The Outlaws of the Air by George Griffith

Author:George Griffith [Griffith, George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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CHAPTER XII.

ANARCHY UP TO DATE.

IN de first place,” said Franz, settling himself to his narrative after he had lit a long black cigar, through the smoke of which his little eyes twinkled almost merrily at Max, “you must understand dat after dat unpleasant affair vich dat scoundrel Berthauld must haf brought on us before you found him out and stopped his tongue, de Group broke up for de time being.

“Ve thought it vas safer to do dat and go back to de old plan of individual action until it vas time to do someting big, as ve haf done. Lea Cassilis settled down quietly to her artistic dressmaking business in London, till she got a chance to go to New York, and vent, partly for de dollars, and partly to begin a little scheme dat I vill tell you more about afterwards. Sophie Vronsky and Marie Rolland stopped in London mit Marie’s husband, and I vent back to Elbing to make out my engagement mit Schichau.

“Dere were several delays before ve could get properly to work on de Tsar’s boat, and de consequence vas dat she vas not launched until nearly two years later. Improvements in engines and guns kept cropping up, de English kept on building faster and faster boats, and as de strict contract vas dat she should beat everyding dat floated, ve had to keep on doing thugs over again, even after ve had got dem finished.

“Dis vas goot for me, because it gave me more time to get fellows into de works dat I could depend on, and ven she at last vent on her trial trip, I had dirty of dem on board her, stokers, firemen, engineers, and sailors. As dere vas only forty on board altogether, and as ve had took care to get de cook who prepared de luncheon dat de svells had on board between de runs on our side, dere vas not very much difficulty in settling mit dose who tought dat de boat should go back to Elbing ven ve vanted to take her someveres else.

“As goot luck vould haf it, one of de Baltic fogs came down like vet blankets, so dat you could not see from de nose of de boat to de stern. Dot vas our opportunity, so ve took it; and some of de highest officials of Schichau’s yard and de two Russian officers vat had come to watch the trial met mit some serious accidents with completely prevented dem from swimming home.”

“Ah,” said Max quietly, “I was afraid you would have to do something of that sort. Had you much of a row?”

“No,” replied Hartog, with an expressive gesture. “Dere vas no row at all. Ve got dem all into de yard-room, shut dem up dere, put a strong guard ofer dem, and wen ve had run far enough out to sea drough de fog, ve vent in and fetched zem out won by won, tied deir hands behind deir backs, fixed a pig of iron ballast to deir feet, and dropped dem oferboard.

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