"Let me see the pictures, sir," requested Keane, eager to get some idea of his future opponent.
"Here they are. I have had them developed and enlarged. They should be extremely useful to us, as we shall shortly have to encounter this Sultan Selim, Air King of the Hamadian Desert, the world's greatest bandit, who had the audacity to send me this document by the captain."
And here the colonel, having retailed the whole story of the fight in the desert, showed the brigand's letter, which had been brought to London the previous day by the fast aeroplane which had carried the skipper of the air-liner.
Keane turned in amazement from the clear photographs of the phantom-bird to the brief, audacious letter of the phantom airman, and read as follows:--
"To Colonel Tempest, D.S.O., M.C.,
Commissioner of Aerial Police, Scotland Yard, London, W.C.
"Greetings from Sultan Selim, Air King of the Hamadian Desert. I regret to inform you that of late there has been a serious increase of aerial crime in these regions. The frequent passing of large airships containing mails and other commodities, without due payment of tribute to my customs officials, is a serious infringement of the laws of my dominion. This action not only imperils the liberties of small communities, but is also a crafty form of aerial brigandage, inasmuch as it defrauds my exchequer of its just and equitable revenue. This practice must cease forthwith, and I have taken steps to-day which, in my opinion, will render it unwise for this shameful trespass to continue. The bearer of this letter will give you further details of the action which I have been compelled to take on behalf of my subjects. Your five missing scouts will be found between the wells of Nefud and the Hedjaz coast. I have destroyed their machines as a salutary warning to future violaters of these my dominions."
Keane could scarcely restrain a smile when he laid down this wily, half-humorous, half-threatening epistolary from the aerial pirate.
"What do you think of it?" asked the colonel.
"It's a topping letter, sir, but I think he's trying hard to be funny, this von Spitzer, as you call him. A German with a sense of humour, sir, that's the best way to regard him," replied the airman.