"All right. Tell the navigating officer that I'll be down in one moment."
At this very instant the telephone bell which connected the cabin with the navigating gondola rang furiously. Snatching up the receiver, the captain asked, "What's the matter, Donaldson? Is there another raider on the starboard bow?"
"No, sir, but there's something very much like a signal flash away in the north-west."
"Sure it wasn't a shooting star?"
"More like a Very light, sir, but very faint," replied the navigating officer. "Shall I reply, sir?"
"Yes, give him three red lights. I expect it's one of the patrols looking for us. I'm coming down now," and the captain replaced the receiver, and made haste down the corridor which led to the chart and navigation room.
The next instant three red balls of fire fell from the airship earthwards in rapid succession, and within a couple of minutes a faint gleam of greenish light fell like an arc in the north-western sky.
"Yes, the patrols have found us, sure enough," exclaimed the captain, who had now joined the officer.
After several further exchanges of fire-balls, repeated now from two or three quarters, the searchers closed in upon the straggler. Then a rapid dialogue took place by means of the morse lamp, and, when dawn came, shortly afterwards, no less than six fighting scouts, running at about a quarter throttle, surrounded the wounded leviathan, and escorted her towards Cairo.
When the Empress reached that town, she was already twenty-four hours overdue at London, so the cables and the wireless stations were busy with messages relating to the missing liner, and with more than one inquiry as to the safety of her cargo, evidently from the consignees, or more likely still, from the underwriters.