The Great Airship: A Tale of Adventure.

by F. S. Brereton

  CHAPTER X

  A Thrilling Rescue

  Perhaps no quainter or more exciting situation could be imagined thanthat which found Dick Hamshaw and his little party scuttling down thedark streets of Adrianople. For there he was, leading surely a strangefollowing.

  "Enough to make the people open their eyes and rub 'em hard," he toldhimself with a grin, for Dicky was not the one to be scared easily ordisheartened. "Here we are, led by a Turkish officer, that's me;followed by a British naval officer, in uniform too, that's theCommander, and jolly groggy he seems to be after that wound of his. Thenthere's Alec--well, nothing out of the ordinary--while behind come theMajor, almost a stranger, though we know all about him, and then'Charlie', dear old Charlie."

  "Where away? Where are you leading to?" suddenly came from the Major."We've gained on those beggars. Hadn't we better stop a moment anddiscuss matters?"

  Discuss matters when they were almost blown, and when the Turks wererushing pell-mell after them!

  "Good idea," cried Dick cheerily. "In here! Come along. Now, bang thedoor. Jingo! Hope there ain't other people to kick up a rumpus."

  Really his cheek and coolness were amazing, for hardly had the Majorfinished calling when Dick halted at a doorway leading into a smalldwelling, threw it open, and beckoned them to enter. Then he banged thedoor to, and leaving his friends went off on a tour of inspection.

  "All bright-o!" he whispered, reappearing. "Place empty. No one here fora long while and not a scrap of food. I squinted into what must be theirlarder."

  "H--hush! There they are. Foiled for the moment," whispered the Major,peering through a narrow window. "Wait! They've halted and are lookingabout them. One of the men is pointing up the street, and let's hopethey'll make off in that direction. Good! There they go as if the oldgentleman himself were behind them. Now; what's the meaning of all thisbother, and how comes it that you are masquerading in Turkish uniform?Dick, my boy, you've a heap to answer for. Seriously, though, I'meternally obliged to you for liberating us from that prison. Thatreminds me. I haven't so far had an opportunity of making formalpresentations. Commander Jackson, let me introduce Colonel Steven,Intelligence Department, War Office, the 'Charlie' we've come after.Colonel, my excellent friends and comrades Mr. Midshipman Hamshaw andAlec Jardine. Now you all know one another."

  Cordial hand-grips were exchanged all round, and here again one may saythat seldom before was there such a curious meeting. As for "Charlie",the gallant Colonel Steven, Dick and his friends liked his looksimmensely. He smiled at them all, not in the least ruffled by what hadbeen passing.

  "'Pon my word, gentlemen," he said, "but it needs an active man to keeptouch with your movements. First I come most miraculously in contactwith my friend, the Major, who descends actually and really from thesky. Then, when I am reclining comfortably in a prison where thecircumstances of the bombardment, the breakdown of all discipline, andthe natural hate of an Ottoman made it likely enough that I and theMajor might have our throats slit, there appears upon the scene aTurkish officer, who is not a Turkish officer, but a midshipman from ourown fleet, and who likewise has descended from the sky. Lastly, I amtaken to a place of refuge which is no place of refuge, and from which Iam bundled before even I have time to be formally acquainted with othergentlemen, birds of the same feather as my friend the Major. Really,this is almost enough for one long day."

  Cool! Of course he was cool. His pleasant satire showed that, while hiseasy smile, his jaunty manner, the knowledge that he had been engaged onan important and doubtless dangerous enterprise made Dick and hisfriends take to the Colonel promptly. And naturally enough, though themidshipman was not easily abashed, he now waited for his seniors to givea lead. Not that the Commander was capable of doing so.

  "I've a head that feels as big as a football and heavier than lead," hetold them, sitting down of a sudden and looking faint. "Carry on withoutme; I'll be better in a twinkling."

  "Then we turn to Dick. The Navy commands here," smiled Colonel Steven,while the Major nodded. "Have the goodness, Mr. Dick, to issue yourorders. Really, though, lad, you have the situation at your finger tips.Do we stay here, or do we issue out again and seek some otherresidence?"

  Dick removed his fez and scratched his head. It was not, perhaps, a veryrefined operation, but it seemed to help.

