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diff --git a/old/wrair10.txt b/old/wrair10.txt deleted file mode 100644 index dc9675e..0000000 --- a/old/wrair10.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11737 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg Etext of The War in the Air by H. G. Wells - -#8 in our series by H. G. Wells - - -Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check -the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! - -Please take a look at the important information in this header. -We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an -electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. - - -**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** - -**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** - -*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* - -Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and -further information is included below. We need your donations. - - - -The War in the Air - -by H. G. 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If you - don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are - payable to "Project Gutenberg Association within the 60 - days following each date you prepare (or were legally - required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent periodic) - tax return. - -WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? -The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, -scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty -free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution -you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg -Association". - -*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* - - - - - -THE WAR IN THE AIR -by H. G. WELLS - - - - - -CONTENTS - - I. OF PROGRESS AND THE SMALLWAYS FAMILY - II. HOW BERT SMALLWAYS GOT INTO DIFFICULTIES - III. THE BALLOON - IV. THE GERMAN AIR-FLEET - V. THE BATTLE OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC - VI. HOW WAR CAME TO NEW YORK - VII. THE "VATERLAND" IS DISABLED - VIII. A WORLD AT WAR - IX. ON GOAT ISLAND - X. THE WORLD UNDER THE WAR - XI. THE GREAT COLLAPSE - THE EPILOGUE - - - - -PREFACE TO REPRINT EDITION - -The reader should grasp clearly the date at which this book was -written. It was done in 1907: it appeared in various magazines -as a serial in 1908 and it was published in the Fall of that -year. At that time the aeroplane was, for most people, merely a -rumour and the "Sausage" held the air. The contemporary reader -has all the advantage of ten years' experience since this story -was imagined. He can correct his author at a dozen points and -estimate the value of these warnings by the standard of a decade -of realities. The book is weak on anti-aircraft guns, for -example, and still more negligent of submarines. Much, no -doubt, will strike the reader as quaint and limited but upon much -the writer may not unreasonably plume himself. The -interpretation of the German spirit must have read as a -caricature in 1908. Was it a caricature? Prince Karl seemed a -fantasy then. Reality has since copied Prince Carl with an -astonishing faithfulness. Is it too much to hope that some -democratic "Bert" may not ultimately get even with his Highness? -Our author tells us in this book, as he has told us in others, -more especially in The World Set Free, and as he has been telling -us this year in his War and the Future, that if mankind goes on -with war, the smash-up of civilization is inevitable. It is -chaos or the United States of the World for mankind. There is no -other choice. Ten years have but added an enormous conviction to -the message of this book. It remains essentially right, a -pamphlet story--in support of the League to Enforce Peace. -K. - - - - - -THE WAR IN THE AIR - - - -CHAPTER I -OF PROGRESS AND THE SMALLWAYS FAMILY - - -1 - -"This here Progress," said Mr. Tom Smallways, "it keeps on." - -"You'd hardly think it could keep on," said Mr. Tom Smallways. - -It was along before the War in the Air began that Mr. Smallways -made this remark. He was sitting on the fence at the end of his -garden and surveying the great Bun Hill gas-works with an eye -that neither praised nor blamed. Above the clustering gasometers -three unfamiliar shapes appeared, thin, wallowing bladders that -flapped and rolled about, and grew bigger and bigger and rounder -and rounder--balloons in course of inflation for the South of -England Aero Club's Saturday-afternoon ascent. - -"They goes up every Saturday," said his neighbour, Mr. Stringer, -the milkman. "It's only yestiday, so to speak, when all London -turned out to see a balloon go over, and now every little place -in the country has its weekly-outings--uppings, rather. It's -been the salvation of them gas companies." - -"Larst Satiday I got three barrer-loads of gravel off my -petaters," said Mr. Tom Smallways. "Three barrer-loads! What -they dropped as ballase. Some of the plants was broke, and some -was buried." - -"Ladies, they say, goes up!" - -"I suppose we got to call 'em ladies," said Mr. Tom Smallways. - -"Still, it ain't hardly my idea of a lady--flying about in the -air, and throwing gravel at people. It ain't what I been -accustomed to consider ladylike, whether or no." - -Mr. Stringer nodded his head approvingly, and for a time they -continued to regard the swelling bulks with expressions that had -changed from indifference to disapproval. - -Mr. Tom Smallways was a green-grocer by trade and a gardener by -disposition; his little wife Jessica saw to the shop, and Heaven -had planned him for a peaceful world. Unfortunately Heaven had -not planned a peaceful world for him. He lived in a world of -obstinate and incessant change, and in parts where its -operations were unsparingly conspicuous. Vicissitude was in the -very soil he tilled; even his garden was upon a yearly tenancy, -and overshadowed by a huge board that proclaimed it not so much a -garden as an eligible building site. He was horticulture under -notice to quit, the last patch of country in a district flooded -by new and prbaa things. He did his best to console himself, -to imagine matters near the turn of the tide. - -"You'd hardly think it could keep on," he said. - -Mr. Smallways' aged father, could remember Bun Hill as an idyllic -Kentish village. He had driven Sir Peter Bone until he was fifty -and then he took to drink a little, and driving the station bus, -which lasted him until he was seventy-eight. Then he retired. He -sat by the fireside, a shrivelled, very, very old coachman, -full charged with reminiscences, and ready for any careless -stranger. He could tell you of the vanished estate of Sir Peter -Bone, long since cut up for building, and how that magnate ruled -the country-side when it was country-side, of shooting and -hunting, and of caches along the high road, of how "where the -gas-works is" was a cricket-field, and of the coming of the -Crystal Palace. The Crystal Palace was six miles away from Bun -Hill, a great facade that glittered in the morning, and was a -clear blue outline against the sky in the afternoon, and of a -night, a source of gratuitous fireworks for all the population of -Bun Hill. And then had come the railway, and then villas and -villas, and then the gas-works and the water-works, and a great, -ugly sea of workmen's houses, and then drainage, and the water -vanished out of the Otterbourne and left it a dreadful ditch, and -then a second railway station, Bun Hill South, and more houses -and more, more shops, more competition, plate-glass shops, a -school-board, rates, omnibuses, tramcars--going right away into -London itself--bicycles, motor-cars and then more motor-cars, a -Carnegie library. - -"You'd hardly think it could keep on," said Mr. Tom Smallways, -growing up among these marvels. - -But it kept on. Even from the first the green-grocer's shop -which he had set up in one of the smallest of the old surviving -village houses in the tail of the High Street had a submerged -air, an air of hiding from something that was looking for it. When -they had made up the pavement of the High Street, they -levelled that up so that one had to go down three steps into the -shop. Tom did his best to sell only his own excellent but -limited range of produce; but Progress came shoving things into -his window, French artichokes and aubergines, foreign apples-- -apples from the State of New York, apples from California, -apples from Canada, apples from New Zealand, "pretty lookin' -fruit, but not what I should call English apples," said Tom-- -bananas, unfamiliar nuts, grape fruits, mangoes. - -The motor-cars that went by northward and southward grew more and -more powerful and efficient, whizzed faster and smelt worse, -there appeared great clangorous petrol trolleys delivering coal -and parcels in the place of vanishing horse-vans, motor-omnibuses -ousted the horse-omnibuses, even the Kentish strawberries going -Londonward in the night took to machinery and clattered instead -of creaking, and became affected in flavour by progress and -petrol. - -And then young Bert Smallways got a motor bicycle.... - -2 - -Bert, it is necessary to explain, was a progressive Smallways. - -Nothing speaks more eloquently of the pitiless insistence of -progress and expansion in our time than that it should get into -the Smallways blood. But there was something advanced and -enterprising about young Smallways before he was out of short -frocks. He was lost for a whole day before he was five, and -nearly drowned in the reservoir of the new water-works before he -was seven. He had a real pistol taken away from him by a real -policeman when he was ten. And he learnt to smoke, not with -pipes and brown paper and cane as Tom had done, but with a penny -packet of Boys of England American cigarettes. His language -shocked his father before he was twelve, and by that age, what -with touting for parcels at the station and selling the Bun Hill -Weekly Express, he was making three shillings a week, or more, -and spending it on Chips, Comic Cuts, Ally Sloper's Half-holiday, -cigarettes, and all the concomitants of a life of pleasure and -enlightenment. All of this without hindrance to his literary -studies, which carried him up to the seventh standard at an -exceptionally early age. I mention these things so that you may -have no doubt at all concerning the sort of stuff Bert had in -him. - -He was six years younger than Tom, and for a time there was an -attempt to utilise him in the green-grocer's shop when Tom at -twenty-one married Jessica--who was thirty, and had saved a -little money in service. But it was not Bert's forte to be -utilised. He hated digging, and when he was given a basket of -stuff to deliver, a nomadic instinct arose irresistibly, it -became his pack and he did not seem to care how heavy it was -nor where he took it, so long as he did not take it to its -destination. Glamour filled the world, and he strayed after it, -basket and all. So Tom took his goods out himself, and sought -employers for Bert who did not know of this strain of poetry in -his nature. And Bert touched the fringe of a number of trades in -succession--draper's porter, chemist's boy, doctor's page, junior -assistant gas-fitter, envelope addresser, milk-cart assistant, -golf caddie, and at last helper in a bicycle shop. Here, -apparently, he found the progressive quality his nature had -craved. His employer was a pirate-souled young man named Grubb, -with a black-smeared face by day, and a music-hall side in the -evening, who dreamt of a patent lever chain; and it seemed to -Bert that he was the perfect model of a gentleman of spirit. He -hired out quite the dirtiest and unsafest bicycles in the whole -south of England, and conducted the subsequent discussions with -astonishing verve. Bert and he settled down very well together. -Bert lived in, became almost a trick rider--he could ride -bicycles for miles that would have come to pieces instantly under -you or me--took to washing his face after business, and spent -his surplus money upon remarkable ties and collars, cigarettes, -and shorthand classes at the Bun Hill Institute. - -He would go round to Tom at times, and look and talk so -brilliantly that Tom and Jessie, who both had a natural tendency -to be respectful to anybody or anything, looked up to him -immensely. - -"He's a go-ahead chap, is Bert," said Tom. "He knows a thing or -two." - -"Let's hope he don't know too much," said Jessica, who had a fine -sense of limitations. - -"It's go-ahead Times," said Tom. "Noo petaters, and English at -that; we'll be having 'em in March if things go on as they do go. -I never see such Times. See his tie last night?" - -"It wasn't suited to him, Tom. It was a gentleman's tie. He -wasn't up to it--not the rest of him, It wasn't becoming"... - -Then presently Bert got a cyclist's suit, cap, badge, and all; -and to see him and Grubb going down to Brighton (and back)--heads -down, handle-bars down, backbones curved--was a revelation -in the possibilities of the Smallways blood. - -Go-ahead Times! - -Old Smallways would sit over the fire mumbling of the greatness -of other days, of old Sir Peter, who drove his coach to Brighton -and back in eight-and-twenty hours, of old Sir Peter's white -top-hats, of Lady Bone, who never set foot to ground except to -walk in the garden, of the great, prize-fights at Crawley. He -talked of pink and pig-skin breeches, of foxes at Ring's Bottom, -where now the County Council pauper lunatics were enclosed, of -Lady Bone's chintzes and crinolines. Nobody heeded him. The -world had thrown up a new type of gentleman altogether--a -gentleman of most ungentlemanly energy, a gentleman in dusty -oilskins and motor goggles and a wonderful cap, a stink-making -gentleman, a swift, high-class badger, who fled perpetually along -high roads from the dust and stink he perpetually made. And his -lady, as they were able to see her at Bun Hill, was a -weather-bitten goddess, as free from refinement as a gipsy--not -so much dressed as packed for transit at a high velocity. - -So Bert grew up, filled with ideals of speed and enterprise, and -became, so far as he became anything, a kind of bicycle -engineer of the let's-have-a-look-at-it and enamel chipping -variety. Even a road-racer, geared to a hundred and twenty, -failed to satisfy him, and for a time he pined in vain at twenty -miles an hour along roads that were continually more dusty and -more crowded with mechanical traffic. But at last his savings -accumulated, and his chance came. The hire-purchase system -bridged a financial gap, and one bright and memorable Sunday -morning he wheeled his new possession through the shop into the -road, got on to it with the advice and assistance of Grubb, and -teuf-teuffed off into the haze of the traffic-tortured high road, -to add himself as one more voluntary public danger to the -amenities of the south of England. - -"Orf to Brighton!" said old Smallways, regarding his youngest son -from the sitting-room window over the green-grocer's shop with -something between pride and reprobation. "When I was 'is age, -I'd never been to London, never bin south of Crawley--never -bin anywhere on my own where I couldn't walk. And nobody didn't -go. Not unless they was gentry. Now every body's orf -everywhere; the whole dratted country sims flying to pieces. -Wonder they all get back. Orf to Brighton indeed! Anybody want -to buy 'orses?" - -"You can't say _I_ bin to Brighton, father," said Tom. - -"Nor don't want to go," said Jessica sharply; "creering about and -spendin' your money." - -3 - -For a time the possibilities of the motor-bicycle so occupied -Bert's mind that he remained regardless of the new direction in -which the striving soul of man was finding exercise and -refreshment. He failed to observe that the type of motor-car, -like the type of bicycle, was settling-down and losing its -adventurous quality. Indeed, it is as true as it is remarkable -that Tom was the first to observe the new development. But his -gardening made him attentive to the heavens, and the proximity of -the Bun Hill gas-works and the Crystal Palace, from which ascents -were continually being made, and presently the descent of ballast -upon his potatoes, conspired to bear in upon his unwilling mind -the fact that the Goddess of Change was turning her disturbing -attention to the sky. The first great boom in aeronautics was -beginning. - -Grubb and Bert heard of it in a music-hall, then it was driven -home to their minds by the cinematograph, then Bert's imagination -was stimulated by a sixpenny edition of that aeronautic classic, -Mr. George Griffith's "Clipper of the Clouds," and so the thing -really got hold of them. - -At first the most obvious aspect was the multiplication of -balloons. The sky of Bun Hill began to be infested by balloons. -On Wednesday and Saturday afternoons particularly you could -scarcely look skyward for a quarter of an hour without -discovering a balloon somewhere. And then one bright day Bert, -motoring toward Croydon, was arrested by the insurgence of a -huge, bolster-shaped monster from the Crystal Palace grounds, and -obliged to dismount and watch it. It was like a bolster with a -broken nose, and below it, and comparatively small, was a stiff -framework bearing a man and an engine with a screw that whizzed -round in front and a sort of canvas rudder behind. The framework -had an air of dragging the reluctant gas-cylinder after it like a -brisk little terrier towing a shy gas-distended elephant into -society. The combined monster certainly travelled and steered. -It went overhead perhaps a thousand feet up (Bert heard the -engine), sailed away southward, vanished over the hills, -reappeared a little blue outline far off in the east, going now -very fast before a gentle south-west gale, returned above the -Crystal Palace towers, circled round them, chose a position for -descent, and sank down out of sight. - -Bert sighed deeply, and turned to his motor-bicycle again. - -And that was only the beginning of a succession of strange -phenomena in the heavens--cylinders, cones, pear-shaped monsters, -even at last a thing of aluminium that glittered wonderfully, and -that Grubb, through some confusion of ideas about armour plates, -was inclined to consider a war machine. - -There followed actual flight. - -This, however, was not an affair that was visible from Bun Hill; -it was something that occurred in private grounds or other -enclosed places and, under favourable conditions, and it was -brought home to Grubb and Bert Smallways only by means of the -magazine page of the half-penny newspapers or by cinematograph -records. But it was brought home very insistently, and in those -days if, ever one heard a man saying in a public place in a -loud, reassuring, confident tone, "It's bound to come," the -chances were ten to one he was talking of flying. And Bert got a -box lid and wrote out in correct window-ticket style, and Grubb -put in the window this inscription, "Aeroplanes made and -repaired." It quite upset Tom--it seemed taking one's shop so -lightly; but most of the neighbours, and all the sporting ones, -approved of it as being very good indeed. - -Everybody talked of flying, everybody repeated over and over -again, "Bound to come," and then you know it didn't come. There -was a hitch. They flew--that was all right; they flew in -machines heavier than air. But they smashed. Sometimes they -smashed the engine, sometimes they smashed the aeronaut, usually -they smashed both. Machines that made flights of three or four -miles and came down safely, went up the next time to headlong -disaster. There seemed no possible trusting to them. The breeze -upset them, the eddies near the ground upset them, a passing -thought in the mind of the aeronaut upset them. Also they -upset--simply. - -"It's this 'stability' does 'em," said Grubb, repeating his -newspaper. "They pitch and they pitch, till they pitch -themselves to pieces." - -Experiments fell away after two expectant years of this sort of -success, the public and then the newspapers tired of the -expensive photographic reproductions, the optimistic reports, the -perpetual sequence of triumph and disaster and silence. Flying -slumped, even ballooning fell away to some extent, though it -remained a fairly popular sport, and continued to lift gravel -from the wharf of the Bun Hill gas-works and drop it upon -deserving people's lawns and gardens. There were half a dozen -reassuring years for Tom--at least so far as flying was -concerned. But that was the great time of mono-rail development, -and his anxiety was only diverted from the high heavens by the -most urgent threats and symptoms of change in the lower sky. - -There had been talk of mono-rails for several years. But the -real mischief began when Brennan sprang his gyroscopic mono-rail -car upon the Royal Society. It was the leading sensation of the -1907 soirees; that celebrated demonstration-room was all too -small for its exhibition. Brave soldiers, leading Zionists, -deserving novelists, noble ladies, congested the narrow passage -and thrust distinguished elbows into ribs the world would not -willingly let break, deeming themselves fortunate if they could -see "just a little bit of the rail." Inaudible, but convincing, -the great inventor expounded his discovery, and sent his obedient -little model of the trains of the future up gradients, round -curves, and across a sagging wire. It ran along its single rail, -on its single wheels, simple and sufficient; it stopped, reversed -stood still, balancing perfectly. It maintained its astounding -equilibrium amidst a thunder of applause. The audience dispersed -at last, discussing how far they would enjoy crossing an abyss on -a wire cable. "Suppose the gyroscope stopped!" Few of them -anticipated a tithe of what the Brennan mono-rail would do for -their railway securities and the face of the world. - -In a few, years they realised better. In a little while no one -thought anything of crossing an abyss on a wire, and the mono- -rail was superseding the tram-lines, railways: and indeed every -form of track for mechanical locomotion. Where land was cheap -the rail ran along the ground, where it was dear the rail lifted -up on iron standards and passed overhead; its swift, convenient -cars went everywhere and did everything that had once been done -along made tracks upon the ground. - -When old Smallways died, Tom could think of nothing more striking -to say of him than that, "When he was a boy, there wasn't nothing -higher than your chimbleys--there wasn't a wire nor a cable in -the sky!" - -Old Smallways went to his grave under an intricate network of -wires and cables, for Bun Hill became not only a sort of minor -centre of power distribution--the Home Counties Power -Distribution Company set up transformers and a generating station -close beside the old gas-works--but, also a junction on the -suburban mono-rail system. Moreover, every tradesman in the -place, and indeed nearly every house, had its own telephone. - -The mono-rail cable standard became a striking fact in urban -landscape, for the most part stout iron erections rather like -tapering trestles, and painted a bright bluish green. One, it -happened, bestrode Tom's house, which looked still more retiring -and apologetic beneath its immensity; and another giant stood -just inside the corner of his garden, which was still not built -upon and unchanged, except for a couple of advertisement boards, -one recommending a two-and-sixpenny watch, and one a nerve -restorer. These, by the bye, were placed almost horizontally to -catch the eye of the passing mono-rail passengers above, and so -served admirably to roof over a tool-shed and a mushroom-shed for -Tom. All day and all night the fast cars from Brighton and -Hastings went murmuring by overhead long, broad, -comfortable-looking cars, that were brightly lit after dusk. As -they flew by at night, transient flares of light and a rumbling -sound of passage, they kept up a perpetual summer lightning and -thunderstorm in the street below. - -Presently the English Channel was bridged--a series of great iron -Eiffel Tower pillars carrying mono-rail cables at a height of a -hundred and fifty feet above the water, except near the middle, -where they rose higher to allow the passage of the London and -Antwerp shipping and the Hamburg-America liners. - -Then heavy motor-cars began to run about on only a couple of -wheels, one behind the other, which for some reason upset Tom -dreadfully, and made him gloomy for days after the first one -passed the shop... - -All this gyroscopic and mono-rail development naturally absorbed -a vast amount of public attention, and there was also a huge -excitement consequent upon the amazing gold discoveries off the -coast of Anglesea made by a submarine prospector, Miss Patricia -Giddy. She had taken her degree in geology and mineralogy in the -University of London, and while working upon the auriferous rocks -of North Wales, after a brief holiday spent in agitating for -women's suffrage, she had been struck by the possibility of these -reefs cropping up again under the water. She had set herself to -verify this supposition by the use of the submarine crawler -invented by Doctor Alberto Cassini. By a happy mingling of -reasoning and intuition peculiar to her sex she found gold at her -first descent, and emerged after three hours' submersion with -about two hundredweight of ore containing gold in the -unparalleled quantity of seventeen ounces to the ton. But the -whole story of her submarine mining, intensely interesting as it -is, must be told at some other time; suffice it now to remark -simply that it was during the consequent great rise of prices, -confidence, and enterprise that the revival of interest in flying -occurred. - -It is curious how that revival began. It was like the coming of -a breeze on a quiet day; nothing started it, it came. People -began to talk of flying with an air of never having for one -moment dropped the subject. Pictures of flying and flying -machines returned to the newspapers; articles and allusions -increased and multiplied in the serious magazines. People asked -in mono-rail trains, "When are we going to fly?" A new crop of -inventors sprang up in a night or so like fungi. The Aero Club -announced the project of a great Flying Exhibition in a large -area of ground that the removal of slums in Whitechapel had -rendered available. - -The advancing wave soon produced a sympathetic ripple in the Bun -Hill establishment. Grubb routed out his flying-machine model -again, tried it in the yard behind the shop, got a kind of flight -out of it, and broke seventeen panes of glass and nine -flower-pots in the greenhouse that occupied the next yard but -one. - -And then, springing from nowhere, sustained one knew not how, -came a persistent, disturbing rumour that the problem had been -solved, that the secret was known. Bert met it one early-closing -afternoon as he refreshed himself in an inn near Nutfield, -whither his motor-bicycle had brought him. There smoked and -meditated a person in khaki, an engineer, who presently took an -interest in Bert's machine. It was a sturdy piece of apparatus, -and it had acquired a kind of documentary value in these -quick-changing times; it was now nearly eight years old. Its -points discussed, the soldier broke into a new topic with, "My -next's going to be an aeroplane, so far as I can see. I've had -enough of roads and ways." - -"They TORK," said Bert. - -"They talk--and they do," said the soldier. - -"The thing's coming--" - -"It keeps ON coming," said Bert; "I shall believe when I see it." - -"That won't be long," said the soldier. - -The conversation seemed degenerating into an amiable wrangle of -contradiction. - -"I tell you they ARE flying," the soldier insisted. "I see it -myself." - -"We've all seen it," said Bert. - -"I don't mean flap up and smash up; I mean real, safe, steady, -controlled flying, against the wind, good and right." - -"You ain't seen that!" - -"I 'AVE! Aldershot. They try to keep it a secret. They got it -right enough. You bet--our War Office isn't going to be -caught napping this time." - -Bert's incredulity was shaken. He asked questions--and the -soldier expanded. - -"I tell you they got nearly a square mile fenced in--a sort of -valley. Fences of barbed wire ten feet high, and inside that they -do things. Chaps about the camp--now and then we get a peep. It -isn't only us neither. There's the Japanese; you bet they got it -too--and the Germans!" - -The soldier stood with his legs very wide apart, and filled his -pipe thoughtfully. Bert sat on the low wall against which his -motor-bicycle was leaning. - -"Funny thing fighting'll be," he said. - -"Flying's going to break out," said the soldier. "When it DOES -come, when the curtain does go up, I tell you you'll find every -one on the stage--busy.... Such fighting, too!... I suppose you -don't read the papers about this sort of thing?" - -"I read 'em a bit," said Bert. - -"Well, have you noticed what one might call the remarkable case -of the disappearing inventor--the inventor who turns up in a -blaze of publicity, fires off a few successful experiments, and -vanishes?" - -"Can't say I 'ave," said Bert. - -"Well, I 'ave, anyhow. You get anybody come along who does -anything striking in this line, and, you bet, he vanishes. Just -goes off quietly out of sight. After a bit, you don't hear -anything more of 'em at all. See? They disappear. Gone--no -address. First--oh! it's an old story now--there was those -Wright Brothers out in America. They glided--they glided miles -and miles. Finally they glided off stage. Why, it must be -nineteen hundred and four, or five, THEY vanished! Then there -was those people in Ireland--no, I forget their names. Everybody -said they could fly. THEY went. They ain't dead that I've heard -tell; but you can't say they're alive. Not a feather of 'em can -you see. Then that chap who flew round Paris and upset in the -Seine. De Booley, was it? I forget. That was a grand fly, in -spite of the accident; but where's he got to? The accident -didn't hurt him. Eh? _'E_'s gone to cover." - -The soldier prepared to light his pipe. - -"Looks like a secret society got hold of them," said Bert. - -"Secret society! NAW!" - -The soldier lit his match, and drew. "Secret society," he -repeated, with his pipe between his teeth and the match flaring, -in response to his words. "War Departments; that's more like -it." He threw his match aside, and walked to his machine. "I -tell you, sir," he said, "there isn't a big Power in Europe, OR -Asia, OR America, OR Africa, that hasn't got at least one or two -flying machines hidden up its sleeve at the present time. Not -one. Real, workable, flying machines. And the spying! The -spying and manoeuvring to find out what the others have got. I -tell you, sir, a foreigner, or, for the matter of that, an -unaccredited native, can't get within four miles of Lydd nowadays-- -not to mention our little circus at Aldershot, and the -experimental camp in Galway. No!" - -"Well," said Bert, "I'd like to see one of them, anyhow. Jest to -help believing. I'll believe when I see, that I'll promise you." - -"You'll see 'em, fast enough," said the soldier, and led his -machine out into the road. - -He left Bert on his wall, grave and pensive, with his cap on the -back of his head, and a cigarette smouldering in the corner of -his mouth. - -"If what he says is true," said Bert, "me and Grubb, we been -wasting our blessed old time. Besides incurring expense with -that green-'ouse." - -5 - -It was while this mysterious talk with the soldier still stirred -in Bert Smallways' imagination that the most astounding incident -in the whole of that dramatic chapter of human history, the -coming of flying, occurred. People talk glibly enough of -epoch-making events; this was an epoch-making event. It was the -unanticipated and entirely successful flight of Mr. Alfred -Butteridge from the Crystal Palace to Glasgow and back in a small -businesslike-looking machine heavier than air--an entirely -manageable and controllable machine that could fly as well as a -pigeon. - -It wasn't, one felt, a fresh step forward in the matter so much -as a giant stride, a leap. Mr. Butteridge remained in the air -altogether for about nine hours, and during that time he flew -with the ease and assurance of a bird. His machine was, however -neither bird-like nor butterfly-like, nor had it the wide, -lateral expansion of the ordinary aeroplane. The effect upon the -observer was rather something in the nature of a bee or wasp. -Parts of the apparatus were spinning very rapidly, and gave one a -hazy effect of transparent wings; but parts, including two -peculiarly curved "wing-cases"--if one may borrow a figure from -the flying beetles--remained expanded stiffly. In the middle was -a long rounded body like the body of a moth, and on this Mr. -Butteridge could be seen sitting astride, much as a man bestrides -a horse. The wasp-like resemblance was increased by the fact -that the apparatus flew with a deep booming hum, exactly the -sound made by a wasp at a windowpane. - -Mr. Butteridge took the world by surprise. He was one of those -gentlemen from nowhere Fate still succeeds in producing for the -stimulation of mankind. He came, it was variously said, from -Australia and America and the South of France. He was also -described quite incorrectly as the son of a man who had amassed -a comfortable fortune in the manufacture of gold nibs and the -Butteridge fountain pens. But this was an entirely different -strain of Butteridges. For some years, in spite of a loud voice, -a large presence, an aggressive swagger, and an implacable -manner, he had been an undistinguished member of most of the -existing aeronautical associations. Then one day he wrote to all -the London papers to announce that he had made arrangements for -an ascent from the Crystal Palace of a machine that would -demonstrate satisfactorily that the outstanding difficulties in -the way of flying were finally solved. Few of the papers printed -his letter, still fewer were the people who believed in his -claim. No one was excited even when a fracas on the steps of a -leading hotel in Piccadilly, in which he tried to horse-whip a -prominent German musician upon some personal account, delayed his -promised ascent. The quarrel was inadequately reported, and his -name spelt variously Betteridge and Betridge. Until his flight -indeed, he did not and could not contrive to exist in the public -mind. There were scarcely thirty people on the look-out for him, -in spite of all his clamour, when about six o'clock one summer -morning the doors of the big shed in which he had been putting -together his apparatus opened--it was near the big model of a -megatherium in the Crystal Palace grounds--and his giant insect -came droning out into a negligent and incredulous world. - -But before he had made his second circuit of the Crystal Palace -towers, Fame was lifting her trumpet, she drew a deep breath as -the startled tramps who sleep on the seats of Trafalgar Square -were roused by his buzz and awoke to discover him circling the -Nelson column, and by the time he had got to Birmingham, which -place he crossed about half-past ten, her deafening blast was -echoing throughout the country. The despaired-of thing was done. - -A man was flying securely and well. - -Scotland was agape for his coming. Glasgow he reached by one -o'clock, and it is related that scarcely a ship-yard or factory -in that busy hive of industry resumed work before half-past two. -The public mind was just sufficiently educated in the -impossibility of flying to appreciate Mr. Butteridge at his -proper value. He circled the University buildings, and dropped -to within shouting distance of the crowds in West End Park and on -the slope of Gilmorehill. The thing flew quite steadily at a -pace of about three miles an hour, in a wide circle, making a -deep hum that, would have drowned his full, rich voice completely -had he not provided himself with a megaphone. He avoided -churches, buildings, and mono-rail cables with consummate ease as -he conversed. - -"Me name's Butteridge," he shouted; "B-U-T-T-E-R-I-D-G-E.--Got -it? Me mother was Scotch." - -And having assured himself that he had been understood, he rose -amidst cheers and shouting and patriotic cries, and then flew up -very swiftly and easily into the south-eastern sky, rising and -falling with long, easy undulations in an extraordinarily -wasp-like manner. - -His return to London--he visited and hovered over Manchester and -Liverpool and Oxford on his way, and spelt his name out to each -place--was an occasion of unparalleled excitement. Every one was -staring heavenward. More people were run over in the streets -upon that one day, than in the previous three months, and a -County Council steamboat, the Isaac Walton, collided with a pier -of Westminster Bridge, and narrowly escaped disaster by running -ashore--it was low water--on the mud on the south side. He -returned to the Crystal Palace grounds, that classic -starting-point of aeronautical adventure, about sunset, -re-entered his shed without disaster, and had the doors locked -immediately upon the photographers and journalists who been -waiting his return. - -"Look here, you chaps," he said, as his assistant did so, "I'm -tired to death, and saddle sore. I can't give you a word of talk. -I'm too--done. My name's Butteridge. B-U-T-T-E-R-I-D-G-E. -Get that right. I'm an Imperial Englishman. I'll talk to you all -to-morrow." - -Foggy snapshots still survive to record that incident. His -assistant struggles in a sea of aggressive young men carrying -note-books or upholding cameras and wearing bowler hats and -enterprising ties. He himself towers up in the doorway, a big -figure with a mouth--an eloquent cavity beneath a vast black -moustache--distorted by his shout to these relentless agents of -publicity. He towers there, the most famous man in the country. - -Almost symbolically he holds and gesticulates with a megaphone in -his left hand. - -6 - -Tom and Bert Smallways both saw that return. They watched from -the crest of Bun Hill, from which they had so often surveyed the -pyrotechnics of the Crystal Palace. Bert was excited, Tom kept -calm and lumpish, but neither of them realised how their own -lives were to be invaded by the fruits of that beginning. -"P'raps old Grubb'll mind the shop a bit now," he said, "and put -his blessed model in the fire. Not that that can save us, if we -don't tide over with Steinhart's account." - -Bert knew enough of things and the problem of aeronautics to -realise that this gigantic imitation of a bee would, to use his -own idiom, "give the newspapers fits." The next day it was clear -the fits had been given even as he said: their magazine pages -were black with hasty photographs, their prose was convulsive, -they foamed at the headline. The next day they were worse. -Before the week was out they were not so much published as -carried screaming into the street. - -The dominant fact in the uproar was the exceptional personality -of Mr. Butteridge, and the extraordinary terms he demanded for -the secret of his machine. - -For it was a secret and he kept it secret in the most elaborate -fashion. He built his apparatus himself in the safe privacy of -the great Crystal Palace sheds, with the assistance of -inattentive workmen, and the day next following his flight he -took it to pieces single handed, packed certain portions, and -then secured unintelligent assistance in packing and dispersing -the rest. Sealed packing-cases went north and east and west to -various pantechnicons, and the engines were boxed with peculiar -care. It became evident these precautions were not inadvisable -in view of the violent demand for any sort of photograph or -impressions of his machine. But Mr. Butteridge, having once made -his demonstration, intended to keep his secret safe from any -further risk of leakage. He faced the British public now with -the question whether they wanted his secret or not; he was, he -said perpetually, an "Imperial Englishman," and his first wish -and his last was to see his invention the privilege and monopoly -of the Empire. Only-- - -It was there the difficulty began. - -Mr. Butteridge, it became evident, was a man singularly free from -any false modesty--indeed, from any modesty of any -kind--singularly willing to see interviewers, answer questions -upon any topic except aeronautics, volunteer opinions, -criticisms, and autobiography, supply portraits and photographs -of himself, and generally spread his personality across the -terrestrial sky. The published portraits insisted primarily upon -an immense black moustache, and secondarily upon a fierceness -behind the moustache. The general impression upon the public was -that Butteridge, was a small man. No one big, it was felt, could -have so virulently aggressive an expression, though, as a matter -of fact, Butteridge had a height of six feet two inches, and a -weight altogether proportionate to that. Moreover, he had a love -affair of large and unusual dimensions and irregular -circumstances and the still largely decorous British public -learnt with reluctance and alarm that a sympathetic treatment of -this affair was inseparable from the exclusive acquisition of the -priceless secret of aerial stability by the British Empire. The -exact particulars of the similarity never came to light, but -apparently the lady had, in a fit of high-minded inadvertence, -had gone through the ceremony of marriage with, one quotes the -unpublished discourse of Mr. Butteridge--"a white-livered skunk," -and this zoological aberration did in some legal and vexatious -manner mar her social happines. He wanted to talk about the -business, to show the splendour of her nature in the light of its -complications. It was really most embarrassing to a press that -has always possessed a considerable turn for reticence, that -wanted things personal indeed in the modern fashion. Yet not too -personal. It was embarrassing, I say, to be inexorably -confronted with Mr. Butteridge's great heart, to see it laid open -in relentlesss self-vivisection, and its pulsating dissepiments -adorned with emphatic flag labels. - -Confronted they were, and there was no getting away from it. He -would make this appalling viscus beat and throb before the -shrinking journalists--no uncle with a big watch and a little -baby ever harped upon it so relentlessly; whatever evasion -they attempted he set aside. He "gloried in his love," he said, -and compelled them to write it down. - -"That's of course a private affair, Mr. Butteridge," they would -object. - -"The injustice, sorr, is public. I do not care either I am up -against institutions or individuals. I do not care if I am up -against the universal All. I am pleading the cause of a woman, a -woman I lurve, sorr--a noble woman--misunderstood. I intend to -vindicate her, sorr, to the four winds of heaven!" - -"I lurve England," he used to say--"lurve England, but -Puritanism, sorr, I abhor. It fills me with loathing. It raises -my gorge. Take my own case." - -He insisted relentlessly upon his heart, and upon seeing proofs -of the interview. If they had not done justice to his erotic -bellowings and gesticulations, he stuck in, in a large inky -scrawl, all and more than they had omitted. - -It was a strangely embarrassing thing for British journalism. -Never was there a more obvious or uninteresting affair; never had -the world heard the story of erratic affection with less appetite -or sympathy. On the other hand it was extremely curious about -Mr. Butteridge's invention. But when Mr. Butteridge could be -deflected for a moment from the cause of the lady he championed, -then he talked chiefly, and usually with tears of tenderness in -his voice, about his mother and his childhood--his mother who -crowned a complete encyclopedia of maternal virtue by being -"largely Scotch." She was not quite neat, but nearly so. "I owe -everything in me to me mother," he asserted--"everything. Eh!" -and--"ask any man who's done anything. You'll hear the same -story. All we have we owe to women. They are the species, sorr. -Man is but a dream. He comes and goes. The woman's soul leadeth -us upward and on!" - -He was always going on like that. - -What in particular he wanted from the Government for his secret -did not appear, nor what beyond a money payment could be expected -from a modern state in such an affair. The general effect upon -judicious observers, indeed, was not that he was treating for -anything, but that he was using an unexampled opportunity to -bellow and show off to an attentive world. Rumours of his real -identity spread abroad. It was said that he had been the -landlord of an ambiguous hotel in Cape Town, and had there given -shelter to, and witnessed, the experiments and finally stolen the -papers and plans of, an extremely shy and friendless young -inventor named Palliser, who had come to South Africa from -England in an advanced stage of consumption, and died there. -This, at any rate, was the allegation of the more outspoken -American press. But the proof or disproof of that never reached -the public. - -Mr. Butteridge also involved himself passionately in a tangle of -disputes for the possession of a great number of valuable money -prizes. Some of these had been offered so long ago as 1906 for -successful mechanical flight. By the time of Mr. Butteridge's -success a really very considerable number of newspapers, tempted -by the impunity of the pioneers in this direction, had pledged -themselves to pay in some cases, quite overwhelming sums to the -first person to fly from Manchester to Glasgow, from London to -Manchester, one hundred miles, two hundred miles in England, and -the like. Most had hedged a little with ambiguous conditions, -and now offered resistance; one or two paid at once, and -vehemently called attention to the fact; and Mr. Butteridge -plunged into litigation with the more recalcitrant, while at the -same time sustaining a vigorous agitation and canvass to induce -the Government to purchase his invention. - -One fact, however, remained permanent throughout all the -developments of this affair behind Butteridge's preposterous love -interest, his politics and personality, and all his shouting and -boasting, and that was that, so far as the mass of people knew, -he was in sole possession of the secret of the practicable -aeroplane in which, for all one could tell to the contrary, the -key of the future empire of the world resided. And presently, to -the great consternation of innumerable people, including among -others Mr. Bert Smallways, it became apparent that whatever -negotiations were in progress for the acquisition of this -precious secret by the British Government were in danger of -falling through. The London Daily Requiem first voiced the -universal alarm, and published an interview under the terrific -caption of, "Mr. Butteridge Speaks his Mind." - -Therein the inventor--if he was an inventor--poured out his -heart. - -"I came from the end of the earth," he said, which rather seemed -to confirm the Cape Town story, "bringing me Motherland the -secret that would give her the empire of the world. And what do -I get?" He paused. "I am sniffed at by elderly mandarins! . . . -And the woman I love is treated like a leper!" - -"I am an Imperial Englishman," he went on in a splendid outburst, -subsequently written into the interview by his own hand; "but -there there are limits to the human heart! There are younger -nations--living nations! Nations that do not snore and gurgle -helplessly in paroxysms of plethora upon beds of formality and -red tape! There are nations that will not fling away the empire -of earth in order to slight an unknown man and insult a noble -woman whose boots they are not fitted to unlatch. There are -nations not blinded to Science, not given over hand and foot to -effete snobocracies and Degenerate Decadents. In short, mark my -words--THERE ARE OTHER NATIONS!" - -This speech it was that particularly impressed Bert Smallways. -"If them Germans or them Americans get hold of this," he said -impressively to his brother, "the British Empire's done. It's -U-P. The Union Jack, so to speak, won't be worth the paper it's -written on, Tom." - -"I suppose you couldn't lend us a hand this morning," said -Jessica, in his impressive pause. "Everybody in Bun Hill seems -wanting early potatoes at once. Tom can't carry half of them." - -"We're living on a volcano," said Bert, disregarding the -suggestion. "At any moment war may come--such a war!" - -He shook his head portentously. - -"You'd better take this lot first, Tom," said Jessica. She -turned briskly on Bert. "Can you spare us a morning?" she asked. - -"I dessay I can," said Bert. "The shop's very quiet s'morning. -Though all this danger to the Empire worries me something -frightful." - -"Work'll take it off your mind," said Jessica. - -And presently he too was going out into a world of change and -wonder, bowed beneath a load of potatoes and patriotic -insecurity, that merged at last into a very definite irritation -at the weight and want of style of the potatoes and a very -clear conception of the entire detestableness of Jessica. - - - -CHAPTER II -HOW BERT SMALLWAYS GOT INTO DIFFICULTIES - -It did not occur to either Tom or Bert Smallways that this -remarkable aerial performance of Mr. Butteridge was likely to -affect either of their lives in any special manner, that it would -in any way single them out from the millions about them; and when -they had witnessed it from the crest of Bun Hill and seen the -fly-like mechanism, its rotating planes a golden haze in the -sunset, sink humming to the harbour of its shed again, they -turned back towards the sunken green-grocery beneath the great -iron standard of the London to Brighton mono-rail, and their -minds reverted to the discussion that had engaged them before Mr. -Butteridge's triumph had come in sight out of the London haze. - -It was a difficult and unsuccessful discussions. They had to -carry it on in shouts because of the moaning and roaring of the -gyroscopic motor-cars that traversed the High Street, and in its -nature it was contentious and private. The Grubb business was in -difficulties, and Grubb in a moment of financial eloquence had -given a half-share in it to Bert, whose relations with his -employer had been for some time unsalaried and pallish and -informal. - -Bert was trying to impress Tom with the idea that the -reconstructed Grubb & Smallways offered unprecedented and -unparalleled opportunities to the judicious small investor. It -was coming home to Bert, as though it were an entirely new fact, -that Tom was singularly impervious to ideas. In the end he put -the financial issues on one side, and, making the thing entirely -a matter of fraternal affection, succeeded in borrowing a -sovereign on the security of his word of honour. - -The firm of Grubb & Smallways, formerly Grubb, had indeed been -singularly unlucky in the last year or so. For many years the -business had struggled along with a flavour of romantic -insecurity in a small, dissolute-looking shop in the High Street, -adorned with brilliantly coloured advertisements of cycles, a -display of bells, trouser-clips, oil-cans, pump-clips, -frame-cases, wallets, and other accessories, and the announcement -of "Bicycles on Hire," "Repairs," "Free inflation," "Petrol," -and similar attractions. They were agents for several obscure -makes of bicycle,--two samples constituted the stock,--and -occasionally they effected a sale; they also repaired punctures -and did their best--though luck was not always on their side-- -with any other repairing that was brought to them. They handled -a line of cheap gramophones, and did a little with musical boxes. - -The staple of their business was, however, the letting of -bicycles on hire. It was a singular trade, obeying no known -commercial or economic principles--indeed, no principles. There -was a stock of ladies' and gentlemen's bicycles in a state of -disrepair that passes description, and these, the hiring stock, -were let to unexacting and reckless people, inexpert in the -things of this world, at a nominal rate of one shilling for the -first hour and sixpence per hour afterwards. But really there -were no fixed prices, and insistent boys could get bicycles and -the thrill of danger for an hour for so low a sum as threepence, -provided they could convince Grubb that that was all they had. -The saddle and handle-bar were then sketchily adjusted by Grubb, -a deposit exacted, except in the case of familiar boys, the -machine lubricated, and the adventurer started upon his career. -Usually he or she came back, but at times, when the accident was -serious, Bert or Grubb had to go out and fetch the machine home. -Hire was always charged up to the hour of return to the shop and -deducted from the deposit. It was rare that a bicycle started -out from their hands in a state of pedantic efficiency. Romantic -possibilities of accident lurked in the worn thread of the screw -that adjusted the saddle, in the precarious pedals, in the -loose-knit chain, in the handle-bars, above all in the brakes and -tyres. Tappings and clankings and strange rhythmic creakings -awoke as the intrepid hirer pedalled out into the country. Then -perhaps the bell would jam or a brake fail to act on a hill; or -the seat-pillar would get loose, and the saddle drop three or -four inches with a disconcerting bump; or the loose and rattling -chain would jump the cogs of the chain-wheel as the machine ran -downhill, and so bring the mechanism to an abrupt and disastrous -stop without at the same time arresting the forward momentum of -the rider; or a tyre would bang, or sigh quietly, and give up the -struggle for efficiency. - -When the hirer returned, a heated pedestrian, Grubb would ignore -all verbal complaints, and examine the machine gravely. - -"This ain't 'ad fair usage," he used to begin. - -He became a mild embodiment of the spirit of reason. "You can't -expect a bicycle to take you up in its arms and carry you," he -used to say. "You got to show intelligence. After all--it's -machinery." - -Sometimes the process of liquidating the consequent claims -bordered on violence. It was always a very rhetorical and often -a trying affair, but in these progressive times you have to make -a noise to get a living. It was often hard work, but -nevertheless this hiring was a fairly steady source of profit, -until one day all the panes in the window and door were broken -and the stock on sale in the window greatly damaged and -disordered by two over-critical hirers with no sense of -rhetorical irrelevance. They were big, coarse stokers from -Gravesend. One was annoyed because his left pedal had come off, -and the other because his tyre had become deflated, small and -indeed negligible accidents by Bun Hill standards, due entirely -to the ungentle handling of the delicate machines entrusted to -them--and they failed to see clearly how they put themselves in -the wrong by this method of argument. It is a poor way of -convincing a man that he has let you a defective machine to throw -his foot-pump about his shop, and take his stock of gongs outside -in order to return them through the window-panes. It carried no -real conviction to the minds of either Grubb or Bert; it only -irritated and vexed them. One quarrel makes many, and this -unpleasantness led to a violent dispute between Grubb and the -landlord upon the moral aspects of and legal responsibility for -the consequent re-glazing. In the end Grubb and Smallways were -put to the expense of a strategic nocturnal removal to another -position. - -It was a position they had long considered. It was a small, -shed-like shop with a plate-glass window and one room behind, -just at the sharp bend in the road at the bottom of Bun Hill; and -here they struggled along bravely, in spite of persistent -annoyance from their former landlord, hoping for certain -eventualities the peculiar situation of the shop seemed to -promise. Here, too, they were doomed to disappointment. - -The High Road from London to Brighton that ran through Bun Hill -was like the British Empire or the British Constitution--a thing -that had grown to its present importance. Unlike any other roads -in Europe the British high roads have never been subjected to any -organised attempts to grade or straighten them out, and to that -no doubt their peculiar picturesqueness is to be ascribed. The -old Bun Hill High Street drops at its end for perhaps eighty or a -hundred feet of descent at an angle of one in five, turns at -right angles to the left, runs in a curve for about thirty yards -to a brick bridge over the dry ditch that had once been the -Otterbourne, and then bends sharply to the right again round a -dense clump of trees and goes on, a simple, straightforward, -peaceful high road. There had been one or two horse-and-van and -bicycle accidents in the place before the shop Bert and Grubb -took was built, and, to be frank, it was the probability of -others that attracted them to it. - -Its possibilities had come to them first with a humorous flavour. - -"Here's one of the places where a chap might get a living by -keeping hens," said Grubb. - -"You can't get a living by keeping hens," said Bert. - -"You'd keep the hen and have it spatch-cocked," said Grubb. "The -motor chaps would pay for it." - -When they really came to take the place they remembered this -conversation. Hens, however, were out of the question; there was -no place for a run unless they had it in the shop. It would have -been obviously out of place there. The shop was much more modern -than their former one, and had a plate-glass front. "Sooner or -later," said Bert, "we shall get a motor-car through this." - -"That's all right," said Grubb. "Compensation. I don't mind -when that motor-car comes along. I don't mind even if it gives -me a shock to the system." - -"And meanwhile," said Bert, with great artfulness, "I'm going to -buy myself a dog." - -He did. He bought three in succession. He surprised the people -at the Dogs' Home in Battersea by demanding a deaf retriever, and -rejecting every candidate that pricked up its ears. "I want a -good, deaf, slow-moving dog," he said. "A dog that doesn't put -himself out for things." - -They displayed inconvenient curiosity; they declared a great -scarcity of deaf dogs. - -"You see," they said, "dogs aren't deaf." - -"Mine's got to be," said Bert. "I've HAD dogs that aren't deaf. -All I want. It's like this, you see--I sell gramophones. -Naturally I got to make 'em talk and tootle a bit to show 'em -orf. Well, a dog that isn't deaf doesn't like it--gets excited, -smells round, barks, growls. That upsets the customer. See? -Then a dog that has his hearing fancies things. Makes burglars -out of passing tramps. Wants to fight every motor that makes a -whizz. All very well if you want livening up, but our place is -lively enough. I don't want a dog of that sort. I want a quiet -dog." - -In the end he got three in succession, but none of them turned -out well. The first strayed off into the infinite, heeding no -appeals; the second was killed in the night by a fruit -motor-waggon which fled before Grubb could get down; the third -got itself entangled in the front wheel of a passing cyclist, who -came through the plate glass, and proved to be an actor out of -work and an undischarged bankrupt. He demanded compensation for -some fancied injury, would hear nothing of the valuable dog he -had killed or the window he had broken, obliged Grubb by sheer -physical obduracy to straighten his buckled front wheel, and -pestered the struggling firm with a series of inhumanly worded -solicitor's letters. Grubb answered them--stingingly, and put -himself, Bert thought, in the wrong. - -Affairs got more and more exasperating and strained under these -pressures. The window was boarded up, and an unpleasant -altercation about their delay in repairing it with the new -landlord, a Bun Hill butcher--and a loud, bellowing, unreasonable -person at that--served to remind them of their unsettled troubles -with the old. Things were at this pitch when Bert bethought -himself of creating a sort of debenture capital in the business -for the benefit of Tom. But, as I have said, Tom had no -enterprise in his composition. His idea of investment was the -stocking; he bribed his brother not to keep the offer open. - -And then ill-luck made its last lunge at their crumbling business -and brought it to the ground. - -2 - -It is a poor heart that never rejoices, and Whitsuntide had an -air of coming as an agreeable break in the business complications -of Grubb & Smallways. Encouraged by the practical outcome of -Bert's negotiations with his brother, and by the fact that half -the hiring-stock was out from Saturday to Monday, they decided to -ignore the residuum of hiring-trade on Sunday and devote that day -to much-needed relaxation and refreshment--to have, in fact, an -unstinted good time, a beano on Whit Sunday and return -invigorated to grapple with their difficulties and the Bank -Holiday repairs on the Monday. No good thing was ever done by -exhausted and dispirited men. It happened that they had made the -acquaintance of two young ladies in employment in Clapham, Miss -Flossie Bright and Miss Edna Bunthorne, and it was resolved -therefore to make a cheerful little cyclist party of four into -the heart of Kent, and to picnic and spend an indolent afternoon -and evening among the trees and bracken between Ashford and -Maidstone. - -Miss Bright could ride a bicycle, and a machine was found for -her, not among the hiring stock, but specially, in the sample -held for sale. Miss Bunthorne, whom Bert particularly affected, -could not ride, and so with some difficulty he hired a basket- -work trailer from the big business of Wray's in the Clapham Road. - -To see our young men, brightly dressed and cigarettes alight, -wheeling off to the rendezvous, Grubb guiding the lady's machine -beside him with one skilful hand and Bert teuf-teuffing steadily, -was to realise how pluck may triumph even over insolvency. Their -landlord, the butcher, said, "Gurr," as they passed, and shouted, -"Go it!" in a loud, savage tone to their receding backs. - -Much they cared! - -The weather was fine, and though they were on their way southward -before nine o'clock, there was already a great multitude of -holiday people abroad upon the roads. There were quantities of -young men and women on bicycles and motor-bicycles, and a -majority of gyroscopic motor-cars running bicycle-fashion on two -wheels, mingled with old-fashioned four-wheeled traffic. Bank -Holiday times always bring out old stored-away vehicles and odd -people; one saw tricars and electric broughams and dilapidated -old racing motors with huge pneumatic tyres. Once our holiday- -makers saw a horse and cart, and once a youth riding a black -horse amidst the badinage of the passersby. And there were -several navigable gas air-ships, not to mention balloons, in the -air. It was all immensely interesting and refreshing after the -dark anxieties of the shop. Edna wore a brown straw hat with -poppies, that suited her admirably, and sat in the trailer like a -queen, and the eight-year-old motor-bicycle ran like a thing -of yesterday. - -Little it seemed to matter to Mr. Bert Smallways that a newspaper -placard proclaimed:-- - ---------------------------------------- - GERMANY DENOUNCES THE MONROE - DOCTRINE. - - AMBIGUOUS ATTITUTDE OF JAPAN. -WHAT WILL BRITAIN DO? IS IT WAR? ---------------------------------------- - -This sort of thing was alvays going on, and on holidays one -disregarded it as a matter of course. Week-davs, in the slack -time after the midday meal, then perhaps one might worry about -the Empire and international politics; but not on a sunny Sunday, -with a pretty girl trailing behind one, and envious cyclists -trying to race you. Nor did our young people attach any great -importance to the flitting suggestions of military activity they -glimpsed ever and again. Near Maidstone they came on a string of -eleven motor-guns of peculiar construction halted by the -roadside, with a number of businesslike engineers grouped about -them watching through field-glasses some sort of entrenchment -that was going on near the crest of the downs. It signified -nothing to Bert. - -"What's up?" said Edna. - -"Oh!--manoeuvres," said Bert. - -"Oh! I thought they did them at Easter," said Edna, and troubled -no more. - -The last great British war, the Boer war, was over and forgotten, -and the public had lost the fashion of expert military criticism. - -Our four young people picnicked cheerfully, and were happy in the -manner of a happiness that was an ancient mode in Nineveh. Eyes -were bright, Grubb was funny and almost witty, and Bert achieved -epigrams; the hedges were full of honeysuckle and dog-roses; in -the woods the distant toot-toot-toot of the traffic on the -dust-hazy high road might have been no more than the horns of -elf-land. They laughed and gossiped and picked flowers and made -love and talked, and the girls smoked cigarettes. Also they -scuffled playfully. Among other things they talked aeronautics, -and how thev would come for a picnic together in Bert's -flying-machine before ten years were out. The world seemed full -of amusing possibilities that afternoon. They wondered what -their great-grandparents would have thought of aeronautics. In -the evening, about seven, the party turned homeward, expecting no -disaster, and it was only on the crest of the downs between -Wrotham and Kingsdown that disaster came. - -They had come up the hill in the twilight; Bert was anxious to -get as far as possible before he lit--or attempted to light, for -the issue was a doubtful one--his lamps, and they had scorched -past a number of cyclists, and by a four-wheeled motor-car of the -old style lamed by a deflated tyre. Some dust had penetrated -Bert's horn, and the result was a curious, amusing, wheezing -sound had got into his "honk, honk." For the sake of merriment -and glory he was making this sound as much as possible, and Edna -was in fits of laughter in the trailer. They made a sort of -rushing cheerfulness along the road that affected their fellow -travellers variously, according to their temperaments. She -did notice a good lot of bluish, evil-smelling smoke coming from -about the bearings between his feet, but she thought this was one -of the natural concomitants of motor-traction, and troubled no -more about it, until abruptly it burst into a little -yellow-tipped flame. - -"Bert!" she screamed. - -But Bert had put on the brakes with such suddenness that she -found herself involved with his leg as he dismounted. She got to -the side of the road and hastily readjusted her hat, which had -suffered. - -"Gaw!" said Bert. - -He stood for some fatal seconds watching the petrol drip and -catch, and the flame, which was now beginning to smell of enamel -as well as oil, spread and grew. His chief idea was the -sorrowful one that he had not sold the machine second-hand a year -ago, and that he ought to have done so--a good idea in its way, -but not immediately helpful. He turned upon Edna sharply. "Get -a lot of wet sand," he said. Then he wheeled the machine a -little towards the side of the roadway, and laid it down and -looked about for a supply of wet sand. The flames received this -as a helpful attention, and made the most of it. They seemed to -brighten and the twilight to deepen about them. The road was a -flinty road in the chalk country, and ill-provided with sand. - -Edna accosted a short, fat cyclist. "We want wet sand," she -said, and added, "our motor's on fire." The short, fat cyclist -stared blankly for a moment, then with a helpful cry began to -scrabble in the road-grit. Whereupon Bert and Edna also -scrabbled in the road-grit. Other cyclists arrived, dismounted -and stood about, and their flame-lit faces expressed -satisfaction, interest, curiositv. "Wet sand," said the short, -fat man, scrabbling terribly--"wet sand." One joined him. They -threw hard-earned handfuls of road-grit upon the flames, which -accepted them with enthusiasm. - -Grubb arrived, riding hard. He was shouting something. He -sprang off and threw his bicycle into the hedge. "Don't throw -water on it!" he said--"don't throw water on it!" He displayed -commanding presence of mind. He became captain of the occasion. -Others were glad to repeat the things he said and imitate his -actions. - -"Don't throw water on it!" they cried. Also there was no water. - -"Beat it out, you fools!" he said. - -He seized a rug from the trailer (it was an Austrian blanket, and -Bert's winter coverlet) and began to beat at the burning petrol. -For a wonderful minute he seemed to succeed. But he scattered -burning pools of petrol on the road, and others, fired by his -enthusiasm, imitated his action. Bert caught up a trailer-cushion -and began to beat; there was another cushion and a table-cloth, -and these also were seized. A young hero pulled off his jacket -and joined the beating. For a moment there was less talking than -hard breathing, and a tremendous flapping. Flossie, arriving on -the outskirts of the crowd, cried, "Oh, my God!" and burst loudly -into tears. "Help!" she said, and "Fire!" - -The lame motor-car arrived, and stopped in consternation. A -tall, goggled, grey-haired man who was driving inquired with an -Oxford intonation and a clear, careful enunciation, "Can WE help -at all?" - -It became manifest that the rug, the table-cloth, the cushions, -the jacket, were getting smeared with petrol and burning. The -soul seemed to go out of the cushion Bert was swaying, and the -air was full of feathers, like a snowstorm in the still twilight. - -Bert had got very dusty and sweaty and strenuous. It seemed to -him his weapon had been wrested from him at the moment of -victory. The fire lay like a dying thing, close to the ground -and wicked; it gave a leap of anguish at every whack of the -beaters. But now Grubb had gone off to stainp out the burning -blanket; the others were lacking just at the moment of victory. -One had dropped the cushion and was running to the motorcar. -"'ERE!" cried Bert; "keep on!" - -He flung the deflated burning rags of cushion aside, whipped off -his jacket and sprang at the flames with a shout. He stamped -into the ruin until flames ran up his boots. Edna saw him, a -red-lit hero, and thought it was good to be a man. - -A bystander was hit by a hot halfpenny flying out of the air. -Then Bert thought of the papers in his pockets, and staggered -back, trying to extinguish his burning jacket--checked, repulsed, -dismayed. - -Edna was struck by the benevolent appearance of an elderly -spectator in a silk hat and Sabbatical garments. "Oh!" she cried -to him. "Help this young man! How can you stand and see it?" - -A cry of "The tarpaulin!" arose. - -An earnest-looking man in a very light grey cycling-suit had -suddenly appeared at the side of the lame motor-car and addressed -the owner. "Have you a tarpaulin?" he said. - -"Yes," said the gentlemanly man. "Yes. We've got a tarpaulin." - -"That's it," said the earnest-looking man, suddenly shouting. -"Let's have it, quick!" - -The gentlemanly man, with feeble and deprecatory gestures, and in -the manner of a hypnotised person, produced an excellent large -tarpaulin. - -"Here!" cried the earnest-looking man to Grubb. "Ketch holt!" - -Then everybody realised that a new method was to be tried. A -number of willing hands seized upon the Oxford gentleman's -tarpaulin. The others stood away with approving noises. The -tarpaulin was held over the burning bicycle like a canopy, and -then smothered down upon it. - -"We ought to have done this before," panted Grubb. - -There was a moment of triumph. The flames vanished. Every one -who could contrive to do so touched the edge of the tarpaulin. -Bert held down a corner with two hands and a foot. The -tarpaulin, bulged up in the centre, seemed to be suppressing -triumphant exultation. Then its self-approval became too much -for it; it burst into a bright red smile in the centre. It was -exactly like the opening of a mouth. It laughed with a gust of -flames. They were reflected redly in the observant goggles of -the gentleman who owned the tarpaulin. Everybody recoiled. - -"Save the trailer!" cried some one, and that was the last round -in the battle. But the trailer could not be detached; its -wicker-work had caught, and it was the last thing to burn. A -sort of hush fell upon the gathering. The petrol burnt low, the -wicker-work trailer banged and crackled. The crowd divided -itself into an outer circle of critics, advisers, and secondary -characters, who had played undistinguished parts or no parts at -all in the affair, and a central group of heated and distressed -principals. A young man with an inquiring mind and a -considerable knowledge of motor-bicycles fixed on to Grubb and -wanted to argue that the thing could not have happened. Grubb -wass short and inattentive with him, and the young man withdrew -to the back of the crowd, and there told the benevolent old -gentleman in the silk hat that people who went out with machines -they didn't understand had only themselves to blame if things -went wrong. - -The old gentleman let him talk for some time, and then remarked, -in a tone of rapturous enjoyment: "Stone deaf," and added, "Nasty -things." - -A rosy-faced man in a straw hat claimed attention. "I DID save -the front wheel," he said; "you'd have had that tyre catch, too, -if I hadn't kept turning it round." It became manifest that this -was so. The front wheel had retained its tyre, was intact, was -still rotating slowly among the blackened and twisted ruins of -the rest of the machine. It had something of that air of -conscious virtue, of unimpeachable respectability, that -distinguishes a rent collector in a low neighbourhood. "That -wheel's worth a pound," said the rosy-faced man, making a song of -it. "I kep' turning it round." - -Newcomers kept arriving from the south with the question, "What's -up?" until it got on Grubb's nerves. Londonward the crowd was -constantly losing people; they would mount their various wheels -with the satisfied manner of spectators who have had the best. -Their voices would recede into the twilight; one would hear a -laugh at the memory of this particularly salient incident or -that. - -"I'm afraid," said the gentleman of the motor-car, "my -tarpaulin's a bit done for." - -Grubb admitted that the owner was the best judge of that. - -"Nothin, else I can do for you?" said the gentleman of the -motor-car, it may be with a suspicion of irony. - -Bert was roused to action. "Look here," he said. "There's my -young lady. If she ain't 'ome by ten they lock her out. See? -Well, all my money was in my jacket pocket, and it's all mixed up -with the burnt stuff, and that's too 'ot to touch. Is Clapham -out of your way?" - -"All in the day's work," said the gentleman with the motor-car, -and turned to Edna. "Very pleased indeed," he said, "if you'll -come with us. We're late for dinner as it is, so it won't make -much difference for us to go home by way of Clapham. We've got -to get to Surbiton, anyhow. I'm afraid you'll find us a little -slow." - -"But what's Bert going to do?" said Edna. - -"I don't know that we can accommodate Bert," said the motor-car -gentleman, "though we're tremendously anxious to oblige." - -"You couldn't take the whole lot?" said Bert, waving his hand at -the deboshed and blackened ruins on the ground. - -"I'm awfully afraid I can't," said the Oxford man. "Awfully -sorry, you know." - -"Then I'll have to stick 'ere for a bit," said Bert. "I got to -see the thing through. You go on, Edna." - -"Don't like leavin' you, Bert." - -"You can't 'elp it, Edna."