The Great Airship: A Tale of Adventure.

by F. S. Brereton

  CHAPTER XIII

  To the North-west Frontier

  It would be difficult to find anywhere an individual who settles down tonew surroundings, to luxury, or to privation so quickly, so easily, andwith so little discussion as does your British Tommy or Jack Tar. Givena piece of good cake tobacco, a jack knife, and a pipe, he will, so longas he has a few boon companions, soon have the air humming with hisyarns or his songs. In fact, both of these estimable beings are rightgood fellows. Let us descend, therefore, to the men's quarters aboardthe great airship. Lined with sleeping bunks on either side, with hugewindows which made it possible to provide the best of ventilation,furnished with electric radiators for use in cold latitudes, or whenflying at a great altitude, the part assigned to the men was a paradisecompared with the quarters they might have expected. And on the eveningafter the return of Joe and his party with the stout and nervousmagnate, Hurst and Hawkins and their cronies were gathered together,smoking like chimneys and chattering like a cageful of monkeys. As mightwell be expected also, their superiors in the saloon came in for somediscussion.

  "I was a talkin' of 'im," reiterated Hawkins, licking his lips, for hehad removed his pipe for that particular reason; "of Mr. Alec Jardine;and I says as 'e's the boy fer a sailor. 'E's like Dicky, so 'e is, andDicky's the properest sailor as ever I set eyes on."

  "To which I agrees," exclaimed Private Larkin, Jim Larkin as he wasknown, no less a person than Major Harvey's soldier servant. "'E's asailor, 'e is. And p'raps 'ed make a soldier too, fer all I knows. Butthis here Alec, why, he's got the cut of a soldier, 'e 'as. Don't youdeny it."

  He was almost ferocious as he addressed himself to Hawkins, and we mustadmit that one unaccustomed to those in the men's quarters might haveeven been alarmed. For Private Larkin was not blessed with the mostattractive of countenances. To begin with, his head was remarkably big,too big for his body, and most of the head seemed to be composed of apair of fat, bulging cheeks, above which were a couple of equallybulging eyes which had a most disagreeable habit of fixing upon people,staring them out of countenance, and then of squinting. They were at itnow. Hawkins blew fiercely into his pipe.

  "Stow that 'ere squintin', shipmate," he growled. "A man ain't neversure what you're lookin' at. Fust it's 'is face. Then it's 'is boots,then it's--it's what not. Now, you nor I ain't likely to agree on that'ere youngster. You says he'd make a soldier. I says as 'es fair cut outfer a sailor. Let's leave it at that in case we gets to quarrelling.Let's jaw about this here fat little feller, him as the papers called asportsman."

  "Sportsman!" chimed in Hurst in his most scornful tones. "I like that.Sportsmen don't funk when it's a question of flying."

  "Then you ain't one," came Hawkins's laughing answer. "Nor you nor mewas so precious merry when we were hoisted aboard this here ship; and Istakes my davy neither of us are so eager to go aboard that aeroplane.It ain't every sportsman that has the nerve to fly, so jest you mark it.And every sportsman ain't like this here Mr. Reitberg, him as has anaccent jammed up with his words every time he opens his mouth."

  "But 'Sportsman''s what the papers called him," said Larkin, scentinghere another theme for fierce argument For this merry soldier loved tobandy words, to discuss matters threadbare, while the very meeting witha member of the allied service was sufficient to make him disputatious.If Hawkins said that the visitor who had recently arrived on board was asportsman, Larkin declared with decision that he was no such thing. Hislittle red, pointed moustache seemed to erect itself towards his eyes,while the latter turned upon Hawkins and Hurst in succession, and thenupon the other tars a stare which was positively threatening."Sportsman! Ho, yes! That's what they called 'im. And what does SergeantEvans say? What's 'e say, I ask?"

  There was no response, for the simple reason that none knew. The worthySergeant was, indeed, given to keeping his own counsels. None the lessLarkin professed to be aware of his opinions.

  "Of course, none of you knows," he told them triumphantly. "Youwouldn't, for the Sergeant's always kind of suspicious of seafaringfolks. Not that I agrees with him there," he added, by way of apology,while Hawkins and Hurst bridled and drew heavily on their pipes. "Butit's his way. He keeps quiet when the Navy's round about. Still I know,and I'll tell you. 'E says 'watch 'im'. That's what Sergeant Evanssays."

  "Ah! Watch 'im?" repeated Hurst thoughtfully. "And why?"

