One evening all four were coming out of the shed, when the instant Gilbert, who was first, got outside the door, a cable-tow with a running noose was slipped round his neck and any attempt to retreat would have been fatal. Whilst he was struggling with it to escape being strangled, it fell across his shoulders when it was drawn tight and a second later he was being hauled up into a powerful airship overhead. So well had the noose been dropped and manipulated that his companions were unaware he was being kidnapped till his body rose from the ground, dragged upwards by means of an electric winch, as the powerful ship set off at a tremendous speed. The people in the ship must have been mad, or else have believed the rumours that the _Regina_ was a hopeless wreck, to have attempted such a crime, but they soon became wiser, for before they had gone a hundred miles the _Queen_ rose from her shed like an awful Nemesis, with her search-lights full on, sweeping the earth and sky in all quarters, then started in the direction taken by the fugitive. In a few minutes the quarry flew round at a dangerous speed towards the north, taking an upper plane where were few ships, and soon saw that the _Regina_ had still some life in her. Her attractive force was switched on gently and the airship suddenly pulled up to a dead stand with a terrific shock which shot the driver through his glass cage a distance of twenty yards ahead, when he fell to the ground, giving an awful shriek and turning over and over in his descent. Very gradually, so as to cause no further damage, the ship was drawn to the _Regina_, the two mechanics in her white with fear, and bringing Gilbert forward, they begged for mercy. Gilbert shouted hurriedly, “Let them go! the owner is dead and these were but obeying his instructions.” “Come in, all three of you,” said Dennis, now on the outer deck, “leave the ship, she’ll travel with us.” All three entered and the two men were placed in what had been a cabin for one of the crew, when the door was electrified, and with the two prisoners and the fine prize in tow, the _Regina_ sailed back to Derwent. Within fifteen minutes of the abduction they were over the shed again, to find dozens of air-craft in various planes, and in the gathering darkness could be seen the lights of scores of others coming from all directions, drawn thither by the news. The four friends decided to make an example of the offending craft as a public warning, so the _Regina_ rose upwards, causing the captive to float below in the full glare of her lights; the ship was then drawn to the _Regina_, the outside of which was now put in de-atomising field, and just as a moth rushes to the light and falls, so did this valuable but fated craft hover in the glare for a moment, then rush towards the upper vessel, instantly to fall in a shower of myriads of atoms which, sinking to the ground in the beams of the search-lights, appeared like a sheet of falling fire.