 21 The homecoming The eastern mountains were still casting their long shadows over the lawns and fields, the vineyards and the gardens of area on the morning of the 11th of May in the year 2037 of the Christian era, and the 133rd year of the peace. But the whole population of the lovely valley was already afoot and abroad, for this was the most momentous day that had been in the history of the colony since Richard Arnold had first crossed the northern ridge within the tassure beside him in the conning tower of the little aerial in those days the only airship that existed in the world. To lay the foundations of that throne from which their descendants had ruled the nations of the earth for a century and a quarter. Today the year of probation imposed by the council upon Alan Arnoldson and his companion in misfortune in exile and in victory was to expire, and the long lost wanderers were to return to their home and kindred. Very soon after it became light hundreds of aerial boats and yachts of every variety of design and ornamentation that the taste and the skill of the most highly cultivated race of people the world had ever seen could devise came floating in towards the vast city of area from the marble palaces and villas which were scattered throughout the length and breadth of the Central African Paradise. Along the broad smooth white roads too which led from the southern portions of the valley round the lake to the northern shore on which the city stood groups of people with here and there husbands and wives and pairs of yet unwedded lovers were gliding in long swift easy curves on noiseless wheel skates over the polished marble of the pavements. Bright with the gayest and yet most perfectly harmonized colors blazing with jewels and precious metals from their gold or crystal-winged coronets to the burnished silver framework of their skates, splendid in statua and glowing with perfect health, if some man of the present day could have beheld these dwellers in area on their way to hold high festival in their capital, he would have thought that he had strayed into some other and higher sphere inhabited by some glorified race of beings who had left the toils and cares and pollutions of earth far behind them on some lower plain of existence. Remarkless indeed, from some such sphere the reincarnated spirits of those who, a hundred and thirty-three years before, had passed through the tremendous ordeal of the terror, and in their hour of well-wound triumph had made such a splendid future possible for their descendants, looked down with approving eyes not undarkened by a shade of sorrow for woes to come upon this glorious scene of the fruition of the harvest that they had sown, this realization of the long-sought ideal of human brotherhood, where there was no evil because men had learnt at last that good was better than evil. Vast as was the stately city which was at once the capital and the only town of area it was soon comfortably filled by the brilliant throngs of visitors that came pouring into it by roads and through the air. The broad white streets lined with their double groves of palms and tree ferns soon blazed with colour, and became vocal with greetings and laughter, and all the houses which lined them were thrown open to all visitors who chose to come and claim hospitality for the day of rejoicing. On the terrace in front of her father's villa, on the slopes that rose to the west of the city, Alma stood with Isma, watching the brilliant scene below and around them, and speculating on the coming events of the day which for them had a supreme interest, such as no other inhabitant of the valley could feel. It will be a right royal homecoming for our two heroes, won't it, Alma? said Isma, slipping her little hand through her friend's arm, almost worthy of the great deeds that they have done to regain what will be given back to them today, and yet alas there is to be a spot on the sun of happiness for all that. Alma, are you still quite sure that poor Alan will have to come back and not find that which above all other things he comes to seek? A faint flush rose to Alma's cheeks, as she replied, in a low, steady tone. Yes, Isma, alas! As you say, I am still sure of that. Supposing always that he really does come to seek what you mean? I know that no man ever lived more worthy the love of a woman than he is. Yet God help me! I cannot give mine. I know, too, that he will come back to day-crowned, with more honour than any Aryan save Alexis ever won before him, since the days of our ancestors. And yet, whenever I permit myself even to dream of him as a lover, a dark, beautiful, cruel face looks with black, burning eyes into mine, and two sweet, scornfully smiling lips say in a whisper that sounds almost like a serpent's hiss. You may take him now, for I have done with him. Take him, and ask him to tell you how well he and I loved when my spell was strong upon him, and he forgot both you and all his kindred for sake of me. It is horrible, horrible beyond all thought or speech, but it is so, Isma. And I, of all the thousands of Arya who will make merry today, shall be sad at heart and praying for the night to come. I don't believe it, Alma. However sincerely you may do so, as of course you do," replied Isma impatiently. It is not your true and loving self that is speaking. It is the woman who has been brooding over a shattered idol that never really was a man of flesh or blood. I tell you again, and before that sun has set you will confess in your own heart that I am right, that you have never known the Alan who is coming home today any more than I have known the Alexis who is coming home with him. Neither you nor I have ever seen two such men as they will be, men who will have passed through such experiences as no other Aryan ever had, who have suffered and conquered, dead and done, like them. You must put away those morbid fancies of yours, dearest. They are not worthy of you any more than Olga Romanov is worthy to cause you an hour's unhappiness. Never mind thinking about Alan as a lover now. I tell you, you have never seen him. Therefore it will be time enough for you to begin to do that when you do see him. For my own part I don't mind telling you, of course strictly between ourselves, that though I can hardly say that I love Alexis as he is now since I do not know what he is like, I am quite prepared to fall in love with him all over again, on the slightest provocation. And now, after that confession, I think we had better close the discussion and get ready to go over to the city. Miss Franka Vowell, uttered as it was with a delightful candour, quite irresistible in its charm, brought a smile to Alma's lips in spite of her own somber thoughts. She slipped her arm round Isma's waist and led her towards one of the long windows which opened out onto the terrace under the pillared portico which ran the whole length of the front of the villa. I quite agree with you, she said. If that telltale face of yours is no better mask than it is now when you meet Alexis, I don't think you will have long to wait for the provocation. Ah, well, I suppose, in fact I am sure, that you take by far the wiser view, and I would give anything to be able to look upon Alan as you are ready to do on Alexis. But no, it's no use. Do what I will, I cannot think of him apart from that siren who has held him in the bondage of her spells all these years. I know it is unreasonable. And yet he seems, even now, that he has regained his freedom, to belong to her more than he ever did to me. That, my dear Alma, replied Isma, half seriously and half in jest, is as nearly absurd as anything that such a serious and cultivated person as yourself could say. If I could give you a share of my more trivial temperament, you would just say that you are still so desperately jealous of Olga Romanov, that you cannot bring yourself to think of Alan as a possible lover until you feel quite sure that he hates her as intensely as you do. That may not be a very heroic way of putting it, but I think we shall find it pretty near the truth before you have known the new Alan very long. Alma laughed more musically than mirthfully at this sally, but made no reply to it in words. There was, perhaps more truth in the half bantering, half reproachful words than she would have cared to admit, even to her best beloved and most confidential friend, and so she took a wise refuge in silence, from which Isma, in the gladness of her own heart, drew her own conclusions. It might have been that there were depths in Alma's nature which were not even their lifelong friendship and their common sorrows had enabled her to fathom. But for the present, she was quite satisfied that the jealousy of Olga and anger at the advantage which Alma believed her to have taken of her power were the sole reasons that prevented her from regarding Alan as she had confessed herself ready and willing to regard Alexis. When they left the terrace, the two girls had breakfast together in Alma's own room in a privacy which the other members of the family tactfully respected, knowing as they did that the events of the day would bear a totally different significance for them, to that which they would have for all the other inhabitants of the valley. By the time the sun began to show his disc above the ridges of the eastern mountains, they were on their way to the city with Alma's mother and father in one of the aerial boats that were used for transit about the interior of the valley. They alighted on the flat roof of the President's official residence, a splendid palace of the purest white marble which stood on the northern side of the Great Square, from the centre of which rose the golden domed building which served the Aryans as a meeting place on all public occasions. It was here that the decrees of the council were promulgated and here too, on every seventh day, were held the simply impressive religious services prescribed by the Aryan form of worship. Soon after they had arrived at the President's house, a great mellow-toned bell sounded the hour of six from the capola above the dome. And as the last stroke died away, a chorus of silvery chimes rose up from a hundred towers in different parts of the city, and went floating across the lake and down the valleys to the southward, caught up and echoed as it went by peels, from the thousand palaces and villas scattered about the lower slopes of the mountains. This was the signal for the commencement of the first ceremony of the day, and the gaily dress smiling throngs of visitors to the city began to file in or orderly, leisurely fashion into the eight wide open doors