King of the Air Part 27

"Can't screw the planes any further!" cried Tom.

Oliphant wrenched at the lever; Tom put the whole force of the second engine upon the ascensional screws; and the rapidity of descent was somewhat checked. The ravine was directly beneath; Tom succeeded in giving the vessel a last forward motion; then it came with a violent b.u.mp to the ground, just on the further edge.

"Out! Quick!" cried Tom to Schwab, who was bemoaning the shock he had suffered.

When all three stood safe on the ground, Tom caught hold of the rails of the car.

"I made it; I'll break it; _they_ shan't," he said, and he toppled the airship over into the gulf, where it was smashed to atoms.

Then, with Oliphant at his side, and Schwab labouring behind, with piteous entreaties that they would not desert him, he dashed towards the cliff, a mile away, beyond which was the sea.

CHAPTER XVII-COMPLIMENTS AND THANKS

While yet in the air, Tom had seen a boat putting off from the yacht.

The vessel itself was no longer visible, concealed by the intervening cliff; but the top of its mast, with Mr. Greatorex's ensign flying, could just be seen. Towards this Tom led the way at full speed. To go very fast was impossible over the rough ground, but moderate as the pace was it soon began to tell upon Schwab, who plunged heavily along, tripping over tussocks of coa.r.s.e gra.s.s that grew here and there on the sandy soil. Fierce pants could be heard by the two running side by side in front of him, though, in spite of his breathlessness, he managed to give utterance every now and again to agonizing entreaties that the others would not desert him. Moved by these, and remembering the German's game leg, the others waited for him, and catching each an arm, hurried him along between them.

Terror lent him strength and speed when the foremost of the pursuers, arriving at the brink of the ravine, which at that point they were unable to cross, began to fire upon the fugitives. Bullets whistled past, alarmingly near, and Tom and Oliphant instinctively released Schwab's arms and moved apart, so as to present a smaller target to the enemy. Meanwhile some of the Moors had galloped up the bank of the ravine in search of a crossing. Glancing round, Tom was concerned to see that these hors.e.m.e.n had disappeared; presumably they had found a suitable crossing-place, and would soon again be on his tracks. In a few moments they reappeared on the nearer bank, and set off at a gallop.

The Englishmen were now about a quarter of a mile from the sh.o.r.e, Schwab having dropped nearly a hundred yards behind, with another quarter-mile between him and the hors.e.m.e.n. There could be little doubt that the fugitives would be overtaken before they reached the edge of the cliff.

Even if they contrived to scramble down they might be snapped up under the eyes of the yacht's crew, should not the boat have arrived. And what of the Moors who a day or two ago, when Tom left the place, had been encamped in the hollow of the cliff? Were they still there?

The question was answered almost as it occurred. Tom suddenly noticed a horseman making towards him from the left, followed closely by a dozen others. It was with a gasp of amazement that he recognized in the foremost rider no other than Abdul. He came up at a breakneck pace, sprang from his horse, and joined himself to the fugitives. Immediately afterwards the Moors were upon the little party. Leaping from their horses while still in full career, they threw themselves upon the four, and though Tom and Oliphant each with a blow from his fist felled a man, and Schwab threatened the vengeance of the Kaiser, they were overwhelmed and flung to the ground.

The Moors shouted with exultation, their cries being answered jubilantly by the hors.e.m.e.n coming up from the ravine. They were beginning to bind their captives; but before a single knot could be tied there came other shouts from the direction of the sea.

"At them, men; bowl 'em over!"

Surely this was the voice of Mr. Greatorex! A l.u.s.ty British cheer answered him. With a great effort Tom threw off the Moor who was pinning him down, and sprang to his feet in time to see a dozen st.u.r.dy seamen rushing from the edge of the cliff. The Moors turned at bay, but nothing could withstand the charge of the British tars, wielding their clubbed rifles like flails. In a few seconds half of the Moors were on the ground with more or less broken heads; the rest were in full flight.

But the other troop of hors.e.m.e.n was now not more than a few hundred yards distant. At a word from Captain Bodgers the sailors flung themselves face downwards, ready to deal with the second band.

"Aim at the horses!" cried Mr. Greatorex, as he came panting up in the rear of his men, and flopped down beside them.

A scattered volley brought half a dozen of the advancing hors.e.m.e.n to the dust. The rest, unable, owing to the rugged uneven ground, to see with what force they had to contend, reined up and hesitated. Another volley caused them to draw off to some little distance, where they formed a group and began to discuss how to retrieve this unexpected check.

"Now for the boat, my lads!" cried Mr. Greatorex.

Up sprang the men, and the whole body made a dash down the cliff. Before the Moors had agreed upon their course, the fugitives were half-way down. Seeing now by how few men they had been checked, the Moors came after them at full speed. But by the time they reached the edge of the cliff and dismounted the fugitives were at the bottom.