... - -The last Edna saw of Bert was his figure, in charred and -blackened shirtsleeves, standing in the dusk. He was musing -deeply by the mixed ironwork and ashes of his vanished -motor-bicycle, a melancholy figure. His retinue of spectators -had shrunk now to half a dozen figures. Flossie and Grubb were -preparing to follow her desertion. - -"Cheer up, old Bert!" cried Edna, with artificial cheerfulness. -"So long." - -"So long, Edna," said Bert. - -"See you to-morrer." - -"See you to-morrer," said Bert, though he was destined, as a -matter of fact, to see much of the habitable globe before he saw -her again. - -Bert began to light matches from a borrowed boxful, and search -for a half-crown that still eluded him among the charred remains. - -His face was grave and melancholy. - -"I WISH that 'adn't 'appened," said Flossie, riding on with -Grubb.... - -And at last Bert was left almost alone, a sad, blackened -Promethean figure, cursed by the gift of fire. He had -entertained vague ideas of hiring a cart, of achieving miraculous -repairs, of still snatching some residual value from his one -chief possession. Now, in the darkening night, he perceived the -vanity of such intentions. Truth came to him bleakly, and laid -her chill conviction upon him. He took hold of the handle-bar, -stood the thing up, tried to push it forward. The tyreless -hind-wheel was jammed hopelessly, even as he feared. For a -minute or so he stood upholding his machine, a motionless -despair. Then with a great effort he thrust the ruins from -him into the ditch, kicked at it once, regarded it for a moment, -and turned his face resolutely Londonward. - -He did not once look back. - -"That's the end of THAT game!" said Bert. "No more -teuf-teuf-teuf for Bert Smallways for a year or two. Good-bye -'olidays!... Oh! I ought to 'ave sold the blasted thing when I -had a chance three years ago." - -3 - -The next morning found the firm of Grubb & Smallways in a state -of profound despondency. It seemed a small matter to them that the -newspaper and cigarette shop opposite displayed such placards as -this:-- - ---------------------------------------- - REPORTED AMERICAN ULTIMATUM. - - BRITAIN MUST FIGHT. - - OUR INFATUATED WAR OFFICE STILL -REFUSES TO LISTEN TO MR. BUTTERIDGE. - -GREAT MONO-RAIL DISASTER AT TIMBUCTOO. ---------------------------------------- - -or this:-- - ---------------------------------------- - WAR A QUESTION OF HOURS. - - NEW YORK CALM. - - EXCITEMENT IN BERLIN. ---------------------------------------- - -or again:-- - ---------------------------------------- - WASHINGTON STILL SILENT. - - WHAT WILL PARIS DO? - - THE PANIC ON THE BOURSE. - -THE KING'S GARDEN PARTY TO THE - MASKED TWAREGS. - -MR. BUTTERIDGE TAKES AN OFFER. - -LATEST BETTING FROM TEHERAN. ---------------------------------------- - -or this:-- - ---------------------------------------- - WILL AMERICA FIGHT? - - ANTI-GERMAN RIOT IN BAGDAD. - - THE MUNICIPAL SCANDALS AT DAMASCUS. - -MR. BUTTERIDGE'S INVENTION FOR AMERICA. ---------------------------------------- - -Bert stared at these over the card of pump-clips in the pane in -the door with unseeing eyes. He wore a blackened flannel shirt, -and the jacketless ruins of the holiday suit of yesterday. The -boarded-up shop was dark and depressing beyond words, the few -scandalous hiring machines had never looked so hopelessly -disreputable. He thought of their fellows who were "out," and of -the approaching disputations of the afternoon. He thought of -their new landlord, and of their old landlord, and of bills and -claims. Life presented itself for the first time as a hopeless -fight against fate.... - -"Grubb, o' man," he said, distilling the quintessence, "I'm fair -sick of this shop." - -"So'm I," said Grubb. - -"I'm out of conceit with it. I don't seem to care ever to speak -to a customer again." - -"There's that trailer," said Grubb, after a pause. - -"Blow the trailer!" said Bert. "Anyhow, I didn't leave a deposit -on it. I didn't do that. Still--" - -He turned round on his friend. "Look 'ere," he said, "we aren't -gettin' on here. We been losing money hand over fist. We got -things tied up in fifty knots." - -"What can we do?" said Grubb. - -"Clear out. Sell what we can for what it will fetch, and quit. -See? It's no good 'anging on to a losing concern. No sort of -good. Jest foolishness." - -"That's all right," said Grubb--"that's all right; but it ain't -your capital been sunk in it." - -"No need for us to sink after our capital," said Bert, ignoring -the point. - -"I'm not going to be held responsible for that trailer, anyhow. -That ain't my affair." - -"Nobody arst you to make it your affair. If you like to stick on -here, well and good. I'm quitting. I'll see Bank Holiday -through, and then I'm O-R-P-H. See?" - -"Leavin' me?" - -"Leavin' you. If you must be left." - -Grubb looked round the shop. It certainly had become -distasteful. Once upon a time it had been bright with hope and -new beginnings and stock and the prospect of credit. Now--now it -was failure and dust. Very likely the landlord would be round -presently to go on with the row about the window.... "Where d'you -think of going, Bert?" Grubb asked. - -Bert turned round and regarded him. "I thought it out as I was -walking 'ome, and in bed. I couldn't sleep a wink." - -"What did you think out?" - -"Plans." - -"What plans?" - -"Oh! You're for stickin, here." - -"Not if anything better was to offer." - -"It's only an ideer," said Bert. - -"You made the girls laugh yestiday, that song you sang." - -"Seems a long time ago now," said Grubb. - -"And old Edna nearly cried--over that bit of mine." - -"She got a fly in her eye," said Grubb; "I saw it. But what's -this got to do with your plan?" - -"No end," said Bert. - -"'Ow?" - -"Don't you see?" - -"Not singing in the streets?" - -"Streets! No fear! But 'ow about the Tour of the Waterin' -Places of England, Grubb? Singing! Young men of family doing it -for a lark? You ain't got a bad voice, you know, and mine's all -right. I never see a chap singing on the beach yet that I -couldn't 'ave sung into a cocked hat. And we both know how to -put on the toff a bit. Eh? Well, that's my ideer. Me and you, -Grubb, with a refined song and a breakdown. Like we was doing -for foolery yestiday. That was what put it into my 'ead. Easy -make up a programme--easy. Six choice items, and one or two for -encores and patter. I'm all right for the patter anyhow." - -Grubb remained regarding his darkened and disheartening shop; he -thought of his former landlord and his present landlord, and of -the general disgustingness of business in an age which re-echoes -to The Bitter Cry of the Middle Class; and then it seemed to him -that afar off he heard the twankle, twankle of a banjo, and the -voice of a stranded siren singing. He had a sense of hot -sunshine upon sand, of the children of at least transiently -opulent holiday makers in a circle round about him, of the -whisper, "They are really gentlemen," and then dollop, dollop -came the coppers in the hat. Sometimes even silver. It was all -income; no outgoings, no bills. "I'm on, Bert," he said. - -"Right O!" said Bert, and, "Now we shan't be long." - -"We needn't start without capital neither," said Grubb. "If we -take the best of these machines up to the Bicycle Mart in -Finsbury we'd raise six or seven pounds on 'em. We could easy do -that tomorrow before anybody much was about...." - -"Nice to think of old Suet-and-Bones coming round to make his -usual row with us, and finding a card up 'Closed for Repairs.'" - -"We'll do that," said Grubb with zest--"we'll do that. And we'll -put up another notice, and jest arst all inquirers to go round to -'im and inquire. See? Then they'll know all about us." - -Before the day was out the whole enterprise was planned. They -decided at first that they would call themselves the Naval Mr. -O's, a plagiarism, and not perhaps a very good one, from the -title of the well-known troupe of "Scarlet Mr. E's," and Bert -rather clung to the idea of a uniform of bright blue serge, with -a lot of gold lace and cord and ornamentation, rather like a -naval officer's, but more so. But that had to be abandoned as -impracticable, it would have taken too much time and money to -prepare. They perceived they must wear some cheaper and more -readily prepared costume, and Grubb fell back on white dominoes. -They entertained the notion for a time of selecting the two worst -machines from the hiring-stock, painting them over with crimson -enamel paint, replacing the bells by the loudest sort of -motor-horn, and doing a ride about to begin and end the -entertainment. They doubted the advisability of this step. - -"There's people in the world," said Bert, "who wouldn't recognise -us, who'd know them bicycles again like a shot, and we don't want -to go on with no old stories. We want a fresh start." - -"I do," said Grubb, "badly." - -"We want to forget things--and cut all these rotten old worries. -They ain't doin' us good." - -Nevertheless, they decided to take the risk of these bicycles, -and they decided their costumes should be brown stockings and -sandals, and cheap unbleached sheets with a hole cut in the -middle, and wigs and beards of tow. The rest their normal -selves! "The Desert Dervishes," they would call themselves, and -their chief songs would be those popular ditties, "In my -Trailer," and "What Price Hair-pins Now?" - -They decided to begin with small seaside places, and gradually, -as they gained confidence, attack larger centres. To begin with -they selected Littlestone in Kent, chiefly because of its -unassuming name. - -So they planned, and it seemed a small and unimportant thing to -them that as they clattered the governments of half the world and -more were drifting into war. About midday they became aware of -the first of the evening-paper placards shouting to them across -the street:-- - ------------------------------------------------ - THE WAR-CLOUD DARKENS ------------------------------------------------ - -Nothing else but that. - -"Always rottin' about war now," said Bert. - -"They'll get it in the neck in real earnest one of these days, if -they ain't precious careful." - -4 - -So you will understand the sudden apparition that surprised -rather than delighted the quiet informality of Dymchurch sands. -Dymchurch was one of the last places on the coast of England to -be reached by the mono-rail, and so its spacious sands were -still, at the time of this story, the secret and delight of quite -a limited number of people. They went there to flee vulgarity -and extravagances, and to bathe and sit and talk and play with -their children in peace, and the Desert Dervishes did not please -them at all. - -The two white figures on scarlet wheels came upon them out of the -infinite along the sands from Littlestone, grew nearer and larger -and more audible, honk-honking and emitting weird cries, and -generally threatening liveliness of the most aggressive type. -"Good heavens!" said Dymchurch, "what's this?" - -Then our young men, according to a preconcerted plan, wheeled -round from file to line, dismounted and stood it attention. -"Ladies and gentlemen," they said, "we beg to present ourselves-- -the Desert Dervishes." They bowed profoundly. - -The few scattered groups upon the beach regarded them with horror -for the most part, but some of the children and young people were -interested and drew nearer. "There ain't a bob on the beach," -said Grubb in an undertone, and the Desert Dervishes plied their -bicycles with comic "business," that got a laugh from one very -unsophisticated little boy. Then they took a deep breath and -struck into the cheerful strain of "What Price Hair-pins Now?" -Grubb sang the song, Bert did his best to make the chorus a -rousing one, and it the end of each verse they danced certain -steps, skirts in hand, that they had carefully rehearsed. - -"Ting-a-ling-a-ting-a-ling-a-ting-a-ling-a-tang... - What Price Hair-pins Now?" - -So they chanted and danced their steps in the sunshine on -Dymchurch beach, and the children drew near these foolish young -men, marvelling that they should behave in this way, and the -older people looked cold and unfriendly. - -All round the coasts of Europe that morning banjos were ringing, -voices were bawling and singing, children were playing in the -sun, pleasure-boats went to and fro; the common abundant life of -the time, unsuspicious of all dangers that gathered darkly -against it, flowed on its cheerful aimless way. In the cities -men fussed about their businesses and engagements. The newspaper -placards that had cried "wolf!" so often, cried "wolf!" now in -vain. - -5 - -Now as Bert and Grubb bawled their chorus for the third time, -they became aware of a very big, golden-brown balloon low in the -sky to the north-west, and coming rapidly towards them. -"Jest as we're gettin' hold of 'em," muttered Grubb, "up comes a -counter-attraction. Go it, Bert!" - -"Ting-a-ling-a-ting-a-ling-a-ting-a-ling-a-tang - What Price Hair-pins Now?" - -The balloon rose and fell, went out of sight--"landed, thank -goodness," said Grubb--re-appeared with a leap. "'ENG!" said -Grubb. "Step it, Bert, or they'll see it!" - -They finished their dance, and then stood frankly staring. - -"There's something wrong with that balloon," said Bert. - -Everybody now was looking at the balloon, drawing rapidly nearer -before a brisk north-westerly breeze. The song and dance were a -"dead frost." Nobody thought any more about it. Even Bert and -Grubb forgot it, and ignored the next item on the programme -altogether. The balloon was bumping as though its occupants -were trying to land; it would approach, sinking slowly, touch the -ground, and instantly jump fifty feet or so in the air and -immediately begin to fall again. Its car touched a clump of -trees, and the black figure that had been struggling in the ropes -fell back, or jumped back, into the car. In another moment it -was quite close. It seemed a huge affair, as big as a house, and -it floated down swiftly towards the sands; a long rope trailed -behind it, and enormous shouts came from the man in the car. He -seemed to be taking off his clothes, then his head came over the -side of the car. "Catch hold of the rope!" they heard, quite -plain. - -"Salvage, Bert!" cried Grubb, and started to head off the rope. - -Bert followed him, and collided, without upsetting, with a -fisherman bent upon a similar errand. A woman carrying a baby in -her arms, two small boys with toy spades, and a stout gentleman -in flannels all got to the trailing rope at about the same time, -and began to dance over it in their attempts to secure it. Bert -came up to this wriggling, elusive serpent and got his foot on -it, went down on all fours and achieved a grip. In half a dozen -seconds the whole diffused population of the beach had, as it -were, crystallised on the rope, and was pulling against the -balloon under the vehement and stimulating directions of the man -in the car. "Pull, I tell you!" said the man in the car--"pull!" - -For a second or so the balloon obeyed its momentum and the wind -and tugged its human anchor seaward. It dropped, touched the -water, and made a flat, silvery splash, and recoiled as one's -finger recoils when one touches anything hot. "Pull her in," -said the man in the car. "SHE'S FAINTED!" - -He occupied himself with some unseen object while the people on -the rope pulled him in. Bert was nearest the balloon, and much -excited and interested. He kept stumbling over the tail of the -Dervish costume in his zeal. He had never imagined before what a -big, light, wallowing thing a balloon was. The car was of brown -coarse wicker-work, and comparatively small. The rope he tugged -at was fastened to a stout-looking ring, four or five feet above -the car. At each tug he drew in a yard or so of rope, and the -waggling wicker-work was drawn so much nearer. Out of the car -came wrathful bellowings: "Fainted, she has!" and then: "It's -her heart--broken with all she's had to go through." - -The balloon ceased to struggle, and sank downward. Bert dropped -the rope, and ran forward to catch it in a new place. In another -moment he had his hand on the car. "Lay hold of it," said the -man in the car, and his face appeared close to Bert's--a -strangely familiar face, fierce eyebrows, a flattish nose, a huge -black moustache. He had discarded coat and waistcoat--perhaps -with some idea of presently having to swim for his life--and his -black hair was extraordinarily disordered. "Will all you people -get hold round the car?" he said. "There's a lady here fainted-- -or got failure of the heart. Heaven alone knows which! My name -is Butteridge. Butteridge, my name is--in a balloon. Now -please, all on to the edge. This is the last time I trust myself -to one of these paleolithic contrivances. The ripping-cord -failed, and the valve wouldn't act. If ever I meet the scoundrel -who ought to have seen--" - -He stuck his head out between the ropes abruptly, and said, in a -note of earnest expostulation: "Get some brandy!--some neat -brandy!" Some one went up the beach for it. - -In the car, sprawling upon a sort of bed-bench, in an attitude of -elaborate self-abandonment, was a large, blond lady, wearing a -fur coat and a big floriferous hat. Her head lolled back against -the padded corner of the car, and her eyes were shut and her -mouth open. "Me dear!" said Mr. Butteridge, in a common, loud -voice, "we're safe!" - -She gave no sign. - -"Me dear!" said Mr. Butteridge, in a greatly intensified loud -voice, "we're safe!" - -She was still quite impassive. - -Then Mr. Butteridge showed the fiery core of his soul. "If she -is dead," he said, slowly lifting a fist towards the balloon -above him, and speaking in an immense tremulous bellow--"if she -is dead, I will r-r-rend the heavens like a garment! I must get -her out," he cried, his nostrils dilated with emotion--"I must get -her out. I cannot have her die in a wicker-work basket nine feet -square--she who was made for kings' palaces! Keep holt of this -car! Is there a strong man among ye to take her if I hand her -out?" - -He swept the lady together by a powerful movement of his arms, -and lifted her. "Keep the car from jumping," he said to those -who clustered about him. "Keep your weight on it. She is no -light woman, and when she is out of it--it will be relieved." - -Bert leapt lightly into a sitting position on the edge of the -car. The others took a firmer grip upon the ropes and ring. - -"Are you ready?" said Mr. Butteridge. - -He stood upon the bed-bench and lifted the lady carefully. Then -he sat down on the wicker edge opposite to Bert, and put one leg -over to dangle outside. A rope or so seemed to incommode him. -"Will some one assist me?" he said. "If they would take this -lady?" - -It was just at this moment, with Mr. Butteridge and the lady -balanced finely on the basket brim, that she came-to. She -came-to suddenly and violently with a loud, heart-rending cry of -"Alfred! Save me!" And she waved her arms searchingly, and then -clasped Mr. Butteridge about. - -It seemed to Bert that the car swayed for a moment and then -buck-jumped and kicked him. Also he saw the boots of the lady -and the right leg of the gentleman describing arcs through the -air, preparatory to vanishing over the side of the car. His -impressions were complex, but they also comprehended the fact -that he had lost his balance, and was going to stand on his head -inside this creaking basket. He spread out clutching arms. He -did stand on his head, more or less, his tow-beard came off and -got in his mouth, and his cheek slid along against padding. His -nose buried itself in a bag of sand. The car gave a violent -lurch, and became still. - -"Confound it!" he said. - -He had an impression he must be stunned because of a surging in -his ears, and because all the voices of the people about him had -become small and remote. They were shouting like elves inside a -hill. - -He found it a little difficult to get on his feet. His limbs -were mixed up with the garments Mr. Butteridge had discarded when -that gentleman had thought he must needs plunge into the sea. -Bert bawled out half angry, half rueful, "You might have said you -were going to tip the basket." Then he stood up and clutched the -ropes of the car convulsively. - -Below him, far below him, shining blue, were the waters of the -English Channel. Far off, a little thing in the sunshine, and -rushing down as if some one was bending it hollow, was the beach -and the irregular cluster of houses that constitutes Dymchurch. -He could see the little crowd of people he had so abruptly left. -Grubb, in the white wrapper of a Desert Dervish, was running -along the edge of the sea. Mr. Butteridge was knee-deep in the -water, bawling immensely. The lady was sitting up with her -floriferous hat in her lap, shockingly neglected. The beach, -east and west, was dotted with little people--they seemed all -heads and feet--looking up. And the balloon, released from the -twenty-five stone or so of Mr. Butteridge and his lady, was -rushing up into the sky at the pace of a racing motor-car. "My -crikey!" said Bert; "here's a go!" - -He looked down with a pinched face at the receding beach, and -reflected that he wasn't giddy; then he made a superficial survey -of the cords and ropes about him with a vague idea of "doing -something." "I'm not going to mess about with the thing," he -said at last, and sat down upon the mattress. "I'm not going to -touch it.... I wonder what one ought to do?" - -Soon he got up again and stared for a long time it the sinking -world below, at white cliffs to the east and flattening marsh to -the left, at a minute wide prospect of weald and downland, at dim -towns and harbours and rivers and ribbon-like roads, at ships and -ships, decks and foreshortened funnels upon the ever-widening -sea, and at the great mono-rail bridge that straddled the Channel -from Folkestone to Boulogne, until at last, first little wisps -and then a veil of filmy cloud hid the prospect from his eyes. -He wasn't at all giddy nor very much frightened, only in a state -of enormous consternation. - - - -CHAPTER III -THE BALLOON - -I - -Bert Smallways was a vulgar little creature, the sort of pert, -limited soul that the old civilisation of the early twentieth -century produced by the million in every country of the world. -He had lived all his life in narrow streets, and between mean -houses he could not look over, and in a narrow circle of ideas -from which there was no escape. He thought the whole duty of man -was to be smarter than his fellows, get his hands, as he put it, -"on the dibs," and have a good time. He was, in fact, the sort -of man who had made England and America what they were. The luck -had been against him so far, but that was by the way. He was a -mere aggressive and acquisitive individual with no sense of the -State, no habitual loyalty, no devotion, no code of honour, no -code even of courage. Now by a curious accident he found himself -lifted out of his marvellous modern world for a time, out of all -the rush and confused appeals of it, and floating like a thing -dead and disembodied between sea and sky. It was as if Heaven -was experimenting with him, had picked him out as a sample from -the English millions, to look at him more nearly, and to see what -was happening to the soul of man. But what Heaven made of him in -that case I cannot profess to imagine, for I have long since -abandoned all theories about the ideals and satisfactions of -Heaven. - -To be alone in a balloon at a height of fourteen or fifteen -thousand feet--and to that height Bert Smallways presently rose -is like nothing else in human experience. It is one of the -supreme things possible to man. No flying machine can ever -better it. It is to pass extraordinarily out of human things. -It is to be still and alone to an unprecedented degree. It is -solitude without the suggestion of intervention; it is calm -without a single irrelevant murmur. It is to see the sky. No -sound reaches one of all the roar and jar of humanity, the air is -clear and sweet beyond the thought of defilement. No bird, no -insect comes so high. No wind blows ever in a balloon, no breeze -rustles, for it moves with the wind and is itself a part of the -atmosphere. Once started, it does not rock nor sway; you cannot -feel whether it rises or falls. Bert felt acutely cold, but he -wasn't mountain-sick; he put on the coat and overcoat and gloves -Butteridge had discarded--put them over the "Desert Dervish" -sheet that covered his cheap best suit--and sat very still for a -long, time, overawed by the new-found quiet of the world. -Above him was the light, translucent, billowing globe of shining -brown oiled silk and the blazing sunlight and the great deep blue -dome of the sky. - -Below, far below, was a torn floor of sunlit cloud slashed by -enormous rents through which he saw the sea. - -If you had been watching him from below, you would have seen his -head, a motionless little black knob, sticking out from the car -first of all for a long time on one side, and then vanishing to -reappear after a time at some other point. - -He wasn't in the least degree uncomfortable nor afraid. He did -think that as this uncontrollable thing had thus rushed up the -sky with him it might presently rush down again, but this -consideration did not trouble him very much. Essentially his -state was wonder. There is no fear nor trouble in balloons-- -until they descend. - -"Gollys!" he said at last, feeling a need for talking; "it's -better than a motor-bike." - -"It's all right!" - -"I suppose they're telegraphing about, about me."... - -The second hour found him examining the equipment of the car with -great particularity. Above him was the throat of the balloon -bunched and tied together, but with an open lumen through -which Bert could peer up into a vast, empty, quiet interior, and -out of which descended two fine cords of unknown import, one -white, one crimson, to pockets below the ring. The netting about -the balloon-ended in cords attached to the ring, a big -steel-bound hoop to which the car was slung by ropes. From it -depended the trail rope and grapnel, and over the sides of the -car were a number of canvas bags that Bert decided must be -ballast to "chuck down" if the balloon fell. ("Not much falling -just yet," said Bert.) - -There were an aneroid and another box-shaped instrument hanging -from the ring. The latter had an ivory plate bearing -"statoscope" and other words in French, and a little indicator -quivered and waggled, between Montee and Descente. "That's all -right," said Bert. "That tells if you're going up or down." On -the crimson padded seat of the balloon there lay a couple of rugs -and a Kodak, and in opposite corners of the bottom of the car -were an empty champagne bottle and a glass. "Refreshments," said -Bert meditatively, tilting the empty bottle. Then he had a -brilliant idea. The two padded bed-like seats, each with -blankets and mattress, he perceived, were boxes, and within he -found Mr. Butteridge's conception of an adequate equipment for a -balloon ascent: a hamper which included a game pie, a Roman pie, -a cold fowl, tomatoes, lettuce, ham sandwiches, shrimp -sandwiches, a large cake, knives and forks and paper plates, -self-heating tins of coffee and cocoa, bread, butter, and -marmalade, several carefully packed bottles of champagne, bottles -of Perrier water, and a big jar of water for washing, a -portfolio, maps, and a compass, a rucksack containing a number of -conveniences, including curling-tongs and hair-pins, a cap with -ear-flaps, and so forth. - -"A 'ome from 'ome," said Bert, surveying this provision as he -tied the ear-flaps under his chin. He looked over the side of -the car. Far below were the shining clouds. They had thickened -so that the whole world was hidden. Southward they were piled in -great snowy masses, so that he was half disposed to think them -mountains; northward and eastward they were in wavelike levels, -and blindingly sunlit. - -"Wonder how long a balloon keeps up?" he said. - -He imagined he was not moving, so insensibly did the monster -drift with the air about it. "No good coming down till we shift -a bit," he said. - -He consulted the statoscope. - -"Still Monty," he said. - -"Wonder what would happen if you pulled a cord?" - -"No," he decided. "I ain't going to mess it about." - -Afterwards he did pull both the ripping- and the valve-cords, -but, as Mr. Butteridge had already discovered, they had fouled a -fold of silk in the throat. Nothing happened. But for that -little hitch the ripping-cord would have torn the balloon open as -though it had been slashed by a sword, and hurled Mr. Smallways -to eternity at the rate of some thousand feet a second. "No go!" -he said, giving it a final tug. Then he lunched. - -He opened a bottle of champagne, which, as soon as he cut the -wire, blew its cork out with incredible violence, and for the -most part followed it into space. Bert, however, got about a -tumblerful. "Atmospheric pressure," said Bert, finding a use at -last for the elementary physiography of his seventh-standard -days. "I'll have to be more careful next time. No good wastin' -drink." - -Then he routed about for matches to utilise Mr. Butteridge's -cigars; but here again luck was on his side, and he couldn't find -any wherewith to set light to the gas above him. Or else he -would have dropped in a flare, a splendid but transitory -pyrotechnic display. "'Eng old Grubb!" said Bert, slapping -unproductive pockets. "'E didn't ought to 'ave kep' my box. 'E's -always sneaking matches." - -He reposed for a time. Then he got up, paddled about, rearranged -the ballast bags on the floor, watched the clouds for a time, and -turned over the maps on the locker. Bert liked maps, and he -spent some time in trying to find one of France or the Channel; -but they were all British ordnance maps of English counties. -That set him thinking about languages and trying to recall his -seventh-standard French. "Je suis Anglais. C'est une meprise. -Je suis arrive par accident ici," he decided upon as convenient -phrases. Then it occurred to him that he would entertain himself -by reading Mr. Butteridge's letters and examining his -pocket-book, and in this manner he whiled away the afternoon. - -2 - -He sat upon the padded locker, wrapped about very carefully, for -the air, though calm, was exhilaratingly cold and clear. He was -wearing first a modest suit of blue serge and all the -unpretending underwear of a suburban young man of fashion, with -sandal-like cycling-shoes and brown stockings drawn over his -trouser ends; then the perforated sheet proper to a Desert -Dervish; then the coat and waistcoat and big fur-trimmed overcoat -of Mr. Butteridge; then a lady's large fur cloak, and round his -knees a blanket. Over his head was a tow wig, surmounted by a -large cap of Mr. Butteridge's with the flaps down over his ears. -And some fur sleeping-boots of Mr. Butteridge's warmed his feet. -The car of the balloon was small and neat, some bags of ballast -the untidiest of its contents, and he had found a light -folding-table and put it at his elbow, and on that was a glass -with champagne. And about him, above and below, was space--such -a clear emptiness and silence of space as only the aeronaut can -experience. - -He did not know where he might be drifting, or what might happen -next. He accepted this state of affairs with a serenity -creditable to the Smallways' courage, which one might reasonably -have expected to be of a more degenerate and contemptible quality -altogether. His impression was that he was bound to come down -somewhere, and that then, if he wasn't smashed, some one, some -"society" perhaps, would probably pack him and the balloon back -to England. If not, he would ask very firmly for the British -Consul. - -"Le consuelo Britannique," he decided this would be. "Apportez -moi a le consuelo Britannique, s'il vous plait," he would say, -for he was by no means ignorant of French. In the meanwhile, he -found the intimate aspects of Mr. Butteridge an interesting -study. - -There were letters of an entirely private character addressed to -Mr. Butteridge, and among others several love-letters of a -devouring sort in a large feminine hand. These are no business -of ours, and one remarks with regret that Bert read them. - -When he had read them he remarked, "Gollys!" in an awestricken -tone, and then, after a long interval, "I wonder if that was her? - -"Lord!" - -He mused for a time. - -He resumed his exploration of the Butteridge interior. It -included a number of press cuttings of interviews and also -several letters in German, then some in the same German -handwriting, but in English. "Hul-LO!" said Bert. - -One of the latter, the first he took, began with an apology to -Butteridge for not writing to him in English before, and for the -inconvenience and delay that had been caused him by that, and -went on to matter that Bert found exciting in, the highest -degree. "We can understand entirely the difficulties of your -position, and that you shall possibly be watched at the present -juncture.--But, sir, we do not believe that any serious obstacles -will be put in your way if you wished to endeavour to leave the -country and come to us with your plans by the customary -routes--either via Dover, Ostend, Boulogne, or Dieppe. We find -it difficult to think you are right in supposing yourself to be -in danger of murder for your invaluable invention." - -"Funny!" said Bert, and meditated. - -Then he went through the other letters. - -"They seem to want him to come," said Bert, "but they don't seem -hurting themselves to get 'im. Or else they're shamming don't -care to get his prices down. - -"They don't quite seem to be the gov'ment," he reflected, after -an interval. "It's more like some firm's paper. All this -printed stuff at the top. Drachenflieger. Drachenballons. -Ballonstoffe. Kugelballons. Greek to me. - -"But he was trying to sell his blessed secret abroad. That's all -right. No Greek about that! Gollys! Here IS the secret!" - -He tumbled off the seat, opened the locker, and had the portfolio -open before him on the folding-table. It was full of drawings -done in the peculiar flat style and conventional colours -engineers adopt. And, in, addition there were some rather -under-exposed photographs, obviously done by an amateur, at close -quarters, of the actual machine's mutterings had made, in its -shed near the Crystal Palace. Bert found he was trembling. -"Lord" he said, "here am I and the whole blessed secret of -flying--lost up here on the roof of everywhere. - -"Let's see!" He fell to studying the drawings and comparing them -with the photographs. They puzzled him. Half of them seemed to -be missing. He tried to imagine how they fitted together, and -found the effort too great for his mind. - -"It's tryin'," said Bert. "I wish I'd been brought up to the -engineering. If I could only make it out!" - -He went to the side of the car and remained for a time staring -with unseeing eyes at a huge cluster of great clouds--a cluster -of slowly dissolving Monte Rosas, sunlit below. His attention -was arrested by a strange black spot that moved over them. It -alarmed him. It was a black spot moving slowly with him far -below, following him down there, indefatigably, over the cloud -mountains. Why should such a thing follow him? What could it -be?... - -He had an inspiration. "Uv course!" he said. It was the shadow -of the balloon. But he still watched it dubiously for a time. - -He returned to the plans on the table. - -He spent a long afternoon between his struggles to understand -them and fits of meditation. He evolved a remarkable new -sentence in French. - -"Voici, Mossoo!--Je suis un inventeur Anglais. Mon nom est -Butteridge. Beh. oo. teh. teh. eh. arr. I. deh. geh. eh. -J'avais ici pour vendre le secret de le flying-machine. -Comprenez? Vendre pour l'argent tout suite, l'argent en main. -Comprenez? C'est le machine a jouer dans l'air. Comprenez? -C'est le machine a faire l'oiseau. Comprenez? Balancer? -Oui, exactement! Battir l'oiseau en fait, a son propre jeu. Je -desire de vendre ceci a votre government national. Voulez vous -me directer la? - -"Bit rummy, I expect, from the point of view of grammar," said -Bert, "but they ought to get the hang of it all right. - -"But then, if they arst me to explain the blessed thing?" - -He returned in a worried way to the plans. "I don't believe it's -all here!" he said.... - -He got more and more perplexed up there among the clouds as to -what he should do with this wonderful find of his. At any -moment, so far as he knew he might descend among he knew not what -foreign people. - -"It's the chance of my life!" he said. - -It became more and more manifest to him that it wasn't. "Directly -I come down they'll telegraph--put it in the papers. -Butteridge'll know of it and come along--on my track." - -Butteridge would be a terrible person to be on any one's track. -Bert thought of the great black moustaches, the triangular nose, -the searching bellow and the glare. His afternoon's dream of a -marvellous seizure and sale of the great Butteridge secret -crumpled up in his mind, dissolved, and vanished. He awoke to -sanity again. - -"Wouldn't do. What's the good of thinking of it?" He proceeded -slowly and reluctantly to replace the Butteridge papers in -pockets and portfolio as he had found them. He became aware of a -splendid golden light upon the balloon above him, and of a new -warmth in the blue dome of the sky. He stood up and beheld the -sun, a great ball of blinding gold, setting upon a tumbled sea of -gold-edged crimson and purple clouds, strange and wonderful -beyond imagining. Eastward cloud-land stretched for ever, -darkling blue, and it seemed to Bert the whole round hemisphere -of the world was under his eyes. - -Then far, away over the blue he caught sight of three long, dark -shapes like hurrying fish that drove one after the other, as -porpoises follow one another in the water. They were very -fish-like indeed--with tails. It was an unconvincing impression -in that light. He blinked his eyes, stared again, and they had -vanished. For a long time he scrutinised those remote blue -levels and saw no more.... - -"Wonder if I ever saw anything," he said, and then: "There ain't -such things...." - -Down went the sun and down, not diving steeply, but passing -northward as it sank, and then suddenly daylight and the -expansive warmth of daylight had gone altogether, and the index -of the statoscope quivered over to Descente. - -3 - -"NOW what's going to 'appen?" said Bert. - -He found the cold, grey cloud wilderness rising towards him with -a wide, slow steadiness. As he sank down among them the clouds -ceased to seem the snowclad mountain-slopes they had resembled -heretofore, became unsubstantial, confessed an immense silent -drift and eddy in their substance. For a moment, when he was -nearly among their twilight masses, his descent was checked. -Then abruptly the sky was hidden, the last vestiges of -daylight gone, and he was falling rapidly in an evening twilight -through a whirl of fine snowflakes that streamed past him towards -the zenith, that drifted in upon the things about him and melted, -that touched his face with ghostly fingers. He shivered. His -breath came smoking from his lips, and everything was instantly -bedewed and wet. - -He had an impression of a snowstorm pouring with unexampled and -increasing fury UPWARD; then he realised that he was falling -faster and faster. - -Imperceptibly a sound grew upon his ears. The great silence of -the world was at an end. What was this confused sound? - -He craned his head over the side, concerned, perplexed. - -First he seemed to see, and then not to see. Then he saw clearly -little edges of foam pursuing each other, and a wide waste of -weltering waters below him. Far away was a pilot boat with a big -sail bearing dim black letters, and a little pinkish-yellow -light, and it was rolling and pitching, rolling and pitching in a -gale, while he could feel no wind at, all. Soon the sound of -waters was loud and near. He was dropping, dropping--into the -sea! - -He became convulsively active. - -"Ballast!" he cried, and seized a little sack from the floor, and -heaved it overboard. He did not wait for the effect of that, but -sent another after it. He looked over in time to see a minute -white splash in the dim waters below him, and then he was back in -the snow and clouds again. - -He sent out quite needlessly a third sack of ballast and a -fourth, and presently had the immense satisfaction of soaring up -out of the damp and chill into the clear, cold, upper air in -which the day still lingered. "Thang-God!" he said, with all his -heart. - -A few stars now had pierced the blue, and in the east there shone -brightly a prolate moon. - -4 - -That first downward plunge filled Bert with a haunting sense of -boundless waters below. It was a summer's night, but it seemed -to him, nevertheless, extraordinarily long. He had a feeling of -insecurity that he fancied quite irrationally the sunrise would -dispel. Also he was hungry. He felt, in the dark, in the -locker, put his fingers in the Roman pie, and got some -sandwiches, and he also opened rather successfully a half-bottle -of champagne. That warmed and restored him, he grumbled at Grubb -about the matches, wrapped himself up warmly on the locker, and -dozed for a time. He got up once or twice to make sure that he -was still securely high above the sea. The first time the -moonlit clouds were white and dense, and the shadow of the -balloon ran athwart them like a dog that followed; afterwards -they seemed thinner. As he lay still, staring up at the huge -dark balloon above, he made a discovery. His--or rather Mr. -Butteridge's--waistcoat rustled as he breathed. It was lined -with papers. But Bert could not see to get them out or examine -them, much as he wished to do so.... - -He was awakened by the crowing of cocks, the barking of dogs, and -a clamour of birds. He was driving slowly at a low level over a -broad land lit golden by sunrise under a clear sky. He stared -out upon hedgeless, well-cultivated fields intersected by roads, -each lined with cable-bearing red poles. He had just passed over -a compact, whitewashed, village with a straight church tower and -steep red-tiled roofs. A number of peasants, men and women, in -shiny blouses and lumpish footwear, stood regarding him, arrested -on their way to work. He was so low that the end of his rope was -trailing. - -He stared out at these people. "I wonder how you land," he -thought. - -"S'pose I OUGHT to land?" - -He found himself drifting down towards a mono-rail line, and -hastily flung out two or three handfuls of ballast to clear it. - -"Lemme see! One might say just 'Pre'nez'! Wish I knew the -French for take hold of the rope!... I suppose they are French?" - -He surveyed the country again. "Might be Holland. Or -Luxembourg. Or Lorraine 's far as _I_ know. Wonder what those -big affairs over there are? Some sort of kiln. -Prosperous-looking country..." - -The respectability of the country's appearance awakened answering -chords in his nature. - -"Make myself a bit ship-shape first," he said. - -He resolved to rise a little and get rid of his wig (which now -felt hot on his head), and so forth. He threw out a bag of -ballast, and was astonished to find himself careering up through -the air very rapidly. - -"Blow!" said Mr. Smallways. "I've over-done the ballast -trick.... Wonder when I shall get down again?... brekfus' on -board, anyhow." - -He removed his cap and wig, for the air was warm, and an -improvident impulse made him cast the latter object overboard. -The statoscope responded with a vigorous swing to Monte. - -"The blessed thing goes up if you only LOOK overboard," he -remarked, and assailed the locker. He found among other items -several tins of liquid cocoa containing explicit directions for -opening that he followed with minute care. He pierced the bottom -with the key provided in the holes indicated, and forthwith the -can grew from cold to hotter and hotter, until at last he could -scarcely touch it, and then he opened the can at the other end, -and there was his cocoa smoking, without the use of match or -flame of any sort. It was an old invention, but new to Bert. -There was also ham and marmalade and bread, so that he had a -really very tolerable breakfast indeed. - -Then he took off his overcoat, for the sunshine was now inclined -to be hot, and that reminded him of the rustling he had heard in -the night. He took off the waistcoat and examined it. "Old -Butteridge won't like me unpicking this." He hesitated, and -finally proceeded to unpick it. He found the missing drawings of -the lateral rotating planes, on which the whole stability of the -flying machine depended. - -An observant angel would have seen Bert sitting for a long time -after this discovery in a state of intense meditation. Then at -last he rose with an air of inspiration, took Mr. Butteridge's -ripped, demolished, and ransacked waistcoat, and hurled it from -the balloon whence it fluttered down slowly and eddyingly until -at last it came to rest with a contented flop upon the face of -German tourist sleeping peacefully beside the Hohenweg near -Wildbad. Also this sent the balloon higher, and so into a -position still more convenient for observation by our imaginary -angel who would next have seen Mr. Smallways tear open his own -jacket and waistcoat, remove his collar, open his shirt, thrust -his hand into his bosom, and tear his heart out--or at least, if -not his heart, some large bright scarlet object. If the -observer, overcoming a thrill of celestial horror, had -scrutinised this scarlet object more narrowly, one of Bert's most -cherished secrets, one of his essential weaknesses, would have -been laid bare. It was a red-flannel chest-protector, one of -those large quasi-hygienic objects that with pills and medicines -take the place of beneficial relics and images among the -Protestant peoples of Christendom. Always Bert wore this thing; -it was his cherished delusion, based on the advice of a shilling -fortune-teller at Margate, that he was weak in the lungs. - -He now proceeded to unbutton his fetish, to attack it with a -penknife, and to thrust the new-found plans between the two -layers of imitation Saxony flannel of which it was made. Then -with the help of Mr. Butteridge's small shaving mirror and his -folding canvas basin he readjusted his costume with the gravity -of a man who has taken an irrevocable step in life, buttoned up -his jacket, cast the white sheet of the Desert Dervish on one -side, washed temperately, shaved, resumed the big cap and the fur -overcoat, and, much refreshed by these exercises, surveyed the -country below him. - -It was indeed a spectacle of incredible magnificence. If perhaps -it was not so strange and magnificent as the sunlit cloudland of -the previous day, it was at any rate infinitely more interesting. - -The air was at its utmost clearness and except to the south and -south-west there was not a cloud in the sky. The country was -hilly, with occasional fir plantations and bleak upland spaces, -but also with numerous farms, and the hills were deeply -intersected by the gorges of several winding rivers interrupted -at intervals by the banked-up ponds and weirs of electric -generating wheels. It was dotted with bright-looking, -steep-roofed, villages, and each showed a distinctive and -interesting church beside its wireless telegraph steeple; here -and there were large chateaux and parks and white roads, and -paths lined with red and white cable posts were extremely -conspicuous in the landscape. There were walled enclosures like -gardens and rickyards and great roofs of barns and many electric -dairy centres. The uplands were mottled with cattle. At places -he would see the track of one of the old railroads (converted now -to mono-rails) dodging through tunnels and crossing embankments, -and a rushing hum would mark the passing of a train. Everything -was extraordinarily clear as well as minute. Once or twice he -saw guns and soldiers, and was reminded of the stir of military -preparations he had witnessed on the Bank Holiday in England; but -there was nothing to tell him that these military preparations -were abnormal or to explain an occasional faint irregular firing -Of guns that drifted up to him.... - -"Wish I knew how to get down," said Bert, ten thousand feet or so -above it all, and gave himself to much futile tugging at the red -and white cords. Afterwards he made a sort of inventory of the -provisions. Life in the high air was giving him an appalling -appetite, and it seemed to him discreet at this stage to portion -out his supply into rations. So far as he could see he might -pass a week in the air. - -At first all the vast panorama below had been as silent as a -painted picture. But as the day wore on and the gas diffused -slowly from the balloon, it sank earthward again, details -increased, men became more visible, and he began to hear the -whistle and moan of trains and cars, sounds of cattle, bugles and -kettle drums, and presently even men's voices. And at last his -guide-rope was trailing again, and he found it possible to -attempt a landing. Once or twice as the rope dragged over cables -he found his hair erect with electricity, and once he had a -slight shock, and sparks snapped about the car. He took these -things among the chances of the voyage. He had one idea now very -clear in his mind, and that was to drop the iron grapnel that -hung from the ring. - -From the first this attempt was unfortunate, perhaps because the -place for descent was ill-chosen. A balloon should come down in -an empty open space, and he chose a crowd. He made his decision -suddenly, and without proper reflection. As he trailed, Bert saw -ahead of him one of the most attractive little towns in the -world--a cluster of steep gables surmounted by a high church -tower and diversified with trees, walled, and with a fine, large -gateway opening out upon a tree-lined high road. All the wires -and cables of the countryside converged upon it like guests to -entertainment. It had a most home-like and comfortable quality, -and it was made gayer by abundant flags. Along the road a -quantity of peasant folk, in big pair-wheeled carts and afoot, -were coming and going, besides an occasional mono-rail car; and -at the car-junction, under the trees outside the town, was a busy -little fair of booths. It seemed a warm, human, well-rooted, and -altogether delightful place to Bert. He came low over the -tree-tops, with his grapnel ready to throw and so anchor him--a -curious, interested, and interesting guest, so his imagination -figured it, in the very middle of it all. - -He thought of himself performing feats with the sign language and -chance linguistics amidst a circle of admiring rustics.... - -And then the chapter of adverse accidents began. - -The rope made itself unpopular long before the crowd had fully -realised his advent over the trees. An elderly and apparently -intoxicated peasant in a shiny black hat, and carrying a large -crimson umbrella, caught sight of it first as it trailed past -him, and was seized with a discreditable ambition to kill it. He -pursued it, briskly with unpleasant cries. It crossed the road -obliquely, splashed into a pail of milk upon a stall, and slapped -its milky tail athwart a motor-car load of factory girls halted -outside the town gates. They screamed loudly. People looked up -and saw Bert making what he meant to be genial salutations, but -what they considered, in view of the feminine outcry, to be -insulting gestures. Then the car hit the roof of the gatehouse -smartly, snapped a flag staff, played a tune upon some telegraph -wires, and sent a broken wire like a whip-lash to do its share in -accumulating unpopularity. Bert, by clutching convulsively, just -escaped being pitched headlong. Two young soldiers and several -peasants shouted things iup to him and shook fists at him and -began to run in pursuit as he disappeared over the wall into the -town. - -Admiring rustics, indeed! - -The balloon leapt at once, in the manner of balloons when part of -their weight is released by touching down, with a sort of -flippancy, and in another moment Bert was over a street crowded -with peasants and soldiers, that opened into a busy -market-square. The wave of unfriendliness pursued him. - -"Grapnel," said Bert, and then with an afterthought shouted, -"TETES there, you! I say! I say! TETES. 'Eng it!" - -The grapnel smashed down a steeply sloping roof, followed by an -avalanche of broken tiles, jumped the street amidst shrieks and -cries, and smashed into a plate-glass window with an immense and -sickening impact. The balloon rolled nauseatingly, and the car -pitched. But the grapnel had not held. It emerged at once -bearing on one fluke, with a ridiculous air of fastidious -selection, a small child's chair, and pursued by a maddened -shopman. It lifted its catch, swung about with an appearance of -painful indecision amidst a roar of wrath, and dropped it at last -neatly, and as if by inspiration, over the head of a peasant -woman in charge of an assortment of cabbages in the market-place. - -Everybody now was aware of the balloon. Everybody was either -trying to dodge the grapnel or catch the trail rope. With a -pendulum-like swoop through the crowd, that sent people flying -right and left the grapnel came to earth again, tried for and -missed a stout gentleman in a blue suit and a straw hat, smacked -away a trestle from under a stall of haberdashery, made a -cyclist soldier in knickerbockers leap like a chamois, and -secured itself uncertainly among the hind-legs of a sheep--which -made convulsive, ungenerous efforts to free itself, and was -dragged into a position of rest against a stone cross in the -middle of the place. The balloon pulled up with a jerk. In -another moment a score of willing hands were tugging it -earthward. At the same instant Bert became aware for the first -time of a fresh breeze blowing about him. - -For some seconds he stood staggering in the car, which now swayed -sickeningly, surveying the exasperated crowd below him and trying -to collect his mind. He was extraordinarily astonished at this -run of mishaps. Were the people really so annoyed? Everybody -seemed angry with him. No one seemed interested or amused by his -arrival. A disproportionate amount of the outcry had the flavour -of imprecation--had, indeed a strong flavour of riot. Several -greatly uniformed officials in cocked hats struggled in vain to -control the crowd. Fists and sticks were shaken. And when Bert -saw a man on the outskirts of the crowd run to a haycart and get -a brightly pronged pitch-fork, and a blue-clad soldier unbuckle -his belt, his rising doubt whether this little town was after all -such a good place for a landing became a certainty. - -He had clung to the fancy that they would make something of a -hero of him. Now he knew that he was mistaken. - -He was perhaps ten feet above the people when he made his -decision. His paralysis ceased. He leapt up on the seat, and, -at imminent risk of falling headlong, released the grapnel-rope -from the toggle that held it, sprang on to the trail rope and -disengaged that also. A hoarse shout of disgust greeted the -descent of the grapnel-rope and the swift leap of the balloon, -and something--he fancied afterwards it was a turnip--whizzed by -his head. The trail-rope followed its fellow. The crowd seemed -to jump away from him. With an immense and horrifying rustle the -balloon brushed against a telephone pole, and for a tense instant -he anticipated either an electric explosion or a bursting of the -oiled silk, or both. But fortune was with him. - -In another second he was cowering in the bottom of the car, and -released from the weight of the grapnel and the two ropes, -rushing up once more through the air. For a time he remained -crouching, and when at last he looked out again the little town -was very small and travelling, with the rest of lower Germany, in -a circular orbit round and round the car--or at least it appeared -to be doing that. When he got used to it, he found this rotation -of the balloon rather convenient; it saved moving about in the -car. - -5 - -Late in the afternoon of a pleasant summer day in the year 191-, -if one may borrow a mode of phrasing that once found favour with -the readers of the late G. P. R. James, a solitary -balloonist--replacing the solitary horseman of the classic -romances--might have been observed wending his way across -Franconia in a north-easterly direction, and at a height of about -eleven thousand feet above the sea and still spindling slowly. -His head was craned over the side of the car, and he surveyed the -country below with an expression of profound perplexity; ever and -again his lips shaped inaudible words. "Shootin' at a chap," for -example, and "I'll come down right enough soon as I find out -'ow." Over the side of the basket the robe of the Desert Dervish -was hanging, an appeal for consideration, an ineffectual white -flag. - -He was now very distinctly aware that the world below him, so far -from being the naive countryside of his earlier imaginings that -day, sleepily unconscious of him and capable of being amazed and -nearly reverential at his descent, was acutely irritated by his -career, and extremely impatient with the course he was -taking.