood and flames from one end of Europe to the other; you
+have sacrificed the lives of millions, and the happiness of millions
+more, to a dream of world-wide empire, which, if realised, would have
+been a universal despotism.
+
+"The blood of the uncounted slain cries out from earth to heaven
+against you for vengeance. The days are past when those who made war
+upon their kind could claim the indulgence of their conquerors. You
+have been conquered by those who hold that the crime of aggressive
+war cannot be atoned for by the transfer of territory or the payment
+of money.
+
+"If this were your only crime we would have blood for blood, and life
+for life, as far as yours could pay the penalty. But there is more
+than this to be laid to our charge, and the swift and easy punishment
+of death would be too light an atonement for Justice to accept.
+
+"Since you ascended your throne you have been as the visible shape of
+God in the eyes of a hundred million subjects. Your hands have held
+the power of life and death, of freedom and slavery, of happiness and
+misery. How have you used it, you who have arrogated to yourself the
+attributes of a vicegerent of God on earth? As the power is, so too
+is the responsibility, and it will not avail you now to shelter
+yourself from it behind the false traditions of diplomacy and
+statecraft.
+
+"Your subjects have starved, while you and yours have feasted. You
+have lavished millions in vain display upon your palaces, while they
+have died in their hovels for lack of bread; and when men have asked
+you for freedom and justice, you have given them the knout, the
+chain, and the prison.
+
+"You have parted the wife from her husband"--
+
+Here for the moment the voice of Natas trembled with irrepressible
+passion, which, before he could proceed, broke from his heaving
+breast in a deep sob that thrilled the vast assembly like an electric
+shock, and made men clench their hands and grit their teeth, and
+wrung an answering sob from the breast of many a woman who knew but
+too well the meaning of those simple yet terrible words. Then Natas
+recovered his outward composure and went on; but now there was an
+angrier gleam in his eyes, and a fiercer ring in his voice.
+
+"You have parted the wife from her husband, the maid from her lover,
+the child from its parents. You have made desolate countless homes
+that once were happy, and broken hearts that had no thought of evil
+towards you--and you have done all this, and more, to maintain as
+vile a despotism as ever insulted the justice of man, or mocked at
+the mercy of God.
+
+"In the inscrutable workings of Eternal Justice it has come to pass
+that your sentence shall be uttered by the lips of one of your
+victims. For no offence known to the laws of earth or Heaven my flesh
+has been galled by your chains and torn by your whips. I have toiled
+to win your ill-gotten wealth in your mines, and by the hands of your
+brutal servants the iron has entered into my soul. Yet I am but one
+of thousands whose undeserved agony cries out against you in this
+hour of judgment.
+
+"Can you give us back what you have taken from us--the years of life
+and health and happiness, our wives and our children, our lovers and
+our kindred? You have ravished, but you cannot restore. You have
+smitten, but you cannot heal. You have killed, but you cannot make
+alive again. If you had ten thousand lives they could not atone,
+though each were dragged out to the bitter end in the misery that you
+have meted out to others.
+
+"But so far as you and yours can pay the debt it shall be paid to the
+uttermost farthing. Every pang that you have inflicted you shall
+endure. You shall drag your chains over Siberian snows, and when you
+faint by the wayside the lash shall revive you, as in the hands of
+your brutal Cossacks it has goaded on your fainting victims. You
+shall sweat in the mine and shiver in the cell, and your wives and
+your children shall look upon your misery and be helpless to help
+you, even as have been the fond ones who have followed your victims
+to exile and death.
+
+"They have seen your crimes without protest, and shared in your
+wantonness. They have toyed with the gold and jewels which they knew
+were bought with the price of misery and death, and so it is just
+that they should see your sufferings and share in your doom.
+
+"To the mines for life! And when the last summons comes to you and
+me, may Eternal Justice judge between us, and in its equal scales
+weigh your crimes against your punishment! Begone! for you have
+looked your last on freedom. You are no longer men; you are outcasts
+from the pale of the brotherhood of the humanity you have outraged!
+
+"Alexis Mazanoff, you will hold yourself responsible for the lives of
+the prisoners, and the execution of their sentence. You will see them
+in safe keeping for the present, and on the thirtieth day from now
+you will set out for Siberia."
+
+The sentence of Natas, the most terrible one which human lips could
+have uttered under the circumstances, was received with a breathless
+silence of awe and horror. Then Mazanoff rose from his seat, drew his
+sword, and saluted. As he passed round the end of the table the
+guards closed up round the prisoners, who were staring about them in
+stupefied bewilderment at the incredible horror of the fate which in
+a moment had hurled them from the highest pinnacle of earthly power
+and splendour down to the degradation and misery of the most wretched
+of their own Siberian convicts. No time was given for protest or
+appeal, for Mazanoff instantly gave the word "Forward!" and,
+surrounded by a hedge of bayonets, the doomed men were marched
+rapidly down between the two grey lines.
+
+As they reached the bottom of the nave the great central doors swung
+open, and through them came a mighty roar of execration from the
+multitude outside as they appeared on the top of the Cathedral steps.
+
+From St. Paul's Churchyard, down through Ludgate Hill and up the Old
+Bailey to the black frowning walls of Newgate, they were led through
+triple lines of Federation soldiers amidst a storm of angry cries
+from the crowd on either side,--cries which changed to a wild
+outburst of savage, pitiless exultation as the news of their dreadful
+sentence spread rapidly from lip to lip. They had shed blood like
+water, and had known no pity in the hour of their brief triumph, and
+so none was shown for them in the hour of their fall and retribution.
+
+The hour following their disappearance from the Cathedral was spent
+in a brief and simple service of thanksgiving for the victory which
+had wiped the stain of foreign invasion from the soil of Britain in
+the blood of the invader, and given the control of the destinies of
+the Western world finally into the hands of the dominant race of
+earth.
+
+The service began with a short but eloquent address from Natas, in
+which he pointed out the consequences of the victory and the
+tremendous responsibilities to the generations of men in the present
+and the future which it entailed upon the victors. He concluded with
+the following words--
+
+"My own part in this world-revolution is played out. For more than
+twenty years I have lived solely for the attainment of one object,
+the removal of the blot of Russian tyranny upon European
+civilisation, and the necessary punishment of those who were guilty
+of the unspeakable crime of maintaining it at such a fearful expense
+of human life and suffering.
+
+"That object has now been accomplished; the soldiers of freedom have
+met the hirelings of despotism on the field of the world's
+Armageddon, and the God of Battles has decided between them. Our
+motives may have been mistaken by those who only saw the bare outward
+appearance without knowing their inward intention, and our ends have
+naturally been misjudged by those who fancied that their
+accomplishment meant their own ruin.
+
+"Yet, as the events have proved, and will prove in the ages to come,
+we have been but as intelligent instruments in the hands of that
+eternal wisdom and justice which, though it may seem to sleep for a
+season, and permit the evildoer to pursue his wickedness for a space,
+never closes the eye of watchfulness or sheathes the sword of
+judgment. The empire of the earth has been given into the hands of
+the Anglo-Saxon race, and therefore it is fitting that the supreme
+control of affairs should rest in the hands of one of Anglo-Saxon
+blood and lineage.
+
+"For that reason I now surrender the power which I have so far
+exercised as the Master of the Brotherhood of Freedom into the hands
+of Alan Tremayne, known in Britain as Earl of Alanmere and Baron
+Tremayne, and from this moment the Brotherhood of Freedom ceases to
+exist as such, for its ends are attained, and the objects for which
+it was founded have been accomplished.
+
+"With the confidence born of intimate knowledge, I give this power
+into his keeping, and those who have shared his counsels and executed
+his commands in the past will in the future assist him as the Supreme
+Council, which will form the ultimate tribunal to which the disputes
+of nations will henceforth be submitted, instead of to the barbarous
+and bloody arbitration of battle.
