by Unknown
"My dear Freda," retorted the young man coolly, "the vortex-ray isalready charged with the gas, and at a height of twenty thousand feetit is now creating a vacuum that will send the gas upon the wings of ahurricane straight up the Atlantic seaboard. It will obliterate everyliving thing on board the battleships, from men to rats, and this timewe mean to reach New York.
"As for that swine Rennell," he went on, "you heard His Majestyannounce his intention of sending him back to Washington with theinformation of our irresistible power. Of course I know you are inlove with him, and that these qualms of conscience are due to thatcircumstance."
* * * * *
But Dick hardly heard the latter part of Von Kettler's remarks.Suddenly the significance of the dynamo and the superheated room abovehad come home to him. He had read of such a project years before, insome newspaper, and had forgotten about it until that moment.
By sending a high-tension current almost to the limits of the earth'satmosphere, the article had said, a vortex or vacuum could be set upwhich would create a hurricane.
The tremendous pressure of the in-rushing air would make a veritablecyclone, which, taking the course of the prevailing winds, would rushforth on a mission of widespread disaster.
And on this hurricane would go the deadly gas, infinitely diluted, andyet deadly to all life in its infinitesimal proportion to theatmosphere.
And the American fleet was now approaching the Bahama shores.
Dick forgot Luke Evans, everything else, as the significance of thatmechanism in the next room came home to him. He ran like a madmanthrough the space in the partition, and, raising the bar aloft,brought it thudding down upon the dials, twisting and warping them.
He struck at the hollow pole, but, glass or not, it defied all hisefforts. He seized a heavy lever and flung it into reverse--and twoothers.
Yelling, the three attendants broke and ran. Out of the laboratory thesix came running, collided with the three. Behind them Dick could seeFredegonde Valmy, a knife in her hand, slashing at Luke Evans's bonds.
Dick swung his bar and brought it crashing down on a head, felling theman like a log. He saw Von Kettler pull one of the glass rods fromhis pocket and fire blindly. The discharge struck a second attendant,and the man dropped screeching, his clothes ablaze.
Somebody yelled, "He's there! Look at his eyes!" and pointed at Dick'sface.
* * * * *
Dick leaped aside and swung the rod again, felling a third man. Theothers turned and ran. Von Kettler in the van, broke through the doorbehind Luke Evans's chair, and disappeared.
Dick ran back to where the old man was standing beside the girl, thediscarded ropes at his feet. He flung his hood back. "Luke, don't youknow me?" he shouted.
It was creditable to Luke Evans's composure that, though Dick musthave presented the aspect of nothing more than a face floating in theair, he retained his composure.
"Sure I know you, Rennell," replied the old man. "And you and me'sgoing to best them devils yet."
"But the fleet--it's approaching Abaco," Dick cried. "I've got to warnthem."
Fredegonde seized him by the arm.
"Come with me," she cried. "If they find you here, they'll kill you."
Dick hesitated only a moment, then followed the girl as she dashed foranother door on the same side of the laboratory as that by which VonKettler and his men had fled. They dashed down the staircase, and acorridor disclosed itself at the bottom. The girl stopped.
"There is a private way--the Emperor's," she panted. "He had itconstructed--in case of necessity. I got the keys. I wasplanning--something desperate--to stop these murders; I didn't knowwhat."
Dick seized her by the arm. "What keys?" he demanded. "The key to theplace where President Hargreaves is?"
"Yes, but--"
"We must get him. Where is he?"
"In a cell beneath the throne room. That's overhead. But they'llcatch us--"
"Which is the key?" asked Dick.
The girl produced three or four keys, fumbled with them, handed one toDick. "This way!" she cried.
* * * * *
They ran along the corridor. Two guards appeared, moving toward themunder the electric lights. At the sight of the girl running, and LukeEvans, they stopped in surprise.
Dick had pulled the hood back over his head. He ran toward them,wielding the iron bar. A mighty swing sent the two toppling over, oneunconscious, the other bruised and yelling loudly.
