The Phantom Airman
*CHAPTER XII*
*THE MAHARAJAH'S CHOICE*
A dramatic episode followed the examination of the airship's bill oflading by the _pseudo_ monarch and his so-called chancellor of theexchequer, Carl, who aided his master in the task.
"Item one. What does that consist of?" asked the brigand.
"Mails. His Britannic Majesty's mails," replied the chancellor.
"Where from?"
"From India for Egypt and London," replied Carl, maintaining a grave andsolemn deportment.
"H'm! They may pass when the usual tribute is paid," remarked thebandit in serious tones, as though he had delivered himself of someweighty pronouncement.
The judge looked at the colonel with raised eyebrows when he heard thisstrange decision, but the captain, forgetting his position for a moment,blurted out:--
"Tribute indeed? When did the King of England pay tribute for his mailsto be carried across the Hamadian desert?"
The air-king eyed the speaker with apparent amazement, mingled with atouch of scorn and pity, then quietly observed:--
"That is the very point, Captain. There has been far too much laxity inthis respect in the past. The liberties of the small nations to maketheir own laws, and possess their own lands in peace, have been greatlyendangered of late. It is mere brigandage for a great power toover-ride the native interests of small communities. But from to-daythis brigandage must cease, at any rate over the territories where Irule."
The captain could find no reply to this sally of the desert king's, and,while a smile played about the corners of his mouth, he looked beyondthis robber chief, in his gaudy trappings, to where the _Scorpion_ laysquatting like an ugly toad upon the sands.
At length the monarch resumed his cross-examination with these words:"Come, Captain, will you pay tribute for the transit of mails across myterritory, or will you not?"
"I will not!" replied the skipper.
With a flash of fire in his tones the brigand ordered: "Take the firstten sacks of mails out into the desert and burn them at once."
"It shall be done, O chief," replied Max, who immediately detailed someof the natives to carry the order into effect, when the captain, urgedto it by the judge, asked:--
"What is the amount of the tribute?"
"Ten thousand pounds in English gold," came the immediate reply.
"I cannot pay it," returned the captain. "It is mere plunder," thoughthe judge pointed out to the commander quietly that it would probably bemore profitable to pay it and to get away with the mails in a damagedairship, than to leave the mails behind to be lost or destroyed in thedesert.
"He will take the gold anyhow, when he comes to it on the bill oflading," added the colonel, "though devil a penny I'd pay him."
"It isn't my money," argued the captain, "so there's an end of it."
"How now, Englishmen! We are wasting time. Will you pay the sumdemanded?"
"No, I will not!"
"Very good. Get out the rest of the mails and burn them at once!"ordered the monarch, and a couple of minutes afterwards the first bagsof mails, sprayed with some inflammatory liquid, were blazing furiously.
"Item two!" called the desert king.
"Gold. Nineteen boxes of bullion for the Bank of England," called outthe chancellor.
"Gold?" echoed the air-fiend, as though he were utterly unconscious ofthe presence of such a commodity, in face of the captain's refusal topay over a trifling ten thousand pounds to secure right of way for hismails.
"Yes, sir. Nearly one hundred thousand pounds in specie."
"I thought we had prohibited the importation of gold into these regions,chancellor, because of its evil effects upon the minds of the people."
"Yes, sir," returned the chancellor. "We decided to abolish itsimportation altogether on that account, save only as tribute money forthe royal chest."
"Exactly," replied the bandit, in a tone of assumed moral injury. Then,turning to the Englishman, he said: "You must know, Captain, that mostwars are caused by gold, and by the unbrotherly strife which it foments.You must know also that all wars are sustained by it."
"Yes, I agree with you for once," returned the prisoner, boldly,wondering at the ease with which this confirmed brigand could turnmoralist.
"Then what must be done with the gold, sir?" asked the chancellor.
"Every ounce of gold on the airship must be confiscated," exclaimed theking of robbers as he uplifted his hands in pious horror. "Let it beremoved at once."
"Very well, sir," and this second operation, which was more pleasingstill to the waiting Arabs, was immediately put into effect.
"Item three!" called out the chief.
"Ten boxes of valuables, including the personal property and belongingsof one of the passengers," came the reply.
"What, do they belong to one person?"
"Yes, sir."
"What is his name?"
"The Maharajah of Bangapore, sir," returned the wise man of theexchequer, whose task promised to be an easy one in the future, judgingby the vast amount of spoil which had already fallen into his lap.
"The Maharajah of Bangapore?" repeated the monarch, raising his hand tohis forehead for an instant, as though he would recall some longforgotten episode. "Is he amongst the company present?"
"I believe so."
"Ask him to stand forth."