+
+"No such power has ever been delivered into the hands of a single
+body of men before; but those who will hold it have been well tried,
+and they may be trusted to wield it without pride and without
+selfishness, the twin curses that have hitherto afflicted the divided
+nations of the earth, because, with the fate of humanity in their
+hands and the wealth of earth at their disposal, it will be
+impossible to tempt them with bribes, either of riches or of power,
+from the plain course of duty which will lie before them."
+
+As Natas finished speaking, he signed with his hand to Tremayne, who
+rose in his place and briefly addressed the assembly--
+
+"I and those who will share it with me accept alike the power and the
+responsibility--not of choice, but rather because we are convinced
+that the interests of humanity demand that we should do so. Those
+interests have too long been the sport of kings and their courtiers,
+and of those who have seen in selfish profit and aggrandisement the
+only ends of life worth living for.
+
+"Under the pretences of furthering civilisation and progress, and
+maintaining what they have been pleased to call law and order, they
+have perpetrated countless crimes of oppression, cruelty, and
+extortion, and we are determined that this shall have an end.
+
+"Henceforth, so far as we can insure it, the world shall be ruled,
+not by the selfishness of individuals, or the ambitions of nations,
+but in accordance with the everlasting and immutable principles of
+truth and justice, which have hitherto been burlesqued alike by
+despots on their thrones and by political partisans in the senates of
+so-called democratic countries.
+
+"To-morrow, at mid-day in this place, the chief rulers of Europe will
+meet us, and our intentions will be further explained. And now before
+we separate to go about the rest of the business of the day let us,
+as is fitting, give due thanks to Him who has given us the victory."
+
+He ceased speaking, but remained standing; the same instant the organ
+of the Cathedral pealed out the opening notes of the familiar
+Normanton Chant, and all those at the table, saving Natas, rose to
+their feet. Then Natasha's voice soared up clear and strong above the
+organ notes, singing the first line of the old well-known chant--
+
+  The strain upraise of joy and praise.
+
+And as she ceased the swell of the organ rolled out, and a mighty
+chorus of hallelujahs burst by one consent from the lips of the vast
+congregation, filling the huge Cathedral, and flowing out from its
+now wide-open doors until it was caught up and echoed by the
+thousands who thronged the churchyard and the streets leading into
+it.
+
+As this died away Radna sang the second line, and so the Psalm of
+Praise was sung through, as it were in strophe and anti-strophe,
+interspersed with the jubilant hallelujahs of the multitude who were
+celebrating the greatest victory that had ever been won on earth.
+
+That night the inhabitants of the delivered city gave themselves up
+to such revelry and rejoicing as had never been seen or heard in
+London since its foundation. The streets and squares blazed with
+lights and resounded with the songs and cheerings of a people
+delivered from an impending catastrophe which had bidden fair to
+overwhelm it in ruin, and bring upon it calamities which would have
+been felt for generations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+THE ORDERING OF EUROPE.
+
+
+While these events had been in progress three squadrons of air-ships
+had been speeding to St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Rome. Three vessels
+had been despatched to each city, and the instructions of those in
+command of the squadrons were to bring the German Emperor, the
+Emperor of Austria, and the King of Italy to London.
+
+The news of the defeat of the League had preceded them by telegraph,
+and all three monarchs willingly obeyed the summons which they
+carried to attend a Conference for the ordering of affairs of Europe.
+
+The German Emperor was at once released from his captivity, although
+only under a threat of the destruction of the city by the air-ships,
+for the Grand Duke Vladimir, who ruled at St. Petersburg as deputy of
+the Tsar, had first refused to believe the astounding story of the
+defeat of his brother and the destruction of his army. The terrible
+achievements of the air-ships were, however, too well and too
+certainly known to permit of resistance by force, and so the Kaiser
+was released, and made his first aerial voyage from St. Petersburg to
+London, arriving there at ten o'clock on the evening of the 8th, in
+the midst of the jubilations of the rejoicing city.
+
+The King of England had sent a despatch to the Emperor of Austria
+inviting him to the Conference, and General Cosensz had sent a
+similar one to the King of Italy, and so there had been no difficulty
+about their coming. At mid-day on the 9th the Conference was opened
+in St. Paul's, which was the only public building left intact in
+London capable of containing the vast audience that was present, an
+audience composed of men of every race and language in Europe.
+
+Natas was absent, and Tremayne occupied his seat in the centre of the
+table; the other members of the Inner Circle, now composing the
+Supreme Council of the Federation, were present, with the exception
+of Natasha, Radna, and Anna Ornovski, and the other seats at the
+table were occupied by the monarchs to whom the purposes of the
+Conference had been explained earlier in the day. France was
+represented in the person of General le Gallifet.
+
+The body of the Cathedral was filled to overflowing, with the
+exception of an open space kept round the table by the Federation
+guards.
+
+The proceedings commenced with a brief but impressive religious
+service conducted by the Primate of England, who ended it with a
+short but earnest appeal, delivered from the altar steps, to those
+composing the Conference, calling upon them to conduct their
+deliberations with justice and moderation, and reminding them of the
+millions who were waiting in other parts of Europe for the blessings
+of peace and prosperity which it was now in their power to confer
+upon them. As the Archbishop concluded the prayer for the blessing of
+Heaven upon their deliberation, with which he ended his address,
+Tremayne, after a few moments of silence, rose in his place and,
+speaking in clear deliberate tones, began as follows:--
+
+"Your Majesties have been called together to hear the statement of
+the practical issues of the conflict which has been decided between
+the armies of the Federation of the Anglo-Saxon peoples and those of
+the late Franco-Slavonian League.
+
+"Into the motives which led myself and those who have acted with me
+to take the part which we have done in this tremendous struggle,
+there is now no need for me to enter. It is rather with results than
+with motives that we have to deal, and those results may be very
+briefly stated.
+
+"We have demonstrated on the field of battle that we hold in our
+hands means of destruction against which it is absolutely impossible
+for any army fortress or fleet to compete with the slightest hope of
+victory; and more than this, we are in command of the only organised
+army and fleet now on land or sea. We have been compelled by the
+necessities of the case to use our powers unsparingly up to a certain
+point. That we have not used them beyond that point, as we might have
+done, to enslave the world, is the best proof that I can give of the
+honesty of our purposes with regard to the future.
+
+"But it must never be forgotten that these powers remain with us, and
+can be evoked afresh should necessity ever arise.
+
+"It is not our purpose to enter upon a war of conquest, or upon a
+series of internal revolutions in the different countries of Europe,
+the issue of which might be the subversion of all order, and the
+necessity for universal conquest on our part in order to restore it.
+
+"With two exceptions the internal affairs of all the nations of
+Europe, saving only Russia, which for the present we shall govern
+directly, will be left undisturbed. The present tenure of land will
+be abolished, and the only rights to the possession of it that will
+be recognised will be occupation and cultivation. Experience has
+shown that the holding of land for mere purposes of luxury or
+speculative profit leads to untold injustices to the general
+population of a country. The land on which cities and towns are built
+will henceforth belong to the municipalities, and the rents of the
+buildings will be paid in lieu of taxation.
+
+"The other exception is even more important than this. We have waged
+war in order that it may be waged no more, and we are determined that
+it shall now cease for ever. The peoples of the various nations have
+no interest in warfare. It has been nothing but an affliction and a
+curse to them, and we are convinced that if one generation grows up
+without drawing the sword, it will never be drawn again as long as
+men remain upon the earth. All existing fortifications will therefore
+be at once destroyed, standing armies will be disbanded, and all the
+warships in the world, which cannot be used for peaceful purposes,
+will be sent to the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean.
+
+"For the maintenance of peace and order each nation will maintain a
+body of police, in which all citizens between the ages of twenty and
+forty will serve in rotation, and this police will be under the
+control, first of the Sovereign and Parliament of the country, and
+ultimately of an International Board, which will sit once a year in
+each of the capitals of Europe in turn, and from whose decision there
+will be no appeal.
