, like pygmies under
the pinions of the fabled roc in Sinbad the Sailor's story.

These stupendous wings, the captain now saw, were not braced together
by hampering struts and wires, but seemed cantilevered into position,
giving a clean run to the structure, great simplicity, and the acme of
mechanical beauty. This giant bird of heaven lay in its nest, free of
pattern, powerful beyond any air-mechanism ever built by man, almost
a living thing, on whose back its captors might ride aloft defying man
and nature, to whatsoever goal they chose.

"Everything is ready," said the Master. "That is quite obvious. Let us
get aboard now, with no further delay, and be off!"

He drew a little notebook from his pocket, took a pencil, and faced
the gathering group inside the second stockade.

"Stow your equipment," he directed "according to your orders. Ten
minutes will be enough for you to unload your machine-guns and all
gear, each in the assigned space. Bring out all the sleeping men and
lay them down along the stockade, here. Injure no man. Valdez, are the
take-off gates, over the Palisade, correctly opened?"

A dark, thin man saluted, as he answered with a Spanish accent:

"Yes, sir. Everything is ready, sir."

"Very well. Now, all to work! And then, each to his place, in
engine-room, cabins, or however and where assigned. Come, come!"

As the men trailed up the gangplank, that steeply rose to the sliding
door in the fuselage, the Master checked them on his list. Not one was
absent. He shut the notebook with a snap, and slid it back into his
pocket.

"This goes on well," he commented to the major. "So far, we are within
three minutes, eighteen seconds, of schedule."

The little group of four stood waiting, watching, while the others
carried out all orders, aboard. There was no hesitation, no confusion.
Each had already learned the exact plan of the airship. Each knew
precisely where every door led, what each passageway meant; each
understood perfectly his own post and what to do there.

Two by two, Legionaries came down the gangplank, bearing limp bodies.
These they laid in a row along the stockade, till seventeen had
accumulated. No more came.

A figure appeared in the sliding doorway, and saluted.

"The last sleeper is out, sir," he reported.

The Master nodded, and gestured to his three companions. The group of
four ascended the sharp tilt of the plank and entered the airship. As
they did so, Legionaries hoiste