--But indeed it was not he who took that course, but his -masters, the winds of heaven. Mysterious voices spoke to him in -his ear, jerking the words up to him by means of megaphones, in a -weird and startling manner, in a great variety of languages. -Official-looking persons had signalled to him by means of flag -flapping and arm waving. On the whole a guttural variant of -English prevailed in the sentences that alighted upon the -balloon; chiefly he was told to "gome down or you will be shot." - -"All very well," said Bert, "but 'ow?" - -Then they shot a little wide of the car. Latterly he had been -shot at six or seven times, and once the bullet had gone by with -a sound so persuasively like the tearing of silk that he had -resigned himself to the prospect of a headlong fall. But either -they were aiming near him or they had missed, and as yet nothing -was torn but the air about him--and his anxious soul. - -He was now enjoying a respite from these attentions, but he felt -it was at best an interlude, and he was doing what he could to -appreciate his position. Incidentally he was having some hot -coffee and pie in an untidy inadvertent manner, with an eye -fluttering nervously over the side of the car. At first he had -ascribed the growing interest in his career to his ill-conceived -attempt to land in the bright little upland town, but now he was -beginning to realise that the military rather than the civil arm -was concerned about him. - -He was quite involuntarily playing that weird mysterious -part--the part of an International Spy. He was seeing secret -things. He had, in fact, crossed the designs of no less a power -than the German Empire, he had blundered into the hot focus of -Welt-Politik, he was drifting helplessly towards the great -Imperial secret, the immense aeronautic park that had been -established at a headlong pace in Franconia to develop silently, -swiftly, and on an immense scale the great discoveries of -Hunstedt and Stossel, and so to give Germany before all other -nations a fleet of airships, the air power and the Empire of the -world. - -Later, just before they shot him down altogether, Bert saw that -great area of passionate work, warm lit in the evening light, a -great area of upland on which the airships lay like a herd of -grazing monsters at their feed. It was a vast busy space -stretching away northward as far as he could see, methodically -cut up into numbered sheds, gasometers, squad encampments, -storage areas, interlaced with the omnipresent mono-rail lines, -and altogether free from overhead wires or cables. Everywhere -was the white, black and yellow of Imperial Germany, everywhere -the black eagles spread their wings. Even without these -indications, the large vigorous neatness of everything would have -marked it German. Vast multitudes of men went to and fro, many -in white and drab fatigue uniforms busy about the balloons, -others drilling in sensible drab. Here and there a full uniform -glittered. The airships chiefly engaged his attention, and he -knew at once it was three of these he had seen on the previous -night, taking advantage of the cloud welkin to manoeuvre -unobserved. They were altogether fish-like. For the great -airships with which Germany attacked New York in her last -gigantic effort for world supremacy--before humanity realized -that world supremacy was a dream--were the lineal descendants of -the Zeppelin airship that flew over Lake Constance in 1906, and -of the Lebaudy navigables that made their memorable excursions -over Paris in 1907 and 1908. - -These German airships were held together by rib-like skeletons of -steel and aluminium and a stout inelastic canvas outer-skin, -within which was an impervious rubber gas-bag, cut up by -transverse dissepiments into from fifty to a hundred -compartments. These were all absolutely gas tight and filled -with hydrogen, and the entire aerostat was kept at any level by -means of a long internal balloonette of oiled and toughened silk -canvas, into which air could be forced and from which it could be -pumped. So the airship could be made either heavier or lighter -than air, and losses of weight through the consumption of fuel, -the casting of bombs and so forth, could also be compensated by -admitting air to sections of the general gas-bag. Ultimately -that made a highly explosive mixture; but in all these matters -risks must be taken and guarded against. There was a steel axis -to the whole affair, a central backbone which terminated in the -engine and propeller, and the men and magazines were forward in a -series of cabins under the expanded headlike forepart. The -engine, which was of the extraordinarily powerful Pforzheim type, -that supreme triumph of German invention, was worked by wires -from this forepart, which was indeed the only really habitable -part of the ship. If anything went wrong, the engineers went aft -along a rope ladder beneath the frame. The tendency of the whole -affair to roll was partly corrected by a horizontal lateral fin -on either side, and steering was chiefly effected by two vertical -fins, which normally lay back like gill-flaps on either side of -the head. It was indeed a most complete adaptation of the fish -form to aerial conditions, the position of swimming bladder, -eyes, and brain being, however, below instead of above. A -striking, and unfish-like feature was the apparatus for wireless -telegraphy that dangled from the forward cabin--that is to say, -under the chin of the fish. - -These monsters were capable of ninety miles an hour in a calm, so -that they could face and make headway against nearly everything -except the fiercest tornado. They varied in length from eight -hundred to two thousand feet, and they had a carrying power of -from seventy to two hundred tons. How many Germany possessed -history does not record, but Bert counted nearly eighty great -bulks receding in perspective during his brief inspection. Such -were the instruments on which she chiefly relied to sustain her -in her repudiation of the Monroe Doctrine and her bold bid for a -share in the empire of the New World. But not altogether did she -rely on these; she had also a one-man bomb-throwing -Drachenflieger of unknown value among the resources. - -But the Drachenflieger were away in the second great aeronautic -park east of Hamburg, and Bert Smallways saw nothing of them in -the bird's-eye view he took of the Franconian establishment -before they shot him down very neatly. The bullet tore past him -and made a sort of pop as it pierced his balloon--a pop that was -followed by a rustling sigh and a steady downward movement. And -when in the confusion of the moment he dropped a bag of ballast, -the Germans, very politely but firmly overcame his scruples by -shooting his balloon again twice. - - - -CHAPTER IV -THE GERMAN AIR-FLEET - -1 - -Of all the productions of the human imagination that make the -world in which Mr. Bert Smallways lived confusingly wonderful, -there was none quite so strange, so headlong and disturbing, so -noisy and persuasive and dangerous, as the modernisations of -patriotism produced by imperial and international politics. In -the soul of all men is a liking for kind, a pride in one's own -atmosphere, a tenderness for one's Mother speech and one's -familiar land. Before the coming of the Scientific Age this -group of gentle and noble emotions had been a fine factor in the -equipment of every worthy human being, a fine factor that had its -less amiable aspect in a usually harmless hostility to strange -people, and a usually harmless detraction of strange lands. But -with the wild rush of change in the pace, scope, materials, -scale, and possibilities of human life that then occurred, the -old boundaries, the old seclusions and separations were violently -broken down. All the old settled mental habits and traditions of -men found themselves not simply confronted by new conditions, but -by constantly renewed and changing new conditions. They had no -chance of adapting themselves. They were annihilated or -perverted or inflamed beyond recognition. - -Bert Smallways' grandfather, in the days when Bun Hill was a -village under the sway of Sir Peter Bone's parent, had "known his -place" to the uttermost farthing, touched his hat to his betters, -despised and condescended to his inferiors, and hadn't changed an -idea from the cradle to the grave. He was Kentish and English, -and that meant hops, beer, dog-rose's, and the sort of sunshine -that was best in the world. Newspapers and politics and visits -to "Lunnon" weren't for the likes of him. Then came the change. -These earlier chapters have given an idea of what happened to Bun -Hill, and how the flood of novel things had poured over its -devoted rusticity. Bert Smallways was only one of countless -millions in Europe and America and Asia who, instead of being -born rooted in the soil, were born struggling in a torrent they -never clearly understood. All the faiths of their fathers had -been taken by surprise, and startled into the strangest forms and -reactions. Particularly did the fine old tradition of patriotism -get perverted and distorted in the rush of the new times. -Instead of the sturdy establishment in prejudice of Bert's -grandfather, to whom the word "Frenchified" was the ultimate term -of contempt, there flowed through Bert's brain a squittering -succession of thinly violent ideas about German competition, -about the Yellow Danger, about the Black Peril, about the White -Man's Burthen--that is to say, Bert's preposterous right to -muddle further the naturally very muddled politics of the -entirely similar little cads to himself (except for a smear of -brown) who smoked cigarettes and rode bicycles in Buluwayo, -Kingston (Jamaica), or Bombay. These were Bert's "Subject -Races," and he was ready to die--by proxy in the person of any -one who cared to enlist--to maintain his hold upon that right. -It kept him awake at nights to think that he might lose it. - -The essential fact of the politics of the age in which Bert -Smallways lived--the age that blundered at last into the -catastrophe of the War in the Air--was a very simple one, if only -people had had the intelligence to be simple about it. The -development of Science had altered the scale of human affairs. -By means of rapid mechanical traction, it had brought men nearer -together, so much nearer socially, economically, physically, that -the old separations into nations and kingdoms were no longer -possible, a newer, wider synthesis was not only needed, but -imperatively demanded. Just as the once independent dukedoms of -France had to fuse into a nation, so now the nations had to adapt -themselves to a wider coalescence, they had to keep what was -precious and possible, and concede what was obsolete and -dangerous. A saner world would have perceived this patent need -for a reasonable synthesis, would have discussed it temperately, -achieved and gone on to organise the great civilisation that was -manifestly possible to mankind. The world of Bert Smallways did -nothing of the sort. Its national governments, its national -interests, would not hear of anything so obvious; they were too -suspicious of each other, too wanting in generous imaginations. -They began to behave like ill-bred people in a crowded public -car, to squeeze against one another, elbow, thrust, dispute and -quarrel. Vain to point out to them that they had only to -rearrange themselves to be comfortable. Everywhere, all over the -world, the historian of the early twentieth century finds the -same thing, the flow and rearrangement of human affairs -inextricably entangled by the old areas, the old prejudices and a -sort of heated irascible stupidity, and everywhere congested -nations in inconvenient areas, slopping population and produce -into each other, annoying each other with tariffs, and every -possible commercial vexation, and threatening each other with -navies and armies that grew every year more portentous. - -It is impossible now to estimate how much of the intellectual and -physical energy of the world was wasted in military preparation -and equipment, but it was an enormous proportion. Great Britain -spent upon army and navy money and capacity, that directed into -the channels of physical culture and education would have made -the British the aristocracy of the world. Her rulers could have -kept the whole population learning and exercising up to the age -of eighteen and made a broad-chested and intelligent man of every -Bert Smallways in the islands, had they given the resources they -spent in war material to the making of men. Instead of which -they waggled flags at him until he was fourteen, incited him to -cheer, and then turned him out of school to begin that career of -private enterprise we have compactly recorded. France achieved -similar imbecilities; Germany was, if possible worse; Russia -under the waste and stresses of militarism festered towards -bankruptcy and decay. All Europe was producing big guns and -countless swarms of little Smallways. The Asiatic peoples had -been forced in self-defence into a like diversion of the new -powers science had brought them. On the eve of the outbreak of -the war there were six great powers in the world and a cluster of -smaller ones, each armed to the teeth and straining every nerve -to get ahead of the others in deadliness of equipment and -military efficiency. The great powers were first the United -States, a nation addicted to commerce, but roused to military -necessities by the efforts of Germany to expand into South -America, and by the natural consequences of her own unwary -annexations of land in the very teeth of Japan. She maintained -two immense fleets east and west, and internally she was in -violent conflict between Federal and State governments upon the -question of universal service in a defensive militia. Next came -the great alliance of Eastern Asia, a close-knit coalescence of -China and Japan, advancing with rapid strides year by year to -predominance in the world's affairs. Then the German alliance -still struggled to achieve its dream of imperial expansion, and -its imposition of the German language upon a forcibly united -Europe. These were the three most spirited and aggressive powers -in the world. Far more pacific was the British Empire, -perilously scattered over the globe, and distracted now by -insurrectionary movements in Ireland and among all its Subject -Races. It had given these subject races cigarettes, boots, -bowler hats, cricket, race meetings, cheap revolvers, petroleum, -the factory system of industry, halfpenny newspapers in both -English and the vernacular, inexpensive university degrees, -motor-bicycles and electric trams; it had produced a considerable -literature expressing contempt for the Subject Races, and -rendered it freely accessible to them, and it had been content to -believe that nothing would result from these stimulants because -somebody once wrote "the immemorial east"; and also, in the -inspired words of Kipling-- - - East is east and west is west, - And never the twain shall meet. - - -Instead of which, Egypt, India, and the subject countries -generally had produced new generations in a state of passionate -indignation and the utmost energy, activity and modernity. The -governing class in Great Britain was slowly adapting itself to a -new conception, of the Subject Races as waking peoples, and -finding its efforts to keep the Empire together under these, -strains and changing ideas greatly impeded by the entirely -sporting spirit with which Bert Smallways at home (by the -million) cast his vote, and by the tendency of his more highly -coloured equivalents to be disrespectful to irascible officials. -Their impertinence was excessive; it was no mere stone-throwing -and shouting. They would quote Burns at them and Mill and Darwin -and confute them in arguments. - -Even more pacific than the British Empire were France and its -allies, the Latin powers, heavily armed states indeed, but -reluctant warriors, and in many ways socially and politically -leading western civilisation. Russia was a pacific power -perforce, divided within itself, torn between revolutionaries and -reactionaries who were equally incapable of social -reconstruction, and so sinking towards a tragic disorder of -chronic political vendetta. Wedged in among these portentous -larger bulks, swayed and threatened by them, the smaller states -of the world maintained a precarious independence, each keeping -itself armed as dangerously as its utmost ability could contrive. - -So it came about that in every country a great and growing body -of energetic and inventive men was busied either for offensive or -defensive ends, in elaborating the apparatus of war, until the -accumulating tensions should reach the breaking-point. Each -power sought to keep its preparations secret, to hold new weapons -in reserve, to anticipate and learn the preparations of its -rivals. The feeling of danger from fresh discoveries affected -the patriotic imagination of every people in the world. Now it -was rumoured the British had an overwhelming gun, now the French -an invincible rifle, now the Japanese a new explosive, now the -Americans a submarine that would drive every ironclad from the -seas. Each time there would be a war panic. - -The strength and heart of the nations was given to the thought of -war, and yet the mass of their citizens was a teeming democracy -as heedless of and unfitted for fighting, mentally, morally, -physically, as any population has ever been--or, one ventures to -add, could ever be. That was the paradox of the time. It was a -period altogether unique in the world's history. The apparatus -of warfare, the art and method of fighting, changed absolutely -every dozen years in a stupendous progress towards perfection, -and people grew less and less warlike, and there was no war. - -And then at last it came. It came as a surprise to all the world -because its real causes were hidden. Relations were strained -between Germany and the United States because of the intense -exasperation of a tariff conflict and the ambiguous attitude of -the former power towards the Monroe Doctrine, and they were -strained between the United States and Japan because of the -perennial citizenship question. But in both cases these were -standing causes of offence. The real deciding cause, it is now -known, was the perfecting of the Pforzheim engine by Germany and -the consequent possibility of a rapid and entirely practicable -airship. At that time Germany was by far the most efficient -power in the world, better organised for swift and secret action, -better equipped with the resources of modern science, and with -her official and administrative classes at a higher level of -education and training. These things she knew, and she -exaggerated that knowledge to the pitch of contempt for the -secret counsels of her neighbours. It may be that with the habit -of self-confidence her spying upon them had grown less thorough. -Moreover, she had a tradition of unsentimental and unscrupulous -action that vitiated her international outlook profoundly. With -the coming of these new weapons her collective intelligence -thrilled with the sense that now her moment had come. Once again -in the history of progress it seemed she held the decisive -weapon. Now she might strike and conquer--before the others had -anything but experiments in the air. - -Particularly she must strike America, swiftly, because there, if -anywhere, lay the chance of an aerial rival. It was known that -America possessed a flying-machine of considerable practical -value, developed out of the Wright model; but it was not supposed -that the Washington War Office had made any wholesale attempts to -create an aerial navy. It was necessary to strike before they -could do so. France had a fleet of slow navigables, several -dating from 1908, that could make no possible headway against the -new type. They had been built solely for reconnoitring purposes -on the eastern frontier, they were mostly too small to carry more -than a couple of dozen men without arms or provisions, and not -one could do forty miles an hour. Great Britain, it seemed, in -an access of meanness, temporised and wrangled with the imperial -spirited Butteridge and his extraordinary invention. That also -was not in play--and could not be for some months at the -earliest. From Asia there, came no sign. The Germans explained -this by saying the yellow peoples were without invention. No -other competitor was worth considering. "Now or never," said the -Germans--"now or never we may seize the air--as once the British -seized the seas! While all the other powers are still -experimenting." - -Swift and systematic and secret were their preparations, and -their plan most excellent. So far as their knowledge went, -America was the only dangerous possibility; America, which was -also now the leading trade rival of Germany and one of the chief -barriers to her Imperial expansion. So at once they would strike -at America. They would fling a great force across the Atlantic -heavens and bear America down unwarned and unprepared. - -Altogether it was a well-imagined and most hopeful and spirited -enterprise, having regard to the information in the possession of -the German government. The chances of it being a successful -surprise were very great. The airship and the flying-machine -were very different things from ironclads, which take a couple of -years to build. Given hands, given plant, they could be made -innumerably in a few weeks. Once the needful parks and foundries -were organised, air-ships and Dracheinflieger could be poured -into the sky. Indeed, when the time came, they did pour into the -sky like, as a bitter French writer put it, flies roused from -filth. - -The attack upon America was to be the first move in this -tremendous game. But no sooner had it started than instantly the -aeronautic parks were to proceed to put together and inflate the -second fleet which was to dominate Europe and manoeuvre -significantly over London, Paris, Rome, St. Petersburg, or -wherever else its moral effect was required. A World Surprise it -was to be--no less a World Conquest; and it is wonderful how near -the calmly adventurous minds that planned it came to succeeding -in their colossal design. - -Von Sternberg was the Moltke of this War in the Air, but it was -the curious hard romanticism of Prince Karl Albert that won over -the hesitating Emperor to the scheme. Prince Karl Albert was -indeed the central figure of the world drama. He was the -darling of the Imperialist spirit in German, and the ideal of the -new aristocratic feeling--the new Chivalry, as it was -called--that followed the overthrow of Socialism through its -internal divisions and lack of discipline, and the concentration -of wealth in the hands of a few great families. He was compared -by obsequious flatterers to the Black Prince, to Alcibiades, to -the young Caesar. To many he seemed Nietzsche's Overman -revealed. He was big and blond and virile, and splendidly -non-moral. The first great feat that startled Europe, and almost -brought about a new Trojan war, was his abduction of the Princess -Helena of Norway and his blank refusal to marry her. Then -followed his marriage with Gretchen Krass, a Swiss girl of -peerless beauty. Then came the gallant rescue, which almost cost -him his life, of three drowning sailors whose boat had upset in -the sea near Heligoland. For that and his victory over the -American yacht Defender, C.C.I., the Emperor forgave him and -placed him in control of the new aeronautic arm of the German -forces. This he developed with marvellous energy and ability, -being resolved, as he said, to give to Germany land and sea and -sky. The national passion for aggression found in him its -supreme exponent, and achieved through him its realisation in -this astounding war. But his fascination was more than national; -all over the world his ruthless strength dominated minds as the -Napoleonic legend had dominated minds. Englishmen turned in -disgust from the slow, complex, civilised methods of their -national politics to this uncompromising, forceful figure. -Frenchmen believed in him. Poems were written to him in -American. - -He made the war. - -Quite equally with the rest of the world, the general German -population was taken by surprise by the swift vigour of the -Imperial government. A considerable literature of military -forecasts, beginning as early as 1906 with Rudolf Martin, the -author not merely of a brilliant book of anticipations, but of a -proverb, "The future of Germany lies in the air," had, however, -partially prepared the German imagination for some such -enterprise. - -2 - -Of all these world-forces and gigantic designs Bert Smallways -knew nothing until he found himself in the very focus of it all -and gaped down amazed on the spectacle of that giant herd of air- -ships. Each one seemed as long as the Strand, and as big about -as Trafalgar Square. Some must have been a third of a mile in -length. He had never before seen anything so vast and -disciplined as this tremendous park. For the first time in his -life he really had an intimation of the extraordinary and quite -important things of which a contemporary may go in ignorance. He -had always clung to the illusion that Germans were fat, absurd -men, who smoked china pipes, and were addicted to knowledge and -horseflesh and sauerkraut and indigestible things generally. - -His bird's-eye view was quite transitory. He ducked at the first -shot; and directly his balloon began to drop, his mind ran -confusedly upon how he might explain himself, and whether he -should pretend to be Butteridge or not. "O Lord!" he groaned, in -an agony of indecision. Then his eye caught his sandals, and he -felt a spasm of self-disgust. "They'll think I'm a bloomin' -idiot," he said, and then it was he rose up desperately and threw -over the sand-bag and provoked the second and third shots. - -It flashed into his head, as he cowered in the bottom of the car, -that he might avoid all sorts of disagreeable and complicated -explanations by pretending to be mad. - -That was his last idea before the airships seemed to rush up -about him as if to look at him, and his car hit the ground and -bounded and pitched him out on his head.... - -He awoke to find himself famous, and to hear a voice crying, -"Booteraidge! Ja! Jai Herr Booteraidge! Selbst!" - -He was lying on a little patch of grass beside one of the main -avenues of the aeronautic park. The airships receded down a -great vista, an immense perspective, and the blunt prow of each -was adorned with a black eagle of a hundred feet or so spread. -Down the other side of the avenue ran a series of gas generators, -and big hose-pipes trailed everywhere across the intervening -space. Close at hand was his now nearly deflated balloon and the -car on its side looking minutely small, a mere broken toy, a -shrivelled bubble, in contrast with the gigantic bulk of the -nearer airship. This he saw almost end-on, rising like a cliff -and sloping forward towards its fellow on the other side so as to -overshadow the alley between them. There was a crowd of excited -people about him, big men mostly in tight uniforms. Everybody -was talking, and several were shouting, in German; he knew that -because they splashed and aspirated sounds like startled kittens. - -Only one phrase, repeated again and again could he recognize--the -name of "Herr Booteraidge." - -"Gollys!" said Bert. "They've spotted it." - -"Besser," said some one, and some rapid German followed. - -He perceived that close at hand was a field telephone, and that a -tall officer in blue was talking thereat about him. Another -stood close beside him with the portfolio of drawings and -photographs in his hand. They looked round at him. - -"Do you spik Cherman, Herr Booteraidge?" - -Bert decided that he had better be dazed. He did his best to -seem thoroughly dazed. "Where AM I?" he asked. - -Volubility prevailed. "Der Prinz," was mentioned. A bugle -sounded far away, and its call was taken up by one nearer, and -then by one close at hand. This seemed to increase the -excitement greatly. A mono-rail car bumbled past. The telephone -bell rang passionately, and the tall officer seemed to engage in -a heated altercation. Then he approached the group about Bert, -calling out something about "mitbringen." - -An earnest-faced, emaciated man with a white moustache appealed -to Bert. "Herr Booteraidge, sir, we are chust to start!" - -"Where am I?" Bert repeated. - -Some one shook him by the other shoulder. "Are you Herr -Booteraidge?" he asked. - -"Herr Booteraidge, we are chust to start!" repeated the white -moustache, and then helplessly, "What is de goot? What can we -do?" - -The officer from the telephone repeated his sentence about "Der -Prinz" and "mitbringen." The man with the moustache stared for a -moment, grasped an idea and became violently energetic, stood up -and bawled directions at unseen people. Questions were asked, -and the doctor at Bert's side answered, "Ja! Ja!" several times, -also something about "Kopf." With a certain urgency he got Bert -rather unwillingly to his feet. Two huge soldiers in grey -advanced upon Bert and seized hold of him. "'Ullo!" said Bert, -startled. "What's up?" - -"It is all right," the doctor explained; "they are to carry you." - -"Where?" asked Bert, unanswered. - -"Put your arms roundt their--hals--round them!" - -"Yes! but where?" - -"Hold tight!" - -Before Bert could decide to say anything more he was whisked up -by the two soldiers. They joined hands to seat him, and his arms -were put about their necks. "Vorwarts!" Some one ran before him -with the portfolio, and he was borne rapidly along the broad -avenue between the gas generators and the airships, rapidly and -on the whole smoothly except that once or twice his bearers -stumbled over hose-pipes and nearly let him down. - -He was wearing Mr. Butteridge's Alpine cap, and his little -shoulders were in Mr. Butteridge's fur-lined overcoat, and he had -responded to Mr. Butteridge's name. The sandals dangled -helplessly. Gaw! Everybody seemed in a devil of a hurry. Why? -He was carried joggling and gaping through the twilight, -marvelling beyond measure. - -The systematic arrangement of wide convenient spaces, the -quantities of business-like soldiers everywhere, the occasional -neat piles of material, the ubiquitous mono-rail lines, and the -towering ship-like hulls about him, reminded him a little of -impressions he had got as a boy on a visit to Woolwich Dockyard. -The whole camp reflected the colossal power of modern science -that had created it. A peculiar strangeness was produced by the -lowness of the electric light, which lay upon the ground, casting -all shadows upwards and making a grotesque shadow figure of -himself and his bearers on the airship sides, fusing all three of -them into a monstrous animal with attenuated legs and an immense -fan-like humped body. The lights were on the ground because as -far as possible all poles and standards had been dispensed with -to prevent complications when the airships rose. - -It was deep twilight now, a tranquil blue-skyed evening; -everything rose out from the splashes of light upon the ground -into dim translucent tall masses; within the cavities of the -airships small inspecting lamps glowed like cloud-veiled stars, -and made them seem marvellously unsubstantial. Each airship had -its name in black letters on white on either flank, and forward -the Imperial eagle sprawled, an overwhelming bird in the dimness. - -Bugles sounded, mono-rail cars of quiet soldiers slithered -burbling by. The cabins under the heads of the airships were -being lit up; doors opened in them, and revealed padded passages. - -Now and then a voice gave directions to workers indistinctly -seen. - -There was a matter of sentinels, gangways and a long narrow -passage, a scramble over a disorder of baggage, and then Bert -found himself lowered to the ground and standing in the doorway -of a spacious cabin--it was perhaps ten feet square and eight -high, furnished with crimson padding and aluminium. A tall, -bird-like young man with a small head, a long nose, and very pale -hair, with his hands full of things like shaving-strops, -boot-trees, hair-brushes, and toilet tidies, was saying things -about Gott and thunder and Dummer Booteraidge as Bert entered. -He was apparently an evicted occupant. Then he vanished, and -Bert was lying back on a couch in the corner with a pillow under -his head and the door of the cabin shut upon him. He was alone. -Everybody had hurried out again astonishingly. - -"Gollys!" said Bert. "What next?" - -He stared about him at the room. - -"Butteridge! Shall I try to keep it up, or shan't I?" - -The room he was in puzzled him. "'Tisn't a prison and 'tisn't a -norfis?" Then the old trouble came uppermost. "I wish to 'eaven -I 'adn't these silly sandals on," he cried querulously to the -universe. "They give the whole blessed show away." - -3 - -His door was flung open, and a compact young man in uniform -appeared, carrying Mr. Butteridge's portfolio, rucksac, and -shaving-glass. - -"I say!" he said in faultless English as he entered. He had a -beaming face, and a sort of pinkish blond hair. "Fancy you being -Butteridge." He slapped Bert's meagre luggage down. - -"We'd have started," he said, "in another half-hour! You didn't -give yourself much time!" - -He surveyed Bert curiously. His gaze rested for a fraction of a -moment on the sandals. "You ought to have come on your -flying-machine, Mr. Butteridge." - -He didn't wait for an answer. "The Prince says I've got to -look after you. Naturally he can't see you now, but he thinks -your coming's providential. Last grace of Heaven. Like a -sign. Hullo!" - -He stood still and listened. - -Outside there was a going to and fro of feet, a sound of distant -bugles suddenly taken up and echoed close at hand, men called out -in loud tones short, sharp, seemingly vital things, and were -answered distantly. A bell jangled, and feet went down the -corridor. Then came a stillness more distracting than sound, and -then a great gurgling and rushing and splashing of water. The -young man's eyebrows lifted. He hesitated, and dashed out of the -room. Presently came a stupendous bang to vary the noises -without, then a distant cheering. The young man re-appeared. - -"They're running the water out of the ballonette already." - -"What water?" asked Bert. - -"The water that anchored us. Artful dodge. Eh?" - -Bert tried to take it in. - -"Of course!" said the compact young man. "You don't understand." - -A gentle quivering crept upon Bert's senses. "That's the engine," -said the compact young man approvingly. "Now we shan't be long." - -Another long listening interval. - -The cabin swayed. "By Jove! we're starting already;" he cried. -"We're starting!" - -"Starting!" cried Bert, sitting up. "Where?" - -But the young man was out of the room again. There were noises -of German in the passage, and other nerve-shaking sounds. - -The swaying increased. The young man reappeared. "We're off, -right enough!" - -"I say!" said Bert, "where are we starting? I wish you'd -explain. What's this place? I don't understand." - -"What!" cried the young man, "you don't understand?" - -"No. I'm all dazed-like from that crack on the nob I got. -Where ARE we? WHERE are we starting?" - -"Don't you know where you are--what this is?" - -"Not a bit of it! What's all the swaying and the row?" - -"What a lark!" cried the young man. "I say! What a thundering -lark! Don't you know? We're off to America, and you haven't -realised. You've just caught us by a neck. You're on the -blessed old flagship with the Prince. You won't miss anything. -Whatever's on, you bet the Vaterland will be there." - -"Us!--off to America?" - -"Ra--ther!" - -"In an airship?" - -"What do YOU think?" - -"Me! going to America on an airship! After that balloon! 'Ere! -I say--I don't want to go! I want to walk about on my legs. Let -me get out! I didn't understand." - -He made a dive for the door. - -The young man arrested Bert with a gesture, took hold of a strap, -lifted up a panel in the padded wall, and a window appeared. -"Look!" he said. Side by side they looked out. - -"Gaw!" said Bert. "We're going up!" - -"We are!" said the young man, cheerfully; "fast!" - -They were rising in the air smoothly and quietly, and moving -slowly to the throb of the engine athwart the aeronautic park. -Down below it stretched, dimly geometrical in the darkness, -picked out at regular intervals by glow-worm spangles of light. -One black gap in the long line of grey, round-backed airships -marked the position from which the Vaterland had come. Beside it -a second monster now rose softly, released from its bonds and -cables into the air. Then, taking a beautifully exact distance, -a third ascended, and then a fourth. - -"Too late, Mr. Butteridge!" the young man remarked. "We're off! -I daresay it is a bit of a shock to you, but there you are! The -Prince said you'd have to come." - -"Look 'ere," said Bert. "I really am dazed. What's this thing? -Where are we going?" - -"This, Mr. Butteridge," said the young man, taking pains to be -explicit, "is an airship. It's the flagship of Prince Karl -Albert. This is the German air-fleet, and it is going over to -America, to give that spirited people 'what for.' The only thing -we were at all uneasy about was your invention. And here you -are!" - -"But!--you a German?" asked Bert. - -"Lieutenant Kurt. Luft-lieutenant Kurt, at your service." - -"But you speak English!" - -"Mother was English--went to school in England. Afterwards, -Rhodes scholar. German none the less for that. Detailed for the -present, Mr. Butteridge, to look after you. You're shaken by -your fall. It's all right, really. They're going to buy your -machine and everything. You sit down, and take it quite calmly. -You'll soon get the hang of the position." - -4 - -Bert sat down on the locker, collecting his mind, and the young -man talked to him about the airship. - -He was really a very tactful young man indeed, in a natural sort -of way. "Daresay all this is new to you," he said; "not your -sort of machine. These cabins aren't half bad." - -He got up and walked round the little apartment, showing its -points. - -"Here is the bed," he said, whipping down a couch from the wall -and throwing it back again with a click. "Here are toilet -things," and he opened a neatly arranged cupboard. "Not much -washing. No water we've got; no water at all except for -drinking. No baths or anything until we get to America and land. -Rub over with loofah. One pint of hot for shaving. That's all. -In the locker below you are rugs and blankets; you will need them -presently. They say it gets cold. I don't know. Never been up -before. Except a little work with gliders--which is mostly going -down. Three-quarters of the chaps in the fleet haven't. Here's -a folding-chair and table behind the door. Compact, eh?" - -He took the chair and balanced it on his little finger. "Pretty -light, eh? Aluminium and magnesium alloy and a vacuum inside. -All these cushions stuffed with hydrogen. Foxy! The whole -ship's like that. And not a man in the fleet, except the Prince -and one or two others, over eleven stone. Couldn't sweat the -Prince, you know. We'll go all over the thing to-morrow. I'm -frightfully keen on it." - -He beamed at Bert. "You DO look young," he remarked. "I always -thought you'd be an old man with a beard--a sort of philosopher. -I don't know why one should expect clever people always to be -old. I do." - -Bert parried that compliment a little awkwardly, and then the -lieutenant was struck with the riddle why Herr Butteridge had not -come in his own flying machine. - -"It's a long story," said Bert. "Look here!" he said abruptly, -"I wish you'd lend me a pair of slippers, or something. I'm -regular sick of these sandals. They're rotten things. I've been -trying them for a friend." - -"Right O!" - -The ex-Rhodes scholar whisked out of the room and reappeared with -a considerable choice of footwear--pumps, cloth bath-slippers, -and a purple pair adorned with golden sun-flowers. - -But these he repented of at the last moment. - -"I don't even wear them myself," he said. "Only brought 'em in -the zeal of the moment." He laughed confidentially. "Had 'em -worked for me--in Oxford. By a friend. Take 'em everywhere." - -So Bert chose the pumps. - -The lieutenant broke into a cheerful snigger. "Here we are -trying on slippers," he said, "and the world going by like a -panorama below. Rather a lark, eh? Look!" - -Bert peeped with him out of the window, looking from the bright -pettiness of the red-and-silver cabin into a dark immensity. The -land below, except for a lake, was black and featureless, and the -other airships were hidden. "See more outside," said the -lieutenant. "Let's go! There's a sort of little gallery." - -He led the way into the long passage, which was lit by one small -electric light, past some notices in German, to an open balcony -and a light ladder and gallery of metal lattice overhanging, -empty space. Bert followed his leader down to the gallery slowly -and cautiously. From it he was able to watch the wonderful -spectacle of the first air-fleet flying through the night. They -flew in a wedge-shaped formation, the Vaterland highest and -leading, the tail receding into the corners of the sky. They -flew in long, regular undulations, great dark fish-like shapes, -showing hardly any light at all, the engines making a -throb-throb-throbbing sound that was very audible out on the -gallery. They were going at a level of five or six thousand -feet, and rising steadily. Below, the country lay silent, a -clear darkness dotted and lined out with clusters of furnaces, -and the lit streets of a group of big towns. The world seemed to -lie in a bowl; the overhanging bulk of the airship above hid all -but the lowest levels of the sky. - -They watched the landscape for a space. - -"Jolly it must be to invent things," said the lieutenant -suddenly. "How did you come to think of your machine first?" - -"Worked it out," said Bert, after a pause. "Jest ground away at -it." - -"Our people are frightfully keen on you. They thought the -British had got you. Weren't the British keen?" - -"In a way," said Bert. "Still--it's a long story." - -"I think it's an immense thing--to invent. I couldn't invent a -thing to save my life." - -They both fell silent, watching the darkened world and following -their thoughts until a bugle summoned them to a belated dinner. -Bert was suddenly alarmed. "Don't you 'ave to dress and things?" -he said. "I've always been too hard at Science and things to go -into Society and all that." - -"No fear," said Kurt. "Nobody's got more than the clothes they -wear. We're travelling light. You might perhaps take your -overcoat off. They've an electric radiator each end of the -room." - -And so presently Bert found himself sitting to eat in the -presence of the "German Alexander"--that great and puissant -Prince, Prince Karl Albert, the War Lord, the hero of two -hemispheres. He was a handsome, blond man, with deep-set eyes, a -snub nose, upturned moustache, and long white hands, a -strange-looking man. He sat higher than the others, under a -black eagle with widespread wings and the German Imperial flags; -he was, as it were, enthroned, and it struck Bert greatly that as -he ate he did not look at people, but over their heads like one -who sees visions. Twenty officers of various ranks stood about -the table--and Bert. They all seemed extremely curious to see -the famous Butteridge, and their astonishment at his appearance -was ill-controlled. The Prince gave him a dignified salutation, -to which, by an inspiration, he bowed. Standing next the Prince -was a brown-faced, wrinkled man with silver spectacles and -fluffy, dingy-grey side-whiskers, who regarded Bert with a -peculiar and disconcerting attention. The company sat after -ceremonies Bert could not understand. At the other end of the -table was the bird-faced officer Bert had dispossessed, still -looking hostile and whispering about Bert to his neighbour. Two -soldiers waited. The dinner was a plain one--a soup, some fresh -mutton, and cheese--and there was very little talk. - -A curious solemnity indeed brooded over every one. Partly this -was reaction after the intense toil and restrained excitement of -starting; partly it was the overwhelming sense of strange new -experiences, of portentous adventure. The Prince was lost in -thought. He roused himself to drink to the Emperor in champagne, -and the company cried "Hoch!" like men repeating responses in -church. - -No smoking was permitted, but some of the officers went down to -the little open gallery to chew tobacco. No lights whatever were -safe amidst that bundle of inflammable things. Bert suddenly -fell yawning and shivering. He was overwhelmed by a sense of his -own insignificance amidst these great rushing monsters of the -air. He felt life was too big for him--too much for him -altogether. - -He said something to Kurt about his head, went up the steep -ladder from the swaying little gallery into the airship again, -and so, as if it were a refuge, to bed. - -5 - -Bert slept for a time, and then his sleep was broken by dreams. -Mostly he was fleeing from formless terrors down an interminable -passage in an airship--a passage paved at first with ravenous -trap-doors, and then with openwork canvas of the most careless -description. - -"Gaw!" said Bert, turning over after his seventh fall through -infinite space that night. - -He sat up in the darkness and nursed his knees. The progress of -the airship was not nearly so smooth as a balloon; he could feel -a regular swaying up, up, up and then down, down, down, and the -throbbing and tremulous quiver of the engines. - -His mind began to teem with memories--more memories and more. - -Through them, like a struggling swimmer in broken water, came the -perplexing question, what am I to do to-morrow? To-morrow, Kurt -had told him, the Prince's secretary, the Graf Von Winterfeld, -would come to him and discuss his flying-machine, and then he -would see the Prince. He would have to stick it out now that he -was Butteridge, and sell his invention. And then, if they found -him out! He had a vision of infuriated Butteridges.... Suppose -after all he owned up? Pretended it was their misunderstanding? -He began to scheme devices for selling the secret and -circumventing Butteridge. - -What should he ask for the thing? Somehow twenty thousand pounds -struck him as about the sum indicated. - -He fell into that despondency that lies in wait in the small -hours. He had got too big a job on--too big a job.... - -Memories swamped his scheming. - -"Where was I this time last night?" - -He recapitulated his evenings tediously and lengthily. Last -night he had been up above the clouds in Butteridge's balloon. -He thought of the moment when he dropped through them and saw the -cold twilight sea close below. He still remembered that -disagreeable incident with a nightmare vividness. And the night -before he and Grubb had been looking for cheap lodgings at -Littlestone in Kent. How remote that seemed now. It might be -years ago. For the first time he thought of his fellow Desert -Dervish, left with the two red-painted bicycles on Dymchurch -sands. "'E won't make much of a show of it, not without me. -Any'ow 'e did 'ave the treasury--such as it was--in his pocket!"... -The night before that was Bank Holiday night and they had sat -discussing their minstrel enterprise, drawing up a programme and -rehearsing steps. And the night before was Whit Sunday. "Lord!" -cried Bert, "what a doing that motor-bicycle give me!" He -recalled the empty flapping of the eviscerated cushion, the -feeling of impotence as the flames rose again. From among the -confused memories of that tragic flare one little figure emerged -very bright and poignantly sweet, Edna, crying back reluctantly -from the departing motor-car, "See you to-morrer, Bert?" - -Other memories of Edna clustered round that impression. They led -Bert's mind step by step to an agreeable state that found -expression in "I'll marry 'ER if she don't look out." And then -in a flash it followed in his mind that if he sold the Butteridge -secret he could! Suppose after all he did get twenty thousand -pounds; such sums have been paid! With that he could buy house -and garden, buy new clothes beyond dreaming, buy a motor, travel, -have every delight of the civilised life as he knew it, for -himself and Edna. Of course, risks were involved. "I'll 'ave -old Butteridge on my track, I expect!" - -He meditated upon that. He declined again to despondency. As -yet he was only in the beginning of the adventure. He had still -to deliver the goods and draw the cash. And before that--Just -now he was by no means on his way home. He was flying off to -America to fight there. "Not much fighting," he considered; "all -our own way." Still, if a shell did happen to hit the Vaterland -on the underside!... - -"S'pose I ought to make my will." - -He lay back for some time composing wills--chiefly in favour of -Edna. He had settled now it was to be twenty thousand pounds. -He left a number of minor legacies. The wills became more and -more meandering and extravagant.... - -He woke from the eighth repetition of his nightmare fall through -space. "This flying gets on one's nerves," he said. - -He could feel the airship diving down, down, down, then slowly -swinging to up, up, up. Throb, throb, throb, throb, quivered the -engine. - -He got up presently and wrapped himself about with Mr. -Butteridge's overcoat and all the blankets, for the air was very -keen. Then he peeped out of the window to see a grey dawn -breaking over clouds, then turned up his light and bolted his -door, sat down to the table, and produced his chest-protector. - -He smoothed the crumpled plans with his hand, and contemplated -them. Then he referred to the other drawings in the portfolio. -Twenty thousand pounds. If he worked it right! It was worth -trying, anyhow. - -Presently he opened the drawer in which Kurt had put paper and -writing-materials. - -Bert Smallways was by no means a stupid person, and up to a -certain limit he had not been badly educated. His board school -had taught him to draw up to certain limits, taught him to -calculate and understand a specification. If at that point his -country had tired of its efforts, and handed him over unfinished -to scramble for a living in an atmosphere of advertiseinents and -individual enterprise, that was really not his fault. He was as -his State had made him, and the reader must not imagine because -he was a little Cockney cad, that he was absolutely incapable of -grasping the idea of the Butteridge flying-machine. But he found -it stiff and perplexing. His motor-bicycle and Grubb's -experiments and the "mechanical drawing" he had done in standard -seven all helped him out; and, moreover, the maker of these -drawings, whoever he was, had been anxious to make his intentions -plain. Bert copied sketches, he made notes, he made a quite -tolerable and intelligent copy of the essential drawings and -sketches of the others. Then he fell into a meditation upon -them. - -At last he rose with a sigh, folded up the originals that had -formerly been in his chest-protector and put them into the -breast-pocket of his jacket, and then very carefully deposited -the copies he had made in the place of the originals. He had no -very clear plan in his mind in doing this, except that he hated -the idea of altogether parting with the secret. For a long time -he meditated profoundly--nodding. Then he turned out his light -and went to bed again and schemed himself to sleep. - -6 - -The hochgeboren Graf von Winterfeld was also a light sleeper that -night, but then he was one of these people who sleep little and -play chess problems in their heads to while away the time--and -that night he had a particularly difficult problem to solve. - -He came in upon Bert while he was still in bed in the glow of the -sunlight reflected from the North Sea below, consumng the rolls -and coffee a soldier had brought him. He had a portfolio under -his arm, and in the clear, early morning light his dingy grey -hair and heavy, silver-rimmed spectacles made him look almost -benevolent. He spoke English fluently, but with a strong German -flavour. He was particularly bad with his "b's," and his "th's" -softened towards weak "z'ds." He called Bert explosively, -"Pooterage." He began with some indistinct civilities, bowed, -took a folding-table and chair from behind the door, put the -former between himself and Bert, sat down on the latter, coughed -drily, and opened his portfolio. Then he put his elbows on the -table, pinched his lower lip with his two fore-fingers, and -regarded Bert disconcertingly with magnified eyes. "You came to -us, Herr Pooterage, against your will," he said at last. - -"'Ow d'you make that out?" asked Bert, after a pause of -astonishment. - -"I chuge by ze maps in your car. They were all English. And -your provisions. They were all picnic. Also your cords were -entangled. You haf' been tugging--but no good. You could not -manage ze balloon, and anuzzer power than yours prought you to -us. Is it not so?" - -Bert thought. - -"Also--where is ze laty?" - -"'Ere!--what lady?" - -"You started with a laty. That is evident. You shtarted for an -afternoon excursion--a picnic. A man of your temperament--he -would take a laty. She was not wiz you in your balloon when you -came down at Dornhof. No! Only her chacket! It is your affair. -Still, I am curious." - -Bert reflected. "'Ow d'you know that?" - -"I chuge by ze nature of your farious provisions. I cannot -account, Mr. Pooterage, for ze laty, what you haf done with her. -Nor can I tell why you should wear nature-sandals, nor why you -should wear such cheap plue clothes. These are outside my -instructions. Trifles, perhaps. Officially they are to be -ignored. Laties come and go--I am a man of ze worldt. I haf -known wise men wear sandals and efen practice vegetarian habits. -I haf known men--or at any rate, I haf known chemists--who did -not schmoke. You haf, no doubt, put ze laty down somewhere. -Well. Let us get to--business. A higher power"--his voice -changed its emotional quality, his magnified eyes seemed to -dilate--"has prought you and your secret straight to us. So!"-- -he bowed his head--"so pe it. It is ze Destiny of Chermany and -my Prince. I can undershtandt you always carry zat secret. You -are afraidt of roppers and spies. So it comes wiz you--to us. -Mr. Pooterage, Chermany will puy it." - -"Will she?" - -"She will," said the secretary, looking hard at Bert's abandoned -sandals in the corner of the locker. He roused himself, -consulted a paper of notes for a moment, and Bert eyed his brown -and wrinkled face with expectation and terror. "Chermany, I am -instructed to say," said the secretary, with his eyes on the -table and his notes spread out, "has always been willing to puy -your secret. We haf indeed peen eager to acquire it fery eager; -and it was only ze fear that you might be, on patriotic groundts, -acting in collusion with your Pritish War Office zat has made us -discreet in offering for your marvellous invention through -intermediaries. We haf no hesitation whatefer now, I am -instructed, in agreeing to your proposal of a hundert tousand -poundts." - -"Crikey!" said Bert, overwhelmed. - -"I peg your pardon?" - -"Jest a twinge," said Bert, raising his hand to his bandaged -head. - -"Ah! Also I am instructed to say that as for that noble, -unrightly accused laty you haf championed so brafely against -Pritish hypocrisy and coldness, all ze chivalry of Chermany is on -her site." - -"Lady?" said Bert faintly, and then recalled the great Butteridge -love story. Had the old chap also read the letters? He must -think him a scorcher if he had. "Oh! that's aw-right," he said, -"about 'er. I 'adn't any doubts about that. I--" - -He stopped. The secretary certainly had a most appalling stare. -It seemed ages before he looked down again. "Well, ze laty as -you please. She is your affair. I haf performt my instructions. -And ze title of Paron, zat also can pe done. It can all pe done, -Herr Pooterage." - -He drummed on the table for a second or so, and resumed. "I haf -to tell you, sir, zat you come to us at a crisis -in--Welt-Politik. There can be no harm now for me to put our -plans before you. Pefore you leafe this ship again they will be -manifest to all ze worldt. War is perhaps already declared. We -go--to America. Our fleet will descend out of ze air upon ze -United States--it is a country quite unprepared for war -eferywhere--eferywhere. Zey have always relied on ze Atlantic. -And their navy. We have selected a certain point--it is at -present ze secret of our commanders--which we shall seize, and -zen we shall establish a depot--a sort of inland Gibraltar. It -will be--what will it be?--an eagle's nest. Zere our airships -will gazzer and repair, and thence they will fly to and fro ofer -ze United States, terrorising cities, dominating Washington, -levying what is necessary, until ze terms we dictate are -accepted. You follow me?" - -"Go on!" said Bert. - -"We could haf done all zis wiz such Luftschiffe and -Drachenflieger as we possess, but ze accession of your machine -renders our project complete. It not only gifs us a better -Drachenflieger, but it remofes our last uneasiness as to Great -Pritain. Wizout you, sir, Great Pritain, ze land you lofed so -well and zat has requited you so ill, zat land of Pharisees and -reptiles, can do nozzing!--nozzing! You see, I am perfectly -frank wiz you. Well, I am instructed that Chermany recognises -all this. We want you to place yourself at our disposal. We -want you to become our Chief Head Flight Engineer. We want you -to manufacture, we want to equip a swarm of hornets under your -direction. We want you to direct this force. And it is at our -depot in America we want you. So we offer you simply, and -without haggling, ze full terms you demanded weeks ago--one -hundert tousand poundts in cash, a salary of three tousand -poundts a year, a pension of one tousand poundts a year, and ze -title of Paron as you desired. These are my instructions." - -He resumed his scrutiny of Bert's face. - -"That's all right, of course," said Bert, a little short of -breath, but otherwise resolute and calm; and it seemed to him -that now was the time to bring his nocturnal scheming to the -issue. - -The secretary contemplated Bert's collar with sustained -attention. Only for one moment did his gaze move to the sandals -and back. - -"Jes' lemme think a bit," said Bert, finding the stare -debilitating. "Look 'ere!" he said at last, with an air of -great explicitness, "I GOT the secret." - -"Yes." - -"But I don't want the name of Butteridge to appear--see? I been -thinking that over." - -"A little delicacy?" - -"Exactly. You buy the secret--leastways, I give it you--from -Bearer--see?" - -His voice failed him a little, and the stare continued. "I want -to do the thing Enonymously. See?" - -Still staring. Bert drifted on like a swimmer caught by a -current. "Fact is, I'm going to edop' the name of Smallways. I -don't want no title of Baron; I've altered my mind. And I want -the money quiet-like. I want the hundred thousand pounds paid -into benks--thirty thousand into the London and County Benk Branch -at Bun Hill in Kent directly I 'and over the plans; twenty -thousand into the Benk of England; 'arf the rest into a good -French bank, the other 'arf the German National Bank, see? I -want it put there, right away. I don't want it put in the name -of Butteridge. I want it put in the name of Albert Peter -Smallways; that's the name I'm going to edop'. That's condition -one." - -"Go on!" said the secretary. - -"The nex condition," said Bert, "is that you don't make any -inquiries as to title. I mean what English gentlemen do when -they sell or let you land. You don't arst 'ow I got it. See? -'Ere I am--I deliver you the goods--that's all right. Some -people 'ave the cheek to say this isn't my invention, see? It -is, you know--THAT'S all right; but I don't want that gone into. -I want a fair and square agreement saying that's all right. -See?" - -His "See?" faded into a profound silence. - -The secretary sighed at last, leant back in his chair and -produced a tooth-pick, and used it, to assist his meditation on -Bert's case. "What was that name?" he asked at last, putting -away the tooth-pick; "I must write it down." - -"Albert Peter Smallways," said Bert, in a mild tone. - -The secretary wrote it down, after a little difficulty about the -spelling because of the different names of the letters of the -alphabet in the two languages. - -"And now, Mr. Schmallvays," he said at last, leaning back and -resuming the stare, "tell me: how did you ket hold of Mister -Pooterage's balloon?" - -7 - -When at last the Graf von Winterfold left Bert Smallways, he left -him in an extremely deflated condition, with all his little story -told. - -He had, as people say, made a clean breast of it. He had been -pursued into details. He had had to explain the blue suit, the -sandals, the Desert Dervishes--everything. For a time scientific -zeal consumed the secretary, and the question of the plans -remained in suspense. He even went into speculation about the -previous occupants of the balloon. "I suppose," he said, "the -laty WAS the laty. Bot that is not our affair. - -"It is fery curious and amusing, yes: but I am afraid the Prince -may be annoyt. He acted wiz his usual decision--always he acts -wiz wonterful decision. Like Napoleon. Directly he was tolt of -your descent into the camp at Dornhof, he said, 'Pring -him!--pring him! It is my schtar!' His schtar of Destiny! You -see? He will be dthwarted. He directed you to come as Herr -Pooterage, and you haf not done so. You haf triet, of course; but -it has peen a poor try. His chugments of men are fery just and -right, and it is better for men to act up to them--gompletely. -Especially now. Particularly now." - -He resumed that attitude of his, with his underlip pinched -between his forefingers. He spoke almost confidentially. "It -will be awkward. I triet to suggest some doubt, but I was -over-ruled. The Prince does not listen. He is impatient in the -high air. Perhaps he will think his schtar has been making a -fool of him. Perhaps he will think _I_ haf been making a fool of -him." - -He wrinkled his forehead, and drew in the corners of his mouth. - -"I got the plans," said Bert. - -"Yes. There is that! Yes. But you see the Prince was -interested in Herr Pooterage because of his romantic seit. Herr -Pooterage was so much more--ah!--in the picture. I am afraid you -are not equal to controlling the flying machine department of our -aerial park as he wished you to do. He hadt promised himself -that.... - -"And der was also the prestige--the worldt prestige of Pooterage -with us.... Well, we must see what we can do." He held out his -hand. "Gif me the plans." - -A terrible chill ran through the being of Mr. Smallways. To this -day he is not clear in his mind whether he wept or no, but -certainly there was weeping in his voice. "'Ere, I say!" he -protested. "Ain't I to 'ave--nothin' for 'em?" - -The secretary regarded him with benevolent eyes. "You do not -deserve anyzing!" he said. - -"I might 'ave tore 'em up." - -"Zey are not yours!" - -"They weren't Butteridge's!" - -"No need to pay anyzing." - -Bert's being seemed to tighten towards desperate deeds. "Gaw!" -he said, clutching his coat, "AIN'T there?" - -"Pe galm," said the secretary. "Listen! You shall haf five -hundert poundts. You shall haf it on my promise. I will do that -for you, and that is all I can do. Take it from me. Gif me the -name of that bank. Write it down. So! I tell you the Prince-- -is no choke. I do not think he approffed of your appearance last -night. No! I can't answer for him. He wanted Pooterage, and -you haf spoilt it. The Prince--I do not understand quite, he is -in a strange state. It is the excitement of the starting and -this great soaring in the air. I cannot account for what he -does. But if all goes well I will see to it--you shall haf five -hundert poundts. Will that do? Then gif me the plans." - -"Old beggar!" said Bert, as the door clicked. "Gaw!--what an ole -beggar!--SHARP!" - -He sat down in the folding-chair, and whistled noiselessly for a -time. - -"Nice 'old swindle for 'im if I tore 'em up! I could 'ave." - -He rubbed the bridge of his nose thoughtfully. "I gave the whole -blessed show away. If I'd j'es' kep quiet about being -Enonymous.... Gaw!... Too soon, Bert, my boy--too soon and too -rushy. I'd like to kick my silly self. - -"I couldn't 'ave kep' it up. - -"After all, it ain't so very bad," he said. - -"After all, five 'undred pounds.... It isn't MY secret, anyhow. -It's jes' a pickup on the road. Five 'undred. - -"Wonder what the fare is from America back home?" - -8 - -And later in the day an extremely shattered and disorganised Bert -Smallways stood in the presence of the Prince Karl Albert. - -The proceedings were in German. The Prince was in his own cabin, -the end room of the airship, a charming apartment furnished in -wicker-work with a long window across its entire breadth, looking -forward. He was sitting at a folding-table of green baize, with -Von Winterfeld and two officers sitting beside him, and littered -before them was a number of American maps and Mr. Butteridge's -letters and his portfolio and a number of loose papers. Bert was -not asked to sit down, and remained standing throughout the -interview. Von Winterfeld told his story, and every now and then -the words Ballon and Pooterage struck on Bert's ears. The -Prince's face remained stern and ominous and the two officers -watched it cautiously or glanced at Bert. There was something a -little strange in their scrutiny of the Prince--a curiosity, an -apprehension. Then presently he was struck by an idea, and they -fell discussing the plans. The Prince asked Bert abruptly in -English. "Did you ever see this thing go op?" - -Bert jumped. "Saw it from Bun 'Ill, your Royal Highness." - -Von Winterfeld made some explanation. - -"How fast did it go?" - -"Couldn't say, your Royal Highness. The papers, leastways the -Daily Courier, said eighty miles an hour." - -They talked German over that for a time. - -"Couldt it standt still? Op in the air? That is what I want to -know." - -"It could 'ovver, your Royal Highness, like a wasp," said Bert. - -"Viel besser, nicht wahr?" said the Prince to Von Winterfeld, and -then went on in German for a time. - -Presently they came to an end, and the two officers looked at -Bert. One rang a bell, and the portfolio was handed to an -attendant, who took it away. - -Then they reverted to the case of Bert, and it was evident the -Prince was inclined to be hard with him. Von Winterfeld -protested. Apparently theological considerations came in, for -there were several mentions of "Gott!" Some conclusions emerged, -and it was apparent that Von Winterfeld was instructed to convey -them to Bert. - -"Mr. Schmallvays, you haf obtained a footing in this airship," he -said, "by disgraceful and systematic lying." - -"'Ardly systematic," said Bert. "I--" - -The Prince silenced him by a gesture. - -"And it is within the power of his Highness to dispose of you as -a spy." - -"'Ere!--I came to sell--" - -"Ssh!" said one of the officers. - -"However, in consideration of the happy chance that mate you the -instrument unter Gott of this Pooterage flying-machine reaching -his Highness's hand, you haf been spared. Yes,--you were the -pearer of goot tidings. You will be allowed to remain on this -ship until it is convenient to dispose of you. Do you -understandt?" - -"We will bring him," said the Prince, and added terribly with a -terrible glare, "als Ballast." - -"You are to come with us," said Winterfeld, "as pallast. Do you -understandt?" - -Bert opened his mouth to ask about the five hundred pounds, and -then a saving gleam of wisdom silenced him. He met Von -Winterfeld's eye, and it seemed to him the secretary nodded -slightly. - -"Go!" said the Prince, with a sweep of the great arm and hand -towards the door. Bert went out like a leaf before a gale. - -9 - -But in between the time when the Graf von Winterfeld had talked -to him and this alarming conference with the Prince, Bert had -explored the Vaterland from end to end. He had found it -interesting in spite of grave preoccupations. Kurt, like the -greater number of the men upon the German air-fleet, had known -hardly anything of aeronautics before his appointment to the new -flag-ship. But he was extremely keen upon this wonderful new -weapon Germany had assumed so suddenlv and dramatically. He -showed things to Bert with a boyish eagerness and appreciation. -It was as if he showed them over again to himself, like a child -showing a new toy. "Let's go all over the ship," he said with -zest. He pointed out particularly the lightness of everything, -the use of exhausted aluminium tubing, of springy cushions -inflated with compressed hydrogen; the partitions were hydrogen -bags covered with light imitation leather, the very crockery was -a light biscuit glazed in a vacuum, and weighed next to nothing. -Where strength was needed there was the new Charlottenburg alloy, -German steel as it was called, the toughest and most resistant -metal in the world. - -There was no lack of space. Space did not matter, so long as -load did not grow. The habitable part of the ship was two -hundred and fifty feet long, and the rooms in two tiers; above -these one could go up into remarkable little white-metal turrets -with big windows and airtight double doors that enabled one to -inspect the vast cavity of the gas-chambers. This inside view -impressed Bert very much. He had never realised before that an -airship was not one simple continuous gas-bag containing nothing -but gas. Now he saw far above him the backbone of the apparatus -and its big ribs, "like the neural and haemal canals," said Kurt, -who had dabbled in biology. - -"Rather!" said Bert appreciatively, though he had not the ghost -of an idea what these phrases meant. - -Little electric lights could be switched on up there if anything -went wrong in the night. There were even ladders across the -space. "But you can't go into the gas," protested Bert. -"You can't breve it." - -The lieutenant opened a cupboard door and displayed a diver's -suit, only that it was made of oiled silk, and both its -compressed-air knapsack and its helmet were of an alloy of -aluminium and some light metal. "We can go all over the inside -netting and stick up bullet holes or leaks," he explained. -"There's netting inside and out. The whole outer-case is rope -ladder, so to speak." - -Aft of the habitable part of the airship was the magazine of -explosives, coming near the middle of its length. They were all -bombs of various types mostly in glass--none of the German -airships carried any guns at all except one small pom-pom (to use -the old English nickname dating from the Boer war), which was -forward in the gallery upon the shield at the heart of the eagle. - -From the magazine amidships a covered canvas gallery with -aluminium treads on its floor and a hand-rope, ran back -underneath the gas-chamber to the engine-room at the tail; but -along this Bert did not go, and from first to last he never saw -the engines. But he went up a ladder against a gale of -ventilation--a ladder that was encased in a kind of gas-tight -fire escape--and ran right athwart the great forward air-chamber -to the little look-out gallery with a telephone, that gallery -that bore the light pom-pom of German steel and its locker of -shells. This gallery was all of aluminium magnesium alloy, the -tight front of the air-ship swelled cliff-like above and below, -and the black eagle sprawled overwhelmingly gigantic, its -extremities all hidden by the bulge of the gas-bag. And far -down, under the soaring eagles, was England, four thousand feet -below perhaps, and looking very small and defenceless indeed in -the morning sunlight. - -The realisation that there was England gave Bert sudden and -unexpected qualms of patriotic compunction. He was struck by a -quite novel idea. After all, he might have torn up those plans -and thrown them away. These people could not have done so very -much to him. And even if they did, ought not an Englishman to -die for his country? It was an idea that had hitherto been -rather smothered up by the cares of a competitive civilisation. -He became violently depressed. He ought, he perceived, to have -seen it in that light before. Why hadn't he seen it in that -light before? - -Indeed, wasn't he a sort of traitor?... He wondered how the -aerial fleet must look from down there. Tremendous, no doubt, -and dwarfing all the buildings. - -He was passing between Manchester and Liverpool, Kurt told him; a -gleaming band across the prospect was the Ship Canal, and a -weltering ditch of shipping far away ahead, the Mersey estuary. -Bert was a Southerner; he had never been north of the Midland -counties, and the multitude of factories and chimneys--the latter -for the most part obsolete and smokeless now, superseded by huge -electric generating stations that consumed their own reek--old -railway viaducts, mono-rail net-works and goods yards, and the -vast areas of dingy homes and narrow streets, spreading -aimlessly, struck him as though Camberwell and Rotherhithe had -run to seed. Here and there, as if caught in a net, were fields -and agricultural fragments. It was a sprawl of undistinguished -population. There were, no doubt, museums and town halls and -even cathedrals of a sort to mark theoretical centres of -municipal and religious organisation in this confusion; but Bert -could not see them, they did not stand out at all in that wide -disorderly vision of congested workers' houses and places to -work, and shops and meanly conceived chapels and churches. And -across this landscape of an industrial civilisation swept the -shadows of the German airships like a hurrying shoal of -fishes.... - -Kurt and he fell talking of aerial tactics, and presently went -down to the undergallery in order that Bert might see the -Drachenflieger that the airships of the right wing had picked up -overnight and were towing behind them; each airship towing three -or four. They looked, like big box-kites of an exaggerated form, -soaring at the ends of invisible cords. They had long, square -headsand flattened tails, with lateral propellers. - -"Much skill is required for those!