"I arrest you," he said, addressing me by name, "on behalf of the Arch-Court and by their warrant.

Drop your weapons or we fire." "And I," I said, "by virtue of the Campta's sign and signet attached to this," and Eveena held forth the paper, while my weapon covered the Regent, "forbid you to interrupt or delay my voyage for a moment." I allowed the hostile vessel to close so nearly that Endo could read through his glass the characters--purposely, I thought, made unusually large--of his Sovereign's peremptory passport.

To do so he had dropped his weapon, and his men, naturally expecting a peaceable termination to the interview, had laid down theirs.

Mine had obeyed my order, and we were masters of the situation, when, with a sudden turn of the screw, throwing his vessel into an almost horizontal position, Endo brought his car into collision with ours and endeavoured to seize Eveena's person, as she leaned over with the paper in her hand.

She was too quick for him, and I called out at once, "Down, or we fire." His men, about to grasp their pieces, saw that one of ours was levelled at the balloon, and that before they could fire, a single shot from us must send them earthwards, to be crushed into one shapeless mass by the fall.