The morning wore away, and Tom began to feel anxious. To keep the airship so long in motion involved the expenditure of a large amount of his propulsive paste, and he had brought only as much of it as would last the voyage to and from the hill fortress, with a little margin for accidents. Yet he did not care to bring the machine to rest, for he might then miss the party of which he was in search. Moreover, all the provisions were gone except a few biscuits and some tea. With no food for themselves and no fuel for the machine their plight would be desperate. Tom spoke of his anxieties to Oliphant, and they were still talking somewhat disconsolately, when Abdul, who had never ceased to keep a sharp lookout, suddenly cried “Horses!” and pointed to sundry small specks ahead. Tom instantly started up and looked through his binocular in the direction of the Moor’s forefinger. “There are about a score, I fancy,” he said, handing the glass to Oliphant. “Can you spot the Jew?” “No, they are too much mixed up. I shouldn’t know him again, either.” “We shall know him very soon, though. Abdul told me that Jews in this country mostly wear blue clothes and black skullcaps. We’ll make straight for them.” The engines had lately been reduced to something less than half speed. Realizing that every second was now of value, Tom put them at full speed, steering the vessel direct for the party of horsemen, who had just emerged from a clump of timber. At the same time Oliphant altered the inclination of the planes, so that the airship began to drop rapidly earthwards. Thus it swooped down upon the party like a huge falcon. To manipulate the engines, the steering gear, and the lever affecting the planes, kept the hands of Tom and his friend pretty fully occupied; but Abdul was to make himself useful, and Tom instructed him to take a handful of the little bombs, in readiness to use them when the moment came. Tom hoped that the mere appearance of the sky monster would startle the horses and put the cavalcade to fright. As an additional means of scaring them he relied on the throwdowns. The airship had come within about two miles of the horsemen when it was seen that they had halted. No doubt the strange apparition had been observed, and Salathiel ben Ezra was doing his best to explain its nature. They remained stationary until the distance of the airship from them was less than a mile: then two of them wheeled suddenly in their tracks and set off in a mad gallop westward. The others, however, held their ground; either they had stronger nerves, or the Jew had managed to convince them that the strange object was not an instrument of the Evil One, but simply a new invention of the accursed people who had invented warships and alarm clocks. Tom had just distinguished the figure of Salathiel, on a mule in the midst of the party, when there came a slight puff of smoke from the centre of the group, followed by a second and a third. Oliphant laughed.