which led to the interior of the vast temple in the middle of the central square. In the midst of the immense open area under the dome was a space about twenty feet square. Enclosed by low railings of massive gold and in this stood three tall pillars of marble without a single floor or vein to mar their perfect whiteness from base to capital. On each of them stood an urn of exquisite shape, each curved out of a solid block of crystal and each containing a small quantity of ashes. Each pillar borne inscription in letters of gold let into the marble. The center one was slightly higher than the other two and its inscription consisted of the single word natas. The urns on the other two pillars contained a larger quantity of ashes. On the pillar to the right hand facing the main entrance to the temple were the words Richard Arnold first conqueror of the air. Natasha the angel of the revolution and on that to the left Alan Tremaine first president of the Anglo-Saxon Federation Muriel Tremaine his wife. The square in which these pillars stood was the most sacred spot on all the earth in the eyes of the Aryans sanctified as it was by the ashes of those who had made possible the great deliverance and brought peace on earth after countless ages of strife. Each tongue was silent and every head was bowed in reverence as those who entered the temple first caught sight of the pillars and their priceless burdens. Then the vast and ever-swelling congregation arranged itself in orderly files all fronting towards an elevated rostrum which stood at one of the angles of the great square under the dome formed by the junction of the four knaves with their long pillar dials which ran towards the four points of the compass. Suddenly all the carillions that were still ringing out over the city ceased and in the midst of the perfect silence the president ascended the rostrum to address the expectant assembly. Although he spoke but a little above his ordinary tone every word could be heard with perfect distinctness through the immense interior of the building. For a system of electric transmitters at development of the modern telephone carried his voice simultaneously to a hundred parts of the walls so that those who were standing farthest from him heard quite as distinctly as those who were close to the rostrum. He began by a brief narration of all that had happened to Arya and the world since the fatal day on which Olga Romanov had set foot on the deck of the ethereal to the present moment and made no attempt to conceal or to minimize the tremendous and disastrous consequences that had flowed from that fatal yet innocent mistake on the part of his son. He confessed that the empire of the air, that pricey legacy which they had received from its first conqueror had been lost and that not only the outside nations of the earth but even Arya itself stood upon the eve of a conflict in comparison with which even the war of the terror itself would prove almost insignificant. All that had been one then had now to be fought for over again and fought for with weapons the destructiveness of which made impossible any estimate of the carnage and desolation that were about to burst upon the world. Then he described how Alan and Alexis acting under the orders of the council had after vainly trying to arouse the rulers and senates of Anglo-Saxon-dom to a sense of their danger and responsibility proclaimed martial law throughout the whole area of the federation. Reasserting the supremacy which the council had resigned nearly seven years before and taken the direct conduct of affairs into their own hands. He told how the manhood of Europe, America, South Africa and Australia had under the influence of their appeals roused itself from the sloth of prosperity and the vain dreams of democracy and under their leadership had mustered millions upon millions strong to oppose those who determined to rivet the chains of despotism once more upon the limbs of free men. The energy and devotion of the two men whose exile was to end that day had accomplished this miracle in less than a twelve month. All the mechanical resources of the federation had been simultaneously devoted to the building of an aerial navy which already numbered nearly a thousand vessels and more than a hundred dockyards had achieved the construction of a navy of over a thousand submarine warships while millions of small arms had been sent out from area or manufactured in the arsenals of the federation for the equipment of the newly created armies. What the issue would be of the mighty struggle which would begin in six days no man could tell but all that could be done to give the victory to area and the federation had been done and the rest lay in the hands of the god of battles who had given their ancestors the victory in the days of the terror. The president concluded his address by saying then their welcome shall be unmarred by any voice of dissent as the father of one of the exiles I thank you for endorsing the sanction which as president of the council I have believed it my duty to give to the return of my son Alan and his friend and companion Alexis Mazaroff who fell with him and with him has risen again. Hardly had the last word left his lips when salvo after salvo of aerial artillery roared out from the mid-air all around the mountains and came echoing down the upper gorges and ravines to tell the people of area that the fleet which had been sent out to escort the returning exiles was already in sight so spacious with the approaches to the vast building that in less than ten minutes from the time the president had left the rostrum on hearing the salutes from the sky not a soul remained within its precincts outside the city hall the scene was such as to baffle all attempts at adequate description hundreds of aerial craft fashioned in every conceivable variety of design that the educated fancy of their owners could suggest soared up from various parts of the city and its environs and made towards the ridge to the north of the valley the summit was about four thousand feet above the slope on which the city stood and it was quite within the capacity of the pleasure craft to scale this height so they glittering wings beat the cool fresh air of the morning with rapid strokes and the whole flotilla of them soared upwards until their occupants were able to see over the mighty rock wall and the illimitable landscape beyond opening out before their expectant gaze the president the vice president and the 12 members of the council with their families had embarked on one of the new aerial battleships 250 of which had been constructed during the past year the avenger as she had been named in view of the fact that she was hence forth to be placed under allen's immediate command as flagship of the combined arian and federation fleets was the largest aerial cruiser then in existence and embodied the highest structural skill to which the engineers of area had attained from the stern to the point of her ram she was 275 feet in length with a midship's beam of 30 feet she was sustained in the air on two pairs of wings one working under the other of these the lower and larger pair measured 200 feet from point to point and 50 feet in their greatest breadth while the upper pair working nearly flush with the deck were two-thirds of their size she carried 10 guns on each broadside and two bow and two stern chasers of a range limited only by the possibility of taking aim at the object to be destroyed and her propellers were capable of driving her through the air at the hitherto unheard of speed of 600 miles an hour the avenger attended by an escort of 50 cruisers of somewhat smaller dimensions than her own rapidly outdistanced the flotilla of pleasure craft and passed over the ridge at a speed of 60 miles an hour stopped at an elevation of a thousand feet above it from here those on her deck could see the vast oval of the valley encircled by the sentinel ships which now constantly patrolled the mountain bullocks of the area and which were launching hundreds of time shells up into the air from their outer broad sides and producing a continuous roar of explosions which formed such a greeting salute has had never been heard on the earth or in the air before presently an answering roll of thunder was heard from far away to the north and growing every moment louder and louder there they come at last chrydisma who was standing with alma in the bow of the avenger eagly scanning the northern heaven through a pair of field glasses i can see the flashes of the shells quite distinctly as she spoke she handed the glasses to alma and noticed not without a little smile satisfaction that her hands trembled slightly as she raised them to her eyes yes they are coming said alma in a tone that might have been a good deal steadier than it was i can see the the sun shining upon the hulls of the ships they are coming up very fast evidently of course they are laughed isma after the poor fellows have been shut out all this time from the delights of area it is only natural that they should hasten their homecoming look look you can see them without the glasses now what a swarm of them this seems to be as she spoke an immense fleet numbering nearly 500 vessels spread out in the form of a vast crescent the arc of which was turned towards area swept up out of the blue distance their polished hulls glittering in the bright sunlight in the center of the arc and slightly elevated above the rest shone the blue hull and the white glistening wings of the ethereal and close in her wake followed the isma when the advancing fleet was within five miles of the mountains it slowed down from 400 to about 50 miles an hour at the same instant the other fleet ran up the area and federation flags and the simply eloquent signal welcome home flew from the lofty formast of the avenger it was instantly acknowledged by ethereal and then on all the 500 vessels the arian and federation flags were run to the mastheads and dipped three times in greeting then the two points at the vast crescent that they formed swung slowly and regularly forward until the arc was inverted and the ethereal and the isma came along side by side midway between the two horns when the two fleets were within half a mile of each other the avenger with 25 of her consorts on each side swung round into line with their prowess pointing towards the mountains and in this order at 50 miles an hour and an elevation of a thousand feet above the ridge the combined squadrons swept across the mountain barrier and alan and alexis each steering his own vessel in the conning tower saw for the first time after