+
+"The possession of weapons of warfare, save by the members of this
+force, will be forbidden under penalty of death, as we shall
+presuppose that no man can possess such weapons save with intent to
+kill, and all killing, save execution for murder, will henceforth be
+treated as murder. Declaration of war by one country upon another
+will be held to be a national crime, and, should such an event ever
+occur, the forces of the Anglo-Saxon Federation will be at once armed
+by authority of the Supreme Council, and the guilty nation will be
+crushed and its territories will be divided among its neighbours.
+
+"Such are the broad outlines of the course which we intend to pursue,
+and all I have now to do is to commend them to your earnest
+consideration in the name of those over whom you are the constituted
+rulers."
+
+As the President of the Federation sat down the German Emperor rose
+and said in a tone which showed that he had heard the speech with but
+little satisfaction--
+
+"From what we have heard it would seem that the Federation of the
+Anglo-Saxon peoples considers itself as having conquered the world,
+and as being, therefore, in a position to dictate terms to all the
+peoples of the earth. Am I correct in this supposition?"
+
+Tremayne bowed in silence, and he continued--
+
+"But this amounts to the destruction of the liberties of all peoples
+who are not of the Anglo-Saxon race. It seems impossible to me to
+believe that free-born men who have won their liberty upon the
+battlefield will ever consent to submit to a despotism such as this.
+What if they refuse to do so?"
+
+Tremayne was on his feet in an instant. He turned half round and
+faced the Kaiser, with a frown on his brow and an ominous gleam in
+his eyes--
+
+"Your Majesty of Germany may call it a despotism if you choose, but
+remember that it is a despotism of peace and not of war, and that it
+affects only those who would be peace-breakers and drawers of the
+sword upon their fellow-creatures. I regret that you have made it
+necessary for me to remind you that we have conquered your
+conquerors, and that the despotism from which we have delivered the
+nations of Europe would infallibly have been ten thousand times worse
+than that which you are pleased to miscall by the name.
+
+"You deplore the loss of the right and the power to draw the sword
+one upon another. Well, now, take that right back again for the last
+time! Say here, and now, that you will not acknowledge the supremacy
+of the Council of the Federation, and take the consequences!
+
+"Our soldiers are still in the field, our aerial fleet is still in
+the air, and our sea-navy is under steam. But, remember, if you
+appeal to the sword it shall be with you as it was with Alexander
+Romanoff and the Russian force which invaded England. We have
+annihilated the army to a man, and exiled the Autocrat for life.
+Choose now, peace or war, and let those who would choose war with you
+take their stand beside you, and we will fight another Armageddon!"
+
+The pregnant and pitiless words brought the Kaiser to his senses in
+an instant. He remembered that his army was destroyed, his strongest
+fortresses dismantled, his treasury empty, and the manhood of his
+country decimated. He turned white to the lips and sank back into his
+chair, covered his face with his hands, and sobbed aloud. And so
+ended the last and only protest made by the spirit of militarism
+against the new despotism of peace.
+
+One by one the monarchs now rose in their places, bowed to the
+inevitable, and gave their formal adherence to the new order of
+things. General le Gallifet came last. When he had affixed his
+signature to the written undertaking of allegiance which they had all
+signed, he said, speaking in French--
+
+"I was born and bred a soldier, and my life has been passed either in
+warfare or the study of it. I have now drawn the sword for the last
+time, save to defend France from invasion. I have seen enough of
+modern war, or, as I should rather call it, murder by machinery, for
+such it only is now. They spoke truly who prophesied that the
+solution of the problem of aerial navigation would make war
+impossible. It has made it impossible, because it has made it too
+unspeakably horrible for humanity to tolerate it.
+
+"In token of the honesty of my belief I ask now that France and
+Germany shall bury their long blood-feud on their last battlefield,
+and in the persons of his German Majesty and myself shake hands in
+the presence of this company as a pledge of national forgiveness and
+perpetual peace."
+
+As he ceased speaking, he turned and held out his hand to the Kaiser.
+All eyes were turned on William II, to see how he would receive this
+appeal. For a moment he hesitated, then his manhood and chivalry
+conquered his pride and national prejudice, and amidst the cheers of
+the great assembly, he grasped the outstretched hand of his
+hereditary enemy, saying in a voice broken by emotion--
+
+"So be it. Since the sword is broken for ever, let us forget that we
+have been enemies, and remember only that we are neighbours."
+
+This ended the public portion of the Conference. From St. Paul's
+those who had composed it went to Buckingham Palace, in the grounds
+of which the aerial fleet was reposing on the lawns under a strong
+guard of Federation soldiers. Here they embarked, and were borne
+swiftly through the air to Windsor Castle, where they dined together
+as friends and guests of the King of England, and after dinner
+discussed far on into the night the details of the new European
+Constitution which was to be drawn up and formally ratified within
+the next few days.
+
+Shortly after noon on the following day the _Ithuriel_, with Natas,
+Natasha, Arnold, and Tremayne on board, rose into the air from the
+grounds of Buckingham Palace and headed away to the northward. The
+control of affairs was left for the time being to a committee of the
+members of what had once been the Inner Circle of the Terrorists, and
+which was now the Supreme Council of the Federation.
+
+This was under the joint presidency of Alexis Mazanoff and Nicholas
+Roburoff, who was exerting his great and well-proved administrative
+abilities to the utmost in order to atone for the fault which had led
+to the desertion of the _Lucifer_, and to amply justify the
+intercession of Natasha which had made it possible for him to be
+present at the last triumph of the Federation and the accomplishment
+of the long and patient work of the Brotherhood. There was an immense
+amount of work to be got through in the interval between the
+pronouncement of the judgment of Natas on the Tsar and his Ministers
+and the execution of the sentence. After twenty-four hours in Newgate
+they were transferred to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, and there, under a
+guard of Federation soldiers, who never left them for a moment day or
+night, they awaited the hour of their departure to Siberia.
+
+Communication with all parts of the Continent and America was rapidly
+restored. The garrisons of the League were withdrawn from the
+conquered cities, gave up their arms at the depots of their
+respective regiments, and returned to their homes. The French and
+Italian troops round London were disarmed and taken to France in the
+Federation fleet of transports. Meanwhile three air-ships were placed
+temporarily at the disposal of the Emperor of Austria, the Kaiser,
+and the King of Italy, to convey them to their capitals, and furnish
+them with the means of speedy transit about their dominions, and to
+and from London during the drawing up of the new European
+Constitution.
+
+A fleet of four air-ships and fifteen aerostats was also despatched
+to the Russian capital, and compelled the immediate surrender of the
+members of the Imperial family and the Ministers of the Government,
+and the instant disarmament of all troops on Russian soil, under pain
+of immediate destruction of St. Petersburg and Moscow, and invasion
+and conquest of the country by the Federation armies. The Council of
+State and the Ruling Senate were then dissolved, and the Executive
+passed automatically into the hands of the controllers of the
+Federation. Resistance was, of course, out of the question, and as
+soon as it was once known for certain that the Tsar had been taken
+prisoner and his army annihilated, no one thought seriously of it, as
+it would have been utterly impossible to have defended even Russia
+against the overwhelming forces of the Federation and the British
+Empire, assisted by the two aerial fleets.
+
+The _Ithuriel_, after a flight of a little more than an hour, stopped
+and descended to the earth on the broad, sloping, and now
+snow-covered lawn in front of Alanmere Castle. Lord Marazion and his
+daughter, who, as it is almost needless to say, had been kept well
+informed of the course of events since the Federation forces landed
+in England, had also been warned by telegraph of the coming of their
+aerial visitors, and before the _Ithuriel_ had touched the earth, the
+new mistress of Alanmere had descended the steps of the terrace that
+ran the whole length of the Castle front to welcome its lord and hers
+back to his own again.
+
+Then there were greetings of lovers and friends, well known to each
+other by public report and familiar description, yet never seen in
+the flesh till now, and of others long parted by distance and by
+misconception of aims and motives. But however pleasing it might be
+to dwell at length upon the details of such a meeting, and its
+delightful contrast to the horrors of unsparing war and merciless
+destruction, there is now no space to do so, for the original limits
+of this history of the near future have already been reached and
+overpassed, and it is time to make ready for the curtain to descend
+upon the last scenes of the world-drama of the Year of Wonders--1904.
