"No, I cannot complain on that score," said Captain Restronguet quietly.
"Well, come and have a look at my little air-fleet. Really they don"t make a bad show. And your friend, of course."
"Sorry," replied Captain Restronguet. "But we"re in a regular hurry. I am trying to get a boat to put me off."
"Where to?" asked Jenkins. "One of the liners in the Roads?"
"No, further out; quite five miles off."
"Guess you won"t get a Zanzibari to take on the job. There"s a brute of a swell tumbling in. Look here, I"ll tell you what: I"ll give you a lift in one of our aero-hydroplanes, if you like."
"Is it safe?" asked Captain Restronguet earnestly, whereat Hythe wondered, for his companion had never before shown signs of timidity, even when in tight corners in the depths of the sea.
"Safe as a house," replied Jenkins rea.s.suringly.
"Jenkins, my friend, you misunderstand me, although I quite admit the question was ambiguous. Is it safe--or shall we say discreet?--to take us for a "joy-ride" in one of the Sultan"s air-craft?"
"If anything His Highness would be pleased to see me making a flight in gusty weather with two pa.s.sengers; so say the word and I"ll trot out the contraption. It"s the only way."
"Carry on, then," a.s.sented Captain Restronguet.
Within the s.p.a.cious outer courtyard of the palace stood a number of lofty sheds with sliding doors. At a wave and a gesture from the chief aviator a number of natives opened the doors and dragged a huge aero-hydroplane of an obsolete pattern into the sunlight. The machine was a biplane. Underneath the two long floats were four wheels, so that it could be adapted either for alighting and rising from the sea or land.
Jenkins critically examined various nuts and tension wires, started the engine, till the machine was all a-quiver with the vibration from the revolving cylinders.
"All correct," he bawled, for the rapid explosion of the motor practically deadened every other sound. "Get aboard."
Captain Restronguet occupied a seat immediately behind and slightly higher than the pilot, while Hythe sat behind the biplane. Jenkins vaulted agilely into his place, motioned to the attendants to stand clear and thrust home the clutch of the propeller shaft.
The aero-hydro-craft leapt over the ground for about twenty yards with a jerk that nearly capsized the two pa.s.sengers; then soaring upwards it cleared the courtyard wall by barely six feet, pa.s.sed over the upturned faces of a crowd of natives in the roadway, and shot rapidly across the harbour.
The motion was exhilarating, but the air, by contrast with the heat ash.o.r.e, was cold and cutting to the faces of the pa.s.sengers. Hythe realized that aeroplaning in white ducks, even in the Tropics, was rather out of place.
"Look, sir," he exclaimed. "There"s the "Topaze" going out."
"That"s rotten luck," replied Captain Restronguet leaning sideways to watch the cruiser, that, a thousand feet below, looked no larger than a model boat. "Your friend Dewerstone has given the show away."
"I think not," replied the sub confidently. "He told me he was on leave till the day after to-morrow."
"Where"s your ship, Tretheway?" shouted Jenkins.
"Away beyond Bawi Island. There she is."
"Rum looking craft, anyway," commented the aviator. "Looks more like a dog"s kennel to me."
"Thanks," remarked Captain Restronguet in an undertone; then louder he added, "She"s hove-to. If you come down within hailing distance they"ll range up alongside to pick us up; they haven"t a boat."
"Haven"t a boat," e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Jenkins. "Rum craft. Look here----"
He ended abruptly, for with a report like a pistol shot one of the wires supporting the wing plane snapped. The aero-hydroplane began to tilt ominously. Hythe and his companion instinctively realizing that a disaster was imminent grasped the rods nearest to hand in a grip of iron.
Pluckily the aviator strove by manipulating the elevating rudder to restore the doomed aircraft"s equilibrium, but in vain. He, therefore, shut off the engine and attempted a vol-plane. Already the air-craft was standing almost on its nose, and falling with fearful velocity, till Captain Restronguet slid out of his seat and was prevented from falling clear only by his grasp upon a metal rod.
Finding that the machine was quite out of control, Jenkins touched a lever with his foot. Instantly a length of stout canvas trailed out astern. Before the aero-hydroplane had descended another fifteen feet the canvas, distended by the resistance of the air, took the shape of a huge parachute. The fall, though still rapid, was appreciably r.e.t.a.r.ded, while the three men, literally hanging on tooth and nail, became aware that hope was not yet dead.
With a tremendous splash the wrecked aero-hydroplane struck the water.
Hythe found himself torn from his support, and plunging feet below the waves. Fearing that he might be entangled in the sinking machine he struck out and swam a considerable distance ere he rose to the surface.
Shaking the water out of his eyes, he looked around. The aero-hydroplane was still floating, but with a heavy list. The concussion had burst the seams of one of her floats, which was now completely filled with water, while the other was leaking slightly.
Clinging to the still buoyant float were the captain and Jenkins. The "Aphrodite" was nowhere to be seen.
"We"re all right for the present," called out the former cheerily. "The water"s warm and I have not seen any sharks about, and the cruiser will bear down and pick us up."
"Where"s your ship, Tretheway?" asked the aviator anxiously. "We were falling close to where she was hove-to."
"I"m rather afraid she didn"t spot us," replied Captain Restronguet.
"And seeing the "Topaze" approaching, she dived."
"Dived!" exclaimed the astounded Jenkins. "What d"ye mean? You don"t mean to tell me the ship you belong to is a submarine?"
"It is," a.s.sented the Captain coolly.
"Not that rascally "Vorwartz" by any chance?"
"No."
"Well, then, what"s her name? I haven"t heard of any other submarine in these waters."
"Not the "Aphrodite"?"
"Don"t try to be funny, Tretheway. You know as well as I do that that submarine was blown to atoms."
"I am afraid, my dear Jenkins, that I cannot agree with you. The "Aphrodite" is even now submerged in the Zanzibar Channel, and I--whom you know as Hugh Tretheway--I am Captain John Restronguet."
CHAPTER XXV.
THE APPROACH OF THE "VORWARTZ."
Beyond muttering "Well, I"m dashed!" the aviator relapsed into silence.
In vain Captain Restronguet and Hythe looked for a trace of the "Aphrodite." As a last resource the former produced a silk green and white flag from his pocket and lashed it to one of the vertical stays in the hope that the submarine might locate it by means of her periscope.
"They"re carrying out orders," said Captain Restronguet at length. "I told Devoran to dive if he saw any vessel approaching. He spotted the "Topaze" and immediately descended. It"s awkward, because the secret is bound to leak out. But after all it is rather remarkable that it didn"t become common property hours ago."
"How shall we get on board the "Aphrodite," sir?" asked the sub.