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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of King of the Air, by Herbert Strang
+
+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: King of the Air
+ Or, To Morocco on an Aeroplane
+
+Author: Herbert Strang
+
+Illustrator: W. E. Webster
+
+Release Date: June 16, 2011 [EBook #36443]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KING OF THE AIR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank, Juliet Sutherland and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+ Complete List of Stories for Boys by
+ HERBERT STRANG
+
+ ADVENTURES OF DICK TREVANION, THE
+ ADVENTURES OF HARRY ROCHESTER, THE
+ A GENTLEMAN-AT-ARMS
+ A HERO OF LIÉGE
+ A THOUSAND MILES AN HOUR
+ AIR PATROL, THE
+ AIR SCOUT, THE
+ BARCLAY OF THE GUIDES
+ BLUE RAIDER, THE
+ BOYS OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
+ BRIGHT IDEAS
+ BURTON OF THE FLYING CORPS
+ CARRY ON
+ CRUISE OF THE GYRO-CAR, THE
+ DAN BOLTON'S DISCOVERY
+ FIGHTING WITH FRENCH
+ FLYING BOAT, THE
+ FRANK FORESTER
+ HEIR OF A HUNDRED KINGS, THE
+ HUMPHREY BOLD
+ JACK BROWN IN CHINA
+ JACK HARDY
+ KING OF THE AIR
+ KOBO
+ LONG TRAIL, THE
+ LORD OF THE SEAS
+ MARTIN OF OLD LONDON
+ MOTOR SCOUT, THE
+ NO MAN'S ISLAND
+ OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN, THE
+ ONE OF CLIVE'S HEROES
+ PALM TREE ISLAND
+ RIDERS, THE
+ RIVER PIRATES, THE
+ ROB THE RANGER
+ ROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS
+ SAMBA
+ SETTLERS AND SCOUTS
+ SULTAN JIM
+ SWIFT AND SURE
+ THROUGH THE ENEMY'S LINES
+ TOM BURNABY
+ TOM WILLOUGHBY'S SCOUTS
+ TRUE AS STEEL
+ WINNING HIS NAME
+ WITH DRAKE ON THE SPANISH MAIN
+ WITH HAIG ON THE SOMME
+ YOUNG JACK
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: HE CLUTCHED AT THE GRAPNEL, LET GO HIS HOLD OF THE MAST,
+AND SWUNG CLEAR. Frontispiece--see page 79]
+
+
+
+
+ KING OF THE AIR
+
+ Or, To Morocco on an Aeroplane
+
+ By
+
+ HERBERT STRANG
+
+ ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR BY W. E. WEBSTER
+
+
+ HUMPHREY MILFORD
+ OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
+
+ LONDON, EDINBURGH, GLASGOW
+ TORONTO, MELBOURNE, CAPE TOWN, BOMBAY
+
+
+
+
+ Copyright 1907 by the Bobbs-Merrill Company
+ in the United States of America.
+
+ Published 1907.
+
+ Reprinted 1908, 1909, 1911, 1913 (twice), 1915 (twice),
+ 1917, 1918, 1919 (twice), 1920, 1923, 1929
+
+ Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay & Sons, Limited,
+ Bungay, Suffolk.
+
+
+
+
+ CONTENTS
+
+ CHAPTER PAGE
+ I. Mr. Greatorex is Astonished 9
+ II. Herr Schwab 20
+ III. Tom makes Experiments 34
+ IV. A Prisoner in Zemmur 51
+ V. Off the Barbary Coast 63
+ VI. Salathiel ben Ezra 81
+ VII. The Hills of Zemmur 98
+ VIII. The Swordsmith of Ain Afroo 116
+ IX. A Bolt from the Blue 133
+ X. The Kasbah 148
+ XI. Prison Breakers 167
+ XII. A Hitch 182
+ XIII. Diplomacy 196
+ XIV. The Troglodytes 218
+ XV. View Halloo! 233
+ XVI. Icarus 248
+ XVII. Compliments and Thanks 262
+
+
+
+
+ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+ "He clutched at the grapnel, let go his hold
+ of the mast, and swung clear" 79
+
+ "His sword flew from his grasp, and he reeled
+ dizzily to the ground." 130
+
+ "Tom, seizing a big stone, threw it with all his
+ force into the black room beneath" 187
+
+ "Abdul bent over the brink and smartly rapped his
+ knuckles with the butt of Tom's revolver" 222
+
+
+
+
+KING OF THE AIR
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I--MR. GREATOREX IS ASTONISHED
+
+
+Mr. John Greatorex was very wealthy, and very obstinate. He had made a
+large fortune as a manufacturer of chemicals, but disclaimed any
+knowledge of chemistry. He had dabbled a little in mechanics, and was
+convinced that he possessed an accurate practical knowledge of its
+applications. Consequently, when his new motor-car arrived, he saw no
+necessity to take a chauffeur with him on its trial spin. He was like a
+child with a new toy, jealous of participation.
+
+"My dear," said Mrs. Greatorex, as she handed him his motor goggles,
+"are you sure you will not take Timothy? What if it breaks down?"
+
+"My _love_," said Mr. Greatorex in his emphatic way, "I do not _want_
+Timothy. It will not break down. If it _does_, I flatter myself I am
+_competent_ to make any _necessary_ repairs. I shall be back at
+seven-thirty--in good time for dinner; and I _hope and trust_ the soup
+will _not_ be cold."
+
+He gave a preliminary _honk! honk!_ looking round with a smile that
+plainly said, "There! you see that _everything_ is in order!" Then he
+steered the car accurately down the drive to the road.
+
+His house lying in the heart of the country, Mr. Greatorex did not fear
+to meet milestones in the shape of policemen with stop-watches, who
+would take his number and afterwards confront him in court. In a minute
+or two the car was whirling along the road at a rate which, it is to be
+feared, gravely exceeded the speed limit. All went merry as a
+marriage-bell, and Mr. Greatorex was at the height of exhilaration and
+satisfaction, when, just as he was mounting the acclivity of Five Oaks
+Bridge, without even a click in warning, the machine came to a dead
+stop. Mr. Greatorex put the engine out of gear, then tried to start it
+by turning the starting handle; but finding this of no avail he clapped
+on the brake, skipped out of the car, removed his goggles and his
+gloves, and set about making an examination.
+
+On the other side of the bridge, sitting on the bank of the stream, was
+a boy, gazing with round eyes at a float that hung from a line attached
+to a long home-made rod of yew. He had heard the clatter of the
+motor-car as it came along the road; he was aware that the noise had
+suddenly ceased; but, being a lad of great concentration, he did not
+give a thought to what was happening out of sight at the further end of
+the bridge. He had come out for an afternoon's fishing; two or three fat
+carp lay beside him on the bank; and noticing at this moment a slight
+movement of the float, he was soon oblivious of everything except the
+fish on his hook.
+
+Half an hour passed. Three more fish had rewarded his patience; then,
+satisfied with his catch, the boy rose, methodically wound up his line,
+and, leaving reel, rod and basket on the bank, walked up on to the
+bridge, to investigate the meaning of sundry strange noises he had
+heard, vaguely, in the intervals between the bites.
+
+As he gained the foot of the bridge, where a motor-car stood somewhat
+askew across the road, he caught sight of a pair of brown boots
+projecting from beneath the machine. Nothing but the boots was visible;
+but they moved, and it was clear that they shod the feet of some living
+person, for there came puffs and grunts and explosive monosyllables
+resembling those he had sometimes heard on the golf-links near his home.
+
+The boy leant against the parapet, stuck his hands into his pockets, and
+watched. By and by there was an ejaculation of peculiar vehemence; the
+boots moved out into the road, followed by a pair of grey-trousered
+legs, a soiled and rumpled motor-coat, and a very red and dirty face;
+the boy took especial note of a black patch in the very centre of a
+shiny skull.
+
+Puffing and blowing, Mr. Greatorex crawled from under his new car, and
+stood upon his feet--a rather disreputable-looking object--staring
+wrathfully at the offending car. He had not perceived the small
+spectator.
+
+"Wish I _had_ brought Timothy!" he muttered. "_Confound_ the brute!"
+
+He looked at his grimy hands, at his mud-stained clothes, up the road,
+down the road, and finally at the boy, who had at last made an
+impression on his retina.
+
+"Hi, boy!" he said.
+
+The boy approached with a shy smile. Mr. Greatorex scowled, conscious of
+his plight.
+
+"Boy, tell me, and don't _grin_, is there a smith anywhere in this
+neighbourhood?"
+
+"In the village, sure, measter."
+
+"Where is the village?"
+
+"About three miles away, over yonder."
+
+"God bless me! Three miles! Well, look here, boy, I'll give you
+_sixpence_ to run there and send the smith back--behind a horse, on a
+bicycle, _anyhow_--to mend this confounded machine. I'm twenty miles away
+from _home_, you understand, and I shall be _late_ for dinner. I'll make
+it a _shilling_ if the smith is here within an hour."
+
+The boy looked up into the wrathful face and smiled again.
+
+"Would 'ee like me to mend un for 'ee? 'Twould maybe save time."
+
+Mr. Greatorex stared.
+
+"_You_ mend it! 'Pon my word!"
+
+And then he burst into a roar of laughter which carried away his
+ill-humour, for Mr. Greatorex was normally a very good-tempered person.
+
+The situation was, in truth, amusing. The boy was a little fellow under
+four feet high. He had a round chubby face, not free from stains. He
+wore corduroy breeches much too large for him, big clumping boots, and a
+flannel shirt open at the neck. His blue eyes peeped up from beneath a
+large, soft, much-discoloured straw hat. And this little urchin had
+actually offered to mend a motor-car with which Mr. Greatorex, with all
+his knowledge of mechanism, had been struggling for half an hour in
+vain!
+
+Mr. Greatorex laughed again.
+
+"Come, cut along, youngster," he said genially. "Let me see how _fast_
+you can run."
+
+"I'll mend un if you give me leave. 'Twill save time," persisted the
+boy.
+
+Mr. Greatorex pulled out his watch. What a joke, he thought--this sprat
+of a boy offering to tackle his huge motor-car! It was only a little
+after five; there might still be time to fetch the smith, get the
+repairs made, and yet reach home by half-past seven. A little rest would
+not come amiss after his exertions. Why not let the youngster try his
+hand--for the fun of it?
+
+"Well then, _fire_ away, my young engineer. I've been at it half an
+hour, _confound_ the thing!"
+
+"What have 'ee done, measter?"
+
+"Done? Everything! Examined the sparking plugs: _they're_ all right.
+Wires from battery: _they're_ all right. Battery itself, _that's_ all
+right. Plenty of petrol in the tank. _Every_thing's all right, hang it,
+and yet the thing _won't_ go!"
+
+"Don't you worrit, measter. Give me a lend of your tools."
+
+The boy's cocksureness again amused Mr. Greatorex, who seated himself on
+the parapet of the bridge, and mopped his perspiring face, smiling
+pleasantly. Though past fifty he was still young at heart, and very
+ready to be amused. He took out a pipe, filled and lit it, and puffed
+away, with an expression of serene contentment on his rubicund dirty
+face.
+
+The boy flung off his hat and disappeared. Metallic sounds came from the
+interior of the car.
+
+"How are you getting on, boy?" asked Mr. Greatorex after some ten
+minutes.
+
+There was no answer.
+
+Five minutes passed.
+
+"Find it rather too _much_ for you, eh?" said Mr. Greatorex, looking
+more amused than ever.
+
+Still there was no answer.
+
+"Got everything you want?" he asked again.
+
+But the boy made no reply; only the sound of knocking and screwing
+continued.
+
+Mr. Greatorex laughed aloud.
+
+"Come," he said, getting up and standing with legs astraddle a foot or
+two from the car, "you mustn't make _too_ long a _job_ of it, you know."
+Then he chuckled.
+
+Five minutes afterwards the boy crawled out. Mr. Greatorex laughed again
+as he surveyed the grimy little fellow. A great patch of black
+surrounded one eye, where he had rubbed his knuckles.
+
+"All right now, measter," said the boy.
+
+"What! Come, my lad, you've _had your_ turn; now run along and fetch the
+smith."
+
+"Bean't no need. She'll go now."
+
+Mr. Greatorex looked impressed, stepped to the front of the car, and
+turned the handle; to his amazement the engines started. He sprang into
+the car, threw the engines into gear, and was still more amazed when,
+releasing the clutch pedal, he found that the car moved.
+
+"Better take off the brake, measter," said the boy.
+
+"Why, yes, certainly," said Mr. Greatorex, with a preoccupied air, and
+the car mounted the incline, spun across the bridge, and ran easily down
+the road. Then Mr. Greatorex stopped it and turned round.
+
+"Hi, boy!" he shouted. The boy picked up his hat, stuck it on his head,
+and approached.
+
+"Look here, youngster," said Mr. Greatorex, "the car is all _right_!"
+
+"Told 'ee so, measter."
+
+Mr. Greatorex roared.
+
+"You're a wonderful little chap. Bless my soul, how did you _do_ it?"
+
+"I'll show 'ee if you'll get out."
+
+"No thank 'ee. I've already had half an hour at it, and I'm as black as
+a nigger. What was wrong?"
+
+"A bit of grit was stuck in the petrol spray nozzle, so you couldn't get
+no petrol into the carburetter."
+
+"Oh!" said Mr. Greatorex blankly. "What's your name?"
+
+"Tom Dorrell."
+
+"You don't happen to be manager of a motor-works, I suppose?"
+
+"No," said the boy, unconscious of the genial sarcasm.
+
+"Where d'you live?"
+
+"In the village yonder," said Tom, pointing ahead.
+
+"Oh! Ah! Look _here_, my lad, why aren't you at school?"
+
+"Why, 'cos 'tis holidays," he replied with a grin. "Feyther didn't want
+me, so I came out to fish."
+
+"Oh, indeed. And who's your father?"
+
+"He be the smith you wanted me to fetch; but there warn't no need."
+
+"So it appears! I say, my lad, how _old_ are you?"
+
+"Twelve, and I'm in the sixth standard."
+
+"You are, are you? And how long have you been mending motor-cars?"
+
+"Not so very long. I help feyther now and again; motor-cars are always
+breaking down, and he has mended a rare lot of 'em."
+
+"Ah! And how much would he have charged for mending this one?"
+
+"About two shillings, I reckon; it wasn't a very hard job."
+
+"Oh! Well, here's two shillings for you. Don't spend it _all_ on
+sweets."
+
+"Not me," said the boy with a grin. "I'm saving up, I am."
+
+"Indeed! What for?"
+
+"Why, for heaps of things. I want a model of a four-coupled bogie tank
+engine, and a model of a turbine steamer, and a motor bicycle----"
+
+"Steady, youngster. That's rather a _large_ order, isn't it? You've got
+a fancy for mechanics, eh!"
+
+"Mechanics! Not me! That's what they teach in the seventh standard. I
+like engines, I do--machines that'll go. I'm going to be an engineer some
+day--if I can; feyther says it costs a mint of money, and he hasn't got
+much, and he says he don't hold with flying too high, and I'd much
+better be a smith. But there's nothing new in smith's work: you just go
+on shoeing horses, and sticking fellies on wheels, and mending prams and
+motor-cars now and then. I want to do something new, I do."
+
+"Ah! What's your father's name?"
+
+"Dorrell, same as mine."
+
+"Naturally. And what do you call your village?"
+
+"Barton Abbas."
+
+"Well, Tom, here's your two shillings. You've got a bank-book, I
+suppose."
+
+"Rather. I've got three pounds fourteen and ninepence; this makes
+sixteen and ninepence. I shall have another sixpence on Saturday for
+cleaning pa'son's bicycle; that'll make seventeen and threepence. Pa'son
+gives me sixpence a week."
+
+"You're getting quite rich, you know. Well, Tom, thanks to you I _shall_
+get home in time for dinner."
+
+"I'm pretty hungry," said Tom. "I guess it's past my tea-time."
+
+"No doubt it is. _Strawberry_ jam, eh?"
+
+"No. Mother says that's too dear. We have rhubarb and marrow, growed in
+the garden."
+
+"And very good stuff, too. _By George!_ I haven't had marrow jam for
+forty years."
+
+"You be pretty old then: older than feyther."
+
+"Well, d'you know, Tom, I am _several years_ younger than I was two
+hours ago. Good-bye!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II--HERR SCHWAB
+
+
+One spring day, rather more than six years after the meeting of Mr.
+Greatorex and Tom Dorrell by Five Oaks Bridge, a shabby pony cart was
+jogging along the road that led from the little railway station of
+Midfont, through the sleepy village of the same name, to Midfont House,
+the rural retreat to which Mr. Greatorex betook himself from his
+business in the great manufacturing town of Burlingham some dozen miles
+away. The sole occupant of the cart was a large florid man of about
+forty-five, who eyed the surroundings curiously through heavy
+gold-rimmed spectacles, the sluggish pony he drove requiring little
+attention.
+
+His costume, no less than his spectacles, was strangely out of keeping
+with the cart. That would have been a fit setting for a farm-hand, or a
+carrier, or some other wearer of fustian. But its present occupant was
+attired in a well-cut grey frock-coat, silk lined, a glossy silk hat, a
+lilac-coloured necktie in which flashed a diamond pin, and trousers of
+large check pattern. His hands were gloved in brown kid; between his
+teeth he held a long cigar.
+
+He looked about him with intention. Unfenced fields stretched on either
+side of the road. Every now and again the driver would pull up, stand on
+the seat, and throw a searching glance around. Then, muttering under his
+breath words that were certainly strange to that part of the English
+midlands, he would drive on again, looking to right and left as before.
+
+By and by he came to a part of the road where a long wooden fence on the
+right-hand side indicated an enclosure. To this the driver gave his
+whole attention, and when the fence was broken by a wide wooden gate,
+within which a carriage drive ran past a little lodge and between hedges
+of evergreen, he pulled up, alighted from the cart, and, leading the
+pony by the nose, went to the gate and gave the bell-pull a vigorous
+tug. It might have been noticed that he walked a little lame.
+
+In response to his summons a man came to the gate--a young man, thin,
+clean-shaven, with a slight cast in one eye. He was bareheaded, wore a
+red waistcoat over a flannel shirt, and brown corduroy breeches,
+supported by a leather belt and somewhat creased above brown leggings.
+
+"So!" said the driver of the pony cart, as the lodgekeeper rested his
+arms on the second bar of the gate and looked at him. "Zis, my goot
+friend, is Midfont House?"
+
+"You've got it right, guv'nor."
+
+"So! Zen I ask, is Mr. Thomas Dorrell at home?"
+
+"Nice day, guv'nor."
+
+"I zank you, yes, it is not bad. Mr. Thomas Dorrell----"
+
+"No; my name's Timothy Ball--T. B. on my collars."
+
+"I zank you. Mr. Thomas Dorrell----"
+
+"This 'ere place belongs to Mr. John Greatorex, Esquire, J.P., and he
+ain't at home, bein' engaged in trying a bad case of stealin' lamb and
+mint-sauce not a many miles from 'ere."
+
+"My goot friend, I do not mind; I like it. I come not to see Mr.
+Greatorex, I come to see Mr. Thomas Dorrell----"
+
+"Now, look 'ere, guv'nor, we've had chaps 'ere before with cheap watches
+and dear books and thingummies of all sorts, and I tell you straight, we
+don't encourage 'em; in fact, I've got strict orders from Mr. Greatorex,
+J.P., to set the dog on any such that won't take no for an answer."
+
+"My goot friend, you mistake. Vizout doubt I carry, some days, books,
+editions de luxe, and vatches and ozer zinks, but to-day--no, no. Look,
+here is my carte----"
+
+"And a rum-lookin' ramshackle turn-out it is," quoth Timothy, ignoring
+the piece of pasteboard and eyeing the vehicle disdainfully. "I wonder
+you ain't ashamed to come out in a 'at like that, togged up to the
+nines, quite a torf, and your pony as looks as if he ain't had a
+currycomb on his hide for a month o' Sundays."
+
+"Ah, you mistake me all ze time. Ze bony, he is not mine; I hire him to
+bring me to Midfont House. Here is my carte, my friend. Take it to Mr.
+Thomas Dorrell, viz gompliments. He do not know my name, so! But he know
+ze name of ze firma I rebresent, and he vill like to see me, I know zat,
+because he place large orders, vair large, viz our gompany; he is vat
+you call a gustomer, you understand."
+
+Timothy Ball looked doubtfully at the visitor, and at the card he
+offered to him.
+
+"There's customers, and rum customers," he said.
+
+"Rum!" interrupted the stranger. "If Mr. Dorrell like rum, we can subbly
+any quantity, in cask or bottle, at rock-bottom price."
+
+Timothy sniggered and rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand.
+
+"Rum ain't the word for it," he said. "'Tis downright bloomin' funny,
+that's what it is. Well, guv'nor, hold hard a bit; I'll just 'phone
+through to Mr. Dorrell and tell him you're here. _'Ow_ do you say your
+name?"
+
+"Schwab! Hildebrand Schwab, rebresentative of ze Schlagintwert Gombany
+of Düsseldorf."
+
+"Can't say all that; telephone won't stand it. Wait a bit while I try
+Swob."
+
+He rang up and put his ear to the receiver.
+
+"Are you there? That you, Mr. Dorrell?... There's a man here ... a man
+... a gentleman to see you, name Swib ... Swob! So he _said_, sir....
+Travels for rum, by what I can make out----"
+
+"No! no!" cried Schwab; but Timothy glared him into silence.
+
+"Said you wouldn't know him, sir, but you're a customer of his firm....
+No, sir, _not_ rum.... Can't say it, sir.... Very well, sir (glancing at
+the card): S C H L A G I N T W.... You've got it, sir.... He didn't say,
+sir.... Very well, sir."
+
+"Mr. Dorrell wants to know what you've come for."
+
+"Vill you be so kind as permit me to speak to him myself?"
+
+"No; your trotter might run away.... Yes, sir, one minute.... Now, out
+with it, Mr. Swob; Mr. Dorrell's busy."
+
+"Zen tell him I come from Düsseldorf on behalf of my firma to pay zeir
+respects and gompliments to zeir valued gustomer and to zay zat ve shall
+be alvays most pleased to subbly anyzink vatefer zat Mr. Dorrell vants
+in quickest possible tempo egzept our Number Six Photographic Sensitizer
+vich require fortnight notice----"
+
+"Arf a mo!... Yes, sir, but there's such a lot of it I can't get hold of
+it all.... No, sir, not walk; the gentleman's rather lame, sir; came in
+a pony cart.... Very well, sir."
+
+"Mr. Dorrell says he'll be here in a few minutes if you'll wait."
+
+"Vy certainly. I can get no train for two hour. I vait in ze house?"
+
+"No, Mr. Dorrell ain't in the house. He'll come here. We always
+interview rum customers at the gate."
+
+"No, no, no; not rum, my friend; and Mr. Dorrell is ze gustomer. He buy
+of _us_; at least, he order; Mr. Greatorex pay."
+
+"Well, it don't matter to you, I s'pose, so long as you get your money?
+Mr. Greatorex's money is good enough for me, anyway. Paid for that
+topping cigar of yours, didn't it?"
+
+"I have not ze honour to know Mr. Greatorex; but I have here a price
+list of cigars, and if----"
+
+"Here's Mr. Dorrell."
+
+"Vere? I see him not."
+
+"Well, he's big enough, though he ain't as broad as he's long: that
+gentleman in the blue clothes comin' down the path."
+
+"Zat Mr. Dorrell! Vy--he is a boy! Himmel!"
+
+"Rum, ain't it? S'pose you never _was_ a boy, Mr. Swob."
+
+A tall loose-limbed young fellow had come into the drive from a side
+path, and was walking with great strides towards the gate. He was
+bareheaded; his black hair tumbled over a brow unusually high and broad.
+No other feature was noticeable except his eyes, which were large, deep
+blue in colour, and shot with a strange glow. He was dressed in a loose
+suit of what appeared to be blue alpaca, which was plentifully
+bestained.
+
+By this time Timothy had opened the gate and given admittance to the
+visitor. Tom Dorrell came up, held out his hand, and said in quick
+decisive tones--
+
+"How d'you do, Mr.----?"
+
+"Schwab, sir--Hildebrand Schwab, rebresentative of ze firma
+Schlagintwert, all orders punctually eggzecuted."
+
+"Sorry to keep you waiting. Very busy, you know; if you had given me
+notice----"
+
+"Ach! I come on ze hop, sir."
+
+Tom smiled.
+
+"Well, glad to see you, anyway. Is there anything I can do for you?"
+
+"Sir, zat is vat I ask you. You give orders, first class, for our
+Photographic Sensitizer Preparation Number Six; but my firma zink you do
+not know, perhaps, zat zey do many ozer zinks beside Photographic
+Sensitizer Preparation Number Six. Vy, zere is nozink vat ve do not do,
+nozink at all. Ve can supply anyzink--soft goots, musical boxes, hair
+oil----"
+
+"I know, I know," said Tom. "I have your price list."
+
+"But not ze new vun--revise and correck carte," returned Schwab, pulling
+from his pocket a bulky volume in red paper cover. "Viz gompliments!"
+
+"Thanks! Now, I am very busy----"
+
+"Shust so! Business are business! Not for ze vorld vould I stand in ze
+light. Only bermit me shust vun vord. Ze orders you give for
+Photographic Sensitizer Preparation Number Six, vy, zey are immense,
+colossal; and you pay on ze nail. My firma get no such orders novere,
+and zey are surprise, because Number Six is new zink; it is not long zat
+it is on ze market. Vy zen come so large orders from so little place?
+Zey zink zere are business to be done; zerefore am I here."
+
+"Well, you can't expect the merits of the stuff to be known all at
+once."
+
+"Shust so. Zerefore I come! Schlagintwert say: 'Mr. Dorrell use a great
+lot of P.S.P. No. 6; zerefore muss it be vair goot; go and see Mr.
+Dorrell; perhaps he be so kind to give testimonial--zat vill be goot
+business.'"
+
+"Afraid I can't do that. You see, I don't use it in photography, and
+that is what you advertise it for."
+
+"But ve vill advertise it for anyzink you please!"
+
+"My use of it is secret at present."
+
+"Zen ve vill buy ze secret! Ve are vair rich firma."
+
+"But it wouldn't be a secret then."
+
+"Zat is true, but it vould be business. Zere vill be patent rights,
+perhaps; vell, ve buy zem; ve buy anyzink zat is goot business."
+
+"No, I haven't taken out a patent. It is very good of you, Mr. Schwab,
+if at any time----"
+
+"Ach! Vat you call any time!--zat is no time. Now, now is ze time. I am
+in zis country only few days. I go soon to Morocco for business. I
+suffer egstremely from sea-illness, but for business I go anyvere. Zink
+how it vould console me in ze Bay of Biscay to know zat I had done goot
+business for Schlagintwert--and for you, Mr. Dorrell."
+
+"Sorry. Really I can't say any more, Mr. Schwab. I _must_ go; look me up
+again, if you like, when you get back from Morocco."
+
+Recognizing that Tom was not to be drawn, the German swallowed his
+disappointment, took leave in most expansive terms, and was soon jogging
+back in the direction from which he had come. But finding, on arriving
+at the station, that he had an hour to wait for his train, he introduced
+himself to the station-master and tactfully led the conversation to
+Midfont House and its owner, Mr. Greatorex. What he learnt in the course
+of it was something to the following effect.
+
+Some years before, Mr. Greatorex had discovered a taste for mechanics in
+the son of the village smith at Barton Abbas, twenty miles away. He had
+put the boy to a good school, often had him at Midfont House in the
+holidays, and paid his fees at the university in the neighbouring town,
+where the boy took honours in mechanics and engineering at a very early
+age. Then, about a year before this time, Mr. Greatorex had fenced in a
+large piece of waste ground on his estate, erected a workshop in the
+middle of it, and given it up entirely to young Dorrell, who was now
+apparently a permanent inmate of his house. What went on in the workshop
+the station-master did not know. The enclosure was kept strictly
+private; nobody outside the family was ever allowed to pass its borders.
+The station-master believed that young Dorrell was inventing a
+motor-car; it was said that Mr. Greatorex's interest in him dated from
+the day when the boy had repaired some trifling mishap which had
+befallen his car on the road.
+
+The effect of this information on Herr Schwab was greater than the
+station-master ever knew. When the train came in, the German got into
+it; but he alighted at the next station two miles off, and trudged back
+over the road until he once more stood at the gate of Midfont House. It
+was now dark. Schwab did not this time pull the bell. He walked on past
+the gate for a good quarter of a mile, then halted at a large heap of
+stones collected for mending the road.
+
+There were no wayfarers at this late hour; nobody saw how this big
+figure in the frock-coat employed himself. He filled his glossy hat with
+flints from the heap, carried it to the foot of the fence, and emptied
+it there, returning for another hatful. After an hour's patient work a
+pile of stones stood some three feet high against the fence. Mopping his
+damp brow, dusting the inside of his hat, and replacing it on his head,
+Schwab mounted the pile, clambered over the fence, and dropped down
+somewhat heavily on the other side. Not till that moment had he given a
+thought to the means of getting back; and looking up at the fence, the
+top of which was quite beyond his reach, he uttered a low guttural
+exclamation of dismay. But the die was cast! Consumed by his curiosity
+to learn more about this mysterious workshop, in the way of business, he
+had come thus far, and as there was apparently no going back he decided
+to make his way forward.
+
+He found himself in an extensive meadow, bordered by trees. No
+habitation was in sight. The moon threw a little light on the scene,
+and, after walking for some minutes over the grass, he perceived a long
+low oblong building which, as he drew nearer, he saw was built of wood,
+with no windows in the walls, but having fanlights in the sloping roof.
+There was but one door.
+
+"Ich hoffe dass die Thur nicht verriegelt ist!" he muttered as, glancing
+apprehensively round, he approached to try the handle. He was not
+conscious of anything improper in this nocturnal enterprise: was it not
+all in the way of business?
+
+He came to the door, and grasped the handle....
+
+When he recovered consciousness he found himself on his back on the
+grass. In his right hand there was a feeling as if it had been burnt to
+the bone. With many sighs and groans he rose, sought for his hat, and,
+turning his back on the workshop, limped sadly towards the fence. His
+whole body tingled with the electric shock. Bitterly he lamented his
+unhappy zeal for business. What an abominable device for protecting the
+premises! And there was that terrible fence to be climbed, or he would
+have to remain all night in the field, assuredly to be discovered in the
+morning and suspected of felonious intent. He remembered that Timothy
+Ball had spoken of his master as a magistrate, and saw himself already,
+frock-coat, silk hat and all, in a felon's cell.
+
+Shaken to the core he came to the fence, and spent a weary hour in
+groping up and down, trying to find an outlet. At length, when he had
+almost given up hope, and was trying to steel his soul against the
+exposure of the morrow, he reached a tree whose branches overhung the
+fence. It was more than thirty years since, as a boy, he had climbed a
+tree in sport; who could have foreseen that now, a man of bulk, he would
+be forced to attempt the feat in the interests of business? And his
+right hand was so desperately painful! Luckily the trunk was gnarled and
+a branch hung low. He tried to heave himself up, and his hat fell off.
+He picked it up and shied it impatiently over the fence. Then he tried
+again, and felt in the extremity of despair when he heard the _oosh_ of
+tearing silk. Alas! for his new frock-coat! But he was at least safely
+on the bough. He worked himself along it, dreading lest it should snap,
+and conscious of the inconvenience of fourteen stone. Happily he was now
+on the right side of the fence. He dropped, and alighted in a bed of
+nettles. He got up, found his hat, mechanically brushed it with his
+sleeve, and set it on his head.
+
+"Ach! Ich unglücklicher!" he sighed as he set off up the road.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III--TOM MAKES EXPERIMENTS
+
+
+The information given to Herr Schwab by the Midfont station-master was
+accurate up to a certain point. Mr. Greatorex had indeed constituted
+himself the beneficent patron of Tom Dorrell, educated him, entertained
+him at Midfont House, and built for him a workshop in the grounds. So
+far the station-master was right. But when he added that Tom was working
+at a new motor-car, he stated a hypothesis, not a fact.
+
+About a year before this time, when Tom came to Midfont House to spend a
+month's holiday, he brought with him a small model of an aerial machine
+on which he had been quietly working in leisure moments. He showed it to
+Mr. Greatorex.
+
+"Very pretty," said the worthy merchant, examining the toy; "but it
+won't _go_."
+
+"Oh yes it will," said Tom. "See!"
+
+They were in Mr. Greatorex's study at the time. Tom poised the model on
+his left hand, released a spring, and the little aeroplane, with a whizz
+and a hum, soared across the room, and, before it could be stopped,
+dashed against the glass door of a bookcase and shivered it to atoms.
+
+"I'm awfully sorry," said Tom contritely, picking up the machine and
+silencing it.
+
+"What _are_ you doing, John?" said Mrs. Greatorex, opening the door.
+"What a terrible mess!" she added, surveying the litter on the floor.
+
+"It shall be swept up, my dear," said Mr. Greatorex. "You can't make
+omelets without breaking _eggs_, my love."
+
+Mrs. Greatorex looked a little puzzled.
+
+"Of course not, my dear," she said after a moment. Then with a
+deprecating smile she went away. Mr. Greatorex locked the door.
+
+"Now, Tom," he said, "just _explain_, will you? Begin at the beginning;
+I want to _know_, you know."
+
+"Well, I've been thinking a lot at odd times about airships and things,
+and reading up what they've been doing in France and Germany. There's
+little prospect of making a really serviceable machine out of the old
+gas balloon; it's far too clumsy; can't make headway against a strong
+wind; but I didn't see why something shouldn't be done on the lines of
+the aeroplane. You see, it's easy enough to set the thing going, and
+even to steer it, when you've got it up in the air; but there are three
+difficulties: to get it up, to let it down without smashing it to bits,
+and to keep it from turning somersaults. You can overcome the force of
+gravity by an arrangement of planes when you keep up a good speed; but
+if you slacken speed, down you come. And all the aeroplanes that have
+been invented yet can't rise in the air at any given spot. They either
+have to be thrown off from some elevated position, or they have to get
+up a momentum along the ground, running like a motor-car. Then again,
+the motor machinery has been too heavy; engines haven't been able to
+exert sufficient horse-power in proportion to their own weight. I've
+worked it out, and I calculate that no good can be done till you get an
+engine that'll give you one horse-power to every two and a half pounds
+of its weight."
+
+"Yes. Well?"
+
+"Well, this model is the result of no end of experiments. It goes, as
+you see; but besides sailing horizontally, it will lift itself. Look!"
+
+He took up the little machine, released another spring, and the
+miniature airship went flying to the ceiling, where it remained until
+the spring ran down.
+
+"All very well," said Mr. Greatorex, unwilling to admit that he was
+impressed; "but the thing is only a _toy_. There's all the difference in
+the world between a model and the _real thing_, you know. You could
+never get a spring strong enough to lift a real machine. I'm not
+satisfied that you could even get the horizontal motion you're so
+cocksure of, with a machine that would carry _men_."