  "'Cos 'e's a sportsman. 'Cos it's this here Mr. Reitberg that challengedMr. Provost to build the airship and sail her round the world;and--what's a sight more than all--'cos he's been and gone and put onehundred thousand pounds--one hundred thousand golden, shiningsovereigns--under lock and key, and given the key into someone else'skeeping against the day when the ship's cruised round the world andsafely returned to England. It was that that caused the papers todescribe this here Mr. Reitberg as a sportsman. And it's that very thingthat's going to prove as he ain't nothing of the sort. 'Im asportsman!--with an accent you could cut with a knife, clipping theking's English! 'Watch 'im,' says Sergeant Evans, and that's what I'mdoing."

  Thereat Jim Larkin stared pugnaciously at his companions, each in turncoming in for a broadside from those prominent, squinting eyes of his,while every feature of his face seemed to be working so as to let thecompany in general know that Jim had a grievance. Then his pipe went tohis mouth, a pair of thick lips opened, tilting his fierce redmoustache, while the stem was thrust between an uneven row ofexceedingly black teeth. It was only when he had contrived to make thepipe draw, and had puffed out a billow of smoke, that Jim's featuresrelaxed. He actually smiled at Hawkins. "And don't you go and getnervous like," he told the tar, in a protecting tone of voice, "'costhere's me aboard, and the Sergeant, to say nothing of that there AlecJardine, what's fit ter be a soldier. Mind, I ain't sayin' as 'e ain'tcut out fer a sailor too. But if a youngster's that, it don't always sayas he'd do for a soldier. No. Don't you think it, and as regards thatsportsman, don't you and your mate get nervous. As I've said jest now,there's----"

  "Stow it," growled Hurst, roused to anger by such patronage. "Why, if Icouldn't with this one hand manage that Mr. Reitberg, why----"

  He stopped abruptly, his vocabulary being insufficient to express hismeaning, while Hawkins, Pierson, Peters, and the others nodded theirapproval. Nor did they resent less than he the uppishness of PrivateLarkin. There were covert threats to "show him what". Big, brawny handsdoubled up into formidable fists, while the eyes of the tars soughtthose of the soldier, returning his previous broadsides in a mannerthere was no denying. Then a broad smile disarmed them. It was onlyJim's fun. The crafty fellow had been merely joking.

  "Lor!" he grinned. "It do make a chap smile to pull the legs of yousailors, and it's a treat to meet some of ye and get chatting. But youjest remember what I've said. There's a sportsman aboard. You watch'im."

  As far as they were able the crew of the airship did indeed keep a verywatchful eye upon the portly frame of Mr. Carl Reitberg. He never lefthis cabin to pace the deck but some bare-footed sailor followed, or methim by accident as it were, or made pretence to be on watch, and pacedthe deck within easy distance. Down below, too, there was the Sergeant.As we have narrated, he claimed an old acquaintance with the magnate,though he was careful to keep that fact to himself, merely repeating hiswarning to his employers. He even went so far as to inspect CarlReitberg's baggage, a task of no great difficulty since he acted asvalet as well as mess sergeant.

  "Any particular wishes, sir?" he asked politely, soon after Carl'sarrival on board. "If you will kindly hand me your keys I will unpackand stow your things in the wardrobe."

  The lordly magnate handed them over instantly, with a curt nod ofapproval. He was even pleased to hand the Sergeant a golden coin on hisreturn to the cabin. For his trunk was unpacked and removed to thebaggage apartment, while his clothes were laid out in the drawers of thewardrobe.

  "Keys, sir," said the Sergeant, handing them to him. "What about thisbox, sir," and he pointed to the one which had accompanied Carl, and ofwhich he h
ad been so careful. "Shall I take it to the baggage room?"

  "Certainly not! Er--no, thank you," exclaimed the magnate promptly, andwith some acerbity. "Er--leave it there. It's full of--er--valuables,things I wish to show to Mr. Provost. I had it sealed, and would havebrought the things in a safe but for the fact that it would have been soheavy, too heavy for this vessel."

  "She'll carry tons and tons, sir," came the respectful answer. "A dozensafes wouldn't make any difference. So I'm to leave the box, sir?"

  "Decidedly! Ah! I see that the seals are unbroken. That's satisfactory."

  It may have been satisfactory to Mr. Reitberg, but it was anything butthat to Sergeant Evans.