+
+Tremayne was the first to alight, and he was followed by Natasha and
+Arnold at a respectful distance, which they kept until the first
+greeting between the two long and strangely-parted lovers was over.
+When at length Lady Muriel got out of the arms of her future lord,
+she at once ran to Natasha with both her hands outstretched, a very
+picture of grace and health and blushing loveliness.
+
+She was Natasha's other self, saving only for the incomparable
+brilliance of colouring and contrast which the daughter of Natas
+derived from her union of Eastern and Western blood. Yet no fairer
+type of purely English beauty than Muriel Penarth could have been
+found between the Border and the Land's End, and what she lacked of
+Natasha's half Oriental brilliance and fire she atoned for by an
+added measure of that indescribable blend of dignity and gentleness
+which makes the English gentlewoman perhaps the most truly lovable of
+all women on earth.
+
+"I could not have believed that the world held two such lovely
+women," said Arnold to Tremayne, as the two girls met and embraced.
+"How marvellously alike they are, too! They might be sisters. Surely
+they must be some relation."
+
+"Yes, I am sure they are," replied Tremayne; "such a resemblance
+cannot be accidental. I remember in that queer double life of mine,
+when I was your unconscious rival, I used to interchange them until
+they almost seemed to be the same identity to me. There is some
+little mystery behind the likeness which we shall have cleared up
+before very long now. Natas told me to take Lord Marazion to him in
+the saloon, and said he would not enter the Castle till he had spoken
+with him alone. There he is at the door! You go and make Muriel's
+acquaintance, and I will take him on board at once."
+
+So saying, Tremayne ran up the terrace steps, shook hands heartily
+with the old nobleman, and then came down with him towards the
+air-ship. As they met Lady Muriel coming up with Arnold on one side
+of her and Natasha on the other, Lord Marazion stopped suddenly with
+an exclamation of wonder. He took his arm out of Tremayne's, strode
+rapidly to Natasha, and, before his daughter could say a word of
+introduction, put his hands on her shoulders, and looked into her
+lovely upturned face through a sudden mist of tears that rose
+unbidden to his eyes.
+
+"It is a miracle!" he said, in a low voice that trembled with
+emotion. "If you are the daughter of Natas, there is no need to tell
+me who he is, for you are Sylvia Penarth's daughter too. Is not that
+so, Sylvia di Murska--for I know you bear your mother's name?"
+
+"Yes, I bear her name--and my father's. He is waiting for you in the
+air-ship, and he has much to say to you. You will bring him back to
+the Castle with you, will you not?"
+
+Natasha spoke with a seriousness that had more weight than her words,
+but Lord Marazion understood her meaning. He stooped down and kissed
+her on the brow, saying--
+
+"Yes, yes; the past is the past. I will go to him, and you shall see
+us come back together."
+
+"And so we are cousins!" exclaimed Lady Muriel, slipping her arm
+round Natasha's waist as she spoke. "I was sure we must be some
+relation to each other; for, though I am not so beautiful"--
+
+"Don't talk nonsense, or I shall call you 'Your Ladyship' for the
+rest of the day. Yes, of course we are alike, since our mothers were
+twin-sisters, and the very image of each other, according to their
+portraits."
+
+While the girls were talking of their new-found relationship, Arnold
+had dropped behind to wait for Tremayne, who, after he had taken Lord
+Marazion into the saloon of the _Ithuriel_, had left him with Natas
+and returned to the Castle alone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+THE STORY OF THE MASTER.
+
+
+That evening, when the lamps were lit and the curtains drawn in the
+library at Alanmere, in the same room in which Tremayne had seen the
+Vision of Armageddon, Natas told the story of Israel di Murska, the
+Jewish Hungarian merchant, and of Sylvia Penarth, the beautiful
+English wife whom he had loved better than his own faith and people,
+and how she had been taken from him to suffer a fate which had now
+been avenged as no human wrongs had ever been before.
+
+"Twenty-five years ago," he began, gazing dreamily into the great
+fire of pine-logs, round the hearth of which he and his listeners
+were sitting, "I, who am now an almost helpless, half-mutilated
+cripple, was a strong, active man, in the early vigour of manhood,
+rich, respected, happy, and prosperous even beyond the average of
+earthly good fortune.
+
+"I was a merchant in London, and I had inherited a large fortune from
+my father, which I had more than doubled by successful trading. I was
+married to an English wife, a woman whose grace and beauty are
+faithfully reflected in her daughter"--
+
+As Natas said this, the fierce light that had begun to shine in his
+eyes softened, and the hard ring left his voice, and for a little
+space he spoke in gentler tones, until sterner memories came and
+hardened them again.
+
+"I will not deny that I bought her with my gold and fair promises of
+a life of ease and luxury. But that is done every day in the world in
+which I then lived, and I only did as my Christian neighbours about
+me did. Yet I loved my beautiful Christian wife very dearly,--more
+dearly even than my people and my ancient faith,--or I should not
+have married her.
+
+"When Natasha was two years old the black pall of desolation fell
+suddenly on our lives, and blasted our great happiness with a misery
+so utter and complete that we, who were wont to count ourselves among
+the fortunate ones of the earth, were cast down so low that the
+beggar at our doors might have looked down upon us.
+
+"It was through no fault of mine or hers, nor through any
+circumstance over which either of us had any control, that we fell
+from our serene estate. On the contrary, it was through a work of
+pure mercy, intended for the relief of those of our people who were
+groaning under the pitiless despotism of Russian officialism and
+superstition, that I fell, as so many thousands of my race have
+fallen, into that abyss of nameless misery and degradation that
+Russian hands have dug for the innocent in the ghastly solitudes of
+Siberia, and, without knowing it, dragged my sweet and loving wife
+into it after me.
+
+"It came about in this wise.
+
+"I had a large business connection in Russia, and at a time when all
+Europe was ringing with the story of the persecution of the Russian
+Jews, I, at the earnest request of a committee of the leading Jews in
+London, undertook a mission to St. Petersburg, to bring their
+sufferings, if possible, under the direct notice of the Tsar, and to
+obtain his consent to a scheme for the payment of a general
+indemnity, subscribed to by all the wealthy Jews of the world, which
+should secure them against persecution and official tyranny until
+they could be gradually and completely removed from Russia.
+
+"I, of course, found myself thwarted at every turn by the heartless
+and corrupt officialism that stands between the Russian people and
+the man whom they still regard as the vicegerent of God upon earth.
+
+"Upon one pretext and another I was kept from the presence of the
+Tsar for weeks, until he left his dominions on a visit to Denmark.
+
+"Meanwhile I travelled about, and used my eyes as well as the
+officials would permit me, to see whether the state of things was
+really as bad as the accounts that had reached England had made it
+out to be.
+
+"I saw enough to convince me that no human words could describe the
+awful sufferings of the sons and daughters of Israel in that hateful
+land of bondage.
+
+"Neither their lives nor their honour, their homes nor their
+property, were safe from the malice and the lust and the rapacity of
+the brutal ministers of Russian officialdom.
+
+"I conversed with families from which fathers and mothers, sons and
+daughters had been spirited away, either never to return, or to come
+back years afterwards broken in health, ruined and dishonoured, to
+the poor wrecks of the homes that had once been peaceful, pure, and
+happy.
+
+"I saw every injury, insult, and degradation heaped upon them that
+patient and long-suffering humanity could bear, until my soul
+sickened within me, and my spirit rose in revolt against the hateful
+and inhuman tyranny that treated my people like vermin and wild
+beasts, for no offence save a difference in race and creed.
+
+"At last the shame and horror of it all got the better of my
+prudence, and the righteous rage that burned within me spoke out
+through my pen and my lips.
+
+"I wrote faithful accounts of all I had seen to the committee in
+England. They never reached their destination, for I was already a
+marked man, and my letters were stopped and opened by the police.
+
+"At last I one day attended a court of law, and heard one of those
+travesties of justice which the Russian officials call a trial for
+conspiracy.
