In its flight during the night the airship had covered the distance between Lake Erie and North Carolina.

It was in the depth of this Eyrie that the machine had found shelter! This was the nest, worthy of the gigantic and powerful bird created by the genius of our captain! The fortress whose mighty walls none but he could scale! Perhaps even, he had discovered in the depths of some cavern, some subterranean passage by which he himself could quit the Great Eyrie, leaving the "Terror" safely sheltered within.
At last I saw it all! This explained the first letter sent me from the Great Eyrie itself with the threat of death.

If we had been able to penetrate into this hollow, who knows if the secrets of the Master of the World might not have been discovered before he had been able to set them beyond our reach?
I stood there, motionless; my eyes fixed on that mounting eagle of stone, prey to a sudden, violent emotion.

Whatsoever might be the consequences to myself, was it not my duty to destroy this machine, here and now, before it could resume its menacing flight of mastery across the world! Steps approached behind me.

I turned.