t out one of his torpedo-boats to meet
her, and this craft brought back a summons to surrender the port for
twelve hours, and permit six of the Russian cruisers to fill up with
coal. The alternative would be bombardment of the town by the fleet
and the air-ship, which alone, as the Russians said, held the fort
and the ships at its mercy.

To this demand the British Commodore sent back a flat refusal, and
defiance to the Russian Commander to do his worst.

Where the _Ithuriel_ and her consorts were lying the hills between
them and the sea completely screened them from the observation of
those on board the _Lucifer_. Arnold and Tremayne had climbed to the
top of a hill above their ships, and watched the movements of the
Russians through their glasses. As soon as they saw the _Lucifer_
rise into the air they returned to the _Ithuriel_ to form their plans
for their share in the conflict that they saw impending.

"I'm afraid we can't do much until it gets a good deal darker than it
is now," said Arnold, in reply to a question from Natas as to his
view of the situation. "If we take the air now the _Lucifer_ will see
us; and we must remember that she is armed with the same weapons as
we have, and a shot from one of her guns would settle any of us that
it struck. Even if we hit her first we should destroy her, and we
could have done that easily yesterday.

"It has felt very like thunder all day, and I see there are some very
black-looking clouds rolling up there over the hills to the
south-west. My advice is to wait for those. I'm afraid we can't do
anything to save the town under the circumstances, but in this state
of the atmosphere a heavy bombardment is practically certain to bring
on a severe thunderstorm, and to fetch those clouds up at the double
quick.

"I don't for a moment think that the British will surrender, big and
all as the Russian force is, and as they have never seen the effects
of our shells they won't fear the _Lucifer_ much until she commences
operations, and then it will be too late. Listen! They've begun.
There goes the first gun!"

A deep, dull boom came rolling up the hills from the sea as he spoke,
and was almost immediately followed by a rapid series of similar
reports, which quickly deepened into a continuous roar. Every one who
could be spared from the air-ship at once ran up to the top of the
hill to watch the progress of the fight. The Russian fleet had
advanced to within three miles of th