Our heroes are astonished to see a British Navy dirigible flying low over their plateau. Malone, working away from the rest, is close enough to catch the last rung of its boarding ladder and clambers aboard. He finds the airship damaged and without crew, but as he opens a logbook, Capt. Askwith appears, and knocks Malone unconscious. As the airship flies beyond view, the others hear screams from a T-Rex hatchery. Luring the dinosaur away, they rescue, not Malone, as they expected, but Askwith! He claims not to have seen Malone. Marguerite is quite taken by him, and offers to bring him back to the Tree house to recover. Roxton, a little jealous, and very suspicious, accompanies them, as Challenger and Veronica follow the airship. They locate it in foothills nearby, and discover that the damage is not too serious, and enough fuel for three days flight off the plateau.