  "You see," he began, "I'm thinking about the airship and how we are torejoin her. Supposing we hide here and send up a flare to-night. Well,these johnnies may catch sight of the flame and rush us before we canboard the lift. Awkward that, very."

  "Then let us suppose that we change our quarters. Are we better off?"asked the Colonel.

  "Perhaps. If we can find a crib, sir, that's easier to hold, moreungetatable as one might say."

  "For instance," interjected the Major. "You've some such crib in yourmind's eye, Dick."

  "Well, there's the mosque. It's empty, save for a sentry at the door.There are four towers at least there, and I climbed up one of 'em thisvery morning. Now, a stairway could be held. There are no doors andwindows in all sorts of directions. Besides, we'd be above the beggarswho wanted to get us, and that'd be an advantage. We could hold outperhaps till the airship arrived to take us."

  It was a likely enough suggestion, and the two soldiers thought well ofit. But the Colonel soon put his finger on what appeared to be a weakspot.

  "We're up in this tower, let's imagine," he said. "Then the ship comes.We're bottled in perhaps. How do we emerge? How reach the line whichthis ship throws out to us?"

  "Wait. You haven't seen the airship yet," cried Alec. "Wait, sir, andyou'll have an eye-opener. She can pick us up easily wherever we are,even on the top of a chimney, for her lift can be manoeuvred with anease and certainty that will astonish you. Oh yes, it don't matter wherewe happen to get to, Mr. Andrew and Joe can reach us."

  There was pride in his voice. His words conveyed the impression that ifanything in this world were a success it was the curious lift attachedto the great airship, although, as a matter of course, that huge vesselwas of even greater excellence. But it can be imagined that to one whohad never seen the ship floating in the air, who had never even set footupon her galleries, nor climbed to the height of her upper deck, it washard to believe that what Alec described so glowingly could in fact bepossible. Not that the gallant Colonel was a sceptic, or in the habit ofdecrying new inventions, or disbelieving in the possibility of thingsthat he had never seen. On the contrary, he was very much awake andalive to the astonishing progress to be observed on every side,particularly progress appertaining to mechanics. For has not the latterend of the nineteenth century, and the beginning of the present seen anamazing advancement on every hand, an advancement beside which theprogress of the so-called Victorian era pales almost to insignificance?Think of the conquest which the internal-explosion motor hasaccomplished, of the rapid road and sea locomotion it has made possible,of the trackless pathways of the air which it has thrown open to humanbeings. For the beginning and the end of man's first successful journeysat speed through the air, upon machines heavier than the atmospherewhich supports them, is attributable almost solely to the petrol motor,that internal-explosion engine which less than twenty years ago was butthe crudest of inventions.

  Colonel Steven had kept in close touch with the whole movement, and had,during the hours he lay in prison with the Major, listened to hisdescription of the wonderful airship which Joe Gresson and his uncle hadconstructed. He was burning to board the vessel, to ferret out itssecrets, to understand its construction; and he may be forgiven if hefailed to comprehend quite how the ship could manage to remove himselfand his friends even from the tower of a mosque, should the party happento find themselves in such a position. However, the discussion as totheir movements was cut short at the moment. Cries were heard from thestreet, and the Major soon made an important announcement.

  "That fellow again!" he cried, in low tones. "He and his followers hadrun out of sight, and I was in hopes that we had thrown them off thes
cent. But they are coming back, yes, and numbers have joined them. Allthe ragtag and bobtail of this terrible city have joined in the search."

  Dick dived towards the window there to join him, and stood peering outinto the street. It was true enough that the man who led these searcherswas returning, and true too that others had joined his following.Indeed, some fifty ragged fellows were trailing after that young Turkishofficer, whose head was swathed in bandages, and amongst them,immediately in rear of the officer, was no less a person than the sentrywhom Dick had accosted at the door of the mosque, and whom he had dupedso cleverly.

  "Jingo!" he cried, turning with a somewhat scared expression upon thecompany. "They've got to the bottom of the whole business. The chap inadvance is the beggar I collided with last night, and I suppose he'sanxious to get back these clothes I was compelled to borrow. Thenthere's the man who was at the guard-house, and who helped to put theMajor and the Colonel in prison. Jingo! They're entering the houses oneither side and searching them."

