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Updated: June 4, 2025
"Mais, monsieur, je vous assure " began Rodier again, when he thought he saw a chance; but the explorer shouted "Retirez-vous! J'insiste que vous vous en lliez, tout de suite, tout de suite!" And then he began over again, abuse, recrimination, expostulation, entreaty, pouring in full tide from his trembling lips.
Martin's house, being assured by his host that he need have no anxiety about the safe delivery of the petrol. Meanwhile Rodier, on Smith's departure, had, as usual, set to work to clean the engine. He was tired and sleepy, and he would have been more than human if he had not thought that his employer had rather the best of the arrangement.
For some little time they sailed slowly on, seeking in vain for a rift in the blanket of mist: then Rodier cried suddenly "Better take a drop, mister. In three minutes all the petrol is gone, and then " "I'm afraid you're right, Roddy, but goodness knows what we shall fall on. We must take our chance, I suppose."
But there was not a human being in sight, and he felt a stabbing conviction that he had come too late. Sick at heart, he made up his mind to descend and examine the place and its surroundings more closely. There was plenty of room for the aeroplane within the enclosure. Coming to the ground, he stepped, with Rodier, out of the car, each carrying his revolver.
Fortunately the bulwarks were sufficiently low not to catch the planes or the stays supporting them. Smith and Rodier stepped on deck, and were instantly surrounded by a group of the officers and crew. "Get for'ard," shouted the captain to the men. "D'you want to see a blaze?" He was left with the first mate. "I'm in a pretty fix, sir," he said, after a rapid glance at Smith.
On reaching the farm he found that Rodier and the farmer were engaged in a friendly conversation, by the light of a carriage lamp which flickered wanly in the mist. "Wonderful machine, sir," said the farmer, whom Rodier had talked out of his ill-humour. "Your man has been showing me over it, as you may say, leastways as well as he could in this fog." "We must get her out at once," rejoined Smith.
He started up, and told Rodier, who had begun his customary task of cleaning the engine, the conclusion to which he had come. "We will ascend at once," he said, "and scour the neighbourhood. The forest is thick, but perhaps there are clear spaces in it. Let us lose no time." They dragged the aeroplane to the inner extremity of the enclosure, turned it round, and started it towards the sea.
Suddenly an idea occurred to Smith. He planed upwards till the aeroplane reached a height of about a hundred feet above the vessel, calling to Rodier to bombard the boarders with the full bottles of soda-water which they had with them. The Frenchman chuckled as he seized the notion.
He fancied that their silent movements were checked when he began to smoke, and this suggested to him that an appeal to their curiosity might hold them intent or awestruck until Rodier had finished his task. "How much longer, Roddy?" he asked quietly. "Three minutes." Smith did the first thing that occurred to him.
Van Kloof were there, with several other Englishmen, and a number of Chinese coolies and nondescript natives stood at a little distance, gazing in wondering silence. Rodier had his watch in his hand, and looked reproachfully at his employer. Smith pressed through the crowd, shaking hands with the Englishmen one after another, but declaring that he had no time for talking.
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