+
+"There was not one tittle of anything that would have been called
+evidence, or that would not have been discredited and laughed out of
+court in any other country in Europe; yet two of the five prisoners,
+a man and a woman, were sentenced to death, and the other three, two
+young students and a girl who was to have been the bride of one of
+them in a few weeks' time, were doomed to five years in the mines of
+Kara, and after that, if they survived it, to ten years' exile in
+Sakhalin.
+
+"So awful and so hideous did the appalling injustice seem to me,
+accustomed as I was to the open fairness of the English criminal
+courts, that, overcome with rage and horror, I rose to my feet as the
+judge pronounced the frightful sentence, and poured forth a flood of
+passionate denunciations and wild appeals to the justice of humanity
+to revoke the doom of the innocent.
+
+"Of course I was hustled out of the court and flung into the street
+by the police attendants, and I groped my way back to my hotel with
+eyes blinded with tears of rage and sorrow.
+
+"That afternoon I was requested by the proprietor of the hotel to
+leave before nightfall. I expostulated in vain. He simply told me
+that he dared not have in his house a man who had brought himself
+into collision with the police, and that I must find other lodgings
+at once. This, however, I found to be no easy matter. Wherever I went
+I was met with cold looks, and was refused admittance.
+
+"Lower and lower sank my heart within me at each refusal, and the
+terrible conviction forced itself upon me that I was a marked man
+amidst all-powerful and unscrupulous enemies whom no Russian dare
+offend. I was a Jew and an outcast, and there was nothing left for me
+but to seek for refuge such as I could get among my own persecuted
+people.
+
+"Far on into the night I found one, a modest lodging, in which I
+hoped I could remain for a day or two while waiting for my passport,
+and making the necessary preparations to return to England and shake
+the mire of Russia off my feet for ever. It would have been a
+thousand times better for me and my dear ones, and for those whose
+sympathy and kindness involved them in my ruin, if, instead of going
+to that ill-fated house, I had flung myself into the dark waters of
+the Neva, and so ended my sorrows ere they had well begun.
+
+"I applied for my passport the next day, and was informed that it
+would not be ready for at least three days. The delay was, of course,
+purposely created, and before the time had expired a police visit was
+paid to the house in which I was lodging, and papers written in
+cypher were found within the lining of one of my hats.
+
+"I was arrested, and a guard was placed over the house. Without any
+further ceremony I was thrown into a cell in the fortress of Peter
+and Paul to await the translation of the cypher. Three days later I
+was taken before the chief of police, and accused of having in my
+possession papers proving that I was an emissary from the Nihilist
+headquarters in London.
+
+"I was told that my conduct had been so suspicious and of late so
+disorderly, that I had been closely watched during my stay in St.
+Petersburg, with the result that conclusive evidence of treason had
+been found against me.
+
+"As I was known to be wealthy, and to have powerful friends in
+England, the formality of a trial was dispensed with, and after
+eating my heart out for a month in my cell in the fortress, I was
+transferred to Moscow to join the next convict train for Siberia.
+Arrived there, I for the first time learned my sentence--ten years in
+the mines, and then ten in Sakhalin.
+
+"Thus was I doomed by the trick of some police spy to pass what bade
+fair to be the remainder of a life that had been so bright and full
+of fair promise in hopeless exile, torment, and degradation--and all
+because I protested against injustice and made myself obnoxious to
+the Russian police.
+
+"As the chain-gang that I was attached to left Moscow, I found to my
+intense grief that the good Jew and his wife who had given me shelter
+were also members of it. They had been convicted of 'harbouring a
+political conspirator,' and sentenced to five years' hard labour, and
+then exile for life, as 'politicals,' which, as you no doubt know,
+meant that, if they survived the first part of their sentence, they
+would be allowed to settle in an allotted part of Southern Siberia,
+free in everything but permission to leave the country.
+
+"Were I to talk till this time to-morrow I could not properly
+describe to you all the horrors of that awful journey along the Great
+Siberian road, from the Pillar of Farewells that marks the boundary
+between Europe and Asia across the frightful snowy wastes to Kara.
+
+"The hideous story has been told again and again without avail to the
+Christian nations of Europe, and they have permitted that awful crime
+against humanity to be committed year after year without even a
+protest, in obedience to the miserable principles that bade them to
+place policy before religion and the etiquette of nations before the
+everlasting laws of God.
+
+"After two years of heartbreaking toil at the mines my health utterly
+broke down. One day I fell fainting under the lash of the brutal
+overseer, and as I lay on the ground he ran at me and kicked me twice
+with his heavy iron-shod boots, once on the hip, breaking the bone,
+and once on the lower part of the spine, crushing the spinal cord,
+and paralysing my lower limbs for ever.
+
+"As this did not rouse me from my fainting-fit, the heartless fiend
+snatched a torch from the wall of the mine-gallery and thrust the
+burning end in my long thick beard, setting it on fire and scorching
+my flesh horribly, as you can see. I was carried out of the mine and
+taken to the convict hospital, where I lay for weeks between life and
+death, and only lived instead of died because of the quenchless
+spirit that was within me crying out for vengeance on my tormentors.
+
+"When I came back to consciousness, the first thing I learnt was that
+I was free to return to England on condition that I did not stop on
+my way through Russia.
+
+"My friends, urged on by the tireless energy of my wife's anxious
+love, had at last found out what had befallen me, and proceedings had
+been instituted to establish the innocence that had been betrayed by
+a common and too well-known device used by the Russian police to
+secure the conviction and removal of those who have become obnoxious
+to the bureaucracy.
+
+"Whether my friends would ever have accomplished this of themselves
+is doubtful, but suddenly the evidence of a pope of the Orthodox
+Church, to whom the spy who had put the forged letters in my hat had
+confessed the crime on his deathbed, placed the matter in such a
+strong clear light that not even the officialism of Russia could
+cloud it over. The case got to the ears of the Tsar, and an order was
+telegraphed to the Governor of Kara to release me and send me back to
+St. Petersburg on the conditions I have named.
+
+"Think of the mockery of such a pardon as that! By the unlawful
+brutality of an official, who was not even reprimanded for what he
+had done, I was maimed, crippled, and disfigured for life, and now I
+was free to return to the land I had left on an errand of mercy,
+which tyranny and corruption had wilfully misconstrued into a mission
+of crime, and punished with the ruin of a once happy and useful life.
+That was bad enough, but worse was to come before the cup of my
+miseries should be full."
+
+Natas was silent for a moment, and as he gazed into the fire the
+spasm of a great agony passed over his face, and two great tears
+welled up in his eyes and overflowed and ran down his cheeks on to
+his breast.
+
+"On receiving the order the governor telegraphed back that I was sick
+almost to death, and not able to bear the fatigue of the long,
+toilsome journey, and asked for further orders. As soon as this news
+reached my devoted wife she at once set out, in spite of all the
+entreaties of her friends and advisers, to cross the wastes of
+Siberia, and take her place at my bedside.
+
+"It was winter time, and from Ekaterinenburg, where the rail ended in
+those days, the journey would have to be performed by sledge. She,
+therefore, took with her only one servant and a courier, that she
+might travel as rapidly as possible.
+
+"She reached Tiumen, and there all trace was lost of her and her
+attendants. She vanished into that great white wilderness of ice and
+snow as utterly as though the grave had closed upon her. I knew
+nothing of her journey until I reached St. Petersburg many months
+afterwards.
+
+"All that money could do was done to trace her, but all to no avail.
+The only official news that ever came back out of that dark world of
+death and misery was that she had started from one of the
+post-stations a few hours before a great snow-storm had come on, that
+she had never reached the next station--and after that all was
+mystery.
+
+"Five years passed. I had returned to find my little daughter well
+and blooming into youthful beauty, and my affairs prospering in
+skilful and honest hands. I was richer in wealth than I had ever
+been, and in happiness poorer than a beggar, while the shadow of that
+awful uncertainty hung over me.
