"At the last instant something gave me strength--the thought that the Queen must be saved. I clutched at the levers, I got control of the ship, swung upwards grazing a hanging cornice of green ice, then turning in long circles slowly down, drove my ship into a pineclad slope, and, I think, fainted. When I came to again I was lying beside a camp fire under the shadow of the woods, and far aloft, right up in the full glory of the day, one great white mountain shone against the sky. Some dozen or so of men were sitting round the fire, and I heard them in fierce argument. Several maintained that by my dress I must be an officer of her Majesty's Bodyguard, others by portraits they had seen in the newspapers, by my ship the _Experiment_, and by documents found with me, swore that I was Brand. Then one--a man dressed in deerskin, who seemed to have authority--said that he knew well I was one of the Queen's Blackguards. He knew all about it--had not the last mail brought a letter from his brother newly appointed to that very regiment? "There was something familiar in the man's face, and presently when he came over to render me some small service, I said I knew his brother, Trooper Browne." "How strange!" "Such small coincidences have changed the history of the world. Mr. Browne told me that I had been lying in the camp for more than a week, delirious and raving of the Queen. He and his partners were mining rubies--they shall not lack rubies while I live. They were like women in their gentleness, and in their care I gained strength day by day until at last I was able to sit with them by the camp fire, to tell them of the Queen's desperate peril. I need not tell you they were loyal men--they were Canadians and burning to serve with me. Then the day came when I had strength to climb the hill path to where I had left my ship. The miners brought up provisions from the camp, and, crowded on board the _Experiment_, we sailed, fourteen men--not many for the conquest of the world." "But with your terrible etheric power!"