Chapter EIGHTEEN

A flight of an hour and a half over the island-strewn waters of Hawaii brought the rescuing airplanes to the scene of the latest aerial outrage. The machines of the squadron were spread out in open formation and had been flying at an altitude of ten thousand feet until they arrived at a point approximately three hundred miles from Honolulu, in the vicinity of the position given in the S. O. S. messages. Now they spiralled down to a thousand feet and began a careful search of the waters for signs of the Montgolfier or her survivors. The skies were absolutely void of other craft.

After cruising about for a few moments, a number of small objects were discerned on the water, and the commander of the squadron ordered his machines to alight near them. The order was quickly obeyed, and shortly afterwards the plane taxied up alongside what proved to be the lifeboats of the airship Montgolfier. There was no sign of the airship itself. Undoubtedly it had sunk.

After a quick survey of the situation the commander of the squadron decided there was ample room in the bomb chambers of the huge airplanes to carry all the passengers and crew of the Montgolfier back to Honolulu, and the task of transferring the survivors from the boats to the airplanes was quickly accomplished.

This done, the machines started back on the flight to Honolulu, which was accomplished in a little less than two hours. On arrival there, special care was taken of the women passengers who were suffering quite a little from the trying experience, followed by the long exposure in the small open boats and the flight back to the Hawaiian capital. While this was being done the captain and officers of the Montgolfier were escorted to the office of Commodore Heathcote, where the captain told the story of the loss of his airship.

It was a story similar in detail to the previous attacks made by the pirate. It left no doubt that the airplane which attacked the Montgolfier was the same that had destroyed the Langley and Wilbur Wright, and had supposedly been sunk during the battle with the squadron of Commander Fitzgerald. Whatever doubt might have existed about the identity of the perpetrator of the latest piratical attack was quickly dispelled by the latter part of the captain’s narrative.

“While we were transferring our passengers to the lifeboats,” he continued, “the attacking airplane, which had landed on the surface of the ocean, taxied over to us. As soon as it came alongside, a door in the cabin body opened, and a tall, dark man appeared in the doorway and began to talk to me. He wore very heavy flying clothes, but no helmet. He was a rather good looking chap, and although his flying clothes made him look somewhat bulky, I got the impression that he was slim and lithe and undoubtedly very strongly built. His features were dark, and his skin had an olive tan. His eyes were coal black, and so was his hair. I caught one view of him side face, and he had rather an aquiline nose. While his features were very sharp, there was nothing cruel about their aspect. He seemed to be of a studious rather than active nature, although he was the boss of the pirate machine.

“He asked me several questions about the Montgolfier, what kind of a cargo we carried, and then some general questions about the news in the United States. After a short conversation along these lines he said to me:

“‘You will be alright, Captain, Honolulu received your S. O. S. message, and they will be sending some rescue craft out here to you pretty soon. When you get back there, if they ask you about me, you can tell them that I am the same fellow that sank the Wilbur Wright and the Langley. I don’t want to leave them in doubt about that. You know, Captain, I’ve just played quite a joke on them. They sent a squadron of airplanes out a few weeks ago to fight me. I played around with them for a little while and had a lot of fun. I carried it further than I had expected to though, and one of them got a hit on our machine, but it did not do much damage.

“‘I decided not to play any further, easily made my getaway. The damned fools thought they had sunk me. Now I am back on the job, and they will never be able to stop me from carrying out my plans and desires. I am the king of the Pacific airways and I intend to be monarch of the entire aerial world before I’m through. I am sorry I was compelled to shoot down three of their machines, but that could not be helped. I am master of the situation and intend to dictate my own terms before I retire. They cannot successfully fight me and they might as well know that fact now as later.’

“That was about the gist of his conversation. He was anxious that I should get his meaning clearly. In fact, he asked me whether I had any doubt what he wanted me to tell you. When I told him that I understood him thoroughly, he started to go into the cabin, but hesitated a moment and then said to me:

“‘By the way, Captain, they may ask you about my lady passenger when you get to Honolulu. Her name is Miss Mary Ingleton, and she is a very old friend of mine, that’s why I asked her to accompany me on my little pleasure flights. You can tell them that she is very well, indeed, and is enjoying herself immensely.’

“That was all he said. I started to ask him some questions but he went inside his cabin abruptly. A few minutes later his ship taxied away and waited until we had transferred all our passengers and crew. As soon as we were through, he signalled to us to stand off away from the Montgolfier. There was nothing for us to do but to obey this command. Immediately afterwards his machine moved over alongside the disabled airship, and some of the crew went aboard. It was not long before they began to pass out some parts of the cargo. As soon as they had satisfied themselves they put off about a hundred yards and opened fire on the Montgolfier, which quickly sank. Without any further ceremony the airplane then took off and quickly disappeared at terrific speed.”

“Did you see Miss Ingleton at all while the pirate was talking to you?” asked Heathcote.

“No,” replied the captain.

“Did he say whether he had her aboard or not?”

“No. He did not mention her name except in the manner I have told you,” said the captain.

“Did you see any other members of the crew?” required Heathcote.

“No,” came the reply, “that’s all I saw, but it was more than enough for me.”