+
+"No spring would do it, it is true; but I've worked out an application
+of the principle. It's well known that a propeller rotating at
+sufficient speed can be made to lift a weight into the air. Of course we
+couldn't set a real airship rotating bodily; no aeronaut's head would
+stand it if we could. But, as you saw, my model doesn't rotate itself.
+I've only made use of the principle--pretty successfully, don't you
+think?"
+
+"Just explain to me _thoroughly_, will you? I want a little more _light_
+on the subject."
+
+Tom took his model, and patiently expounded the mechanical principles on
+which he had worked. The upshot of this and other conversations was that
+Mr. Greatorex became first interested, then enthusiastic, and finally
+determined. He had a workshop erected on a large piece of waste ground
+nearly a mile and a half square on his estate, and gave Tom carte
+blanche to get what assistance and spend what money he pleased.
+Resolving to keep the matter a close secret until the experiments were
+concluded, he fenced in the enclosure, and gave strict orders that no
+one was to be admitted to it without Tom's consent. Tom himself devised
+a simple means of defending the workshop from prying visitors. Whenever
+he left it, he set going a strong electric current through the door
+handle, which was a more effective protection than locks and bolts.
+
+Tom found, as soon as he came to enlarge his model into a practical
+working size, that none of the motors then on the market was
+sufficiently powerful in proportion to its weight to give him the
+necessary lifting force. The electric motor was out of the question, and
+an adaptation of the latest petrol engine as applied to motor-cars and
+launches seemed to offer the most likely solution. Even here, however,
+the march of invention had not gone far enough. The latest petrol motor,
+it is true, enabled Tom to keep the machine at a constant altitude when
+once it was in flight; but it failed to raise it from a position of
+rest. Some other method must be found, and he set his wits to work to
+discover it.
+
+The first condition of success was, he felt, the discovery of an
+explosive mixture far more powerful than that offered by petrol, and yet
+capable of being harnessed and controlled. He had the run of Mr.
+Greatorex's chemical laboratories, and the benefit of the practical
+advice and assistance of the heads of the experimental staff. Scores of
+preparations were tried, and, for one reason or another, rejected. Where
+sufficient power was obtained, it was almost invariably found that the
+mixture was not stable or uniform in its effects. Several explosive
+mixtures were discovered quite powerful enough for the purpose; but, as
+Mr. Greatorex's chief chemist pointed out, all of them were likely to
+blow the airship to smithereens in the event of any accident to the
+machinery.
+
+It was some months after the beginning of the experiments when one of
+the junior chemists came to Tom with the announcement that he had
+discovered what he thought might be the very substance required. A
+German firm, Schlagintwert & Co. of Düsseldorf, had placed on the market
+a few months earlier a powder which, used as a solution, was highly
+valuable in preparing photographic plates. The exact ingredients of the
+powder were unknown, although by analysis it had been found to consist
+of nitrate compounds; but the buyer was warned by a label that it should
+not be exposed to great heat owing to the danger of explosion. It had
+occurred to the chemist to mix a little of this powder with petrol. The
+result was a paste which dried hard, but gave off almost infinitesimal
+particles of a highly explosive nature, when floating in an air chamber,
+though the paste itself was not explosive either under heat or shock.
+
+Tom was delighted with the discovery, and at once proceeded to construct
+an engine suitable to the peculiar properties of the composition. In
+building the motor he adapted the principle of the turbine to airship
+navigation. A powerful fan drove the current of air through a number of
+perforated aluminium plates covered with the paste. The resultant
+mixture of air and explosive particles passed into the explosion
+chamber, the intake being controlled by automatic valves connected with
+the turbine. The explosion of the mixture was brought about by a
+sparking plug connected with a small electric battery, the sparking
+being controlled by a cam on the shaft. At each explosion, the gas
+generated was forced at an enormous pressure through the turbine to the
+right of the explosion chamber, thus driving the propeller fixed on the
+shaft.
+
+Tom made his fan serve a double purpose, not only to drive air through
+the aluminium plates, but to send a current round a jacket on the
+outside of the turbine and thus keep the latter cool. This was a highly
+necessary arrangement owing to the enormous heat generated. From the
+first, indeed, the difficulty of cooling the turbine was the most
+serious with which he had to grapple. It required months of experiment
+before the engine could be worked for more than two or three minutes at
+a time. Gradually, however, by increasing the power of the fan, and
+constructing the turbine casing and blades of an alloy specially adapted
+to resist the effects of intense heat, this difficulty was to a great
+extent overcome.
+
+The airship when completed was not unlike a huge bird with wings
+outstretched. The body of the bird consisted of the car and engine. The
+wings were planes of lath strengthened with aluminium, and capable of
+being inclined at any desired angle by the simple movement of a switch
+in the car. A large rectangular plane projecting from the rear of the
+car acted as a rudder, principally for lateral movement, motion upwards
+and downwards being provided for either by the inclination of the larger
+planes or by the special screws actuated by the engine. The latter drove
+two sets of propellers: one fore and aft, giving a horizontal movement,
+the other below and above the car, giving a vertical movement. Either
+set of propellers could be thrown out of gear when desired. Tom would
+have been glad to dispense with the vertical propellers if he could have
+done so, but he found that the whole force of his engine was necessary
+to raise the airship from a position of rest. He had not sufficient
+motive power to enable him to use such an adjustment of oblique
+propellers as would have ensured simultaneous horizontal and vertical
+movement.
+
+Mr. Greatorex at once promoted the fortunate young chemist who had
+discovered the virtues of the Schlagintwert powder, and swore him to
+secrecy. The parts of Tom's machine were made to his order by various
+firms, the work being distributed so that no one firm should be in
+possession of the complete apparatus; and a few weeks before Herr
+Schwab's visit, an aeroplane capable of sustaining the weight of several
+men was finished, and in it Tom made daily trips about the field. He
+tested it so frequently that he used considerable quantities of the
+powder, and it was not surprising that the curiosity of Schlagintwerts
+was aroused by the large orders that came from one small place for an
+article that cost a good deal more than its weight in gold.
+
+Tom was, however, not yet satisfied with his machine. For one thing he
+had found it impossible as yet to return to earth with any exactitude at
+a fixed spot. It was a matter of the nice adjustment of the horizontal
+with the vertical motion, and after repeated failures Tom comforted
+himself with the thought that it must be only after long practice that
+an engine driver could pull his locomotive up to a nicety. Obviously
+much more practice must be required when the task was infinitely more
+difficult.
+
+Further, in spite of the jacket around the turbine, the heat generated
+was still too great to allow of travelling any great distance in safety,
+and the prospective usefulness of the aeroplane was discounted
+accordingly.
+
+It was Mr. Greatorex who suggested a possible way out of the difficulty.
+
+"Why not have two engines instead of one?" he said. "If one breaks
+down--why, there's the other."
+
+"It means more weight," said Tom ruefully, "and therefore less speed and
+less carrying capacity."
+
+"Well, there's no _hurry_, is there? And as for carrying capacity--_I_
+don't intend to tempt the fates, or run the risk of a smash-up like--who
+was it? Icarus? Thought so."
+
+Tom adopted the suggestion. He replaced his first engine by two somewhat
+smaller, so that if one became overheated there was the other in
+reserve. The lifting capacity and the speed of the airship were
+consequently diminished, but scarcely so much as Tom expected.
+
+So far the experiments had been carried on with perfect secrecy. The
+enclosure was surrounded by trees, and Tom was always careful not to
+drive his machine above the level of their tops. But one day, a few
+months after Schwab's visit, he was careering round, to the mingled
+admiration and terror of Timothy Ball watching him from the ground, when
+he was startled by an exclamation that certainly did not spring from the
+lips of that worthy. Timothy was a good quarter-mile away; the voice
+appeared to come from a spot almost vertically below the aeroplane.
+
+"By George! Look there, Mops!"
+
+Tom took a hurried peep over. There, below him, in a gap between the
+trees just beyond the inner fence, stood a tall young fellow in tennis
+flannels, with light blue cap and tie.
+
+"What is it, Pops?" answered a silvery voice; and a second figure joined
+the first--a girl in white.
+
+"Why, look! Hanged if it isn't an aeroplane, going like one o'clock,
+too."
+
+"Oh, how dreadful!" cried the girl, looking up. "I am sure it will fall,
+and there will be a horrid accident. Oh, do come away, Raymond!"
+
+"Not I! This is hot stuff, Mopsy. By Jove, the fellow can steer the
+thing. He's making for that shanty over there--and coming down like a
+lark. I say, Mops, give me a leg-up; I want to have a nearer squint at
+the machine."
+
+"But, Raymond, it's no business of yours--it's--it's trespassing!"
+
+"Trespassing be hanged! We're next-door neighbours. Come, give me a
+shove up."
+
+He clutched the top of the fence; his sister, still feebly
+expostulating, gave him a most workmanlike hoist, and in a few seconds
+he disappeared on the other side. The girl waited a little; then turned
+and walked away.
+
+Her brother meanwhile was hastening across the field towards the
+workshop, near which the aeroplane had by this time alighted. Halfway he
+was met by Timothy Ball, who touched his cap and said--
+
+"Beg pardon, sir, but these are private grounds and you're a
+trespasser."
+
+"That's all right. My name's Oliphant; we're neighbours of yours, you
+know."
+
+"Now, that's a good un. Hold hard, sir"--as the intruder made to walk
+round him--"my orders is to allow no one on the premises! Your name's
+Oliphant, you said? Well, you can't be a neighbour, 'cos the only
+neighbour I knows of is Lord Langside."
+
+"He's my father."
+
+"But--Oliphant----"
+
+"Exactly! Now, come along, my good fellow--I want to see your master."
+
+"He don't want to see you, though. No you don't; keep off, sir; my
+orders is to allow no one on the premises."
+
+Then began a little game of dodging, Timothy stepping in front of the
+intruder and stretching his arms like a cattle driver. In half a minute
+Raymond Oliphant gave it up.
+
+"Really, this is too absurd," he said good-temperedly. "I say, I'll give
+you my word to stay here while you go and tell your master that I'd like
+to introduce myself to him."
+
+"Then you'll stay a long time, 'cos master's in town and won't be home
+till seven o'clock."
+
+"Well then, the driver of that aeroplane, whoever he is. Ah! here he
+comes, thank goodness!"
+
+Tom was hastening across the field. He wore his usual working suit of
+blue alpaca; face and hands were much begrimed.
+
+"Your watch-dog here won't let me pass," said Oliphant with a smile as
+Tom came up. "I told him I was a neighbour, but he thinks I'm a bad lot.
+We've only just come to the place; my father has taken it, you know;
+he's coming down for shooting as soon as Parliament's up. I saw your
+aeroplane skylarking round, and couldn't resist the temptation to come
+over for a nearer look. You don't mind?"
+
+"Well--no." Tom's tone was dubious.
+
+"Oh, if you'd rather not, of course!"
+
+"No, I don't mind really. But Mr. Greatorex is rather particular about
+keeping the matter quiet----"
+
+"I'll be mum as the dead, I assure you. I don't know anything about
+machinery; it isn't in our line at Eton; you needn't be afraid of my
+giving the secret away."
+
+"It isn't that, exactly. I'm not afraid of your discovering the secret
+of the machine; but it's rather important that the fact of its existence
+shouldn't leak out just yet."
+
+"Well, you'll have to make friends with my sister then. She has seen it
+too. It's lucky Mother is in town, or the secret would be out by this
+time."
+
+They were walking now side by side to the shed.
+
+"You're not Mr. Greatorex's son, then?"
+
+"No; my name's Dorrell. I'm no relation of his."
+
+"My name's Raymond Oliphant. I'm just home from Eton; long holidays, you
+know. That's a clinking machine of yours. Never seen anything like it
+before. Did Mr. Greatorex invent it? I understood he was a chemical
+manufacturer."
+
+"No. I did."
+
+"Really! I say--d'you mind?--how old are you?"
+
+"Eighteen."
+
+"Just my age! And I'm rotting about at Eton while you----I say, you ought
+to make a good thing of this."
+
+"It's only experimental at present. We haven't tried a long flight."
+
+"Will you get the Government to take it up? I'll put in a word with the
+pater, you know."
+
+"That's altogether premature," said Tom with a smile.
+
+"Why, it seemed to me to go all right. Will it take two?"
+
+"Two of our weight, I think. Would you like to try?"
+
+"Rather! And I say, just keep out of sight from our grounds, will you?
+If Margaret were to catch sight of me she'd have a fit or something. By
+Jove! it won't be so slow here as I feared."
+
+Oliphant spent a quarter of an hour in the air, and when he descended
+was overflowing with enthusiasm.
+
+"It's simply ripping, Mr. Dorrell," he cried. "I may come again, mayn't
+I?"
+
+"Certainly," said Tom, adding with a smile: "On one condition."
+
+"Trust me, I won't say a word. And I'll shut Margaret's mouth too--if I
+can. Look here, it seems to me you'd be the best man for that job. I'll
+bring Margaret to-morrow--may I?--and when she knows you're the inventor,
+and you impress on her that your life's at stake or something, she'll be
+more likely to hold her tongue than if _I_ jaw. Good-bye."
+
+Tom thought it necessary to inform Mr. Greatorex, in the drawing-room
+before dinner, of what had happened.
+
+"Hm!" he grunted. "Eton boy, is he? Got any _sense_?"
+
+"I didn't examine him," said Tom with a laugh. "I thought him quite a
+decent fellow. He was very good-tempered with Tim, who was a trifle
+taken aback when he learnt that he had ordered off the son of the Prime
+Minister."
+
+"And a precious Prime Minister he _is_! Mark my words, Tom, the
+Country's going to the dogs. To the _dogs_! We're dropping _behind_,
+Tom, and Langside hasn't the grit to prevent it."
+
+"Mr. Oliphant suggested that a word to his father might induce him to
+buy the aeroplane for the Country."
+
+"God bless my soul, you mustn't _dream_ of it! Langside will be turned
+out at the next election; John Brooks will go in, and he's the man to
+steer this old country through. No, no! and if young Oliphant blabs a
+word of it to his father, I'll--I'll----Yes, my love"--as Mrs. Greatorex
+entered--"we were talking about our new neighbour, Lord Langside. It
+appears that his son and daughter have come down."
+
+"Oh, John, do you think I should call?"
+
+"On _no account_, my dear. I _hate_ Langside's politics, and we'll _have
+nothing to do with them_. Now, Tom, give Mrs. Greatorex your arm."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV--A PRISONER IN ZEMMUR
+
+
+A few mornings after the meeting with Raymond Oliphant, Tom, coming down
+to breakfast, found Mr. Greatorex in a state of high excitability, with
+the _Times_ outspread before him.
+
+"What did I say, Tom!" he shouted. "Didn't I _tell_ you the Country was
+going to the dogs! What do you think of _this_, now?"
+
+He read out a short paragraph--
+
+ "Information has just reached the Foreign Office that Sir Mark
+ Ingleton, who recently left London on a diplomatic mission to Morocco,
+ has been captured by tribesmen and carried off to the hills. Strong
+ pressure is being brought to bear on the Sultan to take steps against
+ the offenders; but if, as is feared, Sir Mark Ingleton's captor is the
+ notorious rebel whose headquarters are at Zemmur, there is little hope
+ of the Sultan in his present state of impotence being able to make his
+ authority felt."
+
+"That's what has happened to a servant of the British Crown under
+Langside's administration;" said Mr. Greatorex hotly. "Strong
+_pressure_, indeed! It wants a fleet, an expedition, a few quick-firers
+and Long Toms."
+
+"But wouldn't that make a blaze?" said Tom quietly. "In the present
+state of affairs it might give rise to no end of complications in
+Europe, too."
+
+"Don't tell _me_!" cried Mr. Greatorex, banging his fist on the paper.
+"We're sinking into a state of jelly-fish; any one can poke us and smack
+us and we simply _go in_. This'll smash the Government: that's one good
+thing; and we'll see what John Brooks can do when _he's_ at the helm."
+
+Later in the day Raymond Oliphant, who was now a privileged visitor to
+the shed, adverted to the subject.
+
+"Thank your stars you are not Prime Minister, Dorrell," he said. "The
+pater came down for the week-end, and he's nearly off his chump, poor
+old chap! He knew about this kidnapping three days ago, before it got
+into the papers, and he went back to town this morning prepared for
+squalls in the House."
+
+"Can't he do anything?"
+
+"He says not. One of the Opposition rags was screaming about an
+expedition on Saturday, but of course that can't be risked. And it might
+fail after all--just as the Gordon expedition did. That Moorish brigand
+might kill Ingleton if hard pressed."
+
+"But what would he gain by that? He's playing for a ransom, I suppose."
+
+"No, there's more in it than that. We've already offered an enormous
+ransom through the Sultan; but the rebel wants to get certain
+concessions out of the Sultan, and thinks he'll manage it by getting the
+Sultan into hot water with us. I say, what a pity your aeroplane isn't
+fit for the job. What a grand idea it would be to snap up the prisoner
+under the very noses of his captors! I suppose it _isn't_ up to it, eh?"
+
+Tom shook his head.
+
+"I couldn't trust it to go so far. You see, here the workshop is at
+hand, and if anything goes wrong it can be easily repaired. It would be
+rather a poor lookout if the thing came to grief in the Bay of Biscay,
+say, and I came souse into the sea."
+
+"It _would_ be rather rotten. Well, let's have a spin now."
+
+The two mounted the car, and spent an hour in wheeling about the
+enclosure. Tom ventured to set the motors at a higher speed than he had
+before tried, and put the aeroplane through a score of evolutions, which
+demonstrated that he had it perfectly under control. Oliphant in his
+enthusiasm returned again to the matter of the captured envoy.
+
+"I say, is it quite out of the question, d'you think?"
+
+"Afraid so. Perhaps in a few months----"
+
+"That's no good," interrupted his companion. "The occasion will be
+passed. Ingleton will be either released or dead, and, in any case,
+there'll be such a terrific agitation against the pater that he'll be
+forced to resign. He wouldn't mind personally; but there's the Country,
+you see. Can't you risk it?"
+
+"I might if only myself were concerned; but there's Mr. Greatorex to
+reckon with. The whole thing's only experimental. I'm sure he wouldn't
+hear of it."
+
+"Politics is a rotten game! Wish we were back in the times before Whigs
+and Tories were invented."
+
+"And unpopular ministers lost their heads!--Now I'm going to let her
+down. See how near she falls to the perpendicular."
+
+He dropped a hammer out of the car, stopped the horizontal motion and
+started the vertical, adjusted the planes, and descended gently to the
+ground.
+
+"That's better," he cried, when he had measured the distance between the
+aeroplane and the hammer; "it's only a dozen yards. We're getting on.
+Really, I wish I could try your suggestion."
+
+"Shall I mention it to the pater?" said Oliphant eagerly.
+
+"Not on any account," said Tom aghast. "Even if I could do it, he of all
+men must not know."
+
+"I don't see why."
+
+"Supposing I tried it and came a cropper, there'd be a double outcry
+against him; the first for not rescuing Sir Mark Ingleton, the second
+for allowing a crack-brained engineer to make a fool of himself and a
+corpse in the bargain. No, give it up; I don't see any help for it."
+
+But when left to himself Tom could not keep his thoughts from Oliphant's
+suggestion. The adventurous idea captivated his imagination; he began to
+consider it in earnest; he spent several hours of the afternoon in
+further experimenting with the aeroplane, and after dinner, when Mr.
+Greatorex and he went out into the grounds for their customary stroll
+and cigarettes, he broached the subject, in a casual way, and in much
+the same terms as Oliphant had used.
+
+"Pity we couldn't take a trip to Morocco and get Ingleton away," he said
+cautiously.
+
+"Eh! Pull Langside's chestnuts out of the fire! He was a fool to send
+the man to Morocco. I wouldn't if I could, and of _course_ it's
+impossible."
+
+"I'm not sure of that. And it isn't a party matter, really."
+
+"Not party! It's _all_ party."
+
+"Sir Mark Ingleton is an agent of the Crown, sir, and the Crown is above
+party. I think in these matters we might sink our differences."
+
+"Yes, and sink our aeroplane, and _drown_ ourselves, and serve us
+_right_."
+
+But opposition was only a stimulus to Tom. He began to argue the matter
+strenuously. Mr. Greatorex, to do him justice, was no bigot. His
+politics were at bottom a particularly intense form of patriotism; and
+when Tom showed him that there were at any rate possibilities in the
+suggestion, he gradually changed his view, forgot his reluctance to help
+a political opponent, and became indeed quite enthusiastic.
+
+"By _George_, Tom!" he exclaimed; "what a grand send-off it would be to
+your invention if the first use of it were the rescue of this
+unfortunate diplomatist! And what a magnificent thing for the Country!
+Come and let's talk it out over a cup of coffee. Not a _word_ before
+Mrs. Greatorex, mind."
+
+"Well, John, are you pleased with your toy?" said that good lady when
+they re-entered the house.
+
+"Quite, my dear, _quite_."
+
+"It will be quite a feature of our garden party. But I hope Tom will
+make sure that it is absolutely safe before he takes anybody up at half
+a crown a ride. I shall be glad of the half-crowns for my Nursing
+Association, but I should never forgive you if any one was hurt."
+
+"Why, my dear, the half-crowns would go to pay the _nurses_."
+
+Mr. Greatorex and Tom had a long talk in the study that night. Up to the
+present the longest journey the aeroplane had taken without descending
+was, as Tom estimated, about forty miles. Then something had always
+occurred to make a descent necessary. The principal stumbling-block had
+been the overheating of the motors. But Tom suggested that if he were
+content with a speed of about twenty-five miles an hour, a greater
+distance might be covered without this risk.
+
+The practical question was, could the machine be brought so near the
+place of the envoy's captivity as to make a dash upon it practicable?
+From the latest report, in the evening paper, it appeared that the
+prisoner was held in a mountain fastness some eighty miles from the
+Atlantic seaboard. Tom got out a map and pointed out the spot. It did
+not seem impossible to reach it by means of the airship from some
+convenient place on the coast.
+
+"D'you know what occurs to me?" said Tom. "You were talking of a
+yachting cruise in the _Dandy Dinmont_ in September. Why not make it a
+little earlier? I could then go in the airship and you in the yacht; and
+we could make that a kind of floating base, taking in it all materials
+necessary for repairs."
+
+"But you couldn't repair the thing without letting it down on the deck."
+
+"I could do that, I think. To-day I came down within a few feet of the
+spot I aimed at, and I could let the machine down on deck if the yacht
+were not rolling or pitching too much."
+
+"But _hang_ it all, Tom, the deck _wasn't made_ for such a purpose."
+
+"No; but it wouldn't take long to rig up a temporary wooden platform and
+framework over the after-part of the vessel to serve as a
+landing-stage."
+
+"You appear to have thought it all out," said Mr. Greatorex. "D'you want
+to rush me off my _feet_?"
+
+"Not a bit," replied Tom smiling. "You'll be safe on deck."
+
+"Well, how long will it take to get everything ready?"
+
+"A week."
+
+"Very well. I'll write off to Bodgers to-night to trim the yacht. The
+rest I leave to you. And mind, not a _word_ to a soul."
+
+"I think I shall have to tell Oliphant. In fact, it was he who put it
+into my head."
+
+"That's a nuisance! Well, we'll have him to dinner to-morrow. I want to
+take stock of him. Not a _word_ till I have sized him up."
+
+Oliphant came to dinner with his sister and was approved. Mrs. Greatorex
+afterwards pronounced him to be "quite a nice boy." Mr. Greatorex used
+different terms.
+
+"He's no _fool_, and don't _talk_ too much," he said.
+
+The three had a very animated discussion as they walked in the cool of
+the evening. Mr. Greatorex was very emphatic on the point of secrecy.
+
+"We don't want any newspaper fellow to get wind of the airship until
+we've _proved_ it," he said. "A pretty fool I should look if they gassed
+about it for a column or two and then the whole thing went _pop_ like a
+paper balloon. And that Morocco fellow will have plenty of spies, of
+course; _I_ know their Eastern ways; and if he got a hint of what we're
+up to, he'd be on his guard and then there'd be fizzle."
+
+"How many passengers will the machine carry?" asked Oliphant.
+
+"Three or four light-weights, I should think," Tom replied.
+
+"You'll have room for me, then?"
+
+"Good heavens, no!" cried Mr. Greatorex. "Couldn't _hear_ of it!"
+
+"But it was my idea, you know, Mr. Greatorex. I was only longing for
+something to fill these holidays."
+
+"Absurd! Preposterous! You're under age; you couldn't go without your
+father's permission; you couldn't ask that without giving the whole
+thing away: and I couldn't be responsible for you."
+
+"Well, I tell you what it is, Mr. Greatorex. You invite me to go a
+cruise in your yacht. The mater's got a notion that my lungs are weak,
+and was saying only the other day that a sea trip would do me good. I'd
+see some of the fun, then."
+
+"_There_ you are, Mr. Oliphant! _Fun! I_ regard it as most _serious_, I
+assure you. Now, in _my_ young days----"
+
+"I bet you liked fun as well as any of us, Mr. Greatorex," said Oliphant
+quickly. "If the truth were known, I dare say you really beat us all."
+
+Mr. Greatorex's eyes twinkled.
+
+"Well, now I come to think of it, I _was_ a wild young rip. So they all
+said. I remember---- But come now, I mustn't tell you _that_. _Never_ do!
+Your father would never let you go; he doesn't know me and doesn't want
+to, and I'm doing my level best to kick him out at the next election."
+
+"And he'll probably be jolly glad if you succeed! Mayn't I come, Mr.
+Greatorex?"
+
+"Sorry to disoblige you, Mr. Oliphant, but it would _never do_. No. In
+fact, I think we'll give it up altogether. Too risky! We'll give it
+_up_, Tom."
+
+Oliphant went home in a very bad temper.
+
+"Mrs. Greatorex is a dear old thing," said his sister.
+
+"And Mr. Greatorex is an old rotter," retorted Raymond in a tone of
+disgust.
+
+Margaret Oliphant obtained very unsatisfactory answers to the questions
+to which this remark gave rise, and concluded that in some way Raymond
+had not hit it with his host.
+
+Mr. Greatorex would doubtless have been much surprised had he seen the
+letter which Lord Langside wrote to his son a few days later.
+
+"My dear Ray," wrote the Prime Minister,--
+
+ "Are you conspiring against me, like Absalom? Mr. Greatorex can't do
+ me much harm on a yacht. He won't see a newspaper for a month! Hope
+ you'll enjoy yourself.
+
+ "Your affectionate
+ "Dad."
+
+Oliphant showed this letter to no one. But the day he received it, he
+went a long and tedious journey by train across country to the little
+port of Horleston. He reached home very late, but in much better spirits
+than might have been expected after such a tiresome experience of slow
+trains.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V--OFF THE BARBARY COAST
+
+
+The week was filled with the bustle of preparation. The airship was
+divided into sections, the motors and the framework taken to pieces, and
+the whole packed into large light crates and conveyed to the coast on
+country carts, their arrival at Horleston being so timed that everything
+could be put on board very early in the morning. Besides the crew, the
+company consisted only of Mr. Greatorex, Tom Dorrell, and Timothy Ball.
+
+Before the vessel put off, a custom house officer came aboard, and
+showed himself somewhat inquisitive as to the meaning of the strange
+platform newly rigged on the after deck, and as to the nature of the
+bulky packages. Mr. Greatorex explained that they contained a cooling
+apparatus which he was taking out to Morocco on behalf of an
+acquaintance, adding that by all accounts the country was pretty hot in
+all respects. With this explanation the officer had to be content.
+Clearly the parts of the airship did not come within the description of
+explosives, firearms or other articles on which he might exercise his
+powers of detention. Still, being by training suspicious, he was
+evidently by no means satisfied, and left the yacht somewhat
+unwillingly.
+
+Steam was already up and the officer had barely left the vessel before
+she put to sea.
+
+"Just as well to be clear away before he gets his second wind," said Mr.
+Greatorex with a chuckle. In his spotless white ducks and blue cap he
+was enjoying himself already. "Did that uncommonly well, didn't I, Tom?"
+he said. "What could be more useful than cooling apparatus when there's
+a chance of getting into very hot water, eh?"
+
+He took a run over the vessel as soon as she had made an offing. His
+yacht was a hobby, and whenever he went for a cruise he liked to examine
+her in the company of his officers, with whom, as with the crew, whom he
+knew individually, he was very popular. In the course of his inspection
+he came to the engine room.
+
+"How do, Mr. Mumford!" he said genially to the engineer. "All in good
+order, eh?"
+
+"Tip-top, sir. This is the neatest bit of machinery I've ever had to do
+with."
+
+"Glad to hear that. I _say_, is that a new stoker I see there? What's
+become of Byles?"
+
+"His mother is very ill, sir, and he had to cry off at the last moment.
+I was very lucky to get a man to fill the place."
+
+"Ha! Looks rather _young_, doesn't he? Overgrown, perhaps. Any _good_?"
+
+"Can't tell yet, sir. I'll let you know later on. He shapes very well.
+He's a fine well-made young fellow; very willing, too. Byles said he'd
+go bail for him to any amount."
+
+"That's all right. What's his name?"
+
+"M'Cracken, sir; Scotch, by the name. Would you like to speak to him,
+sir?"
+
+"Just a word. Like to _know_ the men, you know. Gives 'em a personal
+interest in their job, I always think."
+
+The engineer called up the new stoker, a tall young fellow in the
+flannel shirt open at the neck, the loose reach-me-down, and the
+black-lead coated trousers affected by his kind. His face and arms were
+begrimed with black grease, and his mouth received an extra smudge as he
+drew the back of his hand across it, apparently in sheepish confusion.
+
+"You're a new man, M'Cracken," said the merchant pleasantly. "Hope
+you'll get on well. Mr. Mumford won't _over-work_ you, I can answer for
+that. Have you been long at this job?"
+
+"No that lang, sir; just a wee while," the stoker replied in a somewhat
+husky voice.
+
+"Exactly. Ah! well! Good morning."
+
+"Good mornin', sir."
+
+And Mr. Greatorex went on deck, satisfied that he had established
+excellent relations with the newest hand.
+
+The first part of the voyage was rather stormy. The yacht, by no means a
+large vessel, shipped one or two fairly heavy seas, to the no small
+alarm of Tom, who was anxious lest the crates containing his machine
+should be washed overboard or otherwise injured. But halfway through the
+Bay the weather moderated, and by the time the yacht reached the
+latitude of Lisbon both wind and sea were calm enough, he thought, for
+his first experiment. It had been decided that the dusk of the evening
+would be the best time for the attempt, for it was just as necessary on
+sea as on land to avoid observation. If the airship were descried from
+the deck of a homeward-bound vessel, the fact, and the name of the
+yacht, might be marconigraphed to England, and then, as Mr. Greatorex
+said, all Fleet Street would be in a buzz.
+
+Early one morning the crates were broken open. It took the best part of
+the day to piece the machine together, and Tom went over it bit by bit
+several times to assure himself that everything was in order. The
+airship was so placed that it could take flight over the stern of the
+yacht. When dusk was falling, the vessel's engines were reversed, Tom
+arranging that as soon as the airship rose from the deck the yacht
+should be sent full speed ahead, to make sure that the apparatus cleared
+the vessel and ran no risk of fouling the funnel.
+
+Mr. Greatorex had shown some nervousness as the critical moment
+approached. He insisted on lowering a boat in case the airship came to
+grief and Tom were thrown into the sea. Timothy Ball, too, looked on
+with a most woful countenance as the final preparations were made. He
+had unslung a life belt, ready to slip into it and fling himself
+overboard if the airship broke down.
+
+"I feel sure in my inside it won't work," he said anxiously to Tom, as
+he stepped to the car. "It'll be worse than suicide, sir."
+
+"Why worse, Tim?" asked Mr. Greatorex.
+
+"'Cos we're lookin' on, sir," said Tim solemnly, and felt much hurt by
+the burst of laughter with which his explanation was received.
+
+But his anxiety was a vain expenditure of energy. With the vertical
+screws at full speed, and the horizontal screws half speed, the machine
+rose like a huge bird from the deck, with a noise like the clattering of
+hundreds of bats and the humming of innumerable bees. At the height of
+sixty feet or so Tom stopped the vertical screws, and turned the full
+power of his engines on to the horizontal propellers, giving to the
+planes just sufficient inclination to counteract the force of gravity.
+
+"Capital!" exclaimed Mr. Greatorex, as he watched the easy flight.
+"First-rate! There's a _fortune_ in that, skipper," he said to Captain
+Bodgers at his side.
+
+"Maybe," said the Captain reflectively. He was a man of few words.
+
+"Rather stay on deck, eh?"
+
+"Well, you can swim in water, sir."
+
+"Exactly. But how far is the fellow going? It's getting dark, and he'll
+be out of sight directly. By the way, Bodgers, there's no law about
+showing lamps on an airship. But there will be--there _will_ be. Ah! here
+he comes--at a spanking pace, too. He'll overtake us in no time, going
+dead slow as we are."
+
+In less than a minute the airship had come within a little distance
+astern of the yacht.
+
+"Hallo!" came a voice from the air.
+
+"Are you there?" answered Mr. Greatorex, from force of habit at the
+telephone.
+
+"Who are you?" came the response. "I say, Mr. Greatorex, pick up that
+boat and go full speed ahead. She's going beautifully; the oiling she's
+had has done her no end of good."
+
+"All right. Aren't you coming _down_? It's getting _dark_; I can hardly
+_see_ you."
+
+"Not just yet. She goes smoother than the yacht, and it's beautifully
+fresh up here. I can tell your whereabouts by your lights."
+
+"All right. _Don't get lost!_"
+
+Tom laughed. He laughed again when, from his elevated position, he saw
+that though the boat had been hoisted on board, four men had been told
+off to stand by the davits in order to lower it again at the first sign
+of mishap.
+
+The yacht was sent full speed ahead. She could easily do her eighteen
+knots, but was no match in speed for the airship, which circled round
+and round her.
+
+"She beats us hollow," said Mr. Mumford to M'Cracken, as they watched
+the flight from the foot of the companion.
+
+"Ou ay, sir. Yon's a grand invention. It's wonderful."
+
+After about an hour Tom called down that he was going to descend.
+
+"He'd much better stay up now he's there," said Timothy, gloomily.
+"He'll smash himself or us--I know he will."
+
+Tom knew that to descend was a delicate operation, to be performed with
+all caution. As his control over the airship was to a great extent
+proportionate to its speed, he shouted instructions to keep the yacht
+going under full steam. Coming up astern, he so adjusted his own speed
+as to overtake the yacht very slowly. When the airship was level with
+the stern, two men on board caught a cable hanging loose from the car.
+Then Tom gradually reduced the speed of the horizontal propellers, and
+started the vertical screws at half speed, keeping one hand all the time
+on the lever that adjusted the angles of the planes. He handled his
+appliances so dexterously that the airship, guided by the rope, sank
+steadily and accurately to the deck. Buffers of india rubber were
+slipped under her bottom to break the slight jar that must be inevitable
+when she touched the platform. Then Tom stepped out.
+
+"Capital!" cried Mr. Greatorex, slapping him on the back. "This is going
+to turn out _all right_, my boy. What does it _feel_ like, being up
+there?"