  "Don't I know his foxy ways, too," he told himself, when ensconced inthe privacy of his pantry diligently cleaning silver. "I haven't servedwith the military police in South Africa without learning something, andthere's things I remember. For instance, this Carl Reitberg was someoneelse out there, and not half so fine and mighty. I.D.B. they called him,which means illicit diamond buyer. And there were other things he wassuspected to be, things that people forget when they see him dressed sofine and know that he's as wealthy as they make 'em. I know--foxy!That's him--I'm watching!"

  So here was another following the very same plan adopted by the menforward, while, had he but known it, even the redoubtable Dick with hischum Alec had embarked on the same service.

  "Of course, Andrew and the others don't believe he's here for anythingbut a tour," said the former very abruptly, within two days of Carl'sarrival. "Perhaps he is, perhaps he isn't. I'm not going to trust toluck, eh, Alec?"

  "Certainly not; he's a fishy beggar. We'll take it in turns to dog him."

  It followed, therefore, that Mr. Carl Reitberg was a very astonishedindividual. He had already noticed the close proximity of sailorswhenever he trudged the upper deck, a promenade of which he soon becameexceedingly fond, for a magnificent view of the country over which theship was steering could always be obtained. But that proximity he putdown to the fact that the men had their orders, and that this being aship it was only proper that watches should be kept.

  "Makes one feel secure and safe when high up," he told himself. "'Pon myword this flying through space is magnificent. I never dreamed I coulddo more than endure it. As for the aeroplane it is an abominableinvention. Never again do I set foot in the machine. Ah, Mr. Dick, Ithink! Midshipman, I hear. Always up to mischief."

  It was part of the magnate's scheme to make himself agreeable to all andsundry, and now, as Mr. Midshipman Dick joined him, he greeted thatpromising young officer with effusion.

  "Sea dog, eh?" he quizzed. "Budding Nelson."

  "Budding Nelson be blowed!" was Dick's disrespectful answer, only it was_sotto voce_. "Sea dog! Listen to the fellow. Makes a chap feel ill.Morning, Mr. Reitberg!" he said aloud. "Having a constitutional?"

  "Regular custom," the fat little gentleman told him. "Travelled a lot,don't you know, and have learned how to keep healthy. Come, tell me allabout the vessel."

  Yes, it tickled the vanity of the magnate immensely to find himself sopopular. The guineas which he had distributed amongst the crew causedhim to be saluted constantly, a fact on which he preened himself. Andnow even the youngsters had taken a fancy to him. If Dick were not athis elbow, Alec was there, listening respectfully to his words, pointingout details, laughing uproariously at his stories. But Carl Reitberg didnot know that one and all were watching. He never suspected _that_,never suspected that there were those on board by whom he himself wassuspected.

  "Fine," he told himself in the privacy of his cabin. "Fine--couldn't bebetter. I'm getting bosom pal all round. Wait till I open that box andshow the contents to 'em."

  He went across to it and inspected the seals. Yes, they were intact, ahuge blob of wax at both ends indented deeply with the vulgar seal whichhung upon his own massive frame, from a chain capable almost of holdingthe airship.

  Meanwhile the great airship ploughed her easy path through the limitlessleagues of the atmosphere, hardly even trembling as her powerful screwpushed her forward, never wavering in her course, save when the masterhand of her inventor or the hand of the watchful steersman willed thatshe should swerve to one side or the other. There were times, too, whenDick or Alec would take post in the engine-room, and there stand at thelevers which controlled the movements of this giant vessel. Never oncedid the gallant midshipman lose his admiration for this work of art,this massive ship, so huge, so stable, and so strong, and yet soextremely frail in appearance. Never did he cease to wonder at thatmagnificent vista of almost transparent girders and beams and rodsranging overhead, whenever he cared to crane his neck and stare upward.Nor yet had he ceased to grin and find abundant amusement in the figuresof his fellow passengers.

  "It's like a peepshow all the time," he told Alec one day with anexpansive grin. "One looks upward, as if through a window, and there arethe people we know, walking overhead, strutting backwards and forwardsfor all the world as if they were flies. And one gets to know 'em by thesize of their boots, and--er--by other signs. For instance----"

  "There's Mr. Andrew," said Alec.

  "Sure enough--number one size boots, dapper, very."

  "Military walk, smart and alert. White moustache to be seen also, butcoloured yellow by the celludine through which one sees him. Thenthere's the Major."

  "All there; walks quickly backwards and forwards. You can tell he's asoldier."

