ance the machine on the top of the curving wall--a
thing manifestly impossible on a straight surface, though it might have
been possible on an angle.

On we crept--on, and on! There was no sign of light about the Tower, and
not the faintest sound to be heard till we were almost close to the line
of the rising wall; then we heard a sound of something like mirth, but
muffled by distance and thick walls. From it we took fresh heart, for it
told us that our enemies were gathered in the lower chambers. If only
the Voivode should be on the upper stage, all would be well.

Slowly, almost inch by inch, and with a suspense that was agonizing, we
crossed some twenty or thirty feet above the top of the wall. I could
see as we came near the jagged line of white patches where the heads of
the massacred Turks placed there on spikes in old days seemed to give
still their grim warning. Seeing that they made in themselves a
difficulty of landing on the wall, I deflected the plane so that, as we
crept over the wall, we might, if they became displaced, brush them to
the outside of the wall. A few seconds more, and I was able to bring the
machine to rest with the front of the platform jutting out beyond the
Tower wall. Here I anchored her fore and aft with clamps which had been
already prepared.

Whilst I was doing so Teuta had leaned over the inner edge of the
platform, and whispered as softly as the sigh of a gentle breeze:

"Hist! hist!" The answer came in a similar sound from some twenty feet
below us, and we knew that the prisoner was alone. Forthwith, having
fixed the hook of the rope in the ring to which was attached her belt, I
lowered my wife. Her father evidently knew her whisper, and was ready.
The hollow Tower--a smooth cylinder within--sent up the voices from it
faint as were the whispers:

"Father, it is I--Teuta!"

"My child, my brave daughter!"

"Quick, father; strap the belt round you. See that it is secure. We
have to be lifted into the air if necessary. Hold together. It will be
easier for Rupert to lift us to the airship."

"Rupert?"

"Yes; I shall explain later. Quick, quick! There is not a moment to
lose. He is enormously strong, and can lift us together; but we must
help him by being still, so he won't have to use the windlass, which
might creak." As she spoke she jerked slightly at the rope, which was
our preconcerted signal that I was to lift. I was afraid the windlass
might creak, and