nearly seven years of exile the incomparable beauties of the arian landscape open out before their eyes following the movements of the leading squadron they dipped as soon as they had passed over the ridge and were met on their downward flight by the hundreds of pleasure craft which were waiting for them in mid-air thousands of gaily colored handkerchiefs were waved and welcomed to them and many a greeting in the sign language passed from the crews of the warships to the occupants of the pleasure craft and back again for some of the former had been on foreign service for nearly a year and there were many pleasant relationships to be renewed which had been interrupted by the calls of duty far below the homecomers could see the spacious streets of the great city brilliant with the gaily attired throngs who had come to welcome them and heard the greeting chorus of thousands of bells chiming in gladsome peels from the hundreds of towers and minaret scattered over the city and its environs signals were now flown from the adventure directing the whole of alan's fleet accepting the ethereal and the isma to a light on a great sloping plane to the northward of the city where the crews were to disembark and then proceed to the central hall of the temple acting on previous orders the consults of the avenger did the same the pleasure craft fluttered downwards onto the house tops and so the three battleships were left alone in the air the ethereal now floating on the right of the avenger and the isma on the left amid the welcoming cheers of the throngs which now filled the great square they sank slowly down and at length alighted on the roof of the president's palace then the doors of the deck chambers opened and a last and loudest cheer of all rose up as in full view of the assembled thousands in the square the president and morris masserov once more clasped hands with their long exiled sons then they descended into the interior of the palace followed by the council and the other guests aboard the avenger in the president's room the same in which he had received olgar romanoff's challenge from the skies alan and alexis were welcomed home again by those who were nearest and dearest to them only their immediate kindred were present for in the nature of the case the occasion could have been nothing but a private one nor could mere words of description do justice to the tender pathos of the scene which was enacted in that inner chamber for but few words were spoken even by the actors in it the emotions of such a moment were too intense and overpowering for speech and so heart spoke to heart almost in silence alma who had of course remained outside in the reception room of the palace with the council and her parents felt even more keenly than she had expected the truth of the prophecy that she had uttered to isma an hour or so before amidst all the thousands of area she was the only one whose heart was heavy on that day of universal rejoicing once and only once her eyes had met alan's but the single swift glance had been more than enough to tell her how far they now stood apart she had seen the light of pleasure and triumph suddenly die out of his eyes and the bright flush on his cheek pale as he looked at her there had not even been a greeting smile on his lips as he bowed his cold grave salutation to her and then turned away to look down upon the city and the splendid prospect of the valley that was opening before him this had happened up in midair just as the ships had crossed the ridge in close order and she had not been able to trust herself to look at him again even when they had disembarked on the roof of the palace the swift telegraphy of that one glance had been enough to tell her that it was not the fond light-hearted lover of her girlhood that had come back but a strong stern and prematurely grave man who knew all and more than she knew of the new relation between them and who knew also that they could not meet as they had parted and so accepted the changed conditions with a proud reserve that drew a sharp dividing line between them which for all she knew might never be crossed though outwardly she was calm and perfectly self-possessed she waited in a suspense that almost amounted to mental agony for the moment when the greetings in the president's room would be over and alan and alexis would be brought out to be formally presented to the council then their hands would have to meet and words would have to pass between them meet as strangers they could not for everyone knew even he knew why she had refused all these years to wed with any other man nor yet could they meet as lovers as isma and alexis had perhaps done by this time for between them the shadow had fallen and even if there was love in their hearts there could be none upon their lips if olgar romanoff could have looked into almas soul at that moment she would have seen something very like a fulfillment of a prophecy she had made on board the old ethereal six years and a half before to alan when she first heard of her rival by your hand i will wring her heart dry and cast it aside to wither like an apple shaken from the tree in those moments of suspense it seemed to alma that even now her heart was withering under the blight of this great sorrow that had fallen upon her life after all her years of loving and patient waiting at last she heard footsteps and the voices in the corridor that led from the private apartments of the palace they were coming and almost mechanically she turned her eyes towards the curtain which screened the doorway through which they would enter they parted and alan came in walking by his father's side and with isma hanging laughing on his arm she shrank back a little as she saw isma look at her for a moment and then say something to alan but he appeared to take no notice and walked forward with his father to where the members of the council were waiting to receive him she heard the president say the formal words of presentation and saw the rulers of area one after another grasp his hands and then those of alexis greeting them heartily as they did so then the little group opened and she saw as in a waking dream alan's tall form striding towards her with both hands outstretched and heard a voice that was his and yet not his so deep a ring of unwanted gravity was there in it say are you going to be the only one who has no greeting for the prodigal alma have you forgotten that we were sweethearts once therefore surely maybe friends now there was an emphasis on the word friends that was perhaps imperceptible to all ears but hers but she caught it and took her cue from it instantly with admirable tact he had in that one word shown her the only basis on which it would be possible for them to take part together in the society of the valley as man and woman they must be to one another as friends whose friendship was sweetened by the recollection that long ago as boy and girl they had been lovers she accepted the situation with a sense of thankfulness and infinite relief and frankly placing her hands in his and summoning all her self-command to her aid she looked steadily up into his bronze bearded face and said gravely and sweetly you know that that is not so alan and if my welcome is little tardy it is nonetheless sincere for that reason there were others who had prior claims and so i waited for it is only right that friends should come after kindred welcome home i suppose we are going to the council hall now to see what we are all longing so much to see the golden wings once more upon your brows yes replied alan coloring slightly as he noticed her upward glance at his sable headgear we are going there immediately i believe but he continued in a lower tone and still holding her hand in his long and anxiously as i have looked forward to today and its promise half of that promise will be betrayed unless you tell me first that you believe i have fairly won the right to wear the golden wings again tell me now do you in your heart think so if you have not done so she replied only keeping her voice steady by a supreme effort then it would be hopeless for any man to look for forgiveness on earth you have fallen and you have risen again and today there are no two men in area more worthy of honor than you and a lexus are he looked down into the clear depths of her soft gray eyes as she spoke and in another instant he might have forgotten that which sealed his lips to all words of love and all the reserve to which he had been schooling himself for so long but at that moment almas mother came towards them saying that the president was ready to take alan to the council hall and this with the smile that thousands should not be kept waiting for the sake of one her words recalled him to himself and with an inclination of his black plumed head he said that is enough for now i know that i have heard the truth from the lips of my severest judge and i am well content with it i have not lost everything if you believe that i have regained my honor we all believe that alan said almas mother before her daughter could reply and more than that i know of no one in area who thinks that you were ever really lost it now go to your father he's thinking of the thousands who are waiting anxiously for you in the council hall you can finish this conversation later on he accepted the dismissal with a smile and as he went back he saw isma slip away from a lexus side with a telltale blush on her lovely face and giving him a saucy laughing glance as she passed him run lightly across the room to almas side well she said reading too swiftly and not very correctly the altered expression of her friend's face have you made friends then after all i thought you would and oh alma i am so happy yes replied alma gravely though she could not repress a smile at the radiant face that looked up at hers we have made friends but you seem to have done something more than that your explanations they weren't her explanations at all interrupted isma rosy red from neck to brow when we met in the room he picked me up in his arms before everybody and kissed me and after that of course there was nothing to be said end of chapter 21 this recording is in the public domain chapter 22 of olga romanoff by george griffith this livery box recording is in the public domain chapter 22 the eve of battle an irregular procession was now formed at the head of which walked the two returned exiles each with his father by his side and followed by the rest of the company they passed out of the reception room down the wide entrance hall and out of the great arch portal which opened onto the square as they appeared at the