+
+"Like a fish out of water, I should think," said Tom, laughing. "But I
+thought what a helpless thing a man-of-war would be if she had to tackle
+an airship. I could choose my own altitude, and drop explosives on her
+deck and blow her to smithereens, and there's no gun that I know of that
+could make an effective reply. They'd have to invent a rocket apparatus
+for shying melinite shells aloft."
+
+"Well, let's hope that it'll never come to that. Ours is a _cooling_
+apparatus--don't you forget it!"
+
+Tom was so well pleased with his first sea trial that day had scarcely
+dawned before he was again aloft. This time he took Timothy with him. He
+needed some assistance in attending to the mechanism, and now that a
+first ascent had been made without mishap, the man was no longer so
+nervous about it.
+
+The airship had not been up more than half an hour, however, when Tom
+signalled to the yacht that he saw a vessel on the horizon.
+
+"Come down _at once_!" roared Mr. Greatorex through a megaphone.
+
+Tom descended, somewhat unwillingly. Nothing would have pleased him
+better than to steer directly for the vessel, and see what effect was
+produced on board by the sight of this strange bird of passage hovering
+above the tops. But clearly Mr. Greatorex was right, and Tom lowered the
+machine deftly to the deck. As the ship was heading straight for the
+yacht, the aeroplane was covered with tarpaulin.
+
+The vessel turned out to be a cruiser flying the French colours. The
+captain spoke the yacht, and asked whether anything had been seen from
+its deck of an extraordinary object that appeared to have been moving
+through the air.
+
+"Answer him, Tom. I'm no good at French."
+
+"We did see something, monsieur le capitaine," he said, "Do you know
+whether Monsieur Santos-Dumont is trying his thirty-third airship?"
+
+"I am not aware, monsieur. It may be. I saw the object very
+indistinctly. It suddenly disappeared."
+
+"Ah! I was always afraid that Monsieur Santos-Dumont would meet his
+death. You French, monsieur, are such adventurous spirits! When you
+reach Brest perhaps you will inquire whether he has recently made an
+ascent."
+
+"I will certainly do so, monsieur."
+
+The vessels were now out of speaking distance. Tom explained to Mr.
+Greatorex what he had said.
+
+"Bravo! What with my cooling apparatus and your cool cheek I think we
+are keeping our secret pretty well, Tom."
+
+In order to escape further observation from passing vessels Mr.
+Greatorex had the yacht's course set considerably westward of the usual
+track. It was consequently another couple of days before she came into
+the latitude of Rabat, the port for which she was making. Her head was
+turned eastward in the direction of the coast of Morocco, and, there
+being no vessels in sight, Tom again made an ascent, Timothy
+accompanying him.
+
+The coastline gradually came into view. From an altitude of more than a
+hundred feet Tom saw, between him and the coast, a number of rocky
+islets. Here and there the varying tints of the water indicated shoals
+of sunken rocks.
+
+"Know the coast?" he called down to Captain Bodgers.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," said the captain.
+
+"There are no end of shoals."
+
+"Know 'em all, sir; have a care you don't strike one."
+
+Captain Bodgers laughed uproariously at his little joke, and Tom,
+circling round the yacht, set the aeroplane at full speed towards the
+coast. He was a considerable distance ahead when Timothy suddenly called
+his attention to an object projecting above the sea-level, close to one
+of the rocky islets that dotted the intervening space. It might have
+escaped their attention altogether but for a certain movement Tim
+fancied he discerned in it. As they drew nearer, they discovered that
+what Tim had thought to be a single object was in reality two, which
+appeared to be the broken-off stumps of two masts. Taking his
+field-glasses in one hand--the other always grasping the steering
+wheel--Tom lifted them to his eyes, got the focus, and made out that the
+objects were not stumps after all, but the tops of masts, and that two
+figures were clinging to them, one to each.
+
+Tom had no doubt that the airship was approaching the scene of a wreck,
+and that the two men were in distress and danger. Steering immediately
+for the yacht, he came within hailing distance and through his megaphone
+announced his discovery.
+
+"We'll go to the rescue, _of course_," shouted Mr. Greatorex in reply.
+
+The wreck was as yet invisible from the deck, but it was arranged that
+the yacht should stand in as close as possible, and then send a boat to
+bring off the survivors. Meanwhile Tom, setting his engine at full
+speed, dashed on in the direction of the submerged vessel.
+
+He noticed that even during the few seconds in which he had been in
+communication with the yacht the situation had changed. One of the masts
+was now tenantless. Presumably its occupant had been washed off or
+through fatigue had dropped into the sea. But as the airship drew
+rapidly nearer, it was noticed that the figure on the other mast was
+bending low as if to raise something from the water. Then a head and
+shoulders appeared above the surface. Clearly the man Tom had supposed
+to be lost was trying to make his way to the mast to which his companion
+clung.
+
+The airship was now less than half a mile distant, and from the altitude
+to which they had risen--some three hundred feet above the surface--the
+occupants could see every detail in the strange drama that was being
+enacted beneath them. Assisted by the figure above, the swimmer was
+gradually making his way on to the mast, when suddenly a black fin
+appeared above the surface a few yards off. With a convulsive movement,
+the lowermost man had just succeeded in swinging himself a foot or two
+up the mast when the gaping jaws of a shark passed immediately beneath
+him. Tom shuddered involuntarily. The man had escaped by a few inches at
+the most.
+
+In a second the shark turned and glided beneath the clinging figure. The
+terror-stricken wretch clutched wildly at the man above him, and began
+to haul himself up hand over hand, clinging to his companion's body. But
+the latter, unable to bear the double weight on the smooth mast, slipped
+slowly downwards. He was the slighter of the two, and no match,
+apparently, for the man who had usurped his place.
+
+"What a beast!" ejaculated Tom, wondering at this strange want of
+fellow-feeling in a man who was evidently older and stronger than his
+companion in distress. Slowing down, he fixed his eyes on the
+extraordinary spectacle. The position was now reversed. The younger and
+slighter man was very manifestly the under dog. With every attempt on
+his part to swarm up the mast the man above him kicked savagely, while
+the shark circled below. The fact that the second mast had become
+untenable seemed to indicate that the tide was rising. Neither of the
+men, their whole attention fixed on the sea beneath, had noticed the
+airship that was now hovering just above their heads.
+
+When, however, Tom gradually allowed the airship to sink towards the
+sea, the shark seemed to take fright, just as smaller fish are scared by
+signs of movement in the air above. It left the immediate neighbourhood
+of the mast, and its black fin could be seen describing a much larger
+circle some two or three hundred yards away. Clearly it had not given up
+hope. When the shark moved away and the strain of terror was relaxed,
+the two men became suddenly aware of the presence of the airship. The
+topmost man was almost as much scared by the sight of the airship as he
+had been by the presence of the shark. Tom had already noticed that both
+of the men were dark skinned. The larger and stronger--the brute, as Tom
+mentally called him--appeared to be middle-aged; the other was a
+stripling.
+
+Tom was struck by the difference in their demeanour when they caught
+sight of the airship; neither he nor Timothy was at present visible to
+them. The elder man was aghast with fright, his eyes dilated, his mouth
+gaped between black moustache and beard. The younger, however, seemed to
+pull himself together as with renewed hope. Tom fancied that he heard a
+cry from his lips.
+
+Looking round, Tom saw that the yacht had now hove to, and the boat was
+leaving her side. But his attention was again called to the wreck by a
+piercing shriek. The shark, regaining confidence, had made another dash
+at the mast. This time it seemed to come within an inch of the terrified
+youth; indeed, from the cry that had reached his ears, Tom thought that
+the poor wretch had actually been seized. But next moment he saw that
+the shark had again drawn off, scared, possibly, by the cry.
+
+There was now less of the masts above the surface. The tide was
+evidently rising, and with its rise the shark would have another
+opportunity of coming within snapping distance. Tom felt that it would
+not again fail. It would be at least ten minutes before the boat reached
+the spot; by that time the hapless lad would probably have fallen a
+victim. Tom had noticed that when the shark was all but upon him, and he
+made a convulsive movement upwards, he was met by a storm of kicks from
+the man above, threatening to dislodge him completely from the mast and
+hurl him into the very jaws of the monster.
+
+In a moment Tom made up his mind. He ordered Timothy to let down from
+the car a light grapnel carried for use in emergencies, and also for
+raising anything that might be needed, without having to bring the
+airship to rest on the ground. Then he allowed the machine to sink
+gently until the grapnel dangled within reach of the man at the top. Tom
+had no intention of helping him first; by his conduct he deserved to be
+left to drown or to make a meal for the shark. But the man seemed indeed
+quite incapable of movement, except when scared to frenzy by the efforts
+of the youth below to regain the position from which he had been forced.
+He made no attempt to clutch the grapnel dangling at his very hand. Tom
+let the machine fall lower, until the grapnel came within reach of the
+younger man. He showed no such hesitation. Looking along the cable, he
+saw Timothy gazing down at him from the car. The sight of a human face
+gave him confidence. He clutched at the grapnel, let go his hold of the
+mast, and swung clear, Timothy attempting to steady the rope.
+
+His sudden movement threatened a catastrophe. The airship was now only
+about sixty feet above the sea, and before Tom, his attention partly
+engaged by the efforts of the boy, could increase the speed of the
+ascensional screw, the light vessel was pulled swiftly downwards. For a
+moment he felt that it must inevitably be dragged into the water. The
+young fellow below, still clutching desperately at the grapnel, had
+actually begun to sink beneath the surface. But as soon as his weight
+was supported by the water, the ascensional screw, now set by Tom
+whirling at full speed, checked the downward movement, and in another
+couple of seconds the airship began to rise, dragging the youth upwards.
+
+In his excitement Tom had momentarily forgotten the shark. That
+persistent creature, however, having overcome its fear of the monster of
+the air, made a dash for the youth as he entered the sea. The poor
+wretch had the narrowest escape of all when the shark passed just
+beneath him, as, whirling round on the grapnel, he was swung clear of
+the water.
+
+Now that he was safe from the cruel jaws, the lad showed himself to be
+possessed of no little agility. Hand over hand he swarmed up the cable
+until he reached the lower rail of the car, which he clutched, and by
+Timothy's aid he clambered over. Meanwhile Tom had steered the airship
+towards the approaching boat.
+
+"Give way with a will, men!" he shouted. "There's no time to be lost.
+We've got one; the other man will be nabbed by a shark if you aren't
+there pretty soon. I can see the brute's fin above the water just by the
+mast."
+
+The men spurted. As the boat approached the submerged vessel, the shark
+took fright and glided swiftly away. In another half-minute the man was
+taken from his precarious perch, and lifted, in a state of complete
+collapse, into the boat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI--SALATHIEL BEN EZRA
+
+
+"Bismillah!" ejaculated the young Moor when he stood in the car.
+
+"Just saved your bacon, if that's what you mean," said Timothy. "And a
+nice sloppy mess you're making! I s'pose _I_'ll have to clean up."
+
+Timothy scowled and growled, but that was only his way. Tom knew well
+enough that Timothy would clean up with great cheerfulness.
+
+"We'll get back to the yacht," he said, "and find some dry things for
+him there."
+
+The airship was now so well under control that Tom had no difficulty in
+letting her down safely on deck, though the yacht was at anchor.
+
+"Uncommonly well done!" exclaimed Mr. Greatorex as Tom stepped out of
+the car.
+
+"Yes; I thought she came down pretty neatly," said Tom.
+
+"Didn't mean _that_, you egoist. I meant you saved this young fellow
+uncommonly well; saw it _all_ through my binocular. Dangerous things,
+sharks. Who _is_ the boy?"
+
+"I haven't asked him yet. I thought we might give him a dry change and
+then see if we can make out anything. He probably can't speak English."
+
+"Very well. Bodgers, find some toggery and take him into the cabin.
+Who's the _other_ fellow?"
+
+"We shall find out presently. Shall we go into the cabin? I'd like to
+put a few questions before the other man comes aboard."
+
+They found that Captain Bodgers had rigged up the boy in a sailor's suit
+much too large for him.
+
+"Capital!" cried Mr. Greatorex. "_Much_ more respectable! Can you speak
+English, boy?"
+
+"Me speak English little bit, and Spanish little bit," replied the boy
+with a frank smile.
+
+"That's capital! Not the _Spanish_, you know; but the English."
+
+"I tank very much for the gentleman's goodness----"
+
+"Yes, yes, _that's_ all right. But come now, how did you get into that
+pretty pickle?"
+
+The boy looked puzzled.
+
+"Tell us how the ship came to be wrecked," said Tom, translating.
+
+"Aiyeh! She caught in fog last night, struck rock. Quick it was all
+over; no one live, only me and Salathiel ben Ezra."
+
+"That is your friend's name, is it? A Jew?"
+
+"Yes, excellency, a Jew. A dog of a Jew!"
+
+"And you are not a Jew? What is your name?"
+
+"Abdul, most merciful--Abdul ben Cassim, of Ain Afroo in Zemmur."
+
+"Zemmur!" ejaculated Mr. Greatorex. "Isn't that the neighbourhood where
+Ingleton is said to be?"
+
+"Yes," replied Tom. "We may find the lad useful. Tell us, Abdul, how you
+came to be at sea with a Jew."
+
+Abdul explained that, some five or six years before, his father, a
+well-to-do saddlemaker of Ain Afroo, had contrived to quarrel with the
+sheikh of his district, refusing, in fact, to pay the sheikh a very
+extortionate levy. It was, Abdul admitted, a foolish thing to do, for
+soon afterwards the saddlemaker died mysteriously. His family took
+instant flight with what possessions they could get together, and found
+refuge in Casa Blanca, where the boy had a distant relative, the owner
+of a small coasting vessel. Since that time he had been engaged in
+trading up and down the coast, and in his journeyings had picked up a
+smattering of English and Spanish.
+
+The small capital which the family had brought with them had been
+considerably increased by profitable investments in trading ventures of
+the lad's kinsman. A share in the business was owned by Salathiel ben
+Ezra, the Jew who was now being brought from the wreck in the yacht's
+boat. It was very unlucky; Abdul could not but think that the wreck must
+have been caused by an evil spell cast on the boat by the Jew; for
+Salathiel had never voyaged on the vessel before. The loss of the ship
+meant the loss of almost the whole of his family's little fortune, and
+Abdul feared they would be placed in the power of Salathiel, who already
+had some claim on them which Abdul himself did not understand. But
+everything happened by the will of Allah; it was written, and what is
+written must be.
+
+Abdul's story was hardly finished when the Jew was hauled on board. He
+appeared to have quite regained his self-possession during the short
+passage of the boat. He made a deep obeisance when Mr. Greatorex met him
+on deck.
+
+"I pay a thousand dutiful civilities," he said in a low smooth voice.
+"The honourable sir overwhelms me with kindness in saving me and my
+humble companion from the jaws of the monster, and my thanks are even as
+the sand of the shore. May I beg the little loan of a dry garment or
+two?"
+
+"Take Mr. Salathiel below, Captain Bodgers," said Mr. Greatorex, "and
+see what you can do for him."
+
+With a deep salaam and a fawning smile the Jew departed.
+
+"Um!" grunted Mr. Greatorex. "Don't like his _looks_, Tom."
+
+"He's not prepossessing, certainly; a little too glib, don't you think?"
+
+"A _rascal_, Tom; mark my words."
+
+"I wouldn't go so far as that. But we may get something out of this, Mr.
+Greatorex. This young Moor comes from the very country where Ingleton is
+said to be. Don't you think we may profit by that?"
+
+"How do you mean?"
+
+"Why, instead of making for Rabat, as we intended, why not find some
+quieter harbour where we shall not be such public characters, and get
+the youngster to act as guide into the hills? No doubt he bears a grudge
+against the sheikh who disposed of his father. If he has anything of the
+usual oriental thirst for revenge he will be very willing to help us."
+
+"Well, sound him; go at it _cautiously_, you know; _tact_--that's the
+thing."
+
+Meanwhile Salathiel ben Ezra had been clothed by Captain Bodgers in blue
+serge trousers, a nankeen waistcoat, and an oilskin, the only other
+garment available. The Jew cut a strange figure in this unfamiliar
+attire. He was short, fat, thick-necked; the lower part of his face was
+hidden by dense black moustache and beard; his eyes were unequal in size
+and different in colour, and had a trick of roaming all around as he
+talked.
+
+"This is very elegant yacht," he said to Captain Bodgers as the garments
+were laid before him. The captain, always a silent man, made no reply.
+"That is most marvellous creature, the thing that flies in the air," the
+Jew continued; "I have never seen anything like it. It is without doubt
+a new sport--the English love sport. They spend much money in sport. And
+where is the yacht bound for, good captain?"
+
+"Goin' a cruise," said the captain shortly.
+
+"Without doubt. And perhaps the kind governor will permit to call at a
+port--at Rabat, say; for I am not a man of the sea, and I have business
+there."
+
+"Better ask him."
+
+"I will do so. I will say also how I fill myself with wonder of the
+thing that flies. I myself am a sport!"
+
+Salathiel not merely expressed his wonderment to Mr. Greatorex, but
+displayed a very active curiosity as to the construction of the machine
+and the choice of those waters for the practice of the new sport. Mr.
+Greatorex gave him no satisfaction, and was indeed somewhat curt in his
+replies to the man's leading questions; but Salathiel smiled at each
+rebuff, thereby confirming Mr. Greatorex's conviction that he was a
+rascal.
+
+The yacht lay to for several hours, getting under way again in the
+afternoon. It was very hot; everybody was more or less sleepy, and Tom
+thought it a good time to sound the Moor as to his willingness to assist
+in the expedition. They had a long conversation in the cabin, the result
+of which was entirely satisfactory to Tom. Abdul's one object in life
+was to wreak vengeance on the sheikh for the wrongs his family had
+suffered, and it was to be a thorough vengeance. He would not be
+satisfied merely with the death of his enemy; that might have been
+achieved already. But he was determined to ruin the sheikh's family,
+just as his own had been ruined. He had hoped to save enough money in
+course of time to gather about him a band of trusty Riffians who would
+raid the oppressor's stronghold. The loss of the vessel had swept away
+the savings of five years; but he was resolved to begin again and even
+if fifty years were to pass before he was in a position to accomplish
+his aim, he would never relinquish it. The sheikh himself might die
+before then; in that case the weight of the avenging hand would fall on
+his descendants.
+
+When Tom reported to Mr. Greatorex the result of this conversation the
+worthy merchant was shocked.
+
+"Terrible, terrible!" he said. "Most unchristian! The Moors are no
+better than _heathen_, Tom."
+
+"Well, we don't know what it's like. I don't think you would be very
+sweetly disposed towards any one who had served you as he has been
+served."
+
+"Me! I'd bring an _action_ against the villain, you may be sure of
+that."
+
+"I don't suppose they have actions at law in Morocco. But it's quite
+clear that he will be willing to help us."
+
+"True. I'll go down with you, and we'll come to an understanding with
+him."
+
+At this second interview Tom explained to Abdul the object he had in
+view, and invited his assistance, Mr. Greatorex promising that if he
+would guide Tom to the spot where the British diplomatist was held
+captive he should be rewarded with a sum equal to what he had lost
+through the wreck. Further, if Sir Mark Ingleton should actually be got
+away safely, the sum should be doubled. Abdul jumped at the offer, and
+listened respectfully enough when Mr. Greatorex went on to say that he
+hoped the money would not be put to bad uses.
+
+"Everything happens by the will of Allah," he said; "what is to be, must
+be."
+
+It was dusk when the little party broke up. Nobody noticed a figure
+wriggle away from a ventilating grating over the skylight of the cabin.
+Salathiel ben Ezra had watched these conferences between the Moor and
+the Christians with much curiosity and suspicion, and without attracting
+the attention of any one on deck he had contrived to steal to a spot
+where he overheard a considerable part of the conversation.
+
+Before he turned in, Tom had a long talk with Mr. Greatorex, which took
+an unexpected trend. The two were alone in the cabin. Tom was in the
+highest spirits, for the greatest difficulty he had foreseen--the
+difficulty of finding his way about the hill village when he should
+arrive at it--seemed to have been removed now that he had secured a guide
+in Abdul.
+
+"You see, it's just about there," he said, putting his finger down on
+the map he had unrolled and spread on the table. "It is barely a hundred
+miles inland, and without putting any strain on the engines I can do it
+comfortably in four hours. Of course, we must arrive after dark; so
+to-morrow night I think we'll make a start--Timothy and I and the Moor."
+
+Then it was that the unexpected happened. Mr. Greatorex had been staring
+gravely at the map. Suddenly he brought his fist down on it with a bang.
+
+"Look here, Tom," he said, "we'll _drop_ it."
+
+Tom was taken too much aback for words.
+
+"Yes, we'll drop it. I won't _allow_ it. Suppose anything goes wrong
+with the machine, where _are_ you? tell me that! In those hills--wild
+country, wild men--_fanatics_, you know: hate all Christians, no sense of
+law and order, won't pay their taxes, don't care tuppence for their
+rulers--oh! I've _read_ all about 'em, you know, and 'pon my soul I don't
+know what I was thinking of to come out here at all. We've had a
+pleasant run, we've tested the airship; it'll _do_, Tom: but now we'll
+go _back_, my boy, to our land of peace and settled government."
+
+"But what about Sir Mark Ingleton?"
+
+"Hang Ingleton! Ingleton never invented anything! If those Moors get
+hold of you, England loses an inventor and I lose my man. No, no; we
+mustn't meddle with state affairs."
+
+And then Tom spent an hour in patiently combatting Mr. Greatorex's
+objections, and in the end had for his meagre reward the indecisive
+remark--
+
+"Well, we'll see, Tom, we'll _see_."
+
+Next morning Mr. Greatorex made no allusion to this conversation, but
+was observed in close colloquy with Captain Bodgers. The result of this
+removed the weight from Tom's mind. The yacht coasted up and down, the
+captain scanning the desolate shore narrowly through his glass. At last
+he found what he had been searching for, and steered the yacht into a
+snug little bay. The country was well wooded, the trees coming down
+almost to the edge of the narrow sandy beach.
+
+"Can't better this, sir," said the captain. "The anchorage is none too
+good, and if a storm comes up we may have to put out to sea; but it's a
+quiet place, as you see; can't do no better."
+
+"Very well. Now, Tom, I'm going to risk it. There's the _Country_ to
+consider, you see. But you'll make me a promise not to run into danger;
+I know you won't run away from it!"
+
+"With all my heart," replied Tom. "We'll start to-night."
+
+He spent the hours of daylight in making preparations. The machine was
+overhauled; provisions and arms were stowed in the car; and Tom eagerly
+awaited the moment for setting forth on his adventure.
+
+In the afternoon, while the preparations were still in progress, a crowd
+of natives appeared on the cliffs south of the bay--wild-looking men clad
+in djellabas and kaftans and yellow shoes, and all armed with long guns.
+They made no attempt to open communication with the yacht, but encamped
+on the cliff as though to keep an eye on her movements.
+
+Some little time afterwards, a small native craft was observed entering
+the cove. Her appearance was hailed with shouts from the cliff, where
+there were signs of excitement among the throng of spectators.
+
+"Barbary pirates, eh, Bodgers!" said Mr. Greatorex, taking a look at the
+felucca through his glass.
+
+"Maybe, sir; they've plied that trade hereabouts for hundreds of years."
+
+"They're making for the yacht."
+
+"Yes. We'll serve out arms, sir; it's as well to be on the safe side."
+
+"Tom, cover up the airship. I don't suppose they'll know what it is,
+but, as Bodgers says, it's as well to be on the safe side."
+
+As the vessel drew near, it was seen that she carried some thirty
+fierce-looking fellows, tall and finely made. One of them hailed the
+yacht. Mr. Greatorex called Abdul to his side and bade him interpret.
+
+"Say they want to come on ship, sir--see the captain--do trade for guns
+and powder."
+
+"What do you say, Bodgers? Shall we let a few of them come aboard?"
+
+"I would, sir. A few won't do no harm, and if we can make friends of
+them, so much the better."
+
+Accordingly, half a dozen Moors were allowed to mount to the yacht's
+deck. They appeared to be much disappointed when Mr. Greatorex politely
+explained through Abdul that he had no commercial object; his ostensible
+purpose, to see the country, scarcely satisfied them. But they recovered
+their spirits when he offered to show them over the vessel; and
+afterwards when, at the suggestion of Captain Bodgers, who knew
+something of the Moorish habits, they were each given a cup of weak tea
+and unlimited sugar, they smacked their lips and declared themselves
+well pleased with their reception.
+
+While they were still sipping their tea, squatting on the deck,
+Salathiel ben Ezra, who had hitherto kept in the background, came to Mr.
+Greatorex and begged the favour of a few minutes' conversation.
+
+"I ask you, excellency, to be so kind, as let me go with the men, when
+they leave this ship. I have business on land; and thank you for your
+kindness, and take leave respectfully."
+
+"Hm! Moors _friends_ of yours, eh?"
+
+"No, no; the Moors do not love the men of my nation; they oppress us;
+they call us dogs and sons of swine."
+
+"Well then, you'd better stay aboard, you know. You wouldn't be _safe_
+among them in a wild spot like this. We can land you at Rabat in a day
+or two; you'll be safer in a port."
+
+"Ah, excellency, but I do not love the sea. It has wrecked my vessel; I
+have much fear of the sharks. I am not at ease until I set foot again on
+dry land."
+
+Mr. Greatorex was perplexed. He had no reasonable excuse for detaining
+the Jew: yet, remembering that the man had seen the airship at work, he
+recognized that it would be in the highest degree impolitic to allow him
+to go ashore and spread the news. He beckoned Tom forward and told him
+of the Jew's request. Tom instantly grasped the situation.
+
+"Mr. Salathiel forgets," he said, "that we have a claim for salvage on
+his effects. (Whether we have such a claim legally I don't know," he
+said to Mr. Greatorex afterwards, "but it was the first thing that came
+into my head.")
+
+"That is most true," said the Jew, with a smile; "but alas! I lost
+everything in the wreck; and have only my clothes, and they----"
+
+He shrugged expressively.
+
+"Sorry for you," said Tom. "Still, it would not be fair to your
+companion Abdul to leave him to meet our claim alone."
+
+"But he can come with me," said Salathiel eagerly. "He will be with his
+countrymen."
+
+"You were not so anxious for his company when I first saw you," replied
+Tom drily. "No, Mr. Salathiel; it will be better for you both to come
+with us to Rabat: there we can lay this little matter of salvage before
+the authorities."
+
+The Jew heaved a sigh as of weariness, and acquiesced with a smile.
+Neither Tom nor Mr. Greatorex was aware that while the Moors were being
+shown over the vessel, Salathiel had had a few moments' conversation
+with one of them. The only man on board who had observed this--and he had
+not given a second thought to it--was M'Cracken, the new stoker.
+
+The Moors left the yacht; the felucca sailed away; not shorewards, as
+Tom had expected, but out to sea. The crowd on the cliff dispersed and
+disappeared, and Tom's final preparations were made unobserved.
+
+Night fell, and the little bay, hemmed in by the surrounding cliffs, was
+enveloped in pitchy darkness. Ten o'clock had been fixed as the time for
+the ascent of the airship, and up to the last moment Tom employed
+himself in seeing that all was right. Mr. Greatorex was fidgety, asking
+the same questions, repeating the same warnings, over and over again,
+until Tom began to fear that even now he would change his mind and
+prohibit the expedition. His excitement infected every member of the
+crew. The men had eyes only for the wonderful machine and for the
+figures that moved to and fro about it in the light of the yacht's
+electric lamps. Even the men of the watch were diverted from their
+duties when they perceived that the lashings holding the airship to the
+deck were being cast loose. Thus it was that no one had observed a small
+craft gliding into the bay; no one had noticed that a rope hung over the
+side of the yacht from the main deck forward; no one was on the look-out
+when a dusky form clambered silently up and helped to lower Salathiel
+ben Ezra into the boat riding alongside.
+
+But it happened that Timothy Ball, going forward at that moment to fetch
+his reefer, which he had left in the fore cabin, noticed what was afoot
+just as he reached the companion way. With a shout he dashed forward to
+lay hands on the intruder. But, quick as thought, the Moor whipped out a
+knife and struck at Timothy; and when the sailors came running to the
+spot they found the poor fellow groaning on the deck, and caught a
+glimpse of a felucca speeding away into the gloom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII--THE HILLS OF ZEMMUR
+
+
+For the moment the airship was forgotten. The whole ship's company
+flocked to the foredeck and formed a group around the prostrate form of
+Timothy Ball. Tom was already on his knees beside the man, putting in
+practice the principles of first aid, and receiving unexpected
+assistance from M'Cracken, who showed remarkable adeptness.
+
+"How did it _happen_?" cried Mr. Greatorex, supposing that his man's
+plight was due to some accident.
+
+"The Jew!" said Timothy, faintly.
+
+"The villain! Bring him _here_, some one."
+
+"He ain't here, sir; went over the side. It wasn't him that stabbed me;
+it was a Moor that came up out of a boat and helped the Jew to get away.
+Never mind me, sir; I'm all right."
+
+Mr. Greatorex fumed.
+
+"This puts a _stop_ to it, Tom. It's a villainous business, and we'll go
+straight back home."
+
+Tom made no reply. He was completing the adjustment of a tourniquet.
+
+"And we've no doctor on board!" Mr. Greatorex went on. "We'll run back
+to Gibraltar and get assistance. Can't let the poor fellow bleed to
+_death_, you know."
+
+"He'll no bleed to death," said M'Cracken huskily. "It's just a wee
+flesh wound. He'll be a' richt in a twa-three days."
+
+"Glad to hear it."
+
+"The question is, who shall I take with me now?" said Tom, rising to his
+feet and ignoring Mr. Greatorex's expressed determination to go home.
+"The sooner I'm off the better, for that rascally Jew will tell all he
+knows about the airship, and the Moors will be on their guard."
+
+"But we're going _home_, Tom."
+
+"Surely you won't let our enterprise be ruined by a rogue!" replied Tom.
+"There's all the more reason for going on with it."
+
+"Gad, you're right," cried Mr. Greatorex, veering round again. "We'll do
+it in the _teeth_ of them. But you'll want some one with you in place of
+Tim. If I were twenty years younger I'd go myself. You want a man who
+knows _something_ about engines. Can't spare _you_, Mumford, I'm
+afraid."
+
+"No, sir," replied the engineer, "and I'm rather heavy. But there's
+young M'Cracken; he's a light weight; an uncommonly handy fellow too,
+and judging from some remarks of his when we've been watching the
+airship, he knows something about 'em; seems to have read a good deal. I
+can do without him for a day or two, especially if we lie at anchor
+here."
+
+"Ah! Yes! Where _is_ he? He was here a few seconds ago."
+
+M'Cracken was haled from below. He appeared even more grimy than ever.
+
+"Look here, M'Cracken," said Mr. Greatorex. "Mr. Dorrell wants some one
+to _help_ him, and Mr. Mumford suggests you: speaks _well_ of you, you
+know. You've never been on an airship, of course; but all you've to do
+is to keep _calm_, and do _exactly_ as you are told. You're not
+_afraid_--no _nerves_, oh?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"You're very hoarse still. It will do you _good_, you know, to be away
+from that furnace for a day or two. Well, you'd better get a wash."
+
+"No time for that," said Tom quickly. "It's past ten o'clock, and we
+ought to have started long ago."
+
+"Very well. You're not going _visiting_, to be sure. Well, M'Cracken, go
+and put on your reefer; the night's cold, and will be colder."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," returned M'Cracken, and dived with alacrity below. He was
+back in less than a minute. Then Tom entered the car of the airship,
+followed by Abdul and the stoker. With one hand on the steering wheel
+and the other on the lever controlling the engines, he called to the men
+to cast loose the ropes securing the car to the deck. Then he started
+the ascensional screw, and with a whirr like that of a gigantic
+humming-top the airship rose slowly from the yacht's deck.
+
+"Good-bye, Tom," shouted Mr. Greatorex. "Be _careful_, my boy; run no
+risks."
+
+"Good-bye! Good-bye!"
+
+"This is ripping," said the stoker, as the machine rose higher and
+higher into the air.
+
+Tom started so violently that he unconsciously jerked back the lever and
+stopped the motion of the machine.
+
+"Pull that lever, quick!" he called.
+
+"Done it already," said the stoker, with his hand on the lever that
+adjusted the planes. "Lucky I've been up before, Dorrell."
+
+"Good heavens, you're--yes, you're Oliphant. Whew! won't the old man be
+in a tantrum. How in the world did you disguise yourself?"
+
+"Sammy Byles' clothes, a little lampblack, and my native brogue do make
+a difference, don't they! I'm afraid Mr. Greatorex _will_ be a trifle
+fizzy; but that won't matter, afterwards."
+
+"I'm not sure I oughtn't to go back and drop you."
+
+"Nonsense. I'm in for it now, and when you come to think of it you
+couldn't have a better man. Bar Timothy, nobody knows so much about the
+machine as I do; and I warrant I'm a better hand in a scrimmage, whether
+with fists or revolvers. I've brought my Colt."
+
+It was some time before Tom recovered from his surprise; but for the
+moment his attention was occupied by the airship. At last he said--
+
+"Well, Oliphant, I'm glad enough to have you with me. I hope we shall
+come through all right."
+
+While speaking, he had stopped the ascensional screws and set the
+horizontal going. A small aneroid hung just above his head, lit by a
+carefully screened electric lamp. The reading indicated that the airship
+had risen to a height of five hundred metres. Maintaining the ascent
+solely by the inclination of the planes, Tom brought the whole force of
+the engines to bear on the horizontal screws, and the machine glided
+onwards at a speed of some twenty miles an hour, gradually rising as she
+went. Then, at the altitude of a thousand metres, when Tom judged that
+he was high enough to clear the tops of the hills that fringed the
+coast, Oliphant reduced the angle of the planes so that it was just
+sufficient to maintain a constant height at the increased speed of
+twenty-five miles.
+
+"By Jove, this _is_ ripping!" cried Oliphant again.
+
+It was a bright starlit night, without a breath of wind. At this
+altitude the air was crisp and keen, producing a sense of exhilaration
+in the occupants of the car. Even Abdul, who had quaked inwardly and
+clutched the rail when the machine rose to such a giddy height, had now
+lost his tremors, and looked around him with wonderment and delight. The
+ship was soaring over the land, which lay outstretched like a vast black
+floor three-quarters of a mile beneath. Behind, the lights of the yacht
+could be faintly distinguished; before, there was not a glimmer over the
+whole country. The airship crossed a peak or two, then sailed over a
+rolling plain; by and by more hills loomed black in front. The aneroid,
+an extremely delicate instrument, now indicated that the machine was
+slowly sinking. Oliphant again adjusted the planes; the airship passed
+clear of the hills, and Tom steered as directly as he could guess for
+the spot he had marked on his map.
