“And if they do?”
“If they do, we’ll leave them the greenhouse, coal mine, heating plant and all in exchange for that bit of information.”
Jarvis seemed quite content with any arrangement which promised to put a few thousand miles between him and the “bloody, bloomin’ ’eathen.”
After the wound of the one who had been winged by Dave’s automatic had been dressed, Dave locked himself in the cabin with the yellow men.
It took him three hours to secure the desired information, but in the end it came.
The wounded Oriental showed him a secret eccentric bearing through which the crank shaft operated. When this bearing was properly adjusted the engine worked perfectly, when it was out of adjustment, it would not work at all.
When Dave had operated the engine for an hour, he sent the prisoners back to the greenhouse, where they were released. The gold they had stolen was found hidden away in a locker of the balloon cabin.
In another hour, the balloon, with all on board, gently urged on by the wind, ably assisted by the now perfect engine, was making good time toward Vladivostok.
As Johnny Thompson hesitated at the head of the street, listening to the rat-tat-tat of machine guns, uncertain which way to turn, he heard the distant thunder of an engine in midair. Gazing away to the north, he saw a dirigible balloon circling in search of a likely lighting place.