Checking again, he found a momentary lull in the action. "Now's our chance; come on!" The U.N.C.L.E. agents slipped across the hall and out the back door.

The activity seemed equally frenzied outside, but here there were more people affecting the ragged peon garments, and nobody paid any attention to two additional peons who moved briskly to the rear of the northwest barracks. Once beyond the corner of the building they were beyond the furor of the central area; the clearing at the rear was totally deserted. "We're here," Illya said, "but where is our unknown benefactor?"

He received no answer for several minutes. Both agents were becoming increasingly nervous; at any moment a Thrush might wander around the corner of the building and spot them. Napoleon had almost decided to abandon the waiting and try to get away on their own when a figure emerged from the edge of the forest and motioned them to come. They followed him down a little-used path until he stopped, a good distance away from the clearing.

"Mr. Solo? Mr. Kuryakin?" They nodded. "I am Ishmael Gallinas y Sotavento," the man said. "I work for the local U.N.C.L.E. headquarters." He smiled deprecatingly. "I am only an interpreter, not a regular agent, but when U.N.C.L.E. needed to infiltrate Thrush headquarters, I had the right sort of contacts and background."

"What's all the excitement about?" Napoleon asked. "I hope it isn't McNulty putting his master plan into operation already. We need time to get more equipment."

"I am not sure, senor. As I said, I am not used to information-gathering, and I fear I am not very good at it. However, the activity seems to center about the dirigible. They are loading men with parachutes into it, and I heard the man called Forbes urging them to hurry, because they had to move while they still had good weather. It is usually quite rainy here at this time of year. I have not discovered where they are going. But surely, they cannot get far. El Presidente's air force will shoot this slow dirigible out of the sky."

"I'm afraid El Presidente's air force will have a hard time finding this dirigible," Illya commented. Sotavento looked blank.

"It looks as if this is McNulty's master plan," Napoleon said. "Do you know how many men are being loaded?"

"I do not know the exact number of the crew. But there are fifty Thrushes with parachutes, submachine guns, and hand grenades. I heard McNulty say that with these men Thrush could take the place without any trouble."

"Take the place," Napoleon mused. "Now what place could they take that would automatically assure them of control of the country? I can think of only one."

Illya nodded. "Fifty fully armed Thrushes, appearing out of a clear sky inside El Presidente's fortress. The elite guard at the fortress would never know what hit it. McNulty just might make good on this one."

"Can you get in touch with U.N.C.L.E. headquarters in Cerro Bueno?" Napoleon asked.

"Si; it is not safe to carry an U.N.C.L.E. communicator in this place, but I have two Thrush communicators, adjusted to operate on a special wavelength that Cerro Bueno is monitoring." Ishmael held up the communicators, smiling. "If it is discovered, why, they are merely defective communicators, and I am a poor peon who is not intelligent enough to understand that I have faulty equipment."

"Very good," Napoleon said. "Now, what about the other two prisoners? The girl and the old man?"

"Other prisoners?" Ishmael shook his head. "I saw no other prisoners. But then, when I saw you and Se?or, I followed to see which cell you would be placed into, and then I left to gather the materials for your escape. Perhaps the other prisoners were taken from the dirigible later."

"We have to get them out somehow," Illya said. "We have an obligation to Kerry; and as long as she and Dr. Morthley are in Thrush's hands, even if we destroy the existing OTSMID; they can force him to build them another one."

"We seem to be confronted with a dilemma," Napoleon observed. "Which way do we jump? I don't think that notifying the local U.N.C.L.E. headquarters will do much good. They certainly won't be able to convince El Presidente that an invisible dirigible is going to dump fifty paratroopers on his head within an hour or two. And there certainly aren't enough local agents to stop something like that by themselves. On the other hand, the best time to get Kerry and Dr. Morthley away from Thrush is before they discover that we've escaped.

"Ishmael said they were loading the paratroopers already," Illya reminded him. "We don't have much time to choose."

Napoleon nodded and turned to Ishmael. "We'll have to knock out the dirigible. How would you go about it, Illya?"

"I don't know; I never sabotaged a dirigible before. But I'd suggest that the first step would be to get on board."

Napoleon began giving Ishmael instructions. "It is of the utmost importance that the other prisoners are located and helped to escape. Notify U.N.C.L.E. and see if they can give you any help. If not, try to get them out yourself, any way you can. Let us have one of your special communicators, so we can keep in touch with you. I we succeed, we'll try to get back to give you a hand. When you contact Cerro Bueno, tell them about the invisible dirigible. If they don't believe you, have them contact Mr. Waverly in New York. He knows about it."

Ishmael nodded reluctantly. "I will do the best that a poor interpreter can," he said as Napoleon and Illya started back down the path toward the dirigible.

* * *

Five minutes later, the two agents were peering cautiously out of the undergrowth that lined the clearing in which the dirigible rested. The tail section towered over them, and they could see Thrushes swarming about the control gondola, almost a city block away.

Napoleon looked up. The body of the ship was a good dozen feet off the ground. "How do we get in if we can't reach it?" he asked.

Let's get a little nearer the front. Maybe something will occur to us." Illya moved forward, keeping out of sight in the trees and bushes as he went.

After a minute, Illya paused and held up his hand to caution Napoleon to stop. "Here we are," he said, gesturing upward. "We couldn't ask for anything more convenient. Just follow me up the tree." An engine gondola hung fifteen feet in the air, mashing down the middle branches of a medium-sized tree.

"What is it with you and trees?" Napoleon asked resentfully, but he followed Illya into the branches. Without undue acrobatics, Illya eased himself down onto the top of the gondola, then looked toward the Thrush activity that was still a good three hundred feet in front of them. After a second, he motioned Napoleon to follow him.

Pulling a knife from his shirt and placing it in his teeth, Illya started up one of the metal struts that held the engine gondola to the body of the dirigible. In a short time he had himself braced among the struts and was inspecting the surface. He tapped it with his fingers and muttered something that Napoleon couldn't catch. Then he took the knife from his teeth and poked with it. After a few unsuccessful jabs, he returned the knife to his teeth and descended.

"I was afraid of that," he explained as he stepped down next to Napoleon. "Around the engine mountings, they cover everything with metal."

Napoleon nobly refrained from commenting. "How far does the metal extend?" he asked, eying the other areas the engine struts were attached to.