rist fleet, for there were no
others in existence. And yet strict orders had been given that none
of the fleet were to take the air until the _Ithuriel_ returned. Was
it possible that there were traitors, even in Aeria, and that the
air-ship seen from Larnaka was a deserter going northward to the
enemy, the worst enemy of all, the Russians?

CHAPTER XXIII.

A BATTLE IN THE NIGHT.

At half-past five on the morning of the 23rd of June, the Cunard
liner _Aurania_ left New York for Queenstown and Liverpool. She was
the largest and swiftest passenger steamer afloat, and on her maiden
voyage she had lowered the Atlantic record by no less than twelve
hours; that is to say, she had performed the journey from Sandy Hook
to Queenstown in four days and a half exactly. Her measurement was
forty-five thousand tons, and her twin screws, driven by quadruple
engines, developing sixty thousand horse-power, forced her through
the water at the unparalleled speed of thirty knots, or thirty-four
and a half statute miles an hour.

Since the outbreak of the war it had been found necessary to take all
but the most powerful vessels off the Atlantic route, for, as had
long been foreseen, the enemies of the Anglo-German Alliance were
making the most determined efforts to cripple the Transatlantic trade
of Britain and Germany, and swift, heavily-armed French and Italian
cruisers, attended by torpedo-boats and gun-boats, and supported by
battle-ships and depot vessels for coaling purposes, were swarming
along the great ocean highway.

These, of course, had to be opposed by an equal or greater force of
British warships. In fact, the burden of keeping the Atlantic route
open fell entirely on Britain, for the German and Austrian fleets had
all the work they were capable of doing nearer home in the Baltic and
Mediterranean.

The terrible mistake that had been made by the House of Lords in
negativing the Italian Loan had already become disastrously apparent,
for though the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance was putting forth every
effort, its available ships were only just sufficient to keep the
home waters clear and the ocean routes practically open, even for the
fastest steamers.

The task, therefore, which lay before the _Aurania_ when she cleared
American waters was little less than running the gauntlet for nearly
three thousand miles. The French cruiser which had been captured by
the _Andromeda_, thanks to the assistance of the _Ithuriel_, h