Chapter TWENTY-THREE

Arthur Ingleton with the marks of his recent suffering deeply engraven on his face, sat motionless while Howard Redmond related the thrilling experience of his daughter during the historic battle in the Pacific skies. It was the first concrete information concerning her that he had received since she was taken from the lifeboat of the Wilbur Wright by the aerial pirate. As soon as Redmond finished the dramatic narrative Ingleton plied him with innumerable questions regarding his daughter’s welfare and the conditions generally upon the island. Then after a considerable discussion along these lines he asked in anxious tones:

“If we attack Levanter at his base, how can my daughter be protected.”

“Well, I’ve thought of that very carefully,” replied Redmond, “in fact the question has been in my mind ever since I first got on the island. It seems to me that the best way she can be protected now is for me to return to the island and get into communication with her. When I left I promised her that I would do my best to come back, if I got here safely, and let her know what was going to be done. I can get back there easily enough, I think. I have thoroughly explored the island, and know every portion of it. My plan is that one of the cruisers take me back to the island. The captain of the cruiser can arrange to arrive off the island about midnight without any lights burning. He can steam to within a mile of the southern coast, where there is a little cove, without any danger from the submerged mines which do not extend so far out on that side of the island. Then a boat crew can row me over to the landing place on the shores of the cove. We can tow a smaller boat behind us, which can be hidden on the beach, so that if it is possible Miss Ingleton and I can use it to escape from the island.

“When I get back to the island I propose to go to the cave on the southeastern section where I lived before. Then at the first opportunity I shall go over to our meeting place on the rock and tell your daughter of any plans we may devise for her rescue. What we have got to do now is to agree upon some plan of attack.”

“Are you absolutely sure that Levanter does not know that you were on the island?” asked Ingleton, “it seems strange to me that he should not have taken more active steps to ascertain what became of his man Harrison.”

“Well, he did,” replied Redmond, “but I didn’t tell you about it because I wanted to let you know the more important details first. As a matter of fact after my first conversation with your daughter he did make a very complete search of the island.

“In this search he was assisted by the men with him. Fortunately for me, I got word of his intentions from Miss Ingleton in advance. I cleaned up my place about the cave, so that there was no evidence of my presence there. Then I picked out one of the thickest trees I could find. I climbed up into it and stayed there until they had passed through my little grove. It was a very trying ordeal, but it was the only way that safety lay for me. Believe me I stayed there for a considerable time after they had departed. I wasn’t taking any chances.

“I learned afterwards from Miss Ingleton that they made a complete and exhaustive search of every part of the island. Levanter seemed to be very worried that Harrison might have escaped from the island and informed the government authorities where his base was. He freely confessed his fears to your daughter. That was why he made such a complete search.

“There is quite a stretch of sandy beach on the western side of the island, and during the day after her arrival Miss Ingleton learned that Harrison was in the habit of going there to take a swim. She found this out from Levanter while he was discussing the absence of Harrison with his men. At that time they casually remarked that he had probably gone there and would soon be back again.

“She told me about it when I met her the next day, and consequently I went right over to that side of the island and took Harrison’s flying suit that I had worn on the airplane, with me. As soon as I found the beach I threw the flying suit down carelessly and left it there. I figured that if they made a search of the island they would find it there and might possibly draw the conclusion that Harrison had gone there and had been drowned while swimming. It was the best chance to explain his disappearance that came up, and it practically eliminated the possibility of Levanter surmising that there was a stranger on the island.

“It was a good thing that I did this because that is exactly what happened. They were so afraid that Harrison would betray them that they made a complete search of the interior of the island before they went to the beach. When they were unable to locate him anywhere in the center of the island they gradually worked their way toward the western beach.

“There they found the flying clothes which they carried back with them to the station. Afterwards, in discussing the situation, Miss Ingleton heard Levanter advance the opinion that Harrison had been drowned. At the time of their search, however, they did not take any chance on that belief, because as soon as they had scoured the island Levanter ordered the airplane out, and he and his crew took the air to search the waters near the island, on the possible chance that Harrison might be escaping in a boat of some kind. They thought it strange that he had not left his other clothes about the beach.

“Because of the fact that he had been missing for three days by that time they made a search for a considerable distance about the ocean in every direction from the island, to make sure that he was not in a boat.

“I was convinced that I would be safe so long as I was not seen anywhere on the island, and throughout the time I was there I was very careful about my movements. I did not relax my vigilance at any moment and was very careful to cover up every move that I made. Even when Levanter was away on his flights I was very careful because the Kanakas were still on the island, and I did not want them to see me. Consequently the work I had to do on the lifeboat of the schooner Hilo was accomplished under the greatest difficulty because I had to keep one eye open for Kanakas all the time I was working.

“I think we can safely dismiss the problem of Harrison, as I am sure that Levanter and his men are convinced he was drowned. In fact I believe they have forgotten all about him by this time. I am equally sure that Levanter is completely ignorant that I was on the island, so we have the advantage over him in that respect. It only remains then in my opinion to devise a plan to attack upon.”

