“Try and realize it all,” urged the young airman, “for time is precious.” And then our hero told all that there was to tell.
Each succeeding moment Morris Deane seemed to take in more clearly the extraordinary disclosures the young pilot had to make.
“I never dared dream of escape, of a rescue,” spoke Deane. “And you and your friends have done this noble act! Can I ever show my gratitude? Think of it, that hopeless life at Lhassa, and now freedom—freedom!”
The speaker threw up his hands in an ecstatic way. He looked at his rescuer with tears in his eyes.
“Yes,” replied the young airman, “it is freedom—your anxious father—your devoted sister—a fortune awaiting you and—home!”
CHAPTER XXI
WAR
“What was that, Dave?” asked Hiram Dobbs.
“War,” replied the young pilot of the Comet, and he used the word very seriously, “we have taken the wrong course, but there’s no going back now.”
The champion biplane was sailing over a broad, deep valley two hours after dusk. Everything was in brisk going trim. The days that had elapsed since the rescued captive, Morris Deane, had been cared for by the young airmen had passed pleasantly. They had crossed Russia, had reported at Teheran, had seen some of the wonders of Arabia, and now were traversing Turkish territory.