--much skill!" - -"Rather!" - -Pause. - -"Your machine is different from that, Mr. Butteridge?" - -"Quite different," said Bert. "More like an insect, and less -like a bird. And it buzzes, and don't drive about so. What can -those things do?" - -Kurt was not very clear upon that himself, and was still -explaining when Bert was called to the conference we have -recorded with the Prince. - -And after that was over, the last traces of Butteridge fell from -Bert like a garment, and he became Smallways to all on board. -The soldiers ceased to salute him, and the officers ceased to -seem aware of his existence, except Lieutenant Kurt. He was -turned out of his nice cabin, and packed in with his belongings -to share that of Lieutenant Kurt, whose luck it was to be junior, -and the bird-headed officer, still swearing slightly, and -carrying strops and aluminium boot-trees and weightless -hair-brushes and hand-mirrors and pomade in his hands, resumed -possession. Bert was put in with Kurt because there was nowhere -else for him to lay his bandaged head in that close-packed -vessel. He was to mess, he was told, with the men. - -Kurt came and stood with his legs wide apart and surveyed, him -for a moment as he sat despondent in his new quarters. - -"What's your real name, then?" said Kurt, who was only -imperfectly informed of the new state of affairs. - -"Smallways." - -"I thought you were a bit of a fraud--even when I thought you -were Butteridge. You're jolly lucky the Prince took it calmly. -He's a pretty tidy blazer when he's roused. He wouldn't stick a -moment at pitching a chap of your sort overboard if he thought -fit. No!... They've shoved you on to me, but it's my cabin, you -know." - -"I won't forget," said Bert. - -Kurt left him, and when he came to look about him the first thing -he saw pasted on the padded wall was a reproduction, of the great -picture by Siegfried Schmalz of the War God, that terrible, -trampling figure with the viking helmet and the scarlet cloak, -wading through destruction, sword in hand, which had so strong a -resemblance to Karl Albert, the prince it was painted to please. - - - -CHAPTER V -THE BATTLE OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC - -1 - -The Prince Karl Albert had made a profound impression upon Bert. -He was quite the most terrifying person Bert had ever -encountered. He filled the Smallways soul with passionate -dread and antipathy. For a long time Bert sat alone in Kurt's -cabin, doing nothing and not venturing even to open the door lest -he should be by that much nearer that appalling presence. - -So it came about that he was probably the last person on board to -hear the news that wireless telegraphy was bringing to the -airship in throbs and fragments of a great naval battle in -progress in mid-Atlantic. - -He learnt it at last from Kurt. - -Kurt came in with a general air of ignoring Bert, but muttering -to himself in English nevertheless. "Stupendous!" Bert heard him -say. "Here!" he said, "get off this locker." And he proceeded -to rout out two books and a case of maps. He spread them on the -folding-table, and stood regarding them. For a time his Germanic -discipline struggled with his English informality and his natural -kindliness and talkativeness, and at last lost. - -"They're at it, Smallways," he said. - -"At what, sir?" said Bert, broken and respectful. - -"Fighting! The American North Atlantic squadron and pretty nearly -the whole of our fleet. Our Eiserne Kreuz has had a gruelling -and is sinking, and their Miles Standish--she's one of their -biggest--has sunk with all hands. Torpedoes, I suppose. She was -a bigger ship than the Karl der Grosse, but five or six years -older. Gods! I wish we could see it, Smallways; a square fight in -blue water, guns or nothing, and all of 'em steaming ahead!" - -He spread his maps, he had to talk, and so he delivered a lecture -on the naval situation to Bert. - -"Here it is," he said, "latitude 30 degrees 50 minutes N. -longitude 30 degrees 50 minutes W. It's a good day off us, -anyhow, and they're all going south-west by south at full pelt as -hard as they can go. We shan't see a bit of it, worse luck! Not -a sniff we shan't get!" - -2 - -The naval situation in the North Atlantic at that time was a -peculiar one. The United States was by far the stronger of the -two powers upon the sea, but the bulk of the American fleet was -still in the Pacific. It was in the direction of Asia that war -had been most feared, for the situation between Asiatic and white -had become unusually violent and dangerous, and the Japanese -government had shown itself quite unprecedentedly difficult. The -German attack therefore found half the American strength at -Manila, and what was called the Second Fleet strung out across -the Pacific in wireless contact between the Asiatic station and -San Francisco. The North Atlantic squadron was the sole American -force on her eastern shore, it was returning from a friendly -visit to France and Spain, and was pumping oil-fuel from tenders -in mid-Atlantic--for most of its ships were steamships--when the -international situation became acute. It was made up of four -battleships and five armoured cruisers ranking almost with -battleships, not one of which was of a later date than 1913. The -Americans had indeed grown so accustomed to the idea that Great -Britain could be trusted to keep the peace of the Atlantic that a -naval attack on the eastern seaboard found them unprepared even -in their imaginations. But long before the declaration of -war--indeed, on Whit Monday--the whole German fleet of eighteen -battleships, with a flotilla of fuel tenders and converted liners -containing stores to be used in support of the air-fleet, had -passed through the straits of Dover and headed boldly for New -York. Not only did these German battleships outnumber the -Americans two to one, but they were more heavily armed and more -modern in construction--seven of them having high explosive -engines built of Charlottenburg steel, and all carrying -Charlottenburg steel guns. - -The fleets came into contact on Wednesday before any actual -declaration of war. The Americans had strung out in the modern -fashion at distances of thirty miles or so, and were steaming to -keep themselves between the Germans and either the eastern states -or Panama; because, vital as it was to defend the seaboard cities -and particularly New York, it was still more vital to save the -canal from any attack that might prevent the return of the main -fleet from the Pacific. No doubt, said Kurt, this was now making -records across that ocean, "unless the Japanese have had the same -idea as the Germans." It was obviously beyond human possibility -that the American North Atlantic fleet could hope to meet and -defeat the German; but, on the other hand, with luck it might -fight a delaying action and inflict such damage as to greatly -weaken the attack upon the coast defences. Its duty, indeed, was -not victory but devotion, the severest task in the world. -Meanwhile the submarine defences of New York, Panama, and the -other more vital points could be put in some sort of order. - -This was the naval situation, and until Wednesday in Whit week it -was the only situation the American people had realised. It was -then they heard for the first time of the real scale of the -Dornhof aeronautic park and the possibility of an attack coming -upon them not only by sea, but by the air. But it is curious -that so discredited were the newspapers of that period that a -large majority of New Yorkers, for example, did not believe the -most copious and circumstantial accounts of the German air-fleet -until it was actually in sight of New York. - -Kurt's talk was half soliloquy. He stood with a map on -Mercator's projection before him, swaying to the swinging of the -ship and talking of guns and tonnage, of ships and their build -and powers and speed, of strategic points, and bases of -operation. A certain shyness that reduced him to the status of a -listener at the officers' table no longer silenced him. - -Bert stood by, saying very little, but watching Kurt's finger on -the map. "They've been saying things like this in the papers for -a long time," he remarked. "Fancy it coming real!" - -Kurt had a detailed knowledge of the Miles Standish. "She used -to be a crack ship for gunnery--held the record. I wonder if we -beat her shooting, or how? I wish I was in it. I wonder which -of our ships beat her. Maybe she got a shell in her engines. -It's a running fight! I wonder what the Barbarossa is doing," he -went on, "She's my old ship. Not a first-rater, but good stuff. -I bet she's got a shot or two home by now if old Schneider's up -to form. Just think of it! There they are whacking away at each -other, great guns going, shells exploding, magazines bursting, -ironwork flying about like straw in a gale, all we've been -dreaming of for years! I suppose we shall fly right away to New -York--just as though it wasn't anything at all. I suppose we -shall reckon we aren't wanted down there. It's no more than a -covering fight on our side. All those tenders and store-ships of -ours are going on southwest by west to New York to make a -floating depot for us. See?" He dabbed his forefinger on the -map. "Here we are. Our train of stores goes there, our -battleships elbow the Americans out of our way there." - -When Bert went down to the men's mess-room to get his evening -ration, hardly any one took notice of him except just to point -him out for an instant. Every one was talking of the battle, -suggesting, contradicting--at times, until the petty officers -hushed them, it rose to a great uproar. There was a new bulletin, -but what it said he did not gather except that it concerned the -Barbarossa. Some of the men stared at him, and he heard the name -of "Booteraidge" several times; but no one molested him, and -there was no difficulty about his soup and bread when his turn at -the end of the queue came. He had feared there might be no -ration for him, and if so he did not know what he would have -done. - -Afterwards he ventured out upon the little hanging gallery with -the solitary sentinel. The weather was still fine, but the wind -was rising and the rolling swing of the airship increasing. He -clutched the rail tightly and felt rather giddy. They were now -out of sight of land, and over blue water rising and falling in -great masses. A dingy old brigantine under the British flag rose -and plunged amid the broad blue waves--the only ship in sight. - -3 - -In the evening it began to blow and the air-ship to roll like a -porpoise as it swung through the air. Kurt said that several of -the men were sea-sick, but the motion did not inconvenience Bert, -whose luck it was to be of that mysterious gastric disposition -which constitutes a good sailor. He slept well, but in the small -hours the light awoke him, and he found Kurt staggering about in -search of something. He found it at last in the locker, and held -it in his hand unsteadily--a compass. Then he compared his map. - -"We've changed our direction," he said, "and come into the wind. -I can't make it out. We've turned away from New York to the -south. Almost as if we were going to take a hand--" - -He continued talking to himself for some time. - -Day came, wet and windy. The window was bedewed externally, and -they could see nothing through it. It was also very cold, and -Bert decided to keep rolled up in his blankets on the locker -until the bugle summoned him to his morning ration. That -consumed, he went out on the little gallery; but he could see -nothing but eddying clouds driving headlong by, and the dim -outlines of the nearer airships. Only at rare intervals could he -get a glimpse of grey sea through the pouring cloud-drift. - -Later in the morning the Vaterland changed altitude, and soared -up suddenly in a high, clear sky, going, Kurt said, to a height -of nearly thirteen thousand feet. - -Bert was in his cabin, and chanced to see the dew vanish from the -window and caught the gleam of sunlight outside. He looked out, -and saw once more that sunlit cloud floor he had seen first from -the balloon, and the ships of the German air-fleet rising one by -one from the white, as fish might rise and become visible from -deep water. He stared for a moment and then ran out to the -little gallery to see this wonder better. Below was cloudland -and storm, a great drift of tumbled weather going hard away to -the north-east, and the air about him was clear and cold and -serene save for the faintest chill breeze and a rare, drifting -snow-flake. Throb, throb, throb, throb, went the engines in the -stillness. That huge herd of airships rising one after another -had an effect of strange, portentous monsters breaking into an -altogether unfamiliar world. - -Either there was no news of the naval battle that morning, or the -Prince kept to himself whatever came until past midday. Then the -bulletins came with a rush, bulletins that made the lieutenant -wild with excitement. - -"Barbarossa disabled and sinking," he cried. "Gott im Himmel! -Der alte Barbarossa! Aber welch ein braver krieger!" - -He walked about the swinging cabin, and for a time he was wholly -German. - -Then he became English again. "Think of it, Smallways! The old -ship we kept so clean and tidy! All smashed about, and the iron -flying about in fragments, and the chaps one knew--Gott!--flying -about too! Scalding water squirting, fire, and the smash, smash -of the guns! They smash when you're near! Like everything -bursting to pieces! Wool won't stop it--nothing! And me up -here--so near and so far! Der alte Barbarossa!" - -"Any other ships?" asked Smallways, presently. - -"Gott! Yes! We've lost the Karl der Grosse, our best and -biggest. Run down in the night by a British liner that blundered -into the fighting in trying to blunder out. They're fighting in -a gale. The liner's afloat with her nose broken, sagging about! -There never was such a battle!--never before! Good ships and -good men on both sides,--and a storm and the night and the dawn -and all in the open ocean full steam ahead! No stabbing! No -submarines! Guns and shooting! Half our ships we don't hear of -any more, because their masts are shot away. Latitude, 30 degrees -40 minutes N.--longitude, 40 degrees 30 minutes W.--where's that?" - -He routed out his map again, and stared at it with eyes that did -not see. - -"Der alte Barbarossa! I can't get it out of my head--with shells -in her engine-room, and the fires flying out of her furnaces, and -the stokers and engineers scalded and dead. Men I've messed -with, Smallways--men I've talked to close! And they've had their -day at last! And it wasn't all luck for them! - -"Disabled and sinking! I suppose everybody can't have all the -luck in a battle. Poor old Schneider! I bet he gave 'em -something back!" - -So it was the news of the battle came filtering through to them -all that morning. The Americans had lost a second ship, name -unknown; the Hermann had been damaged in covering the -Barbarossa.... Kurt fretted like an imprisoned animal about the -airship, now going up to the forward gallery under the eagle, now -down into the swinging gallery, now poring over his maps. He -infected Smallways with a sense of the immediacy of this battle -that was going on just over the curve of the earth. But when -Bert went down to the gallery the world was empty and still, a -clear inky-blue sky above and a rippled veil of still, thin -sunlit cirrus below, through which one saw a racing drift of -rain-cloud, and never a glimpse of sea. Throb, throb, throb, -throb, went the engines, and the long, undulating wedge of -airships hurried after the flagship like a flight of swans after -their leader. Save for the quiver of the engines it was as -noiseless as a dream. And down there, somewhere in the wind and -rain, guns roared, shells crashed home, and, after the old manner -of warfare, men toiled and died. - -4 - -As the afternoon wore on the lower weather abated, and the sea -became intermittently visible again. The air-fleet dropped -slowly to the middle air, and towards sunset they had a glimpse -of the disabled Barbarossa far away to the east. Smallways heard -men hurrying along the passage, and was drawn out to the gallery, -where he found nearly a dozen officers collected and scrutinising -the helpless ruins of the battleship through field-glasses. Two -other vessels stood by her, one an exhausted petrol tank, very -high out of the water, and the other a converted liner. Kurt was -at the end of the gallery, a little apart from the others. - -"Gott!" he said at last, lowering his binocular, "it is like -seeing an old friend with his nose cut off--waiting to be -finished. Der Barbarossa!" - -With a sudden impulse he handed his glass to Bert, who had peered -beneath his hands, ignored by every one, seeing the three ships -merely as three brown-black lines upon the sea. - -Never had Bert seen the like of that magnified slightly hazy -image before. It was not simply a battered ironclad that -wallowed helpless, it was a mangled ironclad. It seemed -wonderful she still floated. Her powerful engines had been her -ruin. In the long chase of the night she had got out of line -with her consorts, and nipped in between the Susquehanna and the -Kansas City. They discovered her proximity, dropped back until -she was nearly broadside on to the former battleship, and -signalled up the Theodore Roosevelt and the little Monitor. As -dawn broke she had found herself hostess of a circle. The fight -had not lasted five minutes before the appearance of the Hermann -to the east, and immediately after of the Furst Bismarck in the -west, forced the Americans to leave her, but in that time they -had smashed her iron to rags. They had vented the accumulated -tensions of their hard day's retreat upon her. As Bert saw her, -she seemed a mere metal-worker's fantasy of frozen metal -writhings. He could not tell part from part of her, except by -its position. - -"Gott!" murmured Kurt, taking the glasses Bert restored to him-- -"Gott! Da waren Albrecht--der gute Albrecht und der alte -Zimmermann--und von Rosen!" - -Long after the Barbarosa had been swallowed up in the twilight -and distance he remained on the gallery peering through his -glasses, and when he came back to his cabin he was unusually -silent and thoughtful. - -"This is a rough game, Smallways," he said at last--"this war is -a rough game. Somehow one sees it different after a thing like -that. Many men there were worked to make that Barbarossa, and -there were men in it--one does not meet the like of them every -day. Albrecht--there was a man named Albrecht--played the zither -and improvised; I keep on wondering what has happened to him. He -and I--we were very close friends, after the German fashion." - -Smallways woke--the next night to discover the cabin in darkness, -a draught blowing through it, and Kurt talking to himself in -German. He could see him dimly by the window, which he had -unscrewed and opened, peering down. That cold, clear, attenuated -light which is not so much light as a going of darkness, which -casts inky shadows and so often heralds the dawn in the high air, -was on his face. - -"What's the row?" said Bert. - -"Shut up!" said the lieutenant. "Can't you hear?" - -Into the stillness came the repeated heavy thud of guns, one, -two, a pause, then three in quick succession. - -"Gaw!" said Bert--"guns!" and was instantly at the lieutenant's -side. The airship was still very high and the sea below was -masked by a thin veil of clouds. The wind had fallen, and Bert, -following Kurt's pointing finger, saw dimly through the -colourless veil first a red glow, then a quick red flash, and -then at a little distance from it another. They were, it seemed -for a while, silent flashes, and seconds after, when one had -ceased to expect them, came the belated thuds--thud, thud. Kurt -spoke in German, very quickly. - -A bugle call rang through the airship. - -Kurt sprang to his feet, saying something in an excited tone, -still using German, and went to the door. - -"I say! What's up?" cried Bert. "What's that?" - -The lieutenant stopped for an instant in the doorway, dark -against the light passage. "You stay where you are, Smallways. -You keep there and do nothing. We're going into action," he -explained, and vanished. - -Bert's heart began to beat rapidly. He felt himself poised over -the fighting vessels far below. In a moment, were they to drop -like a hawk striking a bird? "Gaw!" he whispered at last, in -awestricken tones. - -Thud! . . . thud! He discovered far away a second ruddy flare -flashing guns back at the first. He perceived some difference on -the Vaterland for which he could not account, and then he -realised that the engines had slowed to an almost inaudible beat. -He stuck his head out of the window--it was a tight fit--and saw -in the bleak air the other airships slowed down to a scarcely -perceptible motion. - -A second bugle sounded, was taken up faintly from ship to ship. -Out went the lights; the fleet became dim, dark bulks against an -intense blue sky that still retained an occasional star. For a -long time they hung, for an interminable time it seemed to him, -and then began the sound of air being pumped into the -balloonette, and slowly, slowly the Vaterland sank down towards -the clouds. - -He craned his neck, but he could not see if the rest of the fleet -was following them; the overhang of the gas-chambers intervened. -There was something that stirred his imagination deeply in that -stealthy, noiseless descent. The obscurity deepened for a time, -the last fading star on the horizon vanished, and he felt the -cold presence of cloud. Then suddenly the glow beneath assumed -distinct outlines, became flames, and the Vaterland ceased to -descend and hung observant, and it would seem unobserved, just -beneath a drifting stratum of cloud, a thousand feet, perhaps, -over the battle below. - -In the night the struggling naval battle and retreat had entered -upon a new phase. The Americans had drawn together the ends of -the flying line skilfully and dexterously, until at last it was a -column and well to the south of the lax sweeping pursuit of the -Germans. Then in the darkness before the dawn they had come -about and steamed northward in close order with the idea of -passing through the German battle-line and falling upon the -flotilla that was making for New York in support of the German -air-fleet. Much had altered since the first contact of the -fleets. By this time the American admiral, O'Connor, was fully -informed of the existence of the airships, and he was no longer -vitally concerned for Panama, since the submarine flotilla was -reported arrived there from Key West, and the Delaware and -Abraham Lincoln, two powerful and entirely modern ships, were -already at Rio Grande, on the Pacific side of the canal. His -manoeuvre was, however, delayed by a boiler explosion on board -the Susquehanna, and dawn found this ship in sight of and indeed -so close to the Bremen and Weimar that they instantly engaged. -There was no alternative to her abandonment but a fleet -engagement. O'Connor chose the latter course. It was by no -means a hopeless fight. The Germans, though much more numerous -and powerful than the Americans, were in a dispersed line -measuring nearly forty-five miles from end to end, and there were -many chances that before they could gather in for the fight the -column of seven Americans would have ripped them from end to end. - -The day broke dim and overcast, and neither the Bremen nor the -Weimar realised they had to deal with more than the Susquehanna -until the whole column drew out from behind her at a distance of -a mile or less and bore down on them. This was the position of -affairs when the Vaterland appeared in the sky. The red glow -Bert had seen through the column of clouds came from the luckless -Susquehanna; she lay almost immediately below, burning fore and -aft, but still fighting two of her guns and steaming slowly -southward. The Bremen and the Weimar, both hit in several -places, were going west by south and away from her. The American -fleet, headed by the Theodore Roosevelt, was crossing behind -them, pounding them in succession, steaming in between them and -the big modern Furst Bismarck, which was coming up from the west. -To Bert, however, the names of all these ships were unknown, and -for a considerable time indeed, misled by the direction in which -the combatants were moving, he imagined the Germans to be -Americans and the Americans Germans. He saw what appeared to him -to be a column of six battleships pursuing three others who were -supported by a newcomer, until the fact that the Bremen and -Weimar were firing into the Susquehanna upset his calculations. -Then for a time he was hopelessly at a loss. The noise of the -guns, too, confused him, they no longer seemed to boom; they went -whack, whack, whack, whack, and each faint flash made his heart -jump in anticipation of the instant impact. He saw these -ironclads, too, not in profile, as he was accustomed to see -ironclads in pictures, but in plan and curiously foreshortened. -For the most part they presented empty decks, but here and there -little knots of men sheltered behind steel bulwarks. The long, -agitated noses of their big guns, jetting thin transparent -flashes and the broadside activity of the quick-firers, were the -chief facts in this bird's-eye view. The Americans being -steam-turbine ships, had from two to four blast funnels each; the -Germans lay lower in the water, having explosive engines, which -now for some reason made an unwonted muttering roar. Because of -their steam propulsion, the American ships were larger and with a -more graceful outline. He saw all these foreshortened ships -rolling considerably and fighting their guns over a sea of huge -low waves and under the cold, explicit light of dawn. The whole -spectacle waved slowly with the long rhythmic rising and beat of -the airship. - -At first only the Vaterland of all the flying fleet appeared upon -the scene below. She hovered high, over the Theodore Roosevelt, -keeping pace with the full speed of that ship. From that ship -she must have been intermittently visible through the drifting -clouds. The rest of the German fleet remained above the cloud -canopy at a height of six or seven thousand feet, communicating -with the flagship by wireless telegraphy, but risking no exposure -to the artillery below. - -It is doubtful at what particular time the unlucky Americans -realised the presence of this new factor in the fight. No -account now survives of their experience. We have to imagine as -well as we can what it must have been to a battled-strained -sailor suddenly glancing upward to discover that huge long silent -shape overhead, vaster than any battleship, and trailing now from -its hinder quarter a big German flag. Presently, as the sky -cleared, more of such ships appeared in the blue through the -dissolving clouds, and more, all disdainfully free of guns or -armour, all flying fast to keep pace with the running fight -below. - -From first to last no gun whatever was fired at the Vaterland, -and only a few rifle shots. It was a mere adverse stroke of -chance that she had a man killed aboard her. Nor did she take -any direct share in the fight until the end. She flew above the -doomed American fleet while the Prince by wireless telegraphy -directed the movements of her consorts. Meanwhile the -Vogel-stern and Preussen, each with half a dozen drachenflieger -in tow, went full speed ahead and then dropped through the -clouds, perhaps five miles ahead of the Americans. The Theodore -Roosevelt let fly at once with the big guns in her forward -barbette, but the shells burst far below the Vogel-stern, and -forthwith a dozen single-man drachenflieger were swooping down to -make their attack. - -Bert, craning his neck through the cabin port-hole, saw the whole -of that incident, that first encounter of aeroplane and ironclad. -He saw the queer German drachenflieger, with their wide flat -wings and square box-shaped heads, their wheeled bodies, and -their single-man riders, soar down the air like a flight of -birds. "Gaw!" he said. One to the right pitched extravagantly, -shot steeply up into the air, burst with a loud report, and -flamed down into the sea; another plunged nose forward into the -water and seemed to fly to pieces as it hit the waves. He saw -little men on the deck of the Theodore Roosevelt below, men -foreshortened in plan into mere heads and feet, running out -preparing to shoot at the others. Then the foremost -flying-machine was rushing between Bert and the American's deck, -and then bang! came the thunder of its bomb flung neatly at the -forward barbette, and a thin little crackling of rifle shots in -reply. Whack, whack, whack, went the quick-firing guns of the -Americans' battery, and smash came an answering shell from the -Furst Bismarck. Then a second and third flying-machine passed -between Bert and the American ironclad, dropping bombs also, and -a fourth, its rider hit by a bullet, reeled down and dashed -itself to pieces and exploded between the shot-torn funnels, -blowing them apart. Bert had a momentary glimpse of a little -black creature jumping from the crumpling frame of the flying- -machine, hitting the funnel, and falling limply, to be instantly -caught and driven to nothingness by the blaze and rush of the -explosion. - -Smash! came a vast explosion in the forward part of the flagship, -and a huge piece of metalwork seemed to lift out of her and dump -itself into the sea, dropping men and leaving a gap into which a -prompt drachenflieger planted a flaring bomb. And then for an -instant Bert perceived only too clearly in the growing, pitiless -light a number of minute, convulsively active animalcula scorched -and struggling in the Theodore Roosevelt's foaming wake. What -were they? Not men--surely not men? Those drowning, mangled -little creatures tore with their clutching fingers at Bert's -soul. "Oh, Gord!" he cried, "Oh, Gord!" almost whimpering. He -looked again and they had gone, and the black stem of the Andrew -Jackson, a little disfigured by the sinking Bremen's last shot, -was parting the water that had swallowed them into two neatly -symmetrical waves. For some moments sheer blank horror blinded -Bert to the destruction below. - -Then, with an immense rushing sound, bearing as it were a -straggling volley of crashing minor explosions on its back, the -Susquehanna, three miles and more now to the east, blew up and -vanished abruptly in a boiling, steaming welter. For a moment -nothing was to be seen but tumbled water, and--then there came -belching up from below, with immense gulping noises, eructations -of steam and air and petrol and fragments of canvas and woodwork -and men. - -That made a distinct pause in the fight. It seemed a long pause -to Bert. He found himself looking for the drachenflieger. The -flattened ruin of one was floating abeam of the Monitor, the rest -had passed, dropping bombs down the American column; several were -in the water and apparently uninjured, and three or four were -still in the air and coming round now in a wide circle to return -to their mother airships. The American ironclads were no longer -in column formation; the Theodore Roosevelt, badly damaged, had -turned to the southeast, and the Andrew Jackson, greatly battered -but uninjured in any fighting part was passing between her and -the still fresh and vigorous Furst Bismarck to intercept and meet -the latter's fire. Away to the west the Hermann and the -Germanicus had appeared and were coming into action. - -In the pause, after the Susquehanna's disaster Bert became aware -of a trivial sound like the noise of an ill-greased, ill-hung -door that falls ajar--the sound of the men in the Furst Bismarck -cheering. - -And in that pause in the uproar too, the sun rose, the dark -waters became luminously blue, and a torrent of golden light -irradiated the world. It came like a sudden smile in a scene of -hate and terror. The cloud veil had vanished as if by magic, and -the whole immensity of the German air-fleet was revealed in the -sky; the air-fleet stooping now upon its prey. - -"Whack-bang, whack-bang," the guns resumed, but ironclads were -not built to fight the zenith, and the only hits the Americans -scored were a few lucky chances in a generally ineffectual rifle -fire. Their column was now badly broken, the Susquehanna had -gone, the Theodore Roosevelt had fallen astern out of the line, -with her forward guns disabled, in a heap of wreckage, and the -Monitor was in some grave trouble. These two had ceased fire -altogether, and so had the Bremen and Weimar, all four ships -lying within shot of each other in an involuntary truce and with -their respective flags still displayed. Only four American ships -now, with the Andrew Jackson readings kept to the south-easterly -course. And the Furst Bismarck, the Hermann, and the Germanicus -steamed parallel to them and drew ahead of them, fighting -heavily. The Vaterland rose slowly in the air in preparation for -the concluding act of the drama. - -Then, falling into place one behind the other, a string of a -dozen airships dropped with unhurrying swiftness down the air in -pursuit of the American fleet. They kept at a height of two -thousand feet or more until they were over and a little in -advance of the rearmost ironclad, and then stooped swiftly down -into a fountain of bullets, and going just a little faster than -the ship below, pelted her thinly protected decks with bombs -until they became sheets of detonating flame. So the airships -passed one after the other along the American column as it sought -to keep up its fight with the Furst Bismarck, the Hermann, and -the Germanicus, and each airship added to the destruction and -confusion its predecessor had made. The American gunfire ceased, -except for a few heroic shots, but they still steamed on, -obstinately unsubdued, bloody, battered, and wrathfully -resistant, spitting bullets at the airships and unmercifully -pounded by the German ironclads. But now Bert had but -intermittent glimpses of them between the nearer bulks of the -airships that assailed them.... - -It struck Bert suddenly that the whole battle was receding and -growing small and less thunderously noisy. The Vaterland was -rising in the air, steadily and silently, until the impact of the -guns no longer smote upon the heart but came to the ear dulled by -distance, until the four silenced ships to the eastward were -little distant things: but were there four? Bert now could see -only three of those floating, blackened, and smoking rafts of -ruin against the sun. But the Bremen had two boats out; the -Theodore Roosevelt was also dropping boats to where the drift of -minute objects struggled, rising and falling on the big, broad -Atlantic waves.... The Vaterland was no longer following the -fight. The whole of that hurrying tumult drove away to the -south-eastward, growing smaller and less audible as it passed. -One of the airships lay on the water burning, a remote monstrous -fount of flames, and far in the south-west appeared first one and -then three other German ironclads hurrying in support of their -consorts.... - -5 - -Steadily the Vaterland soared, and the air-fleet soared with her -and came round to head for New York, and the battle became a -little thing far away, an incident before the breakfast. It -dwindled to a string of dark shapes and one smoking yellow flare -that presently became a mere indistinct smear upon the vast -horizon and the bright new day, that was at last altogether lost -to sight... - -So it was that Bert Smallways saw the first fight of the airship -and the last fight of those strangest things in the whole history -of war: the ironclad battleships, which began their career with -the floating batteries of the Emperor Napoleon III in the Crimean -war and lasted, with an enormous expenditure of human energy and -resources, for seventy years. In that space of time the world -produced over twelve thousand five hundred of these strange -monsters, in schools, in types, in series, each larger and -heavier and more deadly than its predecessors. Each in its turn -was hailed as the last birth of time, most in their turn were -sold for old iron. Only about five per cent of them ever fought -in a battle. Some foundered, some went ashore, and broke up, -several rammed one another by accident and sank. The lives of -countless men were spent in their service, the splendid genius, -and patience of thousands of engineers and inventors, wealth and -material beyond estimating; to their account we must put, stunted -and starved lives on land, millions of children sent to toil -unduly, innumerable opportunities of fine living undeveloped and -lost. Money had to be found for them at any cost--that was the -law of a nation's existence during that strange time. Surely -they were the weirdest, most destructive and wasteful megatheria -in the whole history of mechanical invention. - -And then cheap things of gas and basket-work made an end of them -altogether, smiting out of the sky!... - -Never before had Bert Smallways seen pure destruction, never had -he realised the mischief and waste of war. His startled mind -rose to the conception; this also is in life. Out of all this -fierce torrent of sensation one impression rose and became -cardinal--the impression of the men of the Theodore Roosevelt who -had struggled in the water after the explosion of the first bomb. -"Gaw!" he said at the memory; "it might 'ave been me and Grubb!... -I suppose you kick about and get the water in your mouf. I -don't suppose it lasts long." - -He became anxious to see how Kurt was affected by these things. -Also he perceived he was hungry. He hesitated towards the door -of the cabin and peeped out into the passage. Down forward, near -the gangway to the men's mess, stood a little group of air -sailors looking at something that was hidden from him in a -recess. One of them was in the light diver's costume Bert had -already seen in the gas chamber turret, and he was moved to walk -along and look at this person more closely and examine the helmet -he carried under his arm. But he forgot about the helmet when he -got to the recess, because there he found lying on the floor the -dead body of the boy who had been killed by a bullet from the -Theodore Roosevelt. - -Bert had not observed that any bullets at all had reached the -Vaterland or, indeed, imagined himself under fire. He could not -understand for a time what had killed the lad, and no one -explained to him. - -The boy lay just as he had fallen and died, with his jacket torn -and scorched, his shoulder-blade smashed and burst away from his -body and all the left side of his body ripped and rent. There -was much blood. The sailors stood listening to the man with the -helmet, who made explanations and pointed to the round bullet -hole in the floor and the smash in the panel of the passage upon -which the still vicious missile had spent the residue of its -energy. All the faces were grave and earnest: they were the -faces of sober, blond, blue-eyed men accustomed to obedience and -an orderly life, to whom this waste, wet, painful thing that had -been a comrade came almost as strangely as it did to Bert. - -A peal of wild laughter sounded down the passage in the direction -of the little gallery and something spoke--almost shouted--in -German, in tones of exultation. - -Other voices at a lower, more respectful pitch replied. - -"Der Prinz," said a voice, and all the men became stiffer and -less natural. Down the passage appeared a group of figures, -Lieutenant Kurt walking in front carrying a packet of papers. - -He stopped point blank when he saw the thing in the recess, and -his ruddy face went white. - -"So!" said he in surprise. - -The Prince was following him, talking over his shoulder to Von -Winterfeld and the Kapitan. - -"Eh?" he said to Kurt, stopping in mid-sentence, and followed the -gesture of Kurt's hand. He glared at the crumpled object in the -recess and seemed to think for a moment. - -He made a slight, careless gesture towards the boy's body and -turned to the Kapitan. - -"Dispose of that," he said in German, and passed on, finishing -his sentence to Von Winterfeld in the same cheerful tone in which -it had begun. - -6 - -The deep impression of helplessly drowning men that Bert had -brought from the actual fight in the Atlantic mixed itself up -inextricably with that of the lordly figure of Prince Karl Albert -gesturing aside the dead body of the Vaterland sailor. Hitherto -he had rather liked the idea of war as being a jolly, smashing, -exciting affair, something like a Bank Holiday rag on a large -scale, and on the whole agreeable and exhilarating. Now he knew -it a little better. - -The next day there was added to his growing disillusionment a -third ugly impression, trivial indeed to describe, a mere -necessary everyday incident of a state of war, but very -distressing to his urbanised imagination. One writes "urbanised" -to express the distinctive gentleness of the period. It was -quite peculiar to the crowded townsmen of that time, and -different altogether from the normal experience of any preceding -age, that they never saw anything killed, never encountered, save -through the mitigating media of book or picture, the fact of -lethal violence that underlies all life. Three times in his -existence, and three times only, had Bert seen a dead human -being, and he had never assisted at the killing of anything -bigger than a new-born kitten. - -The incident that gave him his third shock was the execution of -one of the men on the Adler for carrying a box of matches. The -case was a flagrant one. The man had forgotten he had it upon -him when coming aboard. Ample notice had been given to every one -of the gravity of this offence, and notices appeared at numerous -points all over the airships. The man's defence was that he had -grown so used to the notices and had been so preoccupied with his -work that he hadn't applied them to himself; he pleaded, in his -defence, what is indeed in military affairs another serious -crime, inadvertency. He was tried by his captain, and the -sentence confirmed by wireless telegraphy by the Prince, and it -was decided to make his death an example to the whole fleet. -"The Germans," the Prince declared, "hadn't crossed the Atlantic -to go wool gathering." And in order that this lesson in -discipline and obedience might be visible to every one, it was -determined not to electrocute or drown but hang the offender. - -Accordingly the air-fleet came clustering round the flagship like -carp in a pond at feeding time. The Adler hung at the zenith -immediately alongside the flagship. The whole crew of the -Vaterland assembled upon the hanging gallery; the crews of the -other airships manned the air-chambers, that is to say, clambered -up the outer netting to the upper sides. The officers appeared -upon the machine-gun platforms. Bert thought it an altogether -stupendous sight, looking down, as he was, upon the entire fleet. -Far off below two steamers on the rippled blue water, one British -and the other flying the American flag, seemed the minutest -objects, and marked the scale. They were immensely distant. -Bert stood on the gallery, curious to see the execution, but -uncomfortable, because that terrible blond Prince was within a -dozen feet of him, glaring terribly, with his arms folded, and -his heels together in military fashion. - -They hung the man from the Adler. They gave him sixty feet of -rope, so, that he should hang and dangle in the sight of all -evil-doers who might be hiding matches or contemplating any -kindred disobedience. Bert saw the man standing, a living, -reluctant man, no doubt scared and rebellious enough in his -heart, but outwardly erect and obedient, on the lower gallery of -the Adler about a hundred yards away. Then they had thrust him -overboard. - -Down he fell, hands and feet extending, until with a jerk he was -at the end of the rope. Then he ought to have died and swung -edifyingly, but instead a more terrible thing happened; his head -came right off, and down the body went spinning to the sea, -feeble, grotesque, fantastic, with the head racing it in its -fall. - -"Ugh!" said Bert, clutching the rail before him, and a -sympathetic grunt came from several of the men beside him. - -"So!" said the Prince, stiffer and sterner, glared for some -seconds, then turned to the gang way up into the airship. - -For a long time Bert remained clinging to the railing of the -gallery. He was almost physically sick with the horror of this -trifling incident. He found it far more dreadful than the -battle. He was indeed a very degenerate, latter-day, civilised -person. - -Late that afternoon Kurt came into the cabin and found him curled -up on his locker, and looking very white and miserable. Kurt had -also lost something of his pristine freshness. - -"Sea-sick?" he asked. - -"No!" - -"We ought to reach New York this evening. There's a good breeze -coming up under our tails. Then we shall see things." - -Bert did not answer. - -Kurt opened out folding chair and table, and rustled for a time -with his maps. Then he fell thinking darkly. He roused himself -presently, and looked at his companion. "What's the matter?" he -said. - -"Nothing!" - -Kurt stared threateningly. "What's the matter?" - -"I saw them kill that chap. I saw that flying-machine man hit -the funnels of the big ironclad. I saw that dead chap in the -passage. I seen too much smashing and killing lately. That's -the matter. I don't like it. I didn't know war was this sort of -thing. I'm a civilian. I don't like it." - -"_I_ don't like it," said Kurt. "By Jove, no!" - -"I've read about war, and all that, but when you see it it's -different. And I'm gettin' giddy. I'm gettin' giddy. I didn't -mind a bit being up in that balloon at first, but all this -looking down and floating over things and smashing up people, -it's getting on my nerves. See?" - -"It'll have to get off again...." - -Kurt thought. "You're not the only one. The men are all getting -strung up. The flying--that's just flying. Naturally it makes one -a little swimmy in the head at first. As for the killing, we've -got to be blooded; that's all. We're tame, civilised men. And -we've got to get blooded. I suppose there's not a dozen men on -the ship who've really seen bloodshed. Nice, quiet, law-abiding -Germans they've been so far.... Here they are--in for it. -They're a bit squeamy now, but you wait till they've got their -hands in." - -He reflected. "Everybody's getting a bit strung up," he said. - -He turned again to his maps. Bert sat crumpled up in the corner, -apparently heedless of him. For some time both kept silence. - -"What did the Prince want to go and 'ang that chap for?" asked -Bert, suddenly. - -"That was all right," said Kurt, "that was all right. QUITE -right. Here were the orders, plain as the nose on your face, and -here was that fool going about with matches--" - -"Gaw! I shan't forget that bit in a 'urry," said Bert -irrelevantly. - -Kurt did not answer him. He was measuring their distance from -New York and speculating. "Wonder what the American aeroplanes -are like?" he said. "Something like our drachenflieger.... We -shall know by this time to-morrow.... I wonder what we shall -know? I wonder. Suppose, after all, they put up a fight.... -Rum sort of fight!" - -He whistled softly and mused. Presently he fretted out of the -cabin, and later Bert found him in the twilight upon the swinging -platform, staring ahead, and speculating about the things that -might happen on the morrow. Clouds veiled the sea again, and the -long straggling wedge of air-ships rising and falling as they -flew seemed like a flock of strange new births in a Chaos that -had neither earth nor water but only mist and sky. - - - -CHAPTER VI -HOW WAR CAME TO NEW YORK - -1 - -The City of New York was in the year of the German attack the -largest, richest, in many respects the most splendid, and in -some, the wickedest city the world had ever seen. She was the -supreme type of the City of the Scientific Commercial Age; she -displayed its greatness, its power, its ruthless anarchic -enterprise, and its social disorganisation most strikingly and -completely. She had long ousted London from her pride of place -as the modern Babylon, she was the centre of the world's finance, -the world's trade, and the world's pleasure; and men likened her -to the apocalyptic cities of the ancient prophets. She sat -drinking up the wealth of a continent as Rome once drank the -wealth of the Mediterranean and Babylon the wealth of the east. -In her streets one found the extremes of magnificence and misery, -of civilisation and disorder. In one quarter, palaces of marble, -laced and, crowned with light and flame and flowers, towered up -into her marvellous twilights beautiful, beyond description; in -another, a black and sinister polyglot population sweltered in -indescribable congestion in warrens, and excavations beyond the -power and knowledge of government. Her vice, her crime, her law -alike were inspired by a fierce and terrible energy, and like the -great cities of mediaeval Italy, her ways were dark and -adventurous with private war. - -It was the peculiar shape of Manhattan Island, pressed in by arms -of the sea on either side, and incapable of comfortable -expansion, except along a narrow northward belt, that first gave -the New York architects their bias for extreme vertical -dimensions. Every need was lavishly supplied them--money, -material, labour; only space was restricted. To begin, -therefore, they built high perforce. But to do so was to -discover a whole new world of architectural beauty, of exquisite -ascendant lines, and long after the central congestion had been -relieved by tunnels under the sea, four colossal bridges over the -east river, and a dozen mono-rail cables east and west, the -upward growth went on. In many ways New York and her gorgeous -plutocracy repeated Venice in the magnificence of her -architecture, painting, metal-work and sculpture, for example, in -the grim intensity of her political method, in her maritime and -commercial ascendancy. But she repeated no previous state at all -in the lax disorder of her internal administration, a laxity that -made vast sections of her area lawless beyond precedent, so that -it was possible for whole districts to be impassable, while civil -war raged between street and street, and for Alsatias to exist in -her midst in which the official police never set foot. She was -an ethnic whirlpool. The flags of all nations flew in her -harbour, and at the climax, the yearly coming and going overseas -numbered together upwards of two million human beings. To Europe -she was America, to America she was the gateway of the world. -But to tell the story of New York would be to write a social -history of the world; saints and martyrs, dreamers and -scoundrels, the traditions of a thousand races and a thousand -religions, went to her making and throbbed and jostled in her -streets. And over all that torrential confusion of men and -purposes fluttered that strange flag, the stars and stripes, that -meant at once the noblest thing in life, and the least noble, -that is to say, Liberty on the one hand, and on the other the -base jealousy the individual self-seeker feels towards the common -purpose of the State. - -For many generations New York had taken no heed of war, save as a -thing that happened far away, that affected prices and supplied -the newspapers with exciting headlines and pictures. The New -Yorkers felt perhaps even more certainly than the English had -done that war in their own land was an impossible thing. In that -they shared the delusion of all North America. They felt as -secure as spectators at a bullfight; they risked their money -perhaps on the result, but that was all. And such ideas of war -as the common Americans possessed were derived from the limited, -picturesque, adventurous war of the past. They saw war as they -saw history, through an iridescent mist, deodorised, scented -indeed, with all its essential cruelties tactfully hidden away. -They were inclined to regret it as something ennobling, to sigh -that it could no longer come into their own private experience. -They read with interest, if not with avidity, of their new guns, -of their immense and still more immense ironclads, of their -incredible and still more incredible explosives, but just what -these tremendous engines of destruction might mean for their -personal lives never entered their heads. They did not, so far -as one can judge from their contemporary literature, think that -they meant anything to their personal lives at all. They thought -America was safe amidst all this piling up of explosives. They -cheered the flag by habit and tradition, they despised other -nations, and whenever there was an international difficulty they -were intensely patriotic, that is to say, they were ardently -against any native politician who did not say, threaten, and do -harsh and uncompromising things to the antagonist people. They -were spirited to Asia, spirited to Germany, so spirited to Great -Britain that the international attitude of the mother country to -her great daughter was constantly compared in contemporary -caricature to that between a hen-pecked husband and a vicious -young wife. And for the rest, they all went about their business -and pleasure as if war had died out with the megatherium.... - -And then suddenly, into a world peacefully busied for the most -part upon armaments and the perfection of explosives, war came; -came the shock of realising that the guns were going off, that -the masses of inflammable material all over the world were at -last ablaze. - -2 - -The immediate effect upon New York of the sudden onset of war was -merely to intensify her normal vehemence. - -The newspapers and magazines that fed the American mind--for -books upon this impatient continent had become simply material -for the energy of collectors--were instantly a coruscation of war -pictures and of headlines that rose like rockets and burst like -shells. To the normal high-strung energy of New York streets was -added a touch of war-fever. Great crowds assembled, more -especially in the dinner hour, in Madison Square about the -Farragut monument, to listen to and cheer patriotic speeches, and -a veritable epidemic of little flags and buttons swept through -these great torrents of swiftly moving young people, who poured -into New York of a morning by car and mono-rail and subway and -train, to toil, and ebb home again between the hours of five and -seven. It was dangerous not to wear a war button. The splendid -music-halls of the time sank every topic in patriotism and -evolved scenes of wild enthusiasm, strong men wept at the sight -of the national banner sustained by the whole strength of the -ballet, and special searchlights and illuminations amazed the -watching angels. The churches re-echoed the national enthusiasm -in graver key and slower measure, and the aerial and naval -preparations on the East River were greatly incommoded by the -multitude of excursion steamers which thronged, helpfully -cheering, about them. The trade in small-arms was enormously -stimulated, and many overwrought citizens found an immediate -relief for their emotions in letting off fireworks of a more or -less heroic, dangerous, and national character in the public -streets. Small children's air-balloons of the latest model -attached to string became a serious check to the pedestrian in -Central Park. And amidst scenes of indescribable emotion the -Albany legislature in permanent session, and with a generous -suspension of rules and precedents, passed through both Houses -the long-disputed Bill for universal military service in New York -State. - -Critics of the American character are disposed to consider--that -up to the actual impact of the German attack the people of New -York dealt altogether too much with the war as if it was a -political demonstration. Little or no damage, they urge, was -done to either the German or Japanese forces by the wearing of -buttons, the waving of small flags, the fireworks, or the songs. -They forgot that, under the conditions of warfare a century of -science had brought about, the non-military section of the -population could do no serious damage in any form to their -enemies, and that there was no reason, therefore, why they -should not do as they did. The balance of military efficiency -was shifting back from the many to the few, from the common to -the specialised. - -The days when the emotional infantryman decided battles had -passed by for ever. War had become a matter of apparatus of -special training and skill of the most intricate kind. It had -become undemocratic. And whatever the value of the popular -excitement, there can be no denying that the small regular -establishment of the United States Government, confronted by this -totally unexpected emergency of an armed invasion from Europe, -acted with vigour, science, and imagination. They were taken by -surprise so far as the diplomatic situation was concerned, and -their equipment for building either navigables or aeroplanes was -contemptible in comparison with the huge German parks. Still -they set to work at once to prove to the world that the spirit -that had created the Monitor and the Southern submarines of 1864 -was not dead. The chief of the aeronautic establishment near -West Point was Cabot Sinclair, and he allowed himself but one -single moment of the posturing that was so universal in that -democratic time. "We have chosen our epitaphs," he said to a -reporter, "and we are going to have, 'They did all they could.' -Now run away!" - -The curious thing is that they did all do all they could; there -is no exception known. Their only defect indeed was a defect of -style. One of the most striking facts historically about this -war, and the one that makes the complete separation that had -arisen between the methods of warfare and the necessity of -democratic support, is the effectual secrecy of the Washington -authorities about their airships. They did not bother to confide -a single fact of their preparations to the public. They did not -even condescend to talk to Congress. They burked and suppressed -every inquiry. The war was fought by the President and the -Secretaries of State in an entirely autocratic manner. Such -publicity as they sought was merely to anticipate and prevent -inconvenient agitation to defend particular points. They -realised that the chief danger in aerial warfare from an -excitable and intelligent public would be a clamour for local -airships and aeroplanes to defend local interests. This, with -such resources as they possessed, might lead to a fatal division -and distribution of the national forces. Particularly they -feared that they might be forced into a premature action to -defend New York. They realised with prophetic insight that this -would be the particular advantage the Germans would seek. So -they took great pains to direct the popular mind towards -defensive artillery, and to divert it from any thought of aerial -battle. Their real preparations they masked beneath ostensible -ones. There was at Washington a large reserve of naval guns, -and these were distributed rapidly, conspicuously, and with much -press attention, among the Eastern cities. They were mounted for -the most part upon hills and prominent crests around the -threatened centres of population. They were mounted upon rough -adaptations of the Doan swivel, which at that time gave the -maximum vertical range to a heavy gun. Much of this artillery -was still unmounted, and nearly all of it was unprotected when -the German air-fleet reached New York. And down in the crowded -streets, when that occurred, the readers of the New York papers -were regaling themselves with wonderful and wonderfully -illustrated accounts of such matters as:-- - -THE SECRET OF THE THUNDERBOLT - -AGED SCIENTIST PERFECTS ELECTRIC GUN - -TO ELECTROCUTE AIRSHIP CREWS BY UPWARD LIGHTNING - -WASHINGTON ORDERS FIVE HUNDRED - -WAR SECRETARY LODGE DELIGHTED - -SAYS THEY WILL SUIT THE GERMANS DOWN TO THE GROUND - -PRESIDENT PUBLICLY APPLAUDS THIS MERRY QUIP - -3 - -The German fleet reached New York in advance of the news of the -American naval disaster. It reached New York in the late -afternoon and was first seen by watchers at Ocean Grove and Long -Branch coming swiftly out of the southward sea and going away to -the northwest. The flagship passed almost vertically over the -Sandy Hook observation station, rising rapidly as it did so, and -in a few minutes all New York was vibrating to the Staten Island -guns. - -Several of these guns, and especially that at Giffords and the -one on Beacon Hill above Matawan, were remarkably well handled. -The former, at a distance of five miles, and with an elevation of -six thousand feet, sent a shell to burst so close to the -Vaterland that a pane of the Prince's forward window was smashed -by a fragment. This sudden explosion made Bert tuck in his head -with the celerity of a startled tortoise. The whole air-fleet -immediately went up steeply to a height of about twelve thousand -feet and at that level passed unscathed over the ineffectual -guns. The airships lined out as they moved forward into the form -of a flattened V, with its apex towards the city, and with the -flagship going highest at the apex. The two ends of the V passed -over Plumfield and Jamaica Bay, respectively, and the Prince -directed his course a little to the east of the Narrows, soared -over Upper Bay, and came to rest over Jersey City in a position -that dominated lower New York. There the monsters hung, large -and wonderful in the evening light, serenely regardless of the -occasional rocket explosions and flashing shell-bursts in the -lower air. - -It was a pause of mutual inspection. For a time naive humanity -swamped the conventions of warfare altogether; the interest of -the millions below and of the thousands above alike was -spectacular. The evening was unexpectedly fine--only a few thin -level bands of clouds at seven or eight thousand feet broke its -luminous clarity. The wind had dropped; it was an evening -infinitely peaceful and still. The heavy concussions of the -distant guns and those incidental harmless pyrotechnics at the -level of the clouds seemed to have as little to do with killing -and force, terror and submission, as a salute at a naval review. -Below, every point of vantage bristled with spectators, the roofs -of the towering buildings, the public squares, the active ferry -boats, and every favourable street intersection had its crowds: -all the river piers were dense with people, the Battery Park was -solid black with east-side population, and every position of -advantage in Central Park and along Riverside Drive had its -peculiar and characteristic assembly from the adjacent streets. -The footways of the great bridges over the East River were also -closely packed and blocked. Everywhere shopkeepers had left -their shops, men their work, and women and children their homes, -to come out and see the marvel. - -"It beat," they declared, "the newspapers." - -And from above, many of the occupants of the airships stared with -an equal curiosity. No city in the world was ever so finely -placed as New York, so magnificently cut up by sea and bluff -and river, so admirably disposed to display the tall effects of -buildings, the complex immensities of bridges and mono-railways -and feats of engineering. London, Paris, Berlin, were shapeless, -low agglomerations beside it. Its port reached to its heart like -Venice, and, like Venice, it was obvious, dramatic, and proud. -Seen from above it was alive with crawling trains and cars, and -at a thousand points it was already breaking into quivering -light. New York was altogether at its best that evening, its -splendid best. - -"Gaw! What a place!" said Bert. - -It was so great, and in its collective effect so pacifically -magnificent, that to make war upon it seemed incongruous beyond -measure, like laying siege to the National Gallery or attacking -respectable people in an hotel dining-room with battle-axe and -mail. It was in its entirety so large, so complex, so delicately -immense, that to bring it to the issue of warfare was like -driving a crowbar into the mechanism of a clock. And the -fish-like shoal of great airships hovering light and sunlit -above, filling the sky, seemed equally remote from the ugly -forcefulness of war. To Kurt, to Smallways, to I know not how -many more of the people in the air-fleet came the distinctest -apprehension of these incompatibilities. But in the head of the -Prince Karl Albert were the vapours of romance: he was a -conqueror, and this was the enemy's city. The greater the city, -the greater the triumph. No doubt he had a time of tremendous -exultation and sensed beyond all precedent the sense of power -that night. - -There came an end at last to that pause. Some wireless -communications had failed of a satisfactory ending, and fleet and -city remembered they were hostile powers. "Look!" cried the -multitude; "look!" - -"What are they doing?" - -"What?"... Down through the twilight sank five attacking -airships, one to the Navy Yard on East River, one to City Hall, -two over the great business buildings of Wall Street and Lower -Broadway, one to the Brooklyn Bridge, dropping from among their -fellows through the danger zone from the distant guns smoothly -and rapidly to a safe proximity to the city masses. At that -descent all the cars in the streets stopped with dramatic -suddenness, and all the lights that had been coming on in the -streets and houses went out again. For the City Hall had -awakened and was conferring by telephone with the Federal command -and taking measures for defence. The City Hall was asking for -airships, refusing to surrender as Washington advised, and -developing into a centre of intense emotion, of hectic activity. -Everywhere and hastily the police began to clear the assembled -crowds. "Go to your homes," they said; and the word was passed -from mouth to mouth, "There's going to be trouble." A chill of -apprehension ran through the city, and men hurrying in the -unwonted darkness across City Hall Park and Union Square came -upon the dim forms of soldiers and guns, and were challenged and -sent back. In half an hour New York had passed from serene -sunset and gaping admiration to a troubled and threatening -twilight. - -The first loss of life occurred in the panic rush from Brooklyn -Bridge as the airship approached it. With the cessation of the -traffic an unusual stillness came upon New York, and the -disturbing concussions of the futile defending guns on the hills -about grew more and more audible. At last these ceased also. A -pause of further negotiation followed. People sat in darkness, -sought counsel from telephones that were dumb. Then into the -expectant hush came a great crash and uproar, the breaking down -of the Brooklyn Bridge, the rifle fire from the Navy Yard, and -the bursting of bombs in Wall Street and the City Hall. New York -as a whole could do nothing, could understand nothing. New York -in the darkness peered and listened to these distant sounds until -presently they died away as suddenly as they had begun. "What -could be happening?" They asked it in vain. - -A long, vague period intervened, and people looking out of the -windows of upper rooms discovered the dark hulls of German -airships, gliding slowly and noiselessly, quite close at hand. -Then quietly the electric lights came on again, and an uproar of -nocturnal newsvendors began in the streets. - -The units of that vast and varied population bought and learnt -what had happened; there had been a fight and New York had -hoisted the white flag. - -4 - -The lamentable incidents that followed the surrender of New York -seem now in the retrospect to be but the necessary and inevitable -consequence of the clash of modern appliances and social -conditions produced by the scientific century on the one hand, -and the tradition of a crude, romantic patriotism on the other. -At first people received the fact with an irresponsible -detachment, much as they would have received the slowing down of -the train in which they were travelling or the erection of a -public monument by the city to which they belonged. - -"We have surrendered. Dear me! HAVE we?" was rather the manner -in which the first news was met. They took it in the same -spectacular spirit they had displayed at the first apparition of -the air-fleet. Only slowly was this realisation of a -capitulation suffused with the flush of passion, only with -reflection did they make any personal application. "WE have -surrendered!" came later; "in us America is defeated." Then they -began to burn and tingle. - -The newspapers, which were issued about one in the morning -contained no particulars of the terms upon which New York had -yielded--nor did they give any intimation of the quality of the -brief conflict that had preceded the capitulation. The later -issues remedied these deficiencies. There came the explicit -statement of the agreement to victual the German airships, to -supply the complement of explosives to replace those employed in -the fight and in the destruction of the North Atlantic fleet, to -pay the enormous ransom of forty million dollars, and to -surrender the in the East River. There came, too, longer and -longer descriptions of the smashing up of the City Hall and the -Navy Yard, and people began to realise faintly what those brief -minutes of uproar had meant. They read the tale of men blown to -bits, of futile soldiers in that localised battle fightingagainst -hope amidst an indescribable wreckage, of flags hauled down by -weeping men. And these strange nocturnal editions contained also -the first brief cables from Europe of the fleet disaster, the -North Atlantic fleet for which New York had always felt an -especial pride and solicitude. Slowly, hour by hour, the -collective consciousness woke up, the tide of patriotic -astonishment and humiliation came floating in. America had come -upon disaster; suddenly New York discovered herself with -amazement giving place to wrath unspeakable, a conquered city -under the hand of her conqueror. - -As that fact shaped itself in the public mind, there sprang up, -as flames spring up, an angry repudiation. "No!" cried New York, -waking in the dawn. "No! I am not defeated. This is a dream." -Before day broke the swift American anger was running through all -the city, through every soul in those contagious millions. -Before it took action, before it took shape, the men in the -airships could feel the gigantic insurgence of emotion, as cattle -and natural creatures feel, it is said, the coming of an -earthquake. The newspapers of the Knype group first gave the -thing words and a formula. "We do not agree," they said simply. -"We have been betrayed!" Men took that up everywhere, it passed -from mouth to mouth, at every street corner under the paling -lights of dawn orators stood unchecked, calling upon the spirit -of America to arise, making the shame a personal reality to every -one who heard. To Bert, listening five hundred feet above, it -seemed that the city, which had at first produced only confused -noises, was now humming like a hive of bees--of very angry bees. - -After the smashing of the City Hall and Post-Office, the white -flag had been hoisted from a tower of the old Park Row building, -and thither had gone Mayor O'Hagen, urged thither indeed by the -terror-stricken property owners of lower New York, to negotiate -the capitulation with Von Winterfeld. The Vaterland, having -dropped the secretary by a rope ladder, remained hovering, -circling very slowly above the great buildings, old and new, that -clustered round City Hall Park, while the Helmholz, which had -done the fighting there, rose overhead to a height of perhaps two -thousand feet. So Bert had a near view of all that occurred in -that central place. The City Hall and Court House, the -Post-Office and a mass of buildings on the west side of Broadway, -had been badly damaged, and the three former were a heap of -blackened ruins. In the case of the first two the loss of life -had not been considerable, but a great multitude of workers, -including many girls and women, had been caught in the -destruction of the Post-Office, and a little army of volunteers -with white badges entered behind the firemen, bringing out the -often still living bodies, for the most part frightfully charred, -and carrying them into the big Monson building close at hand. -Everywhere the busy firemen were directing their bright streams -of water upon the smouldering masses: their hose lay about the -square, and long cordons of police held back the gathering black -masses of people, chiefly from the east side, from these central -activities. - -In violent and extraordinary contrast with this scene of -destruction, close at hand were the huge newspaper establishments -of Park Row. They were all alight and working; they had not been -abandoned even while the actual bomb throwing was going on, and -now staff and presses were vehemently active, getting out the -story, the immense and dreadful story of the night, developing -comment and, in most cases, spreading the idea of resistance -under the very noses of the airships. For a long time Bert could -not imagine what these callously active offices could be, then he -detected the noise of the presses and emitted his "Gaw!" - -Beyond these newspaper buildings again, and partially hidden by -the arches of the old Elevated Railway of New York (long since -converted into a mono-rail), there was another cordon of police -and a sort of encampment of ambulances and doctors, busy with the -dead and wounded who had been killed early in the night by the -panic upon Brooklyn Bridge. All this he saw in the perspectives -of a bird's-eye view, as things happening in a big, -irregular-shaped pit below him, between cliffs of high building. -Northward he looked along the steep canon of Broadway, down whose -length at intervals crowds were assembling about excited -speakers; and when he lifted his eyes he saw the chimneys and -cable-stacks and roof spaces of New York, and everywhere now over -these the watching, debating people clustered, except where the -fires raged and the jets of water flew. Everywhere, too, were -flagstaffs devoid of flags; one white sheet drooped and flapped -and drooped again over the Park Row buildings. And upon the -lurid lights, the festering movement and intense shadows of this -strange scene, there was breaking now the cold, impartial dawn. - -For Bert Smallways all this was framed in the frame of the open -porthole. It was a pale, dim world outside that dark and -tangible rim. All night he had clutched at that rim, jumped and -quivered at explosions, and watched phantom events. Now he had -been high and now low; now almost beyond hearing, now flying -close to crashings and shouts and outcries. He had seen airships -flying low and swift over darkened and groaning streets; watched -great buildings, suddenly red-lit amidst the shadows, crumple at -the smashing impact of bombs; witnessed for the first time in his -life the grotesque, swift onset of insatiable conflagrations. -From it all he felt detached, disembodied. The Vaterland did not -even fling a bomb; she watched and ruled. Then down they had -come at last to hover over City Hall Park, and it had crept in -upon his mind, chillingly, terrifyingly, that these illuminated -black masses were great offices afire, and that the going to and -fro of minute, dim spectres of lantern-lit grey and white was a -harvesting of the wounded and the dead. As the light grew -clearer he began to understand more and more what these crumpled -black things signified.... - -He had watched hour after hour since first New York had risen out -of the blue indistinctness of the landfall. With the daylight he -experienced an intolerable fatigue. - -He lifted