he said.

"I hoped for it," said Lannes. "That's why I made for this area of
vapor. It's exactly like a ship escaping in a fog from a fleet--only we
haven't escaped yet."

"Why not?"

"We can't hang in here. If we do they'll explore for us, and if we go on
and through it they'll follow. Yet we can hope for a gain. Isn't it a
beautiful machine, John, and hasn't it behaved nobly?"

He patted the _Arrow_ as a man would a horse that had saved his life
with its speed.

"We'll go slowly here, John. Have you got good ears?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Then uncover them and listen. In case one of the Taubes draws near you
can hear its humming and throbbing. My hearing may be deadened a little
for the time by my tension in sailing the _Arrow_, so you're our
reliance."

John listened intently, and in a few minutes the sound they feared came
to his ears.

"I hear it," he said suddenly, "and as sure as we live it's directly
over our heads!"

"Then we must mount at once!"

Up shot the _Arrow_, and passing through the vapor it flew again with
nothing above it but the clear, cold stars. John looked down, but his
vision was lost in the mass of floating mist. He exulted. They had lost
the Taubes! But joy lasted only a moment. Out from the bank shot a dark
shape. It was one of the machines, and in two minutes the other
appeared.

"They've come through the mist, too, and they see us," he said to
Lannes. "They seem to be trying to rise above us."

"I thought it would be their plan, if we didn't lose 'em. We've got to
make another dash. We're pointing toward Switzerland, now, John, and
maybe if we have luck we can descend in a neutral country. But I don't
want to do it! I tell you I don't want to do it!"

He spoke with uncommon energy, but relapsed afterward into complete
silence. The humming of the motor increased, and the icy wind rushed
past John's ears in a perfect hurricane. He drew his cap down further
and sank his neck and ears deeper in his collar. Nevertheless he thought
he would freeze. The fingers that still clasped the butt of the
automatic felt stiff and bloodless.

"What are they doing now, John?"

"They are gaining again--Ah, and there's a change!"

"What's that change?"

"One machine seems to have dropped a little lower than we are, while the
other is rising higher."

"And that has come, too! I expected it. This, John, is what you might
call an attempt to surround us. I'm surprised that they didn't attempt
it