"I sell you, señor? Not I--a caballero of Spain! You insult me by the suggestion. I recollect, however, that I once had a brother. He was lost at sea, while travelling on an English vessel from New York to Cadiz. Like you, he wanted to land at Cadiz, but he was not able to do so. For why? Because the ship was torpedoed by one of your ever-accursed U-boats. Therefore I have a small measure of revenge when I hand you over to the English authorities at Gibraltar. Be pleased, señor, to step aboard." Covered by an automatic pistol, Count Karl von Sinzig had no option but to obey. In the race round the world he was down and out. CHAPTER XXV--FIRE! Sir Reginald Fosterdyke laid down his pencil and uttered an exclamation of intense satisfaction. He had just "shot the sun" and had finished working out his position. "Another hour will see us at Gib., lads," he announced joyously. "Then there’ll be some mafficking. What’s your programme? Going to pack your suit cases and back by the Madrid-Paris express?" "You are not leaving the ’Golden Hind’ at Gibraltar?" asked Kenneth. "No," replied the baronet. "But I must certainly get some repairs executed before I resume my flight to England. I thought, perhaps, you were in a hurry to get home." "There’s no immediate hurry, sir," declared the chums, simultaneously. "A few more days won’t matter," began Kenyon; but before he could proceed with his explanation the alarm bell rang violently and continuously. "What’s wrong now?" exclaimed Fosterdyke, snatching up the voice tube. Peter, glancing aft through the window of the navigation-room, which being raised gave a clear view over the roof of the rest of the nacelle, saw at once what was amiss. Dense volumes of smoke, tinged with dull red flames, were pouring from the after-end of the fuselage. Fanned by the rush of the airship, the black vapour was streaming in its wake like a fox’s tail. Leaving Kenyon to take charge of the navigation-room, and cautioning him to keep the "Golden Hind" dead in the eye of the wind, and as fast as she could possibly go, Fosterdyke and Peter hastened aft. They found the alley-way thick with smoke, for on the well-known principle that "the wind follows the ship" the draught was carrying the fumes within the nacelle in a forward direction. A man wearing a smoke helmet brushed past them. It was Hayward going to find some fire-extinguishers. Others of the crew, who had hastily donned masks to protect themselves from the choking vapour, were busily engaged in hurling pyrene into the seat of the conflagration. Although the speed of the "Golden Hind" through the air fanned the flames, Fosterdyke had done well to order speed to be maintained. The velocity had the effect of compelling the fire to trail astern instead of spreading upwards and thus destroying the envelope. Even as it was the heat had caused the non-inflammable brodium to expand, giving the envelope a tendency to trim down by the head.