weary eyes to the pink flush in the sky, yawned -immensely, and crawled back whispering to himself across the -cabin to the locker. He did not so much lie down upon that as -fall upon it and instantly become asleep. - -There, hours after, sprawling undignified and sleeping -profoundly, Kurt found him, a very image of the democratic mind -confronted with the problems of a time too complex for its -apprehension. His face was pale and indifferent, his mouth wide -open, and he snored. He snored disagreeably. - -Kurt regarded him for a moment with a mild distaste. Then he -kicked his ankle. - -"Wake up," he said to Smallways' stare, "and lie down decent." - -Bert sat up and rubbed his eyes. - -"Any more fightin' yet?" he asked. - -"No," said Kurt, and sat down, a tired man. - -"Gott!" he cried presently, rubbing his hands over his face, "but -I'd like a cold bath! I've been looking for stray bullet holes -in the air-chambers all night until now." He yawned. "I must -sleep. You'd better clear out, Smallways. I can't stand you -here this morning. You're so infernally ugly and useless. Have -you had your rations? No! Well, go in and get 'em, and don't -come back. Stick in the gallery...." - -5 - -So Bert, slightly refreshed by coffee and sleep, resumed his -helpless co-operation in the War in the Air. He went down into -the little gallery as the lieutenant had directed, and clung to -the rail at the extreme end beyond the look-out man, trying to -seem as inconspicuous and harmless a fragment of life as -possible. - -A wind was rising rather strongly from the south-east. It -obliged the Vaterland to come about in that direction, and made -her roll a great deal as she went to and fro over Manhattan -Island. Away in the north-west clouds gathered. The throb-throb -of her slow screw working against the breeze was much more -perceptible than when she was going full speed ahead; and the -friction of the wind against the underside of the gas-chamber -drove a series of shallow ripples along it and made a faint -flapping sound like, but fainter than, the beating of ripples -under the stem of a boat. She was stationed over the temporary -City Hall in the Park Row building, and every now and then she -would descend to resume communication with the mayor and with -Washington. But the restlessness of the Prince would not suffer -him to remain for long in any one place. Now he would circle -over the Hudson and East River; now he would go up high, as if to -peer away into the blue distances; once he ascended so swiftly -and so far that mountain sickness overtook him and the crew and -forced him down again; and Bert shared the dizziness and nausea. - -The swaying view varied with these changes of altitude. Now they -would be low and close, and he would distinguish in that steep, -unusual perspective, windows, doors, street and sky signs, people -and the minutest details, and watch the enigmatical behaviour of -crowds and clusters upon the roofs and in the streets; then as -they soared the details would shrink, the sides of streets draw -together, the view widen, the people cease to be significant. At -the highest the effect was that of a concave relief map; Bert saw -the dark and crowded land everywhere intersected by shining -waters, saw the Hudson River like a spear of silver, and Lower -Island Sound like a shield. Even to Bert's unphilosophical mind -the contrast of city below and fleet above pointed an opposition, -the opposition of the adventurous American's tradition and -character with German order and discipline. Below, the immense -buildings, tremendous and fine as they were, seemed like the -giant trees of a jungle fighting for life; their picturesque -magnificence was as planless as the chances of crag and gorge, -their casualty enhanced by the smoke and confusion of still -unsubdued and spreading conflagrations. In the sky soared the -German airships like beings in a different, entirely more orderly -world, all oriented to the same angle of the horizon, uniform in -build and appearance, moving accurately with one purpose as a -pack of wolves will move, distributed with the most precise and -effectual co-operation. - -It dawned upon Bert that hardly a third of the fleet was visible. -The others had gone upon errands he could not imagine, beyond the -compass of that great circle of earth and sky. He wondered, but -there was no one to ask. As the day wore on, about a dozen -reappeared in the east with their stores replenished from the -flotilla and towing a number of drachenffieger. Towards -afternoon the weather thickened, driving clouds appeared in the -south-west and ran together and seemed to engender more clouds, -and the wind came round into that quarter and blew stronger. -Towards the evening the wind became a gale into which the now -tossing airships had to beat. - -All that day the Prince was negotiating with Washington, while -his detached scouts sought far and wide over the Eastern States -looking for anything resembling an aeronautic park. A squadron -of twenty airships detached overnight had dropped out of the air -upon Niagara and was holding the town and power works. - -Meanwhile the insurrectionary movement in the giant city grew -uncontrollable. In spite of five great fires already involving -many acres, and spreading steadily, New York was still not -satisfied that she was beaten. - -At first the rebellious spirit below found vent only in isolated -shouts, street-crowd speeches, and newspaper suggestions; then it -found much more definite expression in the appearance in the -morning sunlight of American flags at point after point above the -architectural cliffs of the city. It is quite possible that in -many cases this spirited display of bunting by a city already -surrendered was the outcome of the innocent informality of the -American mind, but it is also undeniable that in many it was a -deliberate indication that the people "felt wicked." - -The German sense of correctitude was deeply shocked by this -outbreak. The Graf von Winterfeld immediately communicated with -the mayor, and pointed out the irregularity, and the fire -look-out stations were instructed in the matter. The New York -police was speedily hard at work, and a foolish contest in full -swing between impassioned citizens resolved to keep the flag -flying, and irritated and worried officers instructed to pull it -down. - -The trouble became acute at last in the streets above Columbia -University. The captain of the airship watching this quarter -seems to have stooped to lasso and drag from its staff a flag -hoisted upon Morgan Hall. As he did so a volley of rifle and -revolver shots was fired from the upper windows of the huge -apartment building that stands between the University and -Riverside Drive. - -Most of these were ineffectual, but two or three perforated -gas-chambers, and one smashed the hand and arm of a man upon the -forward platform; The sentinel on the lower gallery immediately -replied, and the machine gun on the shield of the eagle let fly -and promptly stopped any further shots. The airship rose and -signalled the flagship and City Hall, police and militiamen were -directed at once to the spot, and this particular incident -closed. - -But hard upon that came the desperate attempt of a party of young -clubmen from New York, who, inspired by patriotic and adventurous -imaginations, slipped off in half a dozen motor-cars to Beacon -Hill, and set to work with remarkable vigour to improvise a fort -about the Doan swivel gun that had been placed there. They found -it still in the hands of the disgusted gunners, who had been -ordered to cease fire at the capitulation, and it was easy to -infect these men with their own spirit. They declared their gun -hadn't had half a chance, and were burning to show what it could -do. Directed by the newcomers, they made a trench and bank about -the mounting of the piece, and constructed flimsy shelter-pits of -corrugated iron. - -They were actually loading the gun when they were observed by the -airship Preussen and the shell they succeeded in firing before -the bombs of the latter smashed them and their crude defences to -fragments, burst over the middle gas-chambers of the Bingen, and -brought her to earth, disabled, upon Staten Island. She was -badly deflated, and dropped among trees, over which her empty -central gas-bags spread in canopies and festoons. Nothing, -however, had caught fire, and her men were speedily at work upon -her repair. They behaved with a confidence that verged upon -indiscretion. While most of them commenced patching the tears -of the membrane, half a dozen of them started off for the nearest -road in search of a gas main, and presently found themselves -prisoners in the hands of a hostile crowd. Close at hand was a -number of villa residences, whose occupants speedily developed -from an unfriendly curiosity to aggression. At that time the -police control of the large polyglot population of Staten Island -had become very lax, and scarcely a household but had its rifle -or pistols and ammunition. These were presently produced, and -after two or three misses, one of the men at work was hit in the -foot. Thereupon the Germans left their sewing and mending, took -cover among the trees, and replied. - -The crackling of shots speedily brought the Preussen and Kiel on -the scene, and with a few hand grenades they made short work of -every villa within a mile. A number of non-combatant American -men, women, and children were killed and the actual assailants -driven off. For a time the repairs went on in peace under the -immediate protection of these two airships. Then when they -returned to their quarters, an intermittent sniping and fighting -round the stranded Bingen was resumed, and went on all the -afternoon, and merged at last in the general combat of the -evening.... - -About eight the Bingen was rushed by an armed mob, and all its -defenders killed after a fierce, disorderly struggle. - -The difficulty of the Germans in both these cases came from the -impossibility of landing any efficient force or, indeed, any -force at all from the air-fleet. The airships were quite unequal -to the transport of any adequate landing parties; their -complement of men was just sufficient to manoeuvre and fight them -in the air. From above they could inflict immense damage; they -could reduce any organised Government to a capitulation in the -briefest space, but they could not disarm, much less could they -occupy, the surrendered areas below. They had to trust to the -pressure upon the authorities below of a threat to renew the -bombardment. It was their sole resource. No doubt, with a -highly organised and undamaged Government and a homogeneous and -well-disciplined people that would have sufficed to keep the -peace. But this was not the American case. Not only was the New -York Government a weak one and insufficiently provided with -police, but the destruction of the City Hall--and Post-Offide and -other central ganglia had hopelessly disorganised the -co-operation of part with part. The street cars and railways had -ceased; the telephone service was out of gear and only worked -intermittently. The Germans had struck at the head, and the head -was conquered and stunned--only to release the body from its -rule. New York had become a headless monster, no longer capable -of collective submission. Everywhere it lifted itself -rebelliously; everywhere authorities and officials left to their -own imitative were joining in the arming and flag-hoisting and -excitement of that afternoon. - -6 - -The disintegrating truce gave place to a definite general breach -with the assassination of the Wetterhorn--for that is the only -possible word for the act--above Union Square, and not a mile -away from the exemplary ruins of City Hall. This occurred late -in the afternoon, between five and six. By that time the weather -had changed very much for the worse, and the operations of the -airships were embarrassed by the necessity they were under of -keeping head on to the gusts. A series of squalls, with hail and -thunder, followed one another from the south by south-east, and -in order to avoid these as much as possible, the air-fleet came -low over the houses, diminishing its range of observation and -exposing itself to a rifle attack. - -Overnight there had been a gun placed in Union Square. It had -never been mounted, much less fired, and in the darkness after -the surrender it was taken with its supplies and put out of the -way under the arches of the great Dexter building. Here late in -the morning it was remarked by a number of patriotic spirits. -They set to work to hoist and mount it inside the upper floors of -the place. They made, in fact, a masked battery behind the -decorous office blinds, and there lay in wait as simply excited -as children until at last the stem of the luckless Wetterhorn -appeared, beating and rolling at quarter speed over the recently -reconstructed pinnacles of Tiffany's. Promptly that one-gun -battery unmasked. The airship's look-out man must have seen the -whole of the tenth story of the Dexter building crumble out and -smash in the street below to discover the black muzzle looking -out from the shadows behind. Then perhaps the shell hit him. - -The gun fired two shells before the frame of the Dexter building -collapsed, and each shell raked the Wetterhorn from stem to -stern. They smashed her exhaustively. She crumpled up like a -can that has been kicked by a heavy boot, her forepart came down -in the square, and the rest of her length, with a great snapping -and twisting of shafts and stays, descended, collapsing athwart -Tammany Hall and the streets towards Second Avenue. Her gas -escaped to mix with air, and the air of her rent balloonette -poured into her deflating gas-chambers. Then with an immense -impact she exploded.... - -The Vaterland at that time was beating up to the south of City -Hall from over the ruins of the Brooklyn Bridge, and the reports -of the gun, followed by the first crashes of the collapsing -Dexter building, brought Kurt and, Smallways to the cabin -porthole. They were in time to see the flash of the exploding -gun, and then they were first flattened against the window and -then rolled head over heels across the floor of the cabin by the -air wave of the explosion. The Vaterland bounded like a football -some one has kicked and when they looked out again, Union Square -was small and remote and shattered, as though some cosmically -vast giant had rolled over it. The buildings to the east of it -were ablaze at a dozen points, under the flaming tatters and -warping skeleton of the airship, and all the roofs and walls were -ridiculously askew and crumbling as one looked. "Gaw!" said -Bert. "What's happened? Look at the people!" - -But before Kurt could produce an explanation, the shrill bells of -the airship were ringing to quarters, and he had to go. Bert -hesitated and stepped thoughtfully into the passage, looking back -at the window as he did so. He was knocked off his feet at once -by the Prince, who was rushing headlong from his cabin to the -central magazine. - -Bert had a momentary impression of the great figure of the -Prince, white with rage, bristling with gigantic anger, his huge -fist swinging. "Blut und Eisen!" cried the Prince, as one who -swears. "Oh! Blut und Eisen!" - -Some one fell over Bert--something in the manner of falling -suggested Von Winterfeld--and some one else paused and kicked him -spitefully and hard. Then he was sitting up in the passage, -rubbing a freshly bruised cheek and readjusting the bandage he -still wore on his head. "Dem that Prince," said Bert, indignant -beyond measure. "'E 'asn't the menners of a 'og!" - -He stood up, collected his wits for a minute, and then went -slowly towards the gangway of the little gallery. As he did so -he heard noises suggestive of the return of the Prince. The lot -of them were coming back again. He shot into his cabin like a -rabbit into its burrow, just in time to escape that shouting -terror. - -He shut the door, waited until the passage was still, then went -across to the window and looked out. A drift of cloud made the -prospect of the streets and squares hazy, and the rolling of the -airship swung the picture up and down. A few people were running -to and fro, but for the most part the aspect of the district was -desertion. The streets seemed to broaden out, they became -clearer, and the little dots that were people larger as the -Vaterland came down again. Presently she was swaying along above -the lower end of Broadway. The dots below, Bert saw, were not -running now, but standing and looking up. Then suddenly they -were all running again. - -Something had dropped from the aeroplane, something that looked -small and flimsy. It hit the pavement near a big archway just -underneath Bert. A little man was sprinting along the sidewalk -within half a dozen yards, and two or three others and one woman -were bolting across the roadway. They were odd little figures, -so very small were they about the heads, so very active about the -elbows and legs. It was really funny to see their legs going. -Foreshortened, humanity has no dignity. The little man on the -pavement jumped comically--no doubt with terror, as the bomb fell -beside him. - -Then blinding flames squirted out in all directions from the -point of impact, and the little man who had jumped became, for an -instant, a flash of fire and vanished--vanished absolutely. The -people running out into the road took preposterous clumsy leaps, -then flopped down and lay still, with their torn clothes -smouldering into flame. Then pieces of the archway began to -drop, and the lower masonry of the building to fall in with the -rumbling sound of coals being shot into a cellar. A faint -screaming reached Bert, and then a crowd of people ran out into -the street, one man limping and gesticulating awkwardly. He -halted, and went back towards the building. A falling mass of -brick-work hit him and sent him sprawling to lie still and -crumpled where he fell. Dust and black smoke came pouring into -the street, and were presently shot with red flame.... - -In this manner the massacre of New York began. She was the first -of the great cities of the Scientific Age to suffer by the -enormous powers and grotesque limitations of aerial warfare. She -was wrecked as in the previous century endless barbaric cities -had been bombarded, because she was at once too strong to be -occupied and too undisciplined and proud to surrender in order to -escape destruction. Given the circumstances, the thing had to be -done. It was impossible for the Prince to desist, and own -himself defeated, and it was impossible to subdue the city except -by largely destroying it. The catastrophe was the logical -outcome of the situation, created by the application of science -to warfare. It was unavoidable that great cities should be -destroyed. In spite of his intense exasperation with his -dilemma, the Prince sought to be moderate even in massacre. He -tried to give a memorable lesson with the minimum waste of life -and the minimum expenditure of explosives. For that night he -proposed only the wrecking of Broadway. He directed the -air-fleet to move in column over the route of this thoroughfare, -dropping bombs, the Vaterland leading. And so our Bert Smallways -became a participant in one of the most cold-blooded slaughters -in the world's history, in which men who were neither excited -nor, except for the remotest chance of a bullet, in any danger, -poured death and destruction upon homes and crowds below. - -He clung to the frame of the porthole as the airship tossed and -swayed, and stared down through the light rain that now drove -before the wind, into the twilight streets, watching people -running out of the houses, watching buildings collapse and fires -begin. As the airships sailed along they smashed up the city as -a child will shatter its cities of brick and card. Below, they -left ruins and blazing conflagrations and heaped and scattered -dead; men, women, and children mixed together as though they had -been no more than Moors, or Zulus, or Chinese. Lower New York -was soon a furnace of crimson flames, from which there was no -escape. Cars, railways, ferries, all had ceased, and never a -light lit the way of the distracted fugitives in that dusky -confusion but the light of burning. He had glimpses of what it -must mean to be down there--glimpses. And it came to him -suddenly as an incredible discovery, that such disasters were not -only possible now in this strange, gigantic, foreign New York, -but also in London--in Bun Hill! that the little island in the -silver seas was at the end of its immunity, that nowhere in the -world any more was there a place left where a Smallways might -lift his head proudly and vote for war and a spirited foreign -policy, and go secure from such horrible things. - - - -CHAPTER VII -THE "VATERLAND" IS DISABLED - -1 - -And then above the flames of Manhattan Island came a battle, the -first battle in the air. The Americans had realised the price -their waiting game must cost, and struck with all the strength -they had, if haply they might still save New York from this mad -Prince of Blood and Iron, and from fire and death. - -They came down upon the Germans on the wings of a great gale in -the twilight, amidst thunder and rain. They came from the yards -of Washington and Philadelphia, full tilt in two squadrons, and -but for one sentinel airship hard by Trenton, the surprise would -have been complete. - -The Germans, sick and weary with destruction, and half empty of -ammunition, were facing up into the weather when the news of this -onset reached them. New York they had left behind to the -south-eastward, a darkened city with one hideous red scar of -flames. All the airships rolled and staggered, bursts of -hailstorm bore them down and forced them to fight their way up -again; the air had become bitterly cold. The Prince was on the -point of issuing orders to drop earthward and trail copper -lightning chains when the news of the aeroplane attack came to -him. He faced his fleet in line abreast south, had the -drachenflieger manned and held ready to cast loose, and ordered a -general ascent into the freezing clearness above the wet and -darkness. - -The news of what was imminent came slowly to Bert's perceptions. -He was standing in the messroom at the time and the evening -rations were being served out. He had resumed Butteridge's coat -and gloves, and in addition he had wrapped his blanket about him. -He was dipping his bread into his soup and was biting off big -mouthfuls. His legs were wide apart, and he leant against the -partition in order to steady himself amidst the pitching and -oscillation of the airship. The men about him looked tired and -depressed; a few talked, but most were sullen and thoughtful, and -one or two were air-sick. They all seemed to share the -peculiarly outcast feeling that had followed the murders of the -evening, a sense of a land beneath them, and an outraged humanity -grown more hostile than the Sea. - -Then the news hit them. A red-faced sturdy man, a man with -light eyelashes and a scar, appeared in the doorway and shouted -something in German that manifestly startled every one. Bert -felt the shock of the altered tone, though he could not -understand a word that was said. The announcement was followed -by a pause, and then a great outcry of questions and suggestions. -Even the air-sick men flushed and spoke. For some minutes the -mess-room was Bedlam, and then, as if it were a confirmation of -the news, came the shrill ringing of the bells that called the -men to their posts. - -Bert with pantomime suddenness found himself alone. - -"What's up?" he said, though he partly guessed. - -He stayed only to gulp down the remainder of his soup, and then -ran along the swaying passage and, clutching tightly, down the -ladder to the little gallery. The weather hit him like cold -water squirted from a hose. The airship engaged in some new feat -of atmospheric Jiu-Jitsu. He drew his blanket closer about him, -clutching with one straining hand. He found himself tossing in a -wet twilight, with nothing to be seen but mist pouring past him. -Above him the airship was warm with lights and busy with the -movements of men going to their quarters. Then abruptly the -lights went out, and the Vaterland with bounds and twists and -strange writhings was fighting her way up the air. - -He had a glimpse, as the Vaterland rolled over, of some large -buildings burning close below them, a quivering acanthus of -flames, and then he saw indistinctly through the driving weather -another airship wallowing along like a porpoise, and also working -up. Presently the clouds swallowed her again for a time, and -then she came back to sight as a dark and whale-like monster, -amidst streaming weather. The air was full of flappings and -pipings, of void, gusty shouts and noises; it buffeted him and -confused him; ever and again his attention became rigid--a blind -and deaf balancing and clutching. - -"Wow!" - -Something fell past him out of the vast darknesses above and -vanished into the tumults below, going obliquely downward. It -was a German drachenflieger. The thing was going so fast he had -but an instant apprehension of the dark figure of the aeronaut -crouched together clutching at his wheel. It might be a -manoeuvre, but it looked like a catastrophe. - -"Gaw!" said Bert. - -"Pup-pup-pup" went a gun somewhere in the mirk ahead and suddenly -and quite horribly the Vaterland lurched, and Bert and the -sentinel were clinging to the rail for dear life. "Bang!" came -a vast impact out of the zenith, followed by another huge roll, -and all about him the tumbled clouds flashed red and lurid in -response to flashes unseen, revealing immense gulfs. The rail -went right overhead, and he was hanging loose in the air holding -on to it. - -For a time Bert's whole mind and being was given to clutching. -"I'm going into the cabin," he said, as the airship righted again -and brought back the gallery floor to his feet. He began to make -his way cautiously towards the ladder. "Whee-wow!" he cried as -the whole gallery reared itself up forward, and then plunged down -like a desperate horse. - -Crack! Bang! Bang! Bang! And then hard upon this little rattle -of shots and bombs came, all about him, enveloping him, engulfing -him, immense and overwhelming, a quivering white blaze of -lightning and a thunder-clap that was like the bursting of a -world. - -Just for the instant before that explosion the universe seemed to -be standing still in a shadowless glare. - -It was then he saw the American aeroplane. He saw it in the -light of the flash as a thing altogether motionless. Even its -screw appeared still, and its men were rigid dolls. (For it -was so near he could see the men upon it quite distinctly.) Its -stern was tilting down, and the whole machine was heeling over. -It was of the Colt-Coburn-Langley pattern, with double up-tilted -wings and the screw ahead, and the men were in a boat-like body -netted over. From this very light long body, magazine guns -projected on either side. One thing that was strikingly odd and -wonderful in that moment of revelation was that the left upper -wing was burning downward with a reddish, smoky flame. But this -was not the most wonderful thing about this apparition. The most -wonderful thing was that it and a German airship five hundred -yards below were threaded as it were on the lightning flash, -which turned out of its path as if to take them, and, that out -from the corners and projecting points of its huge wings -everywhere, little branching thorn-trees of lightning were -streaming. - -Like a picture Bert saw these things, a picture a little blurred -by a thin veil of wind-torn mist. - -The crash of the thunder-clap followed the flash and seemed a -part of it, so that it is hard to say whether Bert was the rather -deafened or blinded in that instant. - -And then darkness, utter darkness, and a heavy report and a thin -small sound of voices that went wailing downward into the abyss -below. - -2 - -There followed upon these things a long, deep swaying of the -airship, and then Bert began a struggle to get back to his cabin. -He was drenched and cold and terrified beyond measure, and now -more than a little air-sick. It seemed to him that the strength -had gone out of his knees and hands, and that his feet had become -icily slippery over the metal they trod upon. But that was -because a thin film of ice had frozen upon the gallery. - -He never knew how long his ascent of the ladder back into the -airship took him, but in his dreams afterwards, when he recalled -it, that experience seemed to last for hours. Below, above, -around him were gulfs, monstrous gulfs of howling wind and eddies -of dark, whirling snowflakes, and he was protected from it all by -a little metal grating and a rail, a grating and rail that seemed -madly infuriated with him, passionately eager to wrench him off -and throw him into the tumult of space. - -Once he had a fancy that a bullet tore by his ear, and that the -clouds and snowflakes were lit by a flash, but he never even -turned his head to see what new assailant whirled past them in -the void. He wanted to get into the passage! He wanted to get -into the passage! He wanted to get into the passage! Would the -arm by which he was clinging hold out, or would it give way and -snap? A handful of hail smacked him in the face, so that for a -time he was breathless and nearly insensible. Hold tight, Bert! -He renewed his efforts. - -He found himself, with an enormous sense of relief and warmth, in -the passage. The passage was behaving like a dice-box, its -disposition was evidently to rattle him about and then throw him -out again. He hung on with the convulsive clutch of instinct -until the passage lurched down ahead. Then he would make a short -run cabin-ward, and clutch again as the fore-end rose. - -Behold! He was in the cabin! - -He snapped-to the door, and for a time he was not a human being, -he was a case of air-sickness. He wanted to get somewhere that -would fix him, that he needn't clutch. He opened the locker and -got inside among the loose articles, and sprawled there -helplessly, with his head sometimes bumping one side and -sometimes the other. The lid shut upon him with a click. He did -not care then what was happening any more. He did not care who -fought who, or what bullets were fired or explosions occurred. -He did not care if presently he was shot or smashed to pieces. -He was full of feeble, inarticulate rage and despair. "Foolery!" -he said, his one exhaustive comment on human enterprise, -adventure, war, and the chapter of accidents that had entangled -him. "Foolery! Ugh!" He included the order of the universe in -that comprehensive condemnation. He wished he was dead. - -He saw nothing of the stars, as presently the Vaterland cleared -the rush and confusion of the lower weather, nor of the duel she -fought with two circling aeroplanes, how they shot her rear-most -chambers through, and how she fought them off with explosive -bullets and turned to run as she did so. - -The rush and swoop of these wonderful night birds was all lost -upon him; their heroic dash and self-sacrifice. The Vaterland -was rammed, and for some moments she hung on the verge of -destruction, and sinking swiftly, with the American aeroplane -entangled with her smashed propeller, and the Americans trying to -scramble aboard. It signified nothing to Bert. To him it -conveyed itself simply as vehement swaying. Foolery! When the -American airship dropped off at last, with most of its crew shot -or fallen, Bert in his locker appreciated nothing but that the -Vaterland had taken a hideous upward leap. - -But then came infinite relief, incredibly blissful relief. The -rolling, the pitching, the struggle ceased, ceased instantly and -absolutely. The Vaterland was no longer fighting the gale; her -smashed and exploded engines throbbed no more; she was disabled -and driving before the wind as smoothly as a balloon, a huge, -windspread, tattered cloud of aerial wreckage. - -To Bert it was no more than the end of a series of disagreeable -sensations. He was not curious to know what had happened to the -airship, nor what had happened to the battle. For a long time he -lay waiting apprehensively for the pitching and tossing and his -qualms to return, and so, lying, boxed up in the locker, he -presently fell asleep. - -3 - -He awoke tranquil but very stuffy, and at the same time very -cold, and quite unable to recollect where he could be. His head -ached, and his breath was suffocated. He had been dreaming -confusedly of Edna, and Desert Dervishes, and of riding bicycles -in an extremely perilous manner through the upper air amidst a -pyrotechnic display of crackers and Bengal lights--to the great -annoyance of a sort of composite person made up of the Prince and -Mr. Butteridge. Then for some reason Edna and he had begun to -cry pitifully for each other, and he woke up with wet eye-lashes -into this ill-ventilated darkness of the locker. He would never -see Edna any more, never see Edna any more. - -He thought he must be back in the bedroom behind the cycle shop -at the bottom of Bun Hill, and he was sure the vision he had had -of the destruction of a magnificent city, a city quite incredibly -great and splendid, by means of bombs, was no more than a -particularly vivid dream. - -"Grubb!" he called, anxious to tell him. - -The answering silence, and the dull resonance of the locker to -his voice, supplementing the stifling quality of the air, set -going a new train of ideas. He lifted up his hands and feet, and -met an inflexible resistance. He was in a coffin, he thought! -He had been buried alive! He gave way at once to wild panic. -"'Elp!" he screamed. "'Elp!" and drummed with his feet, and -kicked and struggled. "Let me out! Let me out!" - -For some seconds he struggled with this intolerable horror, and -then the side of his imagined coffin gave way, and he was flying -out into daylight. Then he was rolling about on what seemed to -be a padded floor with Kurt, and being punched and sworn at -lustily. - -He sat up. His head bandage had become loose and got over one -eye, and he whipped the whole thing off. Kurt was also sitting -up, a yard away from him, pink as ever, wrapped in blankets, and -with an aluminium diver's helmet over his knee, staring at him -with a severe expression, and rubbing his downy unshaven chin. -They were both on a slanting floor of crimson padding, and above -them was an opening like a long, low cellar flap that Bert by an -effort perceived to be the cabin door in a half-inverted -condition. The whole cabin had in fact turned on its side. - -"What the deuce do you mean by it, Smallways?" said Kurt, -"jumping out of that locker when I was certain you had gone -overboard with the rest of them? Where have you been?" - -"What's up?" asked Bert. - -"This end of the airship is up. Most other things are down." - -"Was there a battle?" - -"There was." - -"Who won?" - -"I haven't seen the papers, Smallways. We left before the finish. -We got disabled and unmanageable, and our colleagues--consorts I -mean--were too busy most of them to trouble about us, and the -wind blew us--Heaven knows where the wind IS blowing us. It blew -us right out of action at the rate of eighty miles an hour or so. -Gott! what a wind that was! What a fight! And here we are!" - -"Where?" - -"In the air, Smallways--in the air! When we get down on the -earth again we shan't know what to do with our legs." - -"But what's below us?" - -"Canada, to the best of my knowledge--and a jolly bleak, empty, -inhospitable country it looks." - -"But why ain't we right ways up?" - -Kurt made no answer for a space. - -"Last I remember was seeing a sort of flying-machine in a -lightning flash," said Bert. "Gaw! that was 'orrible. Guns -going off! Things explodin'! Clouds and 'ail. Pitching and -tossing. I got so scared and desperate--and sick. You don't -know how the fight came off?" - -"Not a bit of it. I was up with my squad in those divers' -dresses, inside the gas-chambers, with sheets of silk for -caulking. We couldn't see a thing outside except the lightning -flashes. I never saw one of those American aeroplanes. Just saw -the shots flicker through the chambers and sent off men for the -tears. We caught fire a bit--not much, you know. We were too -wet, so the fires spluttered out before we banged. And then one -of their infernal things dropped out of the air on us and rammed. -Didn't you feel it?" - -"I felt everything," said Bert. "I didn't notice any particular -smash--" - -"They must have been pretty desperate if they meant it. They -slashed down on us like a knife; simply ripped the after -gas-chambers like gutting herrings, crumpled up the engines and -screw. Most of the engines dropped off as they fell off us--or -we'd have grounded--but the rest is sort of dangling. We just -turned up our nose to the heavens and stayed there. Eleven men -rolled off us from various points, and poor old Winterfeld fell -through the door of the Prince's cabin into the chart-room and -broke his ankle. Also we got our electric gear shot or carried -away--no one knows how. That's the position, Smallways. We're -driving through the air like a common aerostat, at the mercy of -the elements, almost due north--probably to the North Pole. We -don't know what aeroplanes the Americans have, or anything at all -about it. Very likely we have finished 'em up. One fouled us, -one was struck by lightning, some of the men saw a third upset, -apparently just for fun. They were going cheap anyhow. Also -we've lost most of our drachenflieger. They just skated off into -the night. No stability in 'em. That's all. We don't know if -we've won or lost. We don't know if we're at war with the -British Empire yet or at peace. Consequently, we daren't get -down. We don't know what we are up to or what we are going to -do. Our Napoleon is alone, forward, and I suppose he's -rearranging his plans. Whether New York was our Moscow or not -remains to be seen. We've had a high old time and murdered no -end of people! War! Noble war! I'm sick of it this morning. I -like sitting in rooms rightway up and not on slippery partitions. -I'm a civilised man. I keep thinking of old Albrecht and the -Barbarossa.... I feel I want a wash and kind words and a quiet -home. When I look at you, I KNOW I want a wash. Gott!"--he -stifled a vehement yawn--"What a Cockney tadpole of a ruffian you -look!" - -"Can we get any grub?" asked Bert. - -"Heaven knows!" said Kurt. - -He meditated upon Bert for a time. "So far as I can judge, -Smallways," he said, "the Prince will probably want to throw you -overboard--next time he thinks of you. He certainly will if he -sees you.... After all, you know, you came als Ballast.... And we -shall have to lighten ship extensively pretty soon. Unless I'm -mistaken, the Prince will wake up presently and start doing -things with tremendous vigour.... I've taken a fancy to you. -It's the English strain in me. You're a rum little chap. I -shan't like seeing you whizz down the air.... You'd better make -yourself useful, Smallways. I think I shall requisition you for -my squad. You'll have to work, you know, and be infernally -intelligent and all that. And you'll have to hang about upside -down a bit. Still, it's the best chance you have. We shan't -carry passengers much farther this trip, I fancy. Ballast goes -over-board--if we don't want to ground precious soon and be taken -prisoners of war. The Prince won't do that anyhow. He'll be -game to the last." - -4 - -By means of a folding chair, which was still in its place behind -the door, they got to the window and looked out in turn and -contemplated a sparsely wooded country below, with no railways -nor roads, and only occasional signs of habitation. Then a bugle -sounded, and Kurt interpreted it as a summons to food. They got -through the door and clambered with some difficulty up the nearly -vertical passage, holding on desperately with toes and -finger-tips, to the ventilating perforations in its floor. The -mess stewards had found their fireless heating arrangements -intact, and there was hot cocoa for the officers and hot soup for -the men. - -Bert's sense of the queerness of this experience was so keen that -it blotted out any fear he might have felt. Indeed, he was far -more interested now than afraid. He seemed to have touched down -to the bottom of fear and abandonment overnight. He was growing -accustomed to the idea that he would probably be killed -presently, that this strange voyage in the air was in all -probability his death journey. No human being can keep -permanently afraid: fear goes at last to the back of one's mind, -accepted, and shelved, and done with. He squatted over his soup, -sopping it up with his bread, and contemplated his comrades. -They were all rather yellow and dirty, with four-day beards, and -they grouped themselves in the tired, unpremeditated manner of -men on a wreck. They talked little. The situation perplexed -them beyond any suggestion of ideas. Three had been hurt in the -pitching up of the ship during the fight, and one had a bandaged -bullet wound. It was incredible that this little band of men had -committed murder and massacre on a scale beyond precedent. None -of them who squatted on the sloping gas-padded partition, soup -mug in hand, seemed really guilty of anything of the sort, seemed -really capable of hurting a dog wantonly. They were all so -manifestly built for homely chalets on the solid earth and -carefully tilled fields and blond wives and cheery merrymaking. -The red-faced, sturdy man with light eyelashes who had brought -the first news of the air battle to the men's mess had finished -his soup, and with an expression of maternal solicitude was -readjusting the bandages of a youngster whose arm had been -sprained. - -Bert was crumbling the last of his bread into the last of his -soup, eking it out as long as possible, when suddenly he became -aware that every one was looking at a pair of feet that were -dangling across the downturned open doorway. Kurt appeared and -squatted across the hinge. In some mysterious way he had shaved -his face and smoothed down his light golden hair. He looked -extraordinarily cherubic. "Der Prinz," he said. - -A second pair of boots followed, making wide and magnificent -gestures in their attempts to feel the door frame. Kurt guided -them to a foothold, and the Prince, shaved and brushed and -beeswaxed and clean and big and terrible, slid down into position -astride of the door. All the men and Bert also stood up and -saluted. - -The Prince surveyed them with the gesture of a man who site a -steed. The head of the Kapitan appeared beside him. - -Then Bert had a terrible moment. The blue blaze of the Prince's -eye fell upon him, the great finger pointed, a question was -asked. Kurt intervened with explanations. - -"So," said the Prince, and Bert was disposed of. - -Then the Prince addressed the men in short, heroic sentences, -steadying himself on the hinge with one hand and waving the other -in a fine variety of gesture. What he said Bert could not tell, -but he perceived that their demeanor changed, their backs -stiffened. They began to punctuate the Prince's discourse with -cries of approval. At the end their leader burst into song and -all the men with him. "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott," they -chanted in deep, strong tones, with an immense moral uplifting. -It was glaringly inappropriate in a damaged, half-overturned, and -sinking airship, which had been disabled and blown out of action -after inflicting the cruellest bombardment in the world's -history; but it was immensely stirring nevertheless. Bert was -deeply moved. He could not sing any of the words of Luther's -great hymn, but he opened his mouth and emitted loud, deep, and -partially harmonious notes.... - -Far below, this deep chanting struck on the ears of a little camp -of Christianised half-breeds who were lumbering. They were -breakfasting, but they rushed out cheerfully, quite prepared for -the Second Advent. They stared at the shattered and twisted -Vaterland driving before the gale, amazed beyond words. In so -many respects it was like their idea of the Second Advent, and -then again in so many respects it wasn't. They stared at its -passage, awe-stricken and perplexed beyond their power of words. -The hymn ceased. Then after a long interval a voice came out of -heaven. "Vat id diss blace here galled itself; vat?" - -They made no answer. Indeed they did not understand, though the -question repeated itself. - -And at last the monster drove away northward over a crest of pine -woods and was no more seen. They fell into a hot and long -disputation.... - -The hymn ended. The Prince's legs dangled up the passage again, -and every one was briskly prepared for heroic exertion and -triumphant acts. "Smallways!" cried Kurt, "come here!" - -5 - -Then Bert, under Kurt's direction, had his first experience of the -work of an air-sailor. - -The immediate task before the captain of the Vaterland was a very -simple one. He had to keep afloat. The wind, though it had -fallen from its earlier violence, was still blowing strongly -enough to render the grounding of so clumsy a mass extremely -dangerous, even if it had been desirable for the Prince to land -in inhabited country, and so risk capture. It was necessary to -keep the airship up until the wind fell and then, if possible, to -descend in some lonely district of the Territory where there -would be a chance of repair or rescue by some searching consort. -In order to do this weight had to be dropped, and Kurt was -detailed with a dozen men to climb down among the wreckage of the -deflated air-chambers and cut the stuff clear, portion by -portion, as the airship sank. So Bert, armed with a sharp -cutlass, found himself clambering about upon netting four -thousand feet up in the air, trying to understand Kurt when he -spoke in English and to divine him when he used German. - -It was giddy work, but not nearly so giddy as a rather -overnourished reader sitting in a warm room might imagine. Bert -found it quite possible to look down and contemplate the wild -sub-arctic landscape below, now devoid of any sign of habitation, -a land of rocky cliffs and cascades and broad swirling desolate -rivers, and of trees and thickets that grew more stunted and -scrubby as the day wore on. Here and there on the hills were -patches and pockets of snow. And over all this he worked, -hacking away at the tough and slippery oiled silk and clinging -stoutly to the netting. Presently they cleared and dropped a -tangle of bent steel rods and wires from the frame, and a big -chunk of silk bladder. That was trying. The airship flew up at -once as this loose hamper parted. It seemed almost as though -they were dropping all Canada. The stuff spread out in the air -and floated down and hit and twisted up in a nasty fashion on the -lip of a gorge. Bert clung like a frozen monkey to his ropes and -did not move a muscle for five minutes. - -But there was something very exhilarating, he found, in this -dangerous work, and above every thing else, there was the sense -of fellowship. He was no longer an isolated and distrustful -stranger among these others, he had now a common object with -them, he worked with a friendly rivalry to get through with his -share before them. And he developed a great respect and -affection for Kurt, which had hitherto been only latent in him. -Kurt with a job to direct was altogether admirable; he was -resourceful, helpful, considerate, swift. He seemed to be -everywhere. One forgot his pinkness, his light cheerfulness of -manner. Directly one had trouble he was at hand with sound and -confident advice. He was like an elder brother to his men. - -All together they cleared three considerable chunks of wreckage, -and then Bert was glad to clamber up into the cabins again and -give place to a second squad. He and his companions were given -hot coffee, and indeed, even gloved as they were, the job had -been a cold one. They sat drinking it and regarding each other -with satisfaction. One man spoke to Bert amiably in German, and -Bert nodded and smiled. Through Kurt, Bert, whose ankles were -almost frozen, succeeded in getting a pair of top-boots from one -of the disabled men. - -In the afternoon the wind abated greatly, and small, infrequent -snowflakes came drifting by. Snow also spread more abundantly -below, and the only trees were clumps of pine and spruce in the -lower valleys. Kurt went with three men into the still intact -gas-chambers, let out a certain quantity of gas from them, and -prepared a series of ripping panels for the descent. Also the -residue of the bombs and explosives in the magazine were thrown -overboard and fell, detonating loudly, in the wilderness below. -And about four o'clock in the afternoon upon a wide and rocky -plain within sight of snow-crested cliffs, the Vaterland ripped -and grounded. - -It was necessarily a difficult and violent affair, for the -Vaterland had not been planned for the necessities of a balloon. -The captain got one panel ripped too soon and the others not soon -enough. She dropped heavily, bounced clumsily, and smashed the -hanging gallery into the fore-part, mortally injuring Von -Winterfeld, and then came down in a collapsing heap after -dragging for some moments. The forward shield and its machine -gun tumbled in upon the things below. Two men were hurt badly-- -one got a broken leg and one was internally injured--by flying -rods and wires, and Bert was pinned for a time under the side. -When at last he got clear and could take a view of the situation, -the great black eagle that had started so splendidly from -Franconia six evenings ago, sprawled deflated over the cabins of -the airship and the frost-bitten rocks of this desolate place and -looked a most unfortunate bird--as though some one had caught it -and wrung its neck and cast it aside. Several of the crew of the -airship were standing about in silence, contemplating the -wreckage and the empty wilderness into which they had fallen. -Others were busy under the imromptu tent made by the empty -gas-chambers. The Prince had gone a little way off and was -scrutinising the distant heights through his field-glass. They -had the appearance of old sea cliffs; here and there were small -clumps of conifers, and in two places tall cascades. The nearer -ground was strewn with glaciated boulders and supported nothing -but a stunted Alpine vegetation of compact clustering stems and -stalkless flowers. No river was visible, but the air was full of -the rush and babble of a torrent close at hand. A bleak and -biting wind was blowing. Ever and again a snowflake drifted -past. The springless frozen earth under Bert's feet felt -strangely dead and heavy after the buoyant airship. - -6 - -So it came about that that great and powerful Prince Karl Albert -was for a time thrust out of the stupendous conflict he chiefly -had been instrumental in provoking. The chances of battle and -the weather conspired to maroon him in Labrador, and there he -raged for six long days, while war and wonder swept the world. -Nation rose against nation and air-fleet grappled air-fleet, -cities blazed and men died in multitudes; but in Labrador one -might have dreamt that, except for a little noise of hammering, -the world was at peace. - -There the encampment lay; from a distance the cabins, covered -over with the silk of the balloon part, looked like a gipsy's -tent on a rather exceptional scale, and all the available hands -were busy in building out of the steel of the framework a mast -from which the Vaterland's electricians might hang the long -conductors of the apparatus for wireless telegraphy that was to -link the Prince to the world again. There were times when it -seemed they would never rig that mast. From the outset the party -suffered hardship. They were not too abundantly provisioned, and -they were put on short rations, and for all the thick garments -they had, they were but ill-equipped against the piercing wind -and inhospitable violence of this wilderness. The first night -was spent in darkness and without fires. The engines that had -supplied power were smashed and dropped far away to the south, -and there was never a match among the company. It had been death -to carry matches. All the explosives had been thrown out of the -magazine, and it was only towards morning that the bird-faced man -whose cabin Bert had taken in the beginning confessed to a brace -of duelling pistols and cartridges, with which a fire could be -started. Afterwards the lockers of the machine gun were found to -contain a supply of unused ammunition. - -The night was a distressing one and seemed almost interminable. -Hardly any one slept. There were seven wounded men aboard, and -Von Winterfeld's head had been injured, and he was shivering and -in delirium, struggling with his attendant and shouting strange -things about the burning of New York. The men crept together in -the mess-room in the darkling, wrapped in what they could find -and drank cocoa from the fireless heaters and listened to his -cries. In the morning the Prince made them a speech about -Destiny, and the God of his Fathers and the pleasure and glory of -giving one's life for his dynasty, and a number of similar -considerations that might otherwise have been neglected in that -bleak wilderness. The men cheered without enthusiasm, and far -away a wolf howled. - -Then they set to work, and for a week they toiled to put up a -mast of steel, and hang from it a gridiron of copper wires two -hundred feet by twelve. The theme of all that time was work, -work continually, straining and toilsome work, and all the rest -was grim hardship and evil chances, save for a certain wild -splendour in the sunset and sunrise in the torrents and drifting -weather, in the wilderness about them. They built and tended a -ring of perpetual fires, gangs roamed for brushwood and met with -wolves, and the wounded men and their beds were brought out from -the airship cabins, and put in shelters about the fires. There -old Von Winterfeld raved and became quiet and presently died, and -three of the other wounded sickened for want of good food, while -their fellows mended. These things happened, as it were, in the -wings; the central facts before Bert's consciousness were always -firstly the perpetual toil, the holding and lifting, and lugging -at heavy and clumsy masses, the tedious filing and winding of -wires, and secondly, the Prince, urgent and threatening whenever -a man relaxed. He would stand over them, and point over their -heads, southward into the empty sky. "The world there," he said -in German, "is waiting for us! Fifty Centuries come to their -Consummation." Bert did not understand the words, but he read -the gesture. Several times the Prince grew angry; once with a -man who was working slowly, once with a man who stole a comrade's -ration. The first he scolded and set to a more tedious task; the -second he struck in the face and ill-used. He did no work -himself. There was a clear space near the fires in which he -would walk up and down, sometimes for two hours together, with -arms folded, muttering to himself of Patience and his destiny. -At times these mutterings broke out into rhetoric, into shouts -and gestures that would arrest the workers; they would stare at -him until they perceived that his blue eyes glared and his waving -hand addressed itself always to the southward hills. On Sunday -the work ceased for half an hour, and the Prince preached on -faith and God's friendship for David, and afterwards they all -sang: "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott." - -In an improvised hovel lay Von Winterfeld, and all one morning he -raved of the greatness of Germany. "Blut und Eisen!" he shouted, -and then, as if in derision, "Welt-Politik--ha, ha!" Then he -would explain complicated questions of polity to imaginary -hearers, in low, wily tones. The other sick men kept still, -listening to him. Bert's distracted attention would be recalled -by Kurt. "Smallways, take that end. So!" - -Slowly, tediously, the great mast was rigged and hoisted foot by -foot into place. The electricians had contrived a catchment pool -and a wheel in the torrent close at hand--for the little -Mulhausen dynamo with its turbinal volute used by the -telegraphists was quite adaptable to water driving, and on the -sixth day in the evening the apparatus was in working order and -the Prince was calling--weakly, indeed, but calling--to his -air-fleet across the empty spaces of the world. For a time he -called unheeded. - -The effect of that evening was to linger long in Bert's memory. -A red fire spluttered and blazed close by the electricians at -their work, and red gleams xan up the vertical steel mast and -threads of copper wire towards the zenith. The Prince sat on a -rock close by, with his chin on his hand, waiting. Beyond and to -the northward was the cairn that covered Von Winterfeld, -surmounted by a cross of steel, and from among the tumbled rocks -in the distance the eyes of a wolf gleamed redly. On the other -hand was the wreckage of the great airship and the men bivouacked -about a second ruddy flare. They were all keeping very still, as -if waiting to hear what news might presently be given them. Far -away, across many hundreds of miles of desolation, other wireless -masts would be clicking, and snapping, and waking into responsive -vibration. Perhaps they were not. Perhaps those throbs upon the -ethers wasted themselves upon a regardless world. When the men -spoke, they spoke in low tones. Now and then a bird shrieked -remotely, and once a wolf howled. All these things were set in -the immense cold spaciousness of the wild. - -7 - -Bert got the news last, and chiefly in broken English, from a -linguist among his mates. It was only far on in the night that -the weary telegraphist got an answer to his calls, but then the -messages came clear and strong. And such news it was! - -"I say," said Bert at his breakfast, amidst a great clamour, -"tell us a bit." - -"All de vorlt is at vor!" said the linguist, waving his cocoa in -an illustrative manner, "all de vorlt is at vor!" - -Bert stared southward into the dawn. It did not seem so. - -"All de vorlt is at vor! They haf burn' Berlin; they haf burn' -London; they haf burn' Hamburg and Paris. Chapan hass burn San -Francisco. We haf mate a camp at Niagara. Dat is whad they are -telling us. China has cot drachenflieger and luftschiffe beyont -counting. All de vorlt is at vor!" - -"Gaw!" said Bert. - -"Yess," said the linguist, drinking his cocoa. - -"Burnt up London, 'ave they? Like we did New York?" - -"It wass a bombardment." - -"They don't say anything about a place called Clapham, or Bun -Hill, do they?" - -"I haf heard noding," said the linguist. - -That was all Bert could get for a time. But the excitement of -all the men about him was contagious, and presently he saw Kurt -standing alone, hands behind him, and looking at one of the -distant waterfalls very steadfastly. He went up and saluted, -soldier-fashion. "Beg pardon, lieutenant," he said. - -Kurt turned his face. It was unusually grave that morning. "I -was just thinking I would like to see that waterfall closer," he -said. "It reminds me--what do you want?" - -"I can't make 'ead or tail of what they're saying, sir. Would -you mind telling me the news?" - -"Damn the news," said Kurt. "You'll get news enough before the -day's out. It's the end of the world. They're sending the Graf -Zeppelin for us. She'll be here by the morning, and we ought to -be at Niagara--or eternal smash--within eight and forty hours.... -I want to look at that waterfall. You'd better come with me. -Have you had your rations?" - -"Yessir." - -"Very well. Come." - -And musing profoundly, Kurt led the way across the rocks towards -the distant waterfall. - -For a time Bert walked behind him in the character of an escort; -then as they passed out of the atmosphere of the encampment, Kurt -lagged for him to come alongside. - -"We shall be back in it all in two days' time," he said. "And -it's a devil of a war to go back to. That's the news. The -world's gone mad. Our fleet beat the Americans the night we got -disabled, that's clear. We lost eleven--eleven airships certain, -and all their aeroplanes got smashed. God knows how much we -smashed or how many we killed. But that was only the beginning. -Our start's been like firing a magazine. Every country was -hiding flying-machines. They're fighting in the air all over -Europe--all over the world. The Japanese and Chinese have joined -in. That's the great fact. That's the supreme fact. They've -pounced into our little quarrels.... The Yellow Peril was a peril -after all! They've got thousands of airships. They're all over -the world. We bombarded London and Paris, and now the French and -English have smashed up Berlin. And now Asia is at us all, and -on the top of us all.... It's mania. China on the top. And -they don't know where to stop. It's limitless. It's the last -confusion. They're bombarding capitals, smashing up dockyards -and factories, mines and fleets." - -"Did they do much to London, sir?" asked Bert. - -"Heaven knows...." - -He said no more for a time. - -"This Labrador seems a quiet place," he resumed at last. "I'm -half a mind to stay here. Can't do that. No! I've got to see -it through. I've got to see it through. You've got to, too. -Every one.... But why?... I tell you--our world's gone to pieces. -There's no way out of it, no way back. Here we are! We're like -mice caught in a house on fire, we're like cattle overtaken by a -flood. Presently we shall be picked up, and back we shall go -into the fighting. We shall kill and smash again--perhaps. It's -a Chino-Japanese air-fleet this time, and the odds are against -us. Our turns will come. What will happen to you I don't know, -but for myself, I know quite well; I shall be killed." - -"You'll be all right," said Bert, after a queer pause. - -"No!" said Kurt, "I'm going to be killed. I didn't know it -before, but this morning, at dawn, I knew it--as though I'd been -told." - -"'Ow?" - -"I tell you I know." - -"But 'ow COULD you know?" - -"I know." - -"Like being told?" - -"Like being certain. - -"I know," he repeated, and for a time they walked in silence -towards the waterfall. - -Kurt, wrapped in his thoughts, walked heedlessly, and at last -broke out again. "I've always felt young before, Smallways, but -this morning I feel old--old. So old! Nearer to death than old -men feel. And I've always thought life was a lark. It isn't.... -This sort of thing has always been happening, I suppose--these -things, wars and earthquakes, that sweep across all the decency -of life. It's just as though I had woke up to it all for the -first time. Every night since we were at New York I've dreamt of -it.... And it's always been so--it's the way of life. People are -torn away from the people they care for; homes are smashed, -creatures full of life, and memories, and little peculiar gifts -are scalded and smashed, and torn to pieces, and starved, and -spoilt. London! Berlin! San Francisco! Think of all the human -histories we ended in New York!... And the others go on again as -though such things weren't possible. As I went on! Like animals! -Just like animals." - -He said nothing for a long time, and then he dropped out, "The -Prince is a lunatic!" - -They came to a place where they had to climb, and then to a long -peat level beside a rivulet. There a quantity of delicate little -pink flowers caught Bert's eye. "Gaw!" he said, and stooped to -pick one. "In a place like this." - -Kurt stopped and half turned. His face winced. - -"I never see such a flower," said Bert. "It's so delicate." - -"Pick some more if you want to," said Kurt. - -Bert did so, while Kurt stood and watched him. - -"Funny 'ow one always wants to pick flowers," said Bert. - -Kurt had nothing to add to that. - -They went on again, without talking, for a long time. - -At last they came to a rocky hummock, from which the view of the -waterfall opened out. There Kurt stopped and seated himself on a -rock. - -"That's as much as I wanted to see," he explained. "It isn't -very like, but it's like enough." - -"Like what?" - -"Another waterfall I knew." - -He asked a question abruptly. "Got a girl, Smallways?" - -"Funny thing," said Bert, "those flowers, I suppose.