  There was a blank look upon the faces of the forlorn little party. Notthat they were frightened, or were likely to submit themselves asprisoners without a struggle. But the outlook was black without a doubt.This mob of Turkish soldiers, dressed in their ragged khaki uniforms,unkempt, undisciplined, capable of any violence now that the onlyauthority over them was represented by a single youthful officer, weresearching every corner, and when they came to the house in which Dickand his friends had sheltered they would find the party, would drag themout and then, perhaps, shoot them.

  "Nasty place," admitted the Colonel. "Regular troops might be trusted tomake prisoners of us, to treat us decently, and wait for their officersto investigate the matter. Now----" he shrugged his shoulders. "Well,"he said, "we might find ourselves placed against a wall and shot downdeliberately. Adrianople is in a condition of disorder, which one mayimagine will get worse rather than better. Who is to prevent violencejust now, when every soldier who can be controlled is in the firingline? That officer? No."

  "Not he!" Dick cried. "He was furious last night. He'll be more angrythis morning. Besides, all these fellows are wasters, men who ought tobe in the forts but who have slunk to the rear. I ain't going to wait tobe torn to pieces, or shot out of hand. They've rifles with them, sir."

  "While we have revolvers," said the Major coolly. "Now, Dick, you'releader still. What happens? Do we wait for these gentlemen, or--what?"

  "We pick the Commander up, carry him out at the back of the house, andslink off to the great mosque," came the instant answer. "It's not morethan three hundred yards from us, and if we can only get within easydistance we can keep this mob off with our weapons. Shall I lead the wayout of the back door, sir?"

  "At once," came promptly from the Colonel. "See, I am a strong man, andas hard as nails. I will shoulder the Commander. Come, Jackson," hesaid, turning to the naval officer who had meanwhile struggled to get tohis feet, and had sunk back almost fainting. "Now, up you go. That's theway. Cling with your arms round my neck. I've a good grip of your legs,and can manage to use my revolver. Ready, Dick."

  "Then off we go," cried the Major. "First Dick, then the Colonel, thenAlec. I bring up the rear, and Alec can help me if there's any bother.Come, don't let us delay any longer; those ruffians are already gettingfar too close for our safety."

  Silently opening the rickety back door of the house that had shelteredthem, Dick peered out and issued into the open.

  "Come," he called gently. "There's a garden here, and a door at the end.It ought to take us into another street and so away from those beggars.Listen to 'em. They're kicking up more row than those fellows away inthe trenches."

  To speak the truth, this mob of unattached individuals in search of ourfriends were by now infuriated at their want of success, for it began tolook as if they had been completely hoodwinked. Some fifty of them weredashing into and out of the houses, breaking doors open with the stocksof their rifles without the smallest ceremony, and venting uponcupboards and beds and woodwork, where they imagined someone might behiding, all the ferocity they might have been expected to display hadthey been directly engaged with the Bulgarians. Many had their bayonetsfixed, and drove them deep into recesses, into dark corners, and throughthe very heart of the gigantic mattresses on some of the beds. Theybellowed at one another. Some even slipped cartridges into the breechesof their rifles and fired into the cellars and through the windows ofthe houses. Altogether there was pandemonium in that part of the city,pandemonium made worse by the rattle of musketry in the distance, bythose bursting shells which still clattered amidst houses and streets,and by the shrill cries of terror, by the sobs and execrations of thecivil population now subjected to this added trouble.

  "Ah! See! We have found their last lair. Look!"

  The sentry whom Dick had accosted at the mosque came rushing from thedoor of the tenement which our hero had but just vacated and waved anobject aloft. It was a cap, the same which the Colonel had been wearing,and which the effort to lift the Commander to his back had dislodgedfrom his head. In an instant the Turk had pounced upon it, and there hewas now in the street, calling the officer and his ragged followingtowards him, gesticulating and shouting.

  "See! I remember this cap. It was upon the head of one of our prisoners,one of the foreign spies sent in here by the Bulgarians."

  "And the men themselves. You saw them also?" asked the officer,snatching the cap from him.

  "The house is empty. They are gone. That cap proves that they were therelately."

  "Fool! Did you not look for them? Did you not attempt to discover whencethey had gone?" was shouted at him, while the furious officer looked asif he were capable of shooting him down in his anger. "Into the house,"he bellowed. "Empty! Nothing here to keep us. Then out at the back.Look. The ground is soft after the melting of the snow. Here are freshfootmarks. Follow! Follow!"