+
+"I could not believe the official story, for the search along the
+Siberian road had been too complete not to have revealed evidences of
+the catastrophe of which it told when the snows melted, and none such
+were ever found.
+
+"At length one night, just as I was going to bed, I was told that a
+man who would not give his name insisted on seeing me on business
+that he would tell no one but myself. All that he would say was that
+he came from Russia. That was enough. I ordered him to be admitted.
+
+"He was a stranger, ragged and careworn, and his face was stamped
+with the look of sullen, unspeakable misery that men's faces only
+wear in one part of the world.
+
+"'You are from Siberia,' I said, stretching out my hand to him.
+'Welcome, fellow-sufferer! Have you news for me?'
+
+"'Yes, I am from Siberia,' he replied, taking my hand; 'an escaped
+Nihilist convict from the mines. I have been four years getting from
+Kara to London, else you should have had my news sooner. I fear it is
+sad enough, but what else could you expect from the Russian
+prison-land? Here it is.'
+
+"As he spoke, he gave me an envelope, soiled and stained with long
+travel, and my heart stood still as I recognised in the blurred
+address the handwriting of my long-lost wife.
+
+"With trembling fingers I opened it, and through my tears I read a
+letter that my dear one had written to me on her deathbed four years
+before.
+
+"It has lain next my heart ever since, and every word is burnt into
+my brain, to stand there against the day of vengeance. But I have
+never told their full tale of shame and woe to mortal ears, nor ever
+can.
+
+"Let it suffice to say that my wife was beautiful with a beauty that
+is rare among the daughters of men; that a woman's honour is held as
+cheaply in the wildernesses of Siberia as is the life of a man who is
+a convict.
+
+"The official story of her death was false--false as are all the ten
+thousand other lies that have come out of that abode of oppression
+and misery, and she whom I mourned would have been well-favoured of
+heaven if she had died in the snowdrifts, as they said she did,
+rather than in the shame and misery to which her brutal destroyer
+brought her.
+
+"He was an official of high rank, and he had had the power to cover
+his crime from the knowledge of his superiors in St. Petersburg.
+
+"If it was ever known, it was hushed up for fear of the trouble that
+it would have brought to his masters; but two years later he visited
+Paris, and was found one morning in bed with a dagger in his black
+heart, and across his face the mark that told that he had died by
+order of the Nihilist Executive.
+
+"When I read those awful tidings from the grave, sorrow became
+quenchless rage, and despair was swallowed up in revenge. I joined
+the Brotherhood, and thenceforth placed a great portion of my wealth
+at their disposal. I rose in their councils till I commanded their
+whole organisation. No brain was so subtle as mine in planning
+schemes of revenge upon the oppressor, or of relief for the victims
+of his tyranny.
+
+"In a word, I became the brain of the Brotherhood which men used to
+call Nihilists, and then I organised another Society behind and above
+this which the world has known as the Terror, and which the great
+ones of the earth have for years dreaded as the most potent force
+that ever was arrayed against the enemies of humanity. Of this force
+I have been the controlling brain and the directing will. It was my
+creature, and it has obeyed me blindly; but ever since that fatal day
+in the mine at Kara I have been physically helpless, and therefore
+obliged to trust to others the execution of the plans that I
+conceived.
+
+"It was for this reason that I had need of you, Alan Tremayne, and
+this is why I chose you after I had watched you for years unseen as
+you grew from youth to manhood, the embodiment of all that has made
+the Anglo-Saxon the dominant factor in the development of present-day
+humanity.
+
+"I have employed a power which, as I firmly believe, was given to me
+when eternal justice made me the instrument of its vengeance upon a
+generation that had forgotten alike its God and its brother, to bend
+your will unconsciously to mine, and to compel you to do my bidding.
+How far I was justified in that let the result show.
+
+"It was once my intention to have bound you still closer to the
+Brotherhood by giving Natasha to you in marriage while you were yet
+under the spell of my will; but the Master of Destiny willed it
+otherwise, and I was saved from doing a great wrong, for the
+intention to do which I have done my best to atone."
+
+He paused for a moment and looked across the fireplace at Arnold and
+Natasha, who were sitting together on a big, low lounge that had been
+drawn up to the fire. Natasha raised her eyes for a moment and then
+dropped them. She knew what was coming, and a bright red flush rose
+up from her white throat to the roots of her dusky, lustrous hair.
+
+"Richard Arnold, in the first communication I ever had with you, I
+told you that if you used the powers you held in your hand well and
+wisely, you should, in the fulness of time, attain to your heart's
+desire. You have proved your faith and obedience in the hour of
+trial, and your strength and discretion in the day of battle. Now it
+is yours to ask and to have."
+
+For all answer Arnold put out his hand and took hold of Natasha's,
+and said quietly but clearly--
+
+"Give me this!"
+
+"So be it!" said Natas. "What you have worthily won you will worthily
+wear. May your days be long and peaceful in the world to which you
+have given peace!"
+
+And so it came to pass that three days later, in the little private
+chapel of Alanmere Castle, the two men who held the destinies of the
+world in their hands, took to wife the two fairest women who ever
+gave their loveliness to be the crown of strength and the reward of
+loyal love.
+
+For a week the Lord of Alanmere kept open house and royal state, as
+his ancestors had done five hundred years before him. The
+conventional absurdity of the honeymoon was ignored, as such brides
+and bridegrooms might have been expected to ignore it. Arnold and
+Natasha took possession of a splendid suite of rooms in the eastern
+wing of the Castle, and the two new-wedded couples passed the first
+days of their new happiness under one roof without the slightest
+constraint; for the Castle was vast enough for solitude when they
+desired it, and yet the solitude was not isolation or self-centred
+seclusion.
+
+Tremayne's private wire kept them hourly informed of what was going
+on in London, and when necessary the _Ithuriel_ was ready to traverse
+the space between Alanmere and the capital in an hour, as it did more
+than once to the great delight and wonderment of Tremayne's bride, to
+whom the marvellous vessel seemed a miracle of something more than
+merely human skill and genius.
+
+So the days passed swiftly and happily until the Christmas bells of
+1904 rang out over the length and breadth of Christendom, for the
+first time proclaiming in very truth and fact, so far as the Western
+world was concerned, "Peace on earth, Goodwill to Man."
+
+[Illustration: "Into the vast, white, silent wilderness, out of which
+none save the guards were destined ever to emerge again."
+
+_See page 385._]
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+On the 8th of January a swift warship, attended by two dynamite
+cruisers, left Portsmouth, bound for Odessa. She had on board the
+last of the Tsars of Russia, and those of his generals and Ministers
+who had been taken prisoners with him on Muswell Hill. A thousand
+feet overhead floated the _Ariel_, under the command of Alexis
+Mazanoff.
+
+From Odessa the prisoners were taken by train to Moscow. There, in
+the Central Convict Depot, they met their families and the officials
+whose share in their crimes made it necessary to bring them under the
+sentence pronounced by Natas. They were chained together in squads,
+Tsar and prince, noble and official, exactly as their own countless
+victims had been in the past, and so they were taken with their wives
+and children by train to Ekaterinenburg.
+
+Although the railway extended as far as Tomsk, Mazanoff made them
+disembark here, and marched them by the Great Siberian road to the
+Pillar of Farewells on the Asiatic frontier. There, as so many
+thousands of heart-broken, despairing men and women had done before
+them, they looked their last on Russian soil.
+
+From here they were marched on to the first Siberian _etape_, one of
+a long series of foul and pestilential prisons which were to be the
+only halting-places on their long and awful journey. The next
+morning, as soon as the chill grey light of the winter's dawn broke
+over the snow-covered plains, the men were formed up in line, with
+the sleighs carrying the women and children in the rear. When all was
+ready Mazanoff gave the word: "Forward!" the whips of the Cossacks
+cracked, and the mournful procession moved slowly onward into the
+vast, white, silent wilderness, out of which none save the guards
+were destined ever to emerge again.
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE.
+
+"AND ON EARTH PEACE!"
