But the atmosphere about them, which a short while before had been clear and fragrant, was now growing stifling, and blowing about them was a yellow cloud.
With a suffocating sensation Nona put up her hand to her throat. What could be the trouble with her? She could see Barbara running on ahead, and the great ship fluttering downward, leaving much of the cloud of smoke dissolving behind it. Once she tried to call to her companion, but the feeling of choking was too painful. It would make no difference if she should sit down for a few moments. If there were any service to be done a little later when this curious sensation had passed she could go on.
But whatever the poisonous air that had suddenly come out of the blue heavens the fumes grew thicker on the ground. No sooner had she sat down than Nona dropped backward, her mouth opening slightly and her face turning a queer dark color.
Nevertheless Barbara kept on. From the beginning she had been slightly in advance of Nona and running more quickly. She had been conscious of the sudden thickening of the atmosphere, but had put up her hand, covering her nose and mouth and so had gotten away from the fumes. Moreover, she had not become aware that Nona was not following. Naturally the sight ahead held her mind and eyes.
The airship as it drew nearer the earth seemed to hold its wings outspread, quiet as a weary bird settling to rest. The machinery did not appear to have been seriously wrecked by whatever bomb its enemy had finally used. Barbara could by this time plainly see a man still seated at his post, his hand holding his steering gear. Yet the man looked not like a man so much as a wooden image and seemed unaware of what he was doing. The instant his machine touched the earth he fell forward face downward, rolled over a little when one of the giant wings of his air-craft partly covered him.
CHAPTER XII
First Aid
As soon as Barbara reached the scene of the wreck she turned to seek Nona’s advice and aid. But to her amazement there was no evidence of her companion. Stupidly she continued to stare. It was impossible to conceive what could have become of Nona, yet the last quarter of an hour had been so full of strange happenings that there was small wonder at Barbara’s bewilderment.
A moment later, a few yards from where they had first begun to run, she saw Nona’s figure lying in a crumpled heap upon the ground. Yet was it imaginable that this could be Nona? Had she fainted or stumbled? The recollection of the suffocating gas about them really did not occur to Barbara, as she had felt its effects so slightly.
Yet here she stood torn between two duties. Should she return and find out what had happened to her friend or try first to release the man?