top of the spacious flight of marble steps which led from it down to the pavement a mighty cheer of welcome went up from a hundred thousand throats the peals of bells in the four towers which rose from the angles of the council hall sent forth the signal to all the other bell frees of the city and amidst the jubilant chorus that instantly burst forth the scene of the reinvestiture was reached then the great bell in the dome told out one sonorous warning note and instantly there was silence on the earth and in the air this was at the moment that the procession after passing half around the square along the broad path left for it by the cheering throng halted in front of the main entrance to the temple of area which faced towards the south in the middle of the magnificent facade fronting a marble paved avenue of double rows of palms and tree ferns which ran in a straight line for three miles down to the shores of the lake the Aryans had progressed far beyond the stage of semi barbaric pomp and display and so the ceremony of restoring to Alan and Alexis the rites of citizenship of which the golden wings were the symbol solemn as it was was also simple in the extreme as the vast curtains which hung over the main doors of the temple swung aside to admit them they fell out of the procession and doffed their sable headgear the president and his fellow counselors went on and took up their position in front of the three pillars under the center of the dome then a guard of honor composed of a hundred of their shipmates and companions in arms from Kegelen marched up to the door and formed into two files between which Alan and Alexis walked down the aisle through the space left by the orderly throng that filled the vast building from the floor to the topmost tier of the rows of seats which rose halfway up the lofty walls and so came in front of the president and the council here their guard halted and formed a semicircle leaving them in the open space within it a breathless silence fell upon the assembled thousands as they dropped on one knee before the president then in a voice whose every accent rang distinctly to the farthest corners of the huge building he said Alan Arnold and Alexis Mezerov the year of your probation ended with the rising of this morning sun you have been tried and you have not been found wanting and that of which the arch enemy of our race robbed you for a time you have regained by manly valour and patient devotion therefore by command of the supreme council and with the consent of all the citizens of area i restore to you the symbols of those rights which you lost and have regained in the presence of god in this assembly and on the holy ground that is sanctified by the ashes of those mighty ancestors of ours who bequeath to us the empire of the world i replace the golden wings upon your brows in the full belief that from the higher and happiest fear they now inhabit they are looking down with approval upon the act rise now re-crowned princes of the air and in the near approaching day of battle go forth with fearless hearts and stainless honor to do that which the voice of duty and the needs of humanity shall bid you do as he sees speaking he held out a hand to each of them and so they rose to their feet again once more wearing the golden wings once more free and equal amidst their peers of the royal race of area as they did so a burst of jubilant melody rolled out apparently from all parts of the temple at once it was the opening chorus of a triumphal march which the greatest living musicians of area and therefore of the world had composed in honor of the day and the event and as its splendid harmonies rolled out from the hidden organ through the vast interior and through the open portals into the square beyond the great assembly filed out in four streams from the temple and all area made ready to give itself up to feasting and merry making for the rest of the day for three days area kept high festival in honor of the homecoming of the son of the president and his companion in exile but for all that there was sterner business in hand than merry making for those in authority save in the almost impossible event of overtures of peace being received from the sultan war which in the nature of the circumstances could hardly fail to be universal would actually begin a daybreak on the 16th of may that is to say in five days after the return of allen and alexis the greater part therefore even of the days of rejoicing was really spent in hard work by those upon whom had devolved the tremendous responsibility of counteracting as far as was possible the designs of conquest and oppression to which Olga Romanov by means of her fatal beauty and subtle diplomacy had succeeded in irrevocably committing the magnificent early on the morning of the day following the reinvestiture of allen and alexis with the symbols of arian citizenship a council of war was held in the president's palace which was attended by all the members of the ruling council the chief engineers of the settlement and the admirals in command of the aerial and sea navies and the squadrons posted at the various stations throughout the world before this assembly allen who had already entered upon the active discharge of his duties as commander-in-chief of all the forces of area and the federation laid the details of his plans of attack and defense and invited criticism upon them the same day allen transferred his flag and his crew from the ethereal to the avenger while alexis took possession of a splendid vessel of the same type to which the name arian had been given after that of the airship commanded by allen tremaine in the battle of armageddon alexis however had very little difficulty in obtaining the consent of the council to his substituting another name for this with the consequence that the prize taken from the enemy resumed her russian name and remained in area as a trophy of the skill of her captors perhaps in his heart allen would have dearly liked to have made a similar change in the name of the avenger but it was impossible for him to propose it situated as he was with regard to alma alexis and isma had taken the shortest and therefore the wisest course out of the terribly delicate and embarrassing position which had been created by the unholy passions and ruthless treachery of olga romanoff they had tacitly agreed to ignore it in toto and to begin again where they had left off nearly seven years before and thus it came to pass that isma's own pretty hands spilled the christening wine over the shapely boughs of her formidable namesake the first use that allen made of his new ship was to test her immense capabilities to the utmost so that he might know what demands he might safely make upon her in possible emergencies he rushed her at full speed around the mountain bullocks of area a distance of 250 miles and found that she completed the circuit in just 25 minutes which gave a speed of 600 miles an hour alexis followed and covered the same distance in 27 minutes and a half in the isma these trials proved that the new arian vessels were from 50 to 75 miles an hour faster than the models on which their enemies had been building their new fleets a fact which unless olga and her ally had made a corresponding improvement in their battleships might be expected to have a considerable effect on the issue of the coming war after the speed trials the soaring powers of the two vessels were tried and it was demonstrated that their machinery was sufficiently powerful to carry them to altitudes beyond which it was not possible for human beings to breathe after this all the defences of area were visited and examined in detail and then on the second day after the arrival in the valley allen and alexis divided all the airships at their disposal into two squadrons each numbering nearly 400 vessels one of which commanded by allen guarded the valley while the other under a lexus constituted an attack force the duty of which was to find out if possible any weak points in the defensive organization from noon to midnight the mimic battle went on in strict accordance with the accepted rules of aerial warfare but though alexis and the captains of his fleet tried everything that skill or daring could suggest the defense proved too strong for them and during the whole 12 hours they were unable to bring a single vessel into such a position that she could send a shell into area without previously exposing herself to a fire that must have annihilated her in an instant this aerial review was the concluding spectacle of the festivities and it was watched by the occupants of thousands of pleasure craft whose interest in it was sharpened by the knowledge that before many days a conflict such as it portrayed might be raging in deadly earnest around the mountain bullocks of their hitherto in violent domain so consummate was the skill displayed by allen in this defense that as soon as the avenger touched ground after the review was over he was summoned to the council chamber in the president's palace to receive the thanks of the senate and cordial expression of the perfect confidence that the people of area would feel whatever the magnitude of war might prove to be while the conduct of the campaign was in his hands and those of alexis whose tactics had also been so perfect that without once putting a single ship in danger he had made it impossible for allen to do anything more than remain strictly on the defensive on the following day the 14th the motive power of all the vessels was renewed ammunition laid in and all the guns and engines minutely inspected so that there might be no chance of failure when the moment of trial came then the final arrangements for the defensive area itself were perfected and when that was done the veil of paradise as its inhabitants fondly called their lovely land was a vast fortress compared with which the strongholds of the present day would be as harmless and defenseless as molehills 400 aerial battleships of what were now called the first and second classes ranging in speed from four to five hundred and fifty miles an hour and mounting from 10 to 20 guns each were to patrol the outer walls of the mountains at distances of five and 10 miles from them and at elevations varying from two to 10 000 feet these were divided into two fleets of 200 each which relieved each other every six hours so that their supply of motive power might be constantly renewed in addition to these two squadrons of 25 are the most powerful warships of the newest type alternately kept watch and ward against surprise in the upper regions of the air from 15 to 20 000 feet above