+
+When the voyage had lasted for about an hour the rising moon threw more
+light on the scene, lending a weird beauty to the variegated
+landscape--bare rugged hills alternating with wooded slopes and dark
+valleys. But it was impossible, at the height at which they were
+sailing, to distinguish any landmarks; Abdul knew the country
+thoroughly, but was quite at a loss in this unfamiliar situation. He had
+told Tom that the fastness where the diplomatist was probably held
+captive stood on the top of an extremely steep hill, and explained that
+the most convenient spot from which to approach it was a small tableland
+about a sixth of a day's journey from it. This was Tom's objective; but
+as it was impossible to make sure of reaching it unless Abdul could
+obtain some guidance from prominent natural features, Tom more than once
+allowed the airship to sink almost to the ground, so that the Moor might
+scan the country.
+
+On one of these occasions, about four hours after they had left the
+yacht, Abdul said that he recognized a hill stream whose source was
+within a short distance of the sheikh's stronghold. From the directions
+he was now able to give, Tom managed to steer fairly straight for the
+tableland, and after once more descending so that Abdul might assure
+himself that he had not been mistaken, he finally brought the airship to
+rest at the desired spot. It was past three o'clock in the morning; the
+sky was already lightening with what Abdul called subhi kázib--the false
+dawn which often in these latitudes illumines the sky an hour or so
+before the real dawn. The three adventurers were all very tired, and on
+Abdul explaining that the tableland was but rarely visited, and that so
+far as he knew there were no wild beasts in the neighbourhood, Tom
+thought that they might all safely take a few hours' sleep before
+considering the next move. The tableland was not entirely flat; it had
+many depressions, and jagged rocks stood up on all sides around the
+comparatively clear space on which the airship rested. Only one hill,
+and that apparently four or five miles distant, stood higher, and even
+the hawk-like vision of the mountaineers was not likely to discover the
+airship from so remote a spot.
+
+The real dawn--subhi sadik--was some little while past when the Moor
+awoke, first of the three. He had just completed his morning devotions
+and ablutions at a little spring when the others roused themselves.
+Among the contents of the car were a spirit lamp, a tin of condensed
+milk, and materials for making tea; and while they ate their breakfast
+Tom discussed with Oliphant the programme for the day.
+
+"The first thing is to find out exactly where Ingleton is imprisoned,"
+said Tom, "and what chance there is of getting into communication with
+him. That's a job for Abdul; obviously we can't help him; we can't do
+better than lie snug here while he goes and gets what information he
+can."
+
+"A pretty dangerous job for him if he's caught, isn't it?"
+
+"Well, it's a good many years since he left these parts, and he must
+have altered. I doubt whether he'll be recognized. Luckily the hills are
+covered with mist, too; if he starts soon he'll be able to get a good
+way before he's likely to run across any of his countrymen."
+
+"Or lose himself?"
+
+"No, master," said Abdul, "I don't not lose myself. I go all right."
+
+"The sooner the better, then," said Tom. "We'll wait for you here."
+
+The Moor, who had resumed his native dress, at once girt his djellab
+about him and prepared to descend the hillside. Tom and Oliphant watched
+him breathlessly until the mist hid him from view. He went over the brow
+of the hill and began to clamber down its steep side with the agility
+and sure-footedness of a mountain goat. When he was out of sight the
+others returned to their half-finished breakfast, ready to endure with
+what patience they might the long waiting until the Moor should have
+completed his errand.
+
+"What if he doesn't come back?" said Oliphant.
+
+"We shall have to risk it ourselves. I'm certainly not going back
+without making the attempt now that we have come so far. It's pretty
+cold up here; I shall be glad when the sun sucks up this mist."
+
+When the mist at last cleared away, a magnificent view spread out before
+the two watchers on the hill-top. They themselves were perched on the
+top of a practically bare rock, but a hundred feet below them the hill
+side was covered with forest, broken, however, with huge patches of
+rocky ground, on which apparently not even the hardiest tree could find
+a lodgment. For miles around, the country showed a succession of
+tree-clad hills, with here and there a waterfall, and here and there a
+bare summit, not, however, truncated like the hill on which they had
+landed. Far away to the north-west they could descry, through their
+field-glasses, a considerable walled village perched on the shoulder of
+a hill, with one or two large buildings, one presumably a mosque, and a
+second evidently the stronghold of the sheikh. This no doubt was the
+place in which they were interested. It lay in the direction generally
+indicated by the Moor, although when he started it was hidden by the
+mists.
+
+The hours dragged all too slowly by. They talked over the situation,
+occasionally getting up to stretch their limbs, but not venturing to
+move about much, lest they should be seen by any chance shepherd or
+hunter. On the plain below they caught sight of animals moving, and
+longed to take a shot at them--now a gazelle, now a wild hog. But to fire
+a shot was out of the question, and they had to content themselves with
+exchanging reminiscences of sport at home.
+
+Darkness fell again. Abdul had not returned. Each spent a restless
+night, and rose with the dawn, eagerly scanning the country, as soon as
+the mist was dispersed, for a sign of their emissary, but in vain.
+
+"I hope he hasn't been collared," said Tom.
+
+"Or turned traitor!"
+
+"He wouldn't do that, I'm sure. I like the fellow. Of course you read a
+lot about oriental duplicity, but I don't believe Abdul is a rogue.
+Anyway, we should have time to get away in the airship before any one
+could molest us here, and he knows that. For the life of me I don't know
+what we can do if he _has_ been collared. We can't do a thing until we
+know where Ingleton is; we certainly can't go inquiring ourselves. All
+we can do is to go back to the yacht and try and pick up some
+English-speaking native who can tell us what we want to know, and that
+means loss of time."
+
+"And more than that; it would mean that I'd have to turn into M'Cracken
+again, and I don't believe I could keep up the disguise any longer. I
+say, what's that moving down there?"
+
+They seized their field-glasses and turned them towards a patch moving
+along the outskirts of a wood some miles away.
+
+"Moors, by Jove!" exclaimed Oliphant. "And mounted. And coming this way.
+It looks as though Abdul had betrayed us, after all."
+
+"Don't be in a hurry. They're making no attempt to mask their approach.
+I don't believe they're coming here at all. No; see, they are wheeling
+off to the right, in the direction of the hill village yonder. We
+needn't worry ourselves. But I'm getting sick of this, and it'll be
+serious soon. I only brought three days' grub in the car, and I'm afraid
+we ate more than we ought yesterday. That's the worst of having nothing
+to do."
+
+"It's so plaguy hot, too, when the sun's up. For two pins I'd go down
+and have a shot at something in the woods. No doubt it's cooler down
+there, and there's no fun in lying about up here to frizzle."
+
+"There'd certainly be no fun in being pitched into a Moorish dungeon. By
+all accounts they're rather horrible. I think I'd rather frizzle here
+than stew there. In any case, even supposing the Moors didn't find out
+who was firing, the shots would put them on their guard and perhaps
+spoil our game. I say, Oliphant, reel off some of your stories."
+
+But even Oliphant's stories in the Doric palled, and by and by Tom got
+up and said that he was going for a stroll. He was away for nearly an
+hour, and Oliphant began to feel uneasy at his prolonged absence.
+Oliphant dared not call, for fear of being overheard by an enemy; nor
+did he care to explore. But he was making up his mind to follow Tom down
+the steep path when the wanderer at last returned.
+
+"Rather interesting spot, this," he said. "Round the corner below there
+I came upon some caves."
+
+"I wondered what had become of you. Did you get lost?"
+
+"No. The odd thing is that these caves are up about twenty feet from a
+ridge of rock, and can't be got at without a ladder. I tried to mount,
+but the wall is almost flat."
+
+"I'll go and have a look. How do you get there?"
+
+"Down the hill a little way, turn to the right, go along the ridge, and
+look up. The caves are about halfway between the ridge and the top of
+the hill."
+
+Oliphant followed these directions, and by and by returned, with his
+trousers cut in several places.
+
+"I tried to climb up," he explained, "but couldn't manage it. I think it
+could be done, though, with practice."
+
+"Which we haven't time for."
+
+The discovery of the caves had occupied some little time, and furnished
+material for speculation and talk that helped to relieve the tedium of
+waiting. But their patience had well nigh given out when night once more
+descended and still Abdul had not returned. The two were eating their
+supper in moody silence when they heard suddenly the sound of a stone
+rattling down the hillside. They seized their revolvers and sprang up,
+waiting for another sound. Clearly some one, man or animal, was climbing
+the hill. All was again silent; then, from some point beyond them, came
+the sound of a high-pitched voice.
+
+"It's Abdul. Thank goodness!" cried Oliphant, with a laugh. "Come on,
+you laggard, and give an account of yourself."
+
+"You have been a long time, Abdul," said Tom, as that young Moor came
+through the darkness.
+
+"True, master; but it is with us a saying, 'Every delay is good.'"
+
+"Well, come and have something to eat. You're pretty tired and hungry,
+no doubt. Then you can tell us what you have done."
+
+But Abdul declined the food offered him, and producing a wallet from
+beneath his djellab, displayed a heap of dates. He related that he had
+made his way safely into the village, but as he went through the street
+towards the house of Hamet Ali--a friend on whose discretion he could
+rely--he fancied from the manner of an old water-carrier that the man had
+recognized him. He contrived to slip away among a company of muleteers
+that happened to be passing, and reached his friend's house unmolested;
+but shortly afterwards he learnt from this friend that the water-carrier
+had mentioned his suspicions, and that inquiries were being diligently
+made for him through the village. Every exit was watched; and his friend
+was in some anxiety lest an emissary of the sheikh should come and
+search the house. Hamet, however, was an old enemy of the sheikh,
+though, with true oriental dissimulation, he had hitherto managed to
+hide the fact. He agreed to give Abdul shelter so long as it was safe to
+do so, but impressed upon him that he must not venture to show himself
+out of doors.
+
+He then inquired what had brought Abdul to the village, and the boy
+thought it advisable to confide in him, taking care to heighten the
+mystery of the wonderful ship that sailed through the air, and to
+promise, on the Englishmen's behalf, liberal bakshish to Hamet if he
+lent all possible assistance to the enterprise. He wished his friend to
+send a messenger to Tom, but this Hamet refused to do, for the results
+to himself, if the messenger were followed and caught, might be
+disastrous.
+
+On the morning of the same day, when Hamet returned from his usual visit
+to the sôk, he reported that a camel-driver had arrived, bearing a
+message from a Jew of Rabat, Salathiel ben Ezra by name, who proposed to
+come in person to see the sheikh, and had sent a swift rider in advance
+to request a safe-conduct. The Jews are tolerated, scorned, made to do
+menial work, in the ports; in remote districts of Morocco they carry
+their lives in their hands. But the message conveyed to the sheikh had
+been such that Salathiel's request was granted, and a dozen men had been
+sent on horseback towards the coast as an escort. Hearing this, Abdul
+decided that at all costs he must return to his employer. Under cover of
+the night he had contrived to slip away from the village, and had come
+back by a circuitous route so as to make sure of not being intercepted.
+
+"But what of the prisoner?" asked Tom. "Did you learn anything of him?"
+
+"Yes, master. He is in the sheikh's kasbah."
+
+"What is kasbah?"
+
+"Strong place, master; thick walls; a very bad prison."
+
+"We are on the right track, Oliphant," said Tom.
+
+"It looks bad, though. Ingleton will be pretty well guarded, you may be
+sure; and I don't for the life of me see how we can break into a strong
+place and get him out."
+
+"Unless we bribe his jailers. Could we get him away with bakshish,
+Abdul?"
+
+"No, master. The sheikh would cut hands and feet off, put eyes out, and
+more."
+
+"Evidently we've got our work cut out, Oliphant. And you may depend upon
+it our friend Salathiel has somehow found out our errand and is coming
+to warn the sheikh. I remember now that I saw him talking to one of the
+Moors who came aboard the yacht."
+
+"That explains it."
+
+"How long will it take him to get here, Abdul?"
+
+"Two three days, master."
+
+"We must be beforehand with him, then. Are you prepared for short
+rations, Oliphant? Our grub won't last more than another day."
+
+"Plenty dates and figs in woods, master," said Abdul.
+
+"We shan't starve, then. Let's have a good sleep, Oliphant. We shall
+want all our strength for this job."
+
+"We shall indeed. Poor old pater! Wouldn't he have the blues if he knew
+where I am!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII--THE SWORDSMITH OF AIN AFROO
+
+
+The approaching advent of the Jew had introduced a new element of danger
+into the enterprise. If he should reach the village before Ingleton was
+released, clearly the game was up. Instead of getting a good sleep, Tom
+lay awake, talking over the situation with Oliphant. He got Abdul to
+describe the kasbah, but the description was so vague--the Moor when he
+lived in the village having taken the stronghold for granted--that he
+felt incapable of making any plans without seeing the place for himself.
+When he made this suggestion Oliphant scouted it.
+
+"For one thing," he said, "it's too dangerous; for another, where do I
+come in?"
+
+"Of course I should have to take Abdul--or rather he would have to take
+me; and however dangerous it would be for two, it would be still more
+dangerous for three. If you'll stay and keep an eye on the airship, I'll
+take advantage of the moonlight and go and have a look round. Your turn
+will come, you may be sure of that. If I don't come back, you know how
+to set the machine going. Scoot back to the yacht, and get Mr. Greatorex
+to make straight for Tangier."
+
+"There'll be a pretty row about this before we've done with it! All
+right!--if you _will_ go. But I say, they'll spot you for a foreigner if
+any one catches sight of you--in those clothes."
+
+"Yes; I forgot that. I wish I'd provided myself with a rig-out in the
+Moorish style."
+
+Here Abdul produced from the folds of his djellab a small bundle, which,
+being unrolled, proved to be a long grey garment with a pair of yellow
+shoes wrapped in it.
+
+"You're a brick, Abdul!" cried Tom. "You guessed I'd want something of
+this sort, eh?"
+
+"Yes, master. I could only get one."
+
+"So you're out of it for the present, anyhow, Oliphant. Well, good-bye.
+If we're lucky we'll be back by the morning; if not--you know what to
+do."
+
+Five minutes later Tom, swathed in the djellab, disappeared over the
+brow of the hill with Abdul. He carried his revolver; the Moor had only
+a knife. In his unfamiliar garment Tom found it by no means easy to make
+the descent down the rough precipitous path; but Abdul went first,
+picking the easiest course, and both arrived safely at the bottom.
+
+Then they began their march to the village. It was a toilsome journey,
+and Tom found the Moorish slippers a very inconvenient footgear. A long
+tramp, and another steep climb, brought them to the wall of the village,
+which was built on the slope of the hill. The gates had been shut at
+sunset, Abdul explained: that was the Moorish fashion. Tom perceived
+that the wall was utterly dilapidated: in that respect Ain Afroo was
+typically Moorish. In many parts the parapet had fallen to pieces, and,
+for any protection it afforded, the wall might as well not have been
+there. It gave easy foothold to a climber, and Tom indulged a hope that
+the kasbah might prove to be in equally bad preservation.
+
+From what Abdul had told him, Tom guessed that the stronghold lay at the
+upper extremity of the village, about eighty or ninety yards from the
+wall. The Moor's knowledge of the place enabled him to lead Tom to a
+spot where it would clearly be an easy matter to climb the battlements.
+Secure in their remoteness, and in the fact that no hostile force could
+come within many miles of the village without being instantly announced,
+the inhabitants kept only a perfunctory watch. A few men, Abdul said,
+were regularly on guard at the north-east and south-west corners; but no
+attempt was made to watch the walls in general. Knowing the state of the
+defences, this fact gave Tom some amusement. With walls so ruinous the
+gates were the last places at which unauthorized ingress or egress would
+be made. The whole place was still sleeping, and would sleep until the
+muezzin from the mosque gave the call to prayer. Abdul declared it was
+quite safe to enter the village so far as its human inhabitants were
+concerned, though there was a risk that some pariah dog might be
+wakeful. Taking his courage in both hands, Tom climbed up the wall after
+Abdul, and descended on the other side; then, keeping in the black
+shadows cast by the moon, the two made their way through round archways
+and narrow alleys to the outer wall of the kasbah.
+
+The village was very silent. It might almost have been an abode of the
+dead. Only the screech of night-birds beyond the walls broke the
+stillness. Tom held his breath--and his nose, for sanitary authorities
+are unknown in Morocco, and heaps of refuse here and there spoke
+forcibly in the night air. The two intruders crept stealthily round the
+walls of the kasbah, against which small shops and outbuildings that
+Abdul called _inzella_ were built, except before the principal
+entrance--a large gateway through which two or three men could ride
+abreast. In front of this gateway was a wide, open square, with low
+shops under a colonnade on the other side.
+
+The gateway was shut. It had massive iron doors. Stealing to the further
+side of it, Abdul touched Tom's arm, and pointed to a small dark window,
+unglazed, scarcely more than a slit in the wall, some twenty-five feet
+above their heads, and a yard or two back from the parapet, which, as
+the Moor had already explained, extended right round the kasbah,
+enclosing a kind of terrace. It was the window of the guest-chamber, and
+there, Abdul had suggested, the captured envoy was confined.
+
+The entrance to the guest-chamber would be from the terrace within the
+parapet. The floor above was occupied by the sheikh and his family; the
+floor below was devoted to the servants and the guard. Even as Tom
+looked, a figure passed slowly along the terrace, and the moonlight
+glinted on a steel musket barrel. It was clear that the guest-chamber
+was carefully guarded--a proof, it seemed, that Abdul's suggestion was
+correct. Drawing Tom out of earshot, Abdul said that special orders must
+have been given, or the sentry would certainly not tramp up and down at
+this hour of night. Tom learnt afterwards that the Moorish soldier's
+idea of sentry-go is a long nap in the nearest doorway.
+
+"Is there no entrance to the guest-chamber from within?" asked Tom.
+
+Abdul confessed that he did not know. He had never set foot within the
+walls. But he had once taken refuge for the night, on one of his
+journeys through the country, in a ruined kasbah of somewhat similar
+appearance, and there a door led from the guest-chamber into a small
+vestibule, which gave access to the upper floor and the roof above.
+
+Flitting silently across the square, Tom and the Moor took post under
+the shadow of the colonnade on the farther side, which ran at right
+angles to the wall of the kasbah. Within it was a row of shops, now shut
+and barred. There, leaning against one of the stout columns, within the
+black darkness of the Moorish arch, Tom scanned the kasbah, looming
+white in the moonlight, and meditated.
+
+To get into communication with the prisoner seemed absolutely hopeless.
+No one could force an entrance into the sheikh's strong place. Was it
+possible to gain the assistance of some one within? Might not Hamet Ali,
+Abdul's friend, act as intermediary between Tom and some servant of the
+sheikh's? The cynical saying, "Every man has his price," was literal
+truth in Morocco: such was the impression Tom had gained from his
+reading. But he knew enough of oriental ways to be sure that the fixing
+of the price would be a long and tedious affair. If the Moor were asked
+to name it, he would suggest a sum far in excess of what he would
+ultimately accept; while however large a sum were offered, it would
+prove only the starting place for long haggling. Indeed, the larger the
+bribe, the more likely it would be to excite the cupidity of the agent,
+and to encourage him to stand out for yet higher terms.
+
+In spite of the difficulties, Tom would have been inclined to attempt
+this means if it had not involved serious delay, and still more serious
+risk to both Abdul and himself. Hamet Ali lived on the far side of the
+town. Abdul would have to make his way there, waken his friend, explain
+the circumstances, overcome a probable reluctance to meddle, fix a price
+with Hamet Ali, and another for the sheikh's servant. Every move would
+be attended with danger. A Moor's house is a castle in miniature. Any
+attempt to rouse the inmates at this dead hour of night would
+necessitate so much noise and clatter as to disturb the neighbourhood.
+The night was wearing on, and before Abdul could, with reasonable regard
+to secrecy, obtain access to his friend's house, daylight might be upon
+them. The Moors are early risers, and even if all went well, and Tom and
+the others stole forth from the village before dawn, they would almost
+certainly be seen and ridden down as they crossed the wide rocky spaces
+that surrounded the place. But the most serious consideration of all was
+that of time: it would not be possible to get into treaty with any one
+inside the kasbah before Salathiel ben Ezra appeared on the scene. Then
+the enterprise was doomed to failure.
+
+Tom was anxiously discussing with himself the pros and cons when Abdul
+plucked him by the arm.
+
+"Day is near, master," he whispered. "We must go by the way we came."
+
+Tom was reluctant to own himself beaten; but there was clearly no hope
+for it. Gathering his djellab about him, and pulling the hood over his
+head, he followed Abdul with quick, noiseless footsteps across the
+square.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Ahmed Hûk, apprentice to Hamadi ben Ibn, the swordsmith of Ain Afroo,
+had spent a restless night. His head throbbed; he could not sleep; he
+wished he had not smoked so much hashish when his work was done for the
+day. The air of the little shop was close and oppressive; and after
+hours of wakefulness, turning from side to side in the vain effort to
+find sleep, Ahmed got up and quietly unbarred the little wicket in the
+door, careful not to disturb his master, who was snoring loudly within a
+few feet of him. Perhaps a little fresh air from the outside would cool
+his heated brow.
+
+He had not stood more than a few minutes at the wicket, and was already
+thinking of returning to his charpoy, when he noticed, in the moonlight
+on the other side of the square, two figures turn the corner by the
+kasbah opposite, coming from the direction of the village wall. They at
+once disappeared into the shadow thrown by the great wall of the
+building, but something in their movements aroused the curiosity of
+Ahmed. Why were two wayfarers abroad at so late an hour? The matter was
+not his concern; still, he would remain at the wicket a little longer,
+to see if the two night-walkers reappeared.
+
+His view was somewhat broken by the rows of pillars supporting the
+colonnade in front of the shops of which his master's establishment was
+one; but through the interval between two of them he did at last see the
+two forms moving with rather suspicious quickness across the illumined
+square, and, what was more interesting to him, they were seemingly
+coming in his direction. Were they thieves, he wondered? He could hardly
+believe it, for the village was small; they could scarcely escape
+detection; and the sheikh's ingenuity in punishments was notorious even
+in Morocco, where torture is a fine art.
+
+With instinctive caution Ahmed closed the wicket, leaving only a slit
+just wide enough for him to peep through. In a few moments he heard the
+slight rustle of the strangers' garments, and saw their dark forms
+clearly outlined against the moonlight. They had come under the
+colonnade and halted within two or three yards of him, behind one of the
+pillars. They whispered a little together, then were silent for a space,
+then whispered again: and now Ahmed was interested indeed, for, low as
+their tones were, he overheard a word or two, and they made him jump;
+they were certainly not in the Moorish tongue. His master's business had
+taken him more than once to Dár al Beida, and he had heard such words
+used by the N'zrani--the unbelievers who were suffered to pollute the
+city by their presence. How came it that here, in Ain Afroo, a village
+where no unbeliever ever set foot save a dog of a Jew now and then
+(though truly there were one or two infidel wretches now safely confined
+in the kasbah)--how came it that two men, good Moors and followers of the
+Prophet, to all appearance, were speaking in the tongue of the infidel?
+It was perplexing, to say the least, and undoubtedly worthy of the
+attention of Hamadi his master.
+
+Leaving the wicket, Ahmed silently groped his way to the charpoy on
+which the swordsmith was sleeping, and gently awakened him. In a low
+whisper he conveyed the news of his discovery. Hamadi at once rose, and,
+trusting to the pitch darkness of the colonnade, opened the wicket
+fully, and listened with all his ears.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Tom and Abdul had no sooner crossed the square than the bolts of the
+shop door opposite which they had been standing were softly drawn back,
+and Hamadi, followed by his apprentice, glided barefoot after them. Each
+bore a sword--good weapons, as Hamadi, who had made them, well knew.
+Hamadi saw a vision of great prosperity and high favour with the sheikh.
+He would follow up the strangers, if strangers they indeed were, to the
+house where they harboured. There he would leave Ahmed to keep watch,
+while he himself sped to the kasbah and told what he had seen. Without
+doubt the sheikh would reward him handsomely.
+
+By the time Hamadi and his boy had left the shelter of the colonnade,
+the strangers had turned the corner of the far side of the square; but
+the pursuers ran quickly across the open space and gained the corner
+while their quarry was still in sight.
+
+Tom and his companion, picking their way with all caution through the
+dark, uneven, dirty passages that led from the kasbah to the outer wall,
+went out slowly. Every now and again they stumbled over a loose cobble
+or a heap of refuse; then there was a little noise that might betray
+their presence to any one who happened to be within a few yards of them.
+At such times Abdul would throw a hurried glance back; well he knew what
+their fate would be if they were captured.
+
+Suddenly he edged a little closer to Tom and whispered--
+
+"Men follow us!"
+
+By this time they were almost within reach of the wall. Tom was alive to
+the danger in which the pursuit had placed them. Descending the wall,
+they would have to grope for foothold. Before they could get clear, the
+pursuers would have come up behind, and might either topple down upon
+them loose boulders from the wall, or, if they bore firearms, have them
+at their mercy. The two hurried their steps.
+
+"They are close behind--two men!" whispered Abdul.
+
+Tom glanced to each side along the wall. There was no convenient place
+in which they might take refuge with any prospect of eluding their
+pursuers. They were now hasting along at a half run beneath a long wall
+that possibly enclosed some gardens of houses backing on the ramparts.
+Here and there this wall was broken by a doorway; but the gates, when
+Tom tested them by a push, were always closed. Abdul was making for the
+spot at which they had entered the village; it was the nearest, indeed
+the only practicable, place of descent. But to descend, with the
+pursuers upon them, would be dangerous, perhaps fatal. To leave this
+place of exit, and move farther along the ramparts or back into the
+village, would be almost equally dangerous and would lose precious time.
+The only other course open to them was to tackle the problem of
+disposing of the pursuers. Tom nervously fingered his revolver; but a
+shot would rouse the whole village and multiply the pursuers perhaps
+fiftyfold.
+
+While Tom was feverishly attempting to hit on some means of dealing with
+the two men, these, unaware that they had been seen, were already
+reckoning up the profits of a successful coup. As soon as Hamadi the
+swordsmith saw that the men in front were making for the ramparts, he
+guessed at once that they were intruders from the outside, and he also
+guessed the point at which the exit was to be made. This was not the
+first time that the place had been used as a means of getting in and out
+of the village by night. More than once it had happened that the
+villagers, at feud with neighbouring mountaineers, had crept out at
+night to settle their scores, returning safely within the walls before
+daybreak. The fact that the gates were closed and no one could pass
+during the night was prima facie evidence of their innocence. It was
+even said that the sheikh had settled accounts with a hostile neighbour
+in the same way. The swordsmith therefore was quite justified in shaping
+his course on the assumption that the two men in front of him would
+climb down the ruined part of the wall, and he would be in ample time to
+deal with them when they were clinging precariously to the face of the
+stonework.
+
+The only fault in his calculation was that he did not reckon with the
+sharp eyes of Tom's companion. Thus it was that, passing incautiously
+one of the recessed doorways leading on to the gardens, he suddenly saw
+a thousand brilliant lights flash before his eyes, his sword flew from
+his grasp, and he reeled dizzily to the ground. Tom's muscles were
+hardened by much exercise in engineering workshops, and Hamadi, though a
+big man and strong, as befitted one of his trade, was not prepared for
+so surprising an attack. Before he could recover his wits Tom was upon
+him, pressing the cold barrel of his revolver to his ear. The man,
+although dizzy, had still enough intelligence left to know what this
+meant, and he lay quite still while Tom pondered how he could at the
+same time secure his vanquished foe and lend assistance to his
+companion, who was now hotly engaged with the apprentice. Abdul,
+however, needed no help. Before Tom had time to decide upon his own
+course, the young Moor, taking full advantage of the darkness that
+neutralized the effect of his enemy's longer weapon, dodged in beneath
+the latter's guard, and got home a shrewd thrust in the forearm. Ahmed,
+yelling lustily, dropped his sword, spun round, and set off down the
+ramparts at full speed before Abdul could repeat his stroke.
+
+[Illustration: HIS SWORD FLEW FROM HIS GRASP, AND HE REELED DIZZILY TO
+THE GROUND.]
+
+Tom breathed more freely. He had at any rate, he thought, gained a few
+minutes. The yells of the Moor were not likely to bring help
+immediately. While a shot would undoubtedly have raised the guard at the
+kasbah, and brought a party in hot haste to the spot, the cries of a man
+yelling would probably only cause a certain sleepy curiosity. A Moor
+never puts himself to unnecessary trouble, and it would certainly not be
+worth while to pay much attention to a brawl between men who had smoked
+too much hashish. But there was still need for haste, so with Abdul's
+assistance Tom trussed up the fallen swordsmith with workmanlike bonds
+made of his own garments, and in another minute was beginning the
+descent of the wall.
+
+They were only halfway down when they heard an uproar in the village.
+The apprentice had lost no time in gathering a band to continue the
+pursuit. Yet Tom could not hurry his flight, for a false step would mean
+at least a broken arm, and in all probability a broken neck. With Abdul
+close behind he picked his way down the broken masonry, the shouts
+growing ever nearer and more menacing. At last they reached the bottom.
+Then, Abdul leading the way, they hurried along the foot of the wall.
+They durst not yet leave its shelter, for the moon, though now sinking
+in the sky, still threw sufficient light to betray them if they
+attempted to cross the open space towards the hillside.
+
+Crouching low as they went, they heard the pursuers halt at the place
+where they had descended. But now they had reached a welcome patch of
+stunted bush which promised needful cover. Plunging into this, still
+keeping low so that their heads should not show above the scrub, they
+strode away at right angles to the wall. Abdul's knowledge of the
+country served him well. Descending the hill, they were soon out of
+danger. Then up and down little eminences, over brooks, through patches
+of wood, they pressed on, always bearing slightly to the right until
+they struck the true course. Almost in a bee-line, they made for the
+hill where Oliphant was anxiously awaiting them, and arrived there just
+after dawn, tired out, and not a little disappointed with the barren
+result of their night's work.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX--A BOLT FROM THE BLUE
+
+
+"Thank Heaven you are back!" said Oliphant when Tom appeared over the
+brow of the hill. "I don't think I ever spent a more miserable night."
+
+"Anything happened?"
+
+"No. It wouldn't have been so bad if anything had. If I'd had something
+to do--somebody to fight, or something!"
+
+"Well, you could have gone to sleep."
+
+"So I did, and woke in a fright. I dreamt that wretched Jew fellow was
+coming at me with outstretched hands, and his fingernails were like some
+horrid bird's claws, and he grew bigger and bigger as he came until he
+seemed as huge as a mountain. But what luck did you have?"
+
+"None, or next to none. The kasbah's as strong as Newgate. And the worst
+of it is, we were spotted and followed, had to truss up one fellow;
+another alarmed the village. We escaped just by the skin of our teeth."
+
+He related in detail the incidents of the night.
+
+"It looks as if we'll have to back out after all," said Oliphant
+gloomily when the story was finished.
+
+"I'll be hanged if we will. I've been thinking it over, and talking it
+over with Abdul, on the way back. The only chance, it seems to me, is to
+face all the risks and make a dash for it."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Come down in the airship on the terraced roof of the kasbah under cover
+of night, and trust to luck to find our way to the prisoners' quarters."
+
+"But that would be confoundedly risky, especially after you have once
+given the alarm in the village."
+
+"I admit that's a nuisance, but it's perhaps not so bad as you think.
+You see, the Moors know nothing--I hope they don't, at any rate--about the
+airship, and they won't look for intruders from the sky. The botheration
+is that we've lost a lot of time, and our chance is utterly dished if
+the Jew gets in first. Abdul says he can't be more than a day's march
+from the place now. That's about thirty miles, as near as I can make
+out. Luckily it's very rough country, so that he can't come fast. He's
+probably starting this very morning for his last stage; it's possible
+that we've already lost our chance, for he's sure to hurry, and if he
+gets the ear of the sheikh before nightfall, they'll be on the watch for
+us."
+
+"But even without the Jew I don't see how your scheme's possible. There
+are sure to be extra guards at the wall, and if the night were as bright
+as this they couldn't help seeing the machine, and we couldn't alight
+without their knowledge."
+
+"Yes; but you must allow for their ignorance and superstition. If they
+do see the airship swooping down on them they'll be scared out of their
+wits; they'll think it some monstrous evil bird straight from Gehenna----"
+
+"Which is down below, not up aloft."
+
+"They won't be in a state to draw distinctions of that sort. Abdul
+assures me that these ignorant mountaineers--he was one himself once, but
+travel has widened his mind!--will be in such a state of terror that
+they'll be for a time pretty well paralysed: and time's all we want."
+
+"Well, he ought to know his countrymen. But there's the Jew: suppose he
+_does_ get there first?"
+
+"We've got to prevent him."
+
+"What!"
+
+"As I say, we must go and intercept him."
+
+"But he won't come alone."
+
+"Of course not. Abdul says he will come on horseback with a band of
+armed and mounted men. He wouldn't trust himself in this country without
+an escort. But that's where the airship comes in. I rather fancy that if
+we swoop down from the sky among a lot of Moors they'll think more of
+their own safety than of the Jew's."
+
+"Still, we couldn't prevent them from going on to the village."
+
+"I think we could."
+
+"What! shoot 'em down?"
+
+"No. I don't want to hurt a hair of their heads if I can help it. I
+think we can manage to chase them back along the way they came, and do
+something to frighten them into the bargain. Do you know how to make
+throw-downs?"
+
+"Never heard of 'em. What are they?"
+
+"I forgot; you Eton fellows never use such things, I suppose. Well, I'll
+make some, and you'll confess they're excellent little harmless bombs.
+Then we'll be off."
+
+Carefully opening two or three cartridge cases, he extracted the powder,
+and screwing it up with some tiny pebbles in tissue paper from his
+pocket-book, he manufactured a dozen or so of the little bombs. Then he
+inspected the machinery of the airship, thoroughly oiled the parts, and
+went aboard with Oliphant and Abdul. He allowed the machine to rise only
+a few feet from the top of the hill, so as to avoid if possible
+observation from the village; then he set off in a south-easterly
+direction, keeping the hill between him and the kasbah. Fetching a long
+circuit, he gradually bore south-west, then slightly north, until, in
+the course of about three-quarters of an hour, he struck the narrow
+winding track which would be followed by parties travelling between the
+village and the coast.
+
+From their elevated position they could trace the path for a
+considerable distance through the country, but as yet they had seen no
+sign of a party approaching the village. In broad daylight the airship
+must have been sighted by many people over whose heads it had passed;
+but from what Abdul had said it was unlikely that any one would have the
+least idea of the real nature of the apparition. They would regard it as
+a supernatural creature, and if within the next few hours a rumour of
+its appearance should be carried to the sheikh of Ain Afroo he would
+probably be none the wiser from any description that might be attempted.
+
+It was now little more than nine o'clock in the morning, and the Jew
+could scarcely have passed. Tom therefore headed the airship westward,
+keeping it at a low speed so that he might carefully scan the country
+and not let the Jew and his party escape him. He knew that, unless
+accident signally befriended him, the airship must be seen by them long
+before they came into sight. Although the country was spread out like a
+map, the machine in the open sky must be a much more conspicuous object
+to people below than they would be to observers above. Salathiel would,
+of course, recognize the airship; but Tom hoped that before the man
+could explain clearly to his escort what it was, the immediate object of
+the aerial flight would have been achieved.