--I was jes' -thinking of 'er." - -"So was I." - -"WHAT! Edna?" - -"No. I was thinking of MY Edna. We've all got Ednas, I suppose, -for our imaginations to play about. This was a girl. But all -that's past for ever. It's hard to think I can't see her just -for a minute--just let her know I'm thinking of her." - -"Very likely," said Bert, "you'll see 'er all right." - -"No," said Kurt with decision, "I KNOW." - -"I met her," he went on, "in a place like this--in the -Alps--Engstlen Alp. There's a waterfall rather like this one--a -broad waterfall down towards Innertkirchen. That's why I came -here this morning. We slipped away and had half a day together -beside it. And we picked flowers. Just such flowers as you -picked. The same for all I know. And gentian." - -"I know" said Bert, "me and Edna--we done things like that. -Flowers. And all that. Seems years off now." - -"She was beautiful and daring and shy, Mein Gott! I can hardly -hold myself for the desire to see her and hear her voice again -before I die. Where is she?... Look here, Smallways, I shall -write a sort of letter--And there's her portrait." He touched -his breast pocket. - -"You'll see 'er again all right," said Bert. - -"No! I shall never see her again.... I don't understand why -people should meet just to be torn apart. But I know she and I -will never meet again. That I know as surely as that the sun -will rise, and that cascade come shining over the rocks after I -am dead and done.... Oh! It's all foolishness and haste and -violence and cruel folly, stupidity and blundering hate and -selfish ambition--all the things that men have done--all the -things they will ever do. Gott! Smallways, what a muddle and -confusion life has always been--the battles and massacres and -disasters, the hates and harsh acts, the murders and sweatings, -the lynchings and cheatings. This morning I am tired of it all, -as though I'd just found it out for the first time. I HAVE found -it out. When a man is tired of life, I suppose it is time for -him to die. I've lost heart, and death is over me. Death is -close to me, and I know I have got to end. But think of all the -hopes I had only a little time ago, the sense of fine -beginnings!... It was all a sham. There were no beginnings.... -We're just ants in ant-hill cities, in a world that doesn't -matter; that goes on and rambles into nothingness. New York--New -York doesn't even strike me as horrible. New York was nothing -but an ant-hill kicked to pieces by a fool! - -"Think of it, Smallways: there's war everywhere! They're -smashing up their civilisation before they have made it. The -sort of thing the English did at Alexandria, the Japanese at Port -Arthur, the French at Casablanca, is going on everywhere. -Everywhere! Down in South America even they are fighting among -themselves! No place is safe--no place is at peace. There is no -place where a woman and her daughter can hide and be at peace. -The war comes through the air, bombs drop in the night. Quiet -people go out in the morning, and see air-fleets passing -overhead--dripping death--dripping death!" - - - -CHAPTER VIII -A WORLD AT WAR - -1 - -It was only very slowly that Bert got hold of this idea that the -whole world was at war, that he formed any image at all of the -crowded countries south of these Arctic solitudes stricken with -terror and dismay as these new-born aerial navies swept across -their skies. He was not used to thinking of the world as a -whole, but as a limitless hinterland of happenings beyond the -range of his immediate vision. War in his imagination was -something, a source of news and emotion, that happened in a -restricted area, called the Seat of War. But now the whole -atmosphere was the Seat of War, and every land a cockpit. So -closely had the nations raced along the path of research and -invention, so secret and yet so parallel had been their plans and -acquisitions, that it was within a few hours of the launching of -the first fleet in Franconia that an Asiatic Armada beat its -west-ward way across, high above the marvelling millions in the -plain of the Ganges. But the preparations of the Confederation -of Eastern Asia had been on an altogether more colossal scale -than the German. "With this step," said Tan Ting-siang, "we -overtake and pass the West. We recover the peace of the world -that these barbarians have destroyed." - -Their secrecy and swiftness and inventions had far surpassed -those of the Germans, and where the Germans had had a hundred men -at work the Asiatics had ten thousand. There came to their great -aeronautic parks at Chinsi-fu and Tsingyen by the mono-rails that -now laced the whole surface of China a limitless supply of -skilled and able workmen, workmen far above the average European -in industrial efficiency. The news of the German World Surprise -simply quickened their efforts. At the time of the bombardment -of New York it is doubtful if the Germans had three hundred -airships all together in the world; the score of Asiatic fleets -flying east and west and south must have numbered several -thousand. Moreover the Asiatics had a real fighting -flying-machine, the Niais as they were called, a light but quite -efficient weapon, infinitely superior to the German -drachenflieger. Like that, it was a one-man machine, but it was -built very lightly of steel and cane and chemical silk, with a -transverse engine, and a flapping sidewing. The aeronaut carried -a gun firing explosive bullets loaded with oxygen, and in -addition, and true to the best tradition of Japan, a sword. -Mostly they were Japanese, and it is characteristic that from the -first it was contemplated that the aeronaut should be a -swordsman. The wings of these flyers had bat-like hooks forward, -by which they were to cling to their antagonist's gas-chambers -while boarding him. These light flying-machines were carried -with the fleets, and also sent overland or by sea to the front -with the men. They were capable of flights of from two to five -hundred miles according to the wind. - -So, hard upon the uprush of the first German air-fleet, these -Asiatic swarms took to the atmosphere. Instantly every organised -Government in the world was frantically and vehemently building -airships and whatever approach to a flying machine its inventors' -had discovered. There was no time for diplomacy. Warnings and -ultimatums were telegraphed to and fro, and in a few hours all the -panic-fierce world was openly at war, and at war in the most -complicated way. For Britain and France and Italy had declared -war upon Germany and outraged Swiss neutrality; India, at the -sight of Asiatic airships, had broken into a Hindoo insurrection -in Bengal and a Mohametan revolt hostile to this in the -North-west Provinces--the latter spreading like wildfire from -Gobi to the Gold Coast--and the Confederation of Eastern Asia had -seized the oil wells of Burmha and was impartially attacking -America and Germany. In a week they were building airships in -Damascus and Cairo and Johannesburg; Australia and New Zealand -were frantically equipping themselves. One unique and terrifying -aspect of this development was the swiftness with which these -monsters could be produced. To build an ironclad took from two to -four years; an airship could be put together in as many weeks. -Moreover, compared with even a torpedo boat, the airship was -remarkably simple to construct, given the air-chamber material, -the engines, the gas plant, and the design, it was really not -more complicated and far easier than an ordinary wooden boat had -been a hundred years before. And now from Cape Horn to Nova -Zembla, and from Canton round to Canton again, there were -factories and workshops and industrial resources. - -And the German airships were barely in sight of the Atlantic -waters, the first Asiatic fleet was scarcely reported from Upper -Burmah, before the fantastic fabric of credit and finance that -had held the world together economically for a hundred years -strained and snapped. A tornado of realisation swept through -every stock exchange in the world; banks stopped payment, -business shrank and ceased, factories ran on for a day or so by a -sort of inertia, completing the orders of bankrupt and -extinguished customers, then stopped. The New York Bert -Smallways saw, for all its glare of light and traffic, was in the -pit of an economic and financial collapse unparalleled in -history. The flow of the food supply was already a little -checked. And before the world-war had lasted two weeks--by the -time, that is, that mast was rigged in Labrador--there was not a -city or town in the world outside China, however far from the -actual centres of destruction, where police and government were -not adopting special emergency methods to deal with a want of -food and a glut of unemployed people. - -The special peculiarities of aerial warfare were of such a nature -as to trend, once it had begun, almost inevitably towards social -disorganisation. The first of these peculiarities was brought -home to the Germans in their attack upon New York; the immense -power of destruction an airship has over the thing below, and its -relative inability to occupy or police or guard or garrison a -surrendered position. Necessarily, in the face of urban -populations in a state of economic disorganisation and infuriated -and starving, this led to violent and destructive collisions, and -even where the air-fleet floated inactive above, there would be -civil conflict and passionate disorder below. Nothing comparable -to this state of affairs had been known in the previous history -of warfare, unless we take such a case as that of a nineteenth -century warship attacking some large savage or barbaric -settlement, or one of those naval bombardments that disfigure the -history of Great Britain in the late eighteenth century. Then, -indeed, there had been cruelties and destruction that faintly -foreshadowed the horrors of the aerial war. Moreover, before the -twentieth century the world had had but one experience, and that -a comparatively light one, in the Communist insurrection of -Paris, 1871, of the possibilities of a modern urban population -under warlike stresses. - -A second peculiarity of airship war as it first came to the world -that also made for social collapse, was the ineffectiveness of -the early air-ships against each other. Upon anything below they -could rain explosives in the most deadly fashion, forts and ships -and cities lay at their mercy, but unless they were prepared for -a suicidal grapple they could do remarkably little mischief to -each other. The armament of the huge German airships, big as the -biggest mammoth liners afloat, was one machine gun that could -easily have been packed up on a couple of mules. In addition, -when it became evident that the air must be fought for, the -air-sailors were provided with rifles with explosive bullets of -oxygen or inflammable substance, but no airship at any time ever -carried as much in the way of guns and armour as the smallest -gunboat on the navy list had been accustomed to do. -Consequently, when these monsters met in battle, they manoeuvred -for the upper place, or grappled and fought like junks, throwing -grenades fighting hand to hand in an entirely medieval fashion. -The risks of a collapse and fall on either side came near to -balancing in every case the chances of victory. As a -consequence, and after their first experiences of battle, one -finds a growing tendency on the part of the air-fleet admirals to -evade joining battle, and to seek rather the moral advantage of a -destructive counter attack. - -And if the airships were too ineffective, the early -drachenflieger were either too unstable, like the German, or too -light, like the Japanese, to produce immediately decisive -results. Later, it is true, the Brazilians launched a -flying-machine of a type and scale that was capable of dealing -with an airship, but they built only three or four, they operated -only in South America, and they vanished from history untraceably -in the time when world-bankruptcy put a stop to all further -engineering production on any considerable scale. - -The third peculiarity of aerial warfare was that it was at once -enormously destructive and entirely indecisive. It had this -unique feature, that both sides lay open to punitive attack. In -all previous forms of war, both by land and sea, the losing side -was speedily unable to raid its antagonist's territory and the -communications. One fought on a "front," and behind that front -the winner's supplies and resources, his towns and factories and -capital, the peace of his country, were secure. If the war was a -naval one, you destroyed your enemy's battle fleet and then -blockaded his ports, secured his coaling stations, and hunted -down any stray cruisers that threatened your ports of commerce. -But to blockade and watch a coastline is one thing, to blockade -and watch the whole surface of a country is another, and cruisers -and privateers are things that take long to make, that cannot be -packed up and hidden and carried unostentatiously from point to -point. In aerial war the stronger side, even supposing it -destroyed the main battle fleet of the weaker, had then either to -patrol and watch or destroy every possible point at which he -might produce another and perhaps a novel and more deadly form of -flyer. It meant darkening his air with airships. It meant -building them by the thousand and making aeronauts by the hundred -thousand. A small uninitated airship could be hidden in a -railway shed, in a village street, in a wood; a flying machine is -even less conspicuous. - -And in the air are no streets, no channels, no point where one -can say of an antagonist, "If he wants to reach my capital he -must come by here." In the air all directions lead everywhere. - -Consequently it was impossible to end a war by any of the -established methods. A, having outnumbered and overwhelmed B, -hovers, a thousand airships strong, over his capital, threatening -to bombard it unless B submits. B replies by wireless telegraphy -that he is now in the act of bombarding the chief manufacturing -city of A by means of three raider airships. A denounces B's -raiders as pirates and so forth, bombards B's capital, and sets -off to hunt down B's airships, while B, in a state of passionate -emotion and heroic unconquerableness, sets to work amidst his -ruins, making fresh airships and explosives for the benefit of A. -The war became perforce a universal guerilla war, a war -inextricably involving civilians and homes and all the apparatus -of social life. - -These aspects of aerial fighting took the world by surprise. -There had been no foresight to deduce these consequences. If -there had been, the world would have arranged for a Universal -Peace Conference in 1900. But mechanical invention had gone -faster than intellectual and social organisation, and the world, -with its silly old flags, its silly unmeaning tradition of -nationality, its cheap newspapers and cheaper passions and -imperialisms, its base commercial motives and habitual -insincerities and vulgarities, its race lies and conflicts, was -taken by surprise. Once the war began there was no stopping it. -The flimsy fabric of credit that had grown with no man -foreseeing, and that had held those hundreds of millions in an -economic interdependence that no man clearly understood, -dissolved in panic. Everywhere went the airships dropping bombs, -destroying any hope of a rally, and everywhere below were -economic catastrophe, starving workless people, rioting, and -social disorder. Whatever constructive guiding intelligence -there had been among the nations vanished in the passionate -stresses of the time. Such newspapers and documents and -histories as survive from this period all tell one universal -story of towns and cities with the food supply interrupted and -their streets congested with starving unemployed; of crises in -administration and states of siege, of provisional Governments -and Councils of Defence, and, in the cases of India and Egypt, -insurrectionary committees taking charge of the re-arming of the -population, of the making of batteries and gun-pits, of the -vehement manufacture of airships and flying-machines. - -One sees these things in glimpses, in illuminated moments, as if -through a driving reek of clouds, going on all over the world. -It was the dissolution of an age; it was the collapse of the -civilisation that had trusted to machinery, and the instruments -of its destruction were machines. But while the collapse of the -previous great civilisation, that of Rome, had been a matter of -centuries, had been a thing of phase and phase, like the ageing -and dying of a man, this, like his killing by railway or motor -car, was one swift, conclusive smashing and an end. - -2 - -The early battles of the aerial war were no doubt determined by -attempts to realise the old naval maxim, to ascertain the -position of the enemy's fleet and to destroy it. There was first -the battle of the Bernese Oberland, in which the Italian and -French navigables in their flank raid upon the Franconian Park -were assailed by the Swiss experimental squadron, supported as -the day wore on by German airships, and then the encounter of the -British Winterhouse-Dunn aeroplanes with three unfortunate -Germans. - -Then came the Battle of North India, in which the entire -Anglo-Indian aeronautic settlement establishment fought for three -days against overwhelming odds, and was dispersed and destroyed -in detail. - -And simultaneously with the beginning of that, commenced the -momentous struggle of the Germans and Asiatics that is usually -known as the Battle of Niagara because of the objective of the -Asiatic attack. But it passed gradually into a sporadic conflict -over half a continent. Such German airships as escaped -destruction in battle descended and surrendered to the Americans, -and were re-manned, and in the end it became a series of pitiless -and heroic encounters between the Americans, savagely resolved to -exterminate their enemies, and a continually reinforced army of -invasion from Asia quartered upon the Pacific slope and supported -by an immense fleet. From the first the war in America was -fought with implacable bitterness; no quarter was asked, no -prisoners were taken. With ferocious and magnificent energy the -Americans constructed and launched ship after ship to battle and -perish against the Asiatic multitudes. All other affairs were -subordinate to this war, the whole population was presently -living or dying for it. Presently, as I shall tell, the white -men found in the Butteridge machine a weapon that could meet and -fight the flying-machines of the Asiatic swordsman. - -The Asiatic invasion of America completely effaced the -German-American conflict. It vanishes from history. At first it -had seemed to promise quite sufficient tragedy in -itself--beginning as it did in unforgettable massacre. After the -destruction of central New York all America had risen like one -man, resolved to die a thousand deaths rather than submit to -Germany. The Germans grimly resolved upon beating the Americans -into submission and, following out the plans developed by the -Prince, had seized Niagara--in order to avail themselves of its -enormous powerworks; expelled all its inhabitants and made a -desert of its environs as far as Buffalo. They had also, -directly Great Britain and France declare war, wrecked the -country upon the Canadian side for nearly ten miles inland. They -began to bring up men and material from the fleet off the east -coast, stringing out to and fro like bees getting honey. It was -then that the Asiatic forces appeared, and it was in their attack -upon this German base at Niagara that the air-fleets of East and -West first met and the greater issue became clear. - -One conspicuous peculiarity of the early aerial fighting arose -from the profound secrecy with which the airships had been -prepared. Each power had had but the dimmest inkling of the -schemes of its rivals, and even experiments with its own devices -were limited by the needs of secrecy. None of the designers of -airships and aeroplanes had known clearly what their inventions -might have to fight; many had not imagined they would have to -fight anything whatever in the air; and had planned them only for -the dropping of explosives. Such had been the German idea. The -only weapon for fighting another airship with which the -Franconian fleet had been provided was the machine gun forward. -Only after the fight over New York were the men given short -rifles with detonating bullets. Theoretically, the -drachenflieger were to have been the fighting weapon. They were -declared to be aerial torpedo-boats, and the aeronaut was -supposed to swoop close to his antagonist and cast his bombs as -he whirled past. But indeed these contrivances were hopelessly -unstable; not one-third in any engagement succeeded in getting -back to the mother airship. The rest were either smashed up or -grounded. - -The allied Chino-Japanese fleet made the same distinction as the -Germans between airships and fighting machines heavier than air, -but the type in both cases was entirely different from the -occidental models, and--it is eloquent of the vigour with which -these great peoples took up and bettered the European methods of -scientific research in almost every particular the invention of -Asiatic engineers. Chief among these, it is worth remarking, was -Mohini K. Chatterjee, a political exile who had formerly served -in the British-Indian aeronautic park at Lahore. - -The German airship was fish-shaped, with a blunted head; the -Asiatic airship was also fish-shaped, but not so much on the -lines of a cod or goby as of a ray or sole. It had a wide, flat -underside, unbroken by windows or any opening except along the -middle line. Its cabins occupied its axis, with a sort of -bridge deck above, and the gas-chambers gave the whole affair the -shape of a gipsy's hooped tent, except that it was much flatter. -The German airship was essentially a navigable balloon very much -lighter than air; the Asiatic airship was very little lighter -than air and skimmed through it with much greater velocity if -with considerably less stability. They carried fore and aft -guns, the latter much the larger, throwing inflammatory shells, -and in addition they had nests for riflemen on both the upper and -the under side. Light as this armament was in comparison with -the smallest gunboat that ever sailed, it was sufficient for them -to outfight as well as outfly the German monster airships. In -action they flew to get behind or over the Germans: they even -dashed underneath, avoiding only passing immediately beneath the -magazine, and then as soon as they had crossed let fly with their -rear gun, and sent flares or oxygen shells into the antagonist's -gas-chambers. - -It was not in their airships, but, as I have said, in their -flying-machines proper, that the strength of the Asiatics lay. -Next only to the Butteridge machine, these were certainly the -most efficient heavier-than-air fliers that had ever appeared. -They were the invention of a Japanese artist, and they differed -in type extremely from the box-kite quality of the German -drachenflieger. They had curiously curved, flexible side wings, -more like BENT butterfly's wings than anything else, and made of -a substance like celluloid and of brightly painted silk, and they -had a long humming-bird tail. At the forward corner of the wings -were hooks, rather like the claws of a bat, by which the machine -could catch and hang and tear at the walls of an airship's -gas-chamber. The solitary rider sat between the wings above a -transverse explosive engine, an explosive engine that differed in -no essential particular from those in use in the light motor -bicycles of the period. Below was a single large wheel. The -rider sat astride of a saddle, as in the Butteridge machine, and -he carried a large double-edged two-handed sword, in addition to -his explosive-bullet firing rifle. - -3 - -One sets down these particulars and compares the points of the -American and German pattern of aeroplane and navigable, but none -of these facts were clearly known to any of those who fought in -this monstrously confused battle above the American great lakes. - -Each side went into action against it knew not what, under novel -conditions and with apparatus that even without hostile attacks -was capable of producing the most disconcerting surprises. -Schemes of action, attempts at collective manoeuvring necessarily -went to pieces directly the fight began, just as they did in -almost all the early ironclad battles of the previous century. -Each captain then had to fall back upon individual action and his -own devices; one would see triumph in what another read as a cue -for flight and despair. It is as true of the Battle of Niagara -as of the Battle of Lissa that it was not a battle but a bundle -of "battlettes"! - -To such a spectator as Bert it presented itself as a series of -incidents, some immense, some trivial, but collectively -incoherent. He never had a sense of any plain issue joined, of -any point struggled for and won or lost. He saw tremendous -things happen and in the end his world darkened to disaster and -ruin. - -He saw the battle from the ground, from Prospect Park and from -Goat Island, whither he fled. - -But the manner in which he came to be on the ground needs -explaining. - -The Prince had resumed command of his fleet through wireless -telegraphy long before the Zeppelin had located his encampment in -Labrador. By his direction the German air-fleet, whose advance -scouts had been in contact with the Japanese over the Rocky -Mountains, had concentrated upon Niagara and awaited his arrival. -He had rejoined his command early in the morning of the twelfth, -and Bert had his first prospect of the Gorge of Niagara while he -was doing net drill outside the middle gas-chamber at sunrise. -The Zeppelin was flying very high at the time, and far below he -saw the water in the gorge marbled with froth and then away to -the west the great crescent of the Canadian Fall shining, -flickering and foaming in the level sunlight and sending up a -deep, incessant thudding rumble to the sky. The air-fleet was -keeping station in an enormous crescent, with its horns pointing -south-westward, a long array of shining monsters with tails -rotating slowly and German ensigns now trailing from their -bellies aft of their Marconi pendants. - -Niagara city was still largely standing then, albeit its streets -were empty of all life. Its bridges were intact; its hotels and -restaurants still flying flags and inviting sky signs; its -power-stations running. But about it the country on both sides -of the gorge might have been swept by a colossal broom. -Everything that could possibly give cover to an attack upon the -German position at Niagara had been levelled as ruthlessly as -machinery and explosives could contrive; houses blown up and -burnt, woods burnt, fences and crops destroyed. The mono-rails -had been torn up, and the roads in particular cleared of all -possibility of concealment or shelter. Seen from above, the -effect of this wreckage was grotesque. Young woods had been -destroyed whole-sale by dragging wires, and the spoilt saplings, -smashed or uprooted, lay in swathes like corn after the sickle. -Houses had an appearance of being flattened down by the pressure -of a gigantic finger. Much burning was still going on, and large -areas had been reduced to patches of smouldering and sometimes -still glowing blackness. - -Here and there lay the debris of belated fugitives, carts, and -dead bodies of horses and men; and where houses had had -water-supplies there were pools of water and running springs from -the ruptured pipes. In unscorched fields horses and cattle still -fed peacefully. Beyond this desolated area the countryside was -still standing, but almost all the people had fled. Buffalo was -on fire to an enormous extent, and there were no signs of any -efforts to grapple with the flames. Niagara city itself was -being rapidly converted to the needs of a military depot. A -large number of skilled engineers had already been brought from -the fleet and were busily at work adapting the exterior -industrial apparatus of the place to the purposes of an -aeronautic park. They had made a gas recharging station at the -corner of the American Fall above the funicular railway, and they -were, opening up a much larger area to the south for the same -purpose. Over the power-houses and hotels and suchlike prominent -or important points the German flag was flying. - -The Zeppelin circled slowly over this scene twice while the -Prince surveyed it from the swinging gallery; it then rose -towards the centre of the crescent and transferred the Prince and -his suite, Kurt included, to the Hohenzollern, which had been -chosen as the flagship during the impending battle. They were -swung up on a small cable from the forward gallery, and the men -of the Zeppelin manned the outer netting as the Prince and his -staff left them. The Zeppelin then came about, circled down and -grounded in Prospect Park, in order to land the wounded and take -aboard explosives; for she had come to Labrador with her -magazines empty, it being uncertain what weight she might need to -carry. She also replenished the hydrogen in one of her forward -chambers which had leaked. - -Bert was detailed as a bearer and helped carry the wounded one by -one into the nearest of the large hotels that faced the Canadian -shore. The hotel was quite empty except that there were two -trained American nurses and a negro porter, and three or four -Germans awaiting them. Bert went with the Zeppelin's doctor into -the main street of the place, and they broke into a drug shop and -obtained various things of which they stood in need. As they -returned they found an officer and two men making a rough -inventory of the available material in the various stores. -Except for them the wide, main street of the town was quite -deserted, the people had been given three hours to clear out, and -everybody, it seemed, had done so. At one corner a dead man lay -against the wall--shot. Two or three dogs were visible up the -empty vista, but towards its river end the passage of a string of -mono-rail cars broke the stillness and the silence. They were -loaded with hose, and were passing to the trainful of workers who -were converting Prospect Park into an airship dock. - -Bert pushed a case of medicine balanced on a bicycle taken from -an adjacent shop, to the hotel, and then he was sent to load -bombs into the Zeppelin magazine, a duty that called for -elaborate care. From this job he was presently called off by the -captain of the Zeppelin, who sent him with a note to the officer -in charge of the Anglo-American Power Company, for the field -telephone had still to be adjusted. Bert received his -instructions in German, whose meaning he guessed, and saluted and -took the note, not caring to betray his ignorance of the -language. He started off with a bright air of knowing his way -and turned a corner or so, and was only beginning to suspect that -he did not know where he was going when his attention was -recalled to the sky by the report of a gun from the Hohenzollern -and celestial cheering. - -He looked up and found the view obstructed by the houses on -either side of the street. He hesitated, and then curiosity took -him back towards the bank of the river. Here his view was -inconvenienced by trees, and it was with a start that he -discovered the Zeppelin, which he knew had still a quarter of her -magazines to fill, was rising over Goat Island. She had not -waited for her complement of ammunition. It occurred to him that -he was left behind. He ducked back among the trees and bushes -until he felt secure from any after-thought on the part of the -Zeppelin's captain. Then his curiosity to see what the German -air-fleet faced overcame him, and drew him at last halfway across -the bridge to Goat Island. - -From that point he had nearly a hemisphere of sky and got his -first glimpse of the Asiatic airships low in the sky above the -glittering tumults of the Upper Rapids. - -They were far less impressive than the German ships. He could -not judge the distance, and they flew edgeways to him, so as to -conceal the broader aspect of their bulk. - -Bert stood there in the middle of the bridge, in a place that -most people who knew it remembered as a place populous with -sightseers and excursionists, and he was the only human being in -sight there. Above him, very high in the heavens, the contending -air-fleets manoeuvred; below him the river seethed like a sluice -towards the American Fall. He was curiously dressed. His cheap -blue serge trousers were thrust into German airship rubber boots, -and on his head he wore an aeronaut's white cap that was a trifle -too large for him. He thrust that back to reveal his staring -little Cockney face, still scarred upon the brow. "Gaw!" he -whispered. - -He stared. He gesticulated. Once or twice he shouted and -applauded. - -Then at a certain point terror seized him and he took to his -heels in the direction of Goat Island. - -4 - -For a time after they were in sight of each other, neither fleet -attempted to engage. The Germans numbered sixty-seven great -airships and they maintained the crescent formation at a height -of nearly four thousand feet. They kept a distance of about one -and a half lengths, so that the horns of the crescent were nearly -thirty miles apart. Closely in tow of the airships of the -extreme squadrons on either wing were about thirty drachenflieger -ready manned, but these were too small and distant for Bert to -distinguish. - -At first, only what was called the Southern fleet of the Asiatics -was visible to him. It consisted of forty airships, carrying all -together nearly four hundred one-man flying-machines upon their -flanks, and for some time it flew slowly and at a minimum -distance of perhaps a dozen miles from the Germans, eastward -across their front. At first Bert could distinguish only the -greater bulks, then he perceived the one-man machines as a -multitude of very small objects drifting like motes in the -sunshine about and beneath the larger shapes. - -Bert saw nothing then of the second fleet of the Asiatics, though -probably that was coming into sight of the Germans at the time, -in the north-west. - -The air was very still, the sky almost without a cloud, and the -German fleet had risen to an immense height, so that the airships -seemed no longer of any considerable size. Both ends of their -crescent showed plainly. As they beat southward they passed -slowly between Bert and the sunlight, and became black outlines -of themselves. The drachenflieger appeared as little flecks of -black on either wing of this aerial Armada. - -The two fleets seemed in no hurry to engage. The Asiatics went -far away into the east, quickening their pace and rising as they -did so, and then tailed out into a long column and came flying -back, rising towards the German left. The squadrons of the -latter came about, facing this oblique advance, and suddenly -little flickerings and a faint crepitating sound told that they -had opened fire. For a time no effect was visible to the watcher -on the bridge. Then, like a handful of snowflakes, the -drachenflieger swooped to the attack, and a multitude of red -specks whirled up to meet them. It was to Bert's sense not only -enormously remote but singularly inhuman. Not four hours since -he had been on one of those very airships, and yet they seemed to -him now not gas-bags carrying men, but strange sentient creatures -that moved about and did things with a purpose of their own. The -flight of the Asiatic and German flying-machines joined and -dropped earthward, became like a handful of white and red rose -petals flung from a distant window, grew larger, until Bert could -see the overturned ones spinning through the air, and were hidden -by great volumes of dark smoke that were rising in the direction -of Buffalo. For a time they all were hidden, then two or three -white and a number of red ones rose again into the sky, like a -swarm of big butterflies, and circled fighting and drove away out -of sight again towards the east. - -A heavy report recalled Bert's eyes to the zenith, and behold, -the great crescent had lost its dressing and burst into a -disorderly long cloud of airships! One had dropped halfway down -the sky. It was flaming fore and aft, and even as Bert looked it -turned over and fell, spinning over and over itself and vanished -into the smoke of Buffalo. - -Bert's mouth opened and shut, and he clutched tighter on the rail -of the bridge. For some moments--they seemed long moments--the -two fleets remained without any further change flying obliquely -towards each other, and making what came to Bert's ears as a -midget uproar. Then suddenly from either side airships began -dropping out of alignment, smitten by missiles he could neither -see nor trace. The string of Asiatic ships swung round and -either charged into or over (it was difficult to say from below) -the shattered line of the Germans, who seemed to open out to give -way to them. Some sort of manoeuvring began, but Bert could not -grasp its import. The left of the battle became a confused dance -of airships. For some minutes up there the two crossing lines of -ships looked so close it seemed like a hand-to-hand scuffle in -the sky. Then they broke up into groups and duels. The descent -of German air-ships towards the lower sky increased. One of them -flared down and vanished far away in the north; two dropped with -something twisted and crippled in their movements; then a group -of antagonists came down from the zenith in an eddying conflict, -two Asiatics against one German, and were presently joined by -another, and drove away eastward all together with others -dropping out of the German line to join them. - -One Asiatic either rammed or collided with a still more gigantic -German, and the two went spinning to destruction together. The -northern squadron of Asiatics came into the battle unnoted by -Bert, except that the multitude of ships above seemed presently -increased. In a little while the fight was utter confusion, -drifting on the whole to the southwest against the wind. It -became more and more a series of group encounters. Here a huge -German airship flamed earthward with a dozen flat Asiatic craft -about her, crushing her every attempt to recover. Here another -hung with its screw fighting off the swordsman from a swarm of -flying-machines. Here, again, an Asiatic aflame at either end -swooped out of the battle. His attention went from incident to -incident in the vast clearness overhead; these conspicuous cases -of destruction caught and held his mind; it was only very slowly -that any sort of scheme manifested itself between those nearer, -more striking episodes. - -The mass of the airships that eddied remotely above was, however, -neither destroying nor destroyed. The majority of them seemed to -be going at full speed and circling upward for position, -exchanging ineffectual shots as they did so. Very little ramming -was essayed after the first tragic downfall of rammer and rammed, -and what ever attempts at boarding were made were invisible to -Bert. There seemed, however, a steady attempt to isolate -antagonists, to cut them off from their fellows and bear them -down, causing a perpetual sailing back and interlacing of these -shoaling bulks. The greater numbers of the Asiatics and their -swifter heeling movements gave them the effect of persistently -attacking the Germans. Overhead, and evidently endeavouring to -keep itself in touch with the works of Niagara, a body of German -airships drew itself together into a compact phalanx, and the -Asiatics became more and more intent upon breaking this up. He -was grotesquely reminded of fish in a fish-pond struggling for -crumbs. He could see puny puffs of smoke and the flash of bombs, -but never a sound came down to him.... - -A flapping shadow passed for a moment between Bert and the sun -and was followed by another. A whirring of engines, click, -clock, clitter clock, smote upon his ears. Instantly he forgot -the zenith. - -Perhaps a hundred yards above the water, out of the south, riding -like Valkyries swiftly through the air on the strange steeds the -engineering of Europe had begotten upon the artistic inspiration -of Japan, came a long string of Asiatic swordsman. The wings -flapped jerkily, click, block, clitter clock, and the machines -drove up; they spread and ceased, and the apparatus came soaring -through the air. So they rose and fell and rose again. They -passed so closely overhead that Bert could hear their voices -calling to one another. They swooped towards Niagara city and -landed one after another in a long line in a clear space before -the hotel. But he did not stay to watch them land. One yellow -face had craned over and looked at him, and for one enigmatical -instant met his eyes.... - -It was then the idea came to Bert that he was altogether too -conspicuous in the middle of the bridge, and that he took to his -heels towards Goat Island. Thence, dodging about among the -trees, with perhaps an excessive self-consciousness, -he watched the rest of the struggle. - -5 - -When Bert's sense of security was sufficiently restored for him -to watch the battle again, he perceived that a brisk little fight -was in progress between the Asiatic aeronauts and the German -engineers for the possession of Niagara city. It was the first -time in the whole course of the war that he had seen anything -resembling fighting as he had studied it in the illustrated papers -of his youth. It seemed to him almost as though things were -coming right. He saw men carrying rifles and taking cover and -running briskly from point to point in a loose attacking -formation. The first batch of aeronauts had probably been under -the impression that the city was deserted. They had grounded in -the open near Prospect Park and approached the houses towards the -power-works before they were disillusioned by a sudden fire. -They had scattered back to the cover of a bank near the water--it -was too far for them to reach their machines again; they were -lying and firing at the men in the hotels and frame-houses about -the power-works. - -Then to their support came a second string of red flying-machines -driving up from the east. They rose up out of the haze above the -houses and came round in a long curve as if surveying the -position below. The fire of the Germans rose to a roar, and one -of those soaring shapes gave an abrupt jerk backward and fell -among the houses. The others swooped down exactly like great -birds upon the roof of the power-house. They caught upon it, and -from each sprang a nimble little figure and ran towards the -parapet. - -Other flapping bird-shapes came into this affair, but Bert had -not seen their coming. A staccato of shots came over to him, -reminding him of army manoeuvres, of newspaper descriptions of -fights, of all that was entirely correct in his conception of -warfare. He saw quite a number of Germans running from the -outlying houses towards the power-house. Two fell. One lay -still, but the other wriggled and made efforts for a time. The -hotel that was used as a hospital, and to which he had helped -carry the wounded men from the Zeppelin earlier in the day, -suddenly ran up the Geneva flag. The town that had seemed so -quiet had evidently been concealing a considerable number of -Germans, and they were now concentrating to hold the central -power-house. He wondered what ammunition they might have. More -and more of the Asiatic flying-machines came into the conflict. -They had disposed of the unfortunate German drachenflieger and -were now aiming at the incipient aeronautic park,--the electric -gas generators and repair stations which formed the German base. -Some landed, and their aeronauts took cover and became energetic -infantry soldiers. Others hovered above the fight, their men -ever and again firing shots down at some chance exposure below. -The firing came in paroxysms; now there would be a watchful lull -and now a rapid tattoo of shots, rising to a roar. Once or twice -flying machines, as they circled warily, came right overhead, and -for a time Bert gave himself body and soul to cowering. - -Ever and again a larger thunder mingled with the rattle and -reminded him of the grapple of airships far above, but the nearer -fight held his attention. - -Abruptly something dropped from the zenith; something like a -barrel or a huge football. - -CRASH! It smashed with an immense report. It had fallen among -the grounded Asiatic aeroplanes that lay among the turf and -flower-beds near the river. They flew in scraps and fragments, -turf, trees, and gravel leapt and fell; the aeronauts still lying -along the canal bank were thrown about like sacks, catspaws flew -across the foaming water. All the windows of the hotel hospital -that had been shiningly reflecting blue sky and airships the -moment before became vast black stars. Bang!--a second followed. -Bert looked up and was filled with a sense of a number of -monstrous bodies swooping down, coming down on the whole affair -like a flight of bellying blankets, like a string of vast -dish-covers. The central tangle of the battle above was circling -down as if to come into touch with the power-house fight. He got -a new effect of airships altogether, as vast things coming down -upon him, growing swiftly larger and larger and more -overwhelming, until the houses over the way seemed small, the -American rapids narrow, the bridge flimsy, the combatants -infinitesimal. As they came down they became audible as a -complex of shootings and vast creakings and groanings and -beatings and throbbings and shouts and shots. The fore-shortened -black eagles at the fore-ends of the Germans had an effect of -actual combat of flying feathers. - -Some of these fighting airships came within five hundred feet of -the ground. Bert could see men on the lower galleries of the -Germans, firing rifles; could see Asiatics clinging to the ropes; -saw one man in aluminium diver's gear fall flashing head-long -into the waters above Goat Island. For the first time he saw the -Asiatic airships closely. From this aspect they reminded him -more than anything else of colossal snowshoes; they had a curious -patterning in black and white, in forms that reminded him of the -engine-turned cover of a watch. They had no hanging galleries, -but from little openings on the middle line peeped out men and -the muzzles of guns. So, driving in long, descending and -ascending curves, these monsters wrestled and fought. It was -like clouds fighting, like puddings trying to assassinate each -other. They whirled and circled about each other, and for a time -threw Goat Island and Niagara into a smoky twilight, through -which the sunlight smote in shafts and beams. They spread and -closed and spread and grappled and drove round over the rapids, -and two miles away or more into Canada, and back over the Falls -again. A German caught fire, and the whole crowd broke away from -her flare and rose about her dispersing, leaving her to drop -towards Canada and blow up as she dropped. Then with renewed -uproar the others closed again. Once from the men in Niagara -city came a sound like an ant-hill cheering. Another German -burnt, and one badly deflated by the prow of an antagonist, -flopped out of action southward. - -It became more and more evident that the Germans were getting the -worst of the unequal fight. More and more obviously were they -being persecuted. Less and less did they seem to fight with any -object other than escape. The Asiatics swept by them and above -them, ripped their bladders, set them alight, picked off their -dimly seen men in diving clothes, who struggled against fire and -tear with fire extinguishers and silk ribbons in the inner -netting. They answered only with ineffectual shots. Thence the -battle circled back over Niagara, and then suddenly the Germans, -as if at a preconcerted signal, broke and dispersed, going east, -west, north, and south, in open and confused flight. The -Asiatics, as they realised this, rose to fly above them and after -them. Only one little knot of four Germans and perhaps a dozen -Asiatics remained fighting about the Hohenzollern and the Prince -as he circled in a last attempt to save Niagara. - -Round they swooped once again over the Canadian Fall, over the -waste of waters eastward, until they were distant and small, and -then round and back, hurrying, bounding, swooping towards the one -gaping spectator. - -The whole struggling mass approached very swiftly, growing -rapidly larger, and coming out black and featureless against the -afternoon sun and above the blinding welter of the Upper Rapids. -It grew like a storm cloud until once more it darkened the sky. -The flat Asiatic airships kept high above the Germans and behind -them, and fired unanswered bullets into their gas-chambers and -upon their flanks--the one-man flying-machines hovered and -alighted like a swarm of attacking bees. Nearer they came, and -nearer, filling the lower heaven. Two of the Germans swooped and -rose again, but the Hohenzollern had suffered too much for that. -She lifted weakly, turned sharply as if to get out of the battle, -burst into flames fore and aft, swept down to the water, splashed -into it obliquely, and rolled over and over and came down stream -rolling and smashing and writhing like a thing alive, halting and -then coming on again, with her torn and bent propeller still -beating the air. The bursting flames spluttered out again in -clouds of steam. It was a disaster gigantic in its dimensions. -She lay across the rapids like an island, like tall cliffs, tall -cliffs that came rolling, smoking, and crumpling, and collapsing, -advancing with a sort of fluctuating rapidity upon Bert. One -Asiatic airship--it looked to Bert from below like three hundred -yards of pavement--whirled back and circled two or three times -over that great overthrow, and half a dozen crimson -flying-machines danced for a moment like great midges in the -sunlight before they swept on after their fellows. The rest of -the fight had already gone over the island, a wild crescendo of -shots and yells and smashing uproar. It was hidden from Bert now -by the trees of the island, and forgotten by him in the nearer -spectacle of the huge advance of the defeated German airship. -Something fell with a mighty smashing and splintering of boughs -unheeded behind him. - -It seemed for a time that the Hohenzollern must needs break her -back upon the Parting of the Waters, and then for a time her -propeller flopped and frothed in the river and thrust the mass of -buckling, crumpled wreckage towards the American shore. Then the -sweep of the torrent that foamed down to the American Fall caught -her, and in another minute the immense mass of deflating -wreckage, with flames spurting out in three new places, had -crashed against the bridge that joined Goat Island and Niagara -city, and forced a long arm, as it were, in a heaving tangle -under the central span. Then the middle chambers blew up with a -loud report, and in another moment the bridge had given way and -the main bulk of the airship, like some grotesque cripple in -rags, staggered, flapping and waving flambeaux to the crest of -the Fall and hesitated there and vanished in a desperate suicidal -leap. - -Its detached fore-end remained jammed against that little island, -Green Island it used to be called, which forms the stepping-stone -between the mainland and Goat Island's patch of trees. - -Bert followed this disaster from the Parting of the Waters to the -bridge head. Then, regardless of cover, regardless of the -Asiatic airship hovering like a huge house roof without walls -above the Suspension Bridge, he sprinted along towards the north -and came out for the first time upon that rocky point by Luna -Island that looks sheer down upon the American Fall. There he -stood breathless amidst that eternal rush of sound, breathless -and staring. - -Far below, and travelling rapidly down the gorge, whirled -something like a huge empty sack. For him it meant--what did it -not mean?--the German air-fleet, Kurt, the Prince, Europe, all -things stable and familiar, the forces that had brought him, the -forces that had seemed indisputably victorious. And it went down -the rapids like an empty sack and left the visible world to Asia, -to yellow people beyond Christendom, to all that was terrible and -strange! - -Remote over Canada receded the rest of that conflict and vanished -beyond the range of his vision.... - - - -CHAPTER IX -ON GOAT ISLAND - -1 - -The whack of a bullet on the rocks beside him reminded him that -he was a visible object and wearing at least portions of a German -uniform. It drove him into the trees again, and for a time he -dodged and dropped and sought cover like a chick hiding among -reeds from imaginary hawks. - -"Beaten," he whispered. "Beaten and done for... Chinese! Yellow -chaps chasing 'em!" - -At last he came to rest in a clump of bushes near a locked-up and -deserted refreshment shed within view of the American side. They -made a sort of hole and harbour for him; they met completely -overhead. He looked across the rapids, but the firing had ceased -now altogether and everything seemed quiet. The Asiatic -aeroplane had moved from its former position above the Suspension -Bridge, was motionless now above Niagara city, shadowing all that -district about the power-house which had been the scene of the -land fight. The monster had an air of quiet and assured -predominance, and from its stern it trailed, serene and -ornamental, a long streaming flag, the red, black, and yellow of -the great alliance, the Sunrise and the Dragon. Beyond, to the -east, at a much higher level, hung a second consort, and Bert, -presently gathering courage, wriggled out and craned his neck to -find another still airship against the sunset in the south. - -"Gaw!" he said. "Beaten and chased! My Gawd!" - -The fighting, it seemed at first, was quite over in Niagara city, -though a German flag was still flying from one shattered house. -A white sheet was hoisted above the power-house, and this -remained flying all through the events that followed. But -presently came a sound of shots and then German soldiers running. -They disappeared among the houses, and then came two engineers in -blue shirts and trousers hotly pursued by three Japanese -swordsman. The foremost of the two fugitives was a shapely man, -and ran lightly and well; the second was a sturdy little man, and -rather fat. He ran comically in leaps and bounds, with his plump -arms bent up by his side and his head thrown back. The pursuers -ran with uniforms and dark thin metal and leather head-dresses. -The little man stumbled, and Bert gasped, realising a new horror -in war. - -The foremost swordsman won three strides on him and was near -enough to slash at him and miss as he spurted. - -A dozen yards they ran, and then the swordsman slashed again, -and Bert could hear across the waters a little sound like the moo -of an elfin cow as the fat little man fell forward. Slash went -the swordsman and slash at something on the ground that tried to -save itself with ineffectual hands. "Oh, I carn't!" cried Bert, -near blubbering, and staring with starting eyes. - -The swordsman slashed a fourth time and went on as his fellows -came up after the better runner. The hindmost swordsman stopped -and turned back. He had perceived some movement perhaps; but at -any rate he stood, and ever and again slashed at the fallen body. - -"Oo-oo!" groaned Bert at every slash, and shrank closer into the -bushes and became very still. Presently came a sound of shots -from the town, and then everything was quiet, everything, even -the hospital. - -He saw presently little figures sheathing swords come out from -the houses and walk to the debris of the flying-machines the bomb -had destroyed. Others appeared wheeling undamaged aeroplanes -upon their wheels as men might wheel bicycles, and sprang into -the saddles and flapped into the air. A string of three airships -appeared far away in the east and flew towards the zenith. The -one that hung low above Niagara city came still lower and dropped -a rope ladder to pick up men from the power-house. - -For a long time he watched the further happenings in Niagara city -as a rabbit might watch a meet. He saw men going from building -to building, to set fire to them, as he presently realised, and -he heard a series of dull detonations from the wheel pit of the -power-house. Some similar business went on among the works on -the Canadian side. Meanwhile more and more airships appeared, -and many more flying-machines, until at last it seemed to him -nearly a third of the Asiatic fleet had re-assembled. He watched -them from his bush, cramped but immovable, watched them gather -and range themselves and signal and pick up men, until at last -they sailed away towards the glowing sunset, going to the great -Asiatic rendez-vous, above the oil wells of Cleveland. They -dwindled and passed away, leaving him alone, so far as he could -tell, the only living man in a world of ruin and strange -loneliness almost beyond describing. He watched them recede and -vanish. He stood gaping after them. - -"Gaw!" he said at last, like one who rouses himself from a -trance. - -It was far more than any personal desolation extremity that -flooded his soul. It seemed to him indeed that this must be the -sunset of his race. - -2 - -He did not at first envisage his own plight in definite and -comprehensible terms. Things happened to him so much of late, -his own efforts had counted for so little, that he had become -passive and planless. His last scheme had been to go round the -coast of England as a Desert Dervish giving refined entertainment -to his fellow-creatures. Fate had quashed that. Fate had seen -fit to direct him to other destinies, had hurried him from point -to point, and dropped him at last upon this little wedge of rock -between the cataracts. It did not instantly occur to him that -now it was his turn to play. He had a singular feeling that all -must end as a dream ends, that presently surely he would be back -in the world of Grubb and Edna and Bun Hill, that this roar, this -glittering presence of incessant water, would be drawn aside as a -curtain is drawn aside after a holiday lantern show, and old -familiar, customary things re-assume their sway. It would be -interesting to tell people how he had seen Niagara. And then -Kurt's words came into his head: "People torn away from the -people they care for; homes smashed, creatures full of life and -memories and peculiar little gifts--torn to pieces, starved, and -spoilt."... - -He wondered, half incredulous, if that was in deed true. It was -so hard to realise it. Out beyond there was it possible that Tom -and Jessica were also in some dire extremity? that the little -green-grocer's shop was no longer standing open, with Jessica -serving respectfully, warming Tom's ear in sharp asides, or -punctually sending out the goods? - -He tried to think what day of the week it was, and found he had -lost his reckoning. Perhaps it was Sunday. If so, were they -going to church or, were they hiding, perhaps in bushes? What -had happened to the landlord, the butcher, and to Butteridge and -all those people on Dymchurch beach? Something, he knew, had -happened to London--a bombardment. But who had bombarded? Were -Tom and Jessica too being chased by strange brown men with long -bare swords and evil eyes? He thought of various possible -aspects of affliction, but presently one phase ousted all the -others. Were they getting much to eat? The question haunted -him, obsessed him. - -If one was very hungry would one eat rats? - -It dawned upon him that a peculiar misery that oppressed him was -not so much anxiety and patriotic sorrow as hunger. Of course he -was hungry! - -He reflected and turned his steps towards the little refreshment -shed that stood near the end of the ruined bridge. "Ought to be -somethin'--" - -He strolled round it once or twice, and then attacked the -shutters with his pocket-knife, reinforced presently by a wooden -stake he found conveniently near. At last he got a shutter to -give, and tore it back and stuck in his head. - -"Grub," he remarked, "anyhow. Leastways--" - -He got at the inside fastening of the shutter and had presently -this establishment open for his exploration. He found several -sealed bottles of sterilized milk, much mineral water, two tins -of biscuits and a crock of very stale cakes, cigarettes in great -quantity but very dry, some rather dry oranges, nuts, some tins -of canned meat and fruit, and plates and knives and forks and -glasses sufficient for several score of people. There was also a -zinc locker, but he was unable to negotiate the padlock of this. - -"Shan't starve," said Bert, "for a bit, anyhow." He sat on the -vendor's seat and regaled himself with biscuits and milk, and -felt for a moment quite contented. - -"Quite restful," he muttered, munching and glancing about him -restlessly, "after what I been through. - -"Crikey! WOT a day! Oh! WOT a day!" - -Wonder took possession of him. "Gaw!" he cried: "Wot a fight -it's been! Smashing up the poor fellers! 'Eadlong! The -airships--the fliers and all. I wonder what happened to the -Zeppelin?... And that chap Kurt--I wonder what happened to 'im? -'E was a good sort of chap, was Kurt." - -Some phantom of imperial solicitude floated through his mind. -"Injia," he said.... - -A more practical interest arose. - -"I wonder if there's anything to open one of these tins of corned -beef?" - -3 - -After he had feasted, Bert lit a cigarette and sat meditative for -a time. "Wonder where Grubb is?" he said; "I do wonder that! -Wonder if any of 'em wonder about me?" - -He reverted to his own circumstances. "Dessay I shall 'ave to -stop on this island for some time." - -He tried to feel at his ease and secure, but presently the -indefinable restlessness of the social animal in solitude -distressed him. He began to want to look over his shoulder, and, -as a corrective, roused himself to explore the rest of the -island. - -It was only very slowly that he began to realise the -peculiarities of his position, to perceive that the breaking down -of the arch between Green Island and the mainland had cut him off -completely from the world. Indeed it was only when he came back -to where the fore-end of the Hohenzollern lay like a stranded -ship, and was contemplating the shattered bridge, that this -dawned upon him. Even then it came with no sort of shock to his -mind, a fact among a number of other extraordinary and -unmanageable facts. He stared at the shattered cabins of the -Hohenzollern and its widow's garment of dishevelled silk for a -time, but without any idea of its containing any living thing; it -was all so twisted and smashed and entirely upside down. Then -for a while he gazed at the evening sky. A cloud haze was now -appearing and not an airship was in sight. A swallow flew by and -snapped some invisible victim. "Like a dream," he repeated. - -Then for a time the rapids held his mind. "Roaring. It keeps on -roaring and splashin' always and always. Keeps on...." - -At last his interests became personal. "Wonder what I ought to -do now?" - -He reflected. "Not an idee," he said. - -He was chiefly conscious that a fortnight ago he had been in Bun -Hill with no idea of travel in his mind, and that now he was -between the Falls of Niagara amidst the devastation and ruins of -the greatest air fight in the world, and that in the interval he -had been across France, Belgium, Germany, England, Ireland, and a -number of other countries. It was an interesting thought and -suitable for conversation, but of no great practical utility. -"Wonder 'ow I can get orf this?" he said. "Wonder if there is a -way out? If not... rummy!" - -Further reflection decided, "I believe I got myself in a bit of a -'ole coming over that bridge.... - -"Any'ow--got me out of the way of them Japanesy chaps. Wouldn't -'ave taken 'em long to cut MY froat. No. Still--" - -He resolved to return to the point of Luna Island. For a long -time he stood without stirring, scrutinising the Canadian shore -and the wreckage of hotels and houses and the fallen trees of the -Victoria Park, pink now in the light of sundown. Not a human -being was perceptible in that scene of headlong destruction. -Then he came back to the American side of the island, crossed -close to the crumpled aluminium wreckage of the Hohenzollern to -Green Islet, and scrutinised the hopeless breach in the further -bridge and the water that boiled beneath it. Towards Buffalo -there was still much smoke, and near the position of the Niagara -railway station the houses were burning vigorously. Everything -was deserted now, everything was still. One little abandoned -thing lay on a transverse path between town and road, a crumpled -heap of clothes with sprawling limbs.... - -"'Ave a look round," said Bert, and taking a path that ran -through the middle of the island he presently discovered the -wreckage of the two Asiatic aeroplanes that had fallen out of the -struggle that ended the Hohenzollern. - -With the first he found the wreckage of an aeronaut too. - -The machine had evidently dropped vertically and was badly -knocked about amidst a lot of smashed branches in a clump of -trees. Its bent and broken wings and shattered stays sprawled -amidst new splintered wood, and its forepeak stuck into the -ground. The aeronaut dangled weirdly head downward among the -leaves and branches some yards away, and Bert only discovered him -as he turned from the aeroplane. In the dusky evening light and -stillness--for the sun had gone now and the wind had altogether -fallen-this inverted yellow face was anything but a tranquilising -object to discover suddenly a couple of yards away. A broken -branch had run clean through the man's thorax, and he hung, so -stabbed, looking limp and absurd. In his hand he still clutched, -with the grip of death, a short light rifle. - -For some time Bert stood very still, inspecting this thing. - -Then he began to walk away from it, looking constantly back at -it. - -Presently in an open glade he came to a stop. - -"Gaw!" he whispered, "I don' like dead bodies some'ow! I'd -almost rather that chap was alive." - -He would not go along the path athwart which the Chinaman hung. -He felt he would rather not have trees round him any more, and -that it would be more comfortable to be quite close to the -sociable splash and uproar of the rapids. - -He came upon the second aeroplane in a clear grassy space by the -side of the streaming water, and it seemed scarcely damaged at -all. It looked as though it had floated down into a position of -rest. It lay on its side with one wing in the air. There was no -aeronaut near it, dead or alive. There it lay abandoned, with -the water lapping about its long tail. - -Bert remained a little aloof from it for a long time, looking -into the gathering shadows among the trees, in the expectation of -another Chinaman alive or dead. Then very cautiously he -approached the machine and stood regarding its widespread vans, -its big steering wheel and empty saddle. He did not venture to -touch it. - -"I wish that other chap wasn't there," he said. "I do wish 'e -wasn't there!" - -He saw a few yards away, something bobbing about in an eddy that -spun within a projecting head of rock. As it went round it -seemed to draw him unwillingly towards it.... - -What could it be? - -"Blow!" said Bert. "It's another of 'em." - -It held him. He told himself that it was the other aeronaut that -had been shot in the fight and fallen out of the saddle as he -strove to land. He tried to go away, and then it occurred to him -that he might get a branch or something and push this rotating -object out into the stream. That would leave him with only one -dead body to worry about. Perhaps he might get along with one. -He hesitated and then with a certain emotion forced himself to do -this. He went towards the bushes and cut himself a wand and -returned to the rocks and clambered out to a corner between the -eddy and the stream, By that time the sunset was over and the -bats were abroad--and he was wet with perspiration. - -He prodded the floating blue-clad thing with his wand, failed, -tried again successfully as it came round, and as it went out -into the stream it turned over, the light gleamed on golden hair -and--it was Kurt! - -It was Kurt, white and dead and very calm. There was no -mistaking him. There was still plenty of light for that. The -stream took him and he seemed to compose himself in its swift -grip as one who stretches himself to rest. White-faced he was -now, and all the colour gone out of him. - -A feeling of infinite distress swept over Bert as the body swept -out of sight towards the fall. "Kurt!" he cried, "Kurt! I -didn't mean to! Kurt! don' leave me 'ere! Don' leave me!" - -Loneliness and desolation overwhelmed him. He gave way. He -stood on the rock in the evening light, weeping and wailing -passionately like a child. It was as though some link that had -held him to all these things had broken and gone. He was afraid -like a child in a lonely room, shamelessly afraid. - -The twilight was closing about him. The trees were full now of -strange shadows. All the things about him became strange and -unfamiliar with that subtle queerness one feels oftenest in -dreams. "O God! I carn' stand this," he said, and crept back -from the rocks to the grass and crouched down, and suddenly wild -sorrow for the death of Kurt, Kurt the brave, Kurt the kindly, -came to his help and he broke from whimpering to weeping. He -ceased to crouch; he sprawled upon the grass and clenched an -impotent fist. - -"This war," he cried, "this blarsted foolery of a war. - -"O Kurt! Lieutenant Kurt! - -"I done," he said, "I done. I've 'ad all I want, and more than I -want. The world's all rot, and there ain't no sense in it. The -night's coming.... If 'E comes after me--'E can't come after -me--'E can't!... - -"If 'E comes after me, I'll fro' myself into the water."... - -Presently he was talking again in a low undertone. - -"There ain't nothing to be afraid of reely. It's jest -imagination. Poor old Kurt--he thought it would happen. -Prevision like. 'E never gave me that letter or tole me who the -lady was. It's like what 'e said--people tore away from -everything they belonged to--everywhere. Exactly like what 'e -said.... 'Ere I am cast away--thousands of miles from Edna or -Grubb or any of my lot--like a plant tore up by the roots.... And -every war's been like this, only I 'adn't the sense to understand -it. Always. All sorts of 'oles and corners chaps 'ave died in. -And people 'adn't the sense to understand, 'adn't the sense to -feel it and stop it. Thought war was fine. My Gawd! ... - -"Dear old Edna. She was a fair bit of all right--she was. That -time we 'ad a boat at Kingston.... - -"I bet--I'll see 'er again yet. Won't be my fault if I don't."... - -4 - -Suddenly, on the very verge of this heroic resolution, Bert -became rigid with terror. Something was creeping towards him -through the grass. Something was creeping and halting and -creeping again towards him through the dim dark grass. The night -was electrical with horror. For a time everything was still. -Bert ceased to breathe. It could not be. No, it was too small! - -It advanced suddenly upon him with a rush, with a little meawling -cry and tail erect. It rubbed its head against him and purred. -It was a tiny, skinny little kitten. - -"Gaw, Pussy! 'ow you frightened me!" said Bert, with drops of -perspiration on his brow. - -5 - -He sat with his back to a tree stump all that night, holding the -kitten in his arms. His mind was tired, and he talked or thought -coherently no longer. Towards dawn he dozed. - -When he awoke, he was stiff but in better heart, and the kitten -slept warmly and reassuringly inside his jacket. And fear, he -found, had gone from amidst the trees. - -He stroked the kitten, and the little creature woke up to -excessive fondness and purring. "You want some milk," said Bert. -"That's what you want. And I could do with a bit of brekker -too." - -He yawned and stood up, with the kitten on his shoulder, and -stared about him, recalling the circumstances of the previous -day, the grey, immense happenings. - -"Mus' do something," he said. - -He turned towards the trees, and was presently contemplating the -dead aeronaut again. The kitten he held companionably against -his neck. The body was horrible, but not nearly so horrible as -it had been at twilight, and now the limbs were limper and the -gun had slipped to the ground and lay half hidden in the grass. - -"I suppose we ought to bury 'im, Kitty," said Bert, and looked -helplessly at the rocky soil about him. "We got to stay on the -island with 'im." - -It was some time before he could turn away and go on towards that -provision shed. "Brekker first," he said, "anyhow," stroking the -kitten on his shoulder. She rubbed his cheek affectionately with -her furry little face and presently nibbled at his ear. "Wan' -some milk, eh?" he said, and turned his back on the dead man as -though he mattered nothing. - -He was puzzled to find the door of the shed open, though he had -closed and latched it very carefully overnight, and he found also -some dirty plates he had not noticed before on the bench. He -discovered that the hinges of the tin locker were unscrewed and -that it could be opened. He had not observed this overnight. - -"Silly of me!" said Bert. "'Ere I was puzzlin' and whackin' away -at the padlock, never noticing." It had been used apparently as -an ice-chest, but it contained nothing now but the remains of -half-dozen boiled chickens, some ambiguous substance that might -once have been butter, and a singularly unappetising smell. He -closed the lid again carefully. - -He gave the kitten some milk in a dirty plate and sat watching -its busy little tongue for a time. Then he was moved to make an -inventory of the provisions. There were six bottles of milk -unopened and one opened, sixty bottles of mineral water and a -large stock of syrups, about two thousand cigarettes and upwards -of a hundred cigars, nine oranges, two unopened tins of corned -beef and one opened, and five large tins California peaches. He -jotted it down on a piece of paper. "'Ain't much solid food," he -said. "Still--A fortnight, say! - -"Anything might happen in a fortnight." - -He gave the kitten a small second helping and a scrap of beef and -then went down with the little creature running after him, tail -erect and in high spirits, to look at the remains of the -Hohenzollern. - -It had shifted in the night and seemed on the whole more firmly -grounded on Green Island than before. From it his eye went to -the shattered bridge and then across to the still desolation of -Niagara city. Nothing moved over there but a number of crows. -They were busy with the engineer he had seen cut down on the -previous day. He saw no dogs, but he heard one howling. - -"We got to get out of this some'ow, Kitty," he said. "That milk -won't last forever--not at the rate you lap it." - -He regarded the sluice-like flood before him. - -"Plenty of water," he said. "Won't be drink we shall want." - -He decided to make a careful exploration of the island. -Presently he came to a locked gate labelled "Biddle Stairs," and -clambered over to discover a steep old wooden staircase leading -down the face of the cliff amidst a vast and increasing uproar of -waters. He left the kitten above and descended these, and -discovered with a thrill of hope a path leading among the rocks -at the foot of the roaring downrush of the Centre Fall. Perhaps -this was a sort of way! - -It led him only to the choking and deafening experience of the -Cave of the Winds, and after he had spent a quarter of an hour in -a partially stupefied condition flattened between solid rock and -nearly as solid waterfall, he decided that this was after all no -practicable route to Canada and retraced his steps. As he -reascended the Biddle Stairs, he heard what he decided at last -must be a sort of echo, a sound of some one walking about on the -gravel paths above. When he got to the top, the place was as -solitary as before. - -Thence he made his way, with the kitten skirmishing along beside -him in the grass, to a staircase that led to a lump of projecting -rock that enfiladed the huge green majesty of the Horseshoe Fall. -He stood there for some time in silence. - -"You wouldn't think," he said at last, "there was so much -water.... This roarin' and splashin', it gets on one's nerves at -last.... Sounds like people talking.... Sounds like people going -about.... Sounds like anything you fancy." - -He retired up the staircase again. "I s'pose I shall keep on -goin' round this blessed island," he said drearily. "Round and -round and round." - -He found himself presently beside the less damaged Asiatic -aeroplane again. He stared at it and the kitten smelt it. -"Broke!" he said. - -He looked up with a convulsive start. - -Advancing slowly towards him out from among the trees were two -tall gaunt figures. They were blackened and tattered and -bandaged; the hind-most one limped and had his head swathed in -white, but the foremost one still carried himself as a Prince -should do, for all that his left arm was in a sling and one side -of his face scalded a livid crimson. He was the Prince Karl -Albert, the War Lord, the "German Alexander," and the man behind -him was the bird-faced man whose cabin had once been taken from -him and given to Bert. - -6 - -With that apparition began a new phase of Goat Island in Bert's -experience. He ceased to be a solitary representative of -humanity in a vast and violent and incomprehensible universe, and -became once more a social creature, a man in a world of other -men. For an instant these two were terrible, then they seemed -sweet and desirable as brothers. They too were in this scrape -with him, marooned and puzzled. He wanted extremely to hear -exactly what had happened to them. What mattered it if one was a -Prince and both were foreign soldiers, if neither perhaps had -adequate English? His native Cockney freedom flowed too -generously for him to think of that, and surely the Asiatic -fleets had purged all such trivial differences. "Ul-LO!" he -said; "'ow did you get 'ere?" - -"It is the Englishman who brought us the Butteridge machine," -said the bird-faced officer in German, and then in a tone of -horror, as Bert advanced, "Salute!" and again louder, "SALUTE!" - -"Gaw!" said Bert, and stopped with a second comment under his -breath. He stared and saluted awkwardly and became at once a -masked defensive thing with whom co-operation was impossible. - -For a time these two perfected modern aristocrats stood regarding -the difficult problem of the Anglo-Saxon citizen, that ambiguous -citizen who, obeying some mysterious law in his blood, would -neither drill nor be a democrat. Bert was by no means a -beautiful object, but in some inexplicable way he looked -resistant. He wore his cheap suit of serge, now showing many -signs of wear, and its loose fit made him seem sturdier than he -was; above his disengaging face was a white German cap that was -altogether too big for him, and his trousers were crumpled up his -legs and their ends tucked into the rubber highlows of a deceased -German aeronaut. He looked an inferior, though by no means an -easy inferior, and instinctively they hated him. - -The Prince pointed to the flying-machine and said something in -broken English that Bert took for German and failed to -understand. He intimated as much. - -"Dummer Kerl!" said the bird-faced officer from among his -bandages. - -The Prince pointed again with his undamaged hand. "You verstehen -dis drachenflieger?" - -Bert began to comprehend the situation. He regarded the Asiatic -machine. The habits of Bun Hill returned to him. "It's a -foreign make," he said ambiguously. - -The two Germans consulted. "You are an expert?" said the Prince. - -"We reckon to repair," said Bert, in the exact manner of Grubb. - -The Prince sought in his vocabulary. "Is dat," he said, "goot to -fly?" - -Bert reflected and scratched his cheek slowly. "I got to look at -it," he replied.... "It's 'ad rough usage!" - -He made a sound with his teeth he had also acquired from Grubb, -put his hands in his trouser pockets, and strolled back to the -machine. Typically Grubb chewed something, but Bert could chew -only imaginatively. "Three days' work in this," he said, -teething. For the first time it dawned on him that there were -possibilities in this machine. It was evident that the wing that -lay on the ground was badly damaged. The three stays that held -it rigid had snapped across a ridge of rock and there was also a -strong possibility of the engine being badly damaged. The wing -hook on that side was also askew, but probably that would not -affect the flight. Beyond that there probably wasn't much the -matter. Bert scratched his cheek again and contemplated the -broad sunlit waste of the Upper Rapids. "We might make a job of -this.... You leave it to me." - -He surveyed it intently again, and the Prince and his officer -watched him. In Bun Hill Bert and Grubb had developed to a very -high pitch among the hiring stock a method of repair by -substituting; they substituted bits of other machines. A machine -that was too utterly and obviously done for even to proffer for -hire, had nevertheless still capital value. It became a sort of -quarry for nuts and screws and wheels, bars and spokes, -chain-links and the like; a mine of ill-fitting "parts" to -replace the defects of machines still current. And back among -the trees was a second Asiatic aeroplane.... - -The kitten caressed Bert's airship boots unheeded. - -"Mend dat drachenflieger," said the Prince. - -"If I do mend it," said Bert, struck by a new thought, "none of -us ain't to be trusted to fly it." - -"_I_ vill fly it," said the Prince. - -"Very likely break your neck," said Bert, after a pause. - -The Prince did not understand him and disregarded what he said. -He pointed his gloved finger to the machine and turned to the -bird-faced officer with some remark in German. The officer -answered and the Prince responded with a sweeping gesture towards -the sky. Then he spoke--it seemed eloquently. Bert watched him -and guessed his meaning. "Much more likely to break your neck," -he said. "'Owever. 