“Have you got any suggestions to make that would help us to attack him?” asked Commodore Heathcote.

“Well I haven’t thought much about it,” replied Redmond. “I’ve told you practically all the main facts. I am not very well acquainted with the military situation, but it seems to me that you would not stand much chance against his machine with your present equipment, and personally I don’t think the naval vessels would be of any help, if you are considering to use them. But, of course, my opinion isn’t worth very much, I’ll admit.”

“We might use naval craft to blockade the island and make it untenable by a continuous fusilade of fire from all sides,” suggested Captain Smith.

“The blockade itself wouldn’t interfere with his flying operations,” interposed Commodore Heathcote, “and he could bomb the naval vessels. There is no doubt the shelling would annoy him, but outside of a direct hit on the supply plants, it wouldn’t be of any material value and it might endanger Miss Ingleton.”

“That’s true,” replied Captain Smith, “but I believe it would worry him to such an extent that he would not be able to carry out his raids on commercial airships. He would either have to fight us at the island or else move on to a new base. Have you any other plan in mind?”

“Well, yes, a tentative one,” said Heathcote. “On second thought I think the naval cordon around the island would be a good idea under these circumstances. We have now an excellent description of Levanter’s airplane and in fact practically all the details concerning it. I suggest cabling them to Washington and have the experts in the construction bureaus of the different departments there devise some weapon that we could use to fight his machine. As soon as we get this from them we can establish the blockade around the island and attack him with the new weapon. For instance, what I have in mind is this: If he uses liquid gas for his explosives, there must be some chemical weapon that would counteract the effect of such explosive and which we could use successfully against him.”

“Why not place the blockade around the island anyway?” argued Captain Smith.

“Well, the thought I had in mind was that such a blockade would tip Levanter off that we knew the location of his base, and we are not actually ready to attack him. Of course, if we did establish the blockade he would realize we knew where he was located,” answered Heathcote. “It seems to me that we can go ahead and make all possible arrangements to meet and check his attacks on the commercial lines until we are ready to fight him, and then go after him properly organized and completely equipped.”

“Alright, I understand your point of view,” said Captain Smith, “but nevertheless I am still convinced that the blockade would be extremely useful. Even if we did not attempt to shell the island, our very presence would worry him and limit the extent of his raids. Moreover if he should leave the island we would know it immediately and could wireless the fact, so that our aerial patrols could be on the lookout for him and be ready to protect the commercial ships.

“In addition to this I think that Redmond’s plans to return to the island could be more easily carried out with the assistance of the blockade, and the chances of his getting Miss Ingleton off the island would be a hundredfold better with the navy boats there than otherwise.

“We could arrange a system of signals with Redmond, so that he could keep us informed of what was going on as soon as he learned anything through Miss Ingleton. The blockade would not interfere in any way with your plans to devise more efficient weapons to attack him with. It would assist in keeping Levanter on the island.

“You must not forget that if when we throw the blockade around the island, he should decide to go to another island and establish a new base, it would be impossible for him to take his manufacturing and repair plants with him, unless he made a number of very long flights to and from the new island. If he did this, we could learn of it through Redmond and also possibly learn of his new destination, and then we could take steps to attack him there before he had a chance to fortify himself.

“Personally, however, I think he will stay where he is until the very last minute. He will not take any chance of moving to a new place where we might get him more easily, at least that is my opinion. Such a move would be too hazardous and too difficult to accomplish. He might fly away and abandon his machine at some unknown place, if pressed too closely at Patrocinio.

“Taking all these things into consideration, I am absolutely of the opinion that the best move we can make is to establish an immediate blockade around the island. We can take every possible measure of defense to protect the naval vessels from bombing attacks, which I don’t think will be very numerous, judging from Redmond’s description of the difficulty he has in obtaining metal suitable for the manufacture of the bombs. I am willing, however, to put the matter up to the authorities in Washington and let them decide, although I am equally willing to assume the responsibility for ordering the move. In any case I think it will be a good thing to advise Washington completely of the situation.”

At this moment Ingleton, who had been listening attentively to the discussion, broke in:

“Whatever you decide, there is one thing I want to say. It is this: I cannot stand idly by while my daughter is in danger. I am going to the island with Redmond when he goes.”

“But Mr. Ingleton,” objected Redmond, “I think that would seriously handicap our chances. You don’t know the island or the conditions there.”

“I’ve made up my mind!” stated Ingleton firmly.

“I appreciate your anxiety and your feelings,” replied Redmond, “and I hope you will excuse me for speaking frankly, because it is a question of life and death for your daughter. You must pardon me, Sir, but you are not as active as you used to be, and this is a situation that needs vigorous action for success. In addition the chances of recovering your daughter will be greatly lessened if we are discovered, and the more of us are on the island the greater the danger of our being discovered.”

“I’ve made up my mind and nothing will change it,” declared Ingleton with emphasis.

“Very well, Sir, if such is the case I must accede to your wishes,” said Redmond. “I only hope that our mission will be successful.”