red miles an hour, ripped her
gas-holder from end to end as if it had been tissue paper. It
collapsed like broken bubble, and the wreck, with its five occupants
and its load of explosives, dropped like a stone to the earth, three
thousand feet below, exploding like one huge shell as it struck.

This was the last blow struck in the first aerial battle in the
history of warfare. The Russians had no stomach for this kind of
fighting. It was all very well to sail over armies and fortresses on
the earth and drop shells upon them without danger of retaliation;
but this was an entirely different matter.

Three of the aerostats had been destroyed in little more than as many
minutes, so utterly destroyed that not a vestige of them remained,
and the whole squadron had not been able to strike a blow in
self-defence. They carried no guns, not even small arms, for they had
no use for them in the work that they had to do. There were only two
alternatives before them--surrender or piecemeal destruction.

As soon as she had destroyed the third aerostat, the _Orion_ swerved
round again, and began flying round the squadron as before in an
opposite direction to the _Ariel_. None of the aerostats made an
attempt to break the strange blockage again. As the circles narrowed
they crowded closer and closer together, like a flock of sheep
surrounded by wolves.

Meanwhile the _Ithuriel_, floating above the centre of the disordered
squadron, descended slowly until she hung a hundred feet above the
highest of them. Then Arnold with his searchlight flashed a signal to
the _Ariel_ which at once slowed down, the _Orion_ continuing on her
circular course as before.

As soon as the _Ariel_ was going slowly enough for him to make
himself heard, Mazanoff shouted through a speaking-trumpet--

"Will you surrender, or fight it out?"

"_Nu vot_! how can we fight with those devil-ships of yours? What is
your pleasure?"

The answering hail came from one of the aerostats in the centre of
the squadron. Mazanoff at once replied--

"Unconditional surrender for the present, under guarantee of safety
to every one who surrenders. Who are you?"

"Colonel Alexei Alexandrovitch, in command of the squadron. I
surrender on those terms. Who are you?"

"The captain of the Terrorist air-ship _Ariel_. Be good enough to
come out here, Colonel Alexei Alexandrovitch."

One of the aerostats moved out of the midst of the Russian squadron
and made its way towards th