the valley while all round the great circuit of the mountains were planted in the most favorable positions nearly a thousand land batteries mounting three five and 10 guns each which if necessary would be able to surround area with a zone of storm and flame which nothing living could pass and still live by day the range of vision from the decks of the sentinel ships would make surprise impossible and at night the great electric suns on the summits of the mountains aided by hundreds of searchlights flashing through the darkness in every direction made an attack under cover of the darkness almost equally hopeless the news of the alliance between Olga and the Sultan had acted like a trumpet call to battle on the proud and martial spirit of the Aryans generations after generations their young men had been trained in the arts of war as well as in those of peace for the wisdom of their ancestors had foreseen that in the ordinary progress of science it was impossible for many generations to pass without some independent solution of the problem of aerial navigation which must sooner or later result in a challenge of their supremacy consequently all through the years of profound peace which the outside world had enjoyed under their rule their vigilance had never slept for a moment and their men and ships and materials of war were kept in the highest possible state of efficiency thus though the Aryan nation numbered little more than a million souls inhabiting a territory of some 250 square miles the amount of effective strength that it was able to put forth on an emergency was totally disproportionate to its size living in a region of inexhaustible fertility and boundless mineral wealth with no idle or mere consuming classes no politics and no laws that a child of ten could not understand they led simple natural and busy lives accumulating immense public and private riches which were as constantly expended in increasing the splendor and power of the state which as a whole was the expression of the wealth and patriotism of its citizens no sooner had the alliance of their enemies become an accomplished fact then they devoted the whole of their vast resources to increase in their offensive and defensive armaments to the utmost of their power reserves of material that had been stored up year after year had been drawn upon the mighty natural forces that they had brought into subjection laboured night and day for them and ships and machinery and guns came into existence as though at the bidding of some race of magicians magazines were filled with immense stores of ammunition potential death and destruction such as had never been wielded by human hands before and commanders and officers for all the battleships of the federation had been sent out as each squadron of vessels was completed in a word area had dawned her panoply of war and stood armed at all points ready to fight the world if necessary in defense of the priceless heritage which its citizens had received from their fathers the giants who in the days of the terror had taken despotism and oppression by the throat and flung them headlong out of the world the defences of area were to be under the immediate command of the president all the oceanic stations save kegelen kenerife bermuda and hawaii had been abandoned so as to permit of greater concentration of forces while 50 new ones had been established in different parts of europe and the british islands for here the brunt of the attack was to be expected and here the enemy must be met and crushed if anglo-saxon civilization was to be saved from a new era of militarism and personal oppression alan and alexis were to take command of the western and eastern fleets into which the aerial forces were to be divided alan in the west with britain as his chief base of operation and alexis in the east with the balkan peninsula as his base between the russian and muslim headquarters the naval fleets in three divisions the atlantic mediterranean and pacific squadrons had already received their general instructions and were waiting at their various rendezvous for the outbreak of hostilities the atlantic squadron blocked the straits of gibraltar the narrow seas of britain and the approaches to the boltik the mediterranean division patrolled the inland sea from gibraltar to cyprus and the pacific fleet were blockading the southern approach to the red sea ready to operate against any junction of the indian and african sea forces of the sultan at midnight on the 14th alan and alexis were to set out for their respective fields of operation and that evening there was a farewell banquet given by the council in the president's palace in honor of them and the commanders of their ships many a hearty toast was given and drunk in the sparkling golden wine of area and many a hearty godspeed and loving farewell passed between those who remained at home and those who were going forth to do battle for them and for the peace of the world in distant skies and to pass through the fiery storm of such warfare as had never been waged in the world before just before 12 when the fleets were ready to take the air and the last farewells were being said the avenger and the isma were lying on the roof of the president's palace and their commanders were standing by the gangway steps which hung down from the deck chambers the centers of two little groups of grave silent men and sorrowing women their nearest and dearest in a land where all were friends the last blessings of fathers and mothers had been given and taken and then came the hardest farewells of all isma and alexis parted as declared lovers will part as long as the faiths are cruel but when alan took almas hand in his for the last time and looked down upon the pale loveliness of her perfect face and into the clear calm depths of her eyes the word that he had been longing to say ever since his return died upon his lips the contrast between her stainless purity and the darkness of the blot that augurs and holy passion had placed upon his life rose up in all its horror for the hundredth time before him and once more the impassable gulf opened between them all that he could say was goodbye alma you too will wish me godspeed won't you with all my heart yes alan she replied in low sweet steady tones god guard you in your good work and send you back in safety to us you will come back rich in honors and followed by the blessings of the world you're going to rescue from the oppressors or i shall never come back goodbye alma goodbye all he said breaking upon her speech for he could bear to hear no more and as he spoke he stooped and kissed her forehead as he had kissed ismas a few moments before then he turned and ran up the steps just as a lexus took his last kiss and did the same as they gained the decks of their ships the great bell in the dome of the temple boomed out the first stroke of twelve at the sixth stroke the electric suns on the summits of the mountains blazed out simultaneously at a hundred points a long deep roar of thunder rolled round the bulks of area and with searchlights flashing out to head and a stern the 400 battleships of the two squadrons rose into the air and swept up towards the ridge a thousand feet above it they stopped and hung for a moment motionless in mid-air then the roar of a thousand shells exploding far up in the quaking sky answered the salutes from the sentinel ship and then still signaling farewells with their searchlights the squadron swept out into the ocean of darkness that loomed round the light girdle realm of area end of chapter 22 chapter 23 of Olga Romanov by George Griffith this livery box recording is in the public domain chapter 23 the first blow the night of the 15th of may 2037 was passed in an agony of apprehension by nearly the whole of civilized humanity the long threatened and universally feared thundercloud of war had at last loomed up over the serene horizon of peace in full view of the whole world although the events of the last six years had to some extent prepared the minds of men for the impending disaster now that the last hour of the long peace was really about to strike they were very very few among the millions of non-combatants who were able to rise superior to the universal panic the ocean terrorism which had paralyzed the commerce of the world five years and a half before fearful as it had been was so far as the bulk of humanity was concerned a terror of the unseen ships had gone out to sea and had vanished into the depths leaving no trace behind them but the hand that struck the blow had remained invisible now however this same terror magnified a thousand fold was to come close up to the shores of lands whose inhabitants had never known what it was for man to raise his hand against his brother tomorrow the sun would rise as usual the earth would smile the sea would dance and the air grow bright and warm under his beams yet air and earth and sea would be wholly strange to the eyes of men for they would be invested with terrors hitherto only pictured by the fears of panic the air would be charged with death beneath the laughing waves great battleships would be speeding swiftly silently and invisibly on their errands of destruction and the fair face of earth would be scarred by the hero of battle and seared with the fires of murderous passion the ocean traffic of the world had been almost wholly at a standstill for nearly a month transports which could complete their voyage before the end of the truce had done so but since the first of may only short voyages had been attempted for it was known that escape from the attack of a submarine battleship would be absolutely impossible for any vessel that floated on the surface of the water the immediate results of this had of course been the dislocation of trade and commerce and ever increasing scarcity of food in the great centers of population impossible absurd even as it still seemed to those who had not thoroughly recognized the tremendous gravity of the situation the inhabitants of the magnificent cities of the old and new worlds were actually within measurable distance even before a blow had been struck of seeing the spectra of famine across the threshold of their palaces in a few days communications by land would be as difficult and as dangerous as those by sea for swift as the trains were their speed was far excelled by that of the slowest airship which could wreck them with a single shot bridges would be destroyed stations blown up and lines cut in a hundred places at once till railway traveling would have to cease all over the world thus the most splendid civilization of all the ages to trembling