"Here! Here!" gasped Fredegonde, stopping before a door.
Dick fitted the key to the lock and turned it. Inside, upon a quitevisible bed, sat President Hargreaves, unchained. He looked upinquiringly as the three entered.
"Mr. President," said Dick, throwing back his hood, "I'm an Americanofficer, and I want to save you. There's not much chance, but, ifyou'll come with me--"
Hargreaves got up and smiled. "I'm not a military man, sir," heanswered, "but I'm ready to take that chance rather than--"
He did not complete the sentence. Shouts echoed along the corridorbehind them. Dick replaced his hood, handed the keys back to the girl."Take Mr. Hargreaves to any place of temporary safety you can," hesaid. "And Mr. Evans. I'll hold them!"
"It's right here. This door!" panted the girl, indicating a door atthe end of the passage.
The three ran toward it. Dick turned. Five or six guards with VonKettler at their head, were running toward him. They saw the threefugitives and set up a shout.
Dick had a quick inspiration. He dashed back into the cell, seized thelight bed, and dragged it through the doorway into the passage, justin time to send Von Kettler and two others sprawling. He brought downthe bar upon the head of one of them, shouting as he did so.
Then he became aware that the passage was flooded with sunshine.Fredegonde had got the door open.
He darted back, passed through in the wake of the three, and slammedit shut. Fredegonde turned the key. Instantly Dick found himself withhis three companions upon the prairie. Not a vestige of the buildingswas apparent anywhere, except for the patches of brown earth.
CHAPTER XII - Von Kettler's End
Fredegonde took command, repressing her agitation with a visibleeffort. "They cannot break down that door," she said, "and they darenot ask for another key. It will take them a minute or two to go backand reach us around the building. But there may be a score of peoplewatching us. Let us walk quietly toward the thickets. If I am present,they will not suspect anything is wrong."
But Dick stood still, driven into absolute immobility by theconflicting claims of duty. For overhead, high in the blue, was anAmerican dirigible.
And at his side was the President of the United States. One or otherof them he must sacrifice.
He chose. He ran forward without answering. Those squares of brownearth, set side by side, were the airplane hangars, and he meant toseize an airplane, if he could find one beneath its coat ofinvisibility, and fly to warn the dirigible and the fleet.
A curious wind was blowing. It seemed to come swirling downward, as nowind that Dick had ever known. It was growing in violence each moment,beating upon his face.
As he ran, he was aware of Luke beside him. He heard shouting allabout them. Luke had been seen. Not only Luke, but Hargreaves, who wasrunning after Luke, with Fredegonde trying in vain to change hisintentions. At the edge of the first brown patch Dick collidedviolently with the wall of the invisible hangar, and went reelingback. The shouts were growing louder.
"Wait!" gasped Luke Evans. He had something like a large watch in hishand. He held it out like a pistol, and from it projected a beam ofthe black gas.
Then Dick remembered Colonel Stopford's words: "He showed me a watchand said the salvation of the world was inside the case. I thought himinsane."
* * * * *
Insane or not, old Luke Evans had concealed the tiny model of thecamera-box to good purpose. As he swept the black beam around him, thewhole mass of buildings sprang into luminosity, the figures of a scoreof men, grouped together,
and advancing in a threatening mass, somedistance away--and more.
Two airplanes, standing side by side upon the tarmac, just in front ofthe hangar--not mere pursuit planes, but six-seaters, formidablyarmed, with central turrets and bow and rear guns, and propellersrevolving.
Two mechanics stood staring in the direction of the little group.
"I'm with you," gasped Hargreaves. "I'm not a military man, but I'vegot fighting blood, and I come of a fighting race."
Dick leaped and once more swung the iron bar. The nearer of the twomechanics went down like lead, the second, seeing his companionbludgeoned out of the air, turned and ran.
Dick shouted, pointing. Fredegonde jumped into the plane, and thePresident scrambled in behind her. The group, dismayed by the blackbeam, which Luke Evans was now turning steadily upon them, had haltedirresolutely. But suddenly a head appeared, moving swiftly through theair toward the plane. It was Von Kettler, with hood flung back, theface distorted with rage and fury.
