"That big loading of specie, sir, for the Bank of England. Nearly a ton of gold, I believe." "Phew! And isn’t the maharajah of somewhere or other coming on a state visit to the King also?" "Yes, by Jove, so he is! We had a message this morning saying that he would travel by the _Empress_." "Heaven help us if she comes down in the desert with that cargo. The Bedouins would soon make short work of it. The authorities rely too much upon the patrols for these long journeys," said the commissioner. "We were asked to take particular care over her this trip. The Delhi patrols accompanied her part of the way, and she was all right up to mid-day, but she hasn’t spoken to us since. I have sent out one or two messages and have had the patrols ready to go out and meet her, as soon as I heard again from her, giving her position, sir." "And you’ve had no further reply till this message came in?" asked the chief. "No, sir." "By the way, is her wireless damaged as well as her engine? I didn’t notice." "Yes, sir. The message says: ’Wireless deranged,’" replied the assistant, re-reading from the aerogram. "Then who the deuce sent the message?" "Scorpio---- But who Scorpio is I can’t make out. It must have been some passing airman, for it cannot have been one of our own patrols." "Phew! The mystery deepens. Get the patrols out at once, and tell them to take plenty of ammunition with them. It will take a few rounds to scare off those Bedouin fiends if once they get round a carcase where there are such pickings." "I don’t think there’s much to worry about in that respect. Those Arabs have a wholesome fear of these air-liners, sir. However, I will get the machines off at once." *CHAPTER XIV* *BETRAYED BY THE CAMERA* The order was quickly given for the aerial police scouts to start. Within a few minutes the patrols left Cairo and the adjoining air-stations, and, spreading out fan-wise, they crossed the Canal, the Gulf of Sinai, the wild mountainous peninsula which bears the same name, and the Hedjaz coast, until they entered the desert regions beyond. Then they commenced their search by moonlight for the battered and drifting air-liner over the trackless, desert lands which lie between the 28th and the 30th parallels. By a pre-arranged system of Very lights, the patrols kept each other informed of their exact positions during the night, and watched keenly the eastern horizon for any response which might come from the belated airship. Meanwhile the air-liner, fighting manfully against the freshening wind, made very slow progress, and drifted still further and further away from her course. The air was full of wireless messages both from Cairo and the patrols, but she was as yet unable to reply and define her position. The engineer and wireless operator, however, had been able to receive some of the messages indistinctly, and they knew at any rate that help was not far away.