They have not seen us so far,
for if they had they would certainly have sent an aerostat aloft to
reconnoitre, and, of course, I must have destroyed it. The whole
forty are arranged in a semicircle over the heads of the four main
columns in divisions of ten."

"And what do you propose to do with them now you have got them?" said
Natasha, looking up with a welcoming smile.

"Give me a cup of coffee first, for I am cold to the marrow, and then
I'll tell you," replied Arnold, seating himself at the table, on
which stood a coffee-urn with a spirit lamp beneath it, something
after the style of a Russian samovar.

Natasha filled a cup and passed it to him, and he went on--

"You remember what I said to Tremayne in the Princess's sitting-room
at Petersburg about the eagle and the crows just before the trial of
the Tsar's first war-balloon. Well, if you like to spend a couple of
hours with me in the conning-tower as soon as it is dark enough for
us to descend, I will show you what I meant then. I suppose the
original general orders stand good?" he said, turning to Natas.

"Yes," replied the Master gravely. "They must all be destroyed. This
is the day of vengeance and not of mercy. If my orders have been
obeyed, all the men belonging to the International in this force will
have managed to get to the rear by nightfall. They can be left to
take care of themselves. Mazanoff assured me that all the members in
the armies of the League fully understood what they are to do. Some
of the war-balloons have been taken possession of by our men, but we
don't know how many. As soon as you destroy the first of the fleet,
these will rise and commence operations on the army, and they will
also fly the red flag, so there will be no fear of your mistaking
them."

"Very well," said Arnold, who had been quietly sipping his coffee
while he listened to the utterance of this death sentence on more
than a quarter of a million of men. "If our fellows to the northward
only obey orders promptly, there will not be many of the Russians
left by sunrise. Now, Natasha, you had better put on your furs and
come to the conning-tower; it's about time to begin."

It did not take her many moments to wrap up, and within five minutes
she and Arnold were standing in the conning-tower watching the camp
fires of the Russian host coming nearer and nearer as the _Ithuriel_
sank down through the rapidly increasing darkness towards the long
dotted line which marked