At his yells, the whole crowd started forward. Dick leaped into thecentral cockpit, swung the helicopter lever. Something spitted pasthis face, and a long streak appeared on the turret, where thegas-paint had been scored. But he was rising, rising into thatincreasing wind....
* * * * *
He heard a yell of triumph behind him. And that yell of Von Kettler'swas his undoing. There is the telepathy between close friends, butthere is also telepathic sympathy between enemies, and in an instantDick understood what that shout of triumph portended.
He was rising into the line of magnetic force that would anchor hisairplane helplessly, and leave it to be jerked down and held at VonKettler's mercy.
He released the helicopter lever and opened throttle wide. For aninstant the heavy plane hung dangerously at its low elevation,threatening to nose over. Then Dick regained control, and was wingingaway toward the sea, while yells of baffled fury from behind indicatedthe chagrin of his enemies.
He glanced up. Thank heaven the dirigible had not approached the trap.It was apparently circling overhead. Of course the observers had seennothing, had no conception that the headquarters of the InvisibleEmpire lay below.
And yet it seemed to be drifting aimlessly back toward thefleet--erratically, as if not under complete control. And Dick couldsee the ships about a mile offshore, apparently drifting too. Theywere moving as no American squadron ever moved since the day the firsthull was launched, for some of them, turned bow inward toward others,seemed upon the point of collision, while others were lagging on theedge of the formation, as if pointing for home.
Then suddenly the awful truth dawned upon Dick. The occupants ofships and dirigible alike had been overcome by the deadly gas.
* * * * *
Dick banked, turned, leaned forward and shouted to Luke Evans, and,when the old man turned his head, indicated to him to sweep the tarmacwith his ray.
The thread of black, broadening into a truncated cone, revealednothing save the luminous outlines of the buildings. Apparently thetarmac was deserted. It was queer, too, that the silence of the nightbefore was gone. Dick shouted again, to assure himself of what he knewalready, and heard his own voice again.
Something had happened, something unexpected----or perhaps the crew ofthe Invisible Emperor, satisfied with the effects of the deadly gas,had not thought it necessary to go to any further trouble.
Suddenly Dick discovered that he was almost within the circle of theline of magnetic force. Hurriedly he threw over the stick and kickedrudder. It was not till he was again approaching the seashore that itoccurred to him that the force, too, was not in operation.
He opened throttle wide and shot seaward. He must ascertain what hadhappened, and, if not too late, give warning without delay.
Then suddenly the vicious rattle of gunfire sounded in Dick's ears,and, materializing out of the sky, came Von Kettler's face. Startledfor an instant, Dick quickly realized that it was Von Kettler in hisplane, with his hood thrown back.
And Dick realized that his own hood was thrown back. Two faces andnothing else, were the whole visible setting for battle.
But that look upon Von Kettler's face was even more demoniacal thanbefore. Mad with rage at the prospective escape of his prey, andinfuriated by his half-sister's appearance in the plane, Von Kettlerhad thrown all caution to the winds. In his insane hatred he wasprepared to shoot down Dick's plane and send Fredegonde to destructionwith it.
* * * * *
If Dick chose to replace his hood he would have the madman at hismercy. And, if he had thought about it, he would have done so, withFredegonde sitting behind him. But the idea did not enter his mind.Consumed with rage almost equal to Von Kettler's, he only saw therethe face of one of those who had inflicted an unspeakable outrage uponthe President of his country.
The memory of old Hargreaves, chained before the mock-Emperor'sthrone, enraged Dick more than the holocaust of lives taken by theassassins.
He shouted a wild answer to Von Kettler's challenge as his plane spedby, and banked. At that moment there came a roaring concussion thatshook the plane from prop to tail.
Dick turned his head. Somehow, President Hargreaves had contrived toget the rear gun into action, and now he was staring at it as if hecould not believe that he had fired it.
