the position of the aerostats, whose great
gas-holders stood out black and distinct against the whitened earth
beneath them.

By means of electric signals to the engineers the captain of the
_Ithuriel_ was able to regulate both the speed and the elevation of
the air-ship as readily as though he had himself been in charge of
the engine-room. Giving Natasha a pair of night-glasses, and telling
her to keep a bright look-out ahead, he brought the _Ithuriel_ round
by the westward to a position about five miles west of the extremity
of the line of war-balloons, and as soon as he got on a level with it
he advanced comparatively slowly, until Natasha was able to make it
out distinctly with the night-glass.

Then he signalled to the wheel-house aft to disconnect the
after-wheel, and at the same moment he took hold of the spokes of the
forward-wheel in the conning-tower. The next signal was "Full speed
ahead," and as the _Ithuriel_ gathered way and rushed forward on her
errand of destruction he said hurriedly to Natasha--

"Now, don't speak till it's over. I want all my wits for this work,
and you'll want all your eyes."

Without speaking, Natasha glanced up at his face, and saw on it
somewhat of the same expression that she had seen at the moment when
he put the _Ariel_ at the rock-wall which barred the entrance to
Aeria. His face was pale, and his lips were set, and his eyes looked
straight out from under his frowning brows with an angry gleam in
them that boded ill for the fate of those against whom he was about
to use the irresistible engine of destruction under his command.

Twenty feet in front of them stretched out the long keen ram of the
air-ship, edged and pointed like a knife. This was the sole weapon
that he intended to use. It was impossible to train the guns at the
tremendous speed at which the _Ithuriel_ was travelling, but under
the circumstance the ram was the deadliest weapon that could have
been employed.

In four minutes from the time the _Ithuriel_ started on her eastward
course the nearest war-balloon was only fifty yards away. The
air-ship, travelling at a speed of nearly two hundred miles an hour,
leapt out of the dusk like a flash of white light. In ten seconds
more her ram had passed completely through the gas-holder without so
much as a shock being felt. The next one was only five hundred yards
away. Obedient to her rudder the _Ithuriel_ swerved, ripped her
gas-holder from end to end, and then d