"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.