  "Then there's Hawkins and Hurst and the rest of the men rolling as isthe custom with tars. Say, Dicky, why do sailors roll? Is it side only?"

  That brought a flush of wrath to the cheeks of the indignant Dicky.

  "Side!" he gasped. "Side! You ever saw a sailor suffering from swelledhead? Look here, my son, I'll punch yours if you ain't more careful."

  But it was all fun. They grimaced at one another and then grinned widelyas another figure appeared in the peculiar perspective of men trampingoverhead. It was the magnate, the high and mighty Mr. Reitberg, thesportsman who pronounced his words with a very peculiar accent, and whowas fond of describing himself as English to the backbone.

  "Tell him a mile off," sniffed Dick. "Big, flat feet, rest allcorporation. Can't get a glimpse of his ugly phiz for the size of histummy."

  What a joy it was to these two bosom friends to send the ship boundingforward! To stir up the motor gently purring beside them, to rouse it asit were to a gentle fury, for that was one of the points of Joe'shandiwork and genius. This paraffin-fired motor of his ran as smoothlyas any turbine. You might accelerate it as much as you could, and stillit purred, though at its highest speeds the purr had become angry andassertive. Yes, it was a joy to shut close, to bang and bar as it were,the throttle and set the hydraulic pumps into full action. And how theship responded. She leaped forward, and there had been times when thespeedometer mounted in the engine-room told that the vessel wasthrusting herself through the air at the incredible speed of two hundredmiles an hour. Impossible! we hear some sceptical reader exclaim. Why?But five years ago aeroplanes were spoken of derisively, while theirspeed seldom exceeded forty miles an hour. To-day they can shoot throughthe air at a hundred, and the day is fast approaching, thanks to JoeGresson and others of his kidney, when that speed will be as nothing.Why, then, should this great airship not be able to attain to evendouble the greatest known speed of an aeroplane? Why, indeed? Her designwas all in her favour. There was hardly a projection about her to causewind friction and delay her passage, while the smooth celludine withwhich she was coated slid through the atmosphere with an ease that hadnever been approached before. Add to these points, which all make forspeed, engines of the highest efficiency, a transmission of the latestdesign and purely hydraulic. As carried out on the airship this means ofconveying power from the engines to the propeller guaranteed but themerest fractional loss. In fact, what loss there was was negligible. Andthe propeller itself was one for which aviators would willingly havegiven a small fortune. But enough of such explanations. We live in aw
orld of marvellous and incredible invention. The armchair sceptic andunbeliever of to-day has his views and scepticism shattered almostbefore he was finished speaking. The marvels of the Zeppelin,acknowledged to be the last word in airship construction, were nowovershadowed and belittled by the wonders of Joe Gresson's invention.The world was raving about the ship. Scientists and inventors in everycountry were longing to be made familiar with its intricacies.

  Steering over the placid surface of the Mediterranean Joe Gresson andhis friends hovered over the port of Alexandria, and thence sailed forCairo. Shrill cries greeted her from the sandy desert about the ancientpyramids, while a motley crowd waved to her from their summits. Butthere was no time to halt. With one long look at the placid, cruel, yetgentle face of the sphinx the ship's head was swung towards the east. Anhour later a long ribbon of blue, shimmering in the sun, and hedged oneither side by an unbroken expanse of yellow, told of the great SuezCanal.

  "We'll follow it through its length," said Joe, now at the helm. "See!We are seven thousand feet up, and one can perceive a huge portion ofthe canal, severed here and there by the bitter lakes through which itruns. Ah! There's a ship. Let's drop down close to her."

  The vessel plunged. One who was ignorant of her powers would haveimagined that she was about to crash to the ground. But she was merelydescending at her fastest pace, and plunging brought her within hailingdistance of the ship then passing through the canal, even before Mr.Reitberg had quite recovered his nerve or his equilibrium.

  "_Himmel!_" he shrieked, as the vessel headed downward and shot towardthe sand. "Hold her! She is falling! We shall all be killed."

  He formed the mad resolution of rushing to the engine-room, and steppedin that direction. But, as we have said, the inclination of the decksconsiderably upset his equilibrium. The magnate indeed took a header,slithered along the smooth platform beneath the gas chambers, and landedup against one of the partitions with a bang which shook his eyeglassfrom its holding. By then the vessel was within a hundred feet of thecanal, sailing along directly over it, and just ahead of the shipploughing her way through the water.

