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This had an instantaneous effect and, in a quarter of an hour, the rifles were forthcoming and the fine paid. The force then moved on to Esor, where helio communication with the Khuram column had been effected and, that day, Sir William Lockhart and Colonel Hill who commanded it met. The country traversed was a beautiful one. It was admirably cultivated, and the houses were substantially built.
Then the heliograph in the zeriba began to talk in flashes of light that opened and shut capriciously. The actual order is important. 'Advance, said the helio, 'and clear the left flank, and use every effort to prevent the enemy re-entering Omdurman. That was all, but it was sufficient. In the distance the enemy could be seen re-entering Omdurman in hundreds. There was no room for doubt.
Alone in my pit, with the dull whir of my propellers alone breaking the silence of the night, I pondered the startling events of the past few hours. Above me the stars and planets gleamed in the deep purple of an almost cloudless sky. Venus had long since dropped below the horizon. But Mars was up there approaching the zenith. I wondered what the Martian helio might be saying.
One atrocious murder, a political crisis, an incautious or heady continental statesman, the mere catarrh of a king, would have wiped out the significance of our message, as a passing cloud annuls the urgent helio. But it was halcyon weather in every respect.
The valley was enclosed by moderately high hills, and from their summits we watched helio messages passing to and fro during all that beautiful afternoon, while we slowly accomplished the last, but seemingly endless, miles of our tedious drive. At 5 p.m. we crawled into the suburbs of the Boer capital, having driven 135 miles with the same horses.
Till the very climax the helio still cried that they were being overpowered, and it is said that even while working it the soldier in charge was hurled over the cliff by the onrush of the victorious Boers. The fight of the mounted infantry men had been at half-past four.
At such a time with this controversy going on such reports would only injure the Central State's inter-planetary position. That's obvious, isn't it? Then tonight, when things were desperate, the Central State gave out its call. Tarrano has conquered Venus, I'm sure. And at the last, before destroying its helio, the Central State tried to warn us." "Of what?" I demanded.
They were breast high above the floor; from the deck below I knew that the angle of vision was such that the men down there could not see into this room except to glimpse its upper portion near the ceiling. And the helio set was banked on a low table near the floor. In a corner of the room a small ladder led through a ceiling trap to the cubby roof. This upper trap was open.
At last, after three fruitless attempts, the helio flashed back to the general that the position was impregnable, and that further attempts would be but a useless waste of life. Matters were looking serious. It was twelve o'clock, and the enemy still held their position.
In the sudden silence of the room her voice was low, clear, and steady, though her hands were trembling. "P.C.S. 10.42 Venus helio. 'Defeat! Beware Tarrano! Notify your Dr. Brende in Eurasia, danger." We men stared at each other. But Elza went on reading. "P.C.S. 10.44 Venus helio. 'Lost! No more! Smashing apparatus! The Venus sending station went dark at 10.44.30.
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