"Assuredly. I am called Antoine de la Fosse, I am an engineer of electricity. Gaston, Henri!" he shouted in his native tongue; "come here and make the acquaintance of these English airmen."
De la Fosse required but little "pumping." He seemed bursting with anxiety to explain his presence to Whittinghame and the rest of the officers.
He lived at Adiovonta, a small town about thirty miles from Naocuanha and nearly forty from the scene of the combat between the rival airships. He was on his way to San Carlos, where he had to inspect the electric-lighting apparatus of a newly opened copper-mine. Accompanied by his two sons and twenty Indian porters he was within ten miles of the mountain pass when he heard the dull detonations of the "Libertad's" guns. At first he did not know what to make of it, for he was in ignorance of the fact that hostilities had broken out between Great Britain and Valderia.
During his journey upon the succeeding day he made good use of a pair of binoculars, and at length spotted what appeared to be the wreckage of half a dozen airships. Leaving his men on the beaten track he set out with his two sons to investigate the scene of the disaster.
"So there is war between Great Britain and Valderia, eh? And the port of Zandovar is taken? Then I think I will not go to Naocuanha just à l'instant."
"Were you bound for the capital, then?" asked Dacres.
"As soon as I finish the work at San Carlos. I have to see the installation of the electric light at several of the buildings public—the Cathedral and the Cavarale, for example, but I think it will wait."
Whittinghame was too good a diplomat to come straight to the point and ask for direct information concerning the Cavarale—the prison where his brother and the British officers were confined. But the chance was too good to be thrown aside. He would put the question indirectly at a more opportune moment.
"Come and have lunch with us," he said courteously. "We cannot, unfortunately, offer you of the wines of la belle France, but our stores are by no means exhausted. After we have lunched we will show you the airships, or rather ours and the remains of the Valderian one."
"The Valderian one?" replied de la Fosse incredulously. "I did not know that Valderia possessed an airship. Mais, perhaps it is well not to show too much interest in a country that is not ones own."