+
+The morning wore away, and Tom began to feel anxious. To keep the
+airship so long in motion involved the expenditure of a large amount of
+his propulsive paste, and he had brought only as much of it as would
+last the voyage to and from the hill fortress, with a little margin for
+accidents. Yet he did not care to bring the machine to rest, for he
+might then miss the party of which he was in search. Moreover, all the
+provisions were gone except a few biscuits and some tea. With no food
+for themselves and no fuel for the machine their plight would be
+desperate. Tom spoke of his anxieties to Oliphant, and they were still
+talking somewhat disconsolately, when Abdul, who had never ceased to
+keep a sharp lookout, suddenly cried "Horses!" and pointed to sundry
+small specks ahead.
+
+Tom instantly started up and looked through his binocular in the
+direction of the Moor's forefinger.
+
+"There are about a score, I fancy," he said, handing the glass to
+Oliphant. "Can you spot the Jew?"
+
+"No, they are too much mixed up. I shouldn't know him again, either."
+
+"We shall know him very soon, though. Abdul told me that Jews in this
+country mostly wear blue clothes and black skullcaps. We'll make
+straight for them."
+
+The engines had lately been reduced to something less than half speed.
+Realizing that every second was now of value, Tom put them at full
+speed, steering the vessel direct for the party of horsemen, who had
+just emerged from a clump of timber. At the same time Oliphant altered
+the inclination of the planes, so that the airship began to drop rapidly
+earthwards. Thus it swooped down upon the party like a huge falcon. To
+manipulate the engines, the steering gear, and the lever affecting the
+planes, kept the hands of Tom and his friend pretty fully occupied; but
+Abdul was to make himself useful, and Tom instructed him to take a
+handful of the little bombs, in readiness to use them when the moment
+came. Tom hoped that the mere appearance of the sky monster would
+startle the horses and put the cavalcade to fright. As an additional
+means of scaring them he relied on the throwdowns.
+
+The airship had come within about two miles of the horsemen when it was
+seen that they had halted. No doubt the strange apparition had been
+observed, and Salathiel ben Ezra was doing his best to explain its
+nature. They remained stationary until the distance of the airship from
+them was less than a mile: then two of them wheeled suddenly in their
+tracks and set off in a mad gallop westward. The others, however, held
+their ground; either they had stronger nerves, or the Jew had managed to
+convince them that the strange object was not an instrument of the Evil
+One, but simply a new invention of the accursed people who had invented
+warships and alarm clocks.
+
+Tom had just distinguished the figure of Salathiel, on a mule in the
+midst of the party, when there came a slight puff of smoke from the
+centre of the group, followed by a second and a third. Oliphant laughed.
+
+"They're firing at us," he exclaimed, "which argues a pretty state of
+fright."
+
+"All very much in our favour. Look, there are three more of them off as
+hard as they can go."
+
+"But there are still ten or a dozen of them. If they have nerve enough
+to hold their fire till we come within range they may do us some
+damage--if their guns are any good."
+
+"There's not much doubt about that. They get hold of good rifles
+somehow. But we're in for it now. A bullet or two in the machinery would
+bring us to the ground; we must simply take our chance."
+
+The airship was now approaching the party at the speed of a fast train.
+Moment by moment others of the horsemen detached themselves from the
+group and galloped after their comrades, and Tom gave a cry when he saw
+that the Jew was among the fugitives. Still several remained.
+
+"It won't do to allow them to get between us and the kasbah," said Tom.
+"We must drive the whole lot of them back towards the coast."
+
+The airship was now only some three hundred feet above the ground.
+Suddenly Tom shut off the horizontal propellers and brought the vertical
+engines into play. The airship swept onward at the same level by virtue
+of its momentum. The horses of the Moors began to rear and plunge. They
+had probably heard the whirr of the machinery, for not being
+long-sighted beasts it was possible that they had not yet seen the
+vessel above them.
+
+"By George! aren't they magnificent horsemen!" said Oliphant, as he saw
+the Moors striving to hold their terrified animals in. One or two puffs,
+followed immediately by the reports of the rifles, came from the group;
+but with their horses rearing and plunging beneath them it was not
+surprising that the Moors missed the airship, though it now offered a
+considerable mark. It was immediately above them.
+
+"Now, Abdul!" said Tom.
+
+The Moor flung one of the little bombs earthward with all his force. It
+exploded at the very feet of one of the horses, which, frenzied with
+fear, took the bit between its teeth and bolted. Abdul threw half a
+dozen more, one after another, laughing with glee at the astonishing
+effect of the little bombs. There was no holding the horses any longer,
+and the whole party dashed away at a mad gallop along the road they had
+come.
+
+It was not Tom's object to overtake them yet awhile. He put the
+horizontal engines at half speed, and the airship began to follow the
+fugitives like a sheepdog at the heels of a frantic flock. The little
+group which had stood to the last were evidently the best mounted of the
+party, for they gradually closed in upon those who had started earlier.
+Tom could not forbear chuckling as he came upon the rotund black-capped
+figure of Salathiel ben Ezra striving to urge his steady-going mule to a
+brisker pace.
+
+"Is it safe to leave him behind?" asked Oliphant, as the Jew was
+outstripped and passed.
+
+"Oh yes! We'll come back for him presently. We could easily catch him
+up. If the mule is like most of his kind he won't hurry himself."
+
+The airship sped on after the rest of the party. Mile after mile was
+covered: the horses showed signs of fatigue, but one or two that were
+dropping behind were galvanized into further desperate efforts by the
+dreaded whirr of the propellers just in their rear.
+
+The chase had continued for about half an hour when Abdul suddenly
+noticed that the number of the fugitives was one less than it had been
+when the flight began. None of the three occupants of the airship had
+seen a rider diverge from the track: to do so would indeed have been
+difficult, for it ran through uneven and rocky ground which offered
+little footway for a horse. Yet it was clear that one of the Moors had
+at some point or other left his comrades and ridden off to right or
+left.
+
+"Never mind," said Tom. "If he tries to get to the village, I've no
+doubt we can overtake him. His horse will be no match for us."
+
+"Don't you think we've chased them far enough!" asked Oliphant. "We're
+using up a great deal of your paste."
+
+"Yes. I think we've pretty well disposed of them now. We'll swing round
+and go back for Master Salathiel."
+
+"What are you going to do with him--not bring him up here?"
+
+"Not a bit of it. We don't want him--not for long, at least. I've got an
+idea. But we must get hold of him first."
+
+Bringing the airship about in a wide circle, Tom steered it back along
+the track in search of the Jew.
+
+"The donkey!" cried Oliphant, as presently the man came in sight, making
+desperate efforts to gain the village. "He might have hidden himself
+among the rocks or the trees, and given us no end of trouble."
+
+"I don't know. He has chosen probably the lesser of two evils. He'd have
+a bad time of it if he were found alone by any wandering Moors; his best
+chance was certainly to try to get to the village and tell the sheikh
+all he knows."
+
+The Jew could be seen every now and again glancing anxiously back along
+the track. When he caught side of the airship returning, and realized
+that he was bound to be overtaken, he pulled up his mule, tumbled off
+the saddle, and dived into the cover of some rocks, hoping no doubt that
+they would afford him concealment.
+
+"Too late!" said Tom with a chuckle. "He might escape us if we were on
+his level, but he forgets we can look right down upon him."
+
+"It's like a field-mouse trying to escape from a hawk," said Oliphant.
+
+"Rather worse, for a field-mouse has its colour to help it, while
+Salathiel's blue coat makes him a little too conspicuous."
+
+For a few moments the Jew, indeed, disappeared from view; but Tom
+steered the airship exactly above the spot where he was last seen, and
+there was Salathiel crouching in a cleft much too narrow for him.
+
+There was no convenient landing-place among the rocks where the airship
+could be brought safely to rest, and the Jew, apparently recognizing
+this, did not attempt to stir from his position. But the vessel came to
+rest in the air, hovering like a monstrous humming-bird above the
+trembling man, no more than twenty feet from the ground.
+
+"How shall we get at him?" asked Oliphant.
+
+"We can leave that to Abdul, I think," replied Tom. "He is used to
+ship-board, and he has been on the end of our rope before."
+
+Abdul understood what was required of him. Letting down the rope with
+the grapnel at the end, he swarmed nimbly down, armed only with his
+knife. The two in the car smiled to see what ensued. Salathiel was
+unarmed. He broke forth in a torrent of mingled threats and entreaties
+as the Moor approached him, then lay on his back and tried to repel the
+lad with his feet. But Abdul got behind him, and by discreet employment
+of the point of his knife at length persuaded the Jew into the open.
+
+Then Tom let the airship gently down. When it stood upon terra firma, he
+and Oliphant leapt out of the car, bundled Salathiel into it, and in
+another minute were soaring through the air towards their former
+resting-place on the hill. With Salathiel's added weight the airship
+travelled somewhat slowly, and for some time, when a breeze rose from
+the eastward, it had considerable difficulty in making headway at all.
+But at last the flat-topped hill was opened up on the horizon, Tom
+estimating that the return journey had taken more than twice as long as
+the outward trip in the morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X--THE KASBAH
+
+
+Instead of alighting on the former spot on the top of the hill, Tom this
+time let the airship down at the foot.
+
+"We haven't darkness to cover us this time," he said, "and we don't want
+to be spied from the village."
+
+"What are you going to do with our fat friend?" asked Oliphant.
+
+"Well, I thought of taking him some miles into the wilder parts of the
+hills and leaving him; but I don't want to use any more of our fuel than
+I can help. Besides, I don't want to have the fellow murdered, though
+his Moor friend might have done for poor Timothy. What do you say to
+giving him a lodging in one of the caves?"
+
+"But how in the world could we get him up there?"
+
+"Abdul says it can be done. I forgot to tell you that on our way to Ain
+Afroo that night I told Abdul of our discovery, and he said he knew the
+caves well, and had often climbed into them. The tradition of the
+country is that they were actually cut in the rocks ages ago as a refuge
+when the people were pressed by their enemies."
+
+"Well, it's a capital idea if it can be managed. The Jew would be out of
+harm's way, at any rate."
+
+"Yes. And if we succeed in releasing Ingleton, we can come back for him,
+perhaps, and take him into Rabat or Casa Blanca, and make him disgorge
+some of Abdul's property, which I've no doubt he has appropriated."
+
+"But won't he starve? We can't spare him any food."
+
+"A day's fasting won't hurt him. We're on uncommonly short rations
+ourselves, and there's no reason why he should fare better than we."
+
+"But can we get him up? He's a big fellow,"
+
+"We'll do our best with Abdul's help. One of the caves is more easy to
+get at than the others, Abdul says."
+
+"By Jove, we've forgotten that fellow who got away!"
+
+"Hang it, so we have. It can't be helped. We clearly can't catch him now
+without showing ourselves to the people of Ain Afroo. Perhaps he didn't
+make for the village after all. We must dispose of Salathiel, at any
+rate."
+
+Tom and Oliphant had been talking apart, while Abdul kept watch over the
+Jew. The former now went up to the man.
+
+"Mr. Salathiel," he said. "I don't exactly know what your game is, but
+we think it's advisable you should have a little rest after your arduous
+work with the mule. There's a very comfortable cave some eighty feet
+above your head. The way to it is rather steep, but with our assistance
+you can mount there, and remain in perfect safety until we can fetch you
+and restore you to your friends."
+
+"I protest you treat me badly," said Salathiel, his mien expressing
+mingled fear and indignation. "I am a peaceable merchant, and was on my
+way to treat with the sheikh of Ain Afroo for a supply of carpets from
+Rabat, when----"
+
+"Still, you must be fatigued," said Tom. "We also have business with the
+sheikh, and I fear that until ours is completed yours must wait. Ours is
+a prior engagement, Mr. Salathiel. Now if you will please climb the
+hillside. The first steps are easy; we will help you when you find
+further ascent difficult."
+
+For some moments the Jew tried entreaty, cajolery, even bribery--in vain.
+With a very bad grace he began to clamber up the rocks, reaching at
+length a ledge some twenty-five feet below the cave. The hill was here
+almost perpendicular, and when Salathiel looked at the wall of rock
+above him he pleaded again with great volubility to be allowed to go his
+way. But Abdul was already swarming up with a rope between his teeth.
+The Englishmen watched him with admiration. Sticking fingers and toes
+into the slightest crevice, taking advantage of every little
+irregularity in the surface, he accomplished what had seemed from below
+an impossible feat. When he reached the cave, he tied one end of the
+rope to a spur of rock at the entrance, and let down the other to
+Oliphant, who by its assistance managed to follow. Salathiel for a time
+absolutely refused to mount; but when Tom pointed out that in the cave
+he would at least be safe, while no one could answer for what might
+happen if he wandered about the country alone, he at length allowed the
+rope to be wound about him, and was hauled up by the two above. He was
+supplied with a pot of water from the hill stream and a half-dozen
+biscuits, then Oliphant descended, followed by Abdul with the rope.
+
+"I don't think he'll attempt the descent," said Tom. "It requires more
+nerve than I fancy he's got."
+
+"It doesn't matter much if he does, does it? He won't try it while we
+are hereabout. He'll hardly try it in the dark when we are gone; and if
+he does, and gets safely to the bottom, he'll take so long finding his
+way to the village that we shall have done our business there--if we're
+going to do it at all."
+
+"Still, I think we'll make sure. There are one or two bits of rock
+sticking out that give a slight foothold; Abdul may as well knock them
+off. He won't want them himself when we come back to release the Jew."
+
+"Suppose we don't come back!"
+
+"You mean, suppose we come to grief ourselves! Well, he'll be able to
+signal for help from the mouth of the cave to-morrow; some of his
+cronies are sure to wonder what's become of him and be prowling about.
+It won't matter to us then, for we shall have either succeeded or
+failed."
+
+"Suppose we can't come back, and nobody sees his signals!"
+
+"That's his lookout! Didn't we rescue him from the shark, which would
+have snapped him up when the tide rose another few inches? How has he
+repaid us? By trying to do for us. And it isn't as if he were a Moor,
+serving his country. He hasn't an ounce of patriotism in his
+composition. He's simply on the make. He wanted to get a good haul out
+of the sheikh for giving us away, and upon my word, considering all
+things, I think he gets off pretty easily. If he'd treated Moors as he
+has treated us, he'd be dying a particularly slow death by this time. I
+don't think we need distress ourselves about Salathiel ben Ezra."
+
+Leaving the Jew to his solitary reflections, the two made their way back
+to the airship and began to overhaul the machinery. Meanwhile Abdul had
+gone to the summit of the hill to bring down one or two things which had
+been left there. He returned with the news that he had seen in the far
+distance a single horseman slowly climbing the steep hill-path to the
+village.
+
+"That's our man, depend upon it," said Oliphant. "He'll give us away,
+Dorrell, as sure as fate."
+
+"What can't be cured must be endured. We could catch him, I dare say;
+but we haven't any too much fodder for the engine, and we should
+certainly be seen. He must tell the sheikh all he knows, and, upon my
+word, I should like to hear his account of us. It would probably be very
+funny."
+
+"But it will put the sheikh on his guard."
+
+"My dear fellow, you haven't enough faith in the terrors of the unknown,
+or the misknown. The Moor's story will be such a mass of exaggeration,
+ignorance, and superstition, that they'll be in a state of jumps, and
+dread the apparition ten times more even than if it came upon them
+without preparation."
+
+"Then why go to the trouble of preventing the Jew from getting into the
+village?"
+
+"Just because he _knows_ the thing, you see, and would stick to the bare
+truth. His story would lay more stress on the object of our visit; the
+Moor's will be mainly about the airship. Really, he may help us in the
+end."
+
+They spent the afternoon in a thorough cleaning of the engines. Once or
+twice Salathiel showed himself at the mouth of the cave, and Tom fancied
+he saw him attempt to signal with his hands. But when Oliphant made a
+movement towards his carbine, the Jew retreated hastily into the
+interior and appeared no more.
+
+At last all was ready for the voyage. But several hours must yet pass
+before the ascent could be made. Tom had decided that it would be unwise
+to arrive at the kasbah until the Moors were either in their first
+sleep, or, if on their guard, were somewhat tired and nervous with
+watching. Learning this, Abdul, who had been making observations during
+the afternoon, left the two Englishmen and was not seen for a time. When
+he returned, he carried a couple of hares, explaining that he had snared
+them in the wood that lay half a mile beyond their resting-place. He
+produced also from the folds of his garment a number of figs and dates
+which he had plucked from the trees.
+
+"Here's a tuck-in!" cried Tom. "I'm as hungry as a hunter. Oatmeal
+biscuits are all very well, but they're a trifle too chippy for my
+taste. I suppose you, as a Scotsman, think 'em quite succulent,
+Oliphant?"
+
+"Do I, by George? You Englishmen make a good many mistakes about us
+Scots, and that's one of them. Besides, I'm only Scotch when I want a
+stoker's place--or when I let off some of my stories on the fellows in
+Booker's. I was rather had once, though. When I first went to Tabor's as
+a little chap, on my first day I dropped my cap somewhere, and asked one
+of the masters if he'd seen it. I'd just come from our village school up
+north--a whim of the governor's, you know--and I suppose I'd a touch of
+the brogue, for when I said, 'Please, sir, have you seen my cap?' he
+said quite pat, 'Are _you_ MacFarlane?' And he called me MacFarlane
+until I left."
+
+Abdul had chosen a sheltered hollow, and built a rough canopy of
+branches and leaves. Beneath this he kindled a fire, and cooked one of
+the hares The table appointments were not exactly those that either of
+the lads was accustomed to, but, as Oliphant remarked, they were in a
+primitive country, and it was not unfitting that they should resort to
+the manners of their ancestors. Both confessed that they had never
+enjoyed a meal so much as this, and felt all the more ready for the
+adventures of the night.
+
+The moon was shedding a cold radiance around, in strange contrast with
+the hot and sultry air, when the airship with its three passengers rose
+from the foot of the hill and started on its voyage for the kasbah of
+Ain Afroo. To lessen the chances of premature discovery, Tom ascended to
+a considerable altitude, with the intention of dropping obliquely upon
+the kasbah. He was thus able to dispense in great part with the action
+of the propellers as the airship drew near to its destination, which was
+very desirable, seeing that they made a loud whirring which must
+otherwise have attracted attention. But by ascending to a height of
+nearly 3,000 feet, and then adjusting the planes so that the airship
+fell at a sharp angle, he could make use of the force of gravity to
+carry him in the right direction without employing the horizontal
+screws. Finding, however, when half the distance had been covered, that
+the airship was coming too near the ground, he set the vertical screws
+in motion rose a few hundred feet, and again dropped obliquely towards
+his objective.
+
+The whole country was bathed in the moon's pale light, and lay in
+perfect silence save for the faint barking of dogs here and there. The
+three adventurers said never a word; neither Tom nor Oliphant was in a
+mood for talking now that the real business of the expedition was so
+near at hand. It was not until the airship was hovering exactly over the
+flat roof of the kasbah that they knew, from shouts below, that the
+strange visitant had been observed. But some moments must elapse,
+presumably, before the alarm could penetrate to the sheikh's apartments;
+and, aware that everything depended on his coolness and caution, Tom
+brought the airship to rest with as much deliberation as if he were
+landing from a practice voyage.
+
+A shot from a musket struck one of the planes.
+
+"The sentry on the terrace has caught sight of us," said Tom, as he was
+stepping out of the car. "Let us hope that after having done his duty
+he'll be sufficiently scared to bolt for the town, instead of coming up
+to warn the sheikh."
+
+The programme had been settled before they started. Oliphant was to
+remain in charge of the airship, while Tom and the Moor attempted to get
+into the house and release the prisoner.
+
+"Remain in the car," said Tom, "and have everything ready to ascend at a
+moment's notice."
+
+"Wish you good luck, old fellow," returned Oliphant. "You've got your
+revolver?"
+
+"Yes. _Au revoir!_"
+
+He glanced anxiously round for the opening that led from the roof into
+the house. In the ordinary way it would not be closed; indeed, during
+the summer months, except when rain threatened, such openings were
+seldom covered. Unless the fugitive had the gift of second sight, it was
+improbable that he would ever have imagined that the airship would
+descend on the very roof of the sheikh's own dwelling. Thus the inmates
+would have no reason to guard against intrusion from above. Things might
+have been different in a populous town, where access could be had from
+one roof to another. But the kasbah stood quite solitary, and the
+nearest buildings were inaccessible.
+
+The opening, in point of fact, lay within a few feet of the spot upon
+which the airship had descended.
+
+Carrying an electric torch in one hand and his revolver in the other,
+Tom stepped gingerly down the staircase, followed by the Moor, who held
+his knife ready for instant use. They came across a small vestibule, lit
+at the far end by the moonlight streaming through a narrow aperture in
+the wall. To the right and left was a door; one led no doubt to the
+sheikh's harem, the other probably to the apartments of the male members
+of the family; but Abdul was unable to say which was which. There were
+no bolts on the outside of these doors, which were fast shut, but each
+had a very large keyhole.
+
+Inasmuch as the entry to this part of the house was no doubt barred
+beneath by a door on the staircase, it was quite possible that the
+inhabitants felt themselves secure enough to dispense with locking these
+doors. Certainly a Moor will never take any trouble if he can avoid it.
+
+Choosing the right-hand door, Tom gently turned the handle; the door
+opened to his push, and, inserting his hand, he discovered, as he had
+ventured to hope, a heavy key in the lock. He silently withdrew it,
+closed the door, and turned the key on the outside; Abdul at the same
+time, taking the cue, did the same with the other door on the left. Both
+locks squeaked somewhat, and Tom thought he heard voices within. Without
+waiting, however, to assure himself on this point--feeling that he had
+the inmates secure, at least for a time--he pushed on down the stairway,
+followed by Abdul, and they came, as they had expected, upon a strong
+door bolted on their side. Tom gently slid the bolts, opened the door,
+and found himself in a small vestibule. On the far side of this was
+another door, which the Moor thought was the inner door of the
+guest-chamber. This Tom expected would be locked on the outside, but
+when he flashed his torch at it he saw that the bolts were not shot. He
+turned the handle of the door, which opened outwards. No doubt, he
+thought, the Moors considered their prisoner quite safe without the
+necessity of locking him in from this side. Access to the lower quarters
+being barred, they would not object to his going up to the roof,
+perhaps, for fresh air. The other door to the right of the guest-chamber
+leading on to the terrace was securely locked, as Abdul proved by
+pushing it gently so as to avoid noise.
+
+Tom tiptoed through the door, and cautiously lowering his torch in order
+to avoid flashing it on any window openings on the far side, swept it
+round the room. He gave a start of keen disappointment when he found
+that the place was untenanted. It bore traces of recent occupation, but
+the occupant, whoever he was, had been removed. There were a couple of
+bright oriental rugs on the floor, a dish such as the Moors are
+accustomed to serve sweetmeats on, and one or two other native articles;
+but on one of the rugs lay a well-browned brier pipe, which was clearly
+of European origin, and indeed Tom was conscious of the familiar odour
+of tobacco--a very different smell from that made by the kief or hashish
+smoked by the Moors. And, strangest contrast of all, a somewhat tattered
+newspaper, and a bulky volume in a red paper cover, showed that the
+sheikh's prisoner had certainly inhabited this room, and had found some
+means of lightening his captivity.
+
+Tom took in these details in a moment. Anxious to further his errand, he
+did not pause to look at the contents of the room minutely, but hurried
+across to a door on the farther side, leading, he suspected, to the
+terrace. This was bolted, but from the inside.
+
+He halted in perplexity. What had become of the prisoner?
+
+"Have they taken him to the upper apartments?" he asked Abdul in a
+whisper.
+
+"No, master," replied the lad. "No Moor would think of it."
+
+"Do you think he has been released? But no: that is unlikely. Salathiel
+would certainly not have come so far in that case, would he?"
+
+"No. The mouse does not put his head in the jaws of the lion."
+
+"And the smell of tobacco is quite fresh. I believe the prisoner has
+only lately been removed. Where would they take him if they feared an
+attempt at rescue?"
+
+With a significant look Abdul pointed downwards.
+
+"The dungeons, eh? Where are they?"
+
+"Under the ground, master."
+
+"Well, we must get down there if we can. Do you know the way?"
+
+The Moor hesitated. He knew too well the fate of unhappy people who had
+offended the sheikh, and upon whom the sheikh exercised the power of
+life and death. Once, in Tangier, he had accompanied a friend to such a
+dungeon, where his friend's father was confined for denying that he
+possessed hidden treasure. The man's eyes had been put out, one of his
+hands had been cut off, and he had languished for years in this
+loathsome place, where he would have starved but for the food brought
+him daily by his son, and handed to him through a grating. Abdul had no
+wish to see the inside of the kasbah's dungeon.
+
+But his hesitation was only momentary. Tom was clearly determined to
+pursue his object, and the Moor reflected that, whatever he did, he was
+in parlous danger. Besides, did not everything happen by the will of
+Allah? If it was decreed that he should die, he would die; if he was
+doomed to a living death in prison, nothing that he could do would avert
+his fate. So, with a Moor's habitual fatalism, he told his employer all
+he knew.
+
+There was doubtless one entrance to the dungeon from the patio beneath,
+where the jailer occupied a room near the great gateway. But there must
+also be an entrance from within the house. Below the vestibule in which
+they then stood was probably another vestibule, dividing the rooms of
+the servants' apartments. Whether there was any communication between
+the two vestibules he did not know; perhaps it was from the terrace
+outside. In all probability the inner entrance to the dungeon was from
+the vestibule below.
+
+This gave Tom pause. So far he had been unmolested; indeed, it was only
+a couple of minutes since he had left the roof. But the thought of
+having to pass the servants' apartments was decidedly unpleasant. The
+sentry's shot must have been heard; he wondered why the servants had not
+already come up to warn or to take orders from the sheikh. Luckily the
+sheikh himself and all his family were securely locked in their
+apartments. The menials might at any rate be expected to prove less
+formidable.
+
+There was no time to be lost. It suddenly occurred to Tom that the floor
+of the vestibule might have a kind of trapdoor. He pulled aside one of
+the rugs that covered the stones; there was indeed a trapdoor, not
+secured in any way. Down he went on hands and knees. Releasing the
+button of the electric torch so that the room was in darkness, he lifted
+the door half an inch, and guessed from the absence of light that the
+vestibule below was unoccupied. He cautiously raised the covering still
+farther and listened. There was no sound. He set his foot on a ladder
+beneath, and, moving so slowly and gently as to make not so much as a
+rustle, he went down step by step, pausing once or twice to strain his
+ears. Still there was no sound. When he reached the floor he ventured to
+flash a light around him. He saw he was in a stone-flagged chamber of
+equal size with the vestibule above. In the middle of the floor was a
+circular stone slab with an iron ring on it, and a thick iron bolt was
+shut into a socket. There was one door to the room, and, hurrying to it,
+Tom found that it was fastened on the outside.
+
+So far all was well. He softly summoned Abdul to descend. Then, drawing
+back the bolt and lifting the slab, he discovered a large opening
+leading to a spiral stone stairway.
+
+Again he hesitated. What lay below? The disappointment of finding the
+guest-chamber empty, the prolongation of the search, were beginning to
+tell upon him. But, crushing down his nervous excitement, he
+extinguished his torch again, and groped his way round and round until
+he came once more to level ground. All was still as death. A flash of
+the torch showed him that he was in a large vaulted corridor, paved with
+brick. Somewhere in this, he doubted not, was the door into the
+dungeons.
+
+In order to secure his line of retreat in case of emergency, he felt it
+was absolutely necessary first to secure the other entrance, wherever it
+might be, that was ordinarily used by the jailer. He soon discovered it
+by the aid of his torch. Here, as he feared, the bolts were on the
+outside, and the door was securely fastened. Was it possible to
+barricade the door from the inside? The whole place was empty with the
+exception of a number of manacles and like effects, and a long hammer,
+which Abdul said, in a whisper, was used by the Moorish jailers in
+fastening the chains round their victims' ankles. But there was nothing
+that promised to be of service as a barricade.
+
+At any moment the jailer, if he had not taken panic from the discharge
+of the sentry's musket, might enter to assure himself of the security of
+his prisoners. Could anything be done to delay him? For Tom felt that it
+was not only a question of the jailer, but of others who would no doubt
+hasten to his assistance.
+
+Flashing his torch round, Tom noticed that the flooring had been worn
+and chipped away, no doubt in the process of manacling, and scattered
+about there was a large quantity of loose particles of brick. An idea
+struck him. He collected a big handful of these fragments and pushed
+them into the keyhole. Then, leaving Abdul to complete the work, which
+would, he hoped, cause the lock to stick, he hastened down the vaulted
+passage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI--PRISON BREAKERS
+
+
+Tom found himself in a long broad alley-way, flanked by arches. There
+was no sign of the dungeons, apparently no means of exit. The air was
+damp and heavy, and the first indication that he was approaching the
+neighbourhood of the dungeons was afforded by his nose. Coming at length
+to a narrow flight of steps leading downwards, the fact that he was
+nearing the object of his quest was borne in upon his sense with
+ever-increasing pungency.
+
+"Surely," he thought, "the sheikh is not such a beast as to herd
+Ingleton with the ordinary criminals!"
+
+Another alley-way, apparently underneath the one from which he had come,
+was disclosed by his electric torch when he reached the bottom of the
+staircase; but in this case there were doors at his right, and in the
+thickness of the wall, Moorish fashion, little peep-holes, through which
+no doubt the warder could spy upon the movements of the captives within.
+
+Which was the door leading to the place of the envoy's confinement? Tom
+wondered. Was he indeed imprisoned here at all? Tom gave no thought to
+the predicament in which Abdul and he would be placed if it should prove
+that they had gone astray; his whole mind was centred on the plight of
+the English prisoner and the terrible misfortune it would be if he were
+elsewhere, and deep within him burned a fierce indignation that any
+countryman of his should be even within hailing distance of so noisome a
+place as this kasbah dungeon.
+
+So anxious was he to know whether he was on the right track that,
+scarcely giving a thought to possible consequences, he lifted up his
+voice and shouted the name of the man for whom he was seeking. The loud
+tones went rolling beneath the arches, answered by a hundred echoes. But
+there was a nearer and more material answer. By the light of his torch,
+which he kept constantly in use, Tom saw a big, bearded, spectacled face
+appear at the aperture nearest to him on the right.
+
+"Ach! Gott in Himmel! Vas zat English voice?"
+
+Tom himself was in shadow, but his light fell full on the face of the
+speaker, and with a gasp of amazement he recognized Herr Hildebrand
+Schwab, the representative of the Schlagintwerts, who had called on him
+at Midfont months before and showed such a consuming curiosity to know
+the use to which he put the Photographic Sensitizer Preparation Number
+Six. And with a sudden flash of recollection he remembered that Schwab
+had spoken of proceeding to Morocco on business. Coming out from beneath
+the arch in which he stood, and holding his torch before him, he
+approached the aperture. His appearance was hailed by a groan. Schwab
+did not recognize him in his Moorish dress. Deeply he groaned again,
+muttering--
+
+"Ach, Ich Unglücklicher!"
+
+His face, utterly woebegone in expression, was just disappearing within
+the cell when Tom, almost frantic with despair at the thought that the
+white prisoner was not the man he had come to seek after all, shouted
+again--
+
+"Ingleton! Sir Mark Ingleton! Are you there?"
+
+Schwab's face reappeared instantly. It was aglow with excitement and
+hope.
+
+"Gott sei Dank! Ingleton! You zay Ingleton! Zough ze dress be Mohr, ze
+voice is English. You are indeed English? Answer me for ze love of ze
+heavens!"
+
+"Yes, I am English," cried Tom impatiently; "I want Sir Mark Ingleton."
+
+"He is here, vizin, inside, viz me, Hildebrand Schwab. Let me out
+double-quick; I stifle, I suffocate, I do not breaze. Gott sei dank!"
+
+"He is there? Where is he? Tell him I want to speak to him--an
+Englishman."
+
+"He sleep sound, he is indispose; but I am ze vorst. I am here ze
+longest. Open ze door, please, be good enough, have ze kindness----"
+
+Without more ado, Tom drew back the bolts with a bang and pulled at the
+door. It was locked. Schwab groaned again; but Tom, handing his torch to
+Abdul, who was pale with apprehension, called to Schwab to stand away
+from the door, and blew the lock in with a shot from his revolver. He
+flung open the door, and burst into the cell. The shot had awakened the
+envoy, who looked up in a dazed fashion, and asked, in the low voice of
+a man thoroughly tired, what the disturbance was about.
+
+"God be praise, we are save! Do not notice ze dress; it is nozink; ze
+man is English. Ach! it is no good; ze door is open, but ve are in
+chains. Ach! Zum Teufel! It is kaput--all up!"
+
+Tom pushed past him impatiently.
+
+"Quick, Abdul," he said, "the hammer!"
+
+Hastening to Sir Mark, who had risen from the floor, with half a dozen
+sturdy blows Tom snapped the chains that fixed his ankle bands to
+staples in the wall, then performed the like service for Schwab. He made
+no attempt to release their ankles from the fetters: there was no time
+for this, and he feared also to do them an injury. The sounds had caused
+commotion in the further dungeon, where the sheikh's other prisoners
+were confined. Chains were clanking, men were shouting, the uproar was
+so great that it must reach the ears of the jailer if he were anywhere
+in the neighbourhood, and though he was shut off from the vaults, he
+might burst the locks and bring a host of armed men to the rescue.
+
+"We have no time to lose," said Tom. "Come with me."
+
+"But, pardon me----" said Sir Mark.
+
+"I can't explain now," Tom interrupted. "Come along; it is all right,
+only we must get away at once."
+
+"At vunce, Sir Ingleton," said Schwab. "You hear zat! For ze sake of
+anyzink, be a man!"
+
+"My good sir----" began Sir Mark: but Tom again cut him short.
+
+"Can you walk?" he asked, noticing that the Englishman tottered as he
+stood.
+
+"With assistance, perhaps."
+
+At once Tom caught him by an arm, bidding Abdul take the other.
+Supporting him, they led him along the passage, up the stairway to the
+upper corridor, Schwab panting and ejaculating behind them. Even before
+they reached the corridor they heard a tremendous battering at the door
+whose lock had been filled with fragments of brick.
+
+It was so stout a barrier that Tom had no fear that it would be broken
+down by anything short of a battering ram, and it was not likely that
+the Moors had at hand an instrument ready for this purpose. His
+confidence was, however, soon shaken, for, before the party, encumbered
+with the enfeebled envoy, had begun to ascend the winding stairway
+leading from the arched corridor to the vestibule above, there was the
+sound of a very heavy body striking the door, followed by an ominous
+creak. Leaving the others to precede him, Tom stationed himself on the
+narrow stair, the hammer in one hand, his revolver in the other. He was
+determined not to use the revolver except in the last extremity, but he
+had no such compunctions about using the hammer.
