Dangerous Deeds; Or, The Flight in the Dirigible

se. Indeed sometimes it was hard for her young pilot to temper his speed to the pace he knew the second balloon could make. The dirigible from Barnegat Inlet proved to be a wonder. It was a swa

ce seemed to partake of this lightness. He was happy beyond words. All was well. In his breast lay his new and wonderful secret

to O'Brien, nothing that he could want of them. In case of accident-well, there were the waterproof suits that were guaranteed to uphold the wearer safely, warm and dry, for forty-eight hours. Suits c

elled at the propelling power of the new fuel, hyolax, and rejoiced to think that he had been honored by the position he was

Ridgeway's last fears were silenced and he felt that the journey could assume the aspect of a pleasure trip, a vacation from care. He settled himself in an easy corner and sat looking out through the clouds that were rising about them from the sea. They were shot with rainb

otected by wrappings of oiled silk, as well as the crown je

ed cabin, and were ample to carry enough hyolax for three oversea trips, but Mr. Ridgeway wanted no question of insufficient gas to worry him. But the end can held the treasure. With his own hands, under the eye of the Keeper at the Treasury, he had wrapped the priceless crown jewels in cotton, and had stored them in the big steel shell. Their individual boxes, cases, and caskets ma

a man of the people, yet safe on their

thoughts far ahead. Occasionally talking to Lawrenc

'Brien's car, never gaini

, his face, a little pale, was unlined by anxiety. Why should he be anxious? All was going well. He knew the very spot off the coast where the white cliffs rose so bleakly, the very place where even now the schooner would be waiting. Al

and Lawrence, he did not know. But Lawrence remembered and put his knowledge to the test, and the result worried him. Again and again he made

tried the manoeuver until he was afraid to repeat it, and like a star sh

with their speedy leader, but otherwise there was nothing to make him think that O'Brien was not at the wheel. Yet he could not cast out the stran

Lawrence hoped with all his might and main that his suspicions were all wrong. That seemed more than likely. Lawrence knew that his nerves were tuned up to the snapping point. He was suspicious of everything. Glancing over his shoulder, he could

ible also slackened speed as though the pilot p

no response. Either the car was not O'Brien's, or else O'Brien was n

us of a sense of annoyance to think that he was obliged to use the c

the plane it would have been most unwise to attack in mid-ocean, where Mr. Ridgeway would be forced to sink the papers and gems if the battle reached that

law. Not one of the three men whom they had expected had appeared to take passage in the dirigible. Smith and Brown were alone. Wher

Smith chuckled again as he saw it with his mind's eye, and seemed to hear the stranger muttering "Drunk!" as he approached the tumbled figure that had been O'Brien. Then he lazily imagined the change in the man's expression as he stooped curiously over the fallen man and saw in the bruised and soiled face not the sodden look of liquor, but that ominous, austere mask that death and death alone draws over the human countenance. Running, stumbling, the passerby would dash for the neare

d man, to find nothing, to come up against a blank wall. Doctor, lawyer, merchant, or thief, no one could find a mark on O'Brien that meant murder. And Smith knew they would look for murder. A blank wall! To save their own skins, Smith knew that John and the others would leave t

o there was in everything he plotted the thrill of big rewards, of big profits. And they always knew that slip one word of rebellion, and for them, no matter where in

he was not even sorry that the three men had missed their appointment with him. He knew that in an encounter such as lay ahead he and Brown would be perfectly capable of sending the dirigible ahead plungin

at the sky. Evening gathered around them like a cloak, and the stars, large and intimate, commenced to sparkle. He took the wheel long enough for Brown to set the lights properly. There

or the papers under Mr. Ridgeway's feet. Smith had personally seen to the mounting of them. Solid as the very wood and steel they were screwed to and blocked by, they pushed their wicked thin little noses up as though trying to look through the tarpaulins that covered them. When the dirigible had been anchored in

d that Smith did not know, althou

rd to sleep. All was going well. At the wheel, like a big gray wolf, Brown sat staring toward his prey through the deepening dusk.

ne was not invited to exchange confidences with Smith. That was his mistake. Brown did not doubt the death of O'Brien unless something had come up to put the three in danger. He knew that they were first, last and always intent on saving their own necks. Brown mistrusted them as much as they mistrusted Brown. And that was w