on the verge of destruction at the moment when the sleepless eyes of the inhabitants of alexandria saw the first faint glow of the dawn brightening in the eastern sky no one knew where or how the first blow would be struck in the strange and terrible warfare for the commencement of which the rising of that morning sun gave the signal there was scarcely any elements in common with the war of the 19th century save the slaughter and destruction that it would entail there could be no marshaling of fleets or warships on the sea for to be detected by the enemy would be coming very near to be destroyed every blow would have to be struck swiftly silently and without warning for only one could be struck and to fail would be to be lost so too in the air as had been proved at kugelen and mount terror everything would depend upon the supreme strategy which enabled the first fatal shot to be sent home that would decide battle after battle without hope for the vanquished to recover from their defeat but after all it would be on land that the terrors of the new warfare would be most fearfully manifested it needed but little effort of the highly strong imaginations of those who are waiting for the world tragedy to begin to picture vast armies magnificent in their strength and splendid in their equipments marching to grapple with each other on some field of titanic strife suddenly and without warning they would be smitten by an invisible foe floating far above the clouds or perhaps visible only as a tiny speck of light high in the central blue their battalions would be torn to pieces their regiments decimated and thrown into confusion their commanders the brains of the huge organisms would have no such protection as they had had in the wars of former times for the aerial artillery would reach everywhere and the commander-in-chief in his headquarters would be as much exposed as the private in his bivouac thus the brain would be destroyed and the body reduced to impotence disciplined armies would become lawless and unregulated hordes in a few days or weeks and the organized slaughter of the battlefield would be exchanged for the butchery and plunder of the city carried by assault it was little wonder then that the world watched the ending of its last night of peace and the dawning of its first day of battle with feeling such as men had not felt for five generations if indeed ever before in the history of man it was not a mere war of nations with which men were confronted the evil genius of a single woman had achieved the unheard of feat of dividing the human race into two hostile forces so nearly balanced in strength that mutual destruction seemed a not improbable issue of what might after all prove to be the death struggle of humanity the collapse of civilization and the sinking of a remnant of mankind back to the level of barbarians whose children would wander amidst the ruins of their forefathers habitations and wonder what race of demigods had created the wondrous fabric whose very fragments were splendid as the dawn flew around the world on that momentous morning every eye was turned towards the heavens on every lip there was but one question where will the first blow be struck and in every heart there was but one thought will it reach me or my dear ones the focus of all human interest was for a moment alexandria for it was known that from there the main expeditionary force was to be sent out to if possible affect a landing on the shores of Italy while other expeditions were to start from Tripoli Tunis and Oran to affect landings in France and Spain the bridge across the Straits of Gibraltar front point Cirrus to Goldamassie was to all intents and purposes neutral since it would have been madness to send trains conveying troops across it when a single shot from the British battery at Gibraltar would have shattered the bridge to fragments the forces destined by the Sultan for the invasion of Europe would therefore either have to be conveyed in swift transports by sea protected by squadrons of airships and flotillas of submarine battleships or else they would have to go by land around the Levant by Syria and so through Asia Minor to the shores of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus as the European shores of these two Straits were known to be defended by concealed batteries mounting guns a single shot from which would blow the biggest transporter float out of the water the Sultan had decided to make the attempt to invade Italy France and Spain by sea while the Russian forces where their Asiatic allies were to attack the central nations from the east so far therefore as could be foreseen the Mediterranean would once more be the arena of strife and on some part of its shores or its waters the first blow of the war would be struck every possible preparation for the attack upon Europe had been finally completed immediately after the return of Calid from the coronation of Olga on the 11th but beyond the fact that the coasts of Europe from the Straits of Dover to the Golden Horn were patrolled by Federation battleships nothing was known of the dispositions which had made for the defense of Europe Gibraltar, Minocca, Cape Spartivento, Mount Ida in Kenya and Olympus in Cyprus formed a chain of Federation posts which while they had been made impregnable to all attack save long sustained bombardment from the air rendered any attempt on the part of the large fleets to cross the Mediterranean an extremely hazardous venture these stations were connected from Gibraltar to Cyprus by telephonic cables buried beneath the floor of the sea to hide them from the enemy's cruisers and also by patrols of battleships constantly moving to and fro in touch with each other along the whole line and this was the first barrier through which the Muslim Sultan had to force his way before he could land his armies upon the shores of southern Europe this too formed what may be termed the first line of defense of the Federation and of Christendom and although neither the Sultan nor the Zarina was wholly aware of the fact it had been strengthened to such a degree that it was expected to prove unbreakable even under the impact of the immense forces that would be brought to bear upon it when the sun had last rose over the hills of Syria and Sinai and the watchers in the streets and on the housetops of Alexandria heard the voice of the Muslim calling the first hour of prayer and the last hour of the world's peace the bright blue waves of the inland sea lay smiling and sparkling in its earliest beams betraying not a trace of the hidden forces which waited but for the signal that might come either from land or sea or sky to begin the work of desolation the harbors of the city were thronged with shipping great transports lined the miles of keys whose network fronted the seaward verge of the muslim capital some of the basin swarmed with the half submerged hulls of scores of battleships waiting to take up their position as convoys to the flotilla which if the sultan's plan succeeded would within the next 12 hours land nearly four million troops on european soil in the air at elevations varying from 500 to 10 000 feet a squadron of 200 aerial cruisers kept watch and ward against surprise from the upper regions of the air by the time the day had fully dawned land and sea and sky had been scanned in vain for a sign of an enemy's presence the sailing of the flotilla of transports had been fixed for six o'clock by alexandrian time and already the battleships were moving out into the open to take up their places in advance of the fleet of transports 50 airships had ranged themselves in a long line to seaward at an elevation of 2000 feet to protect the transports from an aerial assault and the transports themselves were moving out to form in the basin behind the breakwater once they were to commence their voyage sultan kaled on board his aerial flagship al-barak named after the winged steed which according to the old legend had borne the profit from earth to the threshold of the seventh heaven superintended in person the last preparations for the departure of his great armament flying hither and thither now soaring and now sinking he inspected first the cruisers of the air and then the flotillas of the seas and at last when all was ready he took his place by one of the bow guns of the al-barak to fire the shot that was to be the signal for the expedition to start but a higher intelligence and a greater tactical ability than his had already determined that the signal should be given in a very different fashion 50 miles to the south towards the libyan desert high in air 15 000 feet above the earth a solitary airship hung suspended in the central blue as the sun rose she had moved slowly forward towards the city as she came within sight of it alan arnold standing in her conning tower saw through a telescope that commanded a range of a hundred miles the disposition of the aerial fleet above alexandria he marked down a group of five airships floating some 5000 feet above the center of the city and single them out as the first victims of the war he was of course far out of range of gunfire and to have gone within range and fired on them would have been to expose his single ship to a concentrated a hail of projectiles which would have scattered her in dust through the sky so he determined to open the game of death and destruction by a stroke as dramatic as it was terrible he remembered how his ancestor richard arnold in the first ethereal had rammed the russian war balloons to the north of muswell hill and resolved to eclipse even that marvelous stroke of tactics obeying his will like a living creature the mighty fabric under his control sank 5000 feet and then began to gather way on a slanting course towards the muslim airships the propellers world faster and faster and the quadruple wings undulated with ever-increasing velocity until the crowds in the streets of alexandria saw something like a swift flash of blue light stream downwards from the southern sky and heard a long screaming roar as though the firmament was being rent entwined above them then three of the airships floating in line above their heads seemed to break up and roll over the crowds held their breath and pointed upwards with one accord in sudden horror as the crippled airships dropped like stones towards the earth in another moment they struck it and then as though the central fires of the earth had burst through in the heart of the great city there came a crash and a shock that shook the ground like an earthquake spasm a vast dazzling volume of flames shot up from amidst a wide circle of blackened