“So! But it muss be done. Ach! I am hungry as a—as a—as a——” “Hunter!” suggested Oliphant. “No; hungry as a rhinoceros. I could eat—I could eat—I could eat a——” “Whale!” “No; I could eat a steak, underdone, from ze grill, viz chip bodadoes, gabbage viz vinegar, and Voosder sauce, viz a long glass—ach! two long glasses, of lager from München. Ach! ze zought of it make my mous cry.” “For goodness’ sake, Oliphant, give him some grub and shut his mouth,” cried Tom. “Shut my mous? How zen can I eat? For ze sake of anyzink give me somezink to eat; zen my mous vill shut and open of itself; vun needs not to zink ven one eats.” Bubbling with amusement, Oliphant handed the German some biscuits from the stock they had brought with them. But his mirth evaporated when he caught sight of Tom’s face. He had wondered a little at the tetchy tone in which Tom had last addressed him, and from his anxious expression he could not but guess that something was seriously wrong. “What’s the matter, Dorrell?” “The engines—don’t you smell ’em?” “I do,” replied Oliphant, sniffing. “What’s it mean?” “It means that the turbine casing is becoming overheated. I altered the inlet valve so as to let more of the explosive mixture into the turbine—and this is the result.” “What can we do?” “Simply reduce speed and hope that we can weather through.” “Any idea how much farther we have to go?” “About fifty miles, I should think. We must have done forty at least. I shut off one of the engines just now, but the second one can’t keep us afloat. I wish Schwab would fade and shrink into nothing.” Schwab had heard nothing of this. He was otherwise occupied. But noting now the anxious looks of his two companions he said, with his mouth full—“Do I eat too many?” Tom was too much concerned to reply, but Oliphant laughed again. “We can’t go on,” said Tom. “I shall have to drop her somewhere and see if I can put matters right. We were five or six miles ahead of the Moors when I caught sight of them last, and we’ve a few minutes’ grace at any rate. They won’t know exactly where we are.” Choosing a secluded spot, he descended and brought the airship to rest. Abdul had halted; Tom explained to him the cause of his descent, and set him to keep watch on the enemy while he examined the machinery. The Moor looked thoroughly done up, and it struck Oliphant that he was even more in need of food than Schwab, so he gave him the remainder of the stock of biscuits—not a large quantity now. As for Schwab, he had fallen asleep. It took Tom but a few minutes to adjust the valve, but he knew that the result of this adjustment must be a serious reduction of speed. He was greatly perturbed. It was clearly impossible for Abdul to ride much farther: the horses were in a terrible state of exhaustion. They were cropping the scanty herbage at the side of the track—poor refreshment after the fatigue they had undergone.