  Led by the officer the mob went tearing down the tiny garden of thehumble tenement, and burst their way through the gate at the bottom.Indeed, in their eagerness and fury at having been so duped, and intheir knowledge that order was done with in Adrianople for the moment,they tore the gate from its hinges, trampled upon a couple of harmlesscivilians walking in the road to which the gate gave entrance, and thenseized and beat them unmercifully.

  "Release their throats so that they may speak!" commanded the brutalyoung officer who led this riotous following. "Now, we seek someforeigners who but lately escaped along this road. You saw them? What!You shake your heads. Shoot them!"

  It was a sample of the justice and treatment which Dick and his friendsmight encounter if they fell into the hands of these rascals. At such atime it seemed that friend and foe were alike to these men, skulkers forthe most part. Furious at the thought that the two unfortunate peoplethey had come upon could not help them they hurried them to the houseopposite, and perhaps would even have gone to the length of shootingthem had not one of the poor wretches shouted at the top of his voice:

  "We can help you," he called. "Give us but the opportunity, and I swearby the Koran that we can speak. But you have beaten the breath from ourbodies."

  "Then release them. Speak!" commanded the officer. "We seek someforeigners."

  "Five men passed us but a few minutes ago, one of whom was injured andwas borne by a comrade. They were hurrying towards the great mosque, anda Turkish officer led them."

  "The same--the ones we seek! They went this way?" demanded the officer.

  Hardly had the route been indicated when the whole mob was in motionagain, racing off along the street in pursuit of our hero. Nor was itlong before these wretches came in sight of the forlorn little party. Ashriek of glee escaped them immediately. Men levelled their rifles asthey ran and pulled their triggers, careless where the bullets went,while the ruffianly officer drew his revolver and sent shot after shotat Dick and his fellows.

  "Keep straight on, Dick," the Major sang out. "Those fellows couldn'thit a haystack at the pace they're going, so we've only fluke shots tochanc
e. That's the mosque, ain't it?"

  "Yes, sir," Dick called out over his shoulder. "Two minutes'll do it.Then we cross the floor of the hall, reach the foot of one of thetowers, and then, by jingo, the business begins with a vengeance."

  "Then on we go. When we reach the tower, let Alec help the Colonel carryour wounded friend to safety. You and I, Dick, 'll do our best to teachthese rascals a lesson. Ah! That's a sentry."

  Well, it was a sentry at the moment the Major was speaking, for a raggedTurk emerged from the entrance to the mosque and stared in amazement atthe scene before him. It filled him with perplexity to observe a Turkishofficer racing in his direction, followed by a strange quartet, one ofwhom was carried on the shoulders of a comrade, while in rear, andgetting rapidly closer came a mob of his own fellows, led again by anofficer whose head was swathed in soiled bandages. However, he was assharp as others of his country and smelling a rat immediately swung hisrifle up to his shoulder and covered the dashing Dick. But his fingernever quite reached the sights. Indeed, as we have intimated, he was asentry at the moment the Major called to our hero. The next he wasmerely a bundled-up and extremely astonished human object. For Dickplanted a seaman's blow on the end of his prominent nose, a blow thatbrought a thousand stars to the eyes of this sluggish Turk, and toppledhim backward in masterly fashion.

  "One for his boko!" shouted the incorrigible Dick. "Number two does forhis rifle. Ah! The pouch of cartridges might be useful. Here we are.I've got 'em both. Now, we make for the tower--quite close and handy."

  It was a little more than ten yards across the floor of the hall, andlong before the followers had reached the door of the mosque the Colonelhad entered the narrow door that led to the steep steps ascending to thesummit of the tower. Alec followed instantly, and together the two borethe now almost unconscious Commander upward. Dick slung his borrowedrifle over his shoulder, strapped the cartridge belt about him andleaned against the wall mopping his forehead. As for the Major, he blewhis nose loudly, brushed some dust from his boots with an impatientmovement, and then turned smiling towards his companion.

  "Congratulations once more," he said in the complimentary tones he wouldhave used in a drawing-room. "And next, please?"

  Dick flushed a rosy red, and then spoke out promptly.