'Ere goes." - -He began to pry about the saddle and engine of the drachenflieger -in search for tools. Also he wanted some black oily stuff for -his hands and face. For the first rule in the art of repairing, -as it was known to the firm of Grubb and Smallways, was to get -your hands and face thoroughly and conclusively blackened. Also -he took off his jacket and waistcoat and put his cap carefully to -the back of his head in order to facilitate scratching. - -The Prince and the officer seemed disposed to watch him, but he -succeeded in making it clear to them that this would -inconvenience him and that he had to "puzzle out a bit" before he -could get to work. They thought him over, but his shop -experience had given him something of the authoritative way of -the expert with common men. And at last they went away. -Thereupon he went straight to the second aeroplane, got the -aeronaut's gun and ammunition and hid them in a clump of nettles -close at hand. "That's all right," said Bert, and then proceeded -to a careful inspection of the debris of the wings in the trees. -Then he went back to the first aeroplane to compare the two. The -Bun Hill method was quite possibly practicable if there was -nothing hopeless or incomprehensible in the engine. - -The Germans returned presently to find him already generously -smutty and touching and testing knobs and screws and levers with -an expression of profound sagacity. When the bird-faced officer -addressed a remark to him, he waved him aside with, "Nong -comprong. Shut it! It's no good." - -Then he had an idea. "Dead chap back there wants burying," he -said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. - -7 - -With the appearance of these two men Bert's whole universe had -changed again. A curtain fell before the immense and terrible -desolation that had overwhelmed him. He was in a world of three -people, a minute human world that nevertheless filled his brain -with eager speculations and schemes and cunning ideas. What were -they thinking of? What did they think of him? What did they -mean to do? A hundred busy threads interlaced in his mind as he -pottered studiously over the Asiatic aeroplane. New ideas came -up like bubbles in soda water. - -"Gaw!" he said suddenly. He had just appreciated as a special -aspect of this irrational injustice of fate that these two men -were alive and that Kurt was dead. All the crew of the -Hohenzollern were shot or burnt or smashed or drowned, and these -two lurking in the padded forward cabin had escaped. - -"I suppose 'e thinks it's 'is bloomin' Star," he muttered, and -found himself uncontrollably exasperated. - -He stood up, facing round to the two men. They were standing -side by side regarding him. - -"'It's no good," he said, "starin' at me. You only put me out." -And then seeing they did not understand, he advanced towards -them, wrench in hand. It occurred to him as he did so that the -Prince was really a very big and powerful and serene-looking -person. But he said, nevertheless, pointing through the trees, -"dead man!" - -The bird-faced man intervened with a reply in German. - -"Dead man!" said Bert to him. "There." - -He had great difficulty in inducing them to inspect the dead -Chinaman, and at last led them to him. Then they made it evident -that they proposed that he, as a common person below the rank of -officer should have the sole and undivided privilege of disposing -of the body by dragging it to the water's edge. There was some -heated gesticulation, and at last the bird-faced officer abased -himself to help. Together they dragged the limp and now swollen -Asiatic through the trees, and after a rest or so--for he trailed -very heavily--dumped him into the westward rapid. Bert returned -to his expert investigation of the flying-machine at last with -aching arms and in a state of gloomy rebellion. "Brasted cheek!" -he said. "One'd think I was one of 'is beastly German slaves! - -"Prancing beggar!" - -And then he fell speculating what would happen when the -flying-machine, was repaired--if it could be repaired. - -The two Germans went away again, and after some reflection Bert -removed several nuts, resumed his jacket and vest, pocketed those -nuts and his tools and hid the set of tools from the second -aeroplane in the fork of a tree. "Right O," he said, as he -jumped down after the last of these precautions. The Prince and -his companion reappeared as he returned to the machine by the -water's edge. The Prince surveyed his progress for a time, and -then went towards the Parting of the Waters and stood with folded -arms gazing upstream in profound thought. The bird-faced officer -came up to Bert, heavy with a sentence in English. - -"Go," he said with a helping gesture, "und eat." - -When Bert got to the refreshment shed, he found all the food had -vanished except one measured ration of corned beef and three -biscuits. - -He regarded this with open eyes and mouth. - -The kitten appeared from under the vendor's seat with an -ingratiating purr. "Of course!" said Bert. "Why! where's your -milk?" - -He accumulated wrath for a moment or so, then seized the plate in -one hand, and the biscuits in another, and went in search of the -Prince, breathing vile words anent "grub" and his intimate -interior. He approached without saluting. - -"'Ere!" he said fiercely. "Whad the devil's this?" - -An entirely unsatisfactory altercation followed. Bert expounded -the Bun Hill theory of the relations of grub to efficiency in -English, the bird-faced man replied with points about nations and -discipline in German. The Prince, having made an estimate of -Bert's quality and physique, suddenly hectored. He gripped Bert -by the shoulder and shook him, making his pockets rattle, shouted -something to him, and flung him struggling back. He hit him as -though he was a German private. Bert went back, white and -scared, but resolved by all his Cockney standards upon one thing. -He was bound in honour to "go for" the Prince. "Gaw!" he gasped, -buttoning his jacket. - -"Now," cried the Prince, "Vil you go?" and then catching the -heroic gleam in Bert's eye, drew his sword. - -The bird-faced officer intervened, saying something in German and -pointing skyward. - -Far away in the southwest appeared a Japanese airship coming fast -toward them. Their conflict ended at that. The Prince was first -to grasp the situation and lead the retreat. All three scuttled -like rabbits for the trees, and ran to and for cover until they -found a hollow in which the grass grew rank. There they all -squatted within six yards of one another. They sat in this place -for a long time, up to their necks in the grass and watching -through the branches for the airship. Bert had dropped some of -his corned beef, but he found the biscuits in his hand and ate -them quietly. The monster came nearly overhead and then went -away to Niagara and dropped beyond the power-works. When it was -near, they all kept silence, and then presently they fell into an -argument that was robbed perhaps of immediate explosive effect -only by their failure to understand one another. - -It was Bert began the talking and he talked on regardless of what -they understood or failed to understand. But his voice must have -conveyed his cantankerous intentions. - -"You want that machine done," he said first, "you better keep your -'ands off me!" - -They disregarded that and he repeated it. - -Then he expanded his idea and the spirit of speech took hold of -him. "You think you got 'old of a chap you can kick and 'it like -you do your private soldiers--you're jolly well mistaken. See? -I've 'ad about enough of you and your antics. I been thinking -you over, you and your war and your Empire and all the rot of it. -Rot it is! It's you Germans made all the trouble in Europe first -and last. And all for nothin'. Jest silly prancing! Jest -because you've got the uniforms and flags! 'Ere I was--I didn't -want to 'ave anything to do with you. I jest didn't care a 'eng -at all about you. Then you get 'old of me--steal me -practically--and 'ere I am, thousands of miles away from 'ome and -everything, and all your silly fleet smashed up to rags. And you -want to go on prancin' NOW! Not if 'I know it! - -"Look at the mischief you done! Look at the way you smashed up -New York--the people you killed, the stuff you wasted. Can't you -learn?" - -"Dummer Kerl!" said the bird-faced man suddenly in a tone of -concentrated malignancy, glaring under his bandages. "Esel!" - -"That's German for silly ass!--I know. But who's the silly ass-- -'im or me? When I was a kid, I used to read penny dreadfuls -about 'avin adventures and bein' a great c'mander and all that -rot. I stowed it. But what's 'e got in 'is head? Rot about -Napoleon, rot about Alexander, rot about 'is blessed family and -'im and Gord and David and all that. Any one who wasn't a -dressed-up silly fool of a Prince could 'ave told all this was -goin' to 'appen. There was us in Europe all at sixes and sevens -with our silly flags and our silly newspapers raggin' us up -against each other and keepin' us apart, and there was China, -solid as a cheese, with millions and millions of men only wantin' -a bit of science and a bit of enterprise to be as good as all of -us. You thought they couldn't get at you. And then they got -flying-machines. And bif!--'ere we are. Why, when they didn't -go on making guns and armies in China, we went and poked 'em up -until they did. They 'AD to give us this lickin' they've give us. -We wouldn't be happy until they did, and as I say, 'ere we are!" - -The bird-faced officer shouted to him to be quiet, and then began -a conversation with the Prince. - -"British citizen," said Bert. "You ain't obliged to listen, but -I ain't obliged to shut up." - -And for some time he continued his dissertation upon Imperialism, -militarism, and international politics. But their talking put -him out, and for a time he was certainly merely repeating abusive -terms, "prancin' nincompoops" and the like, old terms and new. -Then suddenly he remembered his essential grievance. "'Owever, -look 'ere--'ere!--the thing I started this talk about is where's -that food there was in that shed? That's what I want to know. -Where you put it?" - -He paused. They went on talking in German. He repeated his -question. They disregarded him. He asked a third time in a -manner insupportably aggressive. - -There fell a tense silence. For some seconds the three regarded -one another. The Prince eyed Bert steadfastly, and Bert quailed -under his eye. Slowly the Prince rose to his feet and the -bird-faced officer jerked up beside him. Bert remained -squatting. - -"Be quaiat," said the Prince. - -Bert perceived this was no moment for eloquence. - -The two Germans regarded him as he crouched there. Death for a -moment seemed near. - -Then the Prince turned away and the two of them went towards the -flying-machine. - -"Gaw!" whispered Bert, and then uttered under his breath one -single word of abuse. He sat crouched together for perhaps three -minutes, then he sprang to his feet and went off towards the -Chinese aeronaut's gun hidden among the weeds. - -8 - -There was no pretence after that moment that Bert was under the -orders of the Prince or that he was going on with the repairing -of the flying-machine. The two Germans took possession of that -and set to work upon it. Bert, with his new weapon went off to -the neighbourhood of Terrapin Rock, and there sat down to examine -it. It was a short rifle with a big cartridge, and a nearly full -magazine. He took out the cartridges carefully and then tried -the trigger and fittings until he felt sure he had the use of it. -He reloaded carefully. Then he remembered he was hungry and went -off, gun under his arm, to hunt in and about the refreshment -shed. He had the sense to perceive that he must not show himself -with the gun to the Prince and his companion. So long as they -thought him unarmed they would leave him alone, but there was no -knowing what the Napoleonic person might do if he saw Bert's -weapon. Also he did not go near them because he knew that within -himself boiled a reservoir of rage and fear that he wanted to -shoot these two men. He wanted to shoot them, and he thought -that to shoot them would be a quite horrible thing to do. The -two sides of his inconsistent civilisation warred within him. - -Near the shed the kitten turned up again, obviously keen for -milk. This greatly enhanced his own angry sense of hunger. He -began to talk as he hunted about, and presently stood still, -shouting insults. He talked of war and pride and Imperialism. -"Any other Prince but you would have died with his men and his -ship!" he cried. - -The two Germans at the machine heard his voice going ever and -again amidst the clamour of the waters. Their eyes met and they -smiled slightly. - -He was disposed for a time to sit in the refreshment shed waiting -for them, but then it occurred to him that so he might get them -both at close quarters. He strolled off presently to the point -of Luna Island to think the situation out. - -It had seemed a comparatively simple one at first, but as he -turned it over in his mind its possibilities increased and -multiplied. Both these men had swords,--had either a revolver? - -Also, if he shot them both, he might never find the food! - -So far he had been going about with this gun under his arm, and a -sense of lordly security in his mind, but what if they saw the -gun and decided to ambush him? Goat Island is nearly all cover, -trees, rocks, thickets, and irregularities. - -Why not go and murder them both now? - -"I carn't," said Bert, dismissing that. "I got to be worked up." - -But it was a mistake to get right away from them. That suddenly -became clear. He ought to keep them under observation, ought to -"scout" them. Then he would be able to see what they were doing, -whether either of them had a revolver, where they had hidden the -food. He would be better able to determine what they meant to do -to him. If he didn't "scout" them, presently they would begin to -"scout" him. This seemed so eminently reasonable that he acted -upon it forthwith. He thought over his costume and threw his -collar and the tell-tale aeronaut's white cap into the water far -below. He turned his coat collar up to hide any gleam of his -dirty shirt. The tools and nuts in his pockets were disposed to -clank, but he rearranged them and wrapped some letters and his -pocket-handkerchief about them. He started off circumspectly and -noiselessly, listening and peering at every step. As he drew -near his antagonists, much grunting and creaking served to locate -them. He discovered them engaged in what looked like a wrestling -match with the Asiatic flying-machine. Their coats were off, -their swords laid aside, they were working magnificently. -Apparently they were turning it round and were having a good deal -of difficulty with the long tail among the trees. He dropped -flat at the sight of them and wriggled into a little hollow, and -so lay watching their exertions. Ever and again, to pass the -time, he would cover one or other of them with his gun. - -He found them quite interesting to watch, so interesting that at -times he came near shouting to advise them. He perceived that -when they had the machine turned round, they would then be in -immediate want of the nuts and tools he carried. Then they would -come after him. They would certainly conclude he had them or had -hidden them. Should he hide his gun and do a deal for food with -these tools? He felt he would not be able to part with the gun -again now he had once felt its reassuring company. The kitten -turned up again and made a great fuss with him and licked and bit -his ear. - -The sun clambered to midday, and once that morning he saw, though -the Germans did not, an Asiatic airship very far to the south, -going swiftly eastward. - -At last the flying-machine was turned and stood poised on its -wheel, with its hooks pointing up the Rapids. The two officers -wiped their faces, resumed jackets and swords, spoke and bore -themselves like men who congratulated themselves on a good -laborious morning. Then they went off briskly towards the -refreshment shed, the Prince leading. Bert became active in -pursuit; but he found it impossible to stalk them quickly enough -and silently enough to discover the hiding-place of the food. He -found them, when he came into sight of them again, seated with -their backs against the shed, plates on knee, and a tin of corned -beef and a plateful of biscuits between them. They seemed in -fairly good spirits, and once the Prince laughed. At this vision -of eating Bert's plans gave way. Fierce hunger carried him. He -appeared before them suddenly at a distance of perhaps twenty -yards, gun in hand. - -"'Ands up!" he said in a hard, ferocious voice. - -The Prince hesitated, and then up went two pairs of hands. -The gun had surprised them both completely. - -"Stand up," said Bert.... "Drop that fork!" - -They obeyed again. - -"What nex'?" said Bert to himself. "'Orf stage, I suppose. That -way," he said. "Go!" - -The Prince obeyed with remarkable alacrity. When he reached the -head of the clearing, he said something quickly to the bird-faced -man and they both, with an entire lack of dignity, RAN! - -Bert was struck with an exasperating afterthought. - -"Gord!" he cried with infinite vexation. "Why! I ought to 'ave -took their swords! 'Ere!" - -But the Germans were already out of sight, and no doubt taking -cover among the trees. Bert fell back upon imprecations, then he -went up to the shed, cursorily examined the possibility of a -flank attack, put his gun handy, and set to work, with a -convulsive listening pause before each mouthful on the Prince's -plate of corned beef. He had finished that up and handed its -gleanings to the kitten and he was falling-to on the second -plateful, when the plate broke in his hand! He stared, with the -fact slowly creeping upon him that an instant before he had heard -a crack among the thickets. Then he sprang to his feet, snatched -up his gun in one hand and the tin of corned beef in the other, -and fled round the shed to the other side of the clearing. As he -did so came a second crack from the thickets, and something went -phwit! by his ear. - -He didn't stop running until he was in what seemed to him a -strongly defensible position near Luna Island. Then he took -cover, panting, and crouched expectant. - -"They got a revolver after all!" he panted.... - -"Wonder if they got two? If they 'ave--Gord! I'm done! - -"Where's the kitten? Finishin' up that corned beef, I suppose. -Little beggar!" - -9 - -So it was that war began upon Goat Island. It lasted a day and a -night, the longest day and the longest night in Bert's life. He -had to lie close and listen and watch. Also he had to scheme -what he should do. It was clear now that he had to kill these -two men if he could, and that if they could, they would kill him. -The prize was first food and then the flying-machine and the -doubtful privilege of trying' to ride it. If one failed, one -would certainly be killed; if one succeeded, one would get away -somewhere over there. For a time Bert tried to imagine what it -was like over there. His mind ran over possibilities, deserts, -angry Americans, Japanese, Chinese--perhaps Red Indians! (Were -there still Red Indians?) - -"Got to take what comes," said Bert. "No way out of it that I -can see!" - -Was that voices? He realised that his attention was wandering. -For a time all his senses were very alert. The uproar of the -Falls was very confusing, and it mixed in all sorts of sounds, -like feet walking, like voices talking, like shouts and cries. - -"Silly great catarac'," said Bert. "There ain't no sense in it, -fallin' and fallin'." - -Never mind that, now! What were the Germans doing? - -Would they go back to the flying-machine? They couldn't do -anything with it, because he had those nuts and screws and the -wrench and other tools. But suppose they found the second set of -tools he had hidden in a tree! He had hidden the things well, of -course, but they MIGHT find them. One wasn't sure, of -course--one wasn't sure. He tried to remember just exactly how -he had hidden those tools. He tried to persuade himself they -were certainly and surely hidden, but his memory began to play -antics. Had he really left the handle of the wrench sticking -out, shining out at the fork of the branch? - -Ssh! What was that? Some one stirring in those bushes? Up went -an expectant muzzle. No! Where was the kitten? No! It was -just imagination, not even the kitten. - -The Germans would certainly miss and hunt about for the tools -and nuts and screws he carried in his pockets; that was clear. -Then they would decide he had them and come for him. He had only -to remain still under cover, therefore, and he would get them. -Was there any flaw in that? Would they take off more removable -parts of the flying-machine and then lie up for him? No, they -wouldn't do that, because they were two to one; they would have -no apprehension of his getting off in the flying-machine, and no -sound reason for supposing he would approach it, and so they -would do nothing to damage or disable it. That he decided was -clear. But suppose they lay up for him by the food. Well, that -they wouldn't do, because they would know he had this corned -beef; there was enough in this can to last, with moderation, -several days. Of course they might try to tire him out instead -of attacking him-- - -He roused himself with a start. He had just grasped the real -weakness of his position. He might go to sleep! - -It needed but ten minutes under the suggestion of that idea, -before he realised that he was going to sleep! - -He rubbed his eyes and handled his gun. He had never before -realised the intensely soporific effect of the American sun, of -the American air, the drowsy, sleep-compelling uproar of Niagara. -Hitherto these things had on the whole seemed stimulating.... - -If he had not eaten so much and eaten it so fast, he would not be -so heavy. Are vegetarians always bright?... - -He roused himself with a jerk again. - -If he didn't do something, he would fall asleep, and if he fell -asleep, it was ten to one they would find him snoring, and finish -him forthwith. If he sat motionless and noiseless, he would -inevitably sleep. It was better, he told himself, to take even -the risks of attacking than that. This sleep trouble, he felt, -was going to beat him, must beat him in the end. They were all -right; one could sleep and the other could watch. That, come to -think of it, was what they would always do; one would do anything -they wanted done, the other would lie under cover near at hand, -ready to shoot. They might even trap him like that. One might -act as a decoy. - -That set him thinking of decoys. What a fool he had been to -throw his cap away. It would have been invaluable on a stick-- -especially at night. - -He found himself wishing for a drink. He settled that for a time -by putting a pebble in his mouth. And then the sleep craving -returned. - -It became clear to him he must attack. Like many great generals -before him, he found his baggage, that is to say his tin of -corned beef, a serious impediment to mobility. At last he -decided to put the beef loose in his pocket and abandon the tin. -It was not perhaps an ideal arrangement, but one must make -sacrifices when one is campaigning. He crawled perhaps ten -yards, and then for a time the possibilities of the situation -paralysed him. - -The afternoon was still. The roar of the cataract simply threw -up that immense stillness in relief. He was doing his best to -contrive the death of two better men than himself. Also they -were doing their best to contrive his. What, behind this -silence, were they doing. - -Suppose he came upon them suddenly and fired, and missed? - -10 - -He crawled, and halted listening, and crawled again until -nightfall, and no doubt the German Alexander and his lieutenant -did the same. A large scale map of Goat Island marked with red -and blue lines to show these strategic movements would no doubt -have displayed much interlacing, but as a matter of fact neither -side saw anything of the other throughout that age-long day of -tedious alertness. Bert never knew how near he got to them nor -how far he kept from them. Night found him no longer sleepy, but -athirst, and near the American Fall. He was inspired by the idea -that his antagonists might be in the wreckage of the Hohenzollern -cabins that was jammed against Green Island. He became -enterprising, broke from any attempt to conceal himself, and went -across the little bridge at the double. He found nobody. It was -his first visit to these huge fragments of airships, and for a -time he explored them curiously in the dim light. He discovered -the forward cabin was nearly intact, with its door slanting -downward and a corner under water. He crept in, drank, and then -was struck by the brilliant idea of shutting the door and -sleeping on it. - -But now he could not sleep at all. - -He nodded towards morning and woke up to find it fully day. He -breakfasted on corned beef and water, and sat for a long time -appreciative of the security of his position. At last he became -enterprising and bold. He would, he decided, settle this -business forthwith, one way or the other. He was tired of all -this crawling. He set out in the morning sunshine, gun in hand, -scarcely troubling to walk softly. He went round the refreshment -shed without finding any one, and then through the trees towards -the flying-machine. He came upon the bird-faced man sitting on -the ground with his back against a tree, bent up over his folded -arms, sleeping, his bandage very much over one eye. - -Bert stopped abruptly and stood perhaps fifteen yards away, gun -in hand ready. Where was the Prince? Then, sticking out at the -side of the tree beyond, he saw a shoulder. Bert took five -deliberate paces to the left. The great man became visible, -leaning up against the trunk, pistol in one hand and sword in the -other, and yawning--yawning. You can't shoot a yawning man Bert -found. He advanced upon his antagonist with his gun levelled, -some foolish fancy of "hands up" in his mind. The Prince became -aware of him, the yawning mouth shut like a trap and he stood -stiffly up. Bert stopped, silent. For a moment the two regarded -one another. - -Had the Prince been a wise man he would, I suppose, have dodged -behind the tree. Instead, he gave vent to a shout, and raised -pistol and sword. At that, like an automaton, Bert pulled his -trigger. - -It was his first experience of an oxygen-containing bullet. A -great flame spurted from the middle of the Prince, a blinding -flare, and there came a thud like the firing of a gun. Something -hot and wet struck Bert's face. Then through a whirl of blinding -smoke and steam he saw limbs and a collapsing, burst body fling -themselves to earth. - -Bert was so astonished that he stood agape, and the bird-faced -officer might have cut him to the earth without a struggle. But -instead the bird-faced officer was running away through the -undergrowth, dodging as he went. Bert roused himself to a brief -ineffectual pursuit, but he had no stomach for further killing. -He returned to the mangled, scattered thing that had so recently -been the great Prince Karl Albert. He surveyed the scorched and -splashed vegetation about it. He made some speculative -identifications. He advanced gingerly and picked up the hot -revolver, to find all its chambers strained and burst. He became -aware of a cheerful and friendly presence. He was greatly -shocked that one so young should see so frightful a scene. - -"'Ere, Kitty," he said, "this ain't no place for you." - -He made three strides across the devastated area, captured the -kitten neatly, and went his way towards the shed, with her -purring loudly on his shoulder. - -"YOU don't seem to mind," he said. - -For a time he fussed about the shed, and at last discovered the -rest of the provisions hidden in the roof. "Seems 'ard," he -said, as he administered a saucerful of milk, "when you get three -men in a 'ole like this, they can't work together. But 'im and -'is princing was jest a bit too thick!" - -"Gaw!" he reflected, sitting on the counter and eating, "what a -thing life is! 'Ere am I; I seen 'is picture, 'eard 'is name -since I was a kid in frocks. Prince Karl Albert! And if any one -'ad tole me I was going to blow 'im to smithereens--there! I -shouldn't 'ave believed it, Kitty. - -"That chap at Margit ought to 'ave tole me about it. All 'e tole -me was that I got a weak chess. - -"That other chap, 'e ain't going to do much. Wonder what I ought -to do about 'im?" - -He surveyed the trees with a keen blue eye and fingered the gun -on his knee. "I don't like this killing, Kitty," he said. "It's -like Kurt said about being blooded. Seems to me you got to be -blooded young.... If that Prince 'ad come up to me and said, -'Shake 'ands!' I'd 'ave shook 'ands.... Now 'ere's that other -chap, dodging about! 'E's got 'is 'ead 'urt already, and there's -something wrong with his leg. And burns. Golly! it isn't three -weeks ago I first set eyes on 'im, and then 'e was smart and set -up--'ands full of 'air-brushes and things, and swearin' at me. A -regular gentleman! Now 'e's 'arfway to a wild man. What am I to -do with 'im? What the 'ell am I to do with 'im? I can't leave -'im 'ave that flying-machine; that's a bit too good, and if I -don't kill 'im, 'e'll jest 'ang about this island and starve.... - -"'E's got a sword, of course".... - -He resumed his philosophising after he had lit a cigarette. - -"War's a silly gaim, Kitty. It's a silly gaim! We common -people--we were fools. We thought those big people knew what -they were up to--and they didn't. Look at that chap! 'E 'ad -all Germany be'ind 'im, and what 'as 'e made of it? Smeshin' and -blunderin' and destroyin', and there 'e 'is! Jest a mess of -blood and boots and things! Jest an 'orrid splash! Prince Karl -Albert! And all the men 'e led and the ships 'e 'ad, the -airships, and the dragon-fliers--all scattered like a paper-chase -between this 'ole and Germany. And fightin' going on and burnin' -and killin' that 'e started, war without end all over the world! - -"I suppose I shall 'ave to kill that other chap. I suppose I -must. But it ain't at all the sort of job I fancy, Kitty!" - -For a time he hunted about the island amidst the uproar of the -waterfall, looking for the wounded officer, and at last he -started him out of some bushes near the head of Biddle Stairs. -But as he saw the bent and bandaged figure in limping flight -before him, he found his Cockney softness too much for him again; -he could neither shoot nor pursue. "I carn't," he said, "that's -flat. I 'aven't the guts for it! 'E'll 'ave to go." - -He turned his steps towards the flying-machine.... - -He never saw the bird-faced officer again, nor any further -evidence of his presence. Towards evening he grew fearful of -ambushes and hunted vigorously for an hour or so, but in vain. -He slept in a good defensible position at the extremity of the -rocky point that runs out to the Canadian Fall, and in the night -he woke in panic terror and fired his gun. But it was nothing. -He slept no more that night. In the morning he became curiously -concerned for the vanished man, and hunted for him as one might -for an erring brother. - -"If I knew some German," he said, "I'd 'oller. It's jest not -knowing German does it. You can't explain'" - -He discovered, later, traces of an attempt to cross the gap in -the broken bridge. A rope with a bolt attached had been flung -across and had caught in a fenestration of a projecting fragment -of railing. The end of the rope trailed in the seething water -towards the fall. - -But the bird-faced officer was already rubbing shoulders with -certain inert matter that had once been Lieutenant Kurt and the -Chinese aeronaut and a dead cow, and much other uncongenial -company, in the huge circle of the Whirlpool two and a quarter -miles away. Never had that great gathering place, that -incessant, aimless, unprogressive hurry of waste and battered -things, been so crowded with strange and melancholy derelicts. -Round they went and round, and every day brought its new -contributions, luckless brutes, shattered fragments of boat and -flying-machine, endless citizens from the cities upon the shores -of the great lakes above. Much came from Cleveland. It all -gathered here, and whirled about indefinitely, and over it all -gathered daily a greater abundance of birds. - - - -CHAPTER X -THE WORLD UNDER THE WAR - -1 - -Bert spent two more days upon Goat Island, and finished all his -provisions except the cigarettes and mineral water, before he -brought himself to try the Asiatic flying-machine. - -Even at last he did not so much go off upon it as get carried -off. It had taken only an hour or so to substitute wing stays -from the second flying-machine and to replace the nuts he had -himself removed. The engine was in working order, and differed -only very simply and obviously from that of a contemporary -motor-bicycle. The rest of the time was taken up by a vast -musing and delaying and hesitation. Chiefly he saw himself -splashing into the rapids and whirling down them to the Fall, -clutching and drowning, but also he had a vision of -being hopelessly in the air, going fast and unable to ground. -His mind was too concentrated upon the business of flying for him -to think very much of what might happen to an indefinite-spirited -Cockney without credential who arrived on an Asiatic -flying-machine amidst the war-infuriated population beyond. - -He still had a lingering solicitude for the bird-faced officer. -He had a haunting fancy he might be lying disabled or badly -smashed in some way in some nook or cranny of the Island; and it -was only after a most exhaustive search that he abandoned that -distressing idea. "If I found 'im," he reasoned the while, "what -could I do wiv 'im? You can't blow a chap's brains out when 'e's -down. And I don' see 'ow else I can 'elp 'im." - -Then the kitten bothered his highly developed sense of social -responsibility. "If I leave 'er, she'll starve.... Ought to -catch mice for 'erself.... ARE there mice?... Birds?... She's -too young.... She's like me; she's a bit too civilised." - -Finally he stuck her in his side pocket and she became greatly -interested in the memories of corned beef she found there. With -her in his pocket, he seated himself in the saddle of the -flying-machine. Big, clumsy thing it was--and not a bit like a -bicycle. Still the working of it was fairly plain. You set the -engine going--SO; kicked yourself up until the wheel was -vertical, SO; engaged the gyroscope, SO, and then--then--you just -pulled up this lever. - -Rather stiff it was, but suddenly it came over-- - -The big curved wings on either side flapped disconcertingly, -flapped again' click, clock, click, clock, clitter-clock! - -Stop! The thing was heading for the water; its wheel was in the -water. Bert groaned from his heart and struggled to restore the -lever to its first position. Click, clock, clitter-clock, he was -rising! The machine was lifting its dripping wheel out of the -eddies, and he was going up! There was no stopping now, no good -in stopping now. In another moment Bert, clutching and -convulsive and rigid, with staring eyes and a face pale as death, -was flapping up above the Rapids, jerking to every jerk of the -wings, and rising, rising. - -There was no comparison in dignity and comfort between a -flying-machine and a balloon. Except in its moments of descent, -the balloon was a vehicle of faultless urbanity; this was a buck- -jumping mule, a mule that jumped up and never came down again. -Click, clock, click, clock; with each beat of the strangely -shaped wings it jumped Bert upward and caught him neatly again -half a second later on the saddle. And while in ballooning there -is no wind, since the balloon is a part of the wind, flying is a -wild perpetual creation of and plunging into wind. It was a wind -that above all things sought to blind him, to force him to close -his eyes. It occurred to him presently to twist his knees and -legs inward and grip with them, or surely he would have been -bumped into two clumsy halves. And he was going up, a hundred -yards high, two hundred, three hundred, over the streaming, -frothing wilderness of water below--up, up, up. That was all -right, but how presently would one go horizontally? He tried to -think if these things did go horizontally. No! They flapped up -and then they soared down. For a time he would keep on flapping -up. Tears streamed from his eyes. He wiped them with one -temerariously disengaged hand. - -Was it better to risk a fall over land or over water--such water? - -He was flapping up above the Upper Rapids towards Buffalo. It -was at any rate a comfort that the Falls and the wild swirl of -waters below them were behind him. He was flying up straight. -That he could see. How did one turn? - -He was presently almost cool, and his eyes got more used to the -rush of air, but he was getting very high, very high. He tilted -his head forwards and surveyed the country, blinking. He could -see all over Buffalo, a place with three great blackened scars of -ruin, and hills and stretches beyond. He wondered if he was half -a mile high, or more. There were some people among some houses -near a railway station between Niagara and Buffalo, and then more -people. They went like ants busily in and out of the houses. He -saw two motor cars gliding along the road towards Niagara city. -Then far away in the south he saw a great Asiatic airship going -eastward. "Oh, Gord!" he said, and became earnest in his -ineffectual attempts to alter his direction. But that airship -took no notice of him, and he continued to ascend convulsively. -The world got more and more extensive and maplike. Click, clock, -clitter-clock. Above him and very near to him now was a hazy -stratum of cloud. - -He determined to disengage the wing clutch. He did so. The -lever resisted his strength for a time, then over it came, and -instantly the tail of the machine cocked up and the wings became -rigidly spread. Instantly everything was swift and smooth and -silent. He was gliding rapidly down the air against a wild gale -of wind, his eyes three-quarters shut. - -A little lever that had hitherto been obdurate now confessed -itself mobile. He turned it over gently to the right, and -whiroo!--the left wing had in some mysterious way given at its -edge and he was sweeping round and downward in an immense -right-handed spiral. For some moments he experienced all the -helpless sensations of catastrophe. He restored the lever to its -middle position with some difficulty, and the wings were -equalised again. - -He turned it to the left and had a sensation of being spun round -backwards. "Too much!" he gasped. - -He discovered that he was rushing down at a headlong pace towards -a railway line and some factory buildings. They appeared to be -tearing up to him to devour him. He must have dropped all that -height. For a moment he had the ineffectual sensations of one -whose bicycle bolts downhill. The ground had almost taken him by -surprise. "'Ere!" he cried; and then with a violent effort of -all his being he got the beating engine at work again and set the -wings flapping. He swooped down and up and resumed his quivering -and pulsating ascent of the air. - -He went high again, until he had a wide view of the pleasant -upland country of western New York State, and then made a long -coast down, and so up again, and then a coast. Then as he came -swooping a quarter of a mile above a village he saw people -running about, running away--evidently in relation to his -hawk-like passage. He got an idea that he had been shot at. - -"Up!" he said, and attacked that lever again. It came over with -remarkable docility, and suddenly the wings seemed to give way in -the middle. But the engine was still! It had stopped. He flung -the lever back rather by instinct than design. What to do? - -Much happened in a few seconds, but also his mind was quick, he -thought very quickly. He couldn't get up again, he was gliding -down the air; he would have to hit something. - -He was travelling at the rate of perhaps thirty miles an hour -down, down. - -That plantation of larches looked the softest thing--mossy -almost! - -Could he get it? He gave himself to the steering. Round to the -right--left! - -Swirroo! Crackle! He was gliding over the tops of the trees, -ploughing through them, tumbling into a cloud of green sharp -leaves and black twigs. There was a sudden snapping, and he fell -off the saddle forward, a thud and a crashing of branches. Some -twigs hit him smartly in the face.... - -He was between a tree-stem and the saddle, with his leg over the -steering lever and, so far as he could realise, not hurt. He -tried to alter his position and free his leg, and found himself -slipping and dropping through branches with everything giving way -beneath him. He clutched and found himself in the lower branches -of a tree beneath the flying-machine. The air was full of a -pleasant resinous smell. He stared for a moment motionless, and -then very carefully clambered down branch by branch to the soft -needle-covered ground below. - -"Good business," he said, looking up at the bent and tilted -kite-wings above. - -"I dropped soft!" - -He rubbed his chin with his hand and meditated. "Blowed if I -don't think I'm a rather lucky fellow!" he said, surveying the -pleasant sun-bespattered ground under the trees. Then he became -aware of a violent tumult at his side. "Lord!" he said, "You -must be 'arf smothered," and extracted the kitten from his -pocket-handkerchief and pocket. She was twisted and crumpled and -extremely glad to see the light again. Her little tongue peeped -between her teeth. He put her down, and she ran a dozen paces -and shook herself and stretched and sat up and began to wash. - -"Nex'?" he said, looking about him, and then with a gesture of -vexation, "Desh it! I ought to 'ave brought that gun!" - -He had rested it against a tree when he had seated himself in the -flying-machine saddle. - -He was puzzled for a time by the immense peacefulness in the -quality of the world, and then he perceived that the roar of the -cataract was no longer in his ears. - -2 - -He had no very clear idea of what sort of people he might come -upon in this country. It was, he knew, America. Americans he -had always understood were the citizens of a great and powerful -nation, dry and humorous in their manner, addicted to the use of -the bowie-knife and revolver, and in the habit of talking through -the nose like Norfolkshire, and saying "allow" and "reckon" and -"calculate," after the manner of the people who live on the New -Forest side of Hampshire. Also they were very rich, had -rocking-chairs, and put their feet at unusual altitudes, and they -chewed tobacco, gum, and other substances, with untiring -industry. Commingled with them were cowboys, Red Indians, and -comic, respectful niggers. This he had learnt from the fiction -in his public library. Beyond that he had learnt very little. -He was not surprised therefore when he met armed men. - -He decided to abandon the shattered flying-machine. He wandered -through the trees for some time, and then struck a road that -seemed to his urban English eyes to be remarkably wide but not -properly "made." Neither hedge nor ditch nor curbed distinctive -footpath separated it from the woods, and it went in that long -easy curve which distinguishes the tracks of an open continent. -Ahead he saw a man carrying a gun under his arm, a man in a soft -black hat, a blue blouse, and black trousers, and with a broad -round-fat face quite innocent of goatee. This person regarded -him askance and heard him speak with a start. - -"Can you tell me whereabouts I am at all?" asked Bert. - -The man regarded him, and more particularly his rubber boots, -with sinister suspicion. Then he replied in a strange outlandish -tongue that was, as a matter of fact, Czech. He ended suddenly -at the sight of Bert's blank face with "Don't spik English." - -"Oh!" said Bert. He reflected gravely for a moment, and then -went his way. - -"Thenks," he, said as an afterthought. The man regarded his back -for a moment, was struck with an idea, began an abortive gesture, -sighed, gave it up, and went on also with a depressed -countenance. - -Presently Bert came to a big wooden house standing casually among -the trees. It looked a bleak, bare box of a house to him, no -creeper grew on it, no hedge nor wall nor fence parted it off -from the woods about it. He stopped before the steps that led up -to the door, perhaps thirty yards away. The place seemed -deserted. He would have gone up to the door and rapped, but -suddenly a big black dog appeared at the side and regarded him. -It was a huge heavy-jawed dog of some unfamiliar breed, and it, -wore a spike-studded collar. It did not bark nor approach him, -it just bristled quietly and emitted a single sound like a short, -deep cough. - -Bert hesitated and went on. - -He stopped thirty paces away and stood peering about him among -the trees. "If I 'aven't been and lef' that kitten," he said. - -Acute sorrow wrenched him for a time. The black dog came through -the trees to get a better look at him and coughed that well-bred -cough again. Bert resumed the road. - -"She'll do all right," he said.... "She'll catch things. - -"She'll do all right," he said presently, without conviction. -But if it had not been for the black dog, he would have gone -back. - -When he was out of sight of the house and the black dog, he went -into the woods on the other side of the way and emerged after an -interval trimming a very tolerable cudgel with his pocket-knife. -Presently he saw an attractive-looking rock by the track and -picked it up and put it in his pocket. Then he came to three or -four houses, wooden like the last, each with an ill-painted white -verandah (that was his name for it) and all standing in the same -casual way upon the ground. Behind, through the woods, he saw -pig-stys and a rooting black sow leading a brisk, adventurous -family. A wild-looking woman with sloe-black eyes and -dishevelled black hair sat upon the steps of one of the houses -nursing a baby, but at the sight of Bert she got up and went -inside, and he heard her bolting the door. Then a boy appeared -among the pig-stys, but he would not understand Bert's hail. - -"I suppose it is America!" said Bert. - -The houses became more frequent down the road, and he passed two -other extremely wild and dirty-looking men without addressing -them. One carried a gun and the other a hatchet, and they -scrutinised him and his cudgel scornfully. Then he struck a -cross-road with a mono-rail at its side, and there was a notice -board at the corner with "Wait here for the cars." "That's all -right, any'ow," said Bert. "Wonder 'ow long I should 'ave to -wait?" It occurred to him that in the present disturbed state of -the country the service might be interrupted, and as there seemed -more houses to the right than the left he turned to the right. -He passed an old negro. "'Ullo!" said Bert. "Goo' morning!" - -"Good day, sah!" said the old negro, in a voice of almost -incredible richness. - -"What's the name of this place?" asked Bert. - -"Tanooda, sah!" said the negro. - -"Thenks!" said Bert. - -"Thank YOU, sah!" said the negro, overwhelmingly. - -Bert came to houses of the same detached, unwalled, wooden type, -but adorned now with enamelled advertisements partly in English -and partly in Esperanto. Then he came to what he concluded was a -grocer's shop. It was the first house that professed the -hospitality of an open door, and from within came a strangely -familiar sound. "Gaw!" he said searching in his pockets. "Why! -I 'aven't wanted money for free weeks! I wonder if I--Grubb 'ad -most of it. Ah!" He produced a handful of coins and regarded -it; three pennies, sixpence, and a shilling. "That's all right," -he said, forgetting a very obvious consideration. - -He approached the door, and as he did so a compactly built, -grey-faced man in shirt sleeves appeared in it and scrutinised -him and his cudgel. "Mornin'," said Bert. "Can I get anything to -eat 'r drink in this shop?" - -The man in the door replied, thank Heaven, in clear, good -American. "This, sir, is not A shop, it is A store." - -"Oh!" said Bert, and then, "Well, can I get anything to eat?" - -"You can," said the American in a tone of confident -encouragement, and led the way inside. - -The shop seemed to him by his Bun Hill standards extremely roomy, -well lit, and unencumbered. There was a long counter to the left -of him, with drawers and miscellaneous commodities ranged behind -it, a number of chairs, several tables, and two spittoons to the -right, various barrels, cheeses, and bacon up the vista, and -beyond, a large archway leading to more space. A little group of -men was assembled round one of the tables, and a woman of perhaps -five-and-thirty leant with her elbows on the counter. All the -men were armed with rifles, and the barrel of a gun peeped above -the counter. They were all listening idly, inattentively, to a -cheap, metallic-toned gramophone that occupied a table near at -hand. From its brazen throat came words that gave Bert a qualm -of homesickness, that brought back in his memory a sunlit beach, -a group of children, red-painted bicycles, Grubb, and an -approaching balloon:-- - -"Ting-a-ling-a-ting-a-ling-a-ting-a ling-a-tang... -What Price Hair-pins Now?" - -A heavy-necked man in a straw hat, who was chewing something, -stopped the machine with a touch, and they all turned their eyes -on Bert. And all their eyes were tired eyes. - -"Can we give this gentleman anything to eat, mother, or can we -not?" said the proprietor. - -"He kin have what he likes?" said the woman at the counter, -without moving, "right up from a cracker to a square meal." She -struggled with a yawn, after the manner of one who has been up -all night. - -"I want a meal," said Bert, "but I 'aven't very much money. I -don' want to give mor'n a shillin'." - -"Mor'n a WHAT?" said the proprietor, sharply. - -"Mor'n a shillin'," said Bert, with a sudden disagreeable -realisation coming into his mind. - -"Yes," said the proprietor, startled for a moment from his -courtly bearing. "But what in hell is a shilling?" - -"He means a quarter," said a wise-looking, lank young man in -riding gaiters. - -Bert, trying to conceal his consternation, produced a coin. -"That's a shilling," he said. - -"He calls A store A shop," said the proprietor, "and he wants A -meal for A shilling. May I ask you, sir, what part of America -you hail from?" - -Bert replaced the shilling in his pocket as he spoke, "Niagara," -he said. - -"And when did you leave Niagara?" - -"'Bout an hour ago." - -"Well," said the proprietor, and turned with a puzzled smile to -the others. "Well!" - -They asked various questions simultaneously. - -Bert selected one or two for reply. "You see," he said, "I been -with the German air-fleet. I got caught up by them, sort of by -accident, and brought over here." - -"From England?" - -"Yes--from England. Way of Germany. I was in a great battle -with them Asiatics, and I got lef' on a little island between the -Falls." - -"Goat Island?" - -"I don' know what it was called. But any'ow I found a -flying-machine and made a sort of fly with it and got here." - -Two men stood up with incredulous eyes on him. "Where's the -flying-machine?" they asked; "outside?" - -"It's back in the woods here--'bout arf a mile away." - -"Is it good?" said a thick-lipped man with a scar. - -"I come down rather a smash--." - -Everybody got up and stood about him and talked confusingly. -They wanted him to take them to the flying-machine at once. - -"Look 'ere," said Bert, "I'll show you--only I 'aven't 'ad -anything to eat since yestiday--except mineral water." - -A gaunt soldierly-looking young man with long lean legs in riding -gaiters and a bandolier, who had hitherto not spoken, intervened -now on his behalf in a note of confident authority. "That's aw -right," he said. "Give him a feed, Mr. Logan--from me. I -want to hear more of that story of his. We'll see his machine -afterwards. If you ask me, I should say it's a remarkably -interesting accident had dropped this gentleman here. I guess we -requisition that flying-machine--if we find it--for local -defence." - -3 - -So Bert fell on his feet again, and sat eating cold meat and good -bread and mustard and drinking very good beer, and telling in the -roughest outline and with the omissions and inaccuracies of -statement natural to his type of mind, the simple story of his -adventures. He told how he and a "gentleman friend" had been -visiting the seaside for their health, how a "chep" came along in -a balloon and fell out as he fell in, how he had drifted to -Franconia, how the Germans had seemed to mistake him for some one -and had "took him prisoner" and brought him to New York, how he -had been to Labrador and back, how he had got to Goat Island and -found himself there alone. He omitted the matter of the Prince -and the Butteridge aspect of the affair, not out of any deep -deceitfulness, but because he felt the inadequacy of his -narrative powers. He wanted everything to seem easy and natural -and correct, to present himself as a trustworthy and -understandable Englishman in a sound mediocre position, to whom -refreshment and accommodation might be given with freedom and -confidence. -When his fragmentary story came to New York and the battle of -Niagara, they suddenly produced newspapers which had been lying -about on the table, and began to check him and question him by -these vehement accounts. It became evident to him that his -descent had revived and roused to flames again a discussion, a -topic, that had been burning continuously, that had smouldered -only through sheer exhaustion of material during the temporary -diversion of the gramophone, a discussion that had drawn these -men together, rifle in hand, the one supreme topic of the whole -world, the War and the methods of the War. He found any question -of his personality and his personal adventures falling into the -background, found himself taken for granted, and no more than a -source of information. The ordinary affairs of life, the buying -and selling of everyday necessities, the cultivation of the -ground, the tending of beasts, was going on as it were by force -of routine, as the common duties of life go on in a house whose -master lies under the knife of some supreme operation. The -overruling interest was furnished by those great Asiatic airships -that went upon incalculable missions across the sky, the -crimson-clad swordsmen who might come fluttering down demanding -petrol, or food, or news. These men were asking, all the -continent was asking, "What are we to do? What can we try? How -can we get at them?" Bert fell into his place as an item, ceased -even in his own thoughts to be a central and independent thing. - -After he had eaten and drunken his fill and sighed and stretched -and told them how good the food seemed to him, he lit a cigarette -they gave him and led the way, with some doubts and trouble, to -the flying-machine amidst the larches. It became manifest that -the gaunt young man, whose name, it seemed, was Laurier, was a -leader both by position and natural aptitude. He knew the names -and characters and capabilities of all the men who were with him, -and he set them to work at once with vigour and effect to secure -this precious instrument of war. They got the thing down to the -ground deliberately and carefully, felling a couple of trees in -the process, and they built a wide flat roof of timbers and tree -boughs to guard their precious find against its chance discovery -by any passing Asiatics. Long before evening they had an -engineer from the next township at work upon it, and they were -casting lots among the seventeen picked men who wanted to take it -for its first flight. And Bert found his kitten and carried it -back to Logan's store and handed it with earnest admonition to -Mrs. Logan. And it was reassuringly clear to him that in Mrs. -Logan both he and the kitten had found a congenial soul. - -Laurier was not only a masterful person and a wealthy property -owner and employer--he was president, Bert learnt with awe, of -the Tanooda Canning Corporation--but he was popular and skilful -in the arts of popularity. In the evening quite a crowd of men -gathered in the store and talked of the flying-machine and of the -war that was tearing the world to pieces. And presently came a -man on a bicycle with an ill-printed newspaper of a single sheet -which acted like fuel in a blazing furnace of talk. It was -nearly all American news; the old-fashioned cables had fallen -into disuse for some years, and the Marconi stations across the -ocean and along the Atlantic coastline seemed to have furnished -particularly tempting points of attack. - -But such news it was. - -Bert sat in the background--for by this time they had gauged his -personal quality pretty completely--listening. Before his -staggering mind passed strange vast images as they talked, of -great issues at a crisis, of nations in tumultuous march, of -continents overthrown, of famine and destruction beyond measure. -Ever and again, in spite of his efforts to suppress them, certain -personal impressions would scamper across the weltering -confusion, the horrible mess of the exploded Prince, the Chinese -aeronaut upside down, the limping and bandaged bird-faced officer -blundering along in miserable and hopeless flight.... - -They spoke of fire and massacre, of cruelties and counter -cruelties, of things that had been done to harmless Asiatics by -race-mad men, of the wholesale burning and smashing up of towns, -railway junctions, bridges, of whole populations in hiding and -exodus. "Every ship they've got is in the Pacific," he heard one -man exclaim. "Since the fighting began they can't have landed on -the Pacific slope less than a million men. They've come to stay -in these States, and they will--living or dead." - -Slowly, broadly, invincibly, there grew upon Bert's mind -realisation of the immense tragedy of humanity into which his -life was flowing; the appalling and universal nature of the -epoch that had arrived; the conception of an end to security and -order and habit. The whole world was at war and it could not get -back to peace, it might never recover peace. - -He had thought the things he had seen had been exceptional, -conclusive things, that the besieging of New York and the battle -of the Atlantic were epoch-making events between long years of -security. And they had been but the first warning impacts of -universal cataclysm. Each day destruction and hate and disaster -grew, the fissures widened between man and man, new regions of -the fabric of civilisation crumbled and gave way. Below, the -armies grew and the people perished; above, the airships and -aeroplanes fought and fled, raining destruction. - -It is difficult perhaps for the broad-minded and -long-perspectived reader to understand how incredible the -breaking down of the scientific civilisation seemed to those who -actually lived at this time, who in their own persons went down -in that debacle. Progress had marched as it seemed invincible -about the earth, never now to rest again. For three hundred -years and more the long steadily accelerated diastole of -Europeanised civilisation had been in progress: towns had been -multiplying, populations increasing, values rising, new countries -developing; thought, literature, knowledge unfolding and -spreading. It seemed but a part of the process that every year -the instruments of war were vaster and more powerful, and that -armies and explosives outgrew all other growing things.... - -Three hundred years of diastole, and then came the swift and -unexpected systole, like the closing of a fist. They could not -understand it was systole. - -They could not think of it as anything but a jolt, a hitch, a -mere oscillatory indication of the swiftness of their progress. -Collapse, though it happened all about them, remained -incredible. Presently some falling mass smote them down, or the -ground opened beneath their feet. They died incredulous.... - -These men in the store made a minute, remote group under this -immense canopy of disaster. They turned from one little aspect -to another. What chiefly concerned them was defence against -Asiatic raiders swooping for petrol or to destroy weapons or -communications. Everywhere levies were being formed at that time -to defend the plant of the railroads day and night in the hope -that communication would speedily be restored. The land war was -still far away. A man with a flat voice distinguished himself by -a display of knowledge and cunning. He told them all with -confidence just what had been wrong with the German -drachenflieger and the American aeroplanes, just what advantage -the Japanese flyers possessed. He launched out into a romantic -description of the Butteridge machine and riveted Bert's -attention. "I SEE that," said Bert, and was smitten silent by a -thought. The man with the flat voice talked on, without heeding -him, of the strange irony of Butteridge's death. At that Bert -had a little twinge of relief--he would never meet Butteridge -again. It appeared Butteridge had died suddenly, very suddenly. - -"And his secret, sir, perished with him! When they came to look -for the parts--none could find them. He had hidden them all too -well." - -"But couldn't he tell?" asked the man in the straw hat. "Did he -die so suddenly as that?" - -"Struck down, sir. Rage and apoplexy. At a place called -Dymchurch in England." - -"That's right," said Laurier. "I remember a page about it in the -Sunday American. At the time they said it was a German spy had -stolen his balloon." - -"Well, sir," said the flat-voiced man, "that fit of apoplexy at -Dyrnchurch was the worst thing--absolutely the worst thing that -ever happened to the world. For if it had not been for the death -of Mr. Butteridge--" - -"No one knows his secret?" - -"Not a soul. It's gone. His balloon, it appears, was lost at -sea, with all the plans. Down it went, and they went with it." - -Pause. - -"With machines such as he made we could fight these Asiatic -fliers on more than equal terms. We could outfly and beat down -those scarlet humming-birds wherever they appeared. But it's -gone, it's gone, and there's no time to reinvent it now. We got -to fight with what we got--and the odds are against us. THAT -won't stop us fightin'. No! but just think of it!" - -Bert was trembling violently. He cleared his throat hoarsely. - -"I say," he said, "look here, I--" - -Nobody regarded him. The man with the flat voice was opening a -new branch of the subject. - -"I allow--" he began. - -Bert became violently excited. He stood up. - -He made clawing motions with his hands. "I say!" he exclaimed, -"Mr. Laurier. Look 'ere--I want--about that Butteridge -machine--." - -Mr. Laurier, sitting on an adjacent table, with a magnificent -gesture, arrested the discourse of the flat-voiced man. "What's -HE saying?" said he. - -Then the whole company realised that something was happening to -Bert; either he was suffocating or going mad. He was -spluttering. - -"Look 'ere! I say! 