and the _Orion_ began to rise with
their charges to the higher regions of the air, leaving the
_Ithuriel_ and the one aerostat to carry out the plan which had been
arranged by Natas and Arnold an hour previously.

As the speed of the aerostat was only about twenty miles an hour
against the wind, a rope was passed from the stern of the _Ithuriel_
to the cordage connecting the car with the gas-holder, and so the
aerostat was taken in tow by the air-ship, and dragged through the
air at a speed of about forty miles an hour, as a wind-bound sailing
vessel might have been towed by a steamer.

On the journey the elevation was increased to more than four thousand
feet,--an elevation at which both the _Ithuriel_ and her captive, and
especially the former, presented practically impossible marks for the
Russian riflemen. Almost immediately over Cuestrin they came to a
standstill, and then Colonel Alexandrovitch and Professor Volnow were
summoned by Natas into the deck saloon.

He explained to them the mission which he desired them to undertake,
that is to say, the conveyance of a letter from himself to the Tsar
offering terms for the surrender of the _Lucifer_. They accepted the
mission; and in order that they might fully understand the gravity of
it, Natas read them the letter, which ran as follows:--

ALEXANDER ROMANOFF,--

Three days ago one of my fleet of air-ships, named the _Lucifer_,
was delivered into your hands by traitors and deserters, whose
lives are forfeit in virtue of the oaths which they took of their
own free will. I have already taken measures to render abortive
the analysis which you ordered to be performed in the chemical
department of your Arsenal at St. Petersburg, and I have now come
to make terms, if possible, for the restoration of the air-ship.
Those terms are as follows--

An hour before daybreak this morning I captured nine of your
war-balloons, after destroying three others which attempted to
escape. I have no desire to take any present part in the war
which you are now carrying on with the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance,
and if you will tell me where the _Lucifer_ is now to be found,
and will despatch orders both by land and through Professor
Volnow, who brings this letter to you, and will return with your
answer, for her to be given up to me forthwith with everything
she has on board, and will surrender with her the four trait