“Get ready! Quick! There is no time to lose. You are going with us.”
“Going with you? Where?”
Joan felt a sudden depression creep over her. Was this man going to separate her from her brother?
“Ask the general, or wait and find out. I have my instructions.”
With another sneer Kosloff turned to the door, paused, and looked back, and added:
“I am coming back in less than half an hour for you.”
“I must get word to Julian or Billy,” Joan gasped. “Where can they be taking me? Once separated from my friends my life will be a constant misery.”
She paused in her cogitations, and began to tremble. What could be ahead of her? She did not find out, and threw herself across her bed. She was still lying with her head buried in the bedspread when Kosloff returned. This time he was accompanied by several guards, who were none too polite. They lifted the girl in their arms, and carried her aboard a large airship. While they were taking her up a steel-like ladder Joan had an opportunity to observe the machine carefully. It was the biggest thing she had ever seen in the way of an aircraft, being eight hundred yards long, three hundred feet wide. In shape it was an elongated cylinder, and she knew enough about modern metal to discover that it was made of beryllium—a wonderful new material impervious to heat or cold. The walls were hollow, and heavily armored so that it was proof against the strongest shells. The openings were sliding doors with an inner door of glass. Thus, when the outer door was closed, the entire ship seemed compactly built without an opening. It was propelled by rockets fired from long metal tubes located in the bow, in the stern, and on both sides.
With rude hands her captors shoved her through an open door and along a narrow companionway to a small cabin daintily and charmingly furnished. Here they threw her on the floor and departed, slamming the door behind them. The second they were gone she sprang to her feet. When she tested the door she found that it had locked so that it would be impossible to break out of the cabin. Then she began a search for a window. There was none, and she ran around and around the small chamber like a frightened rat without getting anywhere.
Presently she began to beat the walls with her clenched hands. She did not expect to gain anything by this but it gave vent to her feelings. In the rear of the room she accidentally struck a small round knob with her thumb. The blow caused a secret panel to slide back and expose an opening about eight inches square. The opening was above her head but she found a stool and climbed up on it.