s revolver, Smith leapt from his seat and dashed towards the
group. Six or eight men lay on the ground, some of them too badly hurt
to rise; the rest of the crowd had taken to their heels, and the whole
population was in full flight, the children screaming with terror. In
an instant, to Smith's relief, Rodier sprang to his feet. Together
they turned the machine once more towards the sea.

"Are you hurt, Roddy?" asked Smith.

"Ah, the villains! they have given me a dig or two. Let us get away
from this, mister. We are getting later and later."

He jumped into the car; Smith again started the engine; and as the
machine rose into the air it was followed by a howl of rage from the
baffled Baluchis. Half-a-dozen slugs pattered about it, piercing
several holes in the planes. Already one of these had been gashed by a
spear, which still stuck in it. But no serious damage had been done,
and in a few seconds the aeroplane was flying at full speed over the
sea.

It is one of the drawbacks of aerial travel that conversation can only
be carried on in shouts. Smith would have liked to talk over things
with Rodier, but the noise of the engine and the boom of the air as
the machine cut through it smothered his voice unless he bellowed.
Only a few words passed between them as they flew along a little
distance out to sea. Rodier bathed two slight wounds he had received
in the scuffle with water from the pots filled during the storm, and
assured Smith that they were nothing to trouble about.

Some few minutes after leaving the inhospitable village they noticed
the smoke of a steamer, a good deal nearer the shore than the dhows
which they had seen occasionally on the Gulf. It was too far distant
for them to determine its size and nationality, or to guess the
direction in which it was bound. Smith decided to speak it in passing,
but, observing that the stay had not been thoroughly fixed in the
hurry of their departure, he looked about for a suitable
landing-place, where the finishing touches might be given. The coast
was rocky and precipitous, and the tops of the cliffs were strewn for
a considerable distance inland with innumerable boulders, large and
small, which would render landing dangerous, and starting perhaps more
dangerous still. At length, however, just as he was thinking of
running inland, in spite of the loss of time, Rodier caught sight of a
large expanse of smooth rock, left bare by the falling tide. He
pointed it out to