And he was right, for as Dean bent down he saw a great shiver pass over the frame of the prostrate man and a moment later all was over; the “Black Hawk” lay dead.
“Come; there is no time to lose!” exclaimed Mortimer, and seizing Dean under the arm he half led, half carried him to where their air-ship lay. A hasty scramble on board; an equally hasty inspection of the apparatus to ascertain that all was in order; a quick working of the levers by the Professor and they were away.
Steadily and gracefully they rose until they were above the mountain tops and the country lay well beneath them. Away in the distance they perceived a number of men, apparently engaged in the execution of certain manœuvers. These were evidently the men referred to by Valerie as drilling on Minden Plain. From a sudden commotion among the men it was evident the air-ship had been seen.
“We seem to be creating some excitement!” exclaimed Mortimer, referring to this circumstance. “I wonder if they will attempt a pursuit.”
“It will be a very useless effort if they do,” replied Dean.
“Well,” remarked Mortimer, “you know their craft is a good deal faster than ours.”
“Yes, I know,” answered Dean, “but long before they can even reach their ships, we will have disappeared from view. We are at least fast enough for that and don’t forget that we leave no trail behind us.”
Up and up they rose until they were invisible to anything upon the surface of the earth. Onward they sped, and no pursuing form appearing behind them, they realized that they had indeed escaped. For an hour or more they held on thus and at last Dean spoke.
“I have been keeping entirely away from our proper course,” he said, “as in that manner I thought we should be less likely to be in the line of pursuit, if indeed a pursuit be attempted at all. I feel that we are quite safe from that now and I had best lay the course for the palace, I suppose?”
“I should think that would be the right thing to do,” assented Mortimer.