The Phantom Airman

"And the length of the rope round our necks as well," murmured his companion.

They all laughed at this, but Spitzer looked keenly for an instant into the eyes of the two pilots, as though he would search their innermost souls, and make sure that they would be game to the end. But they evidently read his thoughts also, for Max announced:–

"It's all right, Rittmeister; we're not going back upon our word. The die is cast!" and Carl in a brave attempt at another sally, added:–

"The cast is–die!" at which they all laughed again, as the old sea pirates laughed before they blew up their ship, when they saw that the game was up.

The next instant their thoughts were diverted to another subject. It was already mid-day, for the sun by his altitude announced it. As they approached the drum, they could now distinctly hear the hum of mighty engines though still forty miles away, recorded in that delicate instrument, and one thought, uttered or unexpressed, came instinctively to each mind:–

"Aircraft approaching!"

CHAPTER IX

THE PHANTOM BIRD

"Airship or aeroplane?" asked von Spitzer, a moment later, as Carl closely watched the delicate recorder, which, as the vibration caused by the sound waves increased, indicated not only the type of craft, but the type of engine by which it was driven, and also whether the engine was running with or without defects. So wonderful are the secrets which man has already wrested from nature.

"Airship, decidedly!" replied Carl, after a second's pause. "Full-powered too; there are four or five Sunbeam-Maori engines, and all running smoothly."

"Her position?" demanded the Rittmeister next.

"Forty-four miles due east," came the answer.

"Then it must be the aerial mail from India; she is just about due."

"Is she steering due west?" the chief asked.

"About two degrees south, that's all," replied Carl. "She's evidently getting a little drift from the upper currents."

"Good!" remarked the chief airman. "Then if she continues steering steady, she should pass within a couple of miles of us in another twenty or twenty-five minutes. Come along, Carl, it is time for us to get away. You will remain on the ground, Max. You have a difficult job. As soon as we get away, see that the tents are struck, and all men and horses placed under cover of the trees."

"Yes, sir."

"And now sound the alarm signal, and help us to get out the Scorpion; it is going to bite to-day," ordered the Rittmeister as he strode away, exclaiming,

"Who wouldn't be a king of the desert? For one day at least it will be, 'Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles!'"

The alarm being sounded, all the occupants of the little camp went to quarters, just as they had been rehearsed during the last few days. The camouflaged fabric was stripped from the little hangar, and the Scorpionwas set free to bite once more. She was released from the ropes which held her down and turned head to wind. The steel folding wings were snapped back into their sockets and made secure.

"Are you ready, Carl?" asked the chief, as he completed his rapid survey of the machine, during which neither the propellers, planes, tail-fin nor rudder escaped his scrutiny.

"Aye, ready, sir!" came the reply from the junior, who was now seated in the armour-plated conning-tower, testing the controls and examining his machine guns.

Without a moment's delay the chief clambered up through the little trapdoor and joined his companion. Then he paused for a moment whilst he swept the eastern horizon with his powerful binoculars.

"I cannot see her yet, Carl," he said. Then turning to Max, who stood by the starboard engine, he shouted, "Just try to pick up her position again from the drum. She may have changed her course a trifle."

The Gotha pilot dashed off on his errand, and after carefully listening for a moment, he returned and said, "East-south-east, about four degrees east."

"Good, she'll pass about five miles south of us then; but she's not visible yet," replied Spitzer.

"She's getting a good deal of drift, I fancy," returned Max.

"Anyhow, we'll get up into the blue and wait for her," said the airman, and waving his hand for the signal to stand clear, he pressed the self-starting knob, and instantaneously both engines sprang into life, and the whirring propellers started up such a dust storm from the loose sand of the desert that the Arabs were startled, and rushed to secure their frightened steeds.

Within ten seconds the rev.-counter indicated two thousand five hundred, and, sufficient power for flying speed being thus obtained, Max deftly removed the chocks from the wheels, and this new type of desert steed dashed off across the sands, and leapt into the air, amid the cheers of the astonished Bedouins.

"Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful!" cried the Arab chief, as he raised his hands imploringly towards heaven. "It is the bird of destiny, my children, the phantom of the desert!" and Max could scarcely restrain a smile as he beheld the momentary fear which had seized these strong, fierce men.

The next moment, however, they were all busy striking the tents and bringing horses, equipment, and all the camp effects under the shadow of the trees.

Meanwhile the Scorpion, appearing exactly like a huge grey phantom bird, soared away in a north-westerly direction, lest it should be observed by the occupants of the approaching liner.

And in a few minutes, rising rapidly by steep spirals, and an almost vertical climb, it had disappeared from sight. Soon it soared over the camp again at ten thousand feet, and appeared but a speck in the cloudless blue, like the faintest suspicion of a tiny cirrus cloud.

Shortly afterwards a cry from one of the natives directed the attention of all present towards another tiny streak in the opposite direction. His sharp, piercing eyes had been the first to discern the approaching airship.

"Allah, the Compassionate!" again began the sheik, and Max, fearing that this strange visitant might affect their nerves, called out aloud in the best Arabic he could muster:–

"Allah be praised! This stranger carries gold and rare jewels across the desert. He must pay tribute to the sons of Jebel and Shomer!"

This appeal to their cupidity instantly changed the demeanour of these fanatics. Their fear departed. Even when, later, they heard the roar of the powerful engines which propelled the airship, their one thought was of plunder.

"The treasures of twenty Damascus' caravans are in that great airship," cried Max, fulfilling with considerable skill the part which Spitzer had allotted to him.

The Bedouins, whose feelings were now raised to the highest pitch of excitement, began to fear lest, after all, so rich a prize might be lost, and they eagerly searched the skies for the phantom airman, as they called the Rittmeister, and shouted:–

"Where is the phantom bird? Where is the great white sheik?" and they would have dashed out into the desert on their fiery steeds, for they were already mounted, but the German restrained them, saying:–

"There is no need to hunt the quarry. The great white sheik will bring down the airship on this very spot. Be ready, when I give the signal, to surround it."

Another anxious moment passed, and the airship, travelling rapidly at some three thousand feet above the ground, would have passed them by some few miles to the south, but at that instant, the Indian judge caught sight of the picturesque oasis with its cluster of palms far down below, and said to his soldier companion:–

"Look, Colonel Wilson! Just look at that beauty spot after two hundred miles of yellow desert."

"Ah, wonderful!" exclaimed the delighted soldier. "It is a little garden planted by Nature in the solitary wastes."

"How picturesque! I should like to land there," returned the other.

"Let us ask the captain at least to change his course slightly, so that we may pass over it and photograph it as a souvenir of our pleasant journey," said the officer.

At that moment the captain, passing down the gangway, overheard the remark, and being eager to oblige his distinguished passengers, he telephoned his orders to the navigating officer, who slightly altered the ship's course, so as to pass almost directly over the oasis.

It was while they were engaged in delightful contemplation of this emerald isle embedded in the gold of the desert, that another object attracted the attention of the judge. Chancing to glance upwards, he caught sight of a silvery speck six thousand feet above them, and a little way on their beam.

"See, a tiny cloudlet in the sky; the first I have ever seen in crossing these deserts."

"A cloud, where?" asked his companion.