In reality, I know now that the time of waiting was very short, but it seemed an eternity to me. For the first time my nerves felt upon the point of giving way. My hand trembled. I began to think of the narrow S-shaped passage between high walls of rock to the sea, and realized the appalling nature of the task before me. A mere touch of the planes upon those iron barriers, and all the long struggle would prove unavailing, the triumph turn to a defeat in which my girl and I, the superman Danjuro, and faithful Thumbwood would lose our hard-won lives. One touch and the ship would crumple up like paper and fall like a stone into the cruel cauldron of jagged rock and furious waves far below. There came a voice from the floor. Had the prisoner divined something of my thoughts? "... Look here, Sir John, you're up against a nasty job. It's the very devil getting out of here if you don't know the way and haven't practised it." Something in the young fellow's voice told me that this was not mockery. He was, moreover, the second pilot of the Pirate Ship, trained by Helzephron himself. "I did not ask you to speak," I answered. "No, but really it's no end of a stunt. The controls are ten times as sensitive as in an ordinary machine. If you were the best pilot living, you'd find it hard to manage in a ship that's quite new to you, and has all sorts of habits and tricks that no other has." He spoke truly enough, and I knew it, but it was none the less unpleasant to hear. "I suppose you're afraid for your damned skin," I sneered. "Oh, come, draw it mild," he replied. "I only spoke to try and help you. I know when I'm beaten, and I don't bear any malice." "If I do take you safely out, it will only mean the gallows." "Oh, no, it won't!" he said. "I shall turn King's evidence. There are lots of things I know that no one else except Vargus knows now. I shall get let off with fifteen years. Bet you a fiver, if you like. It's to my interest to help you out." I can generally tell when a man is sincere, and I realized that this young scoundrel was, despite--and perhaps because of--the baseness of his motive. "Help me?" "Yes, out of the passage. Once you get in clear air you'll fly her easily enough--and you'll be astonished, by Jove! But you'd better let me pilot you. It's the lift and the sharp right bank that are so difficult...." "Get up," I said. He scrambled to his feet. "Stand there!" He leaned against the wall at my side, his hands tied behind him and his arms tightly bound. He was about to speak, when suddenly we both started. Something had happened. For a moment I did not realize what it was. Then I knew. The continuous thunder of rifle fire had stopped. Everything was dead silent. I'd hardly become conscious of the fact when there was a loud shout. "Let her go, Sir John! Let her go!" Danjuro stumbled into the cabin, panting like a whippet. I pulled over the switch and then the lever of the starting mechanism. CHAPTER XVIII