The airship came to earth at the foot of the little hill on which Kenwyn had been left, and, with the exception of three men who were ordered to remain on guard, the whole of her complement hurried towards the bank of the river. "Those rogues have been trying to get aboard the prize, sir," exclaimed Polglaze, who had run to meet his captain. "They’ve given us a stiff job to keep them off. None of us can make head or tail of what that yellow-faced, gold-laced Johnnie was talking about, although he thinks he can speak English." "Did you come to blows?" asked Captain Restronguet. "Oh, no, sir; we had to lift one fellow up by his trousers and drop him overboard, but we handled him very gently, although he whipped out a knife." The Portuguese officer in charge advanced and punctiliously raised his cap, a courtesy that Captain Restronguet returned. "We haf come to take possession of the pirate, senhor," announced the former. "To take possession of what?" asked the "Aphrodite’s" captain. "Of pirate ship, over thar." "You’re too late, my friend," announced Captain Restronguet affably. "Too late? How so?" asked the perplexed Portuguese. "She thar. Me come to take possession in name of Republica." "You go to blazes!" retorted Captain Restronguet, beginning to lose his temper. "She is my prize." "By what authority you hold her?" demanded the Portuguese. "By what authority--we had the permission of the Portuguese Government to ascend the Zambezi." "Yes; to destroy pirate, not to capture. Since she captured is in Portuguese waters she property of Republica." Captain Restronguet looked at Captain Jones, and the skipper of the "Pride of Rhodesia" looked at the captain of the "Aphrodite." The absurdity of the Portuguese officer’s logic caused them to laugh heartily. "Tell him we could wipe him off the face of the earth in a brace of shakes," suggested Captain Jones speaking rapidly and in a low tone so that the captain of the gunboat could not understand. "No, I’ll deal with him in quite a different way," was the reply. "Why you laugh? Me no be laugh at," exclaimed the irate Portuguese. "Me representative of Republica." "Look here, my friend," said Captain Restronguet. "Do you see that tent pitched on the top of the hill? We’ve fever amongst us. Had we known you were coming we would have had the yellow flag hoisted to warn you." The Portuguese officer’s face paled under his yellow skin. "Fever? How say. Madre de Dios!" and he agilely skipped back a couple of paces. "Yes, very bad case, senhor. Perhaps you would care to see our hospital arrangements?" But the Portuguese did not care to do so; he precipitately retreated to his boat, followed by his thoroughly scared men, and half an hour later the gunboat was pelting down stream as fast as her crazy engines would drive her.