e
relied upon.

CHAPTER XXVI.

AN INTERLUDE.

At noon on the 26th, as the tropical sun was pouring down its
vertical rays upon the lovely valley of Aeria, the _Ithuriel_ crossed
the Ridge which divided it from the outer world, and came to rest on
the level stretch of sward on the northern shore of the lake.

Before she touched the earth Arnold glanced rapidly round and
discovered his aerial fleet resting under a series of large
palm-thatched sheds which had already been erected to protect them
from the burning sun, and the rare but violent tropical rain-storms.
He counted them. There were only eleven, and therefore the evil
tidings that they had heard from the captain of the _Andromeda_ was
true.

Even before greetings were exchanged with the colonists Natas ordered
Nicholas Roburoff to be summoned on board alone. He received him in
the lower saloon, on either side of which, as he went in, he found a
member of the crew armed with a magazine rifle and fixed bayonet.

Seated at the cabin table were Natas, Tremayne, and Arnold. The
President was received in cold and ominous silence, not even a glance
of recognition was vouchsafed to him. He stood at the other end of
the table with bowed head, a prisoner before his judges. Natas looked
at him for some moments in dead silence, and there was a dark gleam
of anger in his eyes which made Arnold tremble for the man whose life
hung upon a word of a judge from whose sentence there could be no
appeal.

At length Natas spoke; his voice was hard and even; there were no
modulations in it that displayed the slightest feeling, whether of
anger or any other emotion. It was like the voice of an impassive
machine speaking the very words of Fate itself.

"You know why we have returned, and why you have been sent for?"

"Yes, Master."

Roburoff's voice was low and respectful, but there was no quaver of
fear in it.

"You were left here in command of the settlement and in charge of the
fleet. You were ordered to permit no vessel to leave the valley till
the flagship returned. One of them was seen crossing the
Mediterranean in a northerly direction three days ago. Either you are
a traitor, or that vessel is in the hands of traitors. Explain."

Nicholas Roburoff remained silent for a few moments. His breast
heaved once or twice convulsively, as though he were striving hard to
repress some violent emotion. Then he drew himself up like a soldier
coming to attention, a