+
+
+The winter and summer of 1905 passed in unbroken tranquillity all
+over Europe and the English-speaking world. The nations, at last
+utterly sickened of bloodshed by the brief but awful experience of
+the last six months of 1904, earnestly and gladly accepted the new
+order of things. From first to last of the war the slaughter had
+averaged more than a million of fighting men a month, and fully five
+millions of non-combatants, men, women, and children, had fallen
+victims to famine and disease, or had been killed during the
+wholesale destruction of fortified towns by the war-balloons of the
+League. At the lowest calculation the invasion of England had cost
+four million lives.
+
+It was an awful butcher's bill, and when the peoples of Europe awoke
+from the delirium of war to look back upon the frightful carnival of
+death and destruction, and realise that all this desolation and ruin
+had come to pass in little more than seven months, so deep a horror
+of war and all its abominations possessed them that they hailed with
+delight the safeguards provided against it by the new European
+Constitution which was made public at the end of March.
+
+It was a singularly short and simple document considering the immense
+changes which it introduced. It contained only five clauses. Of these
+the first proclaimed the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon Federation in
+all matters of international policy, and set forth the penalties to
+be incurred by any State that made war upon another.
+
+The second constituted an International Board of Arbitration and
+Control, composed of all the Sovereigns of Europe and their Prime
+Ministers for the time being, with the new President of the United
+States, the Governor-General of Canada, and the President of the now
+federated Australasian Colonies. This Board was to meet in sections
+every year in the various capitals of Europe, and collectively every
+five years in London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, and New York in
+rotation. There was no appeal from its decision save to the Supreme
+Council of the Federation, and this appeal could only be made with
+the consent of the President of that Council, given after the facts
+of the matter in dispute had been laid before him in writing.
+
+The third clause dealt with the rearrangement of the European
+frontiers. The Rhine from Karlsruhe to Basle was made the political
+as well as the natural boundary between France and Germany. The
+ancient kingdom of Poland was restored, with the frontiers it had
+possessed before the First Partition in 1773, and a descendant of
+Kosciusko, elected by the votes of the adult citizens of the
+reconstituted kingdom, was placed upon the throne. Turkey in Europe
+ceased to exist as a political power. Constantinople was garrisoned
+by British and Federation troops, and the country was administered
+for the time being by a Provisional Government under the presidency
+of Lord Cromer, who was responsible only to the Supreme Council. The
+other States were left undisturbed.
+
+The fourth and fifth clauses dealt with land, property, and law. All
+tenures of land existing before the war were cancelled at a stroke,
+and the soil of each country was declared to be the sole and
+inalienable property of the State. No occupiers were disturbed who
+were turning the land to profitable account, or who were making use
+of a reasonable area as a residential estate; but the great
+landowners in the country and the ground landlords in the towns
+ceased to exist as such, and all private incomes derived from the
+rent of land were declared illegal and so forfeited.
+
+All incomes unearned by productive work of hand or brain were
+subjected to a progressive tax, which reached fifty per cent. when
+the income amounted to L10,000 a year. It is almost needless to say
+that these clauses raised a tremendous outcry among the limited
+classes they affected; but the only reply made to it by the President
+of the Supreme Council was "that honestly earned incomes paid no tax,
+and that the idle and useless classes ought to be thankful to be
+permitted to exist at any price. The alternative of the tax would be
+compulsory labour paid for at its actual value by the State." Without
+one exception the grumblers preferred to pay the tax.
+
+All rents, revised according to the actual value of the produce or
+property, were to be paid direct to the State. As long as he paid
+this rent-tax no man could be disturbed in the possession of his
+holding. If he did not pay it the non-payment was to be held as
+presumptive evidence that he was not making a proper use of it, and
+he was to receive a year's notice to quit; but if at the end of that
+time he had amended his ways the notice was to be revoked.
+
+In all countries the Civil and Criminal Codes of Law were to be
+amalgamated and simplified by a committee of judges appointed
+directly by the Parliament with the assent of the Sovereign. The
+fifth clause of the Constitution plainly stated that no man was to be
+expected to obey a law that he could not understand, and that the
+Supreme Council would uphold no law which was so complicated that it
+needed a legal expert to explain it.
+
+It is almost needless to say that this clause swept away at a blow
+that pernicious class of hired advocates who had for ages grown rich
+on the weakness and the dishonesty of their fellow-men. In after
+years it was found that the abolition of the professional lawyer had
+furthered the cause of peace and progress quite as efficiently as the
+prohibition of standing armies had done.
+
+On the conclusion of the war the aerial fleet was increased to
+twenty-five vessels exclusive of the flagship. The number of
+war-balloons was raised to fifty, and three millions of Federation
+soldiers were held ready for active service until the conclusion of
+the war in the East between the Moslems and Buddhists. By November
+the Moslems were victors all along the line, and during the last week
+of that month the last battle between Christian and Moslem was fought
+on the Southern shore of the Bosphorus.
+
+All communications with the Asiatic and African shores of the
+Mediterranean were cut as soon as it became certain that Sultan
+Mohammed Reshad, at the head of a million and a half of victorious
+Moslems, and supported by Prince Abbas of Egypt at the head of seven
+hundred thousand more, was marching to the reconquest of Turkey. The
+most elaborate precautions were taken to prevent any detailed
+information as to the true state of things in Europe reaching the
+Sultan, as Tremayne and Arnold had come to the conclusion that it
+would be better, if he persisted in courting inevitable defeat, that
+it should fall upon him with crushing force and stupefying
+suddenness, so that he might be the more inclined to listen to reason
+afterwards.
+
+The Mediterranean was patrolled from end to end by air-ships and
+dynamite cruisers, and aerial scouts marked every movement of the
+victorious Sultan until it became absolutely certain that his
+objective point was Scutari. Meanwhile, two millions of men had been
+concentrated between Galata and Constantinople, while another million
+occupied the northern shore of the Dardanelles. An immense force of
+warships and dynamite cruisers swarmed between Gallipoli and the
+Golden Horn. Twenty air-ships and forty-five war-balloons lay outside
+Constantinople, ready to take the air at a moment's notice.
+
+The conqueror of Northern Africa and Southern Asia had only a very
+general idea as to what had really happened in Europe. His march of
+conquest had not been interrupted by any European expedition. The
+Moslems of India had exterminated the British garrisons, and there
+had been no attempt at retaliation or vengeance, as there had been in
+the days of the Mutiny. England, he knew, had been invaded, but
+according to the reports which had reached him, none of the invaders
+had ever got out of the island alive, and then the English had come
+out and conquered Europe. Of the wonderful doings of the aerial
+fleets only the vaguest rumours had come to his ears, and these had
+been so exaggerated and distorted, that he had but a very confused
+idea of the real state of affairs.
+
+The Moslem forces were permitted to advance without the slightest
+molestation to Scutari and Lamsaki, and on the evening of the 28th of
+November the Sultan took up his quarters in Scutari. That night he
+received a letter from the President of the Federation, setting forth
+succinctly, and yet very clearly, what had actually taken place in
+Europe, and calling upon him to give his allegiance to the Supreme
+Council, as the other sovereigns had done, and to accept the
+overlordship of Northern Africa and Southern Asia in exchange for
+Turkey in Europe. The letter concluded by saying that the immediate
+result of refusal to accept these terms would be the destruction of
+the Moslem armies on the following day. Before midnight, Tremayne
+received the Sultan's reply. It ran thus--
+
+    In the name of the Most Merciful God.
+
+      From MOHAMMED RESHAD, Commander of the Faithful, to ALAN
+      TREMAYNE, Leader of the English.
+
+    I have come to retake the throne of my fathers, and I am not to
+    be turned back by vain and boastful threats. What I have won with
+    the sword I will keep with the sword, and I will own allegiance
+    to none save God and His holy Prophet who have given me the
+    victory. Give me back Stamboul and my ancient dominions, and we
+    will divide the world between us. If not we must fight. Let the
+    reply to this come before daybreak.
+
+      MOHAMMED.
