"And the wireless room?" asked Setchell.
"Still intact, so you will be able to communicate with your relations and friends in England and let them know that you are still in the land of the living," replied the Captain. "Now, gentlemen," he continued, "I suggest that those who are not on duty should retire. Mr. Setchell will be in charge of the armed patrol until midnight, and then, doctor, you will kindly change the guard and relieve Mr. Setchell. To-morrow, I promise you, will be a strenuous day for all hands."
The night passed without interruption. With the first sign of dawn the officers were out and about. At his chief's request Dacres accompanied him to the wreck of the luckless "Libertad," four of the crew armed with rifles going with them in case of danger from either man or beast.
In a few minutes the debris was sighted. Owing to the velocity of the "Libertad's" descent many of the young pine-trees had either snapped off or bent, and thus the fore part of the airship was resting on the ground.
The motors from the forward compartment were lying nearly a hundred yards from the rest of the wreckage. Aluminium plates, twisted and ripped out of almost all recognition, fractured girders, pieces of oiled silk from the interior of the ballonettes, and a miscellaneous assortment of other material gave silent evidence of the completeness of the disaster.
The after-part, having subsided more slowly, since the "Libertad" struck the ground obliquely, was in a more recognisable condition, except that the motors had broken from the bearings.
"Pretty mess!" ejaculated Whittinghame.
"There seems little chance of recovering the plans," remarked Dacres. "After all, it won't matter so very much if we don't. They are doubtless lost in that heap of wreckage."
"It would be more satisfactory to know definitely," added Whittinghame. "Do you fancy a climb? If so, we'll investigate the after-sections of the wreck."
Dacres willingly assented, and soon both men were climbing along the twisted framework, cautiously testing each piece of metal ere they trusted their weight to it.