And that action heartened Dick wonderfully. As Von Kettler's faceappeared again, he loosed his turret gun in a sweeping blast, andheard Von Kettler's gun roar futilely.
Again they crossed each other's path, and again and again, two faces,only able to gauge roughly the position of their planes. Neither manhad succeeded in injuring the other.
Once old Lake turned his black ray upon Von Kettler, and for, a momentthe plane stood out luminously in the blackness, but Dick leanedforward and yelled to the old man to desist.
And once Dick looked back and saw Fredegonde crouched in her cockpitwith eyes wide with terror. And yet he read in her eyes the samedetermination she had expressed in the laboratory. She was throughwith her half-brother.
* * * * *
All this while the wind had been increasing, making it difficult tomaneuver the heavy plane; but now, of a sudden there came a dead lull,and then, with a whining sound, the wind rushed in again.
But this was a wind still more unlike any that Dick had ever known. Amighty gale that revolved circularly, but downward too, like a vortex,catching the plane and sweeping it into an ever tightening circle.
A man-made gale, upon whose wings the poison gas would spreadnorthward again, carrying unlimited destruction with it. Dick foughtin vain to free himself.
He was revolving as in a whirlpool, and it required the utmostpresence of mind and watchfulness to hold the plane steady. Round andround he spun--and then, suddenly, out of the void materialized VonKettler's face.
Von Kettler, helpless too, was spinning round upon the opposite sideof the vortex. Thus each airship was upon the tail of the other, andit was a matter of chance which would get the other within theringsights of the turret gun.
Von Kettler was so near that his shouts of fury came fitfully toDick's ears as the wind carried them. Dick, working the controls, knewthat not for an instant could he direct his attention from them inorder to fire his gun, and the moment Von Kettler attempted to do so,he was doomed.
Round and round, struggling, battling in vain--and once more theconcussion of the rear gun shook the plane. And a shout from thePresident reached Dick's ears.
Dick turned his head for an instant, long enough to see Von Kettlerspinning down through the vortex. And he was going down afire.President Hargreaves, "no military man," had got him, the second timehe had ever aligned a gun-barrel upon a target.
"Bravo, sir, bravo!" Dick shouted.
And desperately he flung the stick forward and nosed down.
* * * * *
No gale, man-made or heaven-made, could carry on its wingsthree-quarters of a ton of armored, turreted airship. Swirling like aleaf, the plane broke through the clutch of the blast. Instantly itgrew calm.
Outside that vortex, hardly a breath of air was stirring.It was as if the whole fury of the air was concentrated within thatcircle.
The ground came rushing up. Once more Dick tried to head seaward. Withflying speed lost, he was calculating the exact moment in his downwardrush when he could hope to resume control. Would that moment comebefore he crashed?
At less than a hundred feet he partly regained control. For a momentthe plane seemed to fly on an even keel. Then her nose went down asher speed slackened. And this time there was no salvation.
Working desperately to save her, Dick saw the ground loom up beforehim. He heard the crash as the plane broke into splintering ruin ...he had a last vision of old Luke clutching his precious watch: theneverything was dissolved in darkness....
CHAPTER XIII - You Can't Down the Marines
"He's pulling out of it! Keep it up, Gotch!"
Dick heard the words and opened his eyes. He stared in amazement atthe faces about him. Honest American faces under tropical helmets andabove a uniform that he had never expected to see again. It couldn'tbe real. And yet it was. One word broke from his lips:
"Marines!"
"He's got it. Don't let him slip, Gotch.", grinned one of the friendlyfaces, and the man named Gotch, who presumably had some qualificationsfor his job, continued what was meant to be a gentle massage of thenerve centers along Dick's spine.
"I'm all right." Dick muttered, beginning to realize hissurroundings. He was lying on a strip of prairie near the beach, onwhich the waves were breaking in low ripples about a motorboat thatwas drawn up.
He sat up. The world was swimming about him, but he seemed to have nobroken bones. Not far away was the wrecked plane, an incongruous massof streaks where the fabric had ripped through the gas-paint. "Whereare the others?" Dick muttered.