  What cheers there were! How the passengers on that eastward-bound vesselcrowded the decks and shouted! And then the liner hoisted her UnionJack, and dipped it formally. At once the watchful Hawkins respondedfrom the deck above, while again cheers came to the ears of Dick and hisfriends.

  "And just contrast the two ships," said Alec, when they had progressedin this fashion for perhaps an hour. "Look! You can see the airship'sreflection in the water, and, my! ain't she a whopper!"

  Yes, she was huge, vast, incredibly enormous. And yet how smoothly shesailed along, and with what little effort! It was a fascinating pictureto behold. Dick found himself following the giant outline, picking outthe various points till then invisible from the deck above, or from theplatforms below. For instance, four huge attachments puzzled himimmensely, for they hung from the framework and seemed without purpose.

  "All the same they're meant for business," Joe told him, with thatquiet, half-cynical smile for which he was notorious. "Oh yes, Dicky, wedon't have useless attachments on this ship, unless--ahem! it's amongstthe crew. I ain't, of course, referring to midshipmen."

  But he was. He was teasing the gallant Mr. Midshipman Hamshaw, and hadhe been Alec there would have been a rumpus.

  "Seriously, though," he went on when he had had his laugh, "they're forlanding. You see, it don't do to bump a ship of this description. Wewant to reach terra firma gently. Now, if you were to jump from a heightyou'd land on your toes if possible, come down on to your heels, andthen bend your knees, all by stages as it were, quickly enough youunderstand, but offering such graduated resistance that there would beno shock at all. That's what happens with those attachments. Each one isthirty feet in length, and hinged inside the frame of the airship at itsupper and forward end. Now, watch us. We'll bump to the ground. How'sthat?"

  It really was remarkable, and so thought the people on board the liner.For Joe's practised hand arrested the engines. The ship came to astandstill. Then she fell as if she were a dead weight, was arrestedwithin twenty feet of the ground merely by touching a single lever, andthen descended sharply. But there was no shock. Those four antennaehinged upward beneath the weight, gradually met it, and then held herfirmly suspended. Even the glassware on the saloon table was not shaken.

  "And now for a trip on terra firma if only to stretch our legs," criedJoe. "We'll take it by turns, half at a time."

  It was singular how everyone fell in with the views of the younginventor; and, in fact, it was to be observed aboard the airship thatthough there was no recognized captain, no officers, and no regularcrew, yet the work aboard progressed with a smoothness which wasremarkable. There were rules, naturally enough, and all aboard had beenassigned duties. But the simplicity of the whole contrivance, and aboveall, the efficiency of the engines, called for the smallest attention.

  "Merely see that the lubricators are working, and that the fuel feed isright, and things go along merrily," said Andrew, who was becoming quitean engineer.

  This opportunity of a trip ashore was seized upon by all in turn, andlong walks over the sandhills were indulged in. Then the airship pickedup passengers and crew once more, and rising from the sand steered acourse east and north, swooping over the deserts of Arabia. All thefollowing night she sped on without a halt, and when the lively Dickagain trod the deck he looked down upon the Arabian Sea. But it wasmerely a corner of that vast ocean, for within a few hours the vesselwas sweeping over Persia.

  "A sparsely inhabited country, and therefore one where we may venture tohalt for a while without fear of interruption," said Joe. "Our watersupply is running short, and if we are to continue our regular bathsevery morning we must fill our tanks again."

  Whoever heard of an airship carrying baths and water tanks of bigcapacity? But this one did, and bore the weight as if it were nothing.And the completeness of her equipment was again demonstrated, for,having sighted a huge lake in the heart of Persia, and made sure thatthere was not a town or a village in sight, Joe dropped the shipdirectly on the water, setting her elevators to work so gently that theyheld the giant framework but six feet above the surface.

  "Now we drop our pumps, set the motors going, and in a jiffy fill thetanks," he said. "Watch the whole performance."

  But there was little to see, though Dick and Alec, ever the most curiousof those aboard, strained their necks to watch all that was passing. Twosnake-like, flexible metal pipes were passed from the engine-roomthrough apertures specially constructed for the purpose. Then the motorhummed a little louder, while one of the pump attachments was set going;the gurgle of water splashing into the tanks was the only indicationthat the operation was being performed with success. An hour, indeed,sufficed to replenish their supplies, when the ship shot upward oncemore till some six thousand feet of pure, sun-lit air lay beneath her.

