e
northward, and the four air-ships immediately sped away in that
direction, leaving Aberdeen to its fate, and within a little over an
hour the sounds of both storm and battle had died away in silence
behind them.

When they were fairly under way Natas ordered the four deserters to
be brought before him in the after saloon of the flagship. He sat at
one end of the table, and they were placed in a line in front of him
at the other, each with a guard behind him, and the muzzle of a
pistol at his head.

"Peter Tamboff, Amos Vornjeh, Ivan Tscheszco, and Paul Oreloff! you
have broken your oaths, betrayed your companions, deserted the Cause
to which you devoted your lives, and placed in the hands of the
Russian tyrant the means of destruction which has enabled him to
break the blockade of the Baltic, and so perhaps to change the whole
course of the war which he is now waging, as you well know, with the
object of conquering Europe and enslaving its peoples.

"Already the lives of thousands of better men than you have been lost
through this vile treason of yours, the vilest of all treason, for it
was committed for love of money. By the laws of the Brotherhood your
lives are forfeit, and if you had a hundred lives each they would be
forfeited again by the calamities that your treason has brought, and
will bring, upon the world. You will die in half an hour. If you have
any preparations to make for the next world, make them. I have done
with you. Go!"

Half an hour later the four deserters were taken up on to the deck of
the _Ithuriel_. The signal was given to stop the flotilla, which was
then flying three thousand feet above the waters of the Moray Firth.
As soon as they came to a standstill their crews were summoned on
deck. The three smaller vessels floated around the _Ithuriel_ at a
distance of about fifty yards from her. The traitors, bound hand and
foot, were stood up facing the rail of the flagship, and four of her
crew were stationed opposite to them on the other side of the deck
with loaded rifles.

They were allowed one last look upon sun and sky, and then their eyes
were bandaged. As soon as this was done Arnold raised his hand; the
four rifles came up to the ready; a stream of flame shot from the
muzzles, and the bodies of the four traitors lurched forward over the
rail and disappeared into the abyss beneath.

"Now, gentlemen," said Arnold in French, turning to the two Russian
officers who had been spectators