+
+Suddenly in the midst of the crashing blows upon the door there was the
+report of a rifle. The Moors were adopting his own device of blowing in
+the lock. The door gave way, and by the flash of his torch, Tom saw a
+crowd of swarthy Riffians swarming through the opening. The door at the
+foot of the winding stair leading to the corridor was somewhat ruinous;
+it was apparently seldom used, the sheikh depending for his security
+upon the heavy trapdoor above. Tom, however, succeeded in pulling it to
+before the Moors were upon him, and shot the single crazy bolt that
+still held. Then he darted up the stairs after the rest. They were just
+lifting the envoy through the trap. Schwab was waiting his turn, and
+when he heard Tom rushing up, he sprang through the opening with
+extraordinary agility. The trapdoor was let down and bolted; they
+hastened up the stairway to the upper vestibule adjoining the
+guest-chamber, thence up to the sheikh's quarters on the floor above,
+bolting every door behind them.
+
+Even through the thick walls of the kasbah they had heard sounds of
+great excitement in the town. Evidently the whole place was now alive.
+And there was danger to be anticipated within, for as they groped their
+way up the last flight of stairs leading to the roof, their steps
+momentarily guided by the flashes of Tom's torches, the sounds of a
+tremendous battering near at hand struck upon their ears. Evidently the
+sheikh himself was now trying to make his way out. They hastened their
+steps as much as Sir Mark's enfeebled state permitted; Tom indeed was in
+such desperate anxiety, for pursuit could not be long delayed, that he
+forced the pace in a way that drew a protest from the Englishman--even in
+this extremity a diplomatist.
+
+They came to the last flight of stairs leading to the roof.
+
+"Is that you, Dorrell?" came the voice of Oliphant from above. Nervously
+restless, first on account of Tom's long absence, and then at the
+violent sounds within and without the building, he had left the airship
+and stationed himself with his revolver at the top of the staircase
+leading to the roof, to cover Tom's retreat if he proved to be hard
+pressed.
+
+"All well!" shouted Tom in reply.
+
+In another minute all four emerged upon the roof, and Oliphant gave a
+whistle of amazement and consternation when he saw an unexpected
+addition to the party.
+
+"Two of them?" he ejaculated.
+
+"Yes; the sheikh had a German gentleman--"
+
+"Hildebrand Schwab, representative of ze excellent firma of
+Schlagintwert and----"
+
+"Hang it, we can't stop for introductions now," said Tom. "Abdul, run
+down to the door of the sheikh's room and persuade him that he risks his
+life if he comes out. We shall want a minute or two to get ready."
+
+The Moor obeyed, not without a look of nervousness. At first he could
+scarcely make his voice heard above the uproar within the sheikh's room;
+but succeeding at last, he began a conversation which might have shocked
+and would certainly have amused Tom if he could have understood it.
+
+"Is the most excellent lord the sheikh within?" shouted Abdul at the top
+of his voice.
+
+The noise ceased.
+
+"Certainly he is, thou misbegotten son of a pig!" said the frenzied
+sheikh. "Open this door, or by the beard of the Prophet I will flay thee
+alive, thou rat."
+
+"Peace, O sheikh! Dost thou value thy life so little, foolish one?"
+Abdul was gaining courage; his enemy was on the other side of the door.
+"Peace, thou kaffir; I spit upon thee. Dost thou think to pass through
+till it be the good pleasure of those who have captured thy kasbah to
+permit thee? Know it is I, Abdul ben Cassim, and verily I and the good
+men with me will cut thee in pieces, first plucking out one by one the
+hairs of thy beard, if thou showest thy pig's snout beyond this door."
+
+This seemed to stagger the sheikh, for his next words were uttered in a
+milder tone.
+
+"What is thy purpose, O Abdul?"
+
+"Know, thou dog of a dog, that a great sultan, the King of England, hath
+sent his most trusty wazeer to wrest from thee his servant, whom thou
+didst treacherously seize and shut in thy stinking dungeon. There now
+lies at this very door a monstrous bomb which will go off--Allah is
+great!--the instant this door is opened. Dost thou believe, dog? Verily
+thou wilt be shattered into as many pieces as there are lies in thy
+heart if thou dost but move the door the tenth part of an inch. But the
+King of England is merciful; he will not do you or your folk harm: he
+knows other ways of avenging the injury his servant has suffered at thy
+hands. Verily thou art in bad case, thou two-faced dog. Before the
+growing of a fingernail thou wilt be haled to Marrakesh, and then thou
+wilt suffer the pangs of Tophet."
+
+And Abdul went on to revile the sheikh in terms that cannot be rendered
+in our modest English. His inventiveness was very creditable to his
+presence of mind, for though the noise in the sheikh's apartments had
+ceased, the uproar below was growing moment by moment in intensity. The
+great gate had been thrown open, the patio was thronged with fierce
+Moors enraged at the indignity put upon their chief, and it was scarcely
+possible that the doors below, stout as they were, could long withstand
+the furious blows with which they were assailed.
+
+Meanwhile Tom had assured himself that his machinery was in order. Sir
+Mark had already entered the car. Tom was beside him, ready to start the
+propellers; Schwab was ensconced in the corner furthest from danger.
+
+"Call Abdul, Oliphant," said Tom.
+
+Oliphant went to the head of the stairs and called; Abdul came bounding
+up, and in half a minute all five were packed into the car. It was a
+very tight fit, and Tom felt a tremor of apprehension as he pressed the
+lever. The vertical propellers answered instantly to his touch, but they
+beat the air ineffectually: the airship absolutely refused to rise.
+
+"It won't lift us!" he said, aghast. "We're too heavy. Some one must be
+left behind."
+
+"I'll stay," said Oliphant at once. "Take the others to the hill and
+come back for me. I can manage for half an hour or so with my revolver."
+
+"Not a bit of it. I want your help with the machinery. What on earth can
+we do?"
+
+"Leave Abdul?"
+
+"Can't hear of it: he couldn't defend himself long, and he'd be
+frightfully tortured if they got him. We can't all get away at once,
+that's certain; and, as we certainly can't leave Sir Mark, we must leave
+the one we didn't reckon on. Herr Schwab----"
+
+"No. I refuse. I vill not stay. I am here."
+
+"I'm afraid you must. We shan't be long. I'll drop the others a mile or
+two away, and come back for you at once."
+
+"Never in ze vorld. I protest. I am Jarman sobjeck: is not ze life of
+Jarman sobjeck of more vorth zan ze life of a Mohr? Our Kaiser, who is
+in Berlin----"
+
+"We can't stop to argue it. They won't kill you, at any rate; they know
+enough of your Kaiser perhaps to refrain from that: whereas they'd kill
+the Moor to a certainty. We can't all lose our lives for you. In short,
+you must get out, and be quick about it, or, by Jove! we'll have to
+throw you out."
+
+"It is terrible; it is unkind. I cannot stay alone; no longer am I as I
+vas; I lose pounds in ze prison. I am not made for zis. Some vun muss
+remain viz me; I care not who: some vun to give me courage."
+
+Here Abdul stepped into the breach and volunteered to stay with the
+German.
+
+"I have it!" cried Oliphant. "The trapdoor that covers the opening is at
+the other end of the roof, by the parapet there. We can shut that down
+and bolt it. And, by George! the stones of the parapet are pretty loose.
+Abdul and Mr. Schwab can pile some of them on the trap; we'll leave them
+our revolvers, and with a little pluck they can keep the blackguards at
+bay until we get back."
+
+"That's it. You'll be as safe as the Bank of England, Mr. Schwab. Quick!
+Out with you! Here's my revolver!"
+
+"Ach! I am man of peace; vunce I vas var gorresbondent, and----"
+
+"For goodness' sake get out, man. Don't you see you're endangering the
+whole lot of us, yourself included. Oliphant, we shall have to fling him
+out."
+
+But at this threat Schwab rose and stepped on to the roof, his face a
+very picture of woe. Oliphant assisted Abdul to place the trapdoor over
+the opening, and of course made the discovery that the bolts were on the
+inside.
+
+"But the stones will do," said Oliphant. "Buck up, Mr. Schwab; you're
+not absolutely helpless, are you?"
+
+"It is true, I have carried stones, but zey vere small," said Schwab
+lugubriously, remembering the means by which he had mounted the fence at
+Midfont in pursuit of business. Leaving him to it, Oliphant got back
+into the car. Tom pressed the lever, and the airship, relieved of near
+two hundredweight of German subject and the lesser bulk of the Moor,
+soared into the air. Tom's last view, as the vessel rose clear of the
+kasbah, was Schwab limping across the roof under the burden of a large
+stone from the coping.
+
+"A most singular proceeding!" murmured Sir Mark, as the airship whirred
+over the hills. "I wonder how I stand--diplomatically considered. The
+vessel goes with consummate ease. There is positively no roll--nothing to
+cause seasickness."
+
+Tom laughed. The matter-of-fact at this moment was very refreshing.
+
+"I hope you will redeem your promise to rescue Mr. Schwab," the envoy
+continued. "He has been a great joy to me in my captivity."
+
+"Oh yes, we'll get him. We shall drop you in a few minutes. You will not
+mind being left for a little while?"
+
+"Not at all, not at all. I find the air and the motion most
+invigorating. I have lately been very conscious of the inconvenience of
+having a nose."
+
+Tom did not know, though Oliphant suspected, that Sir Mark's cool manner
+was adopted intentionally--to ease the strain on their nerves. A man is
+not trained to diplomacy for nothing. He kept up a quiet flow of
+nothings until the hill was reached.
+
+"A very airy situation," he remarked, as he was set down on the
+hill-top.
+
+"Yes. You'll find it cold," said Tom. "Here's my coat."
+
+"Thanks. Having escaped asphyxia, it would certainly be a pity to
+contract pneumonia. You look quite comfortable yourself: the Moorish
+djellab is a very warm garment, I should think."
+
+He put on Tom's reefer, which had lain in a corner of the car. Then Tom
+sent the airship aloft again, and hurried back to the kasbah.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII--A HITCH
+
+
+Short as the time seemed, it was in reality nearly an hour before the
+airship once more rested on the roof of the kasbah. While it was still
+hovering above, Tom manoeuvring for a landing, there came the muffled
+sound of shots and the rending of wood.
+
+"They've broken in," cried Oliphant.
+
+The Moors had indeed burst through the lower doors, released the
+infuriated sheikh, and, finding themselves unable to lift the trapdoor,
+were firing upwards through it. Schwab, who had been sitting on the pile
+of stones which he and Abdul had heaped on the covering, to reinforce
+their weight with his own, slipped off with amazing alacrity just as the
+airship came to rest.
+
+"Gott sei Dank!" he exclaimed, as Tom joined him.
+
+[Illustration: "TOM, SEIZING A BIG STONE, THREW IT WITH ALL HIS FORCE
+INTO THE BLACK ROOM BENEATH."]
+
+He needed no invitation to hurry into the car. As soon as Abdul was
+aboard Tom started the engines. To his consternation the airship again
+refused to rise.
+
+"Good heavens! what a weight you must be!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Colossal! But I lose pounds in ze----"
+
+"Oh, shut up!" cried Oliphant impatiently. "We can't make another
+journey, Dorrell. The cover won't support the stones much longer with
+those ruffians smashing the wood as they're doing."
+
+He had scarcely spoken when the woodwork gave way, the stones crashed
+down the staircase, and there were cries of pain and alarm from the men
+beneath. But it was impossible to suppose that they were all hurt, and
+the passage was now clear for the rest. Something must be done at once
+to gain a little time until the problem of removing Schwab's colossal
+weight could be solved.
+
+Stopping his engines, which were working furiously, but with no effect,
+Tom, followed by Oliphant and the Moor, jumped from the car and hurried
+towards the opening. They were greeted by a musket shot; but Tom,
+seizing a big stone, threw it with all his force into the black room
+beneath. There were more cries from below, repeated when Oliphant and
+the Moor followed suit, each with missiles of the same character. Then
+there was silence for a time. The Moors were apparently nonplussed.
+
+"You can find your way to the hill if I land you below?" asked Tom of
+Abdul.
+
+"Yes, master."
+
+"Hold the roof, Oliphant. I won't be ten minutes. Don't shoot 'em unless
+you're very hard pressed."
+
+Tom and the Moor sprang into the car, the airship again ascended, and
+came down about a quarter of a mile from the village walls. There was
+nobody in sight; without doubt the whole population of the place was
+congregated about the kasbah. Once more Tom ascended, alighting on the
+roof just as Oliphant, using the wooden shaft of Abdul's hammer, was
+driving back one man, more venturesome than the rest, who had attempted
+to make his way up. There was no time to carry more stones from the
+coping to serve as missiles, so Tom and Oliphant at last fired their
+revolvers, two shots each, taking care, however, to avoid the opening.
+Tom hoped that the sound of the shots would give pause to the men below,
+most of whom must have hitherto been unaware that the intruders carried
+firearms.
+
+Immediately after they had fired, the two made a dash for the car,
+scrambled aboard, and set the engines in motion.
+
+"Gott sei Dank!" cried Schwab again, as the airship rose steadily above
+the roof.
+
+As if they had known by some intuition what was happening, the Moors at
+this moment made a rush, and before the airship had sailed a hundred
+yards from the kasbah, figures appeared on the roof. A moment afterwards
+one or two shots were fired, but they were without effect; the airship
+sailed on, pursued by yells of baffled rage.
+
+In order to draw away pursuit from his real direction, Tom headed the
+airship north-east, and it was not until he was well out of sight of the
+kasbah that he put the helm up and steered straight for the hill-top.
+
+"We've come out of this uncommonly well," said Oliphant. "I was on
+thorns all the time you and Abdul were absent."
+
+"We're not out of it yet," rejoined Tom. "The fuel's nearly done. These
+comings and goings have used a terrible lot of the paste, and I doubt
+whether there's enough to make one journey to the yacht--let alone two. I
+didn't reckon on another passenger besides Ingleton."
+
+"Who is this freak? You seem to know him?" Oliphant spoke quietly: Herr
+Schwab was lying against the rail of the car only a few feet away.
+
+"Met him once. His name's Schwab; he's an agent for the company I get my
+powder from. Haven't had time yet to ask him how he got into this mess.
+I say, it looks as if a storm is coming up."
+
+"Yes, the wind's rising, and the clouds are scudding along at a great
+pace. How will she behave in a storm?"
+
+"Don't know, and don't want to know just now. We should be in a pretty
+hobble if the machine were to get smashed up altogether."
+
+While Tom and Oliphant were thus talking in low tones, Herr Schwab was
+deeply ruminating. He had been struck, on the roof of the kasbah, by
+something familiar in the speech of this Englishman who was masquerading
+as a Moor, but in the agitation of the moment he could not sift his
+recollections. Now, however, safe in the car of an aeroplane, sailing
+with almost imperceptible motion through the air, he was taking the
+opportunity to search his memory. Just as the airship arrived above the
+hill-top where Sir Mark Ingleton was waiting, and Tom was preparing to
+descend, he was startled by a loud exclamation from the German.
+
+"What's the matter?" he asked.
+
+"Nozink, nozink at all. I know you vat you are. Mr. Thomas Dorrell! And
+ze Photographic Sensitizer Preparation Number Six. I know all about him;
+jawohl! Zere are business for Schlagintwert: I do not mind ze
+captivities now: business are business."
+
+Oliphant looked inquiringly at Tom; but the moment was not propitious
+for explanations. Tom's whole attention was engaged by the machinery.
+The airship alighted without mishap, and Tom as he stepped out of the
+car was greeted by Sir Mark Ingleton.
+
+"I have a new conception of the music of the spheres," he said. "Your
+approach was heralded by an immense humming, which, I take it, will
+discount the usefulness of the airship in time of war."
+
+"Zat vill be chance for Schlagintwert," interposed Schwab: "to invent
+somezink vat stop ze row."
+
+"Precisely," said Sir Mark, with a faint smile.
+
+"How do you feel now, sir?" asked Tom.
+
+"Greatly invigorated by the fresh air. I am glad of your coat. May I
+know to whom I am indebted for this surprising change in my fortunes?"
+
+"My name's Dorrell," said Tom. "I happened to be rather lucky in getting
+my airship to go just when it could be made useful."
+
+"Viz Schlagintwert's Photographic Sensitizer Preparation Number Six,"
+added Schwab.
+
+"This is Mr. Oliphant, Lord Langside's son," Tom went on.
+
+"Indeed!" With fine courtesy Sir Mark perfectly concealed his amazement.
+Oliphant still wore his stoker's clothes, and the black smudges on his
+face had given him a striking resemblance to a coal-heaver. "I am
+grateful to the Prime Minister for this novel and adventurous
+expedition," added the envoy.
+
+"My father knows nothing about it, sir," said Oliphant. "We were afraid
+he wouldn't allow it if we told him."
+
+"I see. Nothing succeeds like success. Did you come all the way from
+England in this admirable machine?"
+
+"No, sir. We were brought out on Mr. Greatorex's yacht, which is now
+waiting for us at the shore."
+
+"That is good news, for in truth, seeing the limited carrying capacity
+of your airship, I had wondered how we were all to get away."
+
+"That's our difficulty, sir. Our fuel is almost gone, and I'm very much
+afraid there isn't enough left to make even one journey back to the
+yacht. There's plenty on board, if we _can_ manage to reach it."
+
+"In that case perhaps you and Mr. Oliphant had better return without us.
+If you reach the yacht safely, you can come back and fetch us; if you do
+not--well, things will be no worse than they were."
+
+"I don't care about doing that, sir. We came out to rescue you. I think
+you had better come with us. Our fuel may last out; the sooner you are
+safe aboard the yacht the better; and if we only get within sight of her
+it will be all right, for Mr. Greatorex will certainly send a boat's
+crew to fetch us off."
+
+"Had you not better take Mr. Schwab first? He has been in captivity
+longer than I."
+
+"And I have vair important business," said Schwab eagerly.
+
+"I think my arrangement is best, sir. You see, your position is a matter
+of state importance--international importance, I might say; all Europe is
+more or less interested in your fate, whereas----"
+
+"Ach!" interrupted Schwab, "zey insult me, ze Mohrs; me, a Jarman
+sobjeck; zerefore zey insult also our Kaiser, who is in Berlin. Zat is
+important."
+
+"With all respect to your Kaiser, Mr. Schwab," said Tom, "we are three
+to one here, and I think the interests of the majority must prevail."
+
+"But ze population of Jarmany is grosser zan ze population of Great
+Britain. Ve grow vair fast."
+
+"Therefore your Kaiser can spare one individual better than our King. We
+must settle it so, Mr. Schwab. We'll take Sir Mark to the yacht and then
+come back for you--as we have already done."
+
+"But if you forget--vere am I zen? Mr. Greatorex is business man, perhaps
+he vant to make haste for home. Besides, you try to keep ze secret of ze
+Photographic Sensitizer Preparation Number Six. I discover ze secret.
+You vant to keep me out, so zat I shall not take out patent for
+Schlagintwert. Zat is business!"
+
+"You may take my word for it that we'll come back for you," said Tom
+patiently. Oliphant was fuming: Sir Mark Ingleton was quietly enjoying
+the situation. "And here's Abdul." The young Moor at this moment came
+over the brow of the hill. "Perhaps he will stay and keep you company."
+
+"I have enough gombany of ze Mohrs," said Schwab dismally. "Give notice,
+I shall have big claim for damage. Ze loss of business is colossal."
+
+"You'll make it up when you put your Photographic Sensitizer Preparation
+Number Six on the market under a new name. Abdul, you will stay with Mr.
+Schwab until we get back?"
+
+Abdul agreed at once. In the event of a party coming from Ain Afroo to
+capture him he could retreat to the caves, which were so difficult of
+access that he might hope to defy attack for a time, even if his
+hiding-place were discovered. The chief difficulty would be food and
+water; but he could slip down into the woods before daybreak and gather
+a quantity of fruit; perhaps also snare one or two wild animals; and if
+Tom would leave behind the now almost empty canister in which he kept
+the fuel for the engines, he could fill that with water from the hill
+springs.
+
+Schwab's countenance, as he heard these arrangements discussed, was that
+of a man very ill at ease. But he had apparently come to the conclusion
+that further protest would be unavailing, and he held his peace, summing
+up in his mind, possibly, the amount of his future claim for damages.
+Tom handed Abdul his revolver, for use in the last resort; then followed
+Oliphant and the envoy into the car.
+
+"You keep your vord!" cried Schwab, as the airship rose into the now
+overclouded sky.
+
+Tom set the engines at half speed, partly to husband his fuel, partly
+because, moon and stars being now obscured, he felt the same kind of
+reluctance to go fast that a driver would feel in going through a dark
+country lane. It was a little before three in the morning. He hoped to
+reach the yacht about dawn, though, having in the darkness no means of
+guiding his course, he foresaw the possibility of going out of the way.
+But a strong wind had blown up from the east, and with this at his back
+he knew that he must in due time reach the sea. Rain began to fall, at
+first in large scattered drops, finally in a steady downpour, and when
+the grey dawn at last broke through the sky, all three occupants of the
+car were thoroughly drenched and miserable.
+
+Tom had anxiously watched his fuel supply. When the rain ceased and the
+sky became clearer, and he caught sight of the sea afar off, he saw that
+there was not the smallest chance of reaching the shore.
+
+"How far is it, do you think?" asked Oliphant.
+
+"More than ten miles, I fancy. I've scraped up the last ounces of paste;
+we shall be lucky if it carries us another five miles."
+
+"And what then?"
+
+"Goodness knows! I don't know what part of the shore we are heading for.
+We may be miles north or south of the yacht for all I can tell."
+
+"Will they see us on board?"
+
+"Don't think so. You see, the yacht, when we left her, was moored pretty
+close inshore, and, unless she runs out a good way, the cliffs will
+intercept the view. By Jove! we haven't come far wrong, though. You see
+those two islands? I noticed them from the deck. They're a few miles
+south of where we lay to. Here goes the last of the fuel, Oliphant; we
+can't keep up more than five minutes. The only thing to be done is to
+let her down at a suitable spot, and then gain the shore on foot, and
+attract the attention of some one on board. No doubt they're keeping a
+pretty keen lookout."
+
+They were now passing over a considerable stretch of wooded country. But
+as Tom was looking about for a place convenient for landing, he saw to
+his consternation that they were within sight of a village of some size.
+The airship was no more than six hundred feet from the ground: Tom had
+not dared to keep it at any greater altitude, and he could scarcely hope
+that it had escaped observation. To descend at once was absolutely
+imperative: yet a descent in full sight of the village would certainly
+bring unwelcome and hostile visitors. In order to stave off, even for a
+time, the inevitable, he selected a spot that seemed to be about a
+couple of miles from the village--a large clearing in the midst of the
+wood, about halfway up a gently rising hill. There he dropped gently to
+earth.
+
+The airship had scarcely come to rest before he saw, from the village
+below, a party of horsemen issuing at full speed from the gate. Tom
+counted more than a dozen men, and within a minute these were followed
+by another dozen.
+
+"We're in for it now," he said. "They'll be on us in a few minutes."
+
+"We can't fight 'em with only one revolver and a carbine," said Oliphant
+ruefully. "They'll collar us and hold us to ransom--perhaps we'll all
+find ourselves before long in the kasbah of Ain Afroo."
+
+"May I make a suggestion?" said Sir Mark Ingleton. "The airship has
+failed us; we are, it appears, about to be surrounded by horsemen who
+are doubtless well armed; flight is therefore impossible. It is equally
+impossible, as Mr. Oliphant says, to fight. Before now, in similar
+circumstances, diplomacy has been of some avail; and it is but right
+that I, in whose behalf you gentlemen have been brought to your present
+plight, should exercise my poor abilities in disentangling the knot."
+
+"What do you propose, sir?" asked Tom, inwardly remarking that diplomacy
+seemed to make a man tolerably long-winded.
+
+"It is that Mr. Oliphant and myself should go forth to meet these
+children of nature, waving a white handkerchief as if to welcome them. I
+will explain to them, in terms they will comprehend, and with a
+sufficient regard for the truth, what our situation is. They will
+doubtless convey us to their village, whether they believe me or not. In
+the meantime you, Mr. Dorrell, will have hidden yourself in a tree--no
+difficult feat to a man of your years; and when you see a fitting
+opportunity, you will steal your way to the shore, rejoin your friends
+on the yacht, and take such steps as may suggest themselves in
+consultation with them to effect our release."
+
+"A capital idea!" said Tom.
+
+"But can we do it? Can you speak to the Moors in their own tongue?"
+asked Oliphant.
+
+"My dear fellow, your father selected me for this mission precisely on
+account of my knowledge of Arabic," said Sir Mark. "If these Riffians do
+not understand me, it will be because my speech is so much purer than
+theirs."
+
+"Well, good luck to you!" cried Tom. "I'm off before they see me."
+
+And donning his djellab, which he had spread on the ground to dry, he
+disappeared among the trees.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII--DIPLOMACY
+
+
+Before the band of horsemen had approached the edge of the little
+plateau where the airship lay, the two men stepped forward through the
+trees at its lower edge and waved to the oncomers with every sign of
+welcome.
+
+"I hope none of them will recognize me," said Sir Mark in a low tone to
+Oliphant. "Probably few in this wild district have ever been in Tangier,
+where my features are tolerably well known; and having been for some
+time unable to shave--these followers of the Prophet are forbidden the
+use of the razor, and Mr. Schwab does not carry one--I look perhaps a
+little unlike myself."
+
+The horsemen came up at a gallop, bringing their horses to a halt when
+it seemed to Oliphant that he and his companion must be trampled to the
+ground.
+
+"Peace be with you!" said Sir Mark in Arabic, making a slight
+inclination.
+
+"And with thee, peace!" returned the leader of the party, looking not a
+little surprised at this orthodox salutation from a N'zrani.
+
+"In the name of the most Merciful!" Sir Mark continued. "Thou dost
+behold us in sore straits, O Son of the Mountain. We are brothers under
+our skin, thou and I, and I crave thy help."
+
+"Bismillah! I am thy host, and all that I have is thine."
+
+"Thou sayest well. Behold this strange monster that lieth on the ground
+beyond us. It was made by a countryman of mine, to simulate the flying
+of birds in the air--a most wondrous thing, and worthy to be seen by his
+Shereefian Majesty the Sultan himself. I was indeed on my way to visit
+the Sultan, but was prevented by a most untoward happening. (That is
+strictly true, though the fact is somewhat post-dated," he added in an
+aside.) "Even a bird tires with overmuch flying; and, as thou seest,
+this thing that imitates the flying of a bird tires also, so much so,
+indeed, that we saw that its wings would not carry us the full extent of
+our journey, and we were on our way back to the coast in order to repair
+its strength, when it failed us utterly. Wherefore, friend, we ask thee
+to lend us the assistance of some sturdy men from your village to carry
+our poor bird to Casa Blanca, or to any ship that may chance to be off
+your shore. (They may have seen the yacht.) For this service we will
+reward them liberally."
+
+"Bismillah!" ejaculated the Moor. Oliphant, watching his face during Sir
+Mark's address, had caught a fleeting expression of perplexity and
+disappointment. Expecting to make an out-and-out capture, he was no
+doubt somewhat nonplussed at this request for assistance. But he had the
+Moor's ready adaptability to circumstances. His speech gave no sign of
+his thoughts.
+
+"Bismillah!" he repeated. "We are all in God's hands. Let my brother
+give thanks to Allah the most Merciful that he came to a man so friendly
+disposed as Salaam son of Absalaam. It shall be even as thou wishest,
+Sidi. But first thou and thy son must come to my village, for your bird
+yonder is too heavy to be carried without much preparation. It will need
+the shoulders of a great number of men. But while the men are making
+ready, enter my house, all too unworthy to shelter you: yet we will
+comfort you with food, and do all that is in our power to please our
+guests."
+
+"We thank thee, O Salaam, for thy proffered hospitality, which we will
+accept, knowing that all things will be provided for our comfort."
+
+"So be it, Sidi. But within the walls of my village, when I first looked
+heavenwards and saw this strange flying thing, did I not see three men
+borne along in it, and one of them in djellab something like my own?"
+
+Sir Mark smiled and, pointing to a part of the apparatus that was
+coloured grey, said--
+
+"No doubt in the distance my brother mistook that for a person. We are
+two, as thou seest."
+
+The Moor still looked somewhat mistrustfully around. Then, with an
+appearance of being convinced, he dismounted, and ordered his followers
+to dismount also, asking his guest to choose whichever of the horses he
+pleased for himself and his son. At this imputation of kinship, Sir Mark
+elevated his eyebrows; the young man was certainly a
+disreputable-looking object. Thinking it policy to accept the offer, Sir
+Mark mounted the head-man's own steed, Oliphant following his example
+with the horse of one of his party. Then, bidding a score of the men
+lift the airship on their shoulders, the head-man and the rest
+remounted, and led the way to the village. Both Sir Mark and Oliphant
+were glad that the distance was not great, for the high Moorish saddles
+were a sore trial to their unaccustomed limbs. The envoy, at any rate,
+was under no delusion as to the nature of the hospitality promised. From
+the manner in which the tribesmen escorted the two Englishmen to the
+village, there could be little doubt that they were prisoners.
+
+From his perch in the tree Tom noticed that although the majority of the
+horsemen accompanied his friends towards the walls, four or five
+detached themselves from the party and returned to the plantation, which
+they proceeded to search pretty thoroughly. He made himself as small as
+he could among the foliage when they passed beneath him, but they did
+not look up; apparently it did not occur to them that any one should
+have mounted into a tree. When they had finished their fruitless search,
+they went, not in the direction their fellow-villagers had taken, but
+towards the coast. Tom saw them spread out as they rode from the
+plantation, and watched them until they were mere specks in the
+distance. Then, when they were, he supposed, perfectly satisfied that
+the suspected third member of the English party could not have escaped
+them, they wheeled round and returned one by one again passing not far
+from his hiding-place. Clearly, if they were so suspicious, it would be
+expedient for him to remain for some time in the tree--an unpleasant
+prospect, for he was becoming very stiff and cramped, and suffering
+rather severely from hunger and thirst.
+
+It was some hours before he ventured to slip to the ground. Even then he
+did not dare to leave the shelter of the wood, knowing that in the open
+he would inevitably be observed. But he stretched his limbs and found a
+few blackberries, which somewhat appeased his hunger. Every now and then
+he again climbed the tree to find out whether any one was approaching,
+or whether a watch was still being kept. Late in the afternoon he
+descried, on the further side of the village, a horseman approaching
+from the direction of the hills. He came at full gallop, and rode
+straight into the village, disappearing there from Tom's view.
+
+"Hope to goodness he isn't a messenger from the sheikh!" thought Tom.
+
+At last, when the sun had set, and the sky was darkening, he deemed it
+safe to leave his hiding-place. If the yacht had remained where he had
+last seen her--and it was scarcely likely that Mr. Greatorex would shift
+his anchorage--he conjectured that a five mile walk would bring him to
+the nearest point of the shore. Fortunately it was a beautiful night,
+clear and starlit, though the moon had not yet risen. Taking his
+bearings very carefully by the stars, in anticipation of a return
+journey, he started, going very slowly and cautiously, watching every
+shadow lest it should indicate the presence of a Moor. Ignorant of their
+language, he knew well that he had no chance whatever of slipping past
+if he were once accosted. In such a case he could trust only to his
+lightness of foot. But nothing happened to cause him uneasiness, and
+after trudging along for nearly two hours he was beyond measure
+delighted to see what was evidently a masthead light some distance out
+at sea. No native craft would show a light; he could hardly doubt that
+the _Dandy Dinmont_ and his friends were before him.
+
+He was quickening his step in the pleasure of this discovery, when
+suddenly, without warning, he found himself at the edge of an encampment
+lying in a slight hollow at the summit of the cliffs. He started back,
+but it was too late. A Moor, swathed in his hooded djellab, came out of
+the darkness and spoke to him. Tom saw that it might be fatal to run
+now; he walked on, hoping that he might pass without replying. But the
+Moor spoke again, more sharply, in a more questioning tone. Tom, whose
+head was covered with the hood, mumbled something beneath his breath;
+but his unpractised tongue could not achieve the hard guttural accent of
+the Moorish speech, and the sentinel took a hasty step towards him.
+
+There was now nothing for it but to take to his heels. Disguise was no
+longer possible, and, to free his limbs, he cast the djellab from him,
+and dashed at full speed across the grass to the edge of the cliff. The
+slope was steep, but he scarcely gave a thought to the risks he ran.
+Scrambling over, he lay down and rolled from top to bottom, with many a
+gash and bruise from sharp edges of the rock.
+
+Loud shouts pursued him. The camp was aroused. Picking himself up,
+feeling breathless and dazed, he sped across the sandy stretch of beach
+and sent a sounding hail in the direction of the yacht; perchance his
+voice might carry above the rustle of the surf and the cries of his
+pursuers. He heard men scurrying down a path in the cliff somewhere
+behind him; then their footsteps on the light shingle that lay above the
+sand. Even if his cry had been heard on the yacht, it was impossible
+that a boat should reach him before he was overtaken. There was only one
+way to safety. He plunged into the surf, and struck out towards the
+vessel. A shot followed him, but he cared nothing for that; in the
+darkness it would puzzle an expert marksman to hit him, when nothing of
+him could be seen but a head bobbing up and down. Not till he had swum
+well out of the reach of his pursuers, who had not followed him into the
+sea, did the thought of sharks cross his mind. Then he trod water for a
+little, and, making a bell of his hands, sent another prolonged cry
+across the water.
+
+Is that an answering hail? He shouts once more; yes, a cry comes back to
+him: "Ahoy-o!" But at the same moment he hears also the sound of
+paddles, to his right, apparently from a bend of the shore. The Moors
+have not given him up, then. Again he presses on, putting all his force
+into a strong side-stroke. Now another sound falls upon his ear; the
+welcome sound of oars plied sturdily in rowlocks. The yacht's boat is
+coming to meet him. But the pursuers are the nearer--will his friends
+arrive in time? His long exertions since he left the yacht, his want of
+food and sleep, have robbed him of his strength. His pace becomes slower
+and slower. The pursuers' boat is coming up behind, while yet the beat
+of oars before him sounds terribly distant. But he is still swimming;
+every yard he makes is a yard added to the speed of the friendly boat.
+He struggled on; and the Moors were still some distance behind when,
+gasping and spent, he was helped by Timothy and another into his ark of
+safety.
+
+But the boat did not head at once for the yacht.
+
+"Give way, men!" cried Captain Bodgers himself, at the tiller.
+
+He pointed the nose of the boat straight for the Moors' light craft.
+Eight sturdy British sailors pulled with a will. There was a crash, a
+cry, and a dozen Moors were in the water, struggling to right their
+capsized boat.
+
+"That's all right. Now we'll get back, my men," said Captain Bodgers,
+and some few minutes thereafter Tom was assisted up the side of the
+yacht, and into the arms of Mr. Greatorex.
+
+"God bless my soul, what has happened?" said the worthy merchant.
+
+"We've got him--Ingleton," murmured Tom faintly. "He's with Oliphant,
+captured again. Schwab's in the cave with Abdul."
+
+"He's light-headed, poor fellow!" said Mr. Greatorex. "Here, some one,
+blankets, and brandy--look _alive_ now."
