Part 47 (2/2)
”What is the message?” asked Arnold.
”To engage and destroy the remaining Russian war-balloons, and then come south at once,” replied the captain of the _Mercury_. ”I am sorry to say both the _Lucifer_ and the _Azrael_ have been disabled by chance shots striking their propellers. The _Lucifer_ was so badly injured that she fell to the earth, and blew up with a perfectly awful explosion; but the _Azrael_ can still use her fan-wheels and stern propeller, though her air-planes are badly broken and twisted.”
Arnold frowned at the bad news, but took no further notice of it beyond saying--
”That is unfortunate; but, I suppose, some casualties were inevitable under the circ.u.mstances.” Then he added: ”I have already destroyed all that were left of the Tsar's war-balloons, but you can take the other part of the message. Where is the _Ariel_ to be found?”
The captain of the _Mercury_ gave him the necessary directions, and the two air-s.h.i.+ps parted. Within an hour a council of war, consisting of Natas, Arnold, and Tremayne, was being held in the saloon of the _Ithuriel_, on the issue of which the lives of more than two millions of men depended.
CHAPTER XLVI.
VICTORY.
It was a little after three o'clock in the afternoon when Natas, Tremayne, and Arnold ended their deliberations in the saloon of the _Ithuriel_. At the same hour a council of war was being held by Generals le Gallifet and Cosensz at the Crystal Palace Hotel, Sydenham, where the two commanders had taken up their quarters.
Since daybreak matters had a.s.sumed a very serious, if not desperate aspect for the troops of the League to the south of London.
Communication had entirely ceased with the Tsar since the night before, and this could only mean that his Majesty had lost the command of the air, through the destruction or disablement of his fleet of aerostats. News from the force which had descended upon London told only of a fearful expenditure of life that had not purchased the slightest advantage.
The blockade had been broken on the east, and, therefore, all hope of reducing the city by famine was at an end. Their own war-balloons had been either captured or destroyed, thousands of their men had deserted to the enemy, and mult.i.tudes more had been slain. Every position was dominated by the captured aerostats and the air-s.h.i.+ps of the Terrorists. Even the building in which the council was being held might be shattered to fragments at any moment by a discharge of their irresistible artillery.
Finally, it was practically certain that within the next few hours their headquarters must be surrounded, and then their only choice would lie between unconditional surrender and swift and inevitable destruction by an aerial bombardment. Manifestly the time had come to make terms if possible, and purchase their own safety and that of their remaining troops. Both the generals and every member of their respective staffs saw clearly that victory was now a physical impossibility, and so the immediate issue of the council was that orders were given to hoist the white flag over the tricolour and the Italian standard on the summits of the two towers of the Crystal Palace, and on the flagstaffs over the headquarters.
These were at once seen by a squadron of air-s.h.i.+ps coming from the north in obedience to Tremayne's summons, and within half an hour the same squadron was seen returning from the south headed by the flags.h.i.+p, also flying, to the satisfaction of the two generals, the signal of truce. The air-s.h.i.+ps stopped over Sydenham and ranged themselves in a circle with their guns pointing down upon the headquarters, and the _Ariel_, with Tremayne on board, descended to within twenty feet of the ground in front of the hotel.
As she did so an officer wearing the uniform of a French General of Division came forward, saluted, and said that he had a message for the Commander-in-Chief of the Federation forces. Tremayne returned the salute, and said briefly--
”I am here. What is the message?”
”I am commissioned by General Gallifet, Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Division, to request on his behalf the honour of an audience. He awaits you with General Cosensz in the hotel,” replied the Frenchman, gazing in undisguised admiration at the wonderful craft which he now for the first time saw at close quarters.
”With pleasure. I will be with you in a moment,” said Tremayne, and as he spoke the _Ariel_ settled gently down to the earth, and the gangway steps dropped from her bow.
As he entered the room in which the two generals were awaiting him, surrounded by their brilliantly-uniformed staffs, he presented a strange contrast to the men whose lives he held in the hollow of his hand. He was dressed in a dark tweed suit, with Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers, met by long shooting boots, just as though he was fresh from the moors, instead of from the battlefield on which the fate of the world was being decided. General le Gallifet advanced to meet him with a puzzled look of half-recognition on his face, which was at once banished by Tremayne holding out his hand without the slightest ceremony, and saying--
”Ah, I see you recognise me, General!”
”I do, my Lord Alanmere, and, you will permit me to add, with the most profound astonishment,” replied the General, taking the proffered hand with a hearty grasp. ”May I venture to hope that with an old acquaintance our negotiations may prove all the easier?”
Tremayne bowed and said--
”Rest a.s.sured, General, that they shall be as easy as my instructions will permit me to make them.”
”Your instructions! But I thought”--
”That I was in supreme command. So I am in a sense, but I am the lieutenant of Natas for all that, and in a case like this his word is law. But come, what terms do you propose?”
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