"There's not much to tell, so far as I'm concerned," answered Trent as he lit his pipe. "We kept our course, and just as we came abreast of your bogey ship she hauled down her signal lights and steamed away. Then——"
"Ah, that must have been immediately after the waterplane rose," interrupted Lawless. "I thought there wasn't much wrong with her machinery."
"Well, as I was saying, as soon as she steamed off I turned the searchlight on her, but could discover nothing of a suspicious nature," continued Trent. "Neither, for that matter, could I see anything of you, though we caught sight of the empty boat drifting. Nothing fresh happened till I heard a terrific explosion astern, and turned round just in time to see a ball of flame sink into the water near the Mars. I couldn't imagine what it was for a moment; but the Mars people got their searchlight going in less than a jiffy, and then we spotted an aeroplane directly overhead.
"That settled the mystery of the explosion, and the Mars began to pot at her with the vertical guns, though at first it was impossible to tell whether any hits were made. But after a few shots, all doubts were set at rest, for she came tumbling down like a winged partridge. As soon as she struck the water, boats were lowered, and they rowed to the floating wreckage, where they found you and also the body of a man who had evidently been killed by one of the shots. As the heavier parts of the machine had sunk, we could not tell what sort of weapons she carried, or the number of the crew.
"After that, I went aboard the Mars and reported to the skipper what you had told me about your suspicions concerning the Black Diamond. He was precious ratty at not having been told before, and I got orders to chase the steamer and search her. We overhauled her in less than half an hour. She's now safely anchored near the Hard, and her crew are prisoners."
"It's pretty clear that the waterplane was carried aboard the steamer in sections," said Lawless after a pause. "No doubt they were put together after she left the quay. The whole thing was wonderfully engineered, I must say."
"But what about you?" asked Trent. "I imagine you must have had a rather exciting time."
"Exciting!" ejaculated the Lieutenant grimly, and then proceeded to relate all that had happened to him after he left the Knat.
"Well," said Trent at the conclusion, "you scored that time, anyway."
"I s'pose so," answered the other, with a sigh. "But if it had only been a Zep and I'd brought it down, there'd have been a cool thou.' waiting for me."