  "Still to lead, sir?" he asked.

  "Of course, lad! Why not? Haven't you done well for us? Besides, this isentirely a naval expedition, while for the moment I am merely acivilian."

  "Then, now that we've given Alec and the Colonel a little start we hadbetter retire up the steps. Those fellows could rush us here. But higherup it wouldn't be so easy. That right, sir?"

  "Certainly; up we go--ah! The steps curl round and round a centralpillar. That's really excellent. You go ahead, Dick; I'll follow. Thehigher we can get the better, I think, for then we string these men outso that the front of the line is a good distance from those who follow.Listen!"

  They stood still for one brief moment, and listened to the mob of Turksenter the mosque. Scurrying steps could be heard on the hard pavement,while for the most part the men themselves were silent. A minute later,however, while Dick and his friend were still ascending, a shout camerolling up the narrow, curling stairway.

  "This way, comrades," they heard. "This way! The sentry at the doortells us that they rushed across to this tower and entered. Now,friends, we have them safely. Let us consider our movements."

  There came the confused sound of men discussing some matter volubly.Occasionally one of the Turks would raise his voice above the others,then there was silence.

  "Wait! Don't move for a moment," said the Major. "Now, what'shappening?" He placed his ear to the central column which bore thiscurling flight of steps and stood motionless for some few seconds.

  "Coming up to us as quietly as they can," he said softly. "The time forgiving them that lesson or for going under is coming. Do we stay here,or climb higher?"

  "Higher, sir, I think. It's too dark to see easily here, but there's awindow up above us. If we get a little higher than that, we shall be inthe dusk and see these beggars nicely. I'll call to them when they comein sight and warn 'em."

  It was not a time for words nor for a discussion, and promptly the twoclimbed higher, halting when they were some six feet above a small,unglazed opening, which admitted light and air to the stairs. Here theywere joined a moment later by the Colonel.

  "Came back to join in this little picnic," he whispered. "We left theCommander on a wide balcony up there, from which one gets a reallymagnificent view of this awful city, and even of the lines of thebesiegers and the Turkish forts and trenches surrounding the place. Theminaret runs up a great deal higher, and there is a stairway. But thebalcony is good enough for us, and if we are driven there we can holdthe entrance to it. Well, now, how does the matter go?"

  He was as cheery and as cool as if he were at home in his own rooms inLondon. That is, he was calm and by no means ruffled at the thought ofthe danger with which the little party was confronted. But as to beingactually cool, one could hardly expect that after his recent exertions.The perspiration was streaming from his forehead, though he mopped hisbrow time and again, and still panted heavily.

  "Hard work clambering two hundred steps with a heavy man on your back,"he laughed. "And these naval johnnies are heavy, I can tell you. Well?How do we stand?"

  The Major lifted a warning finger to his lips. "Gently does it, Steven,"he said. "They're coming. Dick here will call to them and give therascals a warning when the first gets in sight. But I don't fancythat'll stop 'em. Let's be ready for a turn up."

  "S-sh! There's the leader."

  The Colonel hardly whispered the words. He was pointing down the curlingstairway, and there, some ten feet below the open window, coming intothe flood of light which poured in through that aperture, was a crafty,crawling figure, a man clambering up the stairs on hands and knees, ayoung man gripping a revolver in one of his hands and causing the barrelof the weapon to clink on the stones each time he put that particularhand down.

  "Now," whispered the Major.

  "Halt!" called Dick, sternly, in the Turkish tongue. "You who follow us,halt now, or take the consequences, and listen well to these words. Weare not spies. We are Englishmen, friends of the Turkish nation."

  For some few seconds there was silence, a deathly silence, broken,however, by the deep breathing of the Colonel, and by the deeper gaspsfor breath of many of the mob clambering upward. Then came the clink ofthat revolver barrel, a hoarse oath from the Turkish officer bearing it,for the young officer with whom Dick had collided still led this band ofragamuffins, and later a swelling shout of rage from the stairway,pouring from the throats of furious men perched at various elevations.An instant later the officer stood upright, his weapon flashed, while abullet struck the curving wall just beside the Colonel, and wentricochetting off it till it thudded and stopped against one of thesteps.

  "Good! That at any rate tells us what to expect," said the Major grimly.

