Danjuro nodded calmly; he was not given to enthusiasms, this man with a panther in his soul. "I have been speaking with the prisoner," he said. "With Vargus?" "No, though I have been to look at him, and he is quite safe. With Gascoigne, and he has suggested something that has not occurred to either of us, Sir John." "His help will all tell in his favour when it comes to the trial. What is it now?" "Something eminently sensible and pressing! As you see, this ship is quite unmistakable. Any pilot would recognize her from the descriptions which have been circulated. We are now approaching the coast again and about to fly to Plymouth. The air must be full of armed patrol ships, and, whatever our speed, if we escape being shot down _en route_, we should certainly be blown to pieces on approaching the sea-drome!" I flushed up. I had been an incredible ass never to have thought of that before. It was only too true. Nobody could possibly know that we had captured the Pirate Ship.... I reduced our speed to half of what it had been. "What are we to do?" I said. "There is a complete wireless installation on board the ship. Can you operate it, Sir John?" "No. Even if I could leave the controls, that would be impossible. I know nothing about it, unfortunately." "Nor I, Sir John. It is a gap in my knowledge that I propose to remedy shortly. But this Gascoigne is an operator, and offers to send any message." "I suppose we can trust him? He certainly saved us from disaster coming out of the cavern." I shuddered; I did not want to think of that blood-stained hole of horror any more. "Yes, I think he can he trusted. He has everything to gain, and can do no harm that I can see. I cannot operate the keys of the apparatus, but I know the Morse code, and if I stand by him I can check each letter as he sends it out." Then I had an inspiration too. "Good! And now I think I can make it quite sure. I can remember the private code of the Air Police with hardly a gap. We will call up Plymouth, and all the police boats now flying, in that private code. Meanwhile, we had better run out to sea again while you are taking it down." Again I turned the ship, and as we spiralled up and out again, I formed the message in my mind and translated it, word for word, into the letters of the code, which Danjuro took down in pencil upon a sheet of his pocket-book. When I had finished, and as the message was necessarily rather a long one it took some time, Danjuro marched Gascoigne away to the rear cabin, where Vargus was lying. It was there, you may remember, that the wireless apparatus was installed. We were now reaching a great height, far above any of the regular air-lanes, and I felt quite secure from any attack. Land, sea, every reminder of the world below, had vanished utterly. With hardly a sound from the magic engines we floated in a haze of gold chrysophrase. It was like a happy dream, though never was dream so beautiful.