"Of the gulls? No." He shrugged his shoulder. "You are King of the air, as I am of India!" "I supposed," said Brand, gravely, "that her Majesty was Empress of India." "Was Empress, yes. I see we understand one another." "I think, my dear Prince, that I follow your meaning. So India finds her opportunity in this crisis? May I venture to ask if you speak on behalf of Russia?" "I speak," said the other, haughtily, "for India. I speak for the India which has waited ever since 1857." "For a repetition of the artillery salutes fired by the British in 1858?" Ali's face darkened with sudden passion. "Your tact, Mr. Brand, is most English. Yes, I have the honour to speak for the India which has waited since the artillery salutes of 1858." "And how am I to serve you?" "I come, Mr. Brand, to the future Dictator of the world, not to ask favours, but to confer them." "Indeed, you are too kind. Go on, sir." "I must warn you first that Lyonesse has been captured." "You don't say so." "Also that all your ships are taken, save two which are homeward bound, and will be secured on their arrival. Your yacht has gone to the city to guard the ex-Queen. You are helpless in the hands of your enemies. I have come to save you." "Indeed." Brand reached forward across the desk, and touched an electric bell. "How you escaped from the guard, I don't quite know," he said; "I have rung to inquire." "Very good," Prince Ali laughed. "I was released and sent here by the Lord Protector's agent, the Duke of Gloucester." "Really," said Brand, sarcastically; "any further revelations?" "Yes. The price which Ulster pays for your body, the price he pays to Gloucester, is the throne--the throne of the Empire!" "Anything more?" "At all hazards I came to warn you of this trap, and you walk blindly into it. That bell condemns you to death! Quick,"--Prince Ali started to his feet--"there may be time. At the end of this corridor there's a door to the upper terrace--when your yacht comes back you can signal. I can save you yet!" "Your price?" "India." "Sit down, Prince Ali, sit down, I say! Listen to me," said the master, "you first betrayed poor Ulster to the Russians. Then you betrayed the Queen by this intrigue. Now you would betray the Dictator to me--in order that you may betray your sovereign again, by seizing India. I may have lost my city, my lands and factories, my ships--all that I had, and be here, helpless, at Ulster's mercy." He looked up at the windows with their loopholed barricades, swung round to face the door from which there was no escape, then turned on Ali of Haidar. "By the living God, I swear," he cried, "that within a month I'll have you blown from your own guns at the gates of Delhi!" Rising from his chair, he seized the aerograph and signalled to his yacht for instant succour. "Die, then!" said the Prince; "here's the death of a dog for you!"