Part 30 (2/2)
Arnold at once went back to his cabin and dressed, telling his second officer, Frank Marston, a young Englishman, whom he had chosen to take Mazanoff's place, to do the same as quietly as possible, as he did not wish to awaken any of his three pa.s.sengers just at present.
By the time he got on deck the three air-s.h.i.+ps had slowed down considerably, and the two consorts of the _Ithuriel_ were within easy speaking distance. Mazanoff and Tremayne were both on deck, and to them he explained his plans as follows--
”There are a dozen of the Tsar's war-balloons coming up yonder to the southward, and I am going to head them off and capture the lot if I can. If we can do that, we can make what terms we like for the surrender of the _Lucifer_.
”You two take your s.h.i.+ps and get to windward of them as fast as you can. Keep a little higher than they are, but not much. On no account let one of them get above you. If they try to descend, give each one that does so a No. 1 sh.e.l.l, and blow her up. If one tries to pa.s.s you, ram her in the upper part of the gas-holder, and let her down with a smash.
”I am going up above them to prevent any of them from rising too far.
They can outfly us in that one direction, so I shall blow any that attempt it into little pieces. If you have to fire on any of them, don't use more than No. 1; you'll find that more than enough.
”Keep an eye on me for signals, and remember that the whole fleet must be destroyed rather than one allowed to escape. I want to give the Tsar a nice little surprise. He seems to be getting a good deal too c.o.c.k-sure about these old gas-bags of his, and it's time to give him a lesson in real aerial warfare.”
There was not a great newspaper in the world that would not have given a very long price to have had the privilege of putting a special correspondent on the deck of the _Ithuriel_ for the two hours which followed the giving of Arnold's directions to his brother commanders of the little squadron. The journal which could have published an exclusive account of the first aerial skirmish in the history of the world would have scored a triumph which would have left its compet.i.tors a long way behind in the struggle to be ”up to date.”
As soon as Arnold had given his orders, the three air-s.h.i.+ps at once separated. The _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ shot away to the southward on only a slightly upward course, while the _Ithuriel_ soared up beyond the stratum of clouds which lay in thin broken ma.s.ses rather more than four thousand feet above the earth.
It was still rather more than an hour before sunrise, and, as the moon had gone down, and the clouds intercepted most of the starlight, it was just ”the darkest hour before the dawn,” and therefore the most favourable for the carrying out of the plan that Arnold had in view.
Shortly after half-past two he knocked at Natasha's cabin-door, and said--
”If you would like to see an aerial battle, get up and come into the conning-tower at once. We have overtaken a squadron of Russian war-balloons, and we are going either to capture or destroy them.”
”Glorious!” exclaimed Natasha, wide awake in an instant at such startling news. ”I'll be with you in five minutes. Tell my father, and please don't begin till I come.”
”I shouldn't think of opening the ball without your ladys.h.i.+p's presence,” laughed Arnold in reply, and then he went and called Natas and his attendant and the Professor before going to the conning-tower, where in a very few minutes he was joined by Natasha.
The first words she said were--
”I have told Ivan to send us some coffee as soon as he has attended to my father. You see how thoughtful I am for your creature comforts.
Now, where are the war-balloons?”
[Ill.u.s.tration: ”Come now, and fire the first shot in the warfare of the future.”
_See page 211._]
”On the other side of those clouds. There, look down through that big rift, and you will see one of them.”
”Why, what a height we must be from the earth! The balloon looks like a little toy thing, but it must be a great clumsy contrivance for all that.”
”The barometer gives five thousand three hundred feet. You will soon see why I have come up so high. The balloons can rise to fifteen or twenty thousand feet, if they wish to, and in that way they could easily escape us; therefore, if one of them attempts to rise through those clouds, I shall send him back to earth in little bits.”
”And what are the other two air-s.h.i.+ps doing?”
”They are below the clouds, heading the balloons off from the Russian camp, which is about fifty miles to the north-westward. Ha! look, there go the searchlights!”
As he spoke, two long converging beams of light darted across a broad s.p.a.ce of sky that was free from cloud. They came from the _Ariel_ and the _Orion_, which thus suddenly revealed themselves to the astonished and disgusted Russians, one at each end of their long line, and only a little more than half a mile ahead of it.
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