CHAPTER XIV THE AIR PIRATE AT LAST
Vargus was silent now. Our feet made no noise upon the sandy floor of the cave. It was then that I heard something like a cat purring.
Unconsciously I stopped to listen. No, it wasn't a cat, it was the faint drone of some night beetle; it was ...
On the right wall of the cavern, remember that my back was turned to its mouth and the sea—there was a sudden flash of white light.
The rest happened in five seconds.
The light leapt out from the wall, and instantaneously the vast vaulted place was brilliantly illuminated. I had a fleeting vision of wooden galleries, a workshop and smithy, piles of stores, and then I wheeled round with a shout of terror. The drone had leapt up to a deep, menacing note, like the E string of a double bass. A circular furnace of white light in the centre of a gigantic shadow rushed at me with incredible speed.
A blast of wind struck me like the shell from a six-inch gun; the drone rose to the echoing shout of an army as the Pirate Airship entered the cave that was its home.
I had just the millionth part of a second in which to realize the truth before my head struck; the wind seemed to tear out my very vitals, and I knew nothing more.
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