And the Indian prince, hearing his name called in English, stepped forthand confronted his old enemy of the Mesopotamian campaign. When theireyes met a flash of fire, more eloquent than words, revealed what was ineach man's mind. The prince expected to be tortured to death and wasprepared for it, for, like all his people, he was brave as well asfierce. At last the robber spoke.
"Prince Jaipur, you are an enemy of mine," he said.
"I know it!"
"Do you expect mercy after the way your tribesmen massacred my men atKerbela?"
The maharajah shrugged his shoulders, but disdained to reply to thisupstart robber chief who styled himself a king.
"Do you know that your life is in my hands?" exclaimed the banditfiercely.
"I am not afraid of anything you can do, brigand!" hissed the prince,and his voice sounded not unlike the angry, venomous snake in thejungle. Another man might have quailed before those glaring eyes andthose hissing tones. But the German quavered not.
"I will give you a kingly choice," he said, "as you are the scion ofhalf a hundred kings in your illustrious line."
"I ask no favours of a common Bedouin robber," snarled the other.
"Listen. I will give you the choice of drinking this deadly poison, orof being dropped ten thousand feet from my aeroplane. Which will youtake?"
The prince shuddered slightly, and glanced up into the cloudless blue,as though anticipating what such a death might mean, then looked at thesmall phial which the brigand held forth in his hand.
"Yes, ten thousand feet!" continued the German, as he noted the anxiouslook which overcast the Hindoo's face for an instant, as he gazed upinto the sky. "Then I will loop the machine, and, with your handspinioned, you will be thrown out and drop, drop---- Which will youchoose?"
"I will drink the poison," replied the prince, who had now regained hisusual composure.
"Very well. Let him be securely tied to that tree to await ourpleasure," and the maharajah was instantly seized by three or fourpowerful Arabs, and secured to a tree some twenty paces away.
"What about his valuables, sir?" asked Carl.
"Have you examined them?"
"Yes, sir."
"And what do they consist of?" asked the king.
"His jewels, his gold and silver plate, studded with rare gems ofpriceless value. They are worth five times the value of the specie,"whispered Carl.
"And what else? You said there were ten boxes."
"Part of his regalia and numerous ceremonial robes."
"They are all confiscated!" announced the monarch. "T
he sun will set inanother two hours, and at sunset the Indian must die."
"There is nothing else, sir, of much value. All the gold and thispersonal property has been secured. Here is the list of passengers, forthere are scarcely any passports held by the strangers," and here Carl,who had paid a visit to the aerial, whispered something to his chief.
"Good! Then, in your opinion, chancellor, sufficient tribute has nowbeen obtained from these strangers who have crossed our territorywithout permission," said the bandit aloud for all to hear.
"Yes, sir."
"Then let them board the airship at once. She will be cast adrift in tenminutes."
At this there was a scramble for the gondolas, and very quickly all,save the captain and the navigating officer, were aboard. The judge andthe colonel, however, prevailed upon by the maharajah's men, descendedagain to intercede for the life of the Indian.
"You have taken the man's jewels," said the colonel. "At least youmight spare his life."
"You may have his body," remarked the airman, "but he must first drinkthe phial," and a stern look appeared once more in the robber-bandit'seyes. On this point he was unbending, and remained like adamant.
"The airship is ready now, sir," said the captain, making a final appealfor the life of the maharajah. "I should like to report, at any rate,when I do complete my journey, that all my passengers are safe, though Iexpect to be two days late with only two engines and this beam wind.Once more, will you release the Indian?"
"Bring him before me!" commanded the monarch at last, with a boredexpression, and the Indian, still bound hand and foot, was broughtbefore the pseudo king.
"Unloose his hands," came the order.
"They ask me to spare your life, Indian dog!" continued the robber,addressing the prince in contemptuous tones. "If you sue for ityourself, you may have it, otherwise..." and, instead of completing hissentence, the speaker shook the little phial in the face of theprisoner.
"I will not ask my life of you, serpent!" hissed the captive. "From youI will accept no favours. Robbed of my family heirlooms, my jewels andmy household gods, I prefer to die. Give me the poison, and I will showyou how a real prince of the royal line of Indus can die!"
For one awful instant, the desert chief glared at his enemy, who haddared to refuse his generous offer. Then, in angry tones, he cried:--
"Indian dog! I offered you mercy, but you spurn the gift of Allah andask for death. Then take this and drink it!" and he tossed him thephial.
"Stay!" cried half a dozen voices from amongst the group of passengers.
But their expostulations were in vain, for, with an eagerness to hidehis disgrace in death, which only a proud oriental can show, theprisoner caught the phial, withdrew the small cork, and drained thecontents before his horrified friends could interfere.
The next moment, the body of the maharajah lay prostrate upon the sandsof the Hamadian desert.