ivilege of putting a
special correspondent on the deck of the _Ithuriel_ for the two hours
which followed the giving of Arnold's directions to his brother
commanders of the little squadron. The journal which could have
published an exclusive account of the first aerial skirmish in the
history of the world would have scored a triumph which would have
left its competitors a long way behind in the struggle to be "up to
date."

As soon as Arnold had given his orders, the three air-ships at once
separated. The _Ariel_ and the _Orion_ shot away to the southward on
only a slightly upward course, while the _Ithuriel_ soared up beyond
the stratum of clouds which lay in thin broken masses rather more
than four thousand feet above the earth.

It was still rather more than an hour before sunrise, and, as the
moon had gone down, and the clouds intercepted most of the starlight,
it was just "the darkest hour before the dawn," and therefore the
most favourable for the carrying out of the plan that Arnold had in
view.

Shortly after half-past two he knocked at Natasha's cabin-door, and
said--

"If you would like to see an aerial battle, get up and come into the
conning-tower at once. We have overtaken a squadron of Russian
war-balloons, and we are going either to capture or destroy them."

"Glorious!" exclaimed Natasha, wide awake in an instant at such
startling news. "I'll be with you in five minutes. Tell my father,
and please don't begin till I come."

"I shouldn't think of opening the ball without your ladyship's
presence," laughed Arnold in reply, and then he went and called Natas
and his attendant and the Professor before going to the
conning-tower, where in a very few minutes he was joined by Natasha.
The first words she said were--

"I have told Ivan to send us some coffee as soon as he has attended
to my father. You see how thoughtful I am for your creature comforts.
Now, where are the war-balloons?"

[Illustration: "Come now, and fire the first shot in the warfare of
the future."

_See page 211._]

"On the other side of those clouds. There, look down through that big
rift, and you will see one of them."

"Why, what a height we must be from the earth! The balloon looks like
a little toy thing, but it must be a great clumsy contrivance for all
that."

"The barometer gives five thousand three hundred feet. You will soon
see why I have come up so high. The balloons can rise to fifteen or
twenty thousand feet, i