+
+Tom was soon stripped, dried, swathed in warm blankets, and dosed with
+brandy till his blood tingled. Mr. Greatorex fussed round him, waiving
+his proffered explanations until he was thoroughly recovered. Then Tom
+gave him an account of all that had happened since he left the yacht,
+Mr. Greatorex breaking in every now and then with "Dear, dear!" "You
+don't _say_ so!" "The villains!" "What a _mercy_!" and such like
+exclamations. Early in the narrative he interrupted with a question:
+
+"You say Oliphant! Who's Oliphant? Am I on my _head_ or my _heels_?"
+
+"Oh, I forgot you didn't know," said Tom with a smile. "Your new stoker
+was Oliphant in disguise. You see, Byles, your late stoker, had to
+remain at home and attend to his sick mother."
+
+"No more sick than I am!" declared Mr. Greatorex. "Don't believe he
+_had_ a mother! M'Cracken, indeed! I'll M'Cracken him! I hope his father
+will get him well _thrashed_ when he goes back to school."
+
+"He's rather big for that, don't you think?"
+
+"The bigger the better! I never _heard_ of such a thing! The impudence
+of it! And taking us all _in_ so! What things are coming to I don't
+know. No obedience, no respect for age--pretending to be Scotch, too----"
+
+"Well, he is Scotch, you know."
+
+"Don't tell _me_! He's only Scotch when it suits him. There are others
+like him in the Lords. He was never Scotch in _my_ house--where he shall
+never show his face again, _never_!"
+
+Tom was not deceived by this explosion of wrath. He knew very well that
+Mr. Greatorex was only relieving the tension of his feelings, and
+working off his nervous excitability on the most convenient object. "Les
+absents ont toujours tort," he remembered. Mr. Greatorex presently
+calmed down, and heard the rest of the story in comparative quietude.
+
+"And what are we to _do_?" he said at the close. "Swob doesn't matter;
+we're not bound to lift a finger for _him_; but we can't leave Ingleton
+and M'C---- and Oliphant in the hands of those wretches. They'll break up
+our machine, too, and play the very deuce with _my property_. What are
+we to _do_?"
+
+What Tom answered is shown by subsequent events. Two or three hours
+after his return to the yacht, when he had had a thorough rest and a
+good meal, a well-armed party, consisting of the whole ship's company
+except the cook and one seaman, left the yacht, on which all lights had
+been extinguished, and rowed with muffled oars to a sheltered cove on
+the south side of the bay--that furthest removed from the Arab
+encampment. Mr. Greatorex had insisted on joining the party. In vain Tom
+pointed out that a hard march was before them, suggesting delicately
+that Mr. Greatorex was not so light as he once was. The merchant puffed
+the objection away. They disembarked in dead silence, and, leaving two
+of their number to take the boat back to the yacht, made their way
+cautiously up the cliff.
+
+Led by Tom, the party, ten in all, struck off in the direction of the
+village. Thanks to the light of the moon, which now lay a little above
+the horizon, Tom was able to make a fairly straight course for the
+plantation in which he had hidden during the previous day. Once or twice
+he strayed from the proper track, and ultimately found that he was
+nearly a mile from his objective; but this was not bad, considering that
+there was no beaten road, and they had to tramp across rough country.
+When he reached the plantation he was no longer in doubt as to the true
+direction; during his long stay among the trees he had had time to take
+his bearings pretty thoroughly.
+
+Mr. Greatorex was blown by the time they came to the clearing in which
+the airship had descended, and Tom begged him to remain hidden in the
+plantation while the rest went on to the village.
+
+"Pff!" panted the perspiring old gentleman. "Never gave up _anything_
+yet; on you go!"
+
+But a slight halt was made while Tom completed arrangements for his
+night raid. The village was walled; the gates would no doubt be shut, as
+at Ain Afroo; the wall must be scaled. Captain Bodgers selected the
+biggest men to give their more active comrades a "leg-up." These latter
+were provided with ropes, by which they might haul up the others when
+they had themselves gained a footing on the wall. Tom impressed on them
+all the necessity of maintaining dead silence. He estimated that the
+village contained about a hundred fighting men, and if the approach of
+the raiders were discovered in time for the walls to be manned, the
+chance of a successful coup would be small indeed.
+
+All carried firearms except Mr. Greatorex. He had a knobbed stick,
+capable of dealing a very damaging blow.
+
+"There's bound to be a _fight_, I suppose?" he had said when Tom was
+discussing his plans on the yacht. "I don't like _that_, you know. I'd
+punch a man's nose and knock him down without scruple, of course; but
+that needn't _kill_ him, you know. Besides, how do I _stand_? This is
+uncommonly like a piratical raid--like Jameson's, and he might have been
+_hanged_. However!"
+
+Tom assured him that no blood should be shed if it could possibly be
+avoided; but he had small hopes that the night would end without a
+fight, and a very brisk one.
+
+The party set off for the village, stealing along under what cover was
+afforded by bushes and inequalities in the ground. When about three
+hundred yards from the wall all such protection ceased; the ground was
+level and apparently open. Tom's heart was in his mouth lest their
+footsteps should be heard as they crossed this. He dared not set them at
+a run, for the soil all around was stony, and the sound of near a dozen
+men rushing at speed could not fail to be heard in the village. So he
+kept up the same stealthy approach, and his caution was justified, for
+level as the space had appeared at a distance, it proved to have patches
+of loose stones, and some yards of boggy land, through which ran a
+narrow and evil-smelling creek; to rush would have ended in disaster.
+
+They arrived beneath the wall without having heard any alarm raised
+within. In a trice the men began to clamber up. It was made of mud and
+rubble, and was not in so ruinous a condition as the wall of Ain Afroo.
+The first man reached the top. Immediately there was a shout and the
+sound of hurrying feet, and Tom sprang up to the sailor's side in time
+to see a Moor in long djellab dashing from the nearest house towards the
+wall. Suddenly he halted, and fired. The young sailor winced as the
+bullet struck him; but he was not badly hurt, and letting down his rope,
+calmly proceeded to haul up one of his comrades. After firing, the Moor
+made a rush along the wall. Tom grappled with him; both fell, dropping
+their weapons, and Tom felt in an instant that he was no match for the
+sinewy figure that had him in his arms. The Moor forced him down; his
+hands were already at Tom's throat, when Timothy Ball, who had
+accompanied the party in spite of his half-healed wound, threw himself
+upon the enemy from behind, dragged him backwards, and left him
+half-strangled, but yet alive.
+
+When Tom rose dizzily to his feet, all his party were within the wall.
+One or two shouts were heard from the village, but apparently the Moors
+were not yet quite awake to what was happening. Tom pulled himself
+together, and led the way straight for the kasbah, which, from his lofty
+perch in the tree during the day, he had seen slightly to the right of
+the place at which the entry into the village had been made. When they
+dashed up to the main gate, this was being opened to give exit to a
+couple of men who were apparently about to inquire into the cause of the
+slight commotion and the rifle shot that had been heard. The two were
+instantly bowled over by the onrush of British seamen, the party swarmed
+through into the kasbah, the gate was shut, and they came face to face
+with the head-man.
+
+"What have you--got to--_say_ for yourself?"
+
+The Moor had naturally nothing to say for himself. He saw himself
+confronted by an elderly whiskered foreigner, in a yachting cap and blue
+serge suit, brandishing a formidable stick. Mr. Greatorex was in a
+passion. The exertions of the march, the pains of being hauled up a
+wall, not without bumps, the scamper at the rear of his men into the
+Moor's kasbah, had deprived him equally of breath and of self-control.
+Determined not to be left ignominiously out of the hurly-burly, he
+forced himself to the front, and thrust his stick under the very nose of
+the Moor--who stood a foot above him--calling him to account in the
+spluttering sentence recorded above.
+
+For a few moments there was a deadlock, and Tom felt the need of an
+interpreter. Eventually he persuaded Mr. Greatorex to give way, and
+managed to make the Moor understand that if he valued his life he must
+at once bring out the Firangi whom he had recently introduced to his
+house. Finding himself shut off by the gate of his own kasbah from the
+support of his men, the Moor recognized that he had no choice but to
+comply, and at a command from him one of his servants brought Sir Mark
+Ingleton and Oliphant from the upper floor into the patio, looking none
+the worse for their brief incarceration.
+
+"_Delighted_ to see you," said Mr. Greatorex, stepping forward and
+wringing the diplomatist's hand; Oliphant he studiously ignored.
+
+"Mr. Greatorex, I presume," returned Sir Mark. "I hope to make your
+better acquaintance, sir. Meanwhile, if I may be allowed----"
+
+His quick eye had taken in the situation at a glance.
+
+"Peace be with thee!" he said in Arabic, turning with a bland smile to
+the scowling Moor, "You perceive, O Salaam, that my friends also, being
+alarmed at my absence, have availed themselves of your generous
+hospitality. They are distressed at the unceremonious manner of their
+entry, but you will assuredly deign to pardon it, for have you not
+professed yourself my devoted servant? You will be the first to forgive
+an intrusion due solely to the too great zeal of my friends."
+
+The Moor, chagrined and bewildered, had no option but to acquiesce in
+this polite fiction, though it is to be feared his reply lacked
+something of the diplomatist's ease and suavity.
+
+"But we are a large company," Sir Mark went on, "and should be loth to
+trespass on your hospitality. You will be relieved, I am sure, if we
+betake ourselves to the vessel that awaits us off your coast. You will,
+of course, honour us by giving us your company so far. Indeed, if you
+will do us the favour to accompany us on board our vessel, we shall
+endeavour to return in some slight measure the gracious hospitality that
+has been vouchsafed to myself and--my son. If you add to your favours by
+assisting us in the march--by showing us the easiest road and defending
+us from the perils that may beset us, such as are known to you, O
+Salaam--you may be assured that we shall show our gratitude in very
+tangible form. There are, as you know, even in Morocco, evil
+counsellors, men of violence, some who would even dare to lift their
+hands against the Sultan himself. If there be any such in this village,
+which truly I am loth to believe, I advise you, as brother advises
+brother, to exhort them to mildness of demeanour. These friends of mine
+who now enjoy your hospitality are men of war; they have arms, you
+perceive, in the use of which they are well skilled; and since, in our
+progress to the shore, you will of course occupy the place of honour at
+my right hand, in all likelihood you would suffer hurt if there are
+among your followers any men of Belial whose hearts incline towards
+bloodshed; that would be a great grief to us. And now, O Salaam, as the
+night draws towards dawn, it will be well if you perform your morning
+ablutions and devotions and prepare to lead us forth. Bismillah!"
+
+Sir Mark, as he laughingly informed Mr. Greatorex afterwards, had
+purposely made his address somewhat lengthy, so as to give Salaam plenty
+of time to regain his self-possession and to weigh the pros and cons.
+The upshot was that, shortly after dawn, the whole party, with Salaam
+son of Absalaam in their midst, set off towards the coast, the airship
+being carried on the shoulders of a troop of the villagers who had been
+promised liberal bakshish in return for their services.
+
+On arriving at the shore, Captain Bodgers signalled to his men on the
+yacht to send a boat, and with it a fresh supply of fuel for the
+airship, which had been deposited just above high-water mark. While this
+was being done, Mr. Greatorex emptied his pockets of small coin, to
+redeem the promise to the carriers, and Sir Mark kept up an even flow of
+amicable talk, apparently quite oblivious of the throng of Arabs who had
+observed the proceedings from their encampment on the cliff, and by and
+by came down to the shore and stood around, listening with looks of
+amazement to this fluent Nazarene who discoursed so pleasantly of things
+intimate to them.
+
+The men soon arrived with a large tin of the fuel-paste. It was placed
+in the car; Tom made an inspection of the machinery to assure himself
+that it had suffered no hurt while in the charge of Salaam; then
+Oliphant joined him. A few moments later, with a mighty whirring sound,
+the airship rose gallantly into the air, to the great wonderment of the
+Moors. While they were intently watching the manoeuvres of the airship,
+filling the air with their cries of "Mashallah!" Sir Mark and the rest
+of the party embarked and pulled out into the bay, two of the men
+sitting in the stern of the boat with their faces to the shore and their
+rifles held conspicuously ready. Salaam indulged in a burst of fury at
+the manner in which he had been outwitted. His followers gathered around
+him and held excited consultation, some being apparently inclined to
+fire on the departing boat, others to pursue the airship. But they had
+made up their minds to neither course by the time the party reached the
+yacht; and when Captain Bodgers trained on them the two brass guns she
+carried, they hurriedly broke up and disappeared over the cliffs.
+
+"You were just in time, Mr. Greatorex," said Sir Mark Ingleton as they
+sat together in the boat. "A messenger came in from the sheikh yesterday
+afternoon, and I shrewdly suspect that arrangements had been made to
+transfer us to our old quarters in the kasbah. I say 'our old quarters,'
+forgetting that Mr. Oliphant----"
+
+"Oliphant!" interrupted Mr. Greatorex. "_There_ now! What do you think
+of _this_, Sir Mark?"
+
+And he proceeded to delight his guest with a vigorous indictment of
+M'Cracken, and Byles, and Byles' sick mother, and Lord Langside for
+having sent an English gentleman on a mission to such an abominable
+country, and for having such an outrageously impudent son.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV--THE TROGLODYTES
+
+
+Meanwhile, how had things been faring with Herr Hildebrand Schwab, the
+unlucky representative of the Schlagintwert Company of Düsseldorf and
+the partner of Sir Mark's captivity?
+
+When Abdul pointed out the cave in which it was advisable that they
+should take shelter, and the means of access to it, Schwab groaned
+deeply, and declared that nothing on earth should induce a German
+subject of his weight to attempt so perilous a climb. But on reflection
+he came to look upon it as the lesser of two evils, and with much
+travailing of spirit and discomfiture of body he allowed himself to be
+assisted up the incline so long as progress on foot was possible, and
+then to be hoisted at the end of the rope. Abdul's strength alone would
+not have sufficed to haul so great a mass into safety; but Salathiel ben
+Ezra, who was by this time thoroughly weary of solitude, and had come to
+the end of his stock of provisions, lent willing help, with a view, as
+it proved, of turning the situation to account.
+
+He used every means of persuasion and cajolery which his ingenuity could
+devise to persuade Abdul to release him. One of his propositions was
+that they should convey the German to the sheikh of Ain Afroo and claim
+a sufficient reward. Abdul ridiculed the idea. Both he and the Jew would
+get short shrift from the sheikh now that the more valuable of his
+captives was snatched from his grasp. Salathiel then proposed that they
+should try to gain the nearest town where they might find Europeans, and
+tell a moving story of the sufferings and perils they had endured in
+rescuing the German from the hands of his captors. But to this, as to
+his other suggestions, Abdul turned a deaf ear.
+
+They were a strangely assorted trio. Schwab only half trusted the Moor;
+the Moor despised Schwab; both disliked the Jew. It was not long before
+Schwab declared that he was hungry, and illustrated the privations he
+had already suffered by exhibiting the unwonted gap between his
+waistcoat and his person: "And I have ze straps of my vaistcoat drawn
+_so_ tight!" he added. Salathiel's scanty stock of provisions having
+been exhausted, Abdul descended to forage, and returned with a supply of
+dates and olives, and the tin filled with water at the spring.
+
+"Ach! My pipe! It is in ze room vere first I vas laid up. Mein Gott! And
+ze list of Schlagintwert; ze last edition, revise and enlarge. Ze Moors
+zey vill now order vizout me, and I lose colossal sum in commission!"
+
+All this was Greek to Abdul, but a little more comprehensible to the
+Jew, with whom, however, Schwab refused to discuss business. He
+preferred to ply Abdul diligently with questions about the airship:
+where it came from; how it was driven; what was the composition of the
+fuel.
+
+"Already is it partly known to me," he said. "It contain large quantity
+Photographic Sensitizer Preparation Number Six. But zat is not all. I
+know it! Vy? Because my Jarman intellex tell me so. But vizout doubt I
+discover it; zen zere shall be business for Schlagintwert. You do not
+know vat ze ozer zink is?"
+
+Abdul shook his head.
+
+"Zen you vas never made for business. Vun cannot learn it; it is born.
+So vas I born!"
+
+He discoursed on business and other things, despising his audience for
+their want of appreciation; then fell to bemoaning his fate. Thus the
+hours passed away.
+
+At last the monotony of the situation was broken. Abdul, like a good
+Mohammedan, was engaged in his devotions when the Jew, at the mouth of
+the cave, caught sight of a party of Moors far below, and signalled to
+them before he could be prevented. Springing up, Abdul was on the point
+of killing him with his knife when Schwab hastily interposed.
+
+"No, I vill not have it," he said. "You kill him; zen am I accomplice;
+and vat is zat for a kind of business, I say?"
+
+But he did not decline to assist Abdul to truss up the Jew and render
+him incapable of further mischief. No more than Abdul himself did he
+wish to attract visitors.
+
+The mischief, however, was already done. The Moors, a search party
+despatched by the sheikh, had observed the Jew's signals, and at once
+spurred their horses across the country until they reached the foot of
+the precipitous ascent. They dismounted: one of them began to climb up.
+For a time Abdul watched his progress; then, when he thought the man had
+mounted far enough, he threatened to hurl him from the face of the cliff
+if he advanced another step upwards. It was so obviously in Abdul's
+power to make good his threat that the Moor hesitated; then, in response
+to an encouraging shout from below, he again began to climb. He may have
+reflected that his comrades could afford to shout; they were not
+clinging like a fly to the face of an almost perpendicular wall of rock;
+but he may have reflected also that great would be his praise and reward
+if he succeeded in bringing to account the insolent strangers who had
+done such despite to his sheikh. No doubt also he reckoned on support
+from the member of the party who had signalled.
+
+Up he came, slowly feeling his way. Abdul bent over the brink, and, just
+as the man ascended within reach, smartly rapped his knuckles with the
+butt of Tom's revolver. At the same moment a shot from below struck the
+rock within an inch of his head. Abdul at once darted back within the
+shelter of the cave; but the climber, taught by the sharp blow he had
+received, ventured no farther, and shortly afterwards began to descend.
+When he reached the party below, it was clear that he met with a
+reprimand from the leader for his want of courage; but he sullenly
+refused to make another attempt, and seemed by his gesticulations to
+invite each of his comrades in turn to take his place. But nobody came
+forward, and after an excited discussion--portions of which were in tones
+so loud that Abdul was able to interpret to Schwab, nervously eager to
+learn what was to be done--a messenger was sent off in the direction of
+Ain Afroo, while the five or six who remained settled down to keep watch
+at the foot of the precipice.
+
+[Illustration: "ABDUL BENT OVER THE BRINK AND SMARTLY RAPPED HIS
+KNUCKLES WITH THE BUTT OF TOM'S REVOLVER."]
+
+Rather more than an hour passed. Schwab became more and more anxious. At
+last a much larger party rode down at a gallop, among them the sheikh
+himself. Raising his voice when he came below the cave, he called on the
+occupants to surrender, threatening them with the most fearful tortures
+if they persisted in defying him. It was evident from the terms he used
+that he was under the impression that his escaped prisoners and their
+rescuers were all in the cave together, and thus that he had them fairly
+trapped. Abdul made the most of this mistake. He warned the sheikh
+against braving the power of the white man. He had already had one
+example of it; the Firangi had shown him more mercy than he deserved;
+the second example would entail dire consequences on himself and his
+village. But this reply only fanned the flames of the sheikh's wrath; he
+was not to be intimidated by words: and, hurling more threats, he began
+to consult with his followers as to some means of enforcing his summons.
+
+It was clearly a hazardous if not indeed an impossible task to approach
+the cave from below. One man in the cave, so long as he kept himself out
+of range of rifle fire, could hold any number at bay. How much more,
+then, would it be disastrous to make the attempt against, as the sheikh
+supposed, five or six well-armed men? But, as Abdul well knew, it was
+just possible to gain the plateau above the cave, from which access to
+it could be obtained, by climbers acting in concert on the eastern face
+of the hill. That this longer but easier ascent would be known to the
+enemy there was no doubt, for Abdul had just recognized, among the
+horsemen who had accompanied the sheikh, a young man who had been his
+companion in former days, and with whom as a boy he had actually
+performed the feat.
+
+Anxiously he watched the colloquy below. Behind, Schwab was imploring
+him to explain what the sheikh had said. It turned out as he had feared.
+His former companion with a few others left the sheikh and disappeared;
+the rest made themselves comfortable within a few yards of the foot of
+the hill. Abdul had little doubt that he would soon have to reckon with
+an attack from above; not an easy matter, in truth, but far more likely
+to succeed than any attempt from below.
+
+There was a long interval. Under stress of fear and hunger, Schwab was
+nearly demented. He walked about the cave, with his hands pressed hard
+upon the neighbourhood of the lowest button of his waistcoat, uttering
+guttural groans, making lugubrious appeals to the Homeland, and to a
+lady whom he called at one time Mrs. Bottle, at another "mein briddy
+Chain," and ever and anon anathematizing Thomas Dorrell, "vat do nozink
+for me--for me, vat do so much for him viz Photographic Sensitizer
+Preparation Number Six." Abdul paid no heed to the German's fumings and
+frettings, nor to the entreaties of Salathiel ben Ezra, who, stretched
+on his back, tied hand and foot, added to his prayers the most lavish
+promises if the Moor would only release him and help him to return to
+his own place.
+
+At last, Abdul, squatting silent and watchful just within the opening of
+the cave, saw a pair of legs dangling in front of him. Some of the enemy
+had, as he had foreseen, made their way to the top of the hill, and were
+about to attempt to reach the cave from above. It was a foolhardy
+proceeding, for they could only come singly, and the occupants of the
+cave could easily dispose of them. Indeed, Abdul surmised that the
+sheikh was trying an experiment, sending one of his men to draw the
+badger. However that may have been, the application of the point of
+Abdul's knife to the calf of one of the dangling legs caused the owner
+of them to draw them hastily up and to swarm up the rope to which he was
+clinging, as a spider runs up his filmy thread when threatened by an
+enemy.
+
+Apparently the sheikh was satisfied that a direct assault, whether from
+above or below, was hopeless, for thenceforth the cave party were left
+in peace. But it was peace only externally. Even Abdul himself, who had
+hitherto preserved extraordinary composure, now showed signs of
+perturbation. What was the enemy doing? He dared not attempt to see, for
+he knew that if he showed his head it would be the target for a dozen
+bullets. Did the sheikh intend to starve them out? Their food was all
+gone; the tin of water was almost empty; it was impossible to get a
+fresh supply of either. Voices were heard from below; once Abdul heard
+an answering call from above; it appeared indeed as if the sheikh had
+resolved on an investment, knowing that sooner or later the occupants of
+the cave must yield or die.
+
+The day passed. Schwab fell into a sleep of exhaustion. Abdul remained
+sleepless, wondering why the Englishman had not reappeared with the
+airship, as he had said he would do. Had some mishap befallen him?
+Surely he had not wilfully deserted them! This Abdul refused to believe.
+When morning broke he ventured to go to the mouth of the cave and look
+out. The Moors were still below; apparently they had camped all night on
+the ground. They caught sight of Abdul, and mockingly invited him to
+share their cous-cousoo. He made no reply, and again withdrew into the
+shadow.
+
+Schwab was by this time a wreck. He lay silent. From the back of the
+cave came piteous moans from Salathiel, begging to be relieved of his
+bonds. But Abdul was obdurate; he had enough to do to keep watch on the
+enemy in front, without having to reckon with the Jew besides, for he
+knew that Salathiel would stick at no treachery.
+
+Impassive as Abdul appeared, he was in reality on the verge of despair.
+The time was fast approaching when he must choose between starvation and
+surrender. The choice did not trouble him; he would never surrender to
+the sheikh of Ain Afroo. What troubled him was the thought that his old
+enemy would once more triumph; that the vengeance on which he had set
+his whole mind for years was to be snatched from him.
+
+He was bitterly thinking on these things when Schwab rose feebly to his
+feet.
+
+"I can no more," he said; "I go to yield myself. I muss have somezink to
+eat. Still am I Jarman sobjeck; zey vill respeck our Kaiser who is in
+Berlin."
+
+Abdul expostulated, striving in his imperfect English to warn the German
+of the risk he ran. He knew the sheikh; he was a terrible enemy; he
+would care nothing who or what his prisoner was. Who in Europe would be
+any the wiser if in this remote mountainous region a man were slowly
+done to death in the dungeons of a kasbah? But Schwab would not listen;
+he craved for food; "Let us eat, for to-morrow we die," exactly
+expresses his state of mind. He moved towards the entrance to the cave,
+shaking off, with a sudden access of rage, Abdul's detaining hand. The
+Moor followed him, and stood behind him when Schwab, at the brink of the
+precipice, waved his hand and shouted--
+
+"I give myself opp. But you muss come and fetch me."
+
+But before the echo of his voice had died away, Abdul suddenly pulled
+him back by main force into the cave.
+
+"See! see!" he cried.
+
+"Tausend Teufel! Vat shall I see?" returned Schwab.
+
+At the point where Abdul now stood the country immediately beneath the
+cave was invisible, and both the men were screened from the Moors. But
+the sky was open, and far away in the clear blue to the north-west Abdul
+had descried a speck which moment by moment was growing larger.
+
+"Vat shall I see?" repeated Schwab, vainly looking in the direction of
+Abdul's stretched forefinger.
+
+"The flying ship!" cried Abdul. "It comes!"
+
+"You say zat! Lemme see, lemme see, lemme see!"
+
+He roofed his eyes with his hands, and peered into the distance.
+
+"Ach! zey veep!" he said, rubbing away the tears that had gathered. "It
+is for vant of food, nozink else."
+
+He looked again.
+
+"Boy, you are right!" he exclaimed, "truly it is ze airship. Zey come
+for me! Ach! you dirty Moors, now you may go choke! I vizdraw vat I said
+about give myself opp. I vas not myself; I vas--I vas--anozer man. Ach,
+boy, so am I indeed hungry!"
+
+The two watched the airship drawing nearer. For a moment Abdul wondered
+whether it would come into any danger from the rifles of the Moors
+either below or on the hilltop above. But remembering how clearly
+everything on the ground could be seen from the car of the airship, he
+was reassured, guessing that Tom would descry the besiegers in plenty of
+time to avoid their shots.
+
+To gain the hilltop the airship had approached at a considerable
+altitude, but was now dropping. About half a mile from the cave it
+suddenly made an upward sweep, and Abdul knew that the enemy had been
+seen. Before it sailed out of sight over the hill, Abdul plucked off his
+djellab, and waved it in the mouth of the cave. The signal provoked two
+or three shots from those of the Moors below whose attention was not
+engrossed by the machine, which some of them had seen before and of
+which all had heard most marvellous accounts. Abdul was unhurt, and his
+signal was answered by a shot from the car of the airship, which then
+passed out of sight.
+
+"Famos! Zey know ve are still alive! Mein Gott! truly mein hunger is
+colossal."
+
+Tom had in point of fact discovered the enemy at the moment when Abdul
+noticed the change in the direction of the airship. The discovery was by
+no means a welcome one.
+
+"I didn't reckon on their hiding-place being found out," he said to
+Oliphant. "It makes things rather awkward."
+
+"They must be in a pretty bad state in the cave if the Moors have been
+here long."
+
+"And we can't get at them; we daren't go too near, for at close quarters
+the Moors would riddle the planes with their shot and very likely smash
+the engines. And we certainly can't let the airship down and go for
+them. The worst of it is, they know pretty well by this time what the
+airship really is, and we couldn't throw them into a panic as we did
+before."
+
+"Confound this German!" said Oliphant. "I shouldn't mind if we could
+have a really good scrimmage and some fun for our money, but there's
+nothing in it."
+
+"There's Abdul, you see," replied Tom. "We'll have to think it out.
+They're in the cave, safe enough, and can evidently hold on there. Let
+us make for that hill yonder, and think the matter out."
+
+As the airship crossed the hill of the cave, Tom steering for the
+loftier hill some five miles to the east, a dozen Moors sprang to their
+saddles and set off in pursuit. But the ground was very rough; they had
+to follow a tortuous route; and when, a few minutes later, the airship
+reached the hill, Tom calculated that he had probably half-an-hour to
+spare before the horsemen would arrive.
+
+"We'd better ground, and economize fuel," he said. "'Pon my word,
+Oliphant, it seems as if this is going to be as tough a job as it was at
+the kasbah."
+
+Choosing a fairly open space almost at the top of the hill, Tom brought
+the machine to earth. Then, while Oliphant watched for signs of the
+pursuing horsemen, Tom stretched himself on his back, with his hands
+under his head and his cap tilted over his eyes, and settled down to a
+good hard think.
+
+"Don't go to sleep," said Oliphant.
+
+Tom replied with a grunt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV--VIEW HALLOO!
+
+
+Oliphant sat with his knees up, looking at his friend, thinking what a
+cool hand he was. No one could have guessed from Tom's easy attitude
+that he was thinking out a problem on which lives depended. As the
+minutes passed, even Oliphant was deceived.
+
+"Not asleep, Dorrell?"
+
+Tom grunted, but did not stir. Another minute or two, then he suddenly
+jumped up.
+
+"Well, I think I've got it," he said, and he chuckled.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Come along. I'll explain as we go."
+
+The two mounted the car; Tom started the ascensional screws; and the
+airship rose slowly from the hill. When they had left the ground some
+three hundred feet beneath them they saw, a mile or more distant, the
+body of horsemen who had set off in pursuit from the Moors' encampment.
+The airship was headed in the direction from which they had come, and
+when they saw it they halted, and waited until it had soared past them;
+then, having no doubt that it was returning to the hill with the
+intention of again attempting to rescue the blockaded men, they wheeled
+round, and galloped in pursuit.
+
+The airship was going at only a moderate speed, so that the horsemen
+were able to keep pace with it. Tom chuckled again, and Oliphant, to
+whom he had by this time imparted his notion, seemed to find great
+amusement in the sight.
+
+"The beggars little imagine they're playing our game," he said.
+
+"No, indeed. I wonder what they really are thinking. Probably they fancy
+something has gone wrong with our works and we can't go any faster."
+
+"D'you think they've got wind of our former breakdown?"
+
+"It's not unlikely. News travels very fast in these countries that
+haven't got the telegraph!"
+
+When they arrived at the hill of the caves, there appeared to be no
+change in the situation. A small group of four or five men were
+squatting on the summit; more than a score were congregated below. All
+eyes were directed upwards as the airship again came into view, and the
+men laughed, recognizing how fruitless would be any renewed attempt to
+rescue the prisoners. They all carried rifles, and evidently intended to
+use them when the vessel came within range. But it passed too high above
+their heads, still going very slowly, and, so far from descending
+towards the cave, sailed on towards the sea. It crossed one of the
+adjacent hills, then sank a little, so that it was only visible then to
+the few men who kept watch above.
+
+But a minute or two afterwards the occupants of the car, looking round,
+saw that these men were on their feet, gesticulating with great
+excitement.
+
+"They've taken the bait!" cried Oliphant, laughing outright.
+
+The men had noticed that the airship, instead of continuing its
+north-westerly course, had suddenly taken a turn to the left, and was
+making at tremendous speed straight for the village of Ain Afroo. Rising
+higher into the air, so that he could get a view over the shoulder of
+the hill, Tom saw that the whole body of horsemen, now joined by the
+sheikh and his party, were riding at a mad gallop for the village. By
+this time the airship was a mile ahead of them, and the two Englishmen
+laughed heartily as they watched the frantic efforts of the Moors to
+reduce the gap. They were left hopelessly behind, and were still more
+than a mile from the walls when the airship, hovering directly over the
+roof of the kasbah, began very slowly to drop earthwards as if a descent
+were going to be made on the spot where it had formerly rested.
+
+The descent took a considerable time. Who was there to tell the frenzied
+horsemen that the accursed Firangi was playing with them? They urged
+their foaming steeds up the hill at a furious rate, making light of all
+obstacles, and extorting a tribute of admiration from the Englishmen for
+horses and riders alike. They clattered into the village, dashed through
+the street, pulled the horses up on their haunches at the door of the
+kasbah, flung themselves from the saddles, and poured into the patio and
+up the stairs.
+
+The sheikh himself, by far the best mounted of the troop, was the first
+to arrive; and within a few seconds he sprang out of the opening on the
+roof, followed closely by several members of his household. But what was
+this? The airship, instead of resting on the flagged roof, was hundreds
+of feet above them, and, horror of horrors! sailing with terrific speed
+back towards the hill of the caves. For a few moments the Moors stood
+gazing in bewilderment, being joined by more men from below. Then, with
+hearty Moslem curses, they rushed back to the opening, toppling over one
+another, stumbling down the stairs in their haste. Down into the patio,
+out of the gate, on to their horses' backs once more, and off they set,
+pell-mell after the airship.
+
+But the horses were badly blown. There were four miles of heavy country
+to cover. And by the time they were again clear of the walls the airship
+was halfway to the hill.
+
+Tom and his friend were hugely delighted with the success of their
+simple bit of strategy. They could see the horsemen like ants in the
+distance beneath, urging their poor panting horses to the utmost of
+their capacity.
+
+"We ought to have plenty of time to get them away," said Tom.
+
+"Yes, but hang it all! we've clean forgotten that we can't lift both
+Schwab and the Moor."
+
+"Great Scott!" Tom ejaculated, in consternation. But in a moment his
+face cleared. "We'll manage that," he said cheerfully. But then he
+received another shock. He saw that the four or five men who had held
+their watch on the plateau were still there: they had not followed the
+rest. Their horses could be seen tethered in the grove beneath, and the
+men were gathered in a knot, watching the rapid approach of the machine,
+which probably they had expected to see no more.
+
+"There's only one thing for it," said Tom. "We must go slap at them, and
+trust to luck. If they shoot, they may do so before we are within range,
+and at this speed they may easily miss us. They are sure to be a bit
+nervous, too."
+
+Tom had already begun the descent, obliquely upon the hill. When the
+airship was, as nearly as he could calculate, on a level with the
+summit, he again put the engines to their utmost speed, and dashed
+straight at the little group. There were three or four reports almost
+simultaneously, and above the whirr of the screws Tom thought he heard a
+sound of rending, as if one of the planes had been struck by a bullet.
+The vessel, indeed, dipped slightly, and for a moment he feared that it
+would be dashed against the face of the hill. But he jerked up the lever
+controlling the planes, the airship rose the few feet necessary to clear
+the summit, and once more sped on its course.
+
+By this time, however, the group on the hilltop had taken fright. They
+could not know that if the airship dashed into them, they would be as
+formidable to it as it could be to them. Even if they had known this,
+they would probably not have been willing to sell their lives, even
+though in doing so they should break up the machine and hurl its
+occupants to destruction. With one consent they broke and fled.
+
+Tom instantly reversed the engines, and the airship glided slowly to
+rest on the plateau. But the path by which the fugitives were attempting
+to make good their flight was only wide enough to accommodate one man at
+a time, and that with difficulty. Only three of the men had begun to
+descend when Tom sprang out of the car. The other two, fearing to be
+attacked from behind, turned instinctively to meet the supposed danger.
+Then, seeing that they had only two men to deal with, and feeling no
+doubt that they would be completely at the mercy of these men when once
+they had begun the descent, they hesitated for a second at the brink.