At that moment there was a report and a puff of smoke out at sea, and a shot, purposely aimed high, flew over the cliff, and fell a little to the rear of the Moors. That was the finishing stroke. Their horses stampeded and dashed straight for the ravine, the riders in wild pursuit behind them. Three minutes afterwards Mr. Greatorex had his whole party in the boat, and the sailors, with a final rousing cheer, pulled for the yacht.

Tom saw everything in a mist as he went aboard. Worn out with the exertions and excitements of the past few days, he was only vaguely conscious of being fussed over, and treated, as he said afterwards, more or less as a baby. He was put to bed, slept heavily for several hours, and awoke with a most exigent hunger. The yacht was in motion. He rose, bathed, put on some clean things, and, feeling himself again, thankfully obeyed Mr. Greatorex's hearty call to dinner.

Around the well-spread table he found the rest of the party already seated. At the head was Mr. Greatorex, with Sir Mark Ingleton at his right; at the foot, Captain Bodgers with Herr Schwab. The German had tucked his napkin between his shirt and his waistcoat, and was gazing with ecstatic antic.i.p.ation through his gla.s.ses at the covered entree dishes just brought in by Timothy.

Tom was taken aback, and not a little moved, when Sir Mark Ingleton rose from his seat, and, grasping his hand, said-

"Thank you, Mr. Dorrell. I have heard the whole story from Mr. Greatorex and your Moorish follower. It is not for me to speak of the public service you have rendered; personally, I owe you more than I can say, and I shall never forget it."

"So!" chimed in Schwab, rising stiffly from his chair. His left hand gripped his fork; his right enveloped Tom's. "I zank you, for myself personaliter, and for ze Kaiser, for Schlagintwert, and for Business.

Fill my gla.s.s, if you please," he added to Timothy, whose smile instantly changed to a frown-"I vish to cry 'Hoch!' No, no, not too full, for ze ship moves, and ze champagne vould slop over."

Schwab's intervention came in the nick of time to relieve Tom's embarra.s.sment.

"Come, Tom, my _dear_ fellow," cried Mr. Greatorex, "_sit_ down. We were only waiting for you."

"Where's Oliphant?" asked Tom.

"Hm! _M'Cracken_ is at the furnace," replied Mr. Greatorex.

"I say! That's rough luck!" said Tom.

"It is by his own wish. I did violence to my sense of what is _right_ and _proper_, and invited him to a place at our board. He showed, I must say, a commendable sense of his _duty_ in the matter. 'I'm M'Cracken and your stoker, sir,' he said, 'till we get back to England.'"

"May I suggest," said Sir Mark Ingleton, "that a sense of the unfitness of his attire also weighed with him?"

"We can soon alter that," said Tom. "He's about my build; I'll go and rig him out in one of my suits."

"Ve shall not vait to begin?" said Schwab anxiously, holding knife and fork upright on the table.

"Mr. Oliphant will doubtless pardon us," replied Sir Mark blandly.

In a quarter of an hour Tom returned with Oliphant in white ducks and blue serge.

"Still is zere somezink left," said Schwab. "I feel moch better, zough I vish ze table vould not move. Do not fill your gla.s.s quite full, sir; it vould slop over, and zat vould be pity."

"Where's Abdul?" asked Tom, as he sat down.

"With the men, forward," said Mr. Greatorex.

"That's all right. I'm jolly glad he got off safely."

"A most intelligent youth," said Sir Mark. "It appears that he rode straight into the village of Salaam son of Absalaam with an urgent demand for a.s.sistance from the sheikh of Ain Afroo. He was leading a party of Moors in that direction when unluckily a genuine messenger from the sheikh arrived. Abdul wheeled about and galloped for the sh.o.r.e, with the rest at his heels, as you saw."

"Shust in time," said Schwab. "Vun moment after, and I am no more."

"I haven't heard your story yet, sir," said Tom to the envoy.

"Story, bless you, I have none to tell. I was on my way to Marrakesh, where the Sultan was at the time, and was indiscreet enough one evening to leave my camp for a stroll with only one attendant. I was snapped up, enveloped in a djellab, and conveyed on horseback-to my great discomfort-to the sheikh's kasbah. There I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Schwab, whose conversation, together with a Schlagintwert price list and a copy of the _Daily Mail_, helped to lighten the tedium of my captivity."

"I zank you, Sir Ingleton," said Schwab. "Alvays do I vish to be useful.

_Utile et dulce._ You vill not forget vat I say about extra-special discount to ze n.o.bility and gentry? And I hear viz surprise, sir," he added to Oliphant, "zat you are son of a lord. Viz gompliments!"

He handed Oliphant a card from his case.