  "And now for the north-west frontier of India, where our soldiers areever on the watch," said Joe. "Come, Major, you feel no nervousness? Youhave no fears, I hope, lest our gas should run short and land us in thearms of some of those gentry who look upon an Englishman as a dog, to beslaughtered on any and every occasion?"

  "You may take me where you will, in chains if you wish," was the smilingresponse. "After the things that I have seen I have the utmostconfidence in both the leader of this expedition and on the ship hishands have constructed. There! I cannot say more."

  It may be stated that only one person aboard the airship had a doubt asto her capacity and his own security, and, as may be guessed, thatindividual was Carl Reitberg. But then he was always nervous for his ownskin.

  "The north-west!" he gasped, when Joe told him of their immediatedestination. "But--but that's where there are always little wars andskirmishes."

  "Precisely," observed the Major, with cutting abruptness. "Our bestsoldiers are bred there. I've had a dose of the north-west myself. Keepsyou alive, sir. And if you aren't lively, why----"<
br />
  "Ahem!" lisped Dick. "You're dead, dead as a herring."

  "And you go there?" stuttered the magnate, his face paling, his fatcheeks trembling.

  "Certainly!" declared Joe.

  "But supposing something happened, supposing----"

  "It won't, I hope," came the answer.

  "But it might," chimed in Dick, grinning. "Then there'd be a ruction.Say, Mr. Andrew, ain't they fond of torturing folks first?"

  It was too bad to tease the wretched and craven Mr. Reitberg. But therewas no suppressing Dicky or his boon companion Alec. While in theirsecret heart of hearts the Major and perhaps Joe and Mr. Andrew were notaltogether sorry. Nor did they say much to comfort the unhappy magnate.Indeed, that stout and crafty gentleman was thrown into a violentflutter two days later. For the wireless apparatus aboard suddenlypicked up a message.

  "Someone calling, sir," reported the operator. "Calling with anapparatus of low power. I can't quite tap the message, though it hasbeen getting stronger."

  "Then we're moving towards it; we'll send her ahead. Wonder what it is?"said Joe. "There are few wireless instruments in this part of the world,and those there are belong to the British forces. Report again when youcan read the message."

  At once the ship was sent ahead at her fastest pace, while the wirelessoperator returned to his instruments. Nor was it long when he appearedwith a report.

  "A force of Gurkha soldiers held up in the hills, sir," he told Joe."Calling for help, but not yet in touch with the instruments of theirmain party. Urgently require relief. Ammunition almost run out. I toldthem to expect us."

  "Certainly!" cried Joe. "We'll do our utmost to relieve them. Major,kindly see that arms are served to the men. Sergeant Evans has the keysof the magazines."

  "But--you will never venture to attack whoever is hemming in theseBritish soldiers," cried Mr. Reitberg, aghast.

  "Then you'd let 'em be shot down, eh?" asked Andrew angrily.

  "Er--well, how can we help it? It is their own business. Why should werush into danger?"

  The magnate was positively shaking. He could scarcely stand, soviolently were his knees knocking. As for Joe, he turned on his heel andwent straightway to the engine-room, while the Major hurried off toissue weapons to the men. Andrew regarded his guest grimly, and withdifficulty smothered his rising anger.

  "Sir," he said with dignity, "those men are British soldiers. This shipis British also. If there is a call for help we take it, whatever therisk. Remember that you yourself owe to our country a debt which aservice such as this is will only partially help you to repay. There,sir, if you are nervous retire to your cabin."

  But Mr. Reitberg's anxiety would not allow him to do that. He paced thebroad deck of the ship a prey to terrible forebodings. Then, driven fromthe open by the fierce rush of air there, he slid off to his cabin.

  "Shall I, now?" he asked himself, as he handled that box with its sealsstill adhering. "Shall I set the clockwork going and so put a stop tothe course these fools are taking? Ah! No! That would not do here. Butlater. Yes, later I will punish them for incurring this danger."

  Love for his own security forbade his taking the rash step he had forthe moment contemplated, for the consequences, he reflected, would bedisastrous to himself as well as to his fellows. But later; yes, hewould open that box; that is, if he were still living. For the ship wasplunging furiously onward, and every few minutes the wireless operatortelephoned his news of an impending British disaster. There were athousand dusky natives hemming in but fifty Gurkha soldiers and oneBritish officer. Their ammunition was almost spent. The enemy werewithin charging distance of them.

  "Tell 'em we're coming fast," was Joe's curt answer. "And, Major, justmake all ready for action."