Page 37 (1/2)

He waved a hand at theof his office which looked out upon a valley below, ons "One generation at most out of the wild, if that, sir," Ferris said to Laurence in an undertone, as he peered out theThe beasts were none of the, and certainly to be rolled up by any one of the Tswana dragons, ere the product of dragon-husbandry at least equal to that of the West and raised on a diet of elephants

"And ait any day the advent of more beasts: it is not Napoleon alone who has transports, after all Your dragons shall be of great assistance, but as for truce: no! We will never yield--"

"Then, sir, you have not attended to our report," Laurence said bluntly, while Ha not iance from the Inca, whose empire now abuts your own realm so nearly as to intrude upon its claimed boundaries; shortly he will be there upon your flank, not with a handful of dragons ianized aerial legions of that nation"

"Captain Laurence," Hahness, I hope you will forgive--"

"Mr Ha," Laurence said, "but I will not stand by and serve as audience for a venture so ill-advised as to wreck all hopes of the preservation of this colony: if that, Your Highness," he added, turning back to the prince, "and not some temporary victory is your desire, you have only one real avenue which I can see: not merely to make peace with the Tswana and send the you"

Laurence chose abruptly tothe astonished silence which it won him: he could not deny it sounded even more mad when said aloud than when it had first occurred to hi upon the French transports in their harbor, the ten thousand refugees and es and time which should be required to send so reat force If the Portuguese were persuaded to yield up their re slaves, the numbers would swell into i, and the Tswana could not so easily return hon: hewhile

"Sir," Laurence added to the staring expressions, "you ainst the Inca; not in tions from overseas, those beasts are stolen only for a little while from the war in Europe Even if victorious here, which can by no means be relied upon, they must return in short order In the Tswana, you have at hand a sons already skilled in aerial battle, attached by the bonds of natural sentiment to a portion of your citizenry, and able to reht"

He went to the , and flinging it open called out, "Teons, there?"

"Oh, if you like, of course I will," Te in the : his great glealass, and sent half theout of their chairs and back "Only I thought I should spoil their "

He lifted away fro, with a leap that rattled the curtain-rings, and in a ons They left off their practice and swar in excited voices, which carried even up to the : in their relative proportions not far short of sparrows circling soreat beast, a lion or a bear, to which they could pose no threat Laurence turned frohness, you can see your recruits will never ht," Laurence said "The ram should require decades to achieve such an end Even if by some method we should drive the Tswana out of your country, do you ith of time, before he falls upon you from the west?"

Poor Haht ruefully while he spoke, as being a very unwilling accessory to perhaps the -officer had ever ly more dazed with horror even than distressed

"Where I auments ill-founded, I am ready to be persuaded," Laurence added, "and I hope I offer no willful defiance: but neither I nor Teon of our party will lend ourselves, in the present circu the Tswana: an endeavor as sure to lead to disaster in its success as in its failure"

When he had issued this flat ultimatum, there was not much other discussion to be had: dismissed with some abruptness, Laurence made his courtesies and departed Hammond remained, at the prince’s command, and Laurence did not try to persuade hiine that conversation: the prince should certainly inquire as to the extent of Laurence’s influence upon the other aviators of their party, and Teons, information which Laurence rather wished Hae you to act in any way contrary to your conscience; I would reject any such suasion on my own part," Laurence said to Granby, when he had returned to camp; and with a look he extended the scope of his words to De for hiht beast: he had suddenly of late grown surprisingly intent on furthering his education as an aviator, and now in every openthe senior officers for any scrap of knowledge

"I a to attack the Tswana to help these slave-takers," De to Laurence that Demane’s own people had suffered similar insult at the hands of the Dutch settlers of Capetown, if not abduction froht with them, instead; why shouldn’t we?" he deed "Kulingile and I aren’t going to fight Teuese, if they should start the fighting"

"Oh! As far as that goes, I will say that I shouldn’t"While I do see that it would be quite inconvenient that the Portuguese should be beat, since they are helping us against Napoleon otherwise, perhaps the Tsould agree to help us against hiht with Kefentse Even if he did snatch you, that tiized for that, and explained theAnd one cannot really bla so upset; they have the far better cause, it seems to me"