+
+If they had used this second to draw their formidable knives, Tom's
+adventure might have ended there and then, for in his eagerness he had
+forgotten to snatch up his revolver. But their halt was due rather to
+nervousness than to courage, and Tom was never lacking in promptitude at
+the critical moment. He dashed straight at them. One of them swung round
+at once and slithered down the path. The other, somewhat more
+mettlesome, made a grab at his knife. But he had only half drawn it from
+his belt when Tom's fist shot out and tumbled him headlong after his
+comrade. The result would have been amusing if Tom had had time to
+observe it. From top to bottom of that rocky declivity there was an
+avalanche of Moors. The impetus with which the topmost man had been shot
+over the edge sent him smack into the man next below. The two then
+rolled, or rather pitched, on top of those who had preceded them, and
+were making their way quickly yet laboriously down the steep tracks, and
+it is to be feared that there were bruised and broken limbs at the
+bottom.
+
+But Tom had neither eyes nor ears for the discomfiture of his enemies.
+There was still much to be done before he could be sure that his friends
+and his airship were out of harm's way. One of his friends was already
+taking things into his own hands. At the first hint of what was
+happening Abdul had left the mouth of the cave, and was now swarming up
+the perilous face of the hillside. Breathless he came over the brink, on
+the opposite side from that where the Moors had disappeared, almost
+before Tom could turn round.
+
+"All well below?" asked Tom.
+
+"Yes, master."
+
+"Can you bring up the big man?"
+
+"With a rope, master."
+
+"Quick, then: we have no time to spare."
+
+"And the Hudi, master?"
+
+"What of him?"
+
+"He made them come. We tied him, feet and hands."
+
+"Untie him, but leave him. He can make them come again!"
+
+A rope was quickly unshipped from the car and strongly looped. Abdul
+descended, the rope being held by both Oliphant and Tom above, who,
+doubtful whether their strength would stand the strain of the ponderous
+German's weight, hitched it round a rocky prominence at the brink of the
+hill. But fear lent Schwab extraordinary agility--as once before in the
+enclosure of Midfont House. With the rope looped about him, he hauled
+himself up by it, assisting his progress with his feet against the hill.
+He was in a bath of perspiration, his fat face was pale as death, when
+he reached the top and sank exhausted at Tom's feet. Oliphant and Tom
+together hoisted him into the car, and by the time he was settled, Abdul
+had cut the Jew's bonds and again clambered up, pursued by entreaties,
+wild threats, execrations, from the luckless Salathiel ben Ezra.
+
+Glancing in the direction of Ain Afroo, Tom rejoiced to see that he had
+still about ten minutes to spare before the pursuing horsemen could
+arrive at the spot. He knew from experience that with Schwab as a
+passenger the ascensional screws did not exert sufficient power to lift
+three other men; but when Oliphant had reminded him of this, a way out
+of the difficulty suggested itself. If once the airship could be raised
+from the ground and the horizontal screws set in motion, it was likely
+that, with the speed thus obtained, they might suffice (the planes being
+inclined at the proper angle) to overcome the downward pull of gravity.
+
+Tom rapidly explained to Abdul the plan he had formed. Then, entering
+the car in which Schwab and Oliphant already were, he set the
+ascensional screws in motion. The vessel slowly rose. Meanwhile Abdul
+had looped about his body the rope by which Schwab had been hauled up,
+the upper end of which had again been securely attached to the car. When
+the airship had risen a few feet from the hill-top, Tom set the
+horizontal engines at full speed, and the vessel sailed beyond the
+plateau, Abdul dangling from it at the end of the rope, as he had done
+once before when rescued from the shark. He showed no fear; in the loop
+he was perfectly safe, for even if the vessel sank with his weight, it
+would be so slowly that he would run no risk of being brought too
+violently into contact with the ground.
+
+As Tom had expected, the vessel did not sink. But, the horizontal screws
+being partly engaged in counteracting the force of gravity, the speed of
+the airship was reduced to only five or six miles an hour, and at that
+rate it was evident that the fuel would not hold out until they reached
+the coast. A second breakdown must be averted at all costs; it was
+unlikely that they would be able to escape the clutches of predatory
+Moors a second time. No doubt the story of what had happened before had
+spread for many miles through the country, and short shrift would be
+given to the aeronauts if again they were brought to earth.
+
+There was now only a minute or two to spare before the sheikh would
+arrive. Whatever could be done must be done at once. Glancing down, Tom
+saw below him the horses belonging to the men who had just been tumbled
+from the plateau. The men themselves were lying at the foot of the hill,
+not dead, as Tom was glad to see--the rugged declivity had broken their
+fall--but evidently completely disabled. Without hesitation Tom reduced
+the speed of the engines and descended, shouting to Abdul, who at the
+end of the rope would of course reach the ground first, to secure two of
+the best horses, and follow as fast as he could in the track of the
+airship.
+
+Owing to the delay that had occurred, Abdul had only just leapt into the
+saddle when the horsemen came into sight scarcely half a mile away. The
+sheikh was far ahead of his men, and the pace even of his splendid Arab
+showed that there was little fear of Abdul being overtaken. The young
+Moor set off at a gallop, a second horse at his side. There was a shout
+behind him; the sheikh called upon his followers to spur their flagging
+steeds: clearly he intended gamely to continue the pursuit.
+
+But the fugitives were now well away. Tom accommodated the speed of the
+airship to the pace of the horses below, keeping at a height of no more
+than a hundred feet from the ground so as to be able to drop down and
+stand by Abdul in case of need. For a few minutes it seemed as though
+the lad was to be close pressed, in spite of the hard galloping the
+horses of the pursuers had already done. But gradually they dropped
+farther and farther behind; Abdul's horses were fresh; he himself was a
+light weight; and Tom began to breathe more freely.
+
+Another danger, however, occurred to him. The country was at present
+wild and desolate, with no signs of habitation. But as he neared the
+coast, he would undoubtedly pass scattered villages and towns, and it
+was possible that Abdul might be checked at one of these. He therefore
+felt it desirable to rise to a greater height, so that he might obtain a
+more extensive outlook over the country and indicate to Abdul a course
+which would prevent him from running into danger.
+
+He soon saw that his precaution was justified. The pursuers were still
+sticking doggedly to the trail, and Tom noticed that from time to time
+they were joined by fresh horsemen from the hamlets through which they
+passed. He could not distinguish figures in the distance, but he had no
+doubt that the sheikh had already obtained a fresh horse, and was among
+a group which had far outstripped the rest of the troop and was
+gradually diminishing the distance between them and their quarry. Abdul
+was riding gallantly on, changing from horse to horse with admirable
+dexterity; but it was clear that the pursuers, with many opportunities
+of obtaining remounts, must in course of time run him down. The airship
+would always indicate the direction in which they should ride.
+
+Again Tom had to devise a means of overcoming a new difficulty. The
+chase had now lasted some hours, and the matter was becoming urgent. By
+good luck, the sight of a high conical hill, well wooded, somewhat to
+the right of the course they had been following, suggested a plan.
+Lowering the airship to within easy speaking distance of the Moor--a
+manoeuvre which caused some uneasiness to his horses, tired as they
+were--Tom directed him to make for this hill, and remain in hiding among
+the trees until rejoined. At the moment he thought of making all speed
+to the yacht, dropping Schwab, replenishing his can of fuel, and
+returning for Abdul. But a little consideration caused him to change his
+mind. It might prove a very difficult matter to find the hill again when
+returning. It must be, he guessed, at least sixty miles from the sea,
+and he could not remember the landmarks exactly enough to be able to
+retrace his course.
+
+In rapid consultation with Oliphant he decided on another plan. Altering
+the course of the airship several points to the southward, and keeping a
+sharp lookout upon the pursuers, he found that they were still following
+him as a guide. No longer having to consider the powers of endurance of
+Abdul's horses, he quickened the speed of the airship, and saw in a
+little while that this had had its effect, several of the horsemen
+beginning to straggle, though they all continued in the same direction.
+Having thus taken the enemy some five or six miles out of their course,
+he suddenly swung round and made off at full speed towards the hill
+where he had left Abdul, of which he had been careful not to lose sight.
+
+"They are a game lot," remarked Oliphant, as the horsemen again followed
+the track. They were soon left mere specks on the horizon, and at last
+dropped entirely out of sight. Approaching the hill from another side,
+some time elapsed before the airship was seen by Abdul from his
+concealment in the wood. Then he again mounted; his horses had profited
+by the short rest: and the fugitives, having gained several miles by
+Tom's manoeuvre, were able to take matters comparatively easy until late
+in the afternoon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI--ICARUS
+
+
+Meanwhile Schwab had awoke to the facts of existence, and the manner in
+which he announced his awakening was characteristic.
+
+"Himmel! how I am hungry!"
+
+"Hullo, Mr. Schwab! Feel better?" said Tom, throwing a hasty glance at
+the German lying against the rail.
+
+"Vorse! vorse! Tousand times vorse!"
+
+Oliphant laughed at his hollow tones.
+
+"It is nozink for to laugh," returned Schwab with a flicker of
+animation. "I am vizout food, I know not how many hours. It is not viz
+me custom to go so long vizout food; it give me rude pain--zere!"
+
+He laid his hand on the lowest button of his waistcoat.
+
+"No longer am I as I vas. Vunce I swell, not too moch, but all ober;
+now, I fade, I shrink, I have to get ze tailor to take me in."
+
+"Awful, for a business man," said Oliphant--"to be taken in, you know."
+
+"So! But it muss be done. Ach! I am hungry as a--as a--as a----"
+
+"Hunter!" suggested Oliphant.
+
+"No; hungry as a rhinoceros. I could eat--I could eat--I could eat a----"
+
+"Whale!"
+
+"No; I could eat a steak, underdone, from ze grill, viz chip bodadoes,
+gabbage viz vinegar, and Voosder sauce, viz a long glass--ach! two long
+glasses, of lager from München. Ach! ze zought of it make my mous cry."
+
+"For goodness' sake, Oliphant, give him some grub and shut his mouth,"
+cried Tom.
+
+"Shut my mous? How zen can I eat? For ze sake of anyzink give me
+somezink to eat; zen my mous vill shut and open of itself; vun needs not
+to zink ven one eats."
+
+Bubbling with amusement, Oliphant handed the German some biscuits from
+the stock they had brought with them. But his mirth evaporated when he
+caught sight of Tom's face. He had wondered a little at the tetchy tone
+in which Tom had last addressed him, and from his anxious expression he
+could not but guess that something was seriously wrong.
+
+"What's the matter, Dorrell?"
+
+"The engines--don't you smell 'em?"
+
+"I do," replied Oliphant, sniffing. "What's it mean?"
+
+"It means that the turbine casing is becoming overheated. I altered the
+inlet valve so as to let more of the explosive mixture into the
+turbine--and this is the result."
+
+"What can we do?"
+
+"Simply reduce speed and hope that we can weather through."
+
+"Any idea how much farther we have to go?"
+
+"About fifty miles, I should think. We must have done forty at least. I
+shut off one of the engines just now, but the second one can't keep us
+afloat. I wish Schwab would fade and shrink into nothing."
+
+Schwab had heard nothing of this. He was otherwise occupied. But noting
+now the anxious looks of his two companions he said, with his mouth
+full--"Do I eat too many?"
+
+Tom was too much concerned to reply, but Oliphant laughed again.
+
+"We can't go on," said Tom. "I shall have to drop her somewhere and see
+if I can put matters right. We were five or six miles ahead of the Moors
+when I caught sight of them last, and we've a few minutes' grace at any
+rate. They won't know exactly where we are."
+
+Choosing a secluded spot, he descended and brought the airship to rest.
+Abdul had halted; Tom explained to him the cause of his descent, and set
+him to keep watch on the enemy while he examined the machinery. The Moor
+looked thoroughly done up, and it struck Oliphant that he was even more
+in need of food than Schwab, so he gave him the remainder of the stock
+of biscuits--not a large quantity now. As for Schwab, he had fallen
+asleep.
+
+It took Tom but a few minutes to adjust the valve, but he knew that the
+result of this adjustment must be a serious reduction of speed. He was
+greatly perturbed. It was clearly impossible for Abdul to ride much
+farther: the horses were in a terrible state of exhaustion. They were
+cropping the scanty herbage at the side of the track--poor refreshment
+after the fatigue they had undergone.
+
+"The Moors' horses must be equally played out, that's one comfort," said
+Tom;--"at least, those that have pursued us all the way, if any have.
+That's doubtful: the Moors have probably drawn on every village they
+have come through."
+
+"I say, did you hear that?" asked Oliphant.
+
+It was a shout--apparently from a spur of forest some distance to the
+right of the line which they had expected the enemy to take.
+
+"They're spreading out! Who'd have thought they'd have kept it up so
+long?"
+
+"Well, you see, they know that one of us is on horseback: that means
+that the machine won't carry us all; and in the nature of things they
+can overtake a rider."
+
+"I can see nothing for it but that Abdul must push on alone," said Tom.
+"We can manage to get along slowly, and as long as the machine can keep
+us afloat at all they can't catch us. But if they catch sight of Abdul
+he's bound to be run down. Abdul, you must go on by yourself. Get to the
+coast if you can, and swim out to the yacht--can you swim?"
+
+"Yes, master."
+
+"Swim to the yacht, then, and tell Mr. Greatorex what has happened.
+He'll do all he can to help us if we can only get near enough."
+
+Abdul showed some reluctance to leave the others in difficulties, but he
+obeyed. He mounted the less exhausted of the horses and set off.
+
+"He'll have a chance," remarked Tom, as he disappeared. "When the Moors
+see us in the air again they will suppose that Abdul is keeping pace
+with us as before."
+
+"It's nearly six o'clock; it'll be dark soon."
+
+"Yes, that gives him another chance--if they don't sight him."
+
+At this moment he observed a score of horsemen emerging at a rapid pace
+from the forest whence the shout had come. They were about half a mile
+away. Catching sight of the airship, they gave utterance to loud cries
+of triumph, and somewhat changed their direction. Tom at once caused the
+airship to rise, and by the time the Moors arrived at the spot where it
+had rested it was high above their heads and out of harm's way.
+
+The Moors immediately began to scour the neighbourhood for signs of
+Abdul. Tom steered slightly to the left of the direction in which the
+lad had gone, in order still further to delude the pursuers. Not long
+afterwards a much larger band of riders galloped up from the direction
+in which the airship had come, and when they joined the former party, it
+was seen that they numbered at least sixty in all.
+
+"We're rousing the whole country," said Tom with a return to his wonted
+cheerful manner. "If it goes on like this there'll be thousands by the
+time we reach the coast."
+
+"Shall we reach it, d'you think?"
+
+"I can't tell. The engines are good for a few miles; how many I don't
+know."
+
+"Vere am I?" said Schwab, awaking. "Ach! I remember. Do ve soon arrive
+at ze yacht?"
+
+"We probably shan't arrive at all," replied Tom. "One of the engines is
+failing."
+
+"But it muss not--it muss not! Surely ze Photographic Sensitizer
+Preparation Number Six vill not fail? Schlagintwert's preparations never
+fail; zat is ze foundation of zair business."
+
+"No; the preparation is all right; it's the engine."
+
+"Ach! it should have been made in Jarmany! But, tell me true, Mr.
+Dorrell, are ve in danger?"
+
+"The truth is, Mr. Schwab, that I can't guarantee the machine for
+another ten miles."
+
+"Ach! Vat vill I become? Vat vill Schlagintwert's become! Vy did you
+bring me in zis bad-made airship from my captivity? If you zere had left
+me, our Kaiser who is in Berlin vould have sent a telegram to ze Sultan
+of Marokko, and zen ve should see somezink. Zere had I at least enough
+to eat."
+
+"Confound it!" cried Tom, thoroughly exasperated. "We came to fetch Sir
+Mark Ingleton, not you. But for you we should have been halfway home to
+England by this time; and but for your weight, we shouldn't have been in
+this pretty mess at all."
+
+Schwab's jaw fell. This was an aspect of the matter that had not
+occurred to him. Lifting his waistcoat, and looking down, he said
+slowly--
+
+"Truly I vish I had not eaten so much biscuit!"
+
+It was now getting dark. Tom steered towards a bit of rough country to
+the north, again some points out of his course, his object being to
+worry the pursuers as much as possible and to draw them away from the
+line of Abdul's flight. With great satisfaction he saw them follow.
+After scattering over a wide area in search of the fugitive whose
+disappearance had so much puzzled them, they had again formed a compact
+body, and pursued the airship in the belief that their quarry must still
+be within touch of it. In a few more minutes they were obliterated by
+the darkness; but the sky was starry, and while on the ground they were
+invisible from above, it was probable that the airship was still visible
+to them.
+
+Tom had noticed for some time past that the wind, which had been slight
+and for the most part in his favour during the day, was shifting, and
+blowing with greater force. In the circumstances the airship was making
+very little headway, and Tom's anxieties were further increased when his
+sense of smell apprised him that the engines were again becoming
+overheated. Even if the airship were out of sight, the pursuers would
+probably still hear the whirring of the propellers, and it was
+advisable, both for the sake of cooling the machinery and of depriving
+the enemy of a clue, that the airship should once more be brought to the
+ground. But it was with some trepidation that Tom allowed it to sink. He
+chose a spot just beyond a stretch of woodland from which it was
+scarcely possible that the vessel could have been seen. He could only
+hope that the sound had not been heard.
+
+"I vish----" began Schwab, as they came to rest.
+
+"Shut up!" said Tom in a vehement whisper. "Everything depends on our
+keeping perfect silence now."
+
+In a few minutes the horsemen could be heard approaching. They dashed
+past the trees behind which the airship stood, and Tom's heart beat fast
+as he realized how very near the danger was. But the riders did not
+pause, and the sound of the horses' hoofs gradually faded away.
+
+"We'd better lie snug for a time," said Tom. "Perhaps the wind will
+moderate. I'm afraid the exertion of overcoming it would do for the
+engines altogether."
+
+While Oliphant held the electric torch, carefully shaded, Tom again
+overhauled the engines.
+
+"The valve is sticking," he said in a whisper. "There is some grit
+between the stem and the sleeve. It must have got in at our last stop. I
+shall have to take off the cover and file the stem smooth."
+
+This was an operation of some difficulty; but as it turned out there was
+time to spare, for as the night wore on the force of the wind rather
+increased than diminished. Schwab bemoaned the lack of a pipe and beer;
+the others were so tired and famished that they were not provoked to
+either merriment or anger by his complaints. He by and by again fell
+asleep. Tom and Oliphant kept watch and watch throughout the night. When
+Tom awoke from an uneasy nap shortly before dawn, he was relieved to
+find that the wind had dropped, though its direction was still
+unfavourable. At daybreak a start was made, and for a short time the
+valve worked satisfactorily, thanks to the large amount of oil used to
+counteract the overheating. Then, however, the oil began again to give
+off an unmistakable odour. The airship was brought to ground, and Tom
+found that the injured stem had become bent. With infinite care, to
+avoid breaking it altogether, Tom straightened it with a small hammer,
+and again filed it smooth.
+
+Once more the airship resumed its flight. Fortunately there was no sign
+of the pursuers, and Tom hoped that Abdul had managed to evade their
+clutches.
+
+The country was very wild and deserted, and Tom purposely steered some
+miles out of what he thought was the true course, in order to avoid the
+cultivated district that lay in the direct line to the yacht. Suddenly,
+however, skirting the shoulder of a hill, he came into full view of a
+village, with the sea a few miles beyond.
+
+"Thank Heaven!" ejaculated Oliphant, "we may do it yet."
+
+"Surely that's the very village you were taken to with Ingleton," said
+Tom, scanning the place through his binocular. "Have a look."
+
+"By George! I believe you're right. There's a whole host of Moors round
+it, too. They've sighted us. They're off!"
+
+Taking the glass from him, Tom saw a body of at least a hundred and
+fifty men galloping off in a direction which would bring them between
+him and the coast.
+
+"Smother them!" he cried. "I wouldn't mind if we hadn't to drop so often
+to cool."
+
+"Can't we make one good dash for it? We've only eight or nine miles to
+go, have we?"
+
+"My dear fellow, we can't do five miles at a stretch--unless we drop Mr.
+Schwab."
+
+"Donnerwetter!" cried the German, starting up in fright. "Vat you say?
+Vould you do zat? Vould you desert? Vould you leave me, a Jarman
+sobjeck, to be tore in piece by tousand vile Mohrs, ven ze sea, ze sea
+vat sails ze Jarman fleet, is so near, so near? But yes--I know it! I
+alvays say so. Never trust an Englishman--egzept in business!"
+
+Tom treated this outburst with silent contempt.
+
+"I can't go at a higher speed than fifteen miles an hour," he said to
+Oliphant. "We're perhaps a mile nearer the sea than the Moors, but they
+can equal our pace for a short distance, and I know we'll have to come
+down before we get to the sea. If we do, we'll be collared."
+
+"Risk a dash! It seems our only chance."
+
+Tom hesitated for a few moments. Then he said, setting his teeth--
+
+"All right. It's the only thing to do."
+
+He put both engines at full speed, and Schwab shouted with delight when
+he saw that the airship was gradually drawing away from the galloping
+Moors. But in ten minutes all three were aware of the ominous smell. Was
+it possible to reach the yacht, now clearly in view? Tom, alert to catch
+the slightest indication of failure on the part of the engines, hoped,
+doubted, hoped again, but was resolved to hold on to the last.
+
+Another five minutes passed.
+
+Then all were startled by a strange grinding sound in the defective
+engine.
+
+"What is it?" asked Oliphant.
+
+"It's all up," said Tom quietly. "The heat has loosened the turbine
+blades, and they are smashing to pieces." Even as he spoke sheets of
+flame shot from the exhaust pipe, accompanied by a series of deafening
+reports.
+
+Tom at once reduced speed, shouting to Oliphant to adjust the planes for
+descent.
+
+"Zink! Zink vat you do!" cried Schwab, now almost frantic. "Zey vill
+have us! Ze Mohrs vill cut our zroats! Vy--vy--vy----"
+
+Tom paid no heed; Oliphant muttered under his breath. They were sinking
+towards a ravine through which a watercourse ran to the sea. The engine,
+its parts grinding and tearing with a hideous scrunching sound, was
+shooting out flames, to the accompaniment of detonations like those of a
+Maxim gun. Another minute or two would witness a cataclysm; but Tom
+thought that if the farther side of the ravine could be reached, they
+might gain a little grace. The enemy would have some difficulty in
+crossing at speed.
+
+The engines were failing; the airship was falling more and more rapidly.
+
+"Can't screw the planes any further!" cried Tom.
+
+Oliphant wrenched at the lever; Tom put the whole force of the second
+engine upon the ascensional screws; and the rapidity of descent was
+somewhat checked. The ravine was directly beneath; Tom succeeded in
+giving the vessel a last forward motion; then it came with a violent
+bump to the ground, just on the further edge.
+
+"Out! Quick!" cried Tom to Schwab, who was bemoaning the shock he had
+suffered.
+
+When all three stood safe on the ground, Tom caught hold of the rails of
+the car.
+
+"I made it; I'll break it; _they_ shan't," he said, and he toppled the
+airship over into the gulf, where it was smashed to atoms.
+
+Then, with Oliphant at his side, and Schwab labouring behind, with
+piteous entreaties that they would not desert him, he dashed towards the
+cliff, a mile away, beyond which was the sea.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII--COMPLIMENTS AND THANKS
+
+
+While yet in the air, Tom had seen a boat putting off from the yacht.
+The vessel itself was no longer visible, concealed by the intervening
+cliff; but the top of its mast, with Mr. Greatorex's ensign flying,
+could just be seen. Towards this Tom led the way at full speed. To go
+very fast was impossible over the rough ground, but moderate as the pace
+was it soon began to tell upon Schwab, who plunged heavily along,
+tripping over tussocks of coarse grass that grew here and there on the
+sandy soil. Fierce pants could be heard by the two running side by side
+in front of him, though, in spite of his breathlessness, he managed to
+give utterance every now and again to agonizing entreaties that the
+others would not desert him. Moved by these, and remembering the
+German's game leg, the others waited for him, and catching each an arm,
+hurried him along between them.
+
+Terror lent him strength and speed when the foremost of the pursuers,
+arriving at the brink of the ravine, which at that point they were
+unable to cross, began to fire upon the fugitives. Bullets whistled
+past, alarmingly near, and Tom and Oliphant instinctively released
+Schwab's arms and moved apart, so as to present a smaller target to the
+enemy. Meanwhile some of the Moors had galloped up the bank of the
+ravine in search of a crossing. Glancing round, Tom was concerned to see
+that these horsemen had disappeared; presumably they had found a
+suitable crossing-place, and would soon again be on his tracks. In a few
+moments they reappeared on the nearer bank, and set off at a gallop.
+
+The Englishmen were now about a quarter of a mile from the shore, Schwab
+having dropped nearly a hundred yards behind, with another quarter-mile
+between him and the horsemen. There could be little doubt that the
+fugitives would be overtaken before they reached the edge of the cliff.
+Even if they contrived to scramble down they might be snapped up under
+the eyes of the yacht's crew, should not the boat have arrived. And what
+of the Moors who a day or two ago, when Tom left the place, had been
+encamped in the hollow of the cliff? Were they still there?
+
+The question was answered almost as it occurred. Tom suddenly noticed a
+horseman making towards him from the left, followed closely by a dozen
+others. It was with a gasp of amazement that he recognized in the
+foremost rider no other than Abdul. He came up at a breakneck pace,
+sprang from his horse, and joined himself to the fugitives. Immediately
+afterwards the Moors were upon the little party. Leaping from their
+horses while still in full career, they threw themselves upon the four,
+and though Tom and Oliphant each with a blow from his fist felled a man,
+and Schwab threatened the vengeance of the Kaiser, they were overwhelmed
+and flung to the ground.
+
+The Moors shouted with exultation, their cries being answered jubilantly
+by the horsemen coming up from the ravine. They were beginning to bind
+their captives; but before a single knot could be tied there came other
+shouts from the direction of the sea.
+
+"At them, men; bowl 'em over!"
+
+Surely this was the voice of Mr. Greatorex! A lusty British cheer
+answered him. With a great effort Tom threw off the Moor who was pinning
+him down, and sprang to his feet in time to see a dozen sturdy seamen
+rushing from the edge of the cliff. The Moors turned at bay, but nothing
+could withstand the charge of the British tars, wielding their clubbed
+rifles like flails. In a few seconds half of the Moors were on the
+ground with more or less broken heads; the rest were in full flight.
+
+But the other troop of horsemen was now not more than a few hundred
+yards distant. At a word from Captain Bodgers the sailors flung
+themselves face downwards, ready to deal with the second band.
+
+"Aim at the horses!" cried Mr. Greatorex, as he came panting up in the
+rear of his men, and flopped down beside them.
+
+A scattered volley brought half a dozen of the advancing horsemen to the
+dust. The rest, unable, owing to the rugged uneven ground, to see with
+what force they had to contend, reined up and hesitated. Another volley
+caused them to draw off to some little distance, where they formed a
+group and began to discuss how to retrieve this unexpected check.
+
+"Now for the boat, my lads!" cried Mr. Greatorex.
+
+Up sprang the men, and the whole body made a dash down the cliff. Before
+the Moors had agreed upon their course, the fugitives were half-way
+down. Seeing now by how few men they had been checked, the Moors came
+after them at full speed. But by the time they reached the edge of the
+cliff and dismounted the fugitives were at the bottom.
+
+At that moment there was a report and a puff of smoke out at sea, and a
+shot, purposely aimed high, flew over the cliff, and fell a little to
+the rear of the Moors. That was the finishing stroke. Their horses
+stampeded and dashed straight for the ravine, the riders in wild pursuit
+behind them. Three minutes afterwards Mr. Greatorex had his whole party
+in the boat, and the sailors, with a final rousing cheer, pulled for the
+yacht.
+
+Tom saw everything in a mist as he went aboard. Worn out with the
+exertions and excitements of the past few days, he was only vaguely
+conscious of being fussed over, and treated, as he said afterwards, more
+or less as a baby. He was put to bed, slept heavily for several hours,
+and awoke with a most exigent hunger. The yacht was in motion. He rose,
+bathed, put on some clean things, and, feeling himself again, thankfully
+obeyed Mr. Greatorex's hearty call to dinner.
+
+Around the well-spread table he found the rest of the party already
+seated. At the head was Mr. Greatorex, with Sir Mark Ingleton at his
+right; at the foot, Captain Bodgers with Herr Schwab. The German had
+tucked his napkin between his shirt and his waistcoat, and was gazing
+with ecstatic anticipation through his glasses at the covered entrée
+dishes just brought in by Timothy.
+
+Tom was taken aback, and not a little moved, when Sir Mark Ingleton rose
+from his seat, and, grasping his hand, said--
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Dorrell. I have heard the whole story from Mr. Greatorex
+and your Moorish follower. It is not for me to speak of the public
+service you have rendered; personally, I owe you more than I can say,
+and I shall never forget it."
+
+"So!" chimed in Schwab, rising stiffly from his chair. His left hand
+gripped his fork; his right enveloped Tom's. "I zank you, for myself
+personaliter, and for ze Kaiser, for Schlagintwert, and for Business.
+Fill my glass, if you please," he added to Timothy, whose smile
+instantly changed to a frown--"I vish to cry 'Hoch!' No, no, not too
+full, for ze ship moves, and ze champagne vould slop over."
+
+Schwab's intervention came in the nick of time to relieve Tom's
+embarrassment.
+
+"Come, Tom, my _dear_ fellow," cried Mr. Greatorex, "_sit_ down. We were
+only waiting for you."
+
+"Where's Oliphant?" asked Tom.
+
+"Hm! _M'Cracken_ is at the furnace," replied Mr. Greatorex.
+
+"I say! That's rough luck!" said Tom.
+
+"It is by his own wish. I did violence to my sense of what is _right_
+and _proper_, and invited him to a place at our board. He showed, I must
+say, a commendable sense of his _duty_ in the matter. 'I'm M'Cracken and
+your stoker, sir,' he said, 'till we get back to England.'"
+
+"May I suggest," said Sir Mark Ingleton, "that a sense of the unfitness
+of his attire also weighed with him?"
+
+"We can soon alter that," said Tom. "He's about my build; I'll go and
+rig him out in one of my suits."
+
+"Ve shall not vait to begin?" said Schwab anxiously, holding knife and
+fork upright on the table.
+
+"Mr. Oliphant will doubtless pardon us," replied Sir Mark blandly.
+
+In a quarter of an hour Tom returned with Oliphant in white ducks and
+blue serge.
+
+"Still is zere somezink left," said Schwab. "I feel moch better, zough I
+vish ze table vould not move. Do not fill your glass quite full, sir; it
+vould slop over, and zat vould be pity."
+
+"Where's Abdul?" asked Tom, as he sat down.
+
+"With the men, forward," said Mr. Greatorex.
+
+"That's all right. I'm jolly glad he got off safely."
+
+"A most intelligent youth," said Sir Mark. "It appears that he rode
+straight into the village of Salaam son of Absalaam with an urgent
+demand for assistance from the sheikh of Ain Afroo. He was leading a
+party of Moors in that direction when unluckily a genuine messenger from
+the sheikh arrived. Abdul wheeled about and galloped for the shore, with
+the rest at his heels, as you saw."
+
+"Shust in time," said Schwab. "Vun moment after, and I am no more."
+
+"I haven't heard your story yet, sir," said Tom to the envoy.
+
+"Story, bless you, I have none to tell. I was on my way to Marrakesh,
+where the Sultan was at the time, and was indiscreet enough one evening
+to leave my camp for a stroll with only one attendant. I was snapped up,
+enveloped in a djellab, and conveyed on horseback--to my great
+discomfort--to the sheikh's kasbah. There I had the good fortune to meet
+Mr. Schwab, whose conversation, together with a Schlagintwert price list
+and a copy of the _Daily Mail_, helped to lighten the tedium of my
+captivity."
+
+"I zank you, Sir Ingleton," said Schwab. "Alvays do I vish to be useful.
+_Utile et dulce._ You vill not forget vat I say about extra-special
+discount to ze nobility and gentry? And I hear viz surprise, sir," he
+added to Oliphant, "zat you are son of a lord. Viz gompliments!"
+
+He handed Oliphant a card from his case.
+
+"Much obliged," said Oliphant, kicking Tom under the table. "How did
+they get hold of _you_?"
+
+"Vy, I tell you. I come to Rabat to buy great lot of carpets for
+Schlagintwert. Zere I hear zat ze Sultan is at Marrakesh, and I zink I
+shall visit him. I egzpect big order for alarm clocks and bianola. Zat
+vill be good business. Ach! vat know ze Mohrs of business? Zey seize me;
+zey care nozink ven I say I am Jarman sobjeck; zey understand nozink ven
+I speak of our Kaiser who is in Berlin; and so am I shut opp. I smoke
+all my tobacco; zere is no more. I read ze _Daily Mail_, and zink ven I
+gontemblate ze advertisement vat colossal business is literature in
+England. I read Schlagintwert's price list, and make notes for new
+edition; alas! zat muss all be done again. Zen I do nozink but zink
+profound, until Sir Ingleton come and ve study ze list togezer."
+
+"An experience I shall always cherish, believe me, Mr. Schwab," said Sir
+Mark.
+
+"I zank you, sir. Ze pleasure vas mutual; ze profit shall be
+Schlagintwert's."
+
+"But how was it you were put in the dungeons?" asked Tom.
+
+"Vy, I tell you. Vun day come ze sheikh viz his men. Zink I, now has
+arrive ze Kaiser's telegram. But no; zey carry us down to ze deps, and
+zere are ve shut opp vorse zan before!"
+
+"That was when they got the message from Salathiel ben Ezra, no doubt,"
+said Tom,"--the Jew you found in the cave, Mr. Schwab."
+
+"Ven I vas so hungry!"
+
+"I wonder what has become of him?" said Oliphant. "It's to him I owe the
+keenest sport I've ever had."
+
+"The less said about that the _better_, M'C--I beg your pardon--Mr.
+Oliphant. The man was a _villain_. I _said_ so, Tom. Timothy will have a
+_scar_ for the rest of his days. And but for the Jew we shouldn't have
+lost our airship. Not that that matters. We've _proved_ it, you know;
+we'll build a larger one now."
+
+"And Schlagintwerts shall buy it cost price!"
+
+"No, sir, Schlagintwerts shall _not_ buy it," said Mr. Greatorex,
+frowning severely on the German. "We will offer it to the Government. I
+shall invite Colonel Capper to examine it, and Lord Langside, I trust,
+will show himself sufficiently sensible of his obligation to us to make
+no difficulties about the _price_."
+
+"Vell, Schlagintwert shall have colossal order for Photographic
+Sensitizer Preparation Number Six--at least until ze var come."
+
+"_What_ war?"
+
+"Vy, ze var ven ze Kaiser shall zink it is time to teach ze vorld zat----"
+
+"Stay, Mr. Schwab," interrupted Sir Mark, "we must not be indiscreet. As
+a diplomatist it is my duty to avert war; as a business man you, I am
+sure, would deplore it."
+
+"So. Zat is shust vat I alvays say: zat is vat I go to say ven you
+interrup me; ven ze Kaiser shall zink it is time to teach ze vorld zat
+Business are Business!"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of King of the Air, by Herbert Strang
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