+
+
+No reply came back; but during the night the dynamite cruisers were
+drawn up within half a mile of the Asiatic shore with their guns
+pointing southward over Scutari, while other warships patrolled the
+coast to detect and frustrate any attempt to transport guns or troops
+across the narrow strip of water. With the first glimmer of light,
+the two aerial fleets took the air, the war-balloons in a long line
+over the van of the Moslem army, and the air-ships spread out in a
+semicircle to the southward. The hour of prayer was allowed to pass
+in peace, and then the work of death began. The war-balloons moved
+slowly forward in a straight line at an elevation of four thousand
+feet, sweeping the Moslem host from van to rear with a ceaseless hail
+of melinite and cyanogen bombs. Great projectiles soared silently up
+from the water to the north, and where they fell buildings were torn
+to fragments, great holes were blasted into the earth, and every
+human being within the radius of the explosion was blown to pieces,
+or hurled stunned to the ground. But more mysterious and terrible
+than all were the effects of the assault delivered by the air-ships,
+which divided into squadrons and swept hither and thither in wide
+curves, with the sunlight shining on their silvery hulls and their
+long slender guns, smokeless and flameless, hurling the most awful
+missiles of all far and wide, over a scene of butchery and horror
+that beggared all description.
+
+In vain the gallant Moslems looked for enemies in the flesh to
+confront them. None appeared save a few sentinels across the
+Bosphorus. And still the work of slaughter went on, pitiless and
+passionless as the earthquake or the thunderstorm. Millions of shots
+were fired into the air without result, and by the time the rain of
+death had been falling without intermission for two hours, an
+irresistible panic fell upon the Moslem soldiery. They had never met
+enemies like these before, and, brave as lions and yet simple as
+children, they looked upon them as something more than human, and
+with one accord they flung away their weapons and raised their hands
+in supplication to the sky. Instantly the aerial bombardment ceased,
+and within an hour East and West had shaken hands, Sultan Mohammed
+had accepted the terms of the Federation, and the long warfare of
+Cross and Crescent had ceased, as men hoped, for ever.
+
+Then the proclamation was issued disbanding the armies of Britain and
+the Federation and the forces of the Sultan. The warships steamed
+away westward on their last voyage to the South Atlantic, beneath
+whose waves they were soon to sink with all their guns and armaments
+for ever. The war-balloons were to be kept for purposes of
+transportation of heavy articles to Aeria, while the fleet of
+air-ships was to remain the sole effective fighting force in the
+world.
+
+While these events were taking place in Europe, those who had been
+banished as outcasts from the society of civilised men by the
+terrible justice of Natas had been plodding their weary way, in the
+tracks of the thousands they had themselves sent to a living grave,
+along the Great Siberian Road to the hideous wilderness, in the midst
+of which lie the mines of Kara. From the Pillar of Farewells to
+Tiumen, from thence to Tomsk,--where they met the first of the
+released political exiles returning in a joyous band to their beloved
+Russia,--and thence to Irkutsk, and then over the ice of Lake Baikal,
+and through the awful frozen desert of the Trans-Baikal Provinces,
+they had been driven like cattle until the remnant that had survived
+the horrors of the awful journey reached the desolate valley of the
+Kara and were finally halted at the Lower Diggings.
+
+Of nearly three hundred strong and well-fed men who had said good-bye
+to liberty at the Pillar of Farewells, only a hundred and twenty
+pallid and emaciated wretches stood shivering in their rags and
+chains when the muster was called on the morning after their arrival
+at Kara. Mazanoff and his escort had carried out their part of the
+sentence of Natas to the letter. The arctic blasts from the Tundras,
+the forced march, the chain and the scourge had done their work, and
+more than half the exile-convicts had found in nameless graves along
+the road respite from the long horrors of the fate which awaited the
+survivors.
+
+The first name called in the last muster was Alexander Romanoff.
+"Here," came in a deep hollow tone from the gaunt and ragged wreck of
+the giant who twelve months before had been the stateliest figure in
+the brilliant galaxy of European Royalty.
+
+"Your sentence is hard labour in the mines for"--The last word was
+never spoken, for ere it was uttered the tall and still erect form of
+the dethroned Autocrat suddenly shrank together, lurched forward, and
+fell with a choking gasp and a clash of chains upon the hard-trampled
+snow. A stream of blood rushed from his white, half-open lips, and
+when they went to raise him he was dead.
+
+If ever son of woman died of a broken heart it was Alexander
+Romanoff, last of the tyrants of Russia. Never had the avenging hand
+of Nemesis, though long-delayed, fallen with more precise and
+terrible justice. On the very spot on which thousands of his subjects
+and fellow-creatures, innocent of all crime save a desire for
+progress, had worn out their lives in torturing toil to provide the
+gold that had gilded his luxury, he fell as the Idol fell of old in
+the temple of Dagon.
+
+He had seen the blasting of his highest hopes in the hour of their
+apparent fruition. He had beheld the destruction of his army and the
+ruin of his dynasty. He had seen kindred and friends and faithful
+servants sink under the nameless horrors of a fate he could do
+nothing to alleviate, and with the knowledge that nothing but death
+could release them from it, and now at the last moment death had
+snatched from him even the poor consolation of sharing the sufferings
+of those nearest and dearest to him on earth.
+
+This happened on the 1st of December 1905, at nine o'clock in the
+morning. At the same hour Arnold leapt the _Ithuriel_ over the Ridge,
+passed down the valley of Aeria like a flash of silver light, and
+dropped to earth on the shores of the lake. In the same grove of
+palms which had witnessed their despairing betrothal he found Natasha
+swinging in a hammock, with a black-eyed six-weeks'-old baby nestling
+in her bosom, and her own loveliness softened and etherealised by the
+sacred grace of motherhood.
+
+"Welcome, my lord!" she said, with a bright flush of pleasure and the
+sweetest smile even he had ever seen transfiguring her beauty, as she
+stretched out her hand in welcome at his approach. "Does the King
+come in peace?"
+
+"Yes, Angel mine! the empire that you asked for is yours. There is
+not a regiment of men under arms in all the civilised world. The last
+battle has been fought and won, and so there is peace on earth at
+last!"
+
+  THE END
+
+  MORRISON AND GIBB PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now Ready, Third Edition.
+
+_308 pages, demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s._,
+
+THE CAPTAIN OF THE MARY ROSE.
+
+_A TALE OF TO-MORROW._
+
+By W. LAIRD CLOWES,
+
+U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE.
+
+With 60 Illustrations by the Chevalier de Martino and Fred. T. Jane.
+
+_A most graphic and enthralling description of the next Naval War
+between France and Great Britain._
+
+     *     *     *     *     *
+
+THE FOLLOWING ARE A FEW PRESS OPINIONS.
+
+"Deserves something more than a mere passing notice."--_The Times._
+
+"Full of exciting situations.... Has manifold attractions for all
+sorts of readers."--_Army and Navy Gazette._
+
+"The most notable book of the season."--_The Standard._
+
+"A clever book. Mr. Clowes is pre-eminent for literary touch and
+practical knowledge of naval affairs."--_Daily Chronicle._
+
+"Mr. W. Laird Clowes' exciting story."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+"We read 'The Captain of the Mary Rose' at a sitting."--_The Pall
+Mall Gazette._
+
+"Written with no little spirit and imagination.... A stirring romance
+of the future."--_Manchester Guardian._
+
+"Is of a realistic and exciting character.... Designed to show what
+the naval warfare of the future may be."--_Glasgow Herald._
+
+"One of the most interesting volumes of the year."--_Liverpool
+Journal of Commerce._
+
+"It is well told and magnificently illustrated."--_United Service
+Magazine._
+
+"Full of absorbing interest."--_Engineer's Gazette._
+
+"Is intensely realistic, so much so that after commencing the story
+every one will be anxious to read to the end."--_Dundee Advertiser._
+
+"The book is splendidly illustrated."--_Northern Whig._
+
+TOWER PUBLISHING CO. LIMITED,
+
+91 MINORIES, LONDON, E.C.;
+
+_And all Booksellers throughout the Kingdom_.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Angel of the Revolution, by George Griffith
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