The Washington times., 1911-08-18


| return to the lan:aserv Of Tad 90 fun
III the event Of OUR faHing to find the
party. The situation was growing more
serious with each hour that passed.
Again We slept in the open, and as
we lay doWr to rest the feeling OF
gloom that had been steadily growing
| had spread over our souls like a great
pail. Was the expedition about to fail
Had we heen outwitted after sall?
small comfort to whip the boys. and
| the satisfaction Of returning them to the
!amasery would doubtless be denied us
| little after midnight Gwynne woke
me up.
That childs crying again." he said.
| What do you suppose it means?"
, l sat uD and listened.
The melancholy sobbing of the boy
was pitiful. l wanted to go over and
wake him. but Gwynne stopped me.
| wait till we move our beds over TO
| the airship," he said. They've been
watching US rrctty close all day. and
"What?'
well. 1 don't know what. only I
| thought 1t might be as well to be inside
| the vessel. in case they attempted to
run away with it."
"Ycu think they've learned how-to-"
Tin sure they've been studying it.
Every time l moved lever their eyes
| were on me-"
But what's that got to do with the
Nothing. maybe. Only 1 thought it
might be a ruse to find out II we were
asleep. That's all"
I didn't believe 1t. There was some
thing genuine in the boys weeping, and
l said so. The fire was nearly out. but
Gwynne lit the lantern. and we walked
toward then.
Flashing tie light upon the little fell
lows face, we no longer doubted that
the tears we saw there were real. 1t
was impossible to doubt them At least
we felt that 1t was and after anchor
ing the airShip with an extra cable,
which we passed round our bodice, We
returned to our beds by the fire. Rut
from time to time throughout the night
we heard the melancholy sobbing of
the child. and wondered what 1t was
from.
IF We don't find Fenchurch and
ChumleY ard the Varney girls by to-
morrow night I'll give him something
to cry about, were G"ynne's last
words before going to sleep.
don't think either Of us had much
anpetite for breakfast. There was 4
feeling that the game was up; that we
had lost all we had come for-the girls.
ourselves. the money. and the lamasery
of Tad sa-fuh. which as we looked back
at it appeared ike some vast mythical
structure reared in the land Of dreams.
But tiUynne's pluck was boundless.
He still held the airship and the boys
as hostages.
When we had finished breakfast we
got ready to go, but made a false start,
owing To the Swapping of a propeller
blade. Fortunately we had a good kit
Of tools and ample material for repairs.
and so set to work at once on the job.
but II was a tedious one, holding us
all the morning and a part Of the after
noon.
We had just decided that We ought TO
throw out the time lost, in justice to
the boys. unless able TO make II up dur
ing the night, when. to Our amazement,
we saw the unmls:akable trace of
road but a short distance ahead. We
yelled with delight. and Gwynne gave
the vessel a dip earthward. In another
minute W. had touched the ground and
were scrambling out
The chedas were the first to see the
tracks.
Three yaks. two ponies. and a donkey.
~ when thev pointed them out there
was no mistake that a caravan had
PASSED that way. l wondered II the
ponies were -he ones We had left at
Gim-ra.
OF course, there was no certainty that
this was the party we were looking for,
although the number and kind Of ami
mails made it seem AS II II might be.
As vet there was no one in sight. and
there was no guessing how far of the
travellers were. but that they had gone
on ahead was evident. 1t was prob
ably o'clock when we again mounted
the vessel to overhaul them.
1t IL impossible to guess in these
broken and trackless regions OF the
Himalayds the amount of latitude and
longitude covered by the number Of
miles traversed. The elevations to be
overcome, the Instructions passed, the
twistings ana ,>onvoluticns Of the val
!cys WILL often necesTitate many miles
of actual travel for a very slight ad-
vance geographically.
Thus though it would seem that the
airshp would make more directly fer
arv given point than a road upon the
surface of the ground, II was not al
WAYS the case. We were constantly con-
fronted with difficulties that had to be
ton would more than Offset the care
fully planned and engineered highway,
whose course had been studied with the
accuracy Of experience. and proved by
generations.
1t was not surprising, therefore, that
We should have found no traces of the
party sooner. it was rather surprising
that We had found them at all.
Another hour and We saw. for the
first time since leaving Tad-sa-fuh. liv-
There was every indication that it was
the party we were in search of-the
probable number of human beings and
animals ccrrespcnd~d with what we
Gwynne decided to keep the airship
out Of sight If possible, until We had
identified the party beyond all reason
able doubt. as they must have heard
OF IDe manner III "Illti we Hdu ltlheIl
our departure from Gim-rd, and would
recognize lis, rs in all probability they
Rad also learned of our intention to
capture the girls at Tad-sa-fuh. and
our sudden and inexplicable disappear
anCe from the faSe of the earth.
Naturally they would nut the two to-
Cether, ard be prepared to open hos
tilities on the appr bach Of the vessel
Here was Il problem. to discover IL
the girls were in their keeping without
being discovered ourselves. Our glasses
revealed but four human beings, all Of
whom appeared to he men, but at the
distance that still separated US l. was
impossible to he quite sure about the
latter point. II two cf them should |
prove to be the VarDey girls, where
were the guides?
We huggcd the road. rot rising more |
than ten or 4 dozen feet above the sur
face, so as to avoid observation. Slow |
" but surely we advanced upon the |
travellers. not daring to approach too |
near the airship reduced to its minimum |
speed, and at times suspended motion |
less above the road. Now that we had |
hem in our power we were puzzled |
what to do.
There's one thing we mustn't forget" |
nused' Roedler, still staring ahead. |
and that is to change our clothes he |
ore hailing them"
l had almost forgotten that he was |
it'll in the guise of sorcerer, and |
lgreed that we ought to pe recognized |
" the Englishmen as we'll as the Var |
ley girls before descending upon them. |
L Continuation of This Story Will |