Part 32 (1/2)

”Oh no,” replied Arnold. ”You needn't be afraid of that. If his Majesty won't come to terms, you will smash up the war-balloons and then come and join us in the general bombardment. I see, by the way, that there are ten or a dozen more of these unwieldy monsters with the Russian force moored to the ground yonder on the outskirts of Custrin. It will be a little amus.e.m.e.nt for us if we have to come to blows to knock them to pieces before we smash up the Tsar's headquarters.

So saying, Arnold increased the speed of the _Ithuriel_, swept round in front of the line, and communicated the same instructions to the captain of the _Ariel_.

A few minutes later the _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ began to rise with their charges to the higher regions of the air, leaving the _Ithuriel_ and the one aerostat to carry out the plan which had been arranged by Natas and Arnold an hour previously.

As the speed of the aerostat was only about twenty miles an hour against the wind, a rope was pa.s.sed from the stern of the _Ithuriel_ to the cordage connecting the car with the gas-holder, and so the aerostat was taken in tow by the air-s.h.i.+p, and dragged through the air at a speed of about forty miles an hour, as a wind-bound sailing vessel might have been towed by a steamer.

On the journey the elevation was increased to more than four thousand feet,--an elevation at which both the _Ithuriel_ and her captive, and especially the former, presented practically impossible marks for the Russian riflemen. Almost immediately over Custrin they came to a standstill, and then Colonel Alexandrovitch and Professor Volnow were summoned by Natas into the deck saloon.

He explained to them the mission which he desired them to undertake, that is to say, the conveyance of a letter from himself to the Tsar offering terms for the surrender of the _Lucifer_. They accepted the mission; and in order that they might fully understand the gravity of it, Natas read them the letter, which ran as follows:--

ALEXANDER ROMANOFF,--

Three days ago one of my fleet of air-s.h.i.+ps, named the _Lucifer_, was delivered into your hands by traitors and deserters, whose lives are forfeit in virtue of the oaths which they took of their own free will. I have already taken measures to render abortive the a.n.a.lysis which you ordered to be performed in the chemical department of your a.r.s.enal at St. Petersburg, and I have now come to make terms, if possible, for the restoration of the air-s.h.i.+p.

Those terms are as follows--

An hour before daybreak this morning I captured nine of your war-balloons, after destroying three others which attempted to escape. I have no desire to take any present part in the war which you are now carrying on with the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance, and if you will tell me where the _Lucifer_ is now to be found, and will despatch orders both by land and through Professor Volnow, who brings this letter to you, and will return with your answer, for her to be given up to me forthwith with everything she has on board, and will surrender with her the four traitors who delivered her into your hands, I will restore the nine war-balloons to you intact, and when I have recovered the _Lucifer_ I will take no further part in the war unless either you or your opponents proceed to unjustifiable extremities.

If you reject these terms, or if I do not receive an answer to this letter within two hours of the time that the bearer of it descends in the aerostat, I shall give orders for the immediate destruction of the war-balloons now in my hands, and I shall then proceed to destroy Custrin and the other aerostats which are moored near the town. That done I shall, for the time being, devote the force at my disposal to the defence of Berlin, and do my utmost to bring about the defeat and dispersal of the army which will then no longer be commanded by yourself.

In case you may doubt what I say as to the capture of the fleet of war-balloons, Professor Volnow will be accompanied by Colonel Alexei Alexandrovitch, late in command of the squadron, and now my prisoner of war.

NATAS.

The amba.s.sadors were at once transferred to the aerostat, and with a white flag hoisted on the after stays of the balloon she began to sink rapidly towards the earth, and at the same time Natas gave orders for the _Ithuriel_ to ascend to a height of eight thousand feet in order to frustrate any attempts that might be made, whether with or without the orders of the Tsar, to injure her by means of a volley from the earth.

Even from that elevation, those on board the _Ithuriel_ were able with the aid of their field-gla.s.ses to see with perfect ease the commotion which the appearance of the air-s.h.i.+p with the captured aerostat had produced in the Russian camp. The whole of the vast host, numbering more than four millions of men, turned out into the open to watch their aerial visitors, and everywhere throughout the whole extent of the huge camp the plainest signs of the utmost excitement were visible.

In less than half an hour they saw the aerostat touch the earth near to a large building, above which floated the imperial standard of Russia. An hour had been allowed for the interview and for the Tsar to give his decision, and half an hour for the aerostat to return and meet the air-s.h.i.+p.

In all the history of the world there had probably never been an hour so pregnant with tremendous consequences, not only to Europe, but to the whole civilised world, as that was; and though apparently a perfect calm reigned throughout the air-s.h.i.+p, the issue of the emba.s.sy was awaited with the most intense anxiety.

Another half hour pa.s.sed, and hardly a word was spoken on the deck of the _Ithuriel_, hanging there in mid-air over the mighty Russian host, and in range of the field-gla.s.ses of the outposts of the German army of Berlin lying some ten or twelve miles away to the westward.

It was the calm before the threatening storm,--a storm which in less than an hour might break in a hail of death and destruction from the sky, and turn the fields of earth into a volcano of shot and flame.

Certainly the fate of an empire, and perhaps of Europe, or indeed the world, hung in the balance over that field of possible carnage.

If the Russians regained their war-balloons and were left to themselves, nothing that the heroic Germans could do would be likely to save Berlin from the fate that had overwhelmed Stra.s.sburg and Metz, Breslau and Thorn.

On the other hand, should the aerostat not return in time with a satisfactory answer, the victorious career of the Tsar would be cut short by such a bolt from the skies as had wrecked his fortress at Kronstadt,--a blow which he could neither guard against nor return, for it would come from an una.s.sailable vantage point, a little vessel a hundred feet long floating in the air six thousand feet from the earth, and looking a mere bright speck amidst the sunlight. She formed a mark that the most skilful rifle-shot in his army could not hit once in a thousand shots, and against whose hull of hardened aluminium, bullets, even if they struck, would simply splash and scatter, like raindrops on a rock.

The remaining minutes of the last half hour were slipping away one by one, and still no sign came from the earth. The aerostat remained moored near the building surmounted by the Russian standard, and the white flag, which, according to arrangement, had been hauled down to be re-hoisted if the answer of the Tsar was favourable, was still invisible. When only ten minutes of the allotted time were left, Arnold, moving his gla.s.s from his eyes, and looking at his watch, said to Natas--

”Ten minutes more; shall I prepare?”

”Yes,” said Natas. ”And let the first gun be fired with the first second of the eleventh minute. Destroy the aerostats first and then the batteries of artillery. After that send a sh.e.l.l into Frankfort, if you have a gun that will carry the distance, so that they may see our range of operations; but spare the Tsar's headquarters for the present.”

”Very good,” replied Arnold. Then, turning to his lieutenant, he said--