'Old on a bit!" and trembling and eagerly -unbuttoning himself. - -He tore open his collar and opened vest and shirt. He plunged -into his interior and for an instant it seemed he was plucking -forth his liver. Then as he struggled with buttons on his -shoulder they perceived this flattened horror was in fact a -terribly dirty flannel chest-protector. In an other moment Bert, -in a state of irregular decolletage, was standing over the table -displaying a sheaf of papers. - -"These!" he gasped. "These are the plans!... You know! Mr. -Butteridge--his machine! What died! I was the chap that went -off in that balloon!" - -For some seconds every one was silent. They stared from these -papers to Bert's white face and blazing eyes, and back to the -papers on the table. Nobody moved. Then the man with the flat -voice spoke. - -"Irony!" he said, with a note of satisfaction. "Real rightdown -Irony! When it's too late to think of making 'em any more!" - -4 - -They would all no doubt have been eager to hear Bert's story over -again, but it was it this point that Laurier showed his quality. -"No, SIR," he said, and slid from off his table. - -He impounded the dispersing Butteridge plans with one -comprehensive sweep of his arm, rescuing them even from the -expository finger-marks of the man with the flat voice, and -handed them to Bert. "Put those back," he said, "where you had -'em. We have a journey before us." - -Bert took them. - -"Whar?" said the man in the straw hat. - -"Why, sir, we are going to find the President of these States and -give these plans over to him. I decline to believe, sir, we are -too late." - -"Where is the President?" asked Bert weakly in that pause that -followed. - -"Logan," said Laurier, disregarding that feeble inquiry, "you -must help us in this." - -It seemed only a matter of a few minutes before Bert and Laurier -and the storekeeper were examining a number of bicycles that were -stowed in the hinder room of the store. Bert didn't like any of -them very much. They had wood rims and an experience of wood -rims in the English climate had taught him to hate them. That, -however, and one or two other objections to an immediate start -were overruled by Laurier. "But where IS the President?" Bert -repeated as they stood behind Logan while he pumped up a deflated -tyre. - -Laurier looked down on him. "He is reported in the neighbourhood -of Albany--out towards the Berkshire Hills. He is moving from -place to place and, as far as he can, organising the defence by -telegraph and telephones The Asiatic air-fleet is trying to -locate him. When they think they have located the seat of -government, they throw bombs. This inconveniences him, but so -far they have not come within ten miles of him. The Asiatic -air-fleet is at present scattered all over the Eastern States, -seeking out and destroying gas-works and whatever seems conducive -to the building of airships or the transport of troops. Our -retaliatory measures are slight in the extreme. But with these -machines--Sir, this ride of ours will count among the historical -rides of the world!" - -He came near to striking an attitude. "We shan't get to him -to-night?" asked Bert. - -"No, sir!" said Laurier. "We shall have to ride some days, -sure!" - -"And suppose we can't get a lift on a train--or anything?" - -"No, sir! There's been no transit by Tanooda for three days. -It is no good waiting. We shall have to get on as well as we -can." - -"Startin' now?" - -"Starting now!" - -"But 'ow about--We shan't be able to do much to-night." - -"May as well ride till we're fagged and sleep then. So much -clear gain. Our road is eastward." - -"Of course," began Bert, with memories of the dawn upon Goat -Island, and left his sentence unfinished. - -He gave his attention to the more scientific packing of the -chest-protector, for several of the plans flapped beyond his -vest. - -5 - -For a week Bert led a life of mixed sensations. Amidst these -fatigue in the legs predominated. Mostly he rode, rode with -Laurier's back inexorably ahead, through a land like a larger -England, with bigger hills and wider valleys, larger fields, -wider roads, fewer hedges, and wooden houses with commodious -piazzas. He rode. Laurier made inquiries, Laurier chose the -turnings, Laurier doubted, Laurier decided. Now it seemed they -were in telephonic touch with the President; now something had -happened and he was lost again. But always they had to go on, -and always Bert rode. A tyre was deflated. Still he rode. He -grew saddle sore. Laurier declared that unimportant. Asiatic -flying ships passed overhead, the two cyclists made a dash for -cover until the sky was clear. Once a red Asiatic flying-machine -came fluttering after them, so low they could distinguish the -aeronaut's head. He followed them for a mile. Now they came to -regions of panic, now to regions of destruction; here people were -fighting for food, here they seemed hardly stirred from the -countryside routine. They spent a day in a deserted and damaged -Albany. The Asiatics had descended and cut every wire and made a -cinder-heap of the Junction, and our travellers pushed on -eastward. They passed a hundred half-heeded incidents, and -always Bert was toiling after Laurier's indefatigable back.... - -Things struck upon Bert's attention and perplexed him, and then -he passed on with unanswered questionings fading from his mind. - -He saw a large house on fire on a hillside to the right, and no -man heeding it.... - -They came to a narrow railroad bridge and presently to a -mono-rail train standing in the track on its safety feet. It was -a remarkably sumptuous train, the Last Word Trans-Continental -Express, and the passengers were all playing cards or sleeping or -preparing a picnic meal on a grassy slope near at hand. They had -been there six days.... - -At one point ten dark-complexioned men were hanging in a string -from the trees along the roadside. Bert wondered why.... - -At one peaceful-looking village where they stopped off to get -Bert's tyre mended and found beer and biscuits, they were -approached by an extremely dirty little boy without boots, who -spoke as follows:-- - -"Deyse been hanging a Chink in dose woods!" - -"Hanging a Chinaman?" said Laurier. - -"Sure. Der sleuths got him rubberin' der rail-road sheds!" - -"Oh!" - -"Dose guys done wase cartridges. Deyse hung him and dey pulled -his legs. Deyse doin' all der Chinks dey can fine dat weh! Dey -ain't takin' no risks. All der Chinks dey can fine." - -Neither Bert nor Laurier made any reply, and presently, after a -little skilful expectoration, the young gentleman was attracted -by the appearance of two of his friends down the road and -shuffled off, whooping weirdly.... - -That afternoon they almost ran over a man shot through the body -and partly decomposed, lying near the middle of the road, just -outside Albany. He must have been lying there for some days.... - -Beyond Albany they came upon a motor car with a tyre burst and a -young woman sitting absolutely passive beside the driver's seat. -An old man was under the car trying to effect some impossible -repairs. Beyond, sitting with a rifle across his knees, with -his back to the car, and staring into the woods, was a young man. - -The old man crawled out at their approach and still on all-fours -accosted Bert and Laurier. The car had broken down overnight. -The old man, said he could not understand what was wrong, but he -was trying to puzzle it out. Neither he nor his son-in-law had -any mechanical aptitude. They had been assured this was a -fool-proof car. It was dangerous to have to stop in this place. -The party had been attacked by tramps and had had to fight. It -was known they had provisions. He mentioned a great name in the -world of finance. Would Laurier and Bert stop and help him? He -proposed it first hopefully, then urgently, at last in tears and -terror. - -"No!" said Laurier inexorable. "We must go on! We have -something more than a woman to save. We have to save America!" - -The girl never stirred. - -And once they passed a madman singing. - -And at last they found the President hiding in a small saloon -upon the outskirts of a place called Pinkerville on the Hudson, -and gave the plans of the Butteridge machine into his hands. - - - -CHAPTER XI -THE GREAT COLLAPSE - -1 - -And now the whole fabric of civilisation was bending and giving, -and dropping to pieces and melting in the furnace of the war. - -The stages of the swift and universal collapse of the financial -and scientific civilisation with which the twentieth century -opened followed each other very swiftly, so swiftly that upon the -foreshortened page of history--they seem altogether to overlap. -To begin with, one sees the world nearly at a maximum wealth and -prosperity. To its inhabitants indeed it seemed also at a -maximum of security. When now in retrospect the thoughtful -observer surveys the intellectual history of this time, when one -reads its surviving fragments of literature, its scraps of -political oratory, the few small voices that chance has selected -out of a thousand million utterances to speak to later days, the -most striking thing of all this web of wisdom and error is surely -that hallucination of security. To men living in our present -world state, orderly, scientific and secured, nothing seems so -precarious, so giddily dangerous, as the fabric of the social -order with which the men of the opening of the twentieth century -were content. To us it seems that every institution and -relationship was the fruit of haphazard and tradition and the -manifest sport of chance, their laws each made for some separate -occasion and having no relation to any future needs, their -customs illogical, their education aimless and wasteful. Their -method of economic exploitation indeed impresses a trained and -informed mind as the most frantic and destructive scramble it is -possible to conceive; their credit and monetary system resting on -an unsubstantial tradition of the worthiness of gold, seems a -thing almost fantastically unstable. And they lived in planless -cities, for the most part dangerously congested; their rails and -roads and population were distributed over the earth in the -wanton confusion ten thousand irrevelant considerations had made. - -Yet they thought confidently that this was a secure and permanent -progressive system, and on the strength of some three hundred -years of change and irregular improvement answered the doubter -with, "Things always have gone well. We'll worry through!" - -But when we contrast the state of man in the opening of the -twentieth century with the condition of any previous period in -his history, then perhaps we may begin to understand something of -that blind confidence. It was not so much a reasoned confidence -as the inevitable consequence of sustained good fortune. By such -standards as they possessed, things HAD gone amazingly well for -them. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that for the first -time in history whole populations found themselves regularly -supplied with more than enough to eat, and the vital statistics -of the time witness to an amelioration of hygienic conditions -rapid beyond all precedent, and to a vast development of -intelligence and ability in all the arts that make life -wholesome. The level and quality of the average education had -risen tremendously; and at the dawn of the twentieth century -comparatively few people in Western Europe or America were unable -to read or write. Never before had there been such reading -masses. There was wide social security. A common man might -travel safely over three-quarters of the habitable globe, could -go round the earth at a cost of less than the annual earnings of -a skilled artisan. Compared with the liberality and comfort of -the ordinary life of the time, the order of the Roman Empire -under the Antonines was local and limited. And every year, every -month, came some new increment to human achievement, a new -country opened up, new mines, new scientific discoveries, a new -machine! - -For those three hundred years, indeed, the movement of the world -seemed wholly beneficial to mankind. Men said, indeed, that -moral organisation was not keeping pace with physical progress, -but few attached any meaning to these phrases, the understanding -of which lies at the basis of our present safety. Sustaining and -constructive forces did indeed for a time more than balance the -malign drift of chance and the natural ignorance, prejudice, -blind passion, and wasteful self-seeking of mankind. - -The accidental balance on the side of Progress was far slighter -and infinitely more complex and delicate in its adjustments than -the people of that time suspected; but that did not alter the -fact that it was an effective balance. They did not realise that -this age of relative good fortune was an age of immense but -temporary opportunity for their kind. They complacently assumed -a necessary progress towards which they had no moral -responsibility. They did not realise that this security of -progress was a thing still to be won--or lost, and that the time -to win it was a time that passed. They went about their affairs -energetically enough and yet with a curious idleness towards -those threatening things. No one troubled over the real dangers -of mankind. They, saw their armies and navies grow larger and -more portentous; some of their ironclads at the last cost as much -as the whole annual expenditure upon advanced education; they -accumulated explosives and the machinery of destruction; they -allowed their national traditions and jealousies to accumulate; -they contemplated a steady enhancement of race hostility as the -races drew closer without concern or understanding, and they -permitted the growth in their midst of an evil-spirited press, -mercenary and unscrupulous, incapable of good, and powerful for -evil. The State had practically no control over the press at -all. Quite heedlessly they allowed this torch-paper to lie at the -door of their war magazine for any spark to fire. The precedents -of history were all one tale of the collapse of civilisations, -the dangers of the time were manifest. One is incredulous now to -believe they could not see. - -Could mankind have prevented this disaster of the War in the Air? - -An idle question that, as idle as to ask could mankind have -prevented the decay that turned Assyria and Babylon to empty -deserts or the slow decline and fall, the gradual social -disorganisation, phase by phase, that closed the chapter of the -Empire of the West! They could not, because they did not, they -had not the will to arrest it. What mankind could achieve with a -different will is a speculation as idle as it is magnificent. -And this was no slow decadence that came to the Europeanised -world; those other civilisations rotted and crumbled down, the -Europeanised civilisation was, as it were, blown up. Within the -space of five years it was altogether disintegrated and -destroyed. Up to the very eve of the War in the Air one sees a -spacious spectacle of incessant advance, a world-wide security, -enormous areas with highly organised industry and settled -populations, gigantic cities spreading gigantically, the seas and -oceans dotted with shipping, the land netted with rails, and open -ways. Then suddenly the German air-fleets sweep across the -scene, and we are in the beginning of the end. - -2 - -This story has already told of the swift rush upon New York of -the first German air-fleet and of the wild, inevitable orgy of -inconclusive destruction that ensued. Behind it a second -air-fleet was already swelling at its gasometers when England and -France and Spain and Italy showed their hands. None of these -countries had prepared for aeronautic warfare on the magnificent -scale of the Germans, but each guarded secrets, each in a measure -was making ready, and a common dread of German vigour and that -aggressive spirit Prince Karl Albert embodied, had long been -drawing these powers together in secret anticipation of some such -attack. This rendered their prompt co-operation possible, and -they certainly co-operated promptly. The second aerial power in -Europe at this time was France; the British, nervous for their -Asiatic empire, and sensible of the immense moral effect of the -airship upon half-educated populations, had placed their -aeronautic parks in North India, and were able to play but a -subordinate part in the European conflict. Still, even in -England they had nine or ten big navigables, twenty or thirty -smaller ones, and a variety of experimental aeroplanes. Before -the fleet of Prince Karl Albert had crossed England, while Bert -was still surveying Manchester in bird's-eye view, the diplomatic -exchanges were going on that led to an attack upon Germany. A -heterogeneous collection of navigable balloons of all sizes and -types gathered over the Bernese Oberland, crushed and burnt the -twenty-five Swiss air-ships that unexpectedly resisted this -concentration in the battle of the Alps, and then, leaving the -Alpine glaciers and valleys strewn with strange wreckage, divided -into two fleets and set itself to terrorise Berlin and destroy -the Franconian Park, seeking to do this before the second -air-fleet could be inflated. - -Both over Berlin and Franconia the assailants with their modern -explosives effected great damage before they were driven off. In -Franconia twelve fully distended and five partially filled and -manned giants were able to make head against and at last, with -the help of a squadron of drachenflieger from Hamburg, defeat and -pursue the attack and to relieve Berlin, and the Germans were -straining every nerve to get an overwhelming fleet in the air, -and were already raiding London and Paris when the advance fleets -from the Asiatic air-parks, the first intimation of a new factor -in the conflict, were reported from Burmah and Armenia. - -Already the whole financial fabric of the world was staggering -when that occurred. With the destruction of the American fleet -in the North Atlantic, and the smashing conflict that ended the -naval existence of Germany in the North Sea, with the burning and -wrecking of billions of pounds' worth of property in the four -cardinal cities of the world, the fact of the hopeless costliness -of war came home for the first time, came, like a blow in the -face, to the consciousness of mankind. Credit went down in a -wild whirl of selling. Everywhere appeared a phenomenon that had -already in a mild degree manifested itself in preceding periods -of panic; a desire to SECURE AND HOARD GOLD before prices reached -bottom. But now it spread like wild-fire, it became universal. -Above was visible conflict and destruction; below something was -happening far more deadly and incurable to the flimsy fabric of -finance and commercialism in which men had so blindly put their -trust. As the airships fought above, the visible gold supply of -the world vanished below. An epidemic of private cornering and -universal distrust swept the world. In a few weeks, money, -except for depreciated paper, vanished into vaults, into holes, -into the walls of houses, into ten million hiding-places. Money -vanished, and at its disappearance trade and industry came to an -end. The economic world staggered and fell dead. It was like -the stroke of some disease it was like the water vanishing out of -the blood of a living creature; it was a sudden, universal -coagulation of intercourse.... - -And as the credit system, that had been the living fortress of -the scientific civilisation, reeled and fell upon the millions it -had held together in economic relationship, as these people, -perplexed and helpless, faced this marvel of credit utterly -destroyed, the airships of Asia, countless and relentless, poured -across the heavens, swooped eastward to America and westward to -Europe. The page of history becomes a long crescendo of battle. -The main body of the British-Indian air-fleet perished upon a -pyre of blazing antagonists in Burmah; the Germans were scattered -in the great battle of the Carpathians; the vast peninsula of -India burst into insurrection and civil war from end to end, and -from Gobi to Morocco rose the standards of the "Jehad." For some -weeks of warfare and destruction it seemed as though the -Confederation of Eastern Asia must needs conquer the world, and -then the jerry-built "modern" civilisation of China too gave way -under the strain. The teeming and peaceful population of China -had been "westernised" during the opening years of the twentieth -century with the deepest resentment and reluctance; they had -been dragooned and disciplined under Japanese and -European--influence into an acquiescence with sanitary methods, -police controls, military service, and wholesale process of -exploitation against which their whole tradition rebelled. Under -the stresses of the war their endurance reached the breaking -point, the whole of China rose in incoherent revolt, and the -practical destruction of the central government at Pekin by a -handful of British and German airships that had escaped from the -main battles rendered that revolt invincible. In Yokohama -appeared barricades, the black flag and the social revolution. -With that the whole world became a welter of conflict. - -So that a universal social collapse followed, as it were a -logical consequence, upon world-wide war. Wherever there were -great populations, great masses of people found themselves -without work, without money, and unable to get food. Famine was -in every working-class quarter in the world within three weeks of -the beginning of the war. Within a month there was not a city -anywhere in which the ordinary law and social procedure had not -been replaced by some form of emergency control, in which -firearms and military executions were not being used to keep -order and prevent violence. And still in the poorer quarters, -and in the populous districts, and even here and there already -among those who had been wealthy, famine spread. - -3 - -So what historians have come to call the Phase of the Emergency -Committees sprang from the opening phase and from the phase of -social collapse. Then followed a period of vehement and -passionate conflict against disintegration; everywhere the -struggle to keep order and to keep fighting went on. And at the -same time the character of the war altered through the -replacement of the huge gas-filled airships by flying-machines as -the instruments of war. So soon as the big fleet engagements -were over, the Asiatics endeavoured to establish in close -proximity to the more vulnerable points of the countries against -which they were acting, fortified centres from which -flying-machine raids could be made. For a time they had -everything their own way in this, and then, as this story has -told, the lost secret of the Butteridge machine came to light, -and the conflict became equalized and less conclusive than ever. -For these small flying-machines, ineffectual for any large -expedition or conclusive attack, were horribly convenient for -guerilla warfare, rapidly and cheaply made, easily used, easily -hidden. The design of them was hastily copied and printed in -Pinkerville and scattered broadcast over the United States and -copies were sent to Europe, and there reproduced. Every man, -every town, every parish that could, was exhorted to make and use -them. In a little while they were being constructed not only by -governments and local authorities, but by robber bands, by -insurgent committees, by every type of private person. The -peculiar social destructiveness of the Butteridge machine lay in -its complete simplicity. It was nearly as simple as a -motor-bicycle. The broad outlines of the earlier stages of the -war disappeared under its influence, the spacious antagonism of -nations and empires and races vanished in a seething mass of -detailed conflict. The world passed at a stride from a unity and -simplicity broader than that of the Roman Empire at its best, to -as social fragmentation as complete as the robber-baron period of -the Middle Ages. But this time, for a long descent down gradual -slopes of disintegration, comes a fall like a fall over a cliff. -Everywhere were men and women perceiving this and struggling -desperately to keep as it were a hold upon the edge of the cliff. - -A fourth phase follows. Through the struggle against Chaos, in -the wake of the Famine, came now another old enemy of humanity-- -the Pestilence, the Purple Death. But the war does not pause. -The flags still fly. Fresh air-fleets rise, new forms of -airship, and beneath their swooping struggles the world -darkens--scarcely heeded by history. - -It is not within the design of this book to tell what further -story, to tell how the War in the Air kept on through the sheer -inability of any authorities to meet and agree and end it, until -every organised government in the world was as shattered and -broken as a heap of china beaten with a stick. With every week -of those terrible years history becomes more detailed and -confused, more crowded and uncertain. Not without great and -heroic resistance was civilisation borne down. Out of the bitter -social conflict below rose patriotic associations, brotherhoods -of order, city mayors, princes, provisional committees, trying to -establish an order below and to keep the sky above. The double -effort destroyed them. And as the exhaustion of the mechanical -resources of civilisation clears the heavens of airships at last -altogether, Anarchy, Famine and Pestilence are discovered -triumphant below. The great nations and empires have become but -names in the mouths of men. Everywhere there are ruins and -unburied dead, and shrunken, yellow-faced survivors in a mortal -apathy. Here there are robbers, here vigilance committees, and -here guerilla bands ruling patches of exhausted territory, -strange federations and brotherhoods form and dissolve, and -religious fanaticisms begotten of despair gleam in famine-bright -eyes. It is a universal dissolution. The fine order and welfare -of the earth have crumpled like an exploded bladder. In five -short years the world and the scope of human life have undergone -a retrogressive change as great as that between the age of the -Antonines and the Europe of the ninth century.... - -4 - -Across this sombre spectacle of disaster goes a minute and -insignificant person for whom perhaps the readers of this story -have now some slight solicitude. Of him there remains to be told -just one single and miraculous thing. Through a world darkened -and lost, through a civilisation in its death agony, our little -Cockney errant went and found his Edna! He found his Edna! - -He got back across the Atlantic partly by means of an order from -the President and partly through his own good luck. He contrived -to get himself aboard a British brig in the timber trade that put -out from Boston without cargo, chiefly, it would seem, because -its captain had a vague idea of "getting home" to South Shields. -Bert was able to ship himself upon her mainly because of the -seamanlike appearance of his rubber boots. They had a long, -eventful voyage; they were chased, or imagined themselves to be -chased, for some hours by an Asiatic ironclad, which was -presently engaged by a British cruiser. The two ships fought for -three hours, circling and driving southward as they fought, until -the twilight and the cloud-drift of a rising gale swallowed them -up. A few days later Bert's ship lost her rudder and mainmast in -a gale. The crew ran out of food and subsisted on fish. They -saw strange air-ships going eastward near the Azores and landed -to get provisions and repair the rudder at Teneriffe. There they -found the town destroyed and two big liners, with dead still -aboard, sunken in the harbour. From there they got canned food -and material for repairs, but their operations were greatly -impeded by the hostility of a band of men amidst the ruins of the -town, who sniped them and tried to drive them away. - -At Mogador, they stayed and sent a boat ashore for water, and -were nearly captured by an Arab ruse. Here too they got the -Purple Death aboard, and sailed with it incubating in their -blood. The cook sickened first, and then the mate, and presently -every one was down and three in the forecastle were dead. It -chanced to be calm weather, and they drifted helplessly and -indeed careless of their fate backwards towards the Equator. The -captain doctored them all with rum. Nine died all together, and -of the four survivors none understood navigation; when at last -they took heart again and could handle a sail, they made a course -by the stars roughly northward and were already short of food -once more when they fell in with a petrol-driven ship from Rio to -Cardiff, shorthanded by reason of the Purple Death and glad to -take them aboard. So at last, after a year of wandering Bert -reached England. He landed in bright June weather, and found the -Purple Death was there just beginning its ravages. - -The people were in a state of panic in Cardiff and many had fled -to the hills, and directly the steamer came to the harbour she -was boarded and her residue of food impounded by some -unauthenticated Provisional Committee. Bert tramped through a -country disorganised by pestilence, foodless, and shaken to the -very base of its immemorial order. He came near death and -starvation many times, and once he was drawn into scenes of -violence that might have ended his career. But the Bert -Smallways who tramped from Cardiff to London vaguely "going -home," vaguely seeking something of his own that had no tangible -form but Edna, was a very different person from the Desert -Dervish who was swept out of England in Mr. Butteridge's balloon -a year before. He was brown and lean and enduring, steady-eyed -and pestilence-salted, and his mouth, which had once hung open, -shut now like a steel trap. Across his brow ran a white scar -that he had got in a fight on the brig. In Cardiff he had felt -the need of new clothes and a weapon, and had, by means that -would have shocked him a year ago, secured a flannel shirt, a -corduroy suit, and a revolver and fifty cartridges from an -abandoned pawnbroker's. He also got some soap and had his first -real wash for thirteen months in a stream outside the town. The -Vigilance bands that had at first shot plunderers very freely -were now either entirely dispersed by the plague, or busy between -town and cemetery in a vain attempt to keep pace with it. He -prowled on the outskirts of the town for three or four days, -starving, and then went back to join the Hospital Corps for a -week, and so fortified himself with a few square meals before he -started eastward. - -The Welsh and English countryside at that time presented the -strangest mingling of the assurance and wealth of the opening -twentieth century with a sort of Dureresque medievalism. All the -gear, the houses and mono-rails, the farm hedges and power -cables, the roads and pavements, the sign-posts and -advertisements of the former order were still for the most part -intact. Bankruptcy, social collapse, famine, and pestilence had -done nothing to damage these, and it was only to the great -capitals and ganglionic centres, as it were, of this State, that -positive destruction had come. Any one dropped suddenly into the -country would have noticed very little difference. He would have -remarked first, perhaps, that all the hedges needed clipping, -that the roadside grass grew rank, that the road-tracks were -unusually rainworn, and that the cottages by the wayside seemed -in many cases shut up, that a telephone wire had dropped here, -and that a cart stood abandoned by the wayside. But he would -still find his hunger whetted by the bright assurance that -Wilder's Canned Peaches were excellent, or that there was nothing -so good for the breakfast table as Gobble's Sausages. And then -suddenly would come the Dureresque element; the skeleton of a -horse, or some crumpled mass of rags in the ditch, with gaunt -extended feet and a yellow, purple-blotched skin and face, or -what had been a face, gaunt and glaring and devastated. Then -here would be a field that had been ploughed and not sown, and -here a field of corn carelessly trampled by beasts, and here a -hoarding torn down across the road to make a fire. - -Then presently he would meet a man or a woman, yellow-faced and -probably negligently dressed and armed--prowling for food. These -people would have the complexions and eyes and expressions of -tramps or criminals, and often the clothing of prosperous -middle-class or upper-class people. Many of these would be eager -for news, and willing to give help and even scraps of queer -meat, or crusts of grey and doughy bread, in return for it. They -would listen to Bert's story with avidity, and attempt to keep -him with them for a day or so. The virtual cessation of postal -distribution and the collapse of all newspaper enterprise had -left an immense and aching gap in the mental life of this time. -Men had suddenly lost sight of the ends of the earth and had -still to recover the rumour-spreading habits of the Middle Ages. -In their eyes, in their bearing, in their talk, was the quality -of lost and deoriented souls. - -As Bert travelled from parish to parish, and from district to -district, avoiding as far as possible those festering centres of -violence and despair, the larger towns, he found the condition -of affairs varying widely. In one parish he would find the large -house burnt, the vicarage wrecked, evidently in violent conflict -for some suspected and perhaps imaginary store of food unburied -dead everywhere, and the whole mechanism of the community at a -standstill. In another he would find organising forces stoutly -at work, newly-painted notice boards warning off vagrants, the -roads and still cultivated fields policed by armed men, the -pestilence under control, even nursing going on, a store of food -husbanded, the cattle and sheep well guarded, and a group of two -or three justices, the village doctor or a farmer, dominating the -whole place; a reversion, in fact, to the autonomous community of -the fifteenth century. But at any time such a village would be -liable to a raid of Asiatics or Africans or such-like -air-pirates, demanding petrol and alcohol or provisions. The -price of its order was an almost intolerable watchfulness and -tension. - -Then the approach to the confused problems of some larger centre -of population and the presence of a more intricate conflict would -be marked by roughly smeared notices of "Quarantine" or -"Strangers Shot," or by a string of decaying plunderers dangling -from the telephone poles at the roadside. About Oxford big -boards were put on the roofs warning all air wanderers off with -the single word, "Guns." - -Taking their risks amidst these things, cyclists still kept -abroad, and once or twice during Bert's long tramp powerful motor -cars containing masked and goggled figures went tearing past him. -There were few police in evidence, but ever and again squads of -gaunt and tattered soldier-cyclists would come drifting along, -and such encounters became more frequent as he got out of Wales -into England. Amidst all this wreckage they were still -campaigning. He had had some idea of resorting to the workhouses -for the night if hunger pressed him too closely, but some of -these were closed and others converted into temporary hospitals, -and one he came up to at twilight near a village in -Gloucestershire stood with all its doors and windows open, silent -as the grave, and, as he found to his horror by stumbling along -evil-smelling corridors, full of unburied dead. - -From Gloucestershire Bert went northward to the British -aeronautic park outside Birmingham, in the hope that he might be -taken on and given food, for there the Government, or at any rate -the War Office, still existed as an energetic fact, concentrated -amidst collapse and social disaster upon the effort to keep the -British flag still flying in the air, and trying to brisk up -mayor and mayor and magistrate and magistrate in a new effort of -organisation. They had brought together all the best of the -surviving artisans from that region, they had provisioned the -park for a siege, and they were urgently building a larger type -of Butteridge machine. Bert could get no footing at this work: -he was not sufficiently skilled, and he had drifted to Oxford -when the great fight occurred in which these works were finally -wrecked. He saw something, but not very much, of the battle from -a place called Boar Hill. He saw the Asiatic squadron coming up -across the hills to the south-west, and he saw one of their -airships circling southward again chased by two aeroplanes, the -one that was ultimately overtaken, wrecked and burnt at Edge -Hill. But he never learnt the issue of the combat as a whole. - -He crossed the Thames from Eton to Windsor and made his way round -the south of London to Bun Hill, and there he found his brother -Tom, looking like some dark, defensive animal in the old shop, -just recovering from the Purple Death, and Jessica upstairs -delirious, and, as it seemed to him, dying grimly. She raved of -sending out orders to customers, and scolded Tom perpetually lest -he should be late with Mrs. Thompson's potatoes and Mrs. Hopkins' -cauliflower, though all business had long since ceased and Tom -had developed a quite uncanny skill in the snaring of rats and -sparrows and the concealment of certain stores of cereals and -biscuits from plundered grocers' shops. Tom received his brother -with a sort of guarded warmth. - -"Lor!" he said, "it's Bert. I thought you'd be coming back some -day, and I'm glad to see you. But I carn't arst you to eat -anything, because I 'aven't got anything to eat.... Where you -been, Bert, all this time?" - -Bert reassured his brother by a glimpse of a partly eaten swede, -and was still telling his story in fragments and parentheses, -when he discovered behind the counter a yellow and forgotten note -addressed to himself. "What's this?" he said, and found it was a -year-old note from Edna. "She came 'ere," said Tom, like one who -recalls a trivial thing, "arstin' for you and arstin' us to take -'er in. That was after the battle and settin' Clapham Rise -afire. I was for takin' 'er in, but Jessica wouldn't 'ave -it--and so she borrowed five shillings of me quiet like and went -on. I dessay she's tole you--" - -She had, Bert found. She had gone on, she said in her note, to -an aunt and uncle who had a brickfield near Horsham. And there -at last, after another fortnight of adventurous journeying, Bert -found her. - -5 - -When Bert and Edna set eyes on one another, they stared and -laughed foolishly, so changed they were, and so ragged and -surprised. And then they both fell weeping. - -"Oh! Bertie, boy!" she cried. "You've come--you've come!" and -put out her arms and staggered. "I told 'im. He said he'd kill -me if I didn't marry him." - -But Edna was not married, and when presently Bert could get talk -from her, she explained the task before him. That little patch -of lonely agricultural country had fallen under the power of a -band of bullies led by a chief called Bill Gore who had begun -life as a butcher boy and developed into a prize-fighter and a -professional sport. They had been organised by a local nobleman -of former eminence upon the turf, but after a time he had -disappeared, no one quite knew how and Bill had succeeded to the -leadership of the countryside, and had developed his teacher's -methods with considerable vigour. There had been a strain of -advanced philosophy about the local nobleman, and his mind ran to -"improving the race" and producing the Over-Man, which in -practice took the form of himself especially and his little band -in moderation marrying with some frequency. Bill followed up the -idea with an enthusiasm that even trenched upon his popularity -with his followers. One day he had happened upon Edna tending -her pigs, and had at once fallen a-wooing with great urgency -among the troughs of slush. Edna had made a gallant resistance, -but he was still vigorously about and extraordinarily impatient. -He might, she said, come at any time, and she looked Bert in the -eyes. They were back already in the barbaric stage when a man -must fight for his love. - -And here one deplores the conflicts of truth with the chivalrous -tradition. One would like to tell of Bert sallying forth to -challenge his rival, of a ring formed and a spirited encounter, -and Bert by some miracle of pluck and love and good fortune -winning. But indeed nothing of the sort occurred. Instead, he -reloaded his revolver very carefully, and then sat in the best -room of the cottage by the derelict brickfield, looking anxious -and perplexed, and listening to talk about Bill and his ways, and -thinking, thinking. Then suddenly Edna's aunt, with a thrill in -her voice, announced the appearance of that individual. He was -coming with two others of his gang through the garden gate. Bert -got up, put the woman aside, and looked out. They presented -remarkable figures. They wore a sort of uniform of red golfing -jackets and white sweaters, football singlet, and stockings and -boots and each had let his fancy play about his head-dress. Bill -had a woman's hat full of cock's feathers, and all had wild, -slouching cowboy brims. - -Bert sighed and stood up, deeply thoughtful, and Edna watched -him, marvelling. The women stood quite still. He left the -window, and went out into the passage rather slowly, and with the -careworn expression of a man who gives his mind to a complex and -uncertain business. "Edna!" he called, and when she came he -opened the front door. - -He asked very simply, and pointing to the foremost of the three, -"That 'im?... Sure?"... and being told that it was, shot his -rival instantly and very accurately through the chest. He then -shot Bill's best man much less tidily in the head, and then shot -at and winged the third man as he fled. The third gentleman -yelped, and continued running with a comical end-on twist. - -Then Bert stood still meditating, with the pistol in his hand, -and quite regardless of the women behind him. - -So far things had gone well. - -It became evident to him that if he did not go into politics at -once, he would be hanged as an assassin and accordingly, and -without a word to the women, he went down to the village -public-house he had passed an hour before on his way to Edna, -entered it from the rear, and confronted the little band of -ambiguous roughs, who were drinking in the tap-room and -discussing matrimony and Bill's affection in a facetious but -envious manner, with a casually held but carefully reloaded -revolver, and an invitation to join what he called, I regret to -say, a "Vigilance Committee" under his direction. "It's wanted -about 'ere, and some of us are gettin' it up." He presented -himself as one having friends outside, though indeed, he had no -friends at all in the world but Edna and her aunt and two female -cousins. - -There was a quick but entirely respectful discussion of the -situation. They thought him a lunatic who had tramped into, this -neighbourhood ignorant of Bill. They desired to temporise until -their leader came. Bill would settle him. Some one spoke of -Bill. - -"Bill's dead, I jest shot 'im," said Bert. "We don't need reckon -with 'IM. 'E's shot, and a red-'aired chap with a squint, 'E'S -shot. We've settled up all that. There ain't going to be no more -Bill, ever. 'E'd got wrong ideas about marriage and things. It's -'is sort of chap we're after." - -That carried the meeting. - -Bill was perfunctorily buried, and Bert's Vigilance Committee -(for so it continued to be called) reigned in his stead. - -That is the end of this story so far as Bert Smallways is -concerned. We leave him with his Edna to become squatters among -the clay and oak thickets of the Weald, far away from the stream -of events. From that time forth life became a succession of -peasant encounters, an affair of pigs and hens and small needs -and little economies and children, until Clapham and Bun Hill and -all the life of the Scientific Age became to Bert no more than -the fading memory of a dream. He never knew how the War in the -Air went on, nor whether it still went on. There were rumours of -airships going and coming, and of happenings Londonward. Once or -twice their shadows fell on him as he worked, but whence they -came or whither they went he could not tell. Even his desire to -tell died out for want of food. At times came robbers and -thieves, at times came diseases among the beasts and shortness of -food, once the country was worried by a pack of boar-hounds he -helped to kill; he went through many inconsecutive, irrelevant -adventures. He survived them all. - -Accident and death came near them both ever and again and passed -them by, and they loved and suffered and were happy, and she bore -him many children--eleven children--one after the other, of whom -only four succumbed to the necessary hardships of their simple -life. They lived and did well, as well was understood in those -days. They went the way of all flesh, year by year. - - - -THE EPILOGUE - -It happened that one bright summer's morning exactly thirty years -after the launching of the first German air-fleet, an old man -took a small boy to look for a missing hen through the ruins of -Bun Hill and out towards the splintered pinnacles of the Crystal -Palace. He was not a very old man; he was, as a matter of fact, -still within a few weeks of sixty-three, but constant stooping -over spades and forks and the carrying of roots and manure, and -exposure to the damps of life in the open-air without a change of -clothing, had bent him into the form of a sickle. Moreover, he -had lost most of his teeth and that had affected his digestion -and through that his skin and temper. In face and expression he -was curiously like that old Thomas Smallways who had once been -coachman to Sir Peter Bone, and this was just as it should be, -for he was Tom Smallways the son, who formerly kept the little -green-grocer's shop under the straddle of the mono-rail viaduct -in the High Street of Bun Hill. But now there were no -green-grocer's shops, and Tom was living in one of the derelict -villas hard by that unoccupied building site that had been and -was still the scene of his daily horticulture. He and his wife -lived upstairs, and in the drawing and dining rooms, which had -each French windows opening on the lawn, and all about the ground -floor generally, Jessica, who was now a lean and lined and -baldish but still very efficient and energetic old woman, kept -her three cows and a multitude of gawky hens. These two were -part of a little community of stragglers and returned fugitives, -perhaps a hundred and fifty souls of them all together, that had -settled down to the new conditions of things after the Panic and -Famine and Pestilence that followed in the wake of the War. They -had come back from strange refuges and hiding-places and had -squatted down among the familiar houses and begun that hard -struggle against nature for food which was now the chief interest -of their lives. They were by sheer preoccupation with that a -peaceful people, more particularly after Wilkes, the house agent, -driven by some obsolete dream of acquisition, had been drowned in -the pool by the ruined gas-works for making inquiries into title -and displaying a litigious turn of mind. (He had not been -murdered, you understand, but the people had carried an exemplary -ducking ten minutes or so beyond its healthy limits.) - -This little community had returned from its original habits of -suburban parasitism to what no doubt had been the normal life of -humanity for nearly immemorial years, a life of homely economies -in the most intimate contact with cows and hens and patches of -ground, a life that breathes and exhales the scent of cows and -finds the need for stimulants satisfied by the activity of the -bacteria and vermin it engenders. Such had been the life of the -European peasant from the dawn of history to the beginning of the -Scientific Era, so it was the large majority of the people of -Asia and Africa had always been wont to live. For a time it had -seemed that, by virtue of machines, and scientific civilisation, -Europe was to be lifted out of this perpetual round of animal -drudgery, and that America was to evade it very largely from the -outset. And with the smash of the high and dangerous and -splendid edifice of mechanical civilisation that had arisen so -marvellously, back to the land came the common man, back to the -manure. - -The little communities, still haunted by ten thousand memories -of a greater state, gathered and developed almost tacitly a -customary law and fell under the guidance of a medicine man or a -priest. The world rediscovered religion and the need of -something to hold its communities together. At Bun Hill this -function was entrusted to an old Baptist minister. He taught a -simple but adequate faith. In his teaching a good principle -called the Word fought perpetually against a diabolical female -influence called the Scarlet Woman and an evil being called -Alcohol. This Alcohol had long since become a purely -spiritualised conception deprived of any element of material -application; it had no relation to the occasional finds of -whiskey and wine in Londoners' cellars that gave Bun Hill its -only holidays. He taught this doctrine on Sundays, and on -weekdays he was an amiable and kindly old man, distinguished by -his quaint disposition to wash his hands, and if possible his -face, daily, and with a wonderful genius for cutting up pigs. He -held his Sunday services in the old church in the Beckenham Road, -and then the countryside came out in a curious reminiscence of -the urban dress of Edwardian times. All the men without -exception wore frock coats, top hats, and white shirts, though -many had no boots. Tom was particularly distinguished on these -occasions because he wore a top hat with gold lace about it and a -green coat and trousers that he had found upon a skeleton in the -basement of the Urban and District Bank. The women, even -Jessica, came in jackets and immense hats extravagantly trimmed -with artificial flowers and exotic birds' feather's--of which -there were abundant supplies in the shops to the north--and the -children (there were not many children, because a large -proportion of the babies born in Bun Hill died in a few days' -time of inexplicable maladies) had similar clothes cut down to -accommodate them; even Stringer's little grandson of four wore a -large top hat. - -That was the Sunday costume of the Bun Hill district, a curious -and interesting survival of the genteel traditions of the -Scientific Age. On a weekday the folk were dingily and curiously -hung about with dirty rags of housecloth and scarlet flannel, -sacking, curtain serge, and patches of old carpet, and went -either bare-footed or on rude wooden sandals. These people, the -reader must understand, were an urban population sunken back to -the state of a barbaric peasantry, and so without any of the -simple arts a barbaric peasantry would possess. In many ways -they were curiously degenerate and incompetent. They had lost -any idea of making textiles, they could hardly make up clothes -when they had material, and they were forced to plunder the -continually dwindling supplies of the ruins about them for cover. - -All the simple arts they had ever known they had lost, and with -the breakdown of modern drainage, modern water supply, shopping, -and the like, their civilised methods were useless. Their -cooking was worse than primitive. It was a feeble muddling with -food over wood fires in rusty drawing-room fireplaces; for the -kitcheners burnt too much. Among them all no sense of baking or -brewing or metal-working was to be found. - -Their employment of sacking and such-like coarse material for -work-a-day clothing, and their habit of tying it on with string -and of thrusting wadding and straw inside it for warmth, gave -these people an odd, "packed" appearance, and as it was a -week-day when Tom took his little nephew for the hen-seeking -excursion, so it was they were attired. - -"So you've really got to Bun Hill at last, Teddy," said old Tom, -beginning to talk and slackening his pace so soon as they were -out of range of old Jessica. "You're the last of Bert's boys for -me to see. Wat I've seen, young Bert I've seen, Sissie and Matt, -Tom what's called after me, and Peter. The traveller people -brought you along all right, eh?" - -"I managed," said Teddy, who was a dry little boy. - -"Didn't want to eat you on the way?" - -"They was all right," said Teddy, "and on the way near -Leatherhead we saw a man riding on a bicycle." - -"My word!" said Tom, "there ain't many of those about nowadays. -Where was he going?" - -"Said 'e was going to Dorking if the High Road was good enough. -But I doubt if he got there. All about Burford it was flooded. -We came over the hill, uncle--what they call the Roman Road. -That's high and safe." - -"Don't know it," said old Tom. "But a bicycle! You're sure it -was a bicycle? Had two wheels?" - -"It was a bicycle right enough." - -"Why! I remember a time, Teddy, where there was bicycles no end, -when you could stand just here--the road was as smooth as a board -then--and see twenty or thirty coming and going at the same time, -bicycles and moty-bicycles; moty cars, all sorts of whirly -things." - -"No!" said Teddy. - -"I do. They'd keep on going by all day,--'undreds and 'undreds." - -"But where was they all going?" asked Teddy. - -"Tearin' off to Brighton--you never seen Brighton, I expect--it's -down by the sea, used to be a moce 'mazing place--and coming and -going from London." - -"Why?" - -"They did." - -"But why?" - -"Lord knows why, Teddy. They did. Then you see that great thing -there like a great big rusty nail sticking up higher than all the -houses, and that one yonder, and that, and how something's fell -in between 'em among the houses. They was parts of the -mono-rail. They went down to Brighton too and all day and night -there was people going, great cars as big as 'ouses full of -people." - -The little boy regarded the rusty evidences acrosss the narrow -muddy ditch of cow-droppings that had once been a High Street. -He was clearly disposed to be sceptical, and yet there the ruins -were! He grappled with ideas beyond the strength of his -imagination. - -"What did they go for?" he asked, "all of 'em?" - -"They 'AD to. Everything was on the go those days--everything." - -"Yes, but where did they come from?" - -"All round 'ere, Teddy, there was people living in those 'ouses, -and up the road more 'ouses and more people. You'd 'ardly -believe me, Teddy, but it's Bible truth. You can go on that way -for ever and ever, and keep on coming on 'ouses, more 'ouses, and -more. There's no end to 'em. No end. They get bigger and -bigger." His voice dropped as though he named strange names. - -"It's LONDON," he said. - -"And it's all empty now and left alone. All day it's left alone. -You don't find 'ardly a man, you won't find nothing but dogs and -cats after the rats until you get round by Bromley and Beckenham, -and there you find the Kentish men herding swine. (Nice rough -lot they are too!) I tell you that so long as the sun is up it's -as still as the grave. I been about by day--orfen and orfen." -He paused. - -"And all those 'ouses and streets and ways used to be full of -people before the War in the Air and the Famine and the Purple -Death. They used to be full of people, Teddy, and then came a -time when they was full of corpses, when you couldn't go a mile -that way before the stink of 'em drove you back. It was the -Purple Death 'ad killed 'em every one. The cats and dogs and -'ens and vermin caught it. Everything and every one 'ad it. -Jest a few of us 'appened to live. I pulled through, and your -aunt, though it made 'er lose 'er 'air. Why, you find the -skeletons in the 'ouses now. This way we been into all the -'ouses and took what we wanted and buried moce of the people, but -up that way, Norwood way, there's 'ouses with the glass in the -windows still, and the furniture not touched--all dusty and -falling to pieces--and the bones of the people lying, some in -bed, some about the 'ouse, jest as the Purple Death left 'em -five-and-twenty years ago. I went into one--me and old Higgins -las' year--and there was a room with books, Teddy--you know what -I mean by books, Teddy?" - -"I seen 'em. I seen 'em with pictures." - -"Well, books all round, Teddy, 'undreds of books, beyond-rhyme or -reason, as the saying goes, green-mouldy and dry. I was for -leaven' 'em alone--I was never much for reading--but ole Higgins -he must touch em. 'I believe I could read one of 'em NOW,' 'e -says. - -"'Not it,' I says. - -"'I could,' 'e says, laughing and takes one out and opens it. - -"I looked, and there, Teddy, was a cullud picture, oh, so lovely! -It was a picture of women and serpents in a garden. I never see -anything like it. - -"'This suits me,' said old Higgins, 'to rights.' - -"And then kind of friendly he gave the book a pat-- - -Old Tom Smallways paused impressively. - -"And then?" said Teddy. - -"It all fell to dus'. White dus'!" He became still more -impressive. "We didn't touch no more of them books that day. -Not after that." - -For a long time both were silent. Then Tom, playing with a -subject that attracted him with a fatal fascination, repeated, -"All day long they lie--still as the grave." - -Teddy took the point at last. "Don't they lie o' nights?" he -asked. - -Old Tom shook his head. "Nobody knows, boy, nobody knows." - -"But what could they do?" - -"Nobody knows. Nobody ain't seen to tell not nobody." - -"Nobody?" - -"They tell tales," said old Tom. "They tell tales, but there -ain't no believing 'em. I gets 'ome about sundown, and keeps -indoors, so I can't say nothing, can I? But there's them that -thinks some things and them as thinks others. I've 'eard it's -unlucky to take clo'es off of 'em unless they got white bones. -There's stories--" - -The boy watched his uncle sharply. "WOT stories?" he said. - -"Stories of moonlight nights and things walking about. But I -take no stock in 'em. I keeps in bed. If you listen to stories-- -Lord! You'll get afraid of yourself in a field at midday." - -The little boy looked round and ceased his questions for a space. - -"They say there's a 'og man in Beck'n'am what was lost in London -three days and three nights. 'E went up after whiskey to -Cheapside, and lorst 'is way among the ruins and wandered. Three -days and three nights 'e wandered about and the streets kep' -changing so's he couldn't get 'ome. If 'e 'adn't remembered some -words out of the Bible 'e might 'ave been there now. All day 'e -went and all night--and all day long it was still. It was as -still as death all day long, until the sunset came and the -twilight thickened, and then it began to rustle and whisper and -go pit-a-pat with a sound like 'urrying feet." - -He paused. - -"Yes," said the little boy breathlessly. "Go on. What then?" - -"A sound of carts and 'orses there was, and a sound of cabs and -omnibuses, and then a lot of whistling, shrill whistles, whistles -that froze 'is marrer. And directly the whistles began things -begun to show, people in the streets 'urrying, people in the -'ouses and shops busying themselves, moty cars in the streets, a -sort of moonlight in all the lamps and winders. People, I say, -Teddy, but they wasn't people. They was the ghosts of them that -was overtook, the ghosts of them that used to crowd those -streets. And they went past 'im and through 'im and never 'eeded -'im, went by like fogs and vapours, Teddy. And sometimes they -was cheerful and sometimes they was 'orrible, 'orrible beyond -words. And once 'e come to a place called Piccadilly, Teddy, and -there was lights blazing like daylight and ladies and gentlemen -in splendid clo'es crowding the pavement, and taxicabs follering -along the road. And as 'e looked, they all went evil--evil in -the face, Teddy. And it seemed to 'im SUDDENLY THEY SAW 'IM, and -the women began to look at 'im and say things to 'im--'orrible-- -wicked things. One come very near 'im, Teddy, right up to 'im, -and looked into 'is face--close. And she 'adn't got a face to -look with, only a painted skull, and then 'e see; they was all -painted skulls. And one after another they crowded on 'im saying -'orrible things, and catchin' at 'im and threatenin' and coaxing -'im, so that 'is 'eart near left 'is body for fear." - -"Yes," gasped Teddy in an unendurable pause. - -"Then it was he remembered the words of Scripture and saved -himself alive. 'The Lord is my 'Elper, 'e says, 'therefore I -will fear nothing,' and straightaway there came a cock-crowing -and the street was empty from end to end. And after that the -Lord was good to 'im and guided 'im 'ome." - -Teddy stared and caught at another question. "But who was the -people," he asked, "who lived in all these 'ouses? What was -they?" - -"Gent'men in business, people with money--leastways we thought it -was money till everything smashed up, and then seemingly it was -jes' paper--all sorts. Why, there was 'undreds of thousands of -them. There was millions. I've seen that 'I Street there -regular so's you couldn't walk along the pavements, shoppin' -time, with women and people shoppin'." - -"But where'd they get their food and things?" - -"Bort 'em in shops like I used to 'ave. I'll show you the place, -Teddy, if we go back. People nowadays 'aven't no idee of a -shop--no idee. Plate-glass winders--it's all Greek to them. -Why, I've 'ad as much as a ton and a 'arf of petaties to 'andle -all at one time. You'd open your eyes till they dropped out to -see jes' what I used to 'ave in my shop. Baskets of pears 'eaped -up, marrers, apples and pears, d'licious great nuts." His voice -became luscious--"Benanas, oranges." - -"What's benanas?" asked the boy, "and oranges?" - -"Fruits they was. Sweet, juicy, d'licious fruits. Foreign -fruits. They brought 'em from Spain and N' York and places. In -ships and things. They brought 'em to me from all over the -world, and I sold 'em in my shop. _I_ sold 'em, Teddy! me what -goes about now with you, dressed up in old sacks and looking for -lost 'ens. People used to come into my shop, great beautiful -ladies like you'd 'ardly dream of now, dressed up to the nines, -and say, 'Well, Mr. Smallways, what you got 'smorning?' and I'd -say, 'Well, I got some very nice C'nadian apples, 'or p'raps I -got custed marrers. See? And they'd buy 'em. Right off they'd -say, 'Send me some up.' Lord! what a life that was. The business -of it, the bussel, the smart things you saw, moty cars going by, -kerridges, people, organ-grinders, German bands. Always -something going past--always. If it wasn't for those empty -'ouses, I'd think it all a dream." - -"But what killed all the people, uncle?" asked Teddy. - -"It was a smash-up," said old Tom. "Everything was going right -until they started that War. Everything was going like -clock-work. Everybody was busy and everybody was 'appy and -everybody got a good square meal every day." - -He met incredulous eyes. "Everybody," he said firmly. "If you -couldn't get it anywhere else, you could get it in the workhuss, -a nice 'ot bowl of soup called skilly, and bread better'n any one -knows 'ow to make now, reg'lar WHITE bread, gov'ment bread." - -Teddy marvelled, but said nothing. It made him feel deep -longings that he found it wisest to fight down. - -For a time the old man resigned himself to the pleasures of -gustatory reminiscence. His lips moved. "Pickled Sammin!" he -whispered, "an' vinegar.... Dutch cheese, BEER! A pipe of -terbakker." - -"But 'OW did the people get killed?" asked Teddy presently. - -"There was the War. The War was the beginning of it. The War -banged and flummocked about, but it didn't really KILL many -people. But it upset things. They came and set fire to London -and burnt and sank all the ships there used to be in the Thames-- -we could see the smoke and steam for weeks--and they threw a bomb -into the Crystal Palace and made a bust-up, and broke down the -rail lines and things like that. But as for killin' people, it -was just accidental if they did. They killed each other more. -There was a great fight all hereabout one day, Teddy--up in the -air. Great things bigger than fifty 'ouses, bigger than the -Crystal Palace--bigger, bigger than anything, flying about up in -the air and whacking at each other and dead men fallin' off 'em. -T'riffic! But, it wasn't so much the people they killed as the -business they stopped. There wasn't any business doin', Teddy, -there wasn't any money about, and nothin' to buy if you 'ad it." - -"But 'ow did the people get KILLED?" said the little boy in the -pause. - -"I'm tellin' you, Teddy," said the old man. "It was the stoppin' -of business come next. Suddenly there didn't seem to be any -money. There was cheques--they was a bit of paper written on, -and they was jes' as good as money--jes' as good if they come -from customers you knew. Then all of a sudden they wasn't. I -was left with three of 'em and two I'd given' change. Then it got -about that five-pun' notes were no good, and then the silver sort -of went off. Gold you 'couldn't get for love or--anything. The -banks in London 'ad got it, and the banks was all smashed up. -Everybody went bankrup'. Everybody was thrown out of work. -Everybody!" - -He paused, and scrutinised his hearer. The small boy's -intelligent face expressed hopeless perplexity. - -"That's 'ow it 'appened," said old Tom. He sought for some means -of expression. "It was like stoppin' a clock," he said. "Things -were quiet for a bit, deadly quiet, except for the air-ships -fighting about in the sky, and then people begun to get excited. -I remember my lars' customer, the very lars' customer that ever I -'ad. He was a Mr. Moses Gluckstein, a city gent and very -pleasant and fond of sparrowgrass and chokes, and 'e cut in-- -there 'adn't been no customers for days--and began to talk very -fast, offerin' me for anything I 'ad, anything, petaties or -anything, its weight in gold. 'E said it was a little -speculation 'e wanted to try. 'E said it was a sort of bet -reely, and very likely 'e'd lose; but never mind that, 'e wanted -to try. 'E always 'ad been a gambler, 'e said. 'E said I'd only -got to weigh it out and 'e'd give me 'is cheque right away. -Well, that led to a bit of a argument, perfect respectful it was, -but a argument about whether a cheque was still good, and while -'e was explaining there come by a lot of these here unemployed -with a great banner they 'ad for every one to read--every one -could read those days--'We want Food.' Three or four of 'em -suddenly turns and comes into my shop. - -"'Got any food?' says one. - -"'No,' I says, 'not to sell. I wish I 'ad. But if I 'ad, I'm -afraid I couldn't let you have it. This gent, 'e's been offerin' -me--' - -"Mr. Gluckstein 'e tried to stop me, but it was too late. - -"'What's 'e been offerin' you?' says a great big chap with a -'atchet; 'what's 'e been offerin you?' I 'ad to tell. - -"'Boys,' 'e said, ''ere's another feenancier!' and they took 'im -out there and then, and 'ung 'im on a lam'pose down the street. -'E never lifted a finger to resist. After I tole on 'im 'e never -said a word...." - -Tom meditated for a space. "First chap I ever sin 'ung!" he -said. - -"Ow old was you?" asked Teddy. - -"'Bout thirty," said old Tom. - -"Why! I saw free pig-stealers 'ung before I was six," said -Teddy. "Father took me because of my birfday being near. Said I -ought to be blooded...." - -"Well, you never saw no-one killed by a moty car, any'ow," said -old Tom after a moment of chagrin. "And you never saw no dead -men carried into a chemis' shop." - -Teddy's momentary triumph faded. "No," he said, "I 'aven't." - -"Nor won't. Nor won't. You'll never see the things I've seen, -never. Not if you live to be a 'undred... Well, as I was -saying, that's how the Famine and Riotin' began. Then there was -strikes and Socialism, things I never did 'old with, worse and -worse. There was fightin' and shootin' down, and burnin' and -plundering. They broke up the banks up in London and got the -gold, but they couldn't make food out of gold. 'Ow did WE get -on? Well, we kep' quiet. We didn't interfere with no-one and -no-one didn't interfere with us. We 'ad some old 'tatoes about, -but mocely we lived on rats. Ours was a old 'ouse, full of rats, -and the famine never seemed to bother 'em. Orfen we got a rat. -Orfen. But moce of the people who lived hereabouts was too -tender stummicked for rats. Didn't seem to fancy 'em. They'd -been used to all sorts of fallals, and they didn't take to 'onest -feeding, not till it was too late. Died rather. - -"It was the famine began to kill people. Even before the Purple -Death came along they was dying like flies at the end of the -summer. 'Ow I remember it all! I was one of the first to 'ave -it. I was out, seein' if I mightn't get 'old of a cat or -somethin', and then I went round to my bit of ground to see -whether I couldn't get up some young turnips I'd forgot, and I -was took something awful. You've no idee the pain, Teddy--it -doubled me up pretty near. I jes' lay down by 'at there corner, -and your aunt come along to look for me and dragged me 'ome like -a sack. - -"I'd never 'ave got better if it 'adn't been for your aunt. -'Tom,' she says to me, 'you got to get well,' and I 'AD to. Then -SHE sickened. She sickened but there ain't much dyin' about your -aunt. 'Lor!' she says, 'as if I'd leave you to go muddlin' along -alone!' That's what she says. She's got a tongue, 'as your aunt. -But it took 'er 'air off--and arst though I might, she's never -cared for the wig I got 'er--orf the old lady what was in the -vicarage garden. - -"Well, this 'ere Purple Death,--it jes' wiped people out, Teddy. -You couldn't bury 'em. And it took the dogs and the cats too, -and the rats and 'orses. At last every house and garden was full -of dead bodies. London way, you couldn't go for the smell of -there, and we 'ad to move out of the 'I street into that villa we -got. And all the water run short that way. The drains and -underground tunnels took it. Gor' knows where the Purple Death -come from; some say one thing and some another. Some said it -come from eatin' rats and some from eatin' nothin'. Some say the -Asiatics brought it from some 'I place, Thibet, I think, where it -never did nobody much 'arm. All I know is it come after the -Famine. And the Famine come after the Penic and the Penic -come after the War." - -Teddy thought. "What made the Purple Death?" he asked. - -"'Aven't I tole you!" - -"But why did they 'ave a Penic?" - -"They 'ad it." - -"But why did they start the War?" - -"They couldn't stop theirselves. 'Aving them airships made 'em." - -"And 'ow did the War end?" - -"Lord knows if it's ended, boy," said old Tom. "Lord knows if -it's ended. There's been travellers through 'ere--there was a -chap only two summers ago--say it's goin' on still. They say -there's bands of people up north who keep on with it and people -in Germany and China and 'Merica and places. 'E said they still -got flying-machines and gas and things. But we 'aven't seen -nothin' in the air now for seven years, and nobody 'asn't come -nigh of us. Last we saw was a crumpled sort of airship going -away--over there. It was a littleish-sized thing and lopsided, -as though it 'ad something the matter with it." - -He pointed, and came to a stop at a gap in the fence, the -vestiges of the old fence from which, in the company of his -neighbour Mr. Stringer the milkman, he had once watched the South -of England Aero Club's Saturday afternoon ascents. Dim memories, -it may be, of that particular afternoon returned to him. - -"There, down there, where all that rus' looks so red and bright, -that's the gas-works." - -"What's gas?" asked the little boy. - -"Oh, a hairy sort of nothin' what you put in balloons to make -'em go up. And you used to burn it till the 'lectricity come." - -The little boy tried vainly to imagine gas on the basis of these -particulars. Then his thoughts reverted to a previous topic. - -"But why didn't they end the War?" - -"Obstinacy. Everybody was getting 'urt, but everybody was -'urtin' and everybody was 'igh-spirited and patriotic, and so -they smeshed up things instead. They jes' went on smeshin'. And -afterwards they jes' got desp'rite and savige." - -"It ought to 'ave ended," said the little boy. - -"It didn't ought to 'ave begun," said old Tom, "But people was -proud. People was la-dy-da-ish and uppish and proud. Too much -meat and drink they 'ad. Give in--not them! And after a bit -nobody arst 'em to give in. Nobody arst 'em...." - -He sucked his old gums thoughtfully, and his gaze strayed away -across the valley to where the shattered glass of the Crystal -Palace glittered in the sun. A dim large sense of waste and -irrevocable lost opportunities pervaded his mind. He repeated -his ultimate judgment upon all these things, obstinately, slowly, -and conclusively, his final saying upon the matter. - -"You can say what you like," he said. "It didn't ought ever to -'ave begun." - -He said it simply--somebody somewhere ought to have stopped -something, but who or how or why were all beyond his ken. - - - - - -End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The War in the Air by H. G. Wells - |