ruin towers fell and roofs collapsed all around the focus of the explosion the whole atmosphere above the city was convulsed and the very sea itself seemed to rise under the stress of the mighty shock and so leaving death and ruin and consternation behind her the avenger swept out over the Mediterranean at a speed that the eye could scarcely follow after striking the first blow in the world war of the 21st century to say that this sudden and unexpected catastrophe spread panic through the muslim capital would be but a very inadequate description of the avengers first blow in the world war consternation wild and unabounded blanched every cheek and made every heart stand still as the mighty roar of the explosion burst upon the deaf and ears of the inhabitants and then instantly died into silence broken only by the crash of falling ruins and the screams and groans at the wounded and the dying the red specter of war in its most frightful form had suddenly appeared to the terrified and horror-stricken vision of millions of men and women scarce one of whom had ever seen a deed of violence done caled like a wise leader did all he could to prevent the panic spreading to the troops on board the transports by issuing peremptory orders for the expedition to start at once at the same time he signalled for half a dozen airships to ascend as far as possible and attempt to discover the source from which the inexplicable attack had come an errand destined to be entirely fruitless in orderly succession the hundred huge transports each carrying from eight to ten thousand men left the outer basin in two long lines in the rear of the 50 airships already in position a hundred submarine battleships took up their stations 500 yards in advance of the first line of transports 50 of these sank to a depth of 30 feet and shot 2000 yards ahead as soon as the whole fertility was in motion while the other 50 ran along the surface of the water with their conning towers just showing above the waves ready to sink in obedience to any signal that their commanders might receive from the airships which commanded an immense range of vision over the waters to all appearance the enemy was content with the one terrible blow that had already been struck the smooth sunlit sea betrayed no trace of a hostile vessel and as far as the glasses of those on board the airships could sweep the sky nothing but the blue atmosphere flecked here and there with white fleecy clouds could be seen but the muslim commanders were far from being deceived by these peaceful appearances from sultan calid who was commanding the expedition in person to the engineers who worked the transports or knew that the invisible line of the federation patrols had to be passed somewhere in the depths of the sea before the shores of italy could be reached the speed of the three flotillas was limited to 25 miles an hour in order that there might be no headlong running into danger and the commander of each of the submerged battleships had orders to rise to the surface the instant that his telltale needle donated the presence of an enemy and signal the fact to the rest of the squadron the transports were then to stop and would not to resume their passage until the battleships had cleared the way for them the first division was to engage the enemy while the second was to remain on the surface ready to defend the transports in case of need for six hours the expedition proceeded on its way north-west by west from alexandria without interruption the intention was to pass about a hundred miles to the south of the federation post at candia between which island and the capes party vento the ocean patrol would most likely be met with soon after 12 those on board the sultan's flagship detected half a dozen little points of light shining amidst the wave to the north westward they could be nothing else but the scout ships of the patrol and although they were nearly 10 miles away a couple of shells were discharged at them from the al-barak's bow gun more as a warning to the muslim flotilla than in the hope of doing any damage whether they did or not was never known for before the explosion of the shells was seen in the waters the points of light had vanished signals were at once made from the flagship ordering the transport to stop and the second division of battleships to stand by to protect them a dozen remained on the surface of the water running round and round and now stationary troopships in concentric circles the others sank to varying depths and scattered until the vague fluctuations of their needles showed that they were more than a thousand yards from each other and the transports as the first division had orders to keep more than two miles in advance as soon as an enemy was discovered there would be no danger of ramming friend instead of foe it ran on for seven miles after the main body stopped it was moving in a single line the vessels being at an equal distance apart so that with the exception of the two ships at the extremities of the line the attraction of the steel hulls on the needles should be neutralized and therefore only give indications of vessels ahead at the end of the seventh mile the telltale ceased their wavering motions and began to point steadily in slightly varying directions ahead the moment they did so the engines were stopped and the flotilla rose to the surface of the water their commanders found themselves out of sight of the transports but the al-barak attended by 10 other airships was floating about a thousand feet above them from the flank ship's main mast head flew the signal fleet eight miles to the rear enemy ahead sink and ram the order was instantly obeyed by the whole division and the 50 battleships simultaneously sank out of sight to engage the invisible enemy while the sultan and his companions on board the airships waited in intense anxiety to see what the next few fateful minutes would bring forth no human eye could see what work of death might be going on down in the depths of the sea even those who took part in it would know it only by its results and of these only the victors would know anything they would reappear on the surface of the waves but the vanquished would never rise again minutes after minute passed and still the anxious watchers on the airships saw nothing the bright sunlit waves rippled on over the abyss in which the conflict must by this time be almost over five ten 50 minutes passed and still no sign had caled been a mile or two further on and closer down to the surface of the sea he would have seen streams of air bubbles rising swiftly here and there and instantly breaking but from where he was he could see nothing five more minutes went by and suspense gave place to apprehension had the whole of the first division simply sunk to its destruction into some invisible trap that had been laid for it deep down in the watery abyss if not how come it that not even one of the battleships had risen to the surface to tell the tale of victory or defeat caled knew that the squadron would obey orders and hurl itself at full speed that is to say at some hundred and fifty miles an hour upon the enemy the moment the telltales found the mark in two or three minutes five at the outside their rams must either have done their work or failed to do it if they had done it they would have risen to the surface if they had failed and themselves escape destruction they would still have risen now 20 minutes had passed and not one of the 50 battleships had reappeared what could this mean but disaster and disaster it did mean but great as it was it was as nothing compared with the frightful catastrophe which followed close upon it all eyes aboard the airships were so intently fixed upon the portion of the sea where the squadron was expected to rise again that no one thought for the moment of looking back towards the transports until the dull rumbling roar of a series of explosions came rolling up out of the distance instantly every glass was turned in the direction when the sound came and caled saw his great fleet of troopships tossing about in the midst of a wild commotion of the waves out of which vast masses of white waters spouted as if from the depths of the sea and amidst the ship after ship healed over and sank into the white seething waters uttering a cry of rage and despair he headed the alborac at full speed towards the scene of the disaster in three minutes he was floating over it helpless to do anything to avert or even delay the swift destruction that was overwhelming the splendid fleet distracted by impotent rage and passionate sorrow for the fate of his soldiers and sailors who were being slain hopelessly and by wholesale beneath his eyes he watched the awful submarine storm rage on wrecking ship after ship and swallowing them up with all the thousands on board in the boiling gulfs which opened ever and anon amidst the waves when the first panic passed the transports which was still uninjured scattered and headed away as fast as their engines would drive them to the southward where the only chance of safety seemed to lie but there was no escape for them from the invisible and merciless enemies the fate of one magnificent transport the flagship of the fleet may be described as an illustration of the general disaster she was a vessel of 50 000 tons measurement and her crew and complement of troops numbered together nearly 25 000 she escaped the first discharge from the submarine torpedo unharmed and headed southward with her triple propellers revolving at their utmost velocity rushed through the water at a speed of more than 40 nautical miles an hour she had scarcely gained a mile on her course when the glass domed conning tower of a battleship appeared for an instant above the waters before calid not knowing whether it was friend or foe could make up his mind to fire on it it disappeared again a few seconds later the great ship stopped and shuddered with some mighty shock as though she had run head on to a sunken reef and healed over to one side then kimadal roar a huge column of white foaming water rose up under her side amidst ships and she broke in two and vanished in the midst of a white space of swirling eddies such scenes as this were occurring simultaneously in 20 different parts of the naval battlefield the foe never showing himself safe for an instant then came the blow that meant destruction and the victim vanished there was none of the pomp and pageantry of modern naval warfare no splendid armaments of mighty ironclads and stately cruisers formating thunder and flame and storms of shot and shell at each other nor were there any rolling masses