  "Stand back, Colonel, and you too, Dick. No use all three of us chancinga bullet. It's lucky, too, that this stairway curves always to theright, for that lets one shoot without peering round. A right-handed mancoming up will be bothered. Yes, I thought so."

  Peering round the curving central pillar which bore the steps he caughtsight of the officer's head, for he and Dick and the Colonel had startedbackwards after that first shot. The man's body then came into fullview, and lastly his right arm, with his weapon pointed upward.Instantly the Major's weapon cracked, while the Turk dropped hisrevolver with a howl.

  "Very nice shooting," reflected the Colonel. "Back of the hand, I think,Major. It'll make him more cautious."

  Or more furious. The latter seemed to be the case, for that howl of painwas followed by a bellow and by a hoarse roar of anger and excitementfrom below. A hundred feet then shuffled on the various steps, while theofficer, his eyes blazing with anger, launched himself upward. But therevolver was no longer in his wounded hand, a fa
ct which the Majornoticed with wonderful sharpness. Indeed, his own movements showedwithin the minute that he was fully awake, and ready for an emergency.They saw him step hastily downward and throw his shoulders backward. Andthen out shot one of his fists, repeating the blow which Dick haddelivered to this pugnacious individual on the previous night. And now,as before, it was equally effective, for the officer shot backward as ifstruck by a hammer, and, cannoning into the man behind, upset him also.In fact, half a dozen of the mob were thrown down by the Major's suddenaction, their cries and shouts deafening Dick and the others. The noisewhich followed was positively terrifying, for fifty furious Turksshouted and screamed their loudest, while not a few let off theirweapons careless of the consequences. As for the head of this attackingforce, relieved now of its leading spirit--for the officer lay stunnedupon the stairway, and would have rolled downward but for the pressabout him--it showed wonderful dash and determination. Fanaticism andhate had stirred these men to fury, and without a pause they rushed upthe stairs, some with bayonets thrusting forwards, others heraldingtheir approach with rifle bullets. It was clear, in fact, that theywould quickly smash their way through all obstacles, and though theMajor and Dick and the Colonel in turn brought down a man with theirweapons, thus delaying the others, and for some few minutes faced theattackers, discretion bade them retire towards the gallery.

  "There's a door there that we can shut and bolt and bar outside," criedthe Colonel. "It'll be the last stage in this business, but safer andbetter than stairs fighting. Now, up you go."

  "After you, sir," said Dick, touching his cap in nautical fashion.

  "Eh? After me, why?" began the Colonel. Then he laughed and smacked themidshipman gaily on the shoulder. "Sinking ship, eh?" he grinned."Never! But the skipper leaves last, that's it, my lad. Like your gritimmensely, that I do. Well, Major, do you or do I lead the retreat?"

  A sharp crack came from that officer's weapon. He jerked his headquickly, leaned forward, and again pulled his trigger. "You," he said atlength. "I'm busy; in a moment I'll follow. Dick, look out for thesebeggars, and run up immediately after me."

  "Right, sir! Certainly, sir!" came from the youthful Dicky.

  "Then off we go." The Colonel left his friends guarding the stairs andran up three at a time. Then the Major followed, while Dick waitedcoolly to convey to a charging Turkish fanatic the fact that there wasdanger above, and then went scampering after the others.

  "Here he is. In you come, my boy. Now, bang the door; that's got it!"

  The Colonel threw the massive door at the top of the steps against itssupporting frame and leaned against it, while the Major slipped thebolts into position. Then, gasping after their exertions, they turned toobserve Alec and the Commander. Imagine their amazement at seeing theformer stripped to his vest, and frantically waving his shirt over thestone balustrade of the gallery. His face was purple with excitement,his eyes were blazing, while he shouted as if he had suddenly gonecrazy. And then, while the two more sedate officers watched him inamazement. Dick began of a sudden to copy his antics. He danced acrossthe gallery; he shouted and waved his hands and threw his cap upward.

  "Mad! Gone suddenly crazy! What on earth has happened to them?" demandedthe Major anxiously.

  Then Dick swung round upon him and the Colonel, subdued his ownexcitement with a violent effort, and, drawing himself upright, salutedbriskly.

  "Airship in sight, sir," he said. "Alec reports that he's called 'em upwith his signals, and--and they'll be here in a jiffy."