of battle smoke to darken the brightness of the sky the occupants of an open boat five miles away would not have known that the most deadly sea fight ever waged since man had first gone down to the sea in ships was being fought out under the smiling mayday sky one after another the flying transports were overtaken rammed or blown up and sunk by the pitiless monsters which unceasingly darted hither and thither a few feet below the surface of the water and in less than two hours after the first alarm had been given the last of the hundred transports which had sailed that morning from alexandria had gone down a shattered wreck into the abysses of the inland sea there was no chance of saving the drowning wretches who managed to escape from the eddies of the sinking ships as they would have been in a naval battle of today the airships could not do so without sinking to the waves and so making themselves marks for the irresistible rams and torpedoes of their enemies who themselves could not be merciful even if they would shut up as they were in the steel leviathans whose only use was destruction cailid the magnificent with a heart well nigh breaking with rage and shame and sorrow watched in passionate helplessness the destruction of his splendid fleet and the drowning like rats in a pond of the soldiers who were to have borne the banner of the crescent of the conquered fields of christendom more than a million men had perished beneath his eyes and he had not been able to fire a single shot to help them although he was in command of an aerial fleet which could have dispersed an army or wrecked a city between sunrise and noon but the strangest part of the strange battle was yet to come after the last of the transports had disappeared the attack ceased and the assailants had vanished in a few minutes the sea was as calm and bright as ever and only a few bits of broken wooden wreckage floated here and there betrayed the fact that anything out of the common had happened the remnant of the muslim squadron rose to the surface and signalled for instructions only 20 of them remained uninjured out of the hundred that had gone into the fight before the signals could be returned there was a loud hiss and a swirling noise as of some huge body rushing at a furious speed through the water and a great battleship leapt up out of the nether waters and hurled herself at a speed of nearly 200 miles an hour into the midst of the floating squadron her gleaming ram of azurine tore its way through the sides of three vessels in such swift succession that almost before their fragments had time to sink her huge bulk vanished under the waves again but hardly was her work done than a second battleship charged into the paralyzed squadron sending two of its members to the bottom and tripling three more before she too vanished into the safe obscurity of the depths a third was met by a storm of shells from the airships which burst round her and under her just as she came to the surface and blew her out to the water in fragments heedless of this a fourth plunged fiercely through the foaming area of the explosion and had wrecked two more muslim vessels before a shell smashed her propeller and laid her helpless on the water two of the muslims instantly backed out and rushed at her tearing two great ragged holes in her side and sinking her instantly only to be sunk themselves in turn by a fifth charge from below scarcely had this last foe disappeared in safety than a swarm of torpedoes converging from all sides encircled the remaining muslim battleships some plunged beneath the waves to escape them but these never reappeared the remainder torn and twisted and shattered by a series of explosions that flung the water mountains high all around them sank like stones and when the sea once more settled down the grim work of death had been completed the fate which had so swiftly overwhelmed the expedition that had set out from alexandria had almost simultaneously befallen four other expeditions which had started at the same hour from Tripoli Tunis Algiers and Oran the one disaster had been an almost exact reproduction of the others the same order formation and tactics had been observed in each of the five cases and each of the five squadrons of transports and fleets of submarine battleships had been overwhelmed and completely destroyed by the same mysterious fate of 500 transports and the same number of battleships which sultan calid had possessed at sunrise on the fatal 16th of may not a single one remained by sundown and of the more than three million souls who had manned the five fleets not one man survived of the strength or the losses of the enemy that had wrought this appalling unheard of destruction within such a brief space of time nothing could in the nature of the case be known by those who had seen only some of its effects from the decks of the airships which floated almost helplessly over the waves which were engulfing their naval consorts the work of annihilation had for the most part been done in the dim and silent depths of the sea and all that they knew was the number of those of their own comrades who had gone to battle and never returned and yet to all practical intents and purposes these five stupendous blows which had simultaneously crushed the muslim seapower and half crippled the military strength of the sultan had been struck by one hand in other words the victory of the mediterranean was due to two inventions which had been made and perfected by Max Ernstein who had been transferred from Kurgelen and appointed admiral in command of the whole mediterranean forces of the federation one of these was a highly improved form of an apparatus which had just come into use on board battleships and cruisers when the war of terror broke out this was an electrical contrivance which gave warning more or less reliable of the approach of torpedoes by translating the aqueous vibrations set up by them into sound waves which increased in intensity as the hidden destroyer came nearer this invention had been lost sight of when all the warships of the world were sunk in the south atlantic after proclamation of the universal peace Ernstein's was therefore a new discovery or rediscovery but the advantages of his position far ahead of the scientific skill of the 19th century had enabled him to produce a much more perfect instrument and his apparatus which was attached to all the battleships of the federation not only gave warnings of the approach of an enemy but indicated his direction the number of revolutions at which his propellers were working and his distance at any given moment this not only enabled the commander of a federation battleship to detect the presence of an enemy but it enabled him to distinguish between friend and foe as soon as the phonetic indicator showed that another ship was approaching he stopped his own propellers started them and stopped them again the vibrations thus set up and interrupted would be conveyed to the indicator of the approaching ship if she had one and she would at once return the signal if the signal was not returned it was safe to conclude that the coming vessel was an enemy and could be rammed accordingly when this invention replaced the telltale needle that had been in use a year before an alteration in tactics became necessary and the fighting order became more extended a mile instead of a thousand yards was now the limit within which the federation battleships were not permitted to approach each other save under special circumstances every vessel acted as an independent unit subject only to the general instructions. Ernstein's second invention was of a simpler but nonetheless effective character knowing that the muslim and russian squadrons would be forced to trust entirely to their telltale magnetized needles he had devised a plan for making these worse than useless as soon as the phonetic indicator told him that an enemy was coming the commander of each of his battleships dropped a thin rope of insulated wire down 30 or 40 feet into the water below him the lower end of the cable was a powerful electromagnet through which a current of electricity was kept passing along the wires the attraction of this magnet was far stronger than that of the hull of the vessel and consequently the needles at the enemy were deflected downwards and gave a total erroneous idea as to the depth of which the federation ship was floating thus when the first division of the muslim submarine squadron charged at what its commanders thought were the hulls of their enemies their rams passed harmlessly underneath them merely striking the magnet and knocking it aside the moment they had passed the magnet its attraction swung their needles and showed that some mysterious mistake had been committed but before they had time to turn and seek the marker fresh the federation ships were upon them and their rams had rent their way into their sides in this manner every ship of the first division had been destroyed within three minutes after it had made its first and last charge then the federationists had risen to the surface for an instant to reconnoiter by means of the arrangement of mirrors previously described and sinking again had worked their way back towards the transports formed in a huge circle around them and had sent torpedo after torpedo into their midst as soon as the flotilla had been thrown into confusion they had converged until they could communicate with each other by means of their submarine signals and after that they had attacked the enemy singly ship after ship charged into the melee did her work and retired if she escaped destruction to give place to another only 20 federation ships had been engaged in each of the five battles and of these 40 in all had been destroyed a loss utterly disproportionate to the gigantic damage that had been done to the enemy cailid the magnificent divined intuitively that the disaster which had overwhelmed the expedition which he had commanded in person was only a portion of a result achieved by some elaborate and consummately conceived scheme of defense which must have been simultaneously put into operation against his other expeditions what had succeeded against his own might well have been expected to have succeeded against them he at once dispatched four squadrons of 10 airships each to Tripoli and Tunis, Algiers and Oran with orders to collect all attainable information and to return to Alexandria as soon after sunset as possible then he turned the prowls of the remainder of his fleet